Chapter Summaries

Chen Shuangbai joined True Lord Xuanyuan and the other cultivators as three sword talismans opened a gateway to the sword stele’s secret realm. He studied the stele’s sword marks and entered a vision of a blue-robed sword immortal, where a surge of sword light swept through him.

• Chen Shuangbai learned that True Person Lingxing and True Person Yinghua of the Mystic Radiance Sect held the other two sword talismans.
• True Lord Xuanyuan brought Chen Shuangbai and Chen Y uzi into the palace and explained that they could behold a summoned treasure for one stick of incense.
• True Lord Xuanyuan, True Person Lingxing, and True Person Yinghua joined their talismans to form a platinum gateway, and Chen Shuangbai sent his Divine Sense inside.
• Chen Shuangbai reached a blue-gold sword stele bearing three sword marks and focused on the elusive final mark.
• Chen Shuangbai saw a blue-robed sword immortal beneath peach blossoms, heard a Daoist song, and watched platinum sword light sweep toward him.

After gaining insights from the sword talisman, Chen Shuangbai sought a Flowing Light Flame Bird at the Profound Firmament Sect and learned its owner, Han Zhao, was worried about his newborn son's illness. Chen Shuangbai reached Han Zhao's Crimson Flame Peak and offered to help, leaving their meeting about to begin.

• Chen Shuangbai awoke from viewing the sword talisman, thanked the gathered cultivators, and exchanged contact information with True Person Lingxing.
• Chen Shuangbai asked Zhao Shiyong about finding a Flowing Light Flame Bird and learned that its owner, Han Zhao, was a rival of Zhao Shiyong within the Profound Firmament Sect.
• Zhao Shiyong told Chen Shuangbai that Han Zhao's newborn son had suffered damage to his vitality and suggested that Jade Spring Sect's healing arts might help.
• Chen Shuangbai gave Zhao Shiyong a bottle of Mystic Light Illuminating Life Pills and traveled to Crimson Flame Peak with Zhao Shiyong's letter.
• Chen Shuangbai offered to examine Han Zhao's son's illness, and Han Zhao emerged from his cave abode to meet him.

Chen Shuangbai examined Han Zhao’s infant son and refined pills to cure the child’s fire poison. In return, Han Zhao gave Chen Shuangbai a Flowing Light Flame Bird, and the two forged a friendship despite their different alliances.

• Chen Shuangbai examined Han Zhao’s son and found that damaged vital Qi had turned the infant’s innate Fire Qi into fire poison.
• Chen Shuangbai gathered spirit medicines and spent seven days refining Water Abode Infant Restoration Pills.
• Han Zhao gave his son a pill, saw his condition improve, and learned how to complete the treatment with the remaining pills.
• Han Zhao presented Chen Shuangbai with a Flowing Light Flame Bird in gratitude for saving his son.
• Chen Shuangbai and Han Zhao agreed to keep visiting and discussing the Dao despite their ties to opposing factions.

Chen Shuangbai left the Profound Firmament Sect with Gao Yi and Fang Xiao, carrying gifts from Zhao Shiyong and reflecting on the sword insights he had gained. A nuo-masked stranger lured him to a guarded valley with a scrap of Chen Yazhen’s vestment and asked him to bring the Jade Spring Sect’s Azure Yi Mystic Cauldron.

• Zhao Shiyong gave Chen Shuangbai four jade boxes as gifts for his inner disciples, and Chen Shuangbai departed in the flood dragon carriage with Gao Yi and Fang Xiao.
• Chen Shuangbai continued deducing sword techniques from the sword stele and reflected that the sword immortal’s philosophy might help him comprehend Sword Intent.
• A disguised nuo-masked stranger blocked the carriage, showed Chen Shuangbai a scrap of Chen Yazhen’s vestment, and invited him to talk in a nearby valley.
• Chen Shuangbai followed the stranger into a valley protected by a third-tier grand formation and questioned their purpose.
• The stranger asked Chen Shuangbai to bring the Jade Spring Sect’s Azure Yi Mystic Cauldron, claiming its precious liquid increased the chance of Core Formation by twenty percent.

Chen Shuangbai confronted a Nuo-masked man who claimed to hold his second disciple Yazhen and demanded the Azure Yi Mystic Cauldron. Chen Shuangbai trapped the visitor in a Supreme Yin illusion and, after the man destroyed his own clone with peach-scarlet fire, kept part of the mask and the remaining flame.

