Chapter Summaries

As accusations against A Tai spread and crowds demanded his execution, he left the city alone, hoping his disappearance would protect the Ink Academy. Yu Sheng prepared to enter the Demon Domain, revealed that he had reached the Fourth Awakening, and drove toward the city gates.

• A Tai faced a growing public outcry after photographs depicting him beside a Blood Pool and dead children were posted online, and people gathered at the Ink Academy gates demanding answers.
• A Tai left his room and walked alone into the wilderness, while a middle-aged man followed him from a distance and chose not to contact Yu Sheng yet.
• Yu Sheng asked the Lawless Outlaws to investigate the Demon Domain and later received a text that prompted him to pack weapons and supplies before leaving the dormitory.
• Xu Yuanqing offered to accompany Yu Sheng, but Yu Sheng told him to stay and protect the others at the academy.
• Yu Sheng told Xu Yuanqing that he had already reached the Fourth Awakening, then drove his Fierce Tiger XS toward the city gates.

After Yu Sheng left to search for A Tai, his friends learned A Tai was heading toward Ink City and hurried to protect him from a growing public manhunt. Lin Xiaoxiao and Big White blocked a search party, and Lin Xiaoxiao prepared to defend A Tai, feeling she would rather return to the mountains than face the cruelty of the outside world.

• Yu Sheng left a note for his friends and departed, while crowds gathered outside organizations across Ink City demanding an outcome.
• Zhao Zicheng received a photo showing A Tai traveling from Zangcheng toward Ink City, and Sun Wen realized A Tai might be heading there for a dangerous reason.
• Sun Wen and his friends set out in a van to protect A Tai, while people online tracked him and formed search parties to capture him.
• Lin Xiaoxiao watched the manhunt unfold and questioned why people judged A Tai solely for being a demon.
• Lin Xiaoxiao and Big White blocked a search party, and she declared that no one would bully A Tai while she was there.

Mu Yu, Sun Wen, and others fought the search teams to help A Tai escape, while Yu Sheng sought permission to enter the Demon Domain. Zhong Yushu warned Yu Sheng that the danger exceeded what he could handle, but Yu Sheng remained determined to go.

• Mu Yu blocked a team searching for A Tai, and a provocateur incited the crowd to attack him before slipping away.
• Sun Wen urged A Tai to keep going and promised to protect him, then blocked another team; A Tai said goodbye to Lin Xiaoxiao, Zhao Zicheng, Mu Yu, and Sun Wen and fled alone.
• Yu Sheng showed his Three-Pattern Cloud Merit at Demon-Suppressing Pass and received clearance to pass, with instructions to meet Elder Zhong.
• Zhong Yushu questioned Yu Sheng's decision to enter the Demon Domain and warned him to trust the Ink Pavilion, but Yu Sheng insisted he had something he needed to do.

Yu Sheng entered the Demon Domain after Zhong Yushu urged him to return alive, while Mu Yu and the other Ink Academy prodigies continued protecting A Tai from human pursuers. As A Tai’s journey toward Ink City grew more dangerous, Sun Yingxiong ordered the people hunting him to be sent to the Four Great Passes.

• Yu Sheng told Zhong Yushu that people had to save themselves, and Zhong Yushu said Ink Pavilion had never sacrificed an ordinary person, especially a recipient of the Two-Pattern Cloud Merit.
• Yu Sheng skirted the Demon-Suppressing Pass, crossed the mountains, and entered the Demon Domain after an old man warned him that returning would be hard.
• Mu Yu blocked a group seeking to attack A Tai, and the group eventually withdrew while calling the Ink Academy prodigies traitors.
• A Tai’s companions continued clearing the road toward Ink City, despite failing to hold pursuers at the city gates and facing repeated roadblocks.
• Sun Yingxiong learned that A Tai was in Lin City and ordered the names of his hunters recorded so they could be sent to the Four Great Passes.

Sun Yingxiong and the Ink Pavilion leaders debated Luo Yu’s connection to Soul Hunt and whether to grant him access to track its members. Meanwhile, Yu Sheng sneaked through the Demon Domain toward coordinates on the map, leaving the chapter with his mission still underway.

• Sun Yingxiong learned Yu Sheng had gone to the Demon Domain, argued with Zhong Yushu, and told his secretary to clear the people waiting outside.
• Luo Yu told Yuan Qingshan he might need about three hours to locate someone who posted online, prompting Yuan Qingshan and Qi Changshan to debate whether he was a pawn of Soul Hunt.
• Qi Changshan shoved Yuan Qingshan out of the Dark Pavilion and then enthusiastically befriended its Deputy Division Chief of Prison Administration.
• Yu Sheng used a map from the Lawless Outlaws to navigate the Demon Domain, hid from an azure wolf, and continued toward his coordinates.

