Chapter Summaries

A powerful stranger ambushed the Tianyuan Trading Company’s convoy and demanded its Mountain-Sea Whale and the treasure controlling it. The company’s silver-robed escort fought back while Li Yan and the other passengers watched, and the black-robed old man began conferring secretly with his four gold-robed companions.

• Li Yan sensed a powerful silver-robed middle-aged man confronting an indistinct stranger outside the barrier.
• The stranger demanded the Mountain-Sea Whale and the treasure used to control it, but the silver-robed man refused to surrender them.
• The stranger attacked with a massive black spear and a wall of water, and the silver-robed man struck back with a red jade ruler.
• Li Yan left the pavilion, gathered the formation he had set up, and watched the battle from behind the convoy’s defensive barrier.
• The passengers realized the stranger was trying to steal the Mountain-Sea Whale, while the black-robed old man and four gold-robed cultivators exchanged secret messages.

The silver-robed middle-aged man recognized the attackers as the Purple Flame Devil Lord, a notorious married couple, and realized he faced both spouses. He tried to protect the cultivators aboard the “Mountain-Sea Whale” by offering to let them leave, but another figure appeared beside the woman, shocking those below.

• The gold-robed cultivators speculated that the attack on the “Tianyuan” trading company had been commissioned and warned that the intruder might try to kill everyone aboard.
• The silver-robed middle-aged man summoned a blood-red river, but the blurry figure blocked it with purple-black flames.
• The silver-robed middle-aged man recognized the Purple Flame Devil Lord as a married couple and realized they had come together to seize the “Mountain-Sea Whale.”
• The woman in purple gauze appeared and struck at him with a flame-wreathed sword, but he dodged the sneak attack.
• The silver-robed middle-aged man urged the couple to withdraw, warning that the “Tianyuan” trading company would pursue the matter and offering to let them leave unharmed.
• A second figure appeared beside the woman, prompting cries of astonishment from the cultivators aboard the “Mountain-Sea Whale.”

A bewitching man and his wife lured Elder Wang away from the Mountain-Sea Whale so their hidden Ten Gates Killing Array could ensnare it. Elder Wang disrupted the array and held open an exit, but he faced the couple while the trapped cultivators were told to escape within a quarter-hour.

• The bewitching man and the woman in purple drew Elder Wang away from the Mountain-Sea Whale as it entered their concealed Ten Gates Killing Array.
• Elder Wang recognized the array and rushed to rescue the cultivators aboard the Mountain-Sea Whale.
• The woman in purple used her seductive arts to slow Elder Wang, but he revealed that he had substituted a projection and attacked the bewitching man instead.
• Elder Wang crushed a red jade pendant, turning the seawater crimson and disrupting the array as the bewitching man prepared to attack him.
• Elder Wang told the trapped cultivators to escape through the array's life gate, where the Red River was, while he tried to hold off the couple for a quarter-hour.

Elder Wang unleashed Red Moon Devours Heaven and Earth to hold off the two attackers and buy the people aboard the Mountain-Sea Whale a quarter-hour to escape. Li Yan and the others were trapped in a brown formation after the whale’s protective formation collapsed, and the trading house guards began searching for the red river Elder Wang had named.

• Elder Wang decided to risk his life to delay the attackers and ordered those below to escape while he confronted them.
• Elder Wang released Red Moon Devours Heaven and Earth, shocking the husband and wife with its power and cost.
• Li Yan and other cultivators sensed danger as mist rose from the sea, the whale’s formation collapsed, and they were trapped in a brown space.
• Elder Wang told the trapped cultivators to leave the Mountain-Sea Whale and find the red river within a quarter-hour before his voice vanished.
• The late Void Refinement Realm guard commander ordered the Tianyuan Trading House guards to search for an exit, while restriction-lit gates appeared throughout the brown space.

With the Mountain-Sea Whale trapped in a formation and ten Light Gates appearing, the cultivators split into groups and gambled on separate exits. Li Yan joined a Tianyuan Trading Company squad led by a bearded guard, while the black-robed elder and four gold-robed cultivators entered another gate to investigate.

• Cultivators chose among the ten Light Gates after Elder Wang urged them to escape, and the Tianyuan Trading Company guards organized squads to enter different gates.
• Li Yan joined the bearded guard's squad rather than risk entering an unknown gate alone, and a powerful female Void Refinement cultivator joined them as well.
• The bearded guard led his group toward a Light Gate, leaving the motionless Mountain-Sea Whale behind rather than making it a target.
• The black-robed elder and four gold-robed cultivators probed another Light Gate but could not sense what lay beyond it.
• The black-robed elder entered first with a defensive barrier and green shield, while the four gold-robed cultivators followed with protective treasures or talismans.