• The Nuo-masked man named the Azure Yi Mystic Cauldron and demanded it in exchange for Yazhen’s safe return.
• Chen Shuangbai realized someone in the Jade Spring Sect had leaked information and suspected the man had only a scrap of Yazhen’s robe, not Yazhen herself.
• Chen Shuangbai revealed that the valley was an illusion and confronted the Nuo-masked man inside his Supreme Yin domain.
• The Nuo-masked man unleashed a blade array, but his attacks passed through Chen Shuangbai’s illusory form.
• The Nuo-masked man admitted defeat, warned that a more formidable opponent would come, and burned himself up with peach-scarlet fire.
• Chen Shuangbai preserved half of the Nuo mask and sealed the last wisp of flame in ice-crystal amber, realizing the visitor had been a clone.

After returning to the Jade Spring Sect, Chen Shuangbai reported the ambush and learned that the masked attackers might be connected to the long-destroyed Datura Tower. True Lord Qingchen gave him a method to purge the demonic light within him, and Chen Shuangbai visited Tang Yu to support his coming Foundation Establishment.

• Chen Shuangbai learned from Profound Firmament Sect disciples that several Dharma assembly attendees had been ambushed by attackers wearing nuo masks, and he asked them to pass news to the Jade Spring Sect.
• Chen Shuangbai reported his journey and the ambush to True Lord Qingchen, who identified the mask as resembling those used by the Datura Tower, an organization eradicated a thousand years earlier.
• Chen Shuangbai suggested someone might be using the Datura Tower's name, and True Lord Qingchen arranged an investigation, promised to strengthen Jade Screen Peak's defenses, and told him to avoid leaving the sect.
• True Lord Qingchen gave Chen Shuangbai a Jade Slip containing a method to eradicate the demonic light within him.
• Chen Shuangbai visited Deer Deep Waters Peak, where he gave Tang Yu cultivation supplies, Foundation Establishment notes, and a ritual implement to support his approaching breakthrough.

Chen Shuangbai used the Flowing Light Flame Bird to remove the demonic light from his Golden Core and then considered how to help Feiguang attempt Golden Core. The chapter ended with a messenger reporting that Yan Nanlai had betrayed the Jade Spring Sect and caused casualties.

• Chen Shuangbai released the Flowing Light Flame Bird, which swallowed the demonic light covering his Golden Core and cured his lingering affliction.
• Chen Shuangbai welcomed the peak's spirit beasts to celebrate, while Feiguang eyed the Flowing Light Flame Bird jealously until Chen Shuangbai told him it had helped.
• Feiguang asked Chen Shuangbai for permission to attempt Golden Core, and Chen Shuangbai advised him to wait while he sought safer methods from True Lord Qingchen.
• A messenger arrived from the sect and reported that someone had defected and caused casualties.
• The messenger identified the traitor as Yan Nanlai, and Chen Shuangbai reacted with disbelief.

Chen Shuangbai learned that Yan Nanlai had defected from the Jade Spring Sect after harming and controlling fellow disciples, and the sect investigated the damage he had caused. True Lord Qingchen revealed that Yan Nanlai had escaped his attempt to capture him, leading Chen Shuangbai to suspect that Yan Nanlai was secretly in the Nascent Soul Realm.

• Wu Ping confirmed that Yan Nanlai had tortured Deputy Hall Master Dong Lüqi, stolen pill formulas and pills, and damaged her foundation beyond repair.
• Chen Shuangbai learned that Yan Nanlai had controlled several senior Foundation Establishment cultivators, while True Lord Qingchen had suppressed them and confined them for treatment.
• Wu Ping reported that six inner disciples on Heavenly Spring Peak had been found dead with their souls devoured, and True Lord Qingchen said Yan Heng had been imprisoned for questioning.
• Chen Shuangbai urged the sect to investigate before deciding Yan Heng's guilt and demanded that Yan Nanlai's crimes be punished severely.
• True Lord Qingchen told Chen Shuangbai that Yan Nanlai had escaped his attempt to capture him, prompting Chen Shuangbai to suspect Yan Nanlai had concealed a Nascent Soul cultivation.

After Yan Nanlai escaped with the Azure Yi Mystic Cauldron and a sealed demonic scripture, True Lord Qingchen and Chen Shuangbai discovered how dangerous the scripture was and tightened security throughout the Jade Spring Sect. Chen Shuangbai later told Yan Heng what he had learned, and she was left consumed by the revelation that Yan Nanlai had deceived her all her life.