Yu Sheng discovered that killing Demon Beasts sent gray aura into his Scroll, then continued toward the Ten Thousand Demon Forest while considering the rewards their remains could bring. Meanwhile, Zhao Zicheng and the others saw public attacks spreading against them as they tried to protect A Tai, while Sun Yingxiong said they had to wait until the old White Ape could no longer act.

• Yu Sheng killed an emerald snake, saw gray gas enter his Scroll, and wondered why this had not happened when he killed Demons before.
• Yu Sheng killed a level-four Goshawk and received a purer stream of gray aura, leading him to suspect that killing Demon Beasts was the Scroll's true use.
• Yu Sheng made the Goshawk's corpse disappear, checked his map, and continued toward the Ten Thousand Demon Forest.
• Zhao Zicheng treated his wound and complained that people pursuing A Tai had become greedy for praise and excitement, while Sun Wen showed the group online posts attacking them.
• Sun Yingxiong told his secretary that the young people had to find their own paths and that they had to wait until the old White Ape could no longer make a move.

Yu Sheng cautiously crossed the Demon Domain toward the Ten Thousand Demon Forest while Sun Wen and Zhao Zicheng pursued A Tai toward Ink City. When an old man moved to kill A Tai for being a demon, Zhao Zicheng intervened and Sun Wen challenged the old man to justify his decision before the gathered crowd.

• Yu Sheng hid from hunting Demon Beasts by day, then coated his exposed skin with crushed grass juice and continued toward the Ten Thousand Demon Forest.
• Sun Wen and Zhao Zicheng rested during their pursuit as they neared Ink City and tried to catch up with A Tai.
• An old man confronted A Tai, apologized for his abduction into the Demon Domain, and declared that he had to kill him because he was a demon.
• The old man summoned a six-Crystal-Stone longsword and sent it toward A Tai, who closed his eyes and waited to die.
• Zhao Zicheng stepped in front of A Tai and stopped the attack, while Sun Wen demanded that the old man explain his reasoning to the assembled Awakened individuals.

Sun Wen challenged an old Sixth Awakening elder to hear A Tai’s reasoning instead of deciding his fate, and a reclusive tailor-shop owner intervened to rebuke the elder. The crowd set out for Ink City to demand an answer, while some hostile figures followed behind.

• Sun Wen argued that the elder should not condemn A Tai before hearing his case, and the elder agreed to go to Ink City and listen.
• A reclusive woman in a tailor shop chastised the elder for interfering and then disappeared, leaving a floral padded jacket behind.
• The young people honored the elder’s departure, while Sun Wen declared that he and A Tai would rather fight in the Demon Domain than accept an unjust death.
• Mu Yu, Zhao Zicheng, and Lin Xiaoxiao stood with A Tai and said they would go with him if the world left him no place.
• The crowd set off for Ink City to demand an answer, while groups of suspicious people followed behind them.

Sun Yingxiong and Yu Yongyan’s descendant prepared to use the A Tai controversy to force a change in policy, while Yu Sheng infiltrated a white-ape village in the Ten Thousand Demon Forest to steal a hard drive. Yu Sheng retrieved it and began preparing to escape.

• People following Sun Wen mocked him and said they would demand an explanation about A Tai in Ink City.
• Sun Yingxiong asked the wheelchair-bound young man whether he had truly thought through his plan, and the young man argued that changing times required changing policies.
• The young man identified himself as Yu Yongyan’s descendant and said he could play the wastrel while the Ink Pavilion stood for justice.
• Yu Sheng slipped past the white apes guarding their village and used the Dragon-Patterned Staff to teleport into its shadows.
• Yu Sheng entered the most lavish hut, found a hard drive in a desk drawer, and pocketed it before preparing to run.

Yu Sheng stole research data on the demonization of the Human Race from the Ten Thousand Demon Forest, while Old White Ape staged an angry response to cover his role as the intelligence source. In the meeting room, the young man explained the plot and revealed that he expected to be used as a blade before being discarded a year later.

• Old White Ape confirmed the data was genuine and gave Yu Sheng ten minutes to escape before Yu Sheng retraced his route out of the Ten Thousand Demon Forest.
• After Yu Sheng escaped, Old White Ape destroyed his hut and accused the patrol beasts of negligence, then ordered a search to disguise his involvement.
• The young man explained to Sun Yingxiong that Old White Ape had directed the Half-Demon Human Plan and wanted the data stolen to shift blame and preserve his life.
• The young man said the Ink Pavilion would not abandon Yu Sheng and praised Yu Sheng for understanding the situation and analyzing the broader conflict.
• The young man revealed that he was disabled and expected to serve as a blade purging the Human Race, then be thrown into a furnace a year later.
• Sun Yingxiong tried to lighten the mood by offering to give the young man a racing wheelchair like Zhao Zicheng's.

