Chapter Summaries

Zhou Yi ignored a divined opportunity, advised Jin Ang on storing blood qi in his acupoints, and celebrated his five-hundredth birthday in Hundred Springs City. There, he learned the Righteous-Demonic Sword Duel was being decided by Golden Core True Lords rather than the ancestors, then returned to the Ten Thousand Mountains.

• Zhou Yi dismissed Prime Minister Turtle and chose not to pursue the opportunity indicated by his divination.
• Jin Ang told Zhou Yi that his blood qi had manifested but was quickly exhausted, and Zhou Yi advised him to condense it in his acupoints instead of his Dantian.
• Thirteen years later, Zhou Yi celebrated turning five hundred and traveled to Hundred Springs City, where he found Xiao Xiang House had replaced Hundred Beauties Pavilion.
• Zhou Yi summoned Spirit Sword Sect disciples Ding Zhi and Lu An, who admitted they were avoiding their mission to investigate an evil cultivator in Hundred Springs City.
• Zhou Yi questioned Ding Zhi about the conflict in Azure Province and learned that the ancestors had left the sword duel's outcome to the True Lords.
• Zhou Yi returned to the Ten Thousand Mountains, deciding to remain there rather than get involved in the Righteous-Demonic Sword Duel.

More than a decade after Jin Ang first met Zhou Yi, the aging martial artist left Moyun Peak to teach body tempering to other humans. Fifty years later, Zhou Yi drew a divination that led him to lure Poisonous Noble into an ambush, where he discovered the demon’s secret: a Seven-Colored Lotus beneath White Bone Peak that could improve his chances of forming a core.

• Jin Ang said farewell to Zhou Yi and set off to teach the body-tempering method, taking pills and a blood-qi spear for protection.
• Zhou Yi spent fifty years cultivating at Moyun Cave, reaching Foundation Establishment Late Stage perfection and deciding to seek a supreme oracle before attempting a Pseudo-Core.
• After drawing a divination connected to the Five Poisons, Zhou Yi summoned the demons and learned that Poisonous Noble was chasing a Millennial Spirit Ginseng Child.
• Zhou Yi lured Poisonous Noble into a valley ambush, where the demon army killed him and Zhou Yi seized his soul.
• Zhou Yi learned from Poisonous Noble’s memories that a Seven-Colored Lotus beneath White Bone Peak would produce seeds in two hundred years, and the demons later found the lotus.

Zhou Yi continued preparing for core formation while cultivating in seclusion, and learned that his divine sense had reached the Foundation Establishment limit. Jin Jiu later brought him Jin Ang’s method for advancing martial cultivation, and Zhou Yi named its new realm Embrace the Core.

• Zhou Yi diverted the Yan River into an underground lake, transplanted the Seven-Colored Lotus, and continued preparing to improve his chances of forming a core.
• Over twenty years, Zhou Yi cultivated the Spirit Refining Art, gathered tiger demon essence blood, and strengthened formations for the Lesser Heavenly Tribulation; his divine sense reached a radius of more than two hundred zhang.
• Jin Jiu arrived at Moyun City carrying a wolf demon carcass and introduced himself as Jin Ang’s disciple.
• Jin Jiu brought Jin Ang’s beast-hide book to Zhou Yi and explained that his aging master had developed a martial method for condensing blood cores, though it did not extend lifespan.
• After reading the method, Zhou Yi praised its potential and named its new realm Embrace the Core.

Zhou Yi oversaw the spread of Jin Ang’s Embrace the Core method and reflected on the role of an immortal as a witness to history. A Lightning Tribulation then began on Moyun Peak, where a yellow ox endured it and transformed into a golden cow-headed giant.

• Zhou Yi heard Jin Jiu recount how Jin Ang spread the blood and qi teachings, then ordered a statue erected in Jin Ang’s honor and the Embrace the Core method taught in Moyun City.
• Jin Jiu spread the method, enabling trapped Aperture Condensation Realm martial artists to break through and changing Moyun City as powerful Embrace the Core cultivators emerged.
• Zhou Yi watched the city’s growth without interfering and came to see that immortals should leave seeds for history to develop over time.
• Dark thunderclouds gathered over Moyun Peak, and the city’s Embrace the Core martial artists recognized the Lightning Tribulation as a sign that one of the Seven Sages was transforming.
• Jade Tooth Demon King sensed the tribulation, notified Azure Wave Lake, and traveled with his forces to watch the yellow ox endure the lightning behind layers of formations.
• After the tribulation ended, the yellow ox received golden transformation light and changed into a towering, golden cow-headed giant.

After the yellow ox survived his transformation tribulation, Zhou Yi helped him secure territory under the Azure Wave Dragon Lord and led Moyun City there. Decades later, Zhou Yi mastered the Tiger Transformation and, as the Seven-Colored Lotus seed ripened, drew a divination slip marked “Ninety-nine,” leaving him to wonder what he still lacked before forming his core.

• Jade Tooth Demon King congratulated the yellow ox on taking human form, offered him spiritual ginseng, and explained the benefits of joining the Dragon Palace.
• The yellow ox accepted Dragon Lord’s rule, and Zhou Yi advised him to claim northeastern Thorn Ridge and avoid committing to demands from the Dragon Palace.
• After the yellow ox received his title and territory, the people of Moyun City moved there under his protection, near the gentle Azure Pine Demon King.
• Fifty years later, Zhou Yi mastered the Tiger Transformation and sparred with the yellow ox, then continued cultivating toward core formation.
• After another thirty-four years, Zhou Yi emerged from seclusion at age seven hundred and waited until the Seven-Colored Lotus seed ripened two centuries after he obtained it.
• Zhou Yi drew a divination slip marked “Ninety-nine” and wondered what final requirement remained before he could form his core.

After emerging from seclusion, Zhou Yi learned that Hu Xi and Ao Dian had died and that Moyun Cave had grown into a thriving human-demon settlement. News of turmoil among the righteous and demonic sects stirred his suspicions, and he went to investigate Moyun City, where he discovered a fox-demon district offering dual cultivation.

• Prime Minister Turtle told Zhou Yi that Hu Xi and Ao Dian had died, Moyun Cave commanded twenty-three great demons and thirteen thousand demon soldiers, and Moyun City had a population of over fifty thousand.
• Prime Minister Turtle reported that Cloud Dragon True Monarch had died in a Heavenly Demon Sect formation and that a clash between Nascent Soul Ancestors had led to the Righteous-Demonic Sword Duel being suspended.
• Zhou Yi ordered Yellow Ox to ask the other Demon Kings and the Azure Wave Lake Dragon Palace whether any humans had advanced to the Nascent Soul realm in the past five hundred years.
• Zhou Yi pondered whether the Nascent Soul Ancestors would soon die of old age, leaving him to become invincible simply by living longer.
• Zhou Yi disguised himself as a middle-aged Daoist and explored Moyun City, where he saw humans and demons trading and learned that fox demons were selling dual-cultivation services.
• Zhou Yi inspected the fox-demon lane and its price boards, then reached an exquisitely designed private courtyard resembling Great Qian architecture.

Zhou Yi visited Lu Lin and learned about Great Qian’s expansion and the coming collapse of the Righteous-Demonic Peace Accord. After True Yang Demon Lord’s death, Zhou Yi received a Heavenly Timing omen and successfully crossed his tribulation at Moyun Peak, forming a Golden Core.

• Zhou Yi introduced himself to Lu Lin, who discussed Great Qian’s conquests, the Li Family’s rise, and his own decision to hide in the Ten Thousand Mountains.
• A message announced that Dao Lord Xuanxiao had killed True Yang Demon Lord, and Zhou Yi anticipated renewed conflict between the righteous and demonic paths.
• Zhou Yi drew the Heavenly Timing oracle, left Lu Lin, and headed for Moyun Peak as a lightning tribulation gathered over the mountain.
• Zhou Yi used his formations and divine sense to withstand the tribulation while condensing his Pseudo-Core into a Golden Core.
• Yellow Ox and Green Pine arrived above the clouds and congratulated Zhou Yi on successfully crossing the tribulation.

After overcoming his tribulation, Zhou Yi received congratulations from the people of Moyun City and welcomed several demon kings before accepting Ao Cang’s invitation to the Dragon Palace. He stabilized his Golden Core realm and set out to choose a treasure from the Azure Wave Treasury cautiously, guided by an ordinary fortune slip.

• Zhou Yi greeted Azure Pine Demon King, who praised the peace in Moyun City and said Azure Wave Lake would likely tolerate the city after Zhou Yi’s breakthrough.
• Zhou Yi and Azure Pine feasted with Golden Eagle, Black Tiger, and Prime Minister Turtle, then Jade Tooth Demon King arrived and joined them.
• A Dragon Palace envoy delivered Ao Cang’s invitation and told Zhou Yi he could select a congratulatory gift from the Azure Wave Treasury; Zhou Yi accepted and rewarded the envoy for information about its contents.
• Zhou Yi secluded himself to stabilize his Mana and planned to seek Golden Core cultivation methods, magic treasures, and a better escape technique.
• On the Double Ninth Festival, Zhou Yi divined an ordinary fortune slip and resolved to avoid forming karma by taking a hidden treasure from the vault.

Zhou Yi attended a banquet at Azure Wave Lake Dragon Palace, where Ao Cang explained the old feud between True Yang Demon Lord and Dao Lord Xuanxiao. The gathering ended with Zhou Yi warning that the humans’ approaching loss of their Nascent Soul ancestors could threaten the Demon Race’s place in the world.

• Zhou Yi flew to Azure Wave Lake, where General Wu escorted him through the Dragon Palace to meet Ao Cang.
• Ao Cang welcomed Zhou Yi as a fellow Daoist and seated him among the Dragon Kings and their dragon-blooded allies at the banquet.
• The First Prince and Third Prince discussed True Yang Demon Lord’s reputation, and Ao Cang recounted how Xuanxiao’s vengeance for his benefactor began their deadly feud.
• Ao Cang said no one in the Nine Provinces and Four Seas had advanced to Nascent Soul or Demon Emperor in 650 years, while Xuanxiao had broken through after finding an ancient divine pill in the Mending Heaven Sect ruins.
• Zhou Yi warned that if the human factions united after their ancestors died, the Demon Race might have nowhere left to survive.

Zhou Yi joined Azure Wave Lake and received a territory, weapons, and two ancient curios from the Dragon Palace treasury. Back at Moyun Cave, he prepared to test the Ancient Tortoise Shell, which had consumed the lifespan he spent divining and grown clearer.

• Ao Cang explained that the Demon Race planned to outlast humanity's Nascent Soul cultivators and invited Zhou Yi to join Azure Wave Lake.
• Zhou Yi swore loyalty to the Demon Race and volunteered to guard northern Thorn Ridge with Yellow Ox.
• Ao Cang granted Zhou Yi access to the Dragon Palace treasury, where he chose an Eight Trigrams Tortoise Shell and the broken Emerald Peak Seal.
• Ao Cang gave Zhou Yi linked-ring armor and Essence Gold Dragon Subduing Maces, and the two months of Dragon Palace feasting and introductions passed.
• At Moyun Cave, Zhou Yi recalled that the Ancient Tortoise Shell had consumed the lifespan used in divination and decided to test how much more it could swallow.

Zhou Yi spent years nourishing the Ancient Tortoise Shell with his lifespan while strengthening his ties with the Azure Wave Lake Demon Kings. The shell finally transformed and revealed itself as remains of the divine beast Black Tortoise and a key to the Four Spirits Sacred Hall.

• Zhou Yi repeatedly used the Minor Heaven Severing Art, sacrificing lifespan to nourish the Ancient Tortoise Shell and choosing the Dan Ding Sect as his preferred source for a Golden Core cultivation art.
• Zhou Yi hosted a banquet for sixteen Demon Kings, noted that the Flying Bear Demon King had stayed away, and arranged for Perfected Lu to send skilled practitioners of dual cultivation arts to the guests.
• Zhou Yi privately offered maidservants to Ao Jing, who asked for them to be sent to the Golden Scale Hall as sweepers.
• Zhou Yi visited the Demon Kings' Cave Estates over the following years and continued feeding his lifespan to the Ancient Tortoise Shell.
• After more than twenty divinations, Zhou Yi saw the shell stop consuming his lifespan, expand, and form a map as information revealed it was Black Tortoise remains and a key to the Four Spirits Sacred Hall requiring a blood sacrifice of one million living beings.

The Four Spirits Sacred Hall emerged at Thunderstrike Peak, prompting demon leaders to gather and discuss its Ancient Demon Saint inheritance. Zhou Yi confirmed the Black Tortoise shell was exceptionally durable, then traveled with Yellow Ox to Azure Wave Lake, where Ao Cang announced the demons could explore the sacred hall themselves.

• The Thunder Eagle discovered a palace emerging from Wind Thunder Peak and failed to break through its water curtain.
• Hu Jiuzhi identified the palace as the Four Spirits Sacred Hall, and she and Hu Xiong waited for their clans’ ancestors to arrive.
• Zhou Yi tested the Black Tortoise shell, shrank it, and stored it after Prime Minister Turtle reported that all demon kings had been summoned to Azure Wave Lake.
• Zhou Yi and Yellow Ox arrived at the Dragon Palace, where Jade Tooth speculated that the summons concerned a newly discovered inheritance.
• Ao Cang told the demon kings that the Four Spirits Sacred Hall had emerged at Thunderstrike Peak and that their four old ancestors would let them explore it.

Zhou Yi volunteered to guard the spirit veins while arranging for Yellow Ox and his brothers to enter the Four Spirits Sacred Hall first. At the Hall, Ao Cang and three other leaders opened the formation, and Zhou Yi watched the demons rush inside while reflecting on the gulf between Golden Core and Nascent Soul power.

• Ao Cang announced that half the Demon Kings would guard the spirit veins, and Zhou Yi volunteered in order to let Yellow Ox and his brothers enter the Sacred Hall.
• Ao Cang chose Yellow Ox to scout first, while Zhou Yi advised him to prioritize safety and secretly planned to avoid entering himself later.
• Several days later, Ao Cang arrived at the Four Spirits Hall with Demon Kings and great demons, where the Tiger King and Wu Tianxu demanded that he open the restriction.
• Ao Cang, Hu Jiuhan, the Tiger King, and Wu Tianxu combined their treasures to tear a gap in the water-curtain formation, then Ao Cang, the Tiger King, and Wu Tianxu entered.
• Hu Jiuhan's clansmen and other Demon Kings passed through before the gap closed, while Zhou Yi felt the force of the attack and considered the vast difference between Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators.

The yellow bull followed Zhou Yi's instructions through the sacred hall and found the Four Spirits Inheritance inside an underground temple. Ao Qin entered the Azure Dragon blood pool and made it disappear, while the yellow bull wondered whether the temple's protections had taken effect.

• The yellow bull entered the sacred hall, failed to use Earth Escape through the formation, and disguised itself as a Qingqiu Fox Demon before heading east.
• The yellow bull followed the safe route through the forest, avoided powerful beasts, and reached the core region after nearly half a month.
• The yellow bull entered a hidden temple beneath an ordinary mountain and discovered four divine beast statues, their offerings, and four pools of essence blood.
• The yellow bull found a surviving tree root, preserved it in Azure Dragon blood, and told Ao Qin that the offerings had crumbled with time.
• Ao Qin entered the Azure Dragon blood pool, which vanished beneath a flash of divine light, and the yellow bull tested the exposed stone slabs.

The yellow ox secured the Four Spirits inheritance for Black Tiger, Golden Eagle, and Prime Minister Turtle, while Zhou Yi waited outside the Sacred Hall for its opening. Ten years later, four Demon Emperors arrived and joined forces to strike the hall’s formation.

• The yellow ox ambushed a Tiger Demon who entered the divine hall, then tossed him outside, where a colossal beast swallowed him.
• Black Tiger, Golden Eagle, and Prime Minister Turtle arrived wounded, and the yellow ox placed all three into blood pools to receive the remaining inheritances.
• Zhou Yi waited outside the Sacred Hall, strengthened his defenses, and sensed that the yellow ox had obtained an extraordinary treasure.
• After ten years passed, four Demon Emperors appeared above the gathered demons and struck the Sacred Hall’s formation together.

After the sacred hall’s treasures were revealed, four Nascent Soul Ancestors fought over a box of Azure Dragon Demon Saint Blood Essence, and Zhou Yi rescued the badly injured yellow ox. Back at Moyun Cave, the ox recovered and told Zhou Yi how it had passed the Demon Saint inheritance to Prime Minister Turtle and two other demons, while Zhou Yi examined an ancient root it had brought back.

• Ao Cang and the demons presented their sacred hall treasures to the Dragon Emperor, and the yellow ox revealed a pile of plants, roots, and other finds.
• Hu Qing recognized Azure Dragon Demon Saint Blood Essence in a jade box, prompting the Dragon Emperor, Fox Emperor, Tiger Emperor, and Crow Emperor to fight over it.
• The yellow ox swallowed the other items and was badly injured by the battle’s aftermath, so Zhou Yi carried it away while the other demon kings fled.
• At Moyun Cave, the Spirit Ginseng Child used its vitality to heal the yellow ox, whose missing horn only began to regrow.
• The yellow ox explained that it had given the Demon Saint inheritance to Prime Minister Turtle and two other demons, and Zhou Yi praised its choice.
• Zhou Yi examined a nearly dead ancient root the yellow ox had salvaged and decided to test it with the Jade Dew Art.

Zhou Yi tried to revive a mysterious tree root with the Jade Dew Art, but a disastrous divination forced him to flee Moyun Cave with the Dragon Emperor in pursuit. After a desperate chase into Yun Province, Zhou Yi survived the Dragon Emperor’s attacks and escaped, while the Dragon Emperor turned back after refusing to risk further bloodshed among human cultivators.

• Zhou Yi used the Jade Dew Art to nourish the tree root, which gradually gained vitality, while the yellow ox reported that the four ancestors had divided the Azure Dragon essence blood without a victor.
• Zhou Yi’s divination produced an extremely inauspicious omen, so he and the yellow ox gathered their treasures and fled toward the East Sea.
• The Dragon Emperor intercepted Zhou Yi, destroyed his talisman formation, and pursued him after Zhou Yi fled using blood, lifespan, and the Thunderous Escape.
• Zhou Yi tried to mislead the Dragon Emperor with a false tree root and scattered spiritual objects, but the Dragon Emperor continued chasing him north.
• The Dragon Emperor burned essence blood and used divine attacks, yet Zhou Yi survived a devastating strike and escaped into Yun Province.
• The Dragon Emperor pursued Zhou Yi farther into Yun Province but turned back after sensing human cultivators, swearing to repay the humiliation.

After escaping the Dragon Emperor, Zhou Yi hid near the Dan Ding Sect and spent three years erasing its mark while nurturing a mysterious tree root that began producing faint spiritual qi. He traveled to Heng City to learn how the Righteous-Demonic Sword Duel was progressing and discovered the Dan Ding Sect was using its victories to reshape the balance of power.

• Zhou Yi escaped the Dragon Emperor’s attack with the Black Tortoise shell, found two marks on his body, and hid near the Dan Ding Sect to weaken them.
• Zhou Yi spent three years cultivating the tree root and gradually erased the Dragon Emperor’s mark in his dantian.
• The tree root sprouted tender green growth and began releasing faint spiritual qi, leading Zhou Yi to consider whether it could serve as a portable spirit vein.
• Zhou Yi traveled to Heng City, where he learned that Great Qian had conquered most of the states under the Dan Ding Sect as the righteous path gained ground.
• At White Crane Temple, Zhou Yi questioned Ling Chen, who told him that Ancestor Xuanxiao had slain Zhenyang and that the Dan Ding Sect was offering spirit veins to recruit rogue cultivators and establish new sects.

Zhou Yi decided to avoid the Righteous-Demonic Sword Duel and seek a safe cultivation base overseas, where he could eventually outlast sect founders and claim their inheritances. He returned to Qian Capital, restored his old courtyard, and met a curious child.

• Zhou Yi questioned Ling Chen about the war and learned how sects and Rogue Cultivators protected Cloud Province’s cities.
• Zhou Yi chose to stay out of the Righteous-Demonic Sword Duel, reasoning that he could wait for the war to end and later obtain inheritances with less risk.
• Zhou Yi decided the overseas regions offered a place for secluded cultivation and left Ling Chen a bottle of spiritual pills before departing.
• Zhou Yi entered Qian Capital, where Daoists received special treatment, and wandered through the bustling city in concealment.
• Zhou Yi repaired his old courtyard and brewed spiritual tea beneath its surviving jujube tree and grapevine.
• A child climbed into the courtyard, drank Zhou Yi’s tea, and asked who he was and where he came from.

Zhou Yi returned openly to Qianjing City, met Chen Jing and his children, and asked for histories of the Fengyang Kingdom and the Holy Emperor. After a night of restful sleep, he received hundreds of books and began reading a colorful unofficial account of Holy Emperor Li Ye’s rise.

• Zhou Yi met Chen Jing’s son and daughter, praised the girl’s judgment, and secretly altered her appearance to conceal her noble features.
• Chen Jing revealed that his family descended from the Holy Empress’s clan, and Zhou Yi asked him to gather detailed histories from the Fengyang Kingdom’s final years onward.
• Zhou Yi slept through the night without meditating and woke refreshed.
• Chen Jing brought Zhou Yi several hundred official and unofficial history books, then shared a bowl of spiritual porridge with him.
• Zhou Yi read Secret Records of the Holy Emperor, which credited the Rivers and Mountains Cauldron with Holy Emperor Li Ye’s rise to power.