Chapter Summaries

After Lin Wanyin revealed that Zhao Baimei might know what happened during her disappearance, Zhao Baimei divined that a death tribulation threatened Chu Yunfei and approached Yan Guining to borrow her Dao Fruit origin. He persuaded her with the promise of raising her chances of breaking through, then asked her to accompany him to Vast Waves Sacred Academy.

• Lin Wanyin told Chu Yunfei that Zhao Baimei might know what had happened during her two-month disappearance.
• Zhao Baimei tried to divine Chu Yunfei's fate, but a powerful backlash injured him and revealed a death tribulation.
• Zhao Baimei entered Yan Guining's bedchamber and released the sealed divine sense belonging to her Upper Realm true body.
• Yan Guining confronted Zhao Baimei, who revealed that she was an incomplete Dao Fruit Body and warned that it could be harmed in the lower realm.
• Zhao Baimei asked to borrow Yan Guining's Dao Fruit origin to avert a death tribulation and promised to raise her chance of breaking through to over seventy percent.
• Yan Guining asked whose tribulation he meant to avert and what she would have to pay; Zhao Baimei told her to accompany him to Vast Waves Sacred Academy.

Chu Yunfei learned that Zhao Baimei might be tied to the secrets of his origin and resolved to return to the Azure Mystic Sect. After hearing Yao Yue next door, he went back to suppress her recovering demonic power, leaving her furious and helpless in the storeroom.

• Lin Wanyin told Chu Yunfei that Zhao Baimei had helped her and Chu Batian and that the Vast Waves Sacred Academy's experts had treated him with awe.
• Chu Yunfei connected Zhao Baimei to the removal of his origin and the map pointing near the Azure Mystic Sect, and decided to investigate there after handling matters in the imperial capital.
• Lin Wanyin heard faint sounds from the storeroom, and Chu Yunfei realized Yao Yue's sealed acupoints might soon recover.
• Chu Yunfei entered the storeroom and struck Yao Yue repeatedly, dispersing her recovering demonic power and sealing her consciousness for several more hours.
• Chu Yunfei left Yao Yue in tears, promising to return after suppressing the supposed formidable foe next door.

After tormenting Yao Yue through the night, Chu Yunfei told her that her cultivation would begin to recover, then tried to leave her behind. Yao Yue insisted on following him for protection, and Chu Yunfei fled after teasing and molesting her, but she chased after him anyway.

• Chu Yunfei released Yao Yue's sealed acupoints and told her that her cultivation would start recovering after four hours.
• Yao Yue accused Chu Yunfei of lying and demanded that he take responsibility for her safety, but he refused and warned that following him would put her in danger.
• Yao Yue threatened to expose what happened to Lin Wanyin unless Chu Yunfei took her along.
• Chu Yunfei grabbed Yao Yue, teased her about demon-human relationships, and kissed her ear to scare her off.
• Chu Yunfei left, but Yao Yue resolved to follow him despite his threats.

Chu Yunfei returned to the Pill Pavilion and was confronted by Wen Jiao and Yao Yue, whose competing accusations exposed his connection to both women. After Yao Yue clung to him and demanded he settle her grievance, Chu Yunfei carried her inside, promising to deal with her himself.

• Chu Yunfei met Wen Jiao outside the Pill Pavilion, where she accused him of spending the night with Lin Wanyin and refused his advances because her period had not ended.
• Yao Yue arrived, and Wen Jiao suspected Chu Yunfei had secretly become involved with another beauty.
• Chu Yunfei claimed Yao Yue had followed and tried to seduce him, while Yao Yue accused him of sealing her acupoints and taking advantage of her.
• Yao Yue revealed that she was a princess of the Qingqiu Royal Clan, but Chu Yunfei dismissed her claim as proof that she was unwell.
• Yao Yue clung to Chu Yunfei and demanded he answer for what he owed her, so he carried her into the Pill Pavilion as Wen Jiao watched.

Chu Yunfei beat Yao Yue after she followed him to the Pill Pavilion, while Wen Jiao learned the truth behind their conflict and recognized the danger of the Qingqiu princess’s presence. Chu Yunfei then sensed unusual Qi fluctuations within himself and left to enter seclusion, leaving Wen Jiao to handle Yao Yue.

• Chu Yunfei carried Yao Yue to a pavilion and beat her until she begged him to stop and submit.
• Wen Jiao recognized Yao Yue as the Qingqiu princess and urged Chu Yunfei to stop before others came.
• Chu Yunfei secretly told Wen Jiao what had happened, and she learned Yao Yue had used the Pill Pavilion to pursue a ruins map and had believed his story about restoring her cultivation.
• Wen Jiao confronted Yao Yue, who argued that she needed to follow Chu Yunfei because he had cost her cultivation and promised to restore it.
• Yao Yue warned that the Qingqiu Royal Clan would hold Chu Yunfei responsible if anything happened to her, making Wen Jiao worry about the consequences.
• Chu Yunfei noticed unusual Qi fluctuations within himself, asked Wen Jiao to look after Yao Yue, and hurried away to enter seclusion.

Chu Yunfei discovered that a powerful, unknown force was tracing his location through a karmic bond, while Xiaoxiao Dragon said someone in the lower realm was hiding his karmic thread. She urged him to focus on the coming grand competition and the Great Qian Imperial City, then privately feared the threat might come from Calamity Land.

• Chu Yunfei sealed himself in a secluded chamber and tried to identify the source of an ominous karmic disturbance in his sea of consciousness.
• Chu Yunfei questioned Xiaoxiao Dragon, who admitted that someone had been using a karmic connection to locate him, but said she did not know who was behind it.
• Xiaoxiao Dragon explained that the Divine Cauldron of Heavenly Mandate had concealed most of Chu Yunfei's heavenly secrets and that someone in the lower realm was secretly concealing his karmic thread.
• Chu Yunfei agreed not to press Xiaoxiao Dragon for answers and promised he would not let her face danger alone.
• After Chu Yunfei left his sea of consciousness, Xiaoxiao Dragon worried that the tribulation came from Calamity Land and doubted the old man from the Azure Mystic Sect could withstand it.

Chu Yunfei returned to Wen Jiao and learned Yao Yue had agreed to stay at the Pill Pavilion while her cultivation recovered, though she still refused to believe her demonic power would return on its own. At a council meeting with Qin Yangui and Si Yunshu, Yao Yue revealed that the Blood Baleful Intent Tower had secretly taken control of two Western Continent royal clans.

• Chu Yunfei left seclusion and returned to the pavilion, where Wen Jiao told him Yao Yue had agreed to shelter at the Pill Pavilion but still doubted his explanation about her sealed Qi.
• Wen Jiao received a message from Wen Daoyuan summoning them to the council hall, where Qin Yangui and Si Yunshu had arrived discreetly.
• Qin Yangui reported that she had secretly killed four traitorous Heavenly Edict Sect elders and eighteen elite stewards, while Wen Daoyuan said the Pill Pavilion had executed seven compromised stewards.
• Yao Yue declared that the Blood Baleful Intent Tower's plans extended beyond the Eastern Continent and revealed that the Mysterious Serpent Clan and Savage Ox Clan had fallen under its secret control.

Qin Yangui revealed that the Great Qian Imperial Family had replaced the Seven Sects Grand Competition with a secret-realm contest open to all Heavenly Origin Realm Fifth Layer cultivators. Chu Yunfei and Wen Daoyuan concluded that the change served the imperial family's and the Blood Baleful Intent Tower's plans to turn the realm into a trap targeting Chu, leaving them questioning why Ling Zhantian expected him to enter.

• Yao Yue said the Mystic Serpent and Barbarian Ox clans had fallen under the Blood Baleful Intent Tower's influence and were joining forces to suppress the Qingqiu clan.
• Qin Yangui told Chu Yunfei that the competition would take place in a secret realm, where entrants would collect Sect Tokens, and that anyone at the Heavenly Origin Realm Fifth Layer or above could participate.
• Qin Yangui explained that First Prince Ling Chengyuan had proposed the change and offered the imperial family's Heavenly Mystic Secret Realm as the venue.
• Chu Yunfei argued that the imperial family could have tampered with the realm and that the Blood Baleful Intent Tower had helped the proposal succeed for its own purposes.
• Wen Daoyuan warned that the expanded competition would let Chu Yunfei's enemies hunt him in the secret realm and provoke a wider conflict if he killed their disciples.
• Wen Daoyuan asked why Ling Zhantian was so certain Chu Yunfei would enter an obvious trap.

Chu Yunfei accepted that he had to enter Ling Zhantian’s deadly tournament, seeing it as a chance to gather resources, while Qin Yangui and Wen Daoyuan promised support against the sects. Back in his room, he was interrupted by Yao Yue, who said his secret technique had revived her demonic power and demanded he use it on her again.

• Chu Yunfei explained that Ling Zhantian could force him into the tournament by threatening Ling Xueyao, but he intended to turn the secret realm into a hunting ground for resources.
• Wen Jiao worried about the danger, but Chu Yunfei declared he would enter the tournament and accept the emperor’s gift.
• Qin Yangui warned that sect masters and Dao Mysterious Realm elders had arrived, then promised to expose sects colluding with the Blood Baleful Intent Tower after the tournament.
• Wen Daoyuan pledged that the Wen Family’s ancestor would help protect Chu Yunfei, and the group discussed the tournament’s rules before dispersing.
• Yao Yue rushed to Chu Yunfei’s room and said his secret technique had caused her demonic power to recover on its own.
• Yao Yue ran into the room and urged Chu Yunfei to keep using his secret technique to stimulate her.

Yao Yue repeatedly mistook Chu Yunfei’s painful palm strikes for a secret technique that would restore her cultivation, while he knew the blows only shattered the small amounts of demonic power she had gathered. The chapter ended with Yao Yue eagerly anticipating another recovery after Chu Yunfei beat her and threw her from his room again.

• Yao Yue insisted Chu Yunfei continue the supposed cultivation-restoring technique, and he struck her until her faint demonic power vanished before throwing her out.
• Yao Yue convinced herself the blows had cleared blocked acupoints and would cause even greater demonic power to gather, while Chu Yunfei and Xiaoxiao Dragon marveled at her misunderstanding.
• Ten hours later, Yao Yue returned, claiming she had regained the Spirit Martial Realm and urging Chu Yunfei to help her reach the Heavenly Origin Realm.
• Chu Yunfei struck Yao Yue again until her cultivation dispersed, then threw her into the corridor.
• Despite her pain, Yao Yue believed her demonic power would return even stronger and staggered away, delighted that she would soon regain her strength.

Ling Xueyao learned that Ling Zhantian intended to kill Chu Yunfei and that the two men were locked in a fight to the death. Desperate to save Chu Yunfei, she agreed to obey Ling Zhantian’s arrangements in exchange for his promise to spare him, and Ling Zhantian led her away.

• Ling Xueyao realized the formations and hidden experts around her bedchamber were meant to lure Chu Yunfei into a trap.
• Ling Zhantian admitted that he wanted Chu Yunfei dead, while refusing to explain what had happened outside the imperial city.
• Ling Xueyao pleaded for Ling Zhantian to let her see Chu Yunfei, but he insisted that they hated each other and only death would end their conflict.
• Ling Xueyao declared that she wanted only Chu Yunfei, and Ling Zhantian offered to spare him if she obeyed all his arrangements.
• Ling Xueyao accepted the condition, and Ling Zhantian told her to come with him.

Ling Zhantian and the remnant consciousness planned to kill Chu Yunfei in the Heavenly Mystic Secret Realm, while Ling Zhantian concealed his distrust of the entity and struck a deal for its help. The next morning, Chu Yunfei finished cultivating and prepared to enter the Seven Sects Grand Competition, determined to face Ling Zhantian’s deathtrap.

• Ling Zhantian followed Ling Xueyao from the hall while secretly discussing with the remnant consciousness how to kill Chu Yunfei in the secret realm and claim his body.
• Ling Zhantian admitted he had kept the remnant consciousness because its knowledge and abilities were useful, despite suspecting it planned to possess him.
• The remnant consciousness agreed to kill Chu Yunfei and take his body, while Ling Zhantian sought the Heaven-Slaying Sword Emperor’s inheritance key and Luo Wuxu’s sword.
• At dawn, Chu Yunfei completed tempering his six Divine Sea levels and came close to breaking through to the seventh.
• Chu Yunfei took up the Abyss-Devouring Sword and prepared to enter the Seven Sects Grand Competition, intent on confronting Ling Zhantian’s trap.

Chu Yunfei learned that Ling Zhantian had used Ling Xueyao’s jade pendant to force him into the dangerous Heavenly Mystic Secret Realm, then set out for the grand competition without Wen Jiao or Yao Yue. The sects and cultivators gathered in the imperial square as the imperial carriage arrived, while Shen Qianyue was conspicuously absent.

• Wen Jiao gave Chu Yunfei Ling Xueyao’s personal jade pendant, and Chu Yunfei concluded that Ling Zhantian was using her safety to force him into the secret realm.
• Chu Yunfei told Wen Jiao to stay outside the secret realm, and she agreed to wait for him.
• Yao Yue demanded to enter, but Wen Jiao warned that she would have to leave the Pill Pavilion and forfeit its protection; Yao Yue reluctantly stayed behind.
• Chu Yunfei and the Pill Pavilion party left for the central square, where cultivators gathered amid rumors that the competition would take place in the unrestricted, deadly Heavenly Mystic Secret Realm.
• Qin Hao, Yue Chenzhou, Situ Shuang’er, and Nangong Wuhen waited among the sects as an imperial beast-drawn carriage arrived, accompanied by four Divine Sea Realm experts; Shen Qianyue was absent.

Chu Yunfei arrived at the Heavenly Mystic Secret Realm gathering alongside Wen Jiao and Yao Yue, shocking the crowd and drawing the attention of his enemies and former allies. As the factions prepared to target him inside the realm, Yao Yue’s mysterious identity became the subject of public attention.

• Ling Chengyuan arrived in place of Princess Ling Xueyao, while the crowd speculated that Chu Yunfei had disappeared or been killed.
• Chu Yunfei entered openly with Wen Jiao and the veiled Yao Yue, revealing that he was alive and carrying the Abyss-Devouring Sword.
• Qin Hao vowed to kill Chu Yunfei inside the secret realm, and Li Ce promised to arrange Cangyun Sect elites to help corner him.
• Situ Shuang'er and Lin Wanyin reacted to Chu Yunfei’s return, while Nangong Wuhen offered to settle his grudge against him.
• A cultivator recognized Yao Yue as the mysterious woman from the tavern, prompting the crowd to fear and scrutinize her.
• Chu Yunfei teased Yao Yue about drawing attention, and she boasted of her beauty while calling him an uncaring man.

Chu Yunfei attended the secret realm gathering, reunited with Wu Changge and Wu Mingyue, and received a warning that his enemies might join forces against him. The Puppet Sect and Cangyun Sect then publicly accused him of killing their elders and threatened to stop him from entering the Heavenly Mystic Secret Realm alive.

• Chu Yunfei saw that Ling Xueyao was absent and left for the Pill Pavilion's platform with Wen Daoyuan, Wen Buqi, and the others.
• Wu Changge and Wu Mingyue greeted Chu Yunfei, and Wu Changge loudly praised his strength while teasing him about the women beside him.
• Wu Changge warned Chu Yunfei that the tournament and Heavenly Mystic Secret Realm seemed dangerous, and Chu Yunfei thanked him.
• Qi Yuanshan accused Chu Yunfei of killing Han Kui and stealing his storage ring on behalf of the Puppet Sect.
• Helan Ci accused Chu Yunfei of killing Chen Xuanhai and threatened that he would not enter the secret realm alive without an explanation.

At the secret realm competition gathering, Chu Yunfei faced accusations from the Cangyun Sect and Puppet Sect over the deaths of their elders. He admitted killing them, and the two sects’ leaders demanded that Wen Daoyuan stop protecting him.

• Qi Yuanshan and Helan Ci publicly accused Chu Yunfei of killing Han Kui and Chen Xuanhai and demanded an explanation.
• Chu Yunfei mocked the elders, and Qi Yuanshan and Helan Ci attacked him until Wen Daoyuan intervened with her Divine Sea Realm Ninth Level power.
• Wei Shanhe confronted Wen Daoyuan, who defended Chu Yunfei as a Pill Pavilion member and challenged the sects to produce evidence.
• Wei Shanhe asked Chu Yunfei whether he had killed Chen Xuanhai and Han Kui, and Chu Yunfei admitted it, asking what of it.
• Wei Shanhe and Yin Xiaotian accused Chu Yunfei of murdering their elders and warned Wen Daoyuan that protecting him would bring the wrath of both sects.

At a public gathering, Wen Jiao defended Chu Yunfei by revealing that Cangyun Sect and Puppet Sect elders had ambushed him, while their leaders denied it and demanded his death. Chu Yunfei faced Wei Shanhe directly, and Wei Shanhe’s lethal premonition made him hesitate, leaving Wen Daoyuan wondering whether the sect master was afraid.

• Wen Jiao accused the Cangyun Sect and Puppet Sect elders of ambushing Chu Yunfei after he defeated Qin Hao and Yue Chenzhou at Jingyuan Hall.
• Qin Hao, Yue Chenzhou, and Wei Shanhe denied the accusation, while Wen Daoyuan defended Wen Jiao and the Pill Pavilion’s support for Chu Yunfei.
• Wei Shanhe demanded Chu Yunfei’s death, but Chu Yunfei insulted him and challenged him to attack.
• Wen Daoyuan moved to protect Chu Yunfei, but Chu Yunfei stepped forward to face Wei Shanhe himself.
• Wei Shanhe sensed that attacking Chu Yunfei could get him killed and hesitated, while Yin Xiaotian watched from the Puppet Sect’s seats.

At the six-sect gathering, Wei Shanhe hesitated to attack Chu Yunfei despite publicly threatening him, and Mo Yinsheng intervened to ensure the competition proceeded. Chu Yunfei recognized that the Heavenly Evil Devil Sect intended to use him as a pawn in the secret realm and prepared to turn that plan against them.

• Chu Yunfei taunted Wei Shanhe for refusing to attack, while Wei Shanhe’s instincts warned him that drawing Chu Yunfei’s sword could be fatal.
• Qin Hao challenged Chu Yunfei and urged him to face Wei Shanhe, but Wei Shanhe privately condemned Qin Hao’s failure to read the situation.
• Mo Yinsheng ordered Wei Shanhe to postpone his grievance until after the competition so the six-sect gathering and secret-realm entry would not be delayed.
• Wei Shanhe accepted Mo Yinsheng’s excuse to retreat, threatening to kill Chu Yunfei after the competition, and Chu Yunfei remarked that he had run fast.
• Chu Yunfei sensed Mo Yinsheng’s concealed strength and realized the Heavenly Evil Devil Sect wanted him alive as a pawn, then resolved to make Li Tianxing pay inside the secret realm.

After Mo Yinsheng stopped Wei Shanhe from confronting Chu Yunfei, rival sects began planning how to deal with Chu Yunfei inside the Heavenly Mystic Secret Realm. Ling Chengyuan then rose to address the gathered sects, as the imperial family's plan moved toward its next stage.

• Chu Yunfei returned to the Pill Pavilion platform, while Nangong Wuhen vowed to avenge his humiliation in the secret realm.
• Meng Tianyun warned Nangong Wuhen not to attack Chu Yunfei alone and arranged for him to join forces with the Cangyun Sect and the Puppet Sect, with Situ Shuang'er instructed to assist if needed.
• Xiao Yihan and Si Yunshu discussed the Heavenly Edict Sect's order to befriend Chu Yunfei and avoid making him an enemy.
• Yue Chenzhou told Yin Hanmei that Nangong Wuhen and Qin Hao planned to recruit the Puppet Sect to surround Chu Yunfei; Yin Hanmei agreed to join them temporarily but insisted she would attack Chu Yunfei herself.
• Ling Chengyuan considered how events fit his imperial father's plan, then rose to address the gathered sects as Zhou Xuancheng suppressed the crowd's discussions.

Ling Chengyuan announced that the Heavenly Mystic Secret Realm would open to sect disciples and other qualified cultivators, who could keep the treasures they found. Ling Changkong arrived to open the realm, ignored Chu Yunfei’s refusal to bow, and formed a vast golden gate with a pitch-black rift.

• Ling Chengyuan announced the competition rules and invited cultivators who met the requirements to enter the Heavenly Mystic Secret Realm for free.
• Ling Chengyuan warned that the realm’s dangers were unknown and that the imperial family and six sects would not answer for conflicts inside.
• Ling Changkong appeared as a Dao Mysterious Realm expert, and the crowd bowed while Chu Yunfei remained seated.
• Ling Changkong and Chu Yunfei exchanged gazes, but Ling Changkong showed no anger and turned away without reprimanding him.
• Ling Changkong summoned a golden disk and used spiritual power and the square’s formations to open a colossal gate into a pitch-black rift.