Chapter Summaries

Ji Hong confronted the Red Dragon Demon God at Peach Blossom Pool and demanded the Black Flood Dragon Demon God's Demon Crystal to help him enter the Demon God Realm. He offered to lead a deadly assault on the Human Race, leaving the Demon Gods to consider his proposal.

• The Red Dragon Demon God warned Ji Hong that leaving Peach Blossom Pool could bring bloodshed to Skyvault Ravine and asked whether he would accept the consequences of failure.
• Ji Hong declared that he intended to become the lord of Skyvault Ravine and eventually a Demon God who would invade the Human Race's lands.
• Ji Hong offered the Demon Gods a Heaven and Earth Oath, claiming his campaign could reveal the Human Race's strength and give the Demon Domain a chance to annihilate it.
• Ji Hong asked the Demon Gods to lend him the Black Flood Dragon Demon God's Demon Crystal so he could forge his body with divine blood and break through.
• Ji Hong insisted that he alone sought death, while the Red Dragon Demon God remained silent after calling his ambition too great.

Ji Hong forced the Demon Gods to gamble on his ambition, swearing to slaughter the Human Race if they gave him a Demon God crystal and threatening the Demon Domain if they refused. They gave him the crystal and golden blood, and Ji Hong left Peach Blossom Pool looking ahead to his next reckoning with Old White Ape.

• Ji Hong swore a Heaven and Earth Oath to bathe the Human Race in blood if he became a Demon God, while warning that he would turn on the Demon Clan if the Demon Gods did not kill him.
• The Red Dragon Demon God warned Ji Hong that breaking his oath would bring the Bone Erosion Punishment, but Ji Hong declared that he feared nothing.
• The Demon Gods sent Ji Hong a seven-colored Demon Crystal and a mass of golden blood, and he accepted them.
• Ji Hong reflected that the Demon Gods had gambled on him, wondered what plans Old White Ape had laid in Skyvault Ravine, and anticipated their next meeting.
• Ji Hong said he had arrived in Skyvault Ravine and stepped out of Peach Blossom Pool as the peach tree's branches swayed behind him.

Ji Hong entered Skyvault Ravine, killed a Demon King who tried to bar his way, and confronted Eight-Tailed Fox with a demand to stay in Qingqiu. He left for a distant mountain, while Eight-Tailed Fox revealed that both of them had practiced an ancient cultivation technique and resolved to avoid any disruption until it reached the Demon God Realm.

• Ji Hong arrived at Skyvault Ravine and killed the Demon King guarding the gate after it blocked his entry.
• Ji Hong called out to Eight-Tailed Fox, which publicly declared that the Demon King deserved to die for insulting him.
• Ji Hong entered Barbarian City and asked Eight-Tailed Fox where Skyvault Ravine's loveliest scenery was; Eight-Tailed Fox named Peach Blossom Pool.
• Ji Hong said he preferred Qingqiu and asked to stay there, prompting Eight-Tailed Fox to offer the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan's home to him.
• Ji Hong declined the offer, criticized the foxes' stench, and left toward a distant mountain.
• Eight-Tailed Fox resolved to avoid mishaps until it entered the Demon God Realm and realized Ji Hong had also practiced the ancient cultivation technique.

Ji Hong secluded himself after confronting Skyvault Ravine, while Old White Ape left the ravine and advanced to the demon king peak realm. In Barbarian City, Yu Sheng postponed the auction by ten days, and Sun Wen declared that their group would establish order there.

• Ji Hong sat on the mountain with the Demon God's Crystal Stone and secluded himself from the outside world.
• Old White Ape departed Skyvault Ravine, reached the demon king peak realm, and headed into the Demon Plain.
• Yu Sheng announced that the auction would be postponed by ten days and threatened to tear up the Invitation Letter until the Demon Beasts protested.
• Yu Sheng put the Invitation Letter away, revealed the Divine Beast Blood in the Mountains and Rivers Bottle, and left the platform.
• Sun Wen explained that the delay served their plan and declared that his group would impose rules and bring quiet to Barbarian City.

Sun Wen questioned why the forces at Skyvault Ravine had made only a weak effort to stop the group in Barbarian City. Shi Guang tested his assumptions about how the Demon Lord and Old White Ape would act, leaving Sun Wen to reconsider the motives and preparations behind their conflict.

• Yu Sheng returned to the room and confirmed that nothing unexpected had happened.
• Sun Wen explained that an unspoken set of rules bound the group, the Demon Beasts, and the figures at Skyvault Ravine, and breaking those rules would mean death.
• Sun Wen wondered why the Skyvault Ravine forces had only monopolized Barbarian City and blocked the auction instead of eliminating the group.
• Shi Guang asked Sun Wen how he would respond as Demon Lord to Old White Ape's challenge, and Sun Wen said he would retaliate forcefully to protect his authority.
• Shi Guang asked when Old White Ape would choose to provoke the Demon Lord, and Sun Wen concluded that Old White Ape would need thorough preparations, a strong chance of success, and a way to limit losses and avoid the Demon God's wrath.

Sun Wen analyzed Old White Ape’s likely strategy in Barbarian City, but became overwhelmed trying to understand why Old White Ape was prolonging the conflict. Shi Guang knocked him unconscious, and Lin Xiaoxiao, A Tai, and Big White offered their own carefree solution.

• Sun Wen concluded that Old White Ape had sent his disciples to Barbarian City under Ji Hong’s name to prove his intelligence to the Demon God.
• Sun Wen reconsidered the plan and grew distressed when he could not understand why Old White Ape was dragging out the conflict with Eight-Tailed Fox.
• Shi Guang knocked Sun Wen unconscious, and Yu Sheng explained that his mind had overloaded from analyzing the Demon Domain.
• Lin Xiaoxiao imagined that Old White Ape would escape to a mountain and live quietly, while A Tai and Big White agreed with her.
• Xiao Nan questioned whether the three had really graduated from Ink Academy.

Sun Wen woke and concluded that Old White Ape and Eight-Tailed Fox were using Barbarian City as a decoy for a hidden objective. He proposed exploiting their need for time by making money from their attacks while leaving their killing moves intact.

• Xiao Nan and Zhao Zicheng exchanged barbed compliments about Ink Academy and Sin City while waiting for Sun Wen to wake.
• Sun Wen woke at night, then reasoned that Barbarian City was only a smoke bomb and wondered what Old White Ape was relying on against Ji Hong.
• Zhao Zicheng drenched Sun Wen with cold water to stop him from exhausting himself, while Yu Sheng put the basin away in the Mountains and Rivers Bottle.
• After calming down, Sun Wen concluded that Old White Ape and Eight-Tailed Fox did not care about Barbarian City and would not use their attacks to kill them.
• Sun Wen proposed leaving the enemies' killing moves intact and exploiting their need for time to make a fortune in a tacit partnership.

Sun Wen urged the group to exploit Old White Ape’s delayed information and create turmoil in Barbarian City, but Old White Ape arrived in person and waited outside its gates. Yu Sheng and the others met him openly, and Sun Wen declared that risking his life was worth it.

• Sun Wen vowed to stir up chaos in Barbarian City and use Old White Ape’s information delay to win their contest.
• Old White Ape called from outside the city, asking to meet Yu Sheng, and Zhao Zicheng teased Sun Wen about his arrival.
• Sun Wen decided they should meet Old White Ape openly without fully following his wishes.
• After waiting outside the closed gates, Old White Ape watched Yu Sheng emerge with Zhao Zicheng, Shi Guang, and a reluctant Beast Tide behind him.
• Old White Ape identified Sun Wen as the likely planner and questioned whether risking his life was worth it.
• Sun Wen said he had asked his heart and it told him the risk was worth it, drawing Old White Ape’s interest.

Old White Ape argued with Sun Wen about the conflict between humans and demons, then recognized Xiao Nan among the demon beasts and revealed his long-held grudge against him. He threatened to kill Xiao Nan over a deception involving a burial shroud and wedding robe.

• Old White Ape claimed humans had forced other races to unite as demons and proposed peace under a rotating ruler based in Skyvault Ravine.
• Sun Wen rejected Old White Ape’s argument, blaming the Demon Clan’s slaughter for the conflict and invoking the bloodshed at Demon-Suppressing Pass.
• Old White Ape dismissed the debate as a conflict of interests and teased Sun Wen about being too serious.
• Old White Ape spotted Xiao Nan, identified him as Sikong Nan, and revealed he had investigated him for two years.
• Old White Ape threatened to kill Xiao Nan and dress him in the burial shroud Xiao Nan had sold him, while wearing the wedding robe himself.
• Xiao Nan nervously offered a refund and compensation as Old White Ape accused him of deceiving him for five years and three months.

Old White Ape rejected Xiao Nan’s explanation for the outfits and offered Yu Sheng a chance to leave Barbarian City peacefully. He gave the Human Race’s Fifth Generation three days to withdraw or die, then revealed he had about twenty Skyvault Ravine Invitation Letters.

• Xiao Nan tried to pass off the burial-like outfits as high art, but Old White Ape saw through him and vowed to remember the insult.
• Old White Ape offered Yu Sheng the auction items as a greeting gift if he left Barbarian City, saying he wanted to avoid offending Ji Hong.
• Old White Ape told Sun Wen that Barbarian City was vital to his resistance against Eight-Tailed Fox and threatened to kill the Human Race’s Fifth Generation if they stayed.
• Sun Wen considered Old White Ape’s warning while Old White Ape set a three-day deadline for them to withdraw or die.
• Old White Ape produced around twenty Skyvault Ravine Invitation Letters and asked how many lives they could buy.

Old White Ape outmaneuvered Sun Wen and gave the Human Race three days to meet his demands while surrounding Yu Sheng’s group with hostile Demon Beasts. Inside a sealed building, Yu Sheng proposed killing Old White Ape, but the Mountain-Guarding Old Man warned that doing so would violate Skyvault Ravine’s rules.

• Old White Ape displayed the Invitation Letters, threatened to give the Human Race only three days, and sat down as Demon Beasts surrounded Yu Sheng’s group.
• Sun Wen admitted Old White Ape had trapped him in verbal snares, then lay down and fell asleep to regain his composure.
• Yu Sheng suggested killing Old White Ape, and Zhao Zicheng considered whether the plan was feasible.
• Yu Sheng proposed having someone at the eighth awakening kill Old White Ape, prompting the Mountain-Guarding Old Man to reveal himself.
• The Mountain-Guarding Old Man and Zhao Zicheng warned that leaving Barbarian City to attack Old White Ape would break the rules and provoke Skyvault Ravine.

Yu Sheng refused to involve the Mountain-Guarding Old Man in his conflict with Skyvault Ravine and persuaded Xiao Nan to leave the city by promising him a chance to join the Black Market. With Demon Beasts surrounding the building, Yu Sheng beat a vulture in full view of them and told them they were too noisy.

• Yu Sheng apologized to the Mountain-Guarding Old Man for asking him to help kill the hostile creature, then refused the old man's offer to fight it himself.
• Yu Sheng convinced Xiao Nan to leave the city by offering to invite him into the Black Market, while Shi Guang explained that Xiao Nan needed to prove his usefulness to earn a share of Barbarian City.
• Shi Guang pointed out that Xiao Nan might later use the promise to accuse Yu Sheng of setting him up and demand a share of Barbarian City.
• Yu Sheng walked outside, grabbed a vulture, dragged it into the building, and beat it while the surrounding Demon Beasts watched.
• Yu Sheng tossed the dying vulture outside and told the Demon Beasts they were a bit noisy.

Yu Sheng silenced the Demon Beasts in Barbarian City while Zhao Zicheng worried that he and Yu Sheng needed Sun Wen’s judgment to survive. Outside the city, Xiao Nan challenged Old White Ape’s motives, only to learn that Old White Ape no longer needed the Human Race.

• Yu Sheng struck the Vulture for making noise, then shut the door and silenced the Demon Beasts.
• Zhao Zicheng wished Sun Wen would wake up and lead the group through Barbarian City.
• Xiao Nan left Barbarian City and confronted Old White Ape, who made the city disappear around them.
• Xiao Nan argued that Old White Ape would not kill him because doing so would cost him the Human Race’s cooperation.
• Old White Ape praised Xiao Nan’s reasoning but revealed that he had once kept the Human Race as a fallback and no longer needed them.

Xiao Nan endured Old White Ape’s pressure and earned the Demon King’s interest by revealing his ruthless past. He proposed an alliance and offered the Ten Thousand Poisons Fruit as leverage, leaving Old White Ape to consider the deal.

• Old White Ape threatened to kill Xiao Nan, but Xiao Nan stood firm and demanded that he either let him stand or kill him.
• Old White Ape withdrew his pressure and asked what Xiao Nan had done to the man who tortured him; Xiao Nan described desecrating the man’s corpse after he died.
• Old White Ape returned Xiao Nan to the gates of Barbarian City and confirmed that he was a genuine Demon King.
• Xiao Nan proposed cooperation, arguing that Old White Ape wanted to survive while he wanted wealth.
• Old White Ape agreed to consider working together if Xiao Nan proved his worth, and Xiao Nan named the Ten Thousand Poisons Fruit.
• When Old White Ape asked what he would do if he refused, Xiao Nan said he would not look up to someone who offered him no benefit.

Xiao Nan struck a cautious partnership with Old White Ape, then returned to Human Race territory. After waking, Sun Wen worried that Old White Ape was manipulating the crisis in Barbarian City and learned that Yu Sheng had already sent Xiao Nan to call for help.

• Xiao Nan accepted the risk of dealing with Old White Ape, and they clasped hands and discussed a partnership.
• Old White Ape warned Xiao Nan to work hard, then vanished and later returned to his boulder.
• Sun Wen woke and speculated that Old White Ape wanted to draw the entire Human Race into a larger conflict over Barbarian City.
• Yu Sheng gave Sun Wen water from the Mountains and Rivers Bottle, and Sun Wen complained that it tasted like tap water.
• Sun Wen said he planned to return to Human Race territory, but Yu Sheng told him Xiao Nan had already gone to call for help.
• Sun Wen suspected Yu Sheng had sent Xiao Nan to find his father, a powerful Ninth Awakening expert.

Yu Sheng explained why he had contacted the Black Market to help manage Barbarian City, while Sun Wen analyzed how their arrival would shape the conflict. Watching his friends trust his plans without worry, Sun Wen began to fear that their dependence on him would leave them in danger if he died.

• Yu Sheng told Sun Wen that he had contacted the Black Market to manage Barbarian City, and predicted that Old Black would likely come rather than someone at the Ninth Awakening.
• Sun Wen reasoned that the Black Market's arrival would establish the conflict as a contest between junior members while keeping the Human Race's and Demon Race's senior leaders involved.
• A Tai, Lin Xiaoxiao, Mu Yu, the Mountain-Guarding Old Man, and Big White played cards while Yu Sheng and Sun Wen discussed the situation.
• Yu Sheng told Sun Wen that the others' carefree behavior showed how completely they trusted him.
• Sun Wen admitted that he regretted how much his companions had come to depend on his plans, fearing they would face disaster if he died.

Yu Sheng reassured Sun Wen that his friends could live well without him, and Sun Wen asked him to care for A Tai if he died. Outside Barbarian City, Old White Ape killed two Six-Tailed Foxes and forced the last one to carry a threatening message to Eight-Tailed Fox in Skyvault Ravine.

• Yu Sheng told Sun Wen that Zhao Zicheng, Lin Xiaoxiao, and Mu Yu had managed well without him, and Sun Wen reluctantly agreed.
• Sun Wen said A Tai would live well while he was alive and asked Yu Sheng to look after A Tai if he died; Yu Sheng agreed.
• Three Six-Tailed Foxes arrived at Barbarian City and demanded that its guards open the gate, unaware that Old White Ape was nearby.
• Old White Ape revealed himself and killed the first Six-Tailed Fox with his demon aura.
• Old White Ape killed a second Six-Tailed Fox and ordered the survivor to tell Eight-Tailed Fox to abandon the Demon Lord's throne or die.
• Old White Ape planted demon aura in the last Six-Tailed Fox and sent it racing toward Skyvault Ravine with the message.

Old White Ape argued to the Demon God that the Demon Clan should keep fighting the Human Race instead of waiting for its long lifespan to secure victory. After identifying the Demon God as the Nine-Tailed Fox, he faced its killing intent and claimed it was also dissatisfied with Eight-Tailed Fox.

• Old White Ape explained that the Demon Clan’s long lifespan and strength gave it an advantage, but warned that the Human Race could grow rapidly if left unchallenged.
• Old White Ape condemned Eight-Tailed Fox’s three-year retreat and said he had focused on Skyvault Ravine politics rather than understanding the Human Race.
• Old White Ape addressed the Demon God as the Lord Nine-Tailed Fox Demon God, prompting it to ask how he had identified it.
• The Demon God threatened Old White Ape for killing two of its clansmen, mocking its descendant, and intending to replace him.
• Old White Ape stood firm and said the Demon God would have killed him already if it truly wanted him dead, then suggested it had long been dissatisfied with Eight-Tailed Fox.

Old White Ape tried to convince the Nine-Tailed Fox that he wanted only to survive as a compliant Demon Domain Lord and that the Eight-Tailed Fox posed a threat to them both. The Nine-Tailed Fox then asked whether Ji Hong was a Human Race undercover agent, and Old White Ape denied it.

• Old White Ape argued that the Eight-Tailed Fox sought to become a Demon God, threatening the Nine-Tailed Fox and the balance among the Demon Gods.
• Old White Ape offered to eliminate the Eight-Tailed Fox and claimed he had no ambitions beyond living safely as Demon Domain Lord.
• Old White Ape explained that he would accept remaining a Demon King if that reassured the Demon Gods, and said he had never used his authority to pursue power.
• The Nine-Tailed Fox asked whether Ji Hong was a Human Race undercover agent, and Old White Ape answered that Ji Hong disliked the Human Race.

Old White Ape endured the Nine-Tailed Fox’s test over whether Ji Hong was a Human Race undercover agent, first refusing to betray him and then reversing his answer to escape an apparent death. The Nine-Tailed Fox allowed him to compete for the Demon Lord Seat without assistance, and Old White Ape returned to the city gate shaken but alive.

• The Nine-Tailed Fox asked Old White Ape whether Ji Hong was a Human Race undercover agent, and Old White Ape firmly denied it.
• The Nine-Tailed Fox let cracks close in on Old White Ape, who remained resolute until he was on the verge of death.
• When the Nine-Tailed Fox offered to save him if he changed his answer, Old White Ape admitted Ji Hong was an undercover agent and begged to live.
• Old White Ape found himself unharmed after the ordeal and told the Nine-Tailed Fox that he would cooperate if it meant survival.
• The Nine-Tailed Fox permitted Old White Ape to compete for the Demon Lord Seat but refused to help him or shield Eight-Tailed Fox.
• Old White Ape returned to the city gate, restrained himself from striking a concerned guard, and claimed that something had gone wrong with his cultivation.