Chapter Summaries

After Chi Xuan and the old dragon escaped the Grotto-Heaven, Tu Shan Jun was left facing its rejection and an impending spirit treasure lightning tribulation. Chi Xuan sacrificed himself to enter the Soul Banner, and Tu Shan Jun severed the Incense Dao Seed’s influence before racing toward the nearly closed rift.

• Old Monster Jing’s Yin God invaded the Soul Banner, where its spiritual energy became nourishment and drove the banner toward transformation.
• The Great Cang Emperor entered the rift and died when the Grotto-Heaven’s barrier disintegrated his body and Yin God.
• Chi Xuan refused to let Tu Shan Jun leave alone, then used the Divine Descent Art to send his Yin God into the Soul Banner.
• Tu Shan Jun took the bronze coffin and uprooted the banyan tree into the Soul Banner, destroying the Incense Dao Seed and causing the incense cultivators’ powers to fade.
• With the seal nearly gone and the rift narrowed to a foot-wide gap, Tu Shan Jun transformed into a scarlet streak and flew toward it.

Old Dragon emerged from the grotto-heaven but was intercepted by the Myriad Dharma Sect and condemned for the deaths tied to the Great Cang Dynasty. Meanwhile, Tu Shan Jinghong said farewell to her father’s remains and left Black Mountain after receiving a message from her senior brother.

• Old Dragon emerged from the grotto-heaven and found the Myriad Dharma Sect waiting with a large force.
• The Myriad Dharma Sect’s Nascent Soul True Lord identified Old Dragon as Ao Xin and presented the deaths attributed to the Great Cang Dynasty as evidence of his crimes.
• Old Dragon challenged the sect’s authority, and the True Lord ordered the Golden Core disciples to attack him together.
• Tu Shan Jinghong paid her respects to her father’s remains and told him she would soon leave the Little Desolate Domain.
• Tu Shan Jinghong received a message from her senior brother, gathered her father’s remains into a coffin, instructed Nie Quanjiu, and departed as violet lightning.

Tu Shan Jun emerged from the crimson pillar of light and learned that Chi Xuan had been Zhang Tianbao, his disciple and a cultivator of the Myriad Dharma Sect. Stricken with grief and fury, Tu Shan Jun began his Nascent Soul tribulation, and a familiar voice identified his Soul Banner as its father’s Dharma treasure.

• Tu Shan Jinghong arrived to assist the Myriad Dharma Sect elders fighting the old dragon, who tried to seize a black seal from the rift.
• Tu Shan Jun emerged from the crimson pillar, took the black seal, and attacked the old dragon while mourning Chi Xuan’s death.
• The Myriad Dharma Sect Patriarch killed the old dragon and took his Nascent Soul, prompting Tu Shan Jun to demand the old dragon’s Nascent Soul and Yin Spirit.
• The Patriarch revealed that Chi Xuan had entered the Grotto-Heaven under the name Zhang Tianbao and had cultivated the Myriad Dharma Fire Infusion Scripture.
• Tu Shan Jun declared Zhang Tianbao his disciple as thunderclouds gathered, then raised his Soul Banner to face the tribulation.
• A familiar voice told Tu Shan Jun that the Soul Banner was its father’s Dharma treasure.

Tu Shan Jun encountered Tu Shan Jinghong, who recognized her father’s magic treasures but did not realize who he was, and refused to surrender them. He escaped with the Soul Banner as its combined tribulation gathered, while the Myriad Dharma Sect sent Changshui to watch from afar and assigned Jinghong to the great formation.

• Tu Shan Jinghong recognized the Soul Banner and black seal as her father’s magic treasures and demanded Tu Shan Jun return them.
• Tu Shan Jun reflected that the Myriad Dharma Fire Infusion Scripture might have shaped Chi Xuan and wondered whether passing it on had helped cause Chi Xuan’s death.
• The Myriad Dharma Sect’s Nascent Soul True Lord offered protection and pills in exchange for the treasures, but Tu Shan Jun refused and warned that the lightning tribulation made it dangerous to attack him.
• Tu Shan Jinghong attacked Tu Shan Jun with lightning, but the Nascent Soul True Lord used jade walnuts to sever her connection to the thunderclouds and restrain her.
• Tu Shan Jun fled into the clouds with the Soul Banner as the thunderclouds followed, and the True Lord ordered Changshui to watch from afar and told Jinghong to take his place in the great formation.