Li Yan and the other cultivators passed through the Light Gate into a volcanic formation, where they found no exit on the island and set out for a distant forest. Lava-made flood dragons ambushed them in midair, and Li Yan fought one as the group struggled to survive.

• The black-robed old man entered the Light Gate and struck at a sudden attack after a purple expanse and powerful auras appeared before him.
• Li Yan and the other cultivators emerged onto an island surrounded by scorching lava and saw a forest in the distance, but no sign of the gate of life.
• The bearded man ordered the group to search the island, and the cultivators found neither an exit nor any living creatures.
• The bearded man led the group toward the forest, but a sudden ambush erupted as they left the island.
• Li Yan fought a lava-made flood dragon with his fists and a saber, while other dragons attacked the cultivators and killed several Nascent Soul Cultivators.

Li Yan survived the magma flood dragons by hiding his presence, then escaped through a Light Gate into the woods while trying to understand the deadly formation. Elsewhere, Deacon Luo and four gold-robed cultivators searched for an exit through a maze of poisonous Purple Blood Vines, but a powerful vine struck Deacon Luo as he protected a young cultivator.

• A magma flood dragon disarmed Li Yan, wounded him, and dragged him into the magma, while the beautiful female cultivator and the bearded man remained occupied in their own fights.
• Li Yan concealed himself with Stealth Night Concealment, watched the other two cultivators escape into the woods, and followed them through a Light Gate.
• The black-robed old man and four gold-robed cultivators were pursued by poisonous Purple Blood Vines that blocked their divine sense and repeatedly regrew.
• A gold-robed young cultivator proposed that the five split up to search for the exit and use voice-transmission talismans to regroup.
• Deacon Luo accompanied the young cultivator in one direction, then shielded him from a sudden attack by a powerful Purple Blood Vine and was hurled away, bleeding.

Young Master Su and the black-robed old man fought purple vines controlled by a hidden enemy while trying to escape the grand formation. Their three golden-robed allies returned, but the bearded brute revealed himself as a spy and blocked their way as the five attacked him.

• The purple vines wounded the black-robed old man and nearly swallowed Young Master Su, who escaped with a movement technique.
• Young Master Su and the black-robed old man concluded that someone was controlling the vines, and the three other golden-robed cultivators returned to help them fight.
• The bearded brute emerged from the vines and mocked the group, but Young Master Su deduced that he was a lone spy within the 'Tianyuan' trading house.
• The black-robed old man warned that the bearded brute was stalling, and the five attacked him before more enemies or reinforcements could arrive.
• The bearded brute claimed that the group could not escape even though the grand formation had not fully activated.

The bearded man used the Ten Gates Killing Formation to trap Young Master Su, Steward Luo, and three Guixi Army cultivators in an exhausting fight. As the five tried to find an exit and agreed that Young Master Su should escape first, a golden-robed cultivator spotted something to his right.

• The bearded man unleashed endless purple vines through the formation, keeping the five fighters trapped while he hid from them.
• After more than two hundred breaths of fighting without finding an exit, Steward Luo urged Young Master Su to leave while the others held off the bearded man.
• Young Master Su accepted Steward Luo's plan, and the five continued searching and fighting as their spiritual power dwindled.
• The bearded man taunted the group and warned that the formation would soon fully activate, while the five suffered exhaustion and accumulating pill toxins.
• A golden-robed cultivator sent Young Master Su a message that something lay one hundred and thirty zhang to his right.

Manager Luo’s plan to expose the Light Gate failed when the bearded man swiftly covered it again, so Manager Luo used a costly secret art to locate the enemy’s true body and attack him. The bearded man struck Manager Luo back, but Manager Luo kept his golden spike flying at him to prevent him from hiding again.

• Manager Luo and Gold Seven drew the attacks away while Su Young Master and two gold-robed cultivators blasted open the purple vines, revealing a Light Gate.
• The bearded man shifted his power and quickly covered the Light Gate again, foiling their escape attempt.
• Su Young Master ordered Manager Luo and Gold Seven to join the others in attacking the Light Gate, while Manager Luo told Gold Seven to help the Young Master and went after the bearded man.
• Manager Luo used a secret art to locate the bearded man, suffering a severe backlash as he revealed the enemy’s position.
• Manager Luo attacked the bearded man with a golden spike, but the bearded man met the strike with his greatsword and sent Manager Luo flying.
• Manager Luo drove the golden spike at the bearded man again to stop him from hiding.

Young Master Su, Jin Qi, Manager Luo, and the others fought the bearded man and his purple vines while trying to escape through the Light Gate. Jin Qi, Manager Luo, and Jin Thirteen sacrificed themselves to reopen the way, leaving Young Master Su with a narrow chance to flee.

