Recaps

Zhou Yi defended his spirit land from six He Family cultivators, then learned that the Heavenly Demon Sect had thrown Cloud Province into chaos. After recognizing He Zheng as a descendant of someone who had once helped him, Zhou Yi let the survivors stay under his protection while securing his own cultivation grounds.

• Prime Minister Turtle lured He Dong and five other cultivators into the spirit land, where Zhou Yi trapped them in the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation.
• Zhou Yi captured He Zheng and used Soul Bewildering Art to learn that the Heavenly Demon Sect was backing Rogue Cultivators against the Dan Ding Sect and had destroyed Clear Wind Mountain.
• Zhou Yi stopped the formation after learning He Zheng descended from True Person He Sheng, who had once guided him.
• He Zheng asked Zhou Yi to take in the surviving He Family members, and Zhou Yi allowed them to remain if they accepted his terms.
• Zhou Yi separated his secluded cultivation grounds from the area where the He Family would cultivate, and the survivors agreed to submit to him.

Zhou Yi sheltered the He Family cultivators, gathered news of the Heavenly Demon Sect’s growing havoc, and traveled to Great Marsh Market to pursue his own goals. At the Outer Affairs Hall, he began buying evil cultivators’ heads from returning disciples to earn merit, as reports revealed the mortal cost of the conflict.

• Zhou Yi allowed He Dong and the He Family cultivators to stay in Immortal's Cave in exchange for intelligence and daily work refining the Rivers and Mountains Cauldron.
• He Dong reported that demonic cultivators were targeting mortals, the Qing Kingdom Royal Family had recruited a Daoist to seek women for an elixir, and Great Marsh Market was offering merit for killing demons.
• He Dong asked permission to defend the Dao and eliminate demons to earn merit, and Zhou Yi let him go.
• Zhou Yi entrusted the restriction formation disk to Prime Minister Turtle, then flew to Great Marsh Market and visited Yan Yunying’s grave at Hundred Flowers Valley.
• At the Outer Affairs Hall, Zhou Yi bought Song Chu and his companions’ evil cultivator head for two thousand Spirit Stones and gained forty merit points.
• Zhou Yi continued buying heads from returning disciples and heard that evil cultivators were using mortals as hostages to ambush righteous-path cultivators.

Zhou Yi acquired two unusual spirit beasts and later accepted a ten-year assignment guarding Great Marsh Market in exchange for a true transmission secret art. As Dan Ding Sect’s war with the demonic cultivators intensified, he chose a post that would let him avoid direct combat while gaining access to the Minor Heaven Severing Art.

• Zhou Yi exchanged merit points for two Beast Tokens, used pills to learn about a golden-feathered Azure Cloud Hawk and a mutated Iron Tail Tiger, and took both beasts home.
• Zhou Yi learned that Xuanxiao had killed True Yang Demon Lord’s sole Golden Core heir, prompting the Demon Lord’s pursuit and the ensuing heavenly demon invasion.
• Zhou Yi decided to stay at Dan Ding Sect for ten years, hoping to cultivate the Minor Heaven Severing Art while avoiding demon-slaying duties.
• As Dan Ding Sect disciples increasingly joined the fighting, Zhou Yi left a Thunder Method manual for his students and returned to Hundred Flowers Valley to pack.
• Zhou Yi accepted an external duty guarding Great Marsh Market for ten years in exchange for a true transmission secret art, including the Minor Heaven Severing Art.

Zhou Yi returned to Immortal's Cave, instructed Prime Minister Turtle to care for two demon beasts, and asked He Dong to monitor the growing unrest. Near Great Marsh Market, he saved Liu Ling'er from a demonic cultivator, discovered her family ties to his past, and returned her ancestors' Spirit Stones as the Qing Kingdom fell into chaos.

• Zhou Yi told Prime Minister Turtle to draw essence blood from the eagle and tiger demon beasts daily and restore them with spirit ginseng.
• Zhou Yi visited He Dong, promised him a Foundation Establishment Pill in twenty years, and ordered him to report news from the market and mortal realm.
• Zhou Yi struck down the Old Daoist who was pursuing Liu Ling'er and killed him after searching his soul.
• Zhou Yi learned that Liu Ling'er inherited the Divine Bull Transformation from a family originally from Ling Province of Great Yong.
• Zhou Yi returned the Liu Family's ancestral Spirit Stones to Liu Ling'er and learned that rebel kings had plunged much of the Qing Kingdom into chaos.

Zhou Yi entered Great Marsh Market, met its Foundation Establishment leaders, and investigated the strained trade and hidden Demonic Dao threat. After nearly half a year of cultivation and study, he recognized that formations, talismans, pills, and artifacts all relied on restriction patterns.

• Zhou Yi presented his identity token to Xuan Zhou and Huang Xu, then attended a banquet with the market’s Foundation Establishment True Persons and swore an unusual oath to defend the market.
• Xuan Zhou assigned Zhou Yi Cave Estate Number Nine, and Zhou Yi surveyed the market’s rising prices and bought a large collection of cultivation inheritances and supplies.
• Several cultivators followed Zhou Yi after his purchases, and he lured them away from the market and used soul-searching to discover that three of his eight pursuers were Heavenly Devil Palace spies.
• Nearly half a year passed as Zhou Yi cultivated and studied the four cultivation arts while the market’s Rogue Cultivators divided between serving demonic arts and hunting demons for rewards.
• Zhou Yi realized that formations, talismans, pills, and artifacts all depended on restriction patterns, and he used his study of formations to deepen his understanding of the other arts.

Zhou Yi was drawn into a trap while accompanying Xuan Zhou and other cultivators toward the capital to stop a supposed demonic threat. Black Skull revealed himself as the mastermind and sealed them inside a formation, leaving Zhou Yi and the others facing a powerful Ghost King Sect fiend.

• Zhou Yi fled Hua Yue at Phoenix Cry Pavilion, while she joined six Foundation Establishment cultivators in plotting against him and Xuan Zhou.
• Xuan Zhou told the Foundation Establishment cultivators that Heavenly Devil Palace fiends planned to blood-sacrifice the capital, then offered a true inheritance quota as a reward for intervening.
• Zhou Yi and the others set out for the capital, and Zhou Yi fell behind so he could escape before they reached the danger.
• Seven black banners appeared and sealed the cultivators inside a formation, while Zhou Yi used his blood-shadow technique to evade the first attack and regroup beside Xuan Zhou.
• Black Skull of Ghost King Sect appeared, identified himself as a Pseudo-Core fiend, and accused Xuan Zhou of trying to lure him into a siege.

Zhou Yi escaped Black Skull’s formation and killed him with the Soul Stabilizing Mirror and Qianyang Separating Fire Pearls. He returned to Dan Ding Sect, received a reward, chose the Minor Heaven Severing Art, and exchanged for Foundation Establishment Realm Thunder Methods.

• Xuan Zhou killed Hua Yue, while Black Skull trapped Xuan Zhou and Zhou Yi in the Profound Yin Soul Gathering Formation.
• Zhou Yi identified the formation’s weak point and escaped, but Black Skull pursued him by tracking ghostly qi in his Dantian.
• Zhou Yi lured Black Skull close with Foundation Establishment Pills, then used the Soul Stabilizing Mirror and Qianyang Separating Fire Pearls to kill him.
• Zhou Yi returned to Dan Ding Sect and learned that Xuan Zhou had died, Black Skull had been reported dead, and the Ghost King Sect had occupied Great Marsh Market.
• Wu Shuo told Zhou Yi he had received 330,000 bounty merit and could choose a true transmission secret art; Zhou Yi selected the Minor Heaven Severing Art.
• Zhou Yi exchanged for every Foundation Establishment Realm Thunder Method in the catalogue.

Zhou Yi used the Minor Heaven Severing Art and divined a deadly calamity within a hundred days, prompting him to leave the Dan Ding Sect. After the danger passed, he returned to Luo River and found the He Family hiding in its spirit land amid the conflict between the Ghost King Sect and Dan Ding Sect.

• Zhou Yi finished removing the tracking mark, tested his improved control over Thunder Methods, and studied the Minor Heaven Severing Art.
• Zhou Yi sacrificed lifespan to divine the next day, ten days, and a hundred days, receiving a sign of a bloody calamity in the hundred-day reading.
• Zhou Yi suspected danger within the Dan Ding Sect and left on a demon-extermination assignment rather than wait for the calamity.
• Danyangzi decided to take Sun Xing as a disciple, but learned that Sun Xing had left the sect and waited in vain for his return.
• Zhou Yi later divined that the danger had passed, returned to Luo River, and observed the He Family hiding as the Ghost King Sect and Dan Ding Sect fought over Qing Kingdom.

Zhou Yi secluded himself to disperse and rebuild his cultivation while the He Family waited for him to die and sought to expand its use of Luo River Blessed Land. The chapter left the He Family planning to endure until the blessed land became theirs after Zhou Yi's death.

• Zhou Yi warned Golden Eagle and Black Tiger to keep supplying essence blood, then entered a deep stone chamber to cultivate Eagle Transformation and prepare for another Foundation Establishment.
• Zhou Yi spent twenty years in seclusion until his Dao Foundation dissipated, then returned to the blessed land to cultivate the Earth Element Art.
• He Zheng urged He Dong to stop waiting for Zhou Yi and request two more mu of Spirit Fields, but He Dong insisted they remain patient and respectful.
• Prime Minister Turtle refused He Zheng's request to rent more fields and demanded that the He Family first pay rent for the land it had already cultivated.
• The He Family cultivators complained about Prime Minister Turtle, but He Dong told them to wait, expecting the blessed land to become theirs after Zhou Yi died.

After waiting decades for Old Tang to die, the He Family lost He Dong and passed leadership to He Si. Zhou Yi rebuilt his cultivation, achieved Foundation Establishment through his own efforts, and was discovered when the He Family finally broke into his formation.

• He Dong urged the He Family to wait out Old Tang, then, ten years later, named He Si his successor before dying at the age of one hundred and thirty.
• After nineteen more years, Zhou Yi finished his fifth cultivation dispersal and began rebuilding his cultivation, deciding not to use Black Tiger for Tiger Transformation.
• Zhou Yi reached the peak of Qi Refinement, took a Foundation Establishment Pill to protect his Dantian, and achieved Foundation Establishment without relying on it.
• Zhou Yi converted his Mana to the Five Elements Scripture and found that his cultivation speed had more than doubled.
• He Zheng brought Elder Zhong to the formation, where Zhong broke the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation; Zhou Yi allowed the He Family to enter.

Zhou Yi discovered that Yun Province was descending into a sect war and decided to leave human territory until the Righteous-Demonic Sword Duel ended. In Hundred Springs City, his favorable divination led him to uncover and destroy several heretical cultivators before he flew onward.

• Zhou Yi used lightning to kill He Zheng's companions, spared He Zheng to search his memories, and learned that Golden Core battles and sect warfare were spreading across Yun Province.
• Zhou Yi killed Zhong Yi after taking his family's formation manual, then ordered Prime Minister Turtle to pack up and prepared to leave Yun Province.
• Zhou Yi traveled underground to Hundred Springs City, where he killed a gray-robed daoist who had been feeding townsfolk Heart-Eater gu disguised as pears.
• Zhou Yi searched the city with his divine sense and used lightning to kill several other heretical cultivators who were harming its residents.
• Zhou Yi abandoned his plans to celebrate, reflected on the disorder in the city, and flew away from Hundred Springs City.

Zhou Yi traveled through the Ten Thousand Mountains disguised as a winged demon and reached Moyun Peak, where the Yellow Ox had established a refuge for nearby villagers. After testing the village chief, Niu Yong, Zhou Yi entered Moyun Cave to see the Yellow Ox.

• Zhou Yi’s group encountered a strange fish marked as a Yan River Dragon King demon soldier, and Zhou Yi declined Ao Dian’s invitation to his birthday banquet.
• Zhou Yi left for Moyun Peak with the Golden Eagle after storing the turtle and tiger demons in his Beast Taming Pouch.
• At Moyun Peak, Zhou Yi tested the villagers’ resolve and learned that their chief was named Niu Yong and that they had taken the surname Niu in honor of the Ox God.
• Zhou Yi entered Moyun Cave and found that the Yellow Ox had expanded its tunnels into a network of caverns for cultivation and escape.

Zhou Yi reunited with the yellow ox at Moyun Ridge, learned that humans there had developed a promising martial path, and prepared to defend the mountain from an invading demon alliance. The demon kings entered Moyun Cave and were trapped in Zhou Yi’s formation.

• Zhou Yi took command of the demon soldiers at Moyun Ridge and heard the yellow ox describe the growing human village and its martial body-tempering methods.
• Zhou Yi praised the humans’ Beast Blood Baptism techniques and resolved to support the development of their martial path.
• A demon soldier warned Zhou Yi that Ao Dian and five other demon kings had arrived with over a thousand soldiers, so Zhou Yi sent the Golden Eagle to investigate and ordered the yellow ox to gather the troops.
• Ao Dian led the demon kings into Moyun Cave, intending to flatten it and drive the yellow ox away from the humans it sheltered.
• Zhou Yi’s eight golden pillars trapped the demon kings in a formation, and Ao Dian urged them to attack one point together to escape.

Zhou Yi defeated the six Demon Kings who attacked Moyun Cave, killing four and forcing Wild Chicken Spirit and Ao Dian to submit. After taking command of the cave and its demon soldiers, he prepared to cultivate in seclusion while ordering his followers to guard the surrounding mountains.

• Ao Dian and the other Demon Kings transformed and attacked Zhou Yi's formations, but the formations and divine fire badly wounded them.
• Tiger King destroyed his Demon Core to break through the formation, and Pig King charged out before Zhou Yi stopped him with the Rivers and Mountains Cauldron.
• Zhou Yi killed Black Wolf King and the leopard demon with his Thunder Method, while Wild Chicken Spirit and Ao Dian surrendered and accepted contracts.
• Zhou Yi incorporated the surviving demon soldiers into Moyun Cave and ordered Ao Dian to appease Jade Tooth Demon King's envoy with spirit ginseng.
• Ao Dian explained the Ten Thousand Mountains' demon hierarchy, and Zhou Yi ordered his followers to guard the surrounding mountains while he cultivated in seclusion.

Over the decades, Zhou Yi quietly cultivated while Jin Ang grew into a talented young martial artist under his guidance. A supremely auspicious divination led Zhou Yi to suspect that White Bone Cave and its Five Venom Spiders held an opportunity for him.

• Several months after Ao Dian bribed the Toad Spirit, Moyun Peak and the surrounding territory became Zhou Yi's domain, and Zhou Yi spent the next ten years cultivating.
• Jin Ang visited Zhou Yi on Moyun Peak, reported that he had begun bone forging, and received Bone Forging Pills and advice.
• Zhou Yi divined that Jin Ang had extraordinary potential, while resolving to offer him only limited protection.
• Prime Minister Turtle reported the mountain's recent developments and Ao Dian's invitation to the Dragon Lord of Azure Wave Lake's birthday banquet, which Zhou Yi declined.
• Twenty years later, Zhou Yi reached the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage and drew a supremely auspicious Five Poisons oracle slip.
• Prime Minister Turtle identified White Bone Cave, a thousand li west, as the lair of a powerful nest of Five Venom Spiders, and Zhou Yi suspected it was linked to the oracle.

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.