• Yan Nanlai escaped with the Azure Yi Mystic Cauldron, pills, pill formulas, and the Golden Book of Desire Realm Celestial Person Transformation.
• Chen Shuangbai spoke the demonic scripture's full name and briefly lost control of his soul before True Lord Qingchen warned him not to say it aloud.
• True Lord Qingchen overhauled the sect's formations and patrols as the Jade Spring Sect purged suspected infiltrators and investigated Yan Nanlai's fabricated identity.
• Chen Shuangbai visited Yan Heng in the Three Yin Cave and told her that Yan Nanlai had escaped and deceived the sect.
• Yan Heng cried out that Yan Nanlai had lied to her throughout her life.

Chen Shuangbai learned that Yan Nanlai had betrayed Jade Spring Sect, while Yi Chongyue and Shi Yubai emerged from seclusion after successfully forming Golden Cores. The Holy Origin Alliance then invaded Ning Country and destroyed its four sects, leaving survivors in exile and Xu Zhi surrendering.

• Chen Shuangbai arranged for the guards to treat Yan Heng leniently in Three Yin Cave, though he could do little else about her suffering or Yan Nanlai's escape.
• Yi Chongyue formed a fourth-grade Golden Core and Shi Yubai formed a third-grade core; both thanked Chen Shuangbai for his support and condemned Yan Nanlai's betrayal.
• True Lord Qingchen appointed Shi Yubai hall master of Jade Guarding Hall and Yi Chongyue hall master of Jade Dew Hall, while Chen Shuangbai returned to Jade Screen Peak to cultivate.
• The Parting Hate Gate, Celebrated Origin Sect, and Transformation Sect formed the Holy Origin Alliance and launched an invasion of Ning Country.
• The Alliance destroyed Blazing Sun Mountain and killed True Person Wang; the Spirit Taming Sect's survivors fled overseas, while Xu Zhi of the Floating Light Sect surrendered.

As the twelve kingdoms divided into six rival alliances, Chen Shuangbai left Jade Screen Peak to join the Vast Waves Alliance’s leaders after True Person Bo emerged from seclusion as True Lord Jihai. With the Holy Origin Alliance threatening them, True Lord Qingchen planned a meeting to coordinate the three allied sects and choose an alliance leader.

• The sects of the twelve kingdoms formed six major camps, while several powerful sects remained independent or sealed their mountains.
• Gao Yi told Chen Shuangbai that the sect had summoned him, and Chen Shuangbai left Jade Screen Peak ready to face the Holy Origin Alliance.
• Chen Shuangbai arrived at the Myriad Phenomena Hall and congratulated True Person Bo, who had advanced to Nascent Soul and taken the name True Lord Jihai.
• True Lord Qingchen announced that he had invited the Flower Washing Sword Sect and Turbid Wave Pavilion to a meeting about countering the Holy Origin Alliance and coordinating their forces.
• True Lord Qingchen intended True Lord Jihai to become alliance leader, but Chen Shuangbai wondered whether the other sects would accept a Jade Spring Sect candidate when they had powerful Nascent Soul cultivators of their own.

Li Muxian and Su Rong weighed whether the Yuliu Su Clan should seek the Jade Spring Sect’s protection, then hosted the Vast Waves Alliance’s joint conference in Jade Brocade City. The three sects’ Nascent Soul True Lords began gathering, with Old Man Fish Pillow arriving at the end.

• Su Rong explained to Li Muxian that many Su clansmen would resist pledging the clan to a sect based in the Jing Kingdom, and Li Muxian decided to wait for the Dao Child and True Lord’s counsel.
• Li Muxian and Su Rong welcomed Chen Shuangbai, True Lord Jihai, and Li Changfeng to Jade Brocade City.
• Li Muxian told Chen Shuangbai that True Lord Qingyu had arrived and that the Flower Washing Sword Sect and local cultivation groups were expected at the conference.
• Chen Shuangbai and the others entered the council hall, where Su Rong had arranged formations that let attendees summon their own jade seats.
• True Lord Qingyu, Mu Linyu, greeted True Lord Jihai, and the two recalled their earlier years as Golden Core cultivators.
• Old Man Fish Pillow arrived in the hall, and True Lord Jihai and True Lord Qingyu saluted him as Martial Uncle.

Old Man Fish Pillow, True Lord Qingyu, and True Lord Jihai debated who should lead the Vast Waves Alliance against the Holy Origin Alliance. True Lord Jihai proposed settling the contest with one move, then unleashed his vast water-element Divine Ability as the three True Lords clashed inside the hall.

• Old Man Fish Pillow warned that the Holy Origin Alliance threatened the Vast Waves Alliance and argued that their alliance needed a leader with strength, benevolence, and wisdom.
• True Lord Qingyu and True Lord Jihai both declared their desire to lead the alliance.
• True Lord Jihai proposed that one exchange decide the leader, and True Lord Qingyu questioned whether he could challenge Old Man Fish Pillow, who was at the Nascent Soul middle stage.
• True Lord Jihai filled the hall with an abyssal sea and azure divine lightning, inviting True Lord Qingyu and Old Man Fish Pillow to decide the contest with one move.
• Chen Shuangbai watched as the three True Lords' Divine Ability manifestations clashed within the hall.

True Lord Jihai became leader of the Vast Waves Alliance and organized its preparations for war against the Holy Origin Alliance. The alliance began planning campaigns, intelligence sharing, defenses, and a vast formation, while Old Man Fish Pillow was named deputy leader.

• True Lord Jihai defeated True Lord Qingyu and secured the alliance leadership, establishing the Vast Waves Alliance’s hierarchy.
• True Lord Jihai proposed subduing the Painstaking Heart Sect and the Setting Sun Sect, sharing intelligence among the three sects, and strengthening their border defenses.
• Old Man Fish Pillow agreed to recruit smaller sects and seek intelligence cooperation with the Heavenly Star Alliance and the Sword Alliance.
• True Lord Jihai distributed plans for the Nine-Bend Azure Waves Dragon-Binding Grand Array and ordered the alliance to build nine fortified formation-nexus cities using resources contributed by its members.
• Old Man Fish Pillow became deputy alliance leader and was assigned to oversee the alliance when True Lord Jihai was away.

True Lord Qingyu brought Chen Shuangbai to Heavenly Waves Lake to coordinate the Vast Waves Alliance’s plan to strike the Painstaking Heart Sect and the Setting Sun Sect. True Lord Suwen agreed to the plan, and the Turbid Wave Pavilion began assembling its forces.

• True Lord Jihai stayed in Jade Brocade City, renamed Calming Waves City, while Su Rong pledged the Yuliu Su Clan to the Vast Waves Alliance.
• True Lord Qingyu brought Chen Shuangbai to the Turbid Wave Pavilion on Heavenly Waves Lake, where Chen learned Qingyu was its pavilion master.
• True Lord Suwen agreed to face True Person Huoyang while Qingyu occupied High Person Kuchan, and Chen offered to suppress the two sects’ Golden Core cultivators.
• True Lord Suwen’s invitation to the two sects’ Nascent Soul cultivators was refused, so she ordered the Turbid Wave Pavilion to muster its forces immediately.
• Six Golden Core True Persons, including Yuan Sheng, gathered at the main hall as Chen Shuangbai saw the depth of the pavilion’s strength.

True Lord Suwen surrounded the Setting Sun Sect with the Turbid Wave Pavilion’s inherited Spirit Treasure and demanded that it join the Vast Waves Alliance. True Lord Huoyang refused and attacked, so Suwen began crushing the sect’s protective formation.

• True Person Qian worried that the Vast Waves Alliance might target the Setting Sun Sect, but True Lord Huoyang expected the alliance to invite them to join.
• A disciple reported that True Lord Suwen had surrounded the sect with the Clear and Turbid Two Modes Ring.
• True Lord Huoyang challenged Suwen over her aggressive arrival, and she explained that the alliance needed to bring all of Wu Country under its control.
• Suwen offered Huoyang one chance to join the Vast Waves Alliance and resist the demonic path together.
• Huoyang rejected her demand and summoned a fire dragon from his scarlet gourd.
• Suwen drove the Clear and Turbid Two Modes Ring against the Setting Sun Sect’s protective formation.

True Lord Qingyu brought the Vast Waves Alliance’s order to Longxi Mountain, demanding that the Painstaking Heart Sect submit, while True Lord Kuchan resisted. As Qingyu prepared to fight Kuchan, Chen Shuangbai recognized True Person Zhao among the sect’s Golden Core cultivators.

• True Lord Qingyu explained to Chen Shuangbai how the Painstaking Heart Sect’s founder combined a cultivation art with a Buddhist scripture, creating a tradition plagued by cultivation troubles.
• True Lord Qingyu arrived at Longxi Mountain and demanded that the Painstaking Heart Sect obey the Vast Waves Alliance’s order to unify Wu Country.
• True Lord Kuchan refused to join the alliance, saying his sect wished to avoid worldly conflict and would seal its mountain for a hundred years.
• True Lord Qingyu cited the Painstaking Heart Sect’s seizure of Spring-Returning Mountain and challenged True Lord Kuchan to settle the matter by strength.
• As True Lord Qingyu and True Lord Kuchan faced off, Chen Shuangbai addressed True Person Zhao, whom he had not seen for many years.

Chen Shuangbai confronted the Painstaking Heart Sect’s three Golden Core cultivators and used his Swaying Moon Sunken Cold Treasure Mirror to overpower them. He then reported to True Lord Jihai in Calming Waves City, where True Lord Huoyang and True Lord Kuchan awaited the alliance leader’s summons.

• True Person Zhao pleaded with Chen Shuangbai to spare the Painstaking Heart Sect, but Chen Shuangbai warned that the sect could not remain uninvolved in the conflict.
• One of the Painstaking Heart Sect’s Golden Core cultivators attacked Chen Shuangbai with a vajra, and Chen Shuangbai shattered it with the Supreme Yin light of his Swaying Moon Sunken Cold Treasure Mirror.
• Chen Shuangbai’s mirror pierced the attacker’s golden-body defense, and the other two Golden Core cultivators hurried to shield him.
• Chen Shuangbai arrived at Calming Waves City and told True Lord Jihai that the Turbid Wave Pavilion’s two True Lords had secured the Setting Sun Sect and Painstaking Heart Sect’s submission.
• True Lord Jihai reproached Chen Shuangbai for nearly killing the Painstaking Heart Sect’s three Golden Core cultivators, and Chen Shuangbai defended his actions as necessary for the Vast Waves Alliance.

The Vast Waves Alliance united Wu and Jing and went to war with the Holy Origin Alliance over Qian, while Chen Shuangbai returned to the Jade Spring Sect to oversee it as True Lord Qingchen entered seclusion. The chapter left Chen holding authority over the sect and facing the weight of his new responsibilities.

• The Flower Washing Sword Sect brought the Heavenly Balance Sect into the Vast Waves Alliance and fought White Deer Mountain and the Holy Origin Alliance for three days, until Old Man Fish Pillow slew two Golden Core True Persons and drove Ji Yuzi back.
• True Lord Jihai ordered Chen Shuangbai south to free True Lord Qingchen to enter seclusion and to help open a new front against the Holy Origin Alliance.
• True Lord Qingyu reached Hengzhang City to guard the Jade Spring Sect’s border with Ning Country, where fighting formally began.
• True Lord Qingchen gave Chen Shuangbai the sect master’s golden token and entrusted him with the Jade Spring Sect’s affairs before entering seclusion with True Person Mei.
• Ding Chengyu arrived at Myriad Phenomena Hall and bowed to Chen Shuangbai.

Chen Shuangbai visited Great Thunder Mountain to inspect its halls and forge a Law Treasure magical robe, but learned the sect’s refiners could not make one. With Yao Jie and Cui Yi assisting, Changming used mysterious prayer incantations to refine the materials, leaving Yao Jie astonished as the forging began.

• Chen Shuangbai left Ding Chengyu in charge of mundane sect affairs and went to Great Thunder Mountain to inspect the halls and forge a magical robe.
• Cui Yi told Chen Shuangbai that Shi Zhang had returned to the sect to attempt Golden Core and that the halls’ best refiners could not forge Law Treasures.
• Chen Shuangbai learned that Yao Jie had returned with Du Zifeng’s posthumous child and accepted the child as his disciple.
• Chen Shuangbai summoned Changming, the Jade Essence Toad, and revealed that he had brought outside help for the robe’s forging.
• Chen Shuangbai ignited [Cinnabar Purple Profound Fire] in the refining chamber while Changming cast third-tier resources into the cauldron and purified them with prayer incantations.
• Yao Jie watched Changming’s unusual refining method in shock, while Chen Shuangbai kept the toad’s origins secret.