• Jin Qi and Young Master Su blasted apart the vines blocking the Light Gate, but the bearded man covered it again with a net of purple vines that sent Young Master Su and the two gold-robed cultivators flying back.
• Jin Qi went to help Manager Luo hold off the bearded man while Young Master Su and the other two attacked the vines at the gate, but their strength dwindled and they failed to break through.
• Jin Qi used a Judge's Stone to transform into gray light and charge the bearded man, while Manager Luo unleashed a golden attack and Jin Thirteen hurled himself into the vines to become a gray vortex that tore them away.
• The bearded man lost a leg while evading the gray light, and Young Master Su urged the others to escape through the newly exposed gap in the Light Gate.

Young Master Su and Jin Thirty-One struggled to escape the Ten Gates Killing Formation as Jin Thirteen burned his soul to open the Light Gate and Jin Thirty-One sacrificed an arm to protect his young master. A beautiful female cultivator rescued them, led them through another gate, and revealed that they had entered a sea of flames while the bearded enemy raced to guard the life gate.

• Young Master Su and Jin Thirty-One failed to break through the sealed Light Gate until Jin Thirteen ignited his soul, burning away the purple vines and creating an opening.
• The bearded man hurled his greatsword at the Light Gate, so Jin Thirty-One shoved Young Master Su toward it and sacrificed an arm to intercept the attack.
• A beautiful female cultivator appeared, struck aside the greatsword with her whip, and pulled Young Master Su and Jin Thirty-One back through the Light Gate as Jin Thirteen crumbled to ash.
• The woman led Young Master Su and the one-armed Jin Thirty-One into another Light Gate, while the bearded man emerged too late and headed toward the life gate.
• The three crossed a sea of flames, and the woman told Young Master Su that multiple ambushes had been prepared and that she had traveled alone because she was the strongest member of their group besides Elder He.

Yuan Yun’s perspective revealed how she had secretly followed Young Master Su and chosen to investigate the bearded man after suspecting his intentions. After escaping the array’s dangers and searching the Light Gates for Young Master Su, she finally sensed him nearby.

• Yuan Yun secretly followed Young Master Su’s group to the Mountain Sea Whale and, after sensing danger in the bearded man’s behavior, told Young Master Su to enter a Light Gate while she investigated.
• Yuan Yun followed the bearded man’s party, suspected he and a cultivator who vanished into the magma were conspiring, and escaped through the forest exit.
• Yuan Yun used her treasure to search the Light Gates for Young Master Su but could not locate him, while other cultivators died around her.
• Yuan Yun entered a Light Gate filled with flames, saw a river stretching across the sky, then withdrew when she could not find Young Master Su.
• Yuan Yun sensed intense technique attacks in another Light Gate and discovered Young Master Su was nearby.

Li Yan searched the Ten Gates Killing Formation for the red river that led to escape while suspecting that either the bearded man or the beautiful woman had controlled the magma attacks. After seeing the woman emerge alone, he concluded she and the bearded man were probably not allies, but he still could not identify the formation's controller.

• Li Yan escaped the magma killing formation and suspected that the bearded man, the beautiful woman, or both had secretly controlled its attacks.
• He entered and withdrew from several Light Gates while concealed, observing the dead and the surviving Tianyuan Trading House guards as he searched for the red river.
• Li Yan noted that the formation's Light Gates would shift once it was fully activated, making it harder to find the gate of life before time ran out.
• After exiting another Light Gate, Li Yan saw a Tianyuan Trading House leader emerge alone and used the gate to narrow his search.
• He then saw the beautiful woman emerge alone and judged that she was likely not the bearded man's accomplice.
• Li Yan recognized that the woman's cultivation had reached peak late Void Refinement Realm and decided not to attack her while time was limited.

Li Yan deduced that the beautiful woman and the gold-robed cultivators belonged to a powerful sect and carried rare concealment treasures, then followed them into a Light Gate after they claimed to have found the gate of life. He located a red river in the fiery sky and watched the injured group approach it, while remaining hidden to see whether it offered a safe escape.

• Li Yan watched the beautiful woman emerge from a Light Gate with two gold-robed cultivators, including the one-armed Young Master Su, and realized they had concealed their Void Refinement cultivation.
• Li Yan inferred that the group carried exceptional concealment treasures, considered whether they had targeted him, and followed them into another Light Gate.
• Li Yan entered a sea of crimson fire, found a pale red river in the sky, and spotted the beautiful woman, Young Master Su, and the one-armed cultivator heading toward it.
• Li Yan stayed concealed and let the three approach the suspected gate of life first, while the beautiful woman led the injured men through the flames without encountering an attack.

Young Master Su, Jin Thirty-One, and the beautiful woman reached the Red River but found the bearded man waiting to block them. As the Red River faded and the silver-robed middle-aged man’s weapon weakened, the three attacked the bearded man before they could be trapped in the Ten-Gate Killing Array.

• Young Master Su, Jin Thirty-One, and the beautiful woman hurried toward the Red River, believing the silver-robed middle-aged man would hold off the two Old Devils.
• The beautiful woman sensed danger near the river and struck first, while Young Master Su and the one-armed cultivator in golden robes joined her in a coordinated attack.
• The three attacks detonated in a vast fireball, forcing the beautiful woman and both men backward and damaging the Profound Yellow Mirror.
• The bearded man emerged from the flames and challenged Young Master Su, revealing that he had used the Gate of Life to reach them.
• The beautiful woman lashed her barbed whip at the bearded man as he raised a flaming longsword to meet her strike.

Li Yan hid in the flames and pieced together that the bearded guard had attacked the group to capture Young Master Su, while the silver-robed man held off their enemies. When a golden-robed cultivator’s illusion briefly faltered, Li Yan recognized a resemblance to Su Hong’s brother and hesitated to flee as the beautiful woman’s power forced the bearded man to identify her as a Shadow Guard.

• The bearded man used flaming swords to attack the beautiful woman, Young Master Su, and the one-armed golden-robed cultivator while fearing reinforcements would arrive.
• Li Yan concealed himself in the flames, recognized the bearded man as his earlier attacker, and deduced that Young Master Su’s group was the ambush’s true target.
• Li Yan planned to escape through the crimson river, but he noticed the golden-robed cultivators’ faces briefly blur as their illusion magic treasures faltered.
• Li Yan saw that one golden-robed cultivator resembled Su Hong and suspected he was her elder brother, though he was startled and delayed his escape.
• The beautiful woman countered the bearded man’s three flaming swords with her whips, and he recognized her as a Shadow Guard.

Li Yan exploited a brief gap in the bearded man's power to ambush and kill him, while Yuan Yun and the others mistook the resulting disturbance for a secret technique. Yuan Yun rushed toward the flames to hold off what she believed was the enemy, then recognized that the bearded figure before her was an illusion.

• Yuan Yun sensed danger as the bearded man unleashed flames that blurred Divine Sense, and Li Yan secretly moved through the fire toward him.
• Li Yan struck the bearded man from behind with the Guiyi Water-Parting Spike, injected him with poison, and destroyed his lower body before retreating into the flames.
• Young Master Su warned Yuan Yun and Jin Thirty-One to be careful, but Yuan Yun decided to hold off the enemy while Jin Thirty-One escorted Young Master Su toward the crimson river.
• Young Master Su and Jin Thirty-One followed Yuan Yun into the flames, with Jin Thirty-One prepared to sacrifice himself to help them escape.
• Yuan Yun spotted the bearded man holding crossed flaming swords, then realized his reduced figure was an illusion.

Yuan Yun, Young Master Su, and Jin Thirty-One escaped the formation through the crimson river after the bearded man died, while Elder Wang remained behind to hold off the two fiends. Li Yan also slipped out unnoticed, leaving Elder Wang to continue defending the formation as he sensed something unusual below.

• Yuan Yun struck the bearded man, whose life aura vanished, and led Young Master Su and Jin Thirty-One toward the crimson river.
• Young Master Su, Yuan Yun, and Jin Thirty-One crossed the river and fled into the seawater, then emerged and flew away from the battle.
• The graceful woman in purple gauze pursued the escaping trio while Elder Wang stayed to defend the formation from the eerie man.
• Li Yan followed the formation’s residual spiritual waves across the sea and quietly left the Ten Gates Killing Formation.
• Elder Wang blocked the eerie man again, then glanced at the formation with confusion.

Li Yan escaped the Ten Gates Slaughter Array while Yuan Yun and two golden-clad cultivators fled the purple-gauzed woman, who began to suspect they were her true targets. The pursuers’ seductive voice was disrupted by the flying shuttle, and Jin Thirty-One and the others recovered from its effects.

• Li Yan slipped past Elder Wang’s magic treasure and escaped the formation, then flew away from the spiritual-draining sea.
• Several people emerged from the Ten Directions Slaughter Array, and a Tianyuan Trading Company leader attacked the sinister man as the others fled.
• Yuan Yun raced away on her flying shuttle with two golden-clad cultivators while the purple-gauzed woman pursued them.
• The purple-gauzed woman suspected the three fugitives were the targets she had been seeking and tried to distract them with her seductive voice.
• The flying shuttle’s formation defenses produced grating sounds that disrupted the woman’s voice, and Jin Thirty-One and the others quickly regained their senses.