Yu Mo opened a public proceeding in Ink City to hear the arguments over A Tai’s fate, beginning with an anonymous vote that showed most people were undecided. A young man argued for executing A Tai, and Sun Wen stepped forward to respond.

• Yu Sheng fled through the Demon Domain as white apes and wild beasts pursued him toward Ink City.
• A Tai arrived at Ink City’s Central Square with Sun Wen, Mu Yu, and others as a crowd gathered and Yu Mo opened the proceedings.
• Yu Mo introduced himself as Yu Yongyan’s grandson, announced that both sides could present their arguments, and asked A Tai why he had come to Ink City.
• A Tai said he had come to avoid implicating his companions and the Ink Pavilion, and because his death there would be widely known.
• Yu Mo held an anonymous online vote, which recorded 130,000 votes to execute A Tai, 10,000 against, and 3,500,000 abstentions.
• A young man called A Tai a murderous demon and demanded his execution, after which Sun Wen stepped forward.

Sun Wen and Zhao Zicheng challenged accusations against A Tai, while Mu Yu revealed A Tai’s record of fighting for the Human Race. The crowd began to reconsider its judgment, and Sun Wen ended by urging people to see A Tai as a tortured former human who had chosen to protect them.

• Sun Wen argued that A Tai’s accomplishments on Demon-Suppressing Pass and the Heart-Training Path contradicted claims that he was a Demon Clan infiltrator.
• Zhao Zicheng questioned why the Demon Domain would release the photographs and why their source had vanished, prompting some people to reconsider their certainty.
• Mu Yu revealed that A Tai had earned Second-Level Cloud Merit and showed a video of him defending the Ink Academy Gate against the Evil Cult.
• Some people continued to condemn A Tai, while others began discussing the photographs and investigating who had exposed them.
• Sun Wen described his family’s losses in the war against demons and urged the crowd to consider that A Tai had been captured, tortured, and transformed as a child before escaping to protect the Human Race.

Sun Wen urged the crowd to reconsider judging A Tai and focus on fighting the demons, while Yu Mo called for a second vote that showed most people abstaining. In the Demon Domain, wounded Yu Sheng fled a pursuing demon army as An Xin and Zhao Qingyi spotted him but chose to continue toward a nearby Demon Beast cave.

• Sun Wen argued that A Tai’s tragedy should strengthen the resolve to fight demons, and a middle-aged man said he would apologize if A Tai could be proven not evil by nature.
• Yu Mo opened a second five-minute vote, and the results showed 80,000 votes to execute A Tai, 30,000 against, and 6,440,000 abstentions.
• Sun Wen continued defending A Tai as the boy watched the changing votes with renewed hope and the debate grew more heated.
• Wounded Yu Sheng ran across a plain in the Demon Domain, teleporting to evade attacks while the pursuing Demon Clan closed in.
• An Xin recognized Yu Sheng and complained that he still owed her a car, while Zhao Qingyi watched him flee.
• An Xin decided to collect Heavenly Demon Flowers from a nearby level-five Demon Beast cave and advance to the Fifth Awakening, and Zhao Qingyi followed while worrying about Yu Sheng.

Gu Diao left the Ten Thousand Demon Forest to pursue Yu Sheng, while Old White Ape was given three years to advance the Demon-Human Plan. Yu Sheng reached the mountain where the old man had promised protection, but Gu Diao arrived just as the old man prepared to defend him.

• Gu Diao threatened to eat Old White Ape if the Demon-Human Plan made no progress within three years, then flew out of the forest.
• A horned python blocked Gu Diao's route and demanded a Moon Jiao Flower, which Gu Diao gave before continuing toward Demon-Suppressing Pass.
• Yu Sheng used the Mountains and Rivers Bottle's awakened skill to restore his strength as the White Apes pursued him across the plain.
• A level-six demon beast struck Yu Sheng down, but he protected the hard drive, got back up, and ran on as the White Ape wounded him again.
• Yu Sheng reached the mountain and called on the old man's promise of safety; the old man summoned the Scepter and drove the pursuing demons to hesitate.
• Gu Diao arrived with overwhelming demon aura, and the old man recognized him as Gu Diao of the Ten Thousand Demon Forest and questioned whether he was truly only at the Fourth Awakening.

Gu Diao demanded that Yu Sheng be handed over, but the old man fled with him and called Zhong Yushu for help. Zhong Yushu arrived and joined the old man in threatening to kill Gu Diao for his Demon Core, leaving Gu Diao fleeing toward the Demon Domain Plains.

• Gu Diao confronted the old man and demanded that he surrender Yu Sheng, but the old man refused and carried Yu Sheng away as he fled.
• Gu Diao chased them with lightning attacks while the old man cursed at him, then the old man released Yu Sheng, who teleported into the forest to hide.
• Zhong Yushu arrived and blocked Gu Diao, then asked whether Gu Diao's Demon Core could help the old man reach the eighth awakening.
• The old man and Zhong Yushu charged at Gu Diao, discussing keeping his meat and Demon Core for themselves, so Gu Diao fled toward the Demon Domain Plains.

After surviving Gu Diao’s attack, Yu Sheng learned that A Tai was in Ink City and set out to reach him despite his injuries. In Ink City, the debate over A Tai’s fate stalled as Yu Mo challenged the accusers, and a man accused one of them of being from the Demon Clan.

• The old man and Zhong Yushu found Yu Sheng alive, and Yu Sheng confirmed that the hard drive in his backpack was intact.
• Yu Sheng asked where A Tai was, then headed toward Ink City; Zhong Yushu told him his vehicle was wrecked but offered a vehicle with a Demon-Suppressing Pass permit.
• After Zhong Yushu left, the old man secretly spat blood, then returned to the mountaintop and resumed his pose as a secluded master.
• In Ink City, the debate over whether A Tai should be killed continued into dusk, with 40,000 votes on each side and more than ten million abstentions.
• Yu Mo asked the stone-pillar accusers for new arguments, and a middle-aged man from Lin City accused a young speaker of being from the Demon Clan.
• The middle-aged man’s four Crystal Stones appeared, frightening the young man into sitting down as he protested that murder was against the law.

At the square, the crowd demanded proof that A Tai was good, while Yu Mo urged everyone to wait. Yu Sheng arrived badly wounded with a hard drive, and Yu Mo arranged for its contents to be shown to the crowd and the entire internet.

• A middle-aged Reserve Corps member said he would apologize if A Tai's kindness could be proven, but otherwise still believed A Tai should be killed.
• The Ink Academy Vice Principal offered the academy's guarantee of A Tai's character, but the crowd insisted on evidence.
• Yu Mo asked everyone to wait until something new appeared, then revealed his injured legs when people on the Stone Pillars complained about the cold.
• Yu Sheng drove to the square, confirmed A Tai was alive, and delivered a hard drive before collapsing asleep beside the Stone Platform.
• Yu Mo handed the hard drive to a staff member, and old footage began playing on the square's large screen and across the internet.

A recording revealed that A Tai had been experimented on and demonized as a child, while protecting the other captive children from the Gu Diao. As the Gu Diao continued to torment him and kill the children, one boy at the back began to rise.

• The recording showed Gu Diao using Beast Blood and the Demon King Flower in experiments on human children, with the first attempt killing a child.
• As the children grew older and fewer, A Tai absorbed Beast Blood, transformed, and defended them from the Gu Diao.
• An aged voice ordered the remaining failed specimens killed and sent deep into the Ten Thousand Demon Forest, but A Tai tried to stop the Gu Diao from killing them.
• The Gu Diao beat and taunted A Tai as he insisted the children were his companions and that he had to protect them.
• While the recording focused on A Tai, a surviving boy behind the group shakily stood up.

After A Tai’s past was revealed, the crowd voted overwhelmingly that he did not deserve to die, and the people who had condemned him apologized and saluted him. Yu Mo then exposed that 324 people in the square had voted against A Tai and matched them to the Stone Pillars, leaving them trapped and protesting.

• Gu Diao slaughtered the experimental subjects in front of A Tai, who later escaped the cage-like facility as the images ended.
• Yu Mo called for a final anonymous vote, and the crowd voted 13.52 million to 1,769 that A Tai did not deserve to die.
• The middle-aged man apologized to A Tai, and the crowd saluted him as a member of the Human Race.
• A Tai covered the sleeping Yu Sheng with his jacket while the Vice Principal lamented that he had not gotten to show off.
• Yu Mo raised the Stone Pillars and revealed that 324 people in the square had voted that A Tai deserved to die, prompting them to protest the supposed anonymity of the vote.

Yu Mo exposed the people who had helped condemn A Tai, then made them vote on their own punishment. As the vote began, he warned the public that the Light Group would purge the Human Race and described himself as a ruthless executioner.

• Yu Mo promised to send the people atop the Stone Pillars to the Human Race’s passes, citing their own declarations about fighting Demons, and ordered a Third Awakening man to report to Dome Pass.
• Yu Mo thanked the people on behalf of the Yu family, while Ink Pavilion personnel saluted them.
• Yu Mo showed photographs, coordinates, and records of targeted online accounts, revealing the Ink Pavilion had investigated the people who hunted A Tai for days.
• Yu Mo reopened the anonymous vote, offering to send everyone to the Four Passes, exile everyone to Sin City, or divide them according to their Awakening level.
• The people on the Stone Pillars protested their innocence as Yu Mo gave them five minutes to vote.
• Yu Mo told the camera that the Light Group was responsible for purging the Human Race and warned that his ruthless attention could fall on anyone.