Tu Shan Jun fled to the borderland between the Blood Fiend Sect and the Corpse Demon Sect, built a defensive array, and began crossing his lightning tribulation while refining the Soul Banner. After the sixth strike shattered his array, Golden Core cultivators from across the region gathered to watch and questioned True Person Changshui about the person undergoing tribulation.

• Tu Shan Jun chose a desolate borderland and built a grand array with thirty-six Crimson Heaven Warriors to protect himself during the tribulation.
• True Person Changshui followed Tu Shan Jun and watched from two thousand miles away as the thunderclouds gathered.
• Tu Shan Jun invited the lightning to strike and used the first bolts to refine the Soul Banner, which absorbed the strikes and began to transform.
• The sixth lightning bolt took the form of a flood dragon and shattered Tu Shan Jun's array, crushing the Crimson Heaven Warriors.
• Blood Origin Old Monster, High Person Earth Corpse, and other Golden Core cultivators arrived to watch the tribulation and asked True Person Changshui whether the person crossing it belonged to the Myriad Dharma Sect.

Tu Shan Jun endured the seventh bolt of his lightning tribulation as the Soul Banner advanced toward becoming a spirit treasure, but the strike shattered his formation and cracked the banner’s main pole and Spirit Pearl. With two bolts remaining, he sent his true body to face the heavens directly, determined to reach immortality or die trying.

• True Person Changshui told Old Monster Blood Origin that the Ancestor had instructed him to watch over the tribulation-taker, making the gathered cultivators hesitate to interfere.
• As the seventh lightning bolt became a dragon, Tu Shan Jun continued refining the Soul Banner while the lightning domain overwhelmed him and his formation.
• Tu Shan Jun activated the Ten Direction Ghost King Formation, but the lightning dragon broke through it, returned the ten yin gods to the Soul Banner, and cracked its main pole and Spirit Pearl.
• Tu Shan Jun judged that two bolts remained and placed his true body in the lightning domain to protect the Soul Banner.
• Tu Shan Jun declared that he would rather die than fail to become immortal, then charged the lightning dragon with a punch of defiance.

Tu Shan Jun fought through the eighth and ninth thunder dragons of his lightning tribulation, using the Soul Banner and the banyan tree’s Baleful Intent to sustain himself. The tribulation dispersed, but the crimson-robed Daoist appeared to have perished, and Old Monster Blood Essence and High Person Earth Corpse rushed toward the treasure’s radiance.

• Tu Shan Jun struck the eighth thunder dragon with Soul-Devouring Fist as the Soul Banner absorbed Baleful Intent and repaired his ruined body.
• The blue-robed cultivator, True Person Longshui, High Person Earth Corpse, and Old Monster Blood Essence watched the tribulation, while Old Monster Blood Essence released a small hornet.
• Tu Shan Jun refined the banyan tree to replenish the Soul Banner, then gathered its souls and Golden Core masters to face the ninth thunder dragon as the Ghost King.
• Tu Shan Jun’s final punch met the ninth thunder dragon, and the lightning consumed his flesh and the banyan tree before the Soul Banner fell onto the altar.
• Old Monster Blood Essence and High Person Earth Corpse saw spiritual radiance after the tribulation dispersed and raced toward it, believing a treasure remained.

Tu Shan Jun survived the tribulation as the Soul Banner advanced into a spirit treasure, but Chixuan died before he could return to the life he wanted. Still at the peak of Golden Core, Tu Shan Jun prepared to strengthen himself as powerful cultivators arrived from the Blood Fiend Sect and Corpse Fiend Sect.

