Chapter Summaries

Chu Yu took the eighth step and summoned the shadows of dozens of dead Eighth Awakening experts, who slaughtered the Demon Beasts surrounding her. The shadows dispersed after exhausting her remaining lifespan, leaving Chu Yu fallen on Demon-Suppressing Pass as more Demon Beasts charged toward her.

• Old White Ape directed the High-Rank Demon Beasts to target Chu Yu and led their attack on her.
• Yu Mo nodded to Chu Yu, and she took the eighth step, trapping the advancing Demon Beasts in an invisible domain.
• Ma Sansi and dozens of other dead Eighth Awakening experts appeared as shadows and attacked the Demon Beasts surrounding Chu Yu.
• Old White Ape escaped through a spatial rift, while most of the trapped Demon Beasts were killed within seconds.
• The shadows dispersed as Chu Yu's lifespan neared its limit, and one dying shadow gently lowered her to the ground.
• More Demon Beasts charged toward Chu Yu, intent on killing her for the promised merit.

A battered Chu Yu was rescued from the Demon Beasts as the battle at Demon-Suppressing Pass intensified and reinforcements arrived. Yu Mo revealed that the Human Race had held high-rank awakened fighters in reserve, turning the tide at the pass, but the outcome now depended on whether Dawn Pass could hold.

• A figure whisked Chu Yu away in a cart while soldiers blocked the pursuing Demon Beasts.
• Zhao Zicheng, Lin Xiaoxiao, A Tai, Mu Yu, and Big White struggled to hold the line as the fighting worsened.
• Reinforcements arrived from several provinces and organizations, including Ink Academy's Special Training Class, whose young fighters joined the battle.
• Shi Guang tied the unconscious Chu Yu to herself and stayed inside the array, remembering Chu Yu's warning that she would die if she left it.
• Yu Mo told the Old White Ape that the Human Race had kept high-rank awakened fighters in reserve, and sixth- and seventh-awakening fighters swept through the Demon Beasts atop the pass.
• Yu Mo said the battle now depended on Dawn Pass, then asked the Confucian Scholar to take him away to rest.

After the Demon Clan lost the second battle at Demon-Suppressing Pass, Eight-Tailed Fox ordered a retreat and prepared for the decisive Third Battle. At Eagle Ravine Mountain, Old White Ape reflected on the Demon Domain’s internal scheming before meeting Zhao Qingyi and An Xin and challenging them to try killing him.

• Old White Ape apologized to Eight-Tailed Fox for the defeat, but Eight-Tailed Fox accepted responsibility and ordered the Demon Beasts to retreat from Demon-Suppressing Pass.
• Eight-Tailed Fox and Old White Ape discussed the Demon Domain’s losses and resolved to prepare for the Third Battle, which Eight-Tailed Fox believed they had to win.
• Old White Ape privately condemned the Demon Domain’s leaders for pursuing power over unity, then questioned whether his own motives were selfish too.
• At Eagle Ravine Mountain, Old White Ape concluded that the leaders’ schemes prolonged the war and created opportunities for him to pursue his own affairs.
• Old White Ape met Zhao Qingyi and An Xin, learned An Xin had reached Fifth Awakening, and told them they needed at least Sixth Awakening.
• Seriously wounded, Old White Ape asked Zhao Qingyi and An Xin why they did not try to kill him while he was vulnerable.

After An Xin and Zhao Qingyi left Old White Ape, he collapsed from his reopened wound. In the Swamp Pool, Yu Sheng forced a wounded demon beast to guide him to a hidden chamber, where they found an unusual pale-red liquid with no record in the Demon Domain Illustrated Compendium.

• Old White Ape told An Xin and Zhao Qingyi to find two fruits on the Back Mountain, then passed out as his chest wound bled.
• Yu Sheng prodded a demon beast he had injured, and it sprang up and tried to flee.
• Yu Sheng kicked the demon beast back into a corner and made it agree to lead him to food.
• The demon beast guided Yu Sheng through the Mountain Cave, warning him to stay quiet near a dark cave where something large slept.
• The demon beast opened a hidden passage, and Yu Sheng followed it into a chamber containing pale-red liquid dripping from a pointed rock.

Yu Sheng forced a Demon Beast to lead him through the underground space, where he collected a full garden of Demon Plants. After emptying the garden, he urged the Beast to show him more food.

• Yu Sheng made the Demon Beast swallow water from a strange pool, collected the liquid, and asked what it ate.
• The Demon Beast led Yu Sheng through a narrow opening, where Yu Sheng caught it preparing an ambush.
• Yu Sheng ordered the Beast to lead him onward, and it brought him to a garden of Demon Plants growing on damp rock.
• Yu Sheng made the Beast help pick the plants, then spent two hours collecting every last one.
• The Demon Beast pointed to the Fishing Line around its neck, but Yu Sheng asked whether it had side dishes as well.

At Dawn Pass, Sun Dahu and his soldiers faced an assault led by Bifang and Zhu Yan of the Twelve God Clans. Sun Dahu’s flute disrupted the attackers, and he ended the chapter by unveiling his Sea of Music against the two Demon Lords.

• The Demon Beast led Yu Sheng onward after giving up on escaping, while Yu Sheng remarked that its eyes still had not healed despite eating many Demon Plants.
• At Dawn Pass, Sun Dahu rallied his soldiers as countless Demon Beasts gathered below the cliff, led by two Demon Lords.
• Bifang and Zhu Yan identified themselves and ordered their clans to attack Dawn Pass.
• As the Bi Fang birds charged through the sky and the Zhuyan apes climbed the burning cliff, Sun Dahu played his golden flute, making attackers turn on their allies or fall.
• Bifang interrupted the flute with a piercing cry, but Sun Dahu played again and summoned his Sea of Music around himself and the two clan leaders.

Dawn Pass faced a massive Demon Domain assault while Sun Dahu fought Bifang and Zhu Yan, and the Human Race struggled to hold the fortified pass. Qi Changshan arrived after stabilizing Demon-Suppressing Pass, drawing Zhu Yan away as Sun Dahu prepared to face Bifang alone.

• Bifang and Zhu Yan attacked Sun Dahu while Zhu Yan’s roars disrupted his music-based abilities and Demon Beasts stormed Dawn Pass.
• Sun Dahu realized the Demon Domain had deliberately split its forces to overwhelm the Human Race, while Lu Tongtian, Miao Ren, and other high-level Awakeners arrived as reinforcements.
• Zhu Yan battered Dawn Pass and wounded Lu Tongtian, while Sun Dahu charged in to fight both Zhu Yan and Bifang.
• Bifang and Zhu Yan overwhelmed Sun Dahu, leaving him grievously wounded as the Demon Beasts around him were wiped out.
• Qi Changshan arrived from Demon-Suppressing Pass and drew Zhu Yan away, while Sun Dahu turned to face Bifang.

Sun Dahu risked his path to the Ninth Awakening to keep fighting Bifang, while the battle at Dawn Pass worsened. After the demons withdrew from Demon-Suppressing Pass, its defenders sent fresh troops to reinforce Dawn Pass, and wounded Yuan Qingshan demanded medicine so he could join them.

• Sun Dahu swallowed healing pills and charged Bifang again, accepting that the treatment would end his path to the Ninth Awakening.
• Demon Beasts continued scaling Dawn Pass as human soldiers struggled to hold the increasingly vulnerable wall.
• Ji Hong and the Black Flood Dragon King considered attacking the remaining defenders at Demon-Suppressing Pass, but ultimately withdrew after the Eight-Tailed Fox ordered a retreat.
• The principal of Ink Academy ordered uninjured and lightly wounded soldiers to assemble and rush to reinforce Dawn Pass.
• Yuan Qingshan asked for healing medicine and to be carried along, hoping he could still help at Dawn Pass.

Sun Wen led a supply convoy through the battle to Demon-Suppressing Pass, then carried the wounded Sun Dahu down the mountain. Sun Dahu remained in the air under Zhu Yan’s assault, barely conscious and counting down the fifteen minutes left.

• Yuan Qingshan left Demon-Suppressing Pass despite his wounds, flying low and fast toward the battle.
• Sun Wen led the exhausted transport workers up the mountain with urgently needed supplies, refusing to let them stop for every falling body or escaping Demon Beast.
• The convoy suffered heavy losses before reaching the pass, where Sun Wen delivered the crates and carried a wounded soldier back down the mountain.
• Sun Wen saw that Sun Dahu was gravely wounded and had lost his left arm, then organized the workers to transport the wounded to the nearest town.
• Sun Dahu clutched his flute in his right hand as Zhu Yan kept Qi Changshan occupied by attacking the city wall whenever he tried to intervene.

Sun Dahu unleashed his Eighth Technique, Swan Song, to imprison Bifang and give Dawn Pass’s defenders a chance to counterattack. He died when the technique ended, and Bifang emerged gravely wounded before ordering the Demon Beasts to storm the pass again.

• Bifang wounded Sun Dahu repeatedly as the Demon Beasts pressed their attack on Dawn Pass.
• Sun Dahu restored his strength and shattered his golden flute, activating Swan Song and asking Qi Changshan to take over.
• Swan Song confused the Demon Beasts, held Bifang inside a spatial prison, and briefly let the soldiers counterattack.
• Sun Dahu smoked a cigarette as the flute fragments vanished, then died when the technique’s final movement shattered the space around Bifang.
• Bifang crawled out severely injured and ordered the Demon Beasts to break through Dawn Pass and slaughter the humans.
• The Demon Beasts renewed their assault and quickly erased the advantage gained during Sun Dahu’s final stand.

Dawn Pass fell as Bifang and Zhu Yan opened breaches that let tens of thousands of Demon Beasts pour into human territory. Reinforcements stopped the Beast Tide and drove the demons back, but many escaped deeper inland; after the Demon Clan withdrew, Qi Changshan ordered an investigation into how the enemy learned Sun Dahu’s abilities.

• Bifang joined Zhu Yan in attacking Dawn Pass, and Demon Beasts rushed through the breaches into human territory.
• Lu Tongtian tried to stop Bifang with his Time Wheel but was struck down, while Qi Changshan counted down the final minute before reinforcements arrived.
• Soldiers from Demon-Suppressing Pass, Ghost Gate, and Dome Pass plugged the breaches, and Yuan Qingshan fought Bifang in the void.
• The defenders and Border Army pushed the Beast Tide away from Dawn Pass, but many Demon Beasts broke through and battled city defenders for several days.
• Bifang withdrew with Zhu Yan after the Demon Clan had sent tens of thousands of beasts across the border.
• Qi Changshan ordered Yu Mo to investigate how the Demon Domain learned Sun Dahu’s awakening skills, then left to hunt escaped beasts as Yuan Qingshan sat beside Sun Dahu’s body.

After the Human Race repelled the Demon Domain’s second attack, Yuan Qingshan honored the fallen Sun Dahu while both sides prepared for the Third Battle. The Eight-Tailed Fox planned a full assault on Demon-Suppressing Pass, and Yu Mo concluded that the outcome depended on Yu Sheng as the Human Race struggled with mounting losses and fatigue.

• Yuan Qingshan mourned Sun Dahu, promised to protect Sun Wen, and saluted him as a defending general of Dawn Pass before the soldiers honored his body.
• The Human Race finished its post-battle response, redeployed troops to Dawn Pass, and began clearing Demon Beasts from its territory.
• The Eight-Tailed Fox prepared to attack Demon-Suppressing Pass in the Third Battle with those he had cultivated, expecting the Human Race to have exhausted its trump cards.
• Yu Mo judged that his schemes could no longer turn the war and that Yu Sheng was his final trump card, whose success or failure would determine the Human Race’s fate.
• Kong Hongfang continued defending Dome Pass as his lifespan dwindled, Qi Changshan took charge at Dawn Pass, Chu Yu remained unconscious, and Ghost Gate’s soldiers held their positions.
• The Human Race showed signs of fatigue and risked weakening its rear defenses if it had to send Eighth Awakening personnel from essential posts to the front.

As the Human Race hid the losses at Dawn Pass and encouraged civilians to celebrate the coming new year, Lu Xiao struggled with office work after Chu Huai left him alone with the documents. Meanwhile, Yu Sheng explored Swamp Pool with the Demon Beast and gathered rare demon plants, leaving the exhausted creature with nothing more to show him.

• The Ink Pavilion announced Spring Festival events and kept reports of Dawn Pass's fall from spreading, while Lu Xiao worried that civilians were growing overconfident.
• Chu Huai defended keeping the war's grim truth from civilians for now, then tricked Lu Xiao into handling his documents and left the office.
• Lu Xiao failed to understand the official paperwork, regretted leaving Sin City, and turned on a TV drama instead.
• At Swamp Pool, Yu Sheng collected several sacks of demon plants during a day-long tour of the Mountain Cave with the Demon Beast.
• Yu Sheng asked the Demon Beast if it knew of anything else, but the exhausted creature shook its head.

Yu Sheng pressured the Demon Beast to reveal the Ten Thousand Poisons Fruit, but it denied knowing where it was. He then exposed the false threat inside a dark cave and discovered a strange heart, leaving the Demon Beast’s connection to the cave and its blindness uncertain.

• Yu Sheng noticed the Demon Beast react to the Ten Thousand Poisons Fruit and accused it of knowing where it was, but it kept shaking its head.
• Yu Sheng returned to the main Mountain Cave and reasoned that the threatening auras around the flourishing demon plants were fake.
• Yu Sheng tied a flashlight to the Demon Beast and forced it toward the dark cave entrance.
• Yu Sheng discovered a giant crocodile skeleton with a black, red-marked heart suspended in its center.
• Yu Sheng asked the Demon Beast to fetch the heart, and it panicked, making him question whether it was truly blind or had known about the heart all along.

Yu Sheng tested the Demon Beast’s knowledge, got it to retrieve a black heart from a cave, and tricked it into revealing that another cave held the pale-blue Ten Thousand Poisons Fruit. He made the resentful creature lead him through the Mountain Cave, leaving it terrified after warning that he would punish it if it tried to mislead him.

• Yu Sheng questioned the trembling Demon Beast, which entered a cave and pulled a black heart from a skeleton that crumbled to ash.
• Yu Sheng tested the Demon Beast by naming possible colors of the Ten Thousand Poisons Fruit, and its reaction to “pale blue” revealed the fruit’s color.
• Yu Sheng asked whether other caves held hearts, and the Demon Beast’s reflexive headshake gave away that it knew the routes.
• The Demon Beast led Yu Sheng through the Mountain Cave, but Yu Sheng corrected it when it tried to take a longer route.
• Yu Sheng warned the Demon Beast that he would get angry if it deceived him, then said he had sunk hundreds of Demon Beasts in the lake outside.

Yu Sheng examined the Mountain Caves’ blackened organs and deduced they belonged to Demon Beasts whose Demon Cores and Demon Crystals had fused with their organs after passing through the Swamp Pool. Suspecting the blind, captive creature was the local Demon Lord, he persuaded it to talk, then immediately left it baffled by asking what they should discuss.

• Yu Sheng found a black liver inside a skeleton and revisited the caves, discovering that the remains held duplicated organs, mostly hearts, alongside skeletons.
• Yu Sheng theorized that the organs came from dead Demon Beasts and that their Demon Cores and Demon Crystals had fused into them after they survived the Swamp Pool.
• Yu Sheng speculated that the mutations were being hidden as a weapon against the Human Race or as a way for the local Demon Lord to advance, and the creature reacted with alarm.
• Yu Sheng guessed that the creature was the Demon Lord and asked it to talk; the pupil-less creature agreed after he loosened the Fishing Line around its neck.
• Yu Sheng asked what they should talk about, leaving the creature visibly exasperated as Gray Aura poured from its head.

Yu Sheng questioned Feng, the master of the Swamp Pool, about why it had approached him and learned that Feng wanted revenge on those who corrupted the pool and stole its Ten Thousand Poisons Fruit. Feng offered to help Yu Sheng reclaim the fruit and overthrow the Demon Domain, but Yu Sheng suspected it was lying and tightened the Fishing Line around its neck.

• Yu Sheng asked Feng why it had deliberately approached him, and Feng admitted it had lowered the stone tablet after sensing his arrival.
• Yu Sheng asked where the stone tablet was and said he wanted to use it as a gravestone, while Feng warned that moving it would sink the island.
• Feng introduced itself by that name and explained that others had corrupted the Swamp Pool, killed its subjects, and taken its Ten Thousand Poisons Fruit.
• Feng claimed it had a contingency to reclaim the fruit and offered to serve as a human agent against the Demon Domain.
• Yu Sheng called Feng's story implausible and tightened the Fishing Line around its neck, saying he hated it when people lied.

Yu Sheng forced Feng to admit it had lied about being the master of the Swamp Pool, then questioned it about its condition. Feng explained that a curse from cultivating the Ten Thousand Poisons Fruit had weakened and transformed it, and that it fled after a mysterious intruder nearly killed it.

• Yu Sheng repeatedly threatened Feng with the Fishing Line until Feng confessed that it was not the master of the Swamp Pool.
• Yu Sheng concluded Feng really was the Demon Lord of the Swamp Pool after observing its Gray Aura.
• Feng said the Ten Thousand Poisons Fruit’s poisonous gas had cursed it, weakened its strength, and disrupted its Demon Aura.
• Feng described fleeing a mysterious intruder that had entered the Swamp Pool and nearly killed it with a single look.
• Feng said moles blinded it while it lay injured, and vowed to make their generations suffer and feed them to its subjects when it returned.

Yu Sheng learned that the creature had concealed the Ten Thousand Poisons Fruit’s location and tried to lure him into a partnership, but he refused to trust its scheme. As Yu Sheng dragged it toward the lake, it appeared to die, and he suspected it was faking its death.

• The creature explained that Mole controlled the Swamp Pool and was trying to force it to reveal the Ten Thousand Poisons Fruit’s location.
• Yu Sheng asked whether taking the stone tablet would expose the creature, then learned the tablet anchored the protective array and could not be destroyed by human strength.
• Yu Sheng led the creature toward the lake to test an idea, and it begged him to cooperate in finding the Ten Thousand Poisons Fruit.
• Yu Sheng accused the creature of manipulating him and said he would rather kill it and search alone than risk being used.
• The creature said Yu Sheng had underestimated it, then fell motionless with its breathing stopped.
• Yu Sheng suspected the creature was pretending to suffocate because it was still speaking.

Yu Sheng tried to flush the hidden Demon Lord out of the Mountain Cave by bombarding it, then poured poisonous lake water through the sealed entrance. The Demon Lord’s threats stopped as the corrosive water spread through the caverns.

• Yu Sheng inspected the corpse and concluded it might be a clone, then heard the hidden Demon Lord threaten to slaughter the people at Demon-Suppressing Pass.
• Yu Sheng pushed a cart of bombs through the Mountain Cave, collapsing caverns as he searched for the Demon Lord.
• After the Demon Lord warned that destroying the cave would make them both die, Yu Sheng left the cave and continued bombing its entrance from Lakeheart Island.
• A stone stele sealed the passage, and the Demon Lord mocked Yu Sheng and vowed to torment him when it escaped the Swamp Pool.
• Yu Sheng poured bucket after bucket of foul, energy-laden lake water into cracks around the stele, and the Demon Lord’s voice abruptly fell silent as the water spread and corroded the cave.