• Old Monster Blood Essence, High Person Earth Corpse, the Ghost King of the Netherworld, and a blue-robed cultivator rushed toward the vanished lightning tribulation, while the Myriad Dharma Sect’s Nascent Soul True Lord stayed to stabilize the grotto-heaven formation.
• Tu Shan Jun was reconstructed within the newly advanced Soul Banner, but he could not save Chixuan, whose body crumbled away outside it.
• Tu Shan Jun recognized that he had ignored Chixuan’s simple wish to return to the Daoist temple, apologized, and thanked him for everything he had done.
• Tu Shan Jun assessed the Soul Banner’s new capacities and realized that he remained at the peak of Golden Core because he lacked enough Yin Spirits to increase his strength.
• Tu Shan Jun saw the approaching cultivators from the demonic sects and smiled, intending to devour their Golden Core Yin Spirits.

Blood Origin, Earth Corpse, and Longshui fought over the newly transformed Soul Banner spirit treasure as its claim became entangled with the Myriad Dharma Sect and a Nascent Soul True Lord. Blood Origin revealed his incomplete true intent and Earth Corpse summoned a Supreme Yin Corpse King, but the arrival of three Blood Fiend Sect cultivators left Earth Corpse outnumbered.

• Blood Origin and Earth Corpse raced toward the Soul Banner spirit treasure, and Earth Corpse sent his coffin and corpse puppet to seize it.
• Blood Origin and Earth Corpse disputed the treasure’s ownership, while Longshui claimed it for the Myriad Dharma Sect and warned that his sect’s True Lord was nearby.
• Blood Origin unleashed incomplete true intent, driving Longshui and the other Golden Core cultivators back.
• Earth Corpse summoned his Supreme Yin Corpse King and joined forces with it against Blood Origin.
• Three Blood Fiend Sect cultivators arrived, prompting Earth Corpse to look for support from his own sect and find none.

Xue Yuan seized the Soul Banner despite warnings from his sectmates and began refining it, believing its spirit treasure power would make him a leading Golden Core cultivator. As the banner’s pressure surged, an unexpected change struck him.

• True Person Xuansha arrived with Blood Fiend Sect cultivators, and True Person Xue Yuan greeted him before turning his attention to the Soul Banner.
• True Person Xuansha claimed the Soul Banner as a lost treasure of his sect, while True Person Changshui argued that it belonged to his own sect.
• Xue Yuan ignored Xuansha’s order to wait and grabbed the Soul Banner, discovering its vast inner space and powerful Golden Core Yin Spirits.
• Xue Yuan laughed and poured mana into the Soul Banner, unleashing pressure that forced the assembled Golden Core cultivators to retreat.
• Xuansha urged Xue Yuan to refine the treasure, but as Xue Yuan continued channeling mana, his eyes suddenly widened.

True Person Dark Baleful ambushed True Person Blood Origin and tried to take the Soul Banner, while Tu Shan Jun watched for a chance to seize Blood Origin. Blood Origin unexpectedly activated the spirit treasure’s protective aura and survived the attack, leaving him ready to strike back.

• True Person Dark Baleful wounded True Person Blood Origin with the Man-Slaying Axe and demanded that he surrender the spirit treasure.
• Blood Origin found himself surrounded by hostile Golden Core cultivators, while True Person Blood Chant warned that forcing him into demonic deviation could be dangerous.
• Tu Shan Jun considered letting Blood Origin fight back before he tried to seize his yin spirit through the Soul Banner.
• When Dark Baleful attacked again, Blood Origin activated the Soul Banner’s Heavenly Baleful True Spirit Protective Aura and blocked the axe.
• Blood Origin laughed at Dark Baleful and announced that he would make his move.

Blood Yuan used the soul banner’s spirit treasure to withstand True Person Mystic Baleful, but the banner’s protection weakened and Mystic Baleful grievously wounded him. As Blood Yuan tried to flee, Tu Shan Jun seized the chance to trigger a backlash from the banner.

• Blood Yuan activated the soul banner’s protective astral energy, prompting True Person Blood Chant, the Netherworld Grounds’ Ghost Kings, and High Person Earth Corpse to retreat.
• Blood Yuan attacked Mystic Baleful with Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts, but Mystic Balefal’s full-power axe strike proved he could not be easily defeated.
• Tu Shan Jun refused to help Blood Yuan and weakened the soul banner’s protective astral energy, while Blood Yuan treated his wounds and discovered that Mystic Balefal had poisoned him.
• Mystic Balefal’s axe broke through the weakened barrier and tore open Blood Yuan’s chest, leaving Blood Yuan shocked and gravely injured.
• Blood Yuan tried to flee, but Tu Shan Jun caused the soul banner to lash out at him, and Mystic Balefal recognized the spirit treasure’s backlash.

Tu Shan Jun invaded Xue Yuan’s sea of consciousness to seize control of the Soul Banner, but Xue Yuan used the demon fetus and protective treasures to withstand him. With Xue Yuan sealed behind a powerful barrier and the Blood Fiend Sect’s cultivators closing in, Tu Shan Jun could not kill him or let the Soul Banner fall into their hands.

• Tu Shan Jun entered Xue Yuan’s sea of consciousness and fought past his Yin Spirit defenses, while Xue Yuan used a demon fetus to share the pressure.
• Outside, Xue Yuan stabilized his wounds with the Nether God Demon Birth Pill as Xuan Sha, Xue Song, and Black Wind surrounded him.
• Xue Yuan realized Tu Shan Jun controlled the spiritual treasure and tried to bargain with him, but Tu Shan Jun’s Emotion-Bending Art failed against Xue Yuan’s protection.
• Tu Shan Jun offered to release the spiritual treasure’s power so Xue Yuan could attack his sect brothers, but Xue Yuan refused to trust him and focused on recovering.
• Xue Yuan froze himself and the Soul Banner behind a true astral qi barrier, threatening that his fellow sect members might destroy the treasure.
• Xuan Sha found Xue Yuan protected by the barrier and ordered the others to bring him back to the sect.

More than a month after the border war, Xuan Sha tried to extract the spirit treasure from Xue Yuan’s sealed body while planning how to use his faction. Inside Xue Yuan’s sea of consciousness, Tu Shan Jun realized that Xue Yuan’s defense against divine-sense attacks was bound to the demon fetus above them.

• Xuan Sha told Xue Song that Xue Yuan had sealed himself after a spirit-treasure backlash and arranged to use Xue Yuan’s followers in the struggle for Sun City.
• Xuan Sha examined reports of people seeking Xue Yuan and told Black Wind to keep investigating the suspected spies rather than kill them.
• Xue Lian reported that the Qianyuan Earthsurge Fire could not easily break the mysterious ice and spirit-treasure true gang surrounding Xue Yuan.
• Xuan Sha considered gathering the Golden Core masters or using the sect’s inherited spirit treasure to free Xue Yuan without damaging the treasure inside.
• Within Xue Yuan’s sea of consciousness, Tu Shan Jun listened as Xue Yuan recounted his past and reflected on his own guilt over destroying the Crimson Crow Sect.
• Tu Shan Jun concluded that Xue Yuan had fused with the demon fetus to protect his yin spirit and accused him of talking too much.

Tu Shan Jun battled Xueyuan inside his sea of consciousness, broke the demonic fetus’s hold, and found the bone-white ring protecting Xueyuan’s yin spirit. Xueyuan fused with the demonic fetus and emerged from the Fire-Dividing Furnace in demonic deviation as the gathered cultivators looked on.

• True Person Xuansha refused the Myriad Dharma Sect’s request to see Xueyuan and recover Tu Shan Jinghong’s family heirloom, while Tu Shan Jinghong insisted she be allowed to look at it.
• Tu Shan Jun used the Demon Ape Mind-Settling Fist to shatter most of the demonic fetus’s roots in Xueyuan’s sea of consciousness.
• Tu Shan Jun exposed the demonic body and seized the bone-white ring protecting Xueyuan’s yin spirit, then used Soul Devour True Intent to make the demonic body release it.
• Xueyuan fused his yin spirit with the demonic fetus and transformed into a demonic body, causing the mysterious ice around him to shatter.
• Xueyuan broke free of the Fire-Dividing Furnace, shattered its restrictions and underground palace formation, and flew into the sky.
• True Person Xuansha and the Myriad Dharma Sect cultivators saw Xueyuan’s uncontrolled aura and realized he had fallen into demonic deviation.

Xue Yuan suffered demonic deviation and attacked the Blood Fiend Sect’s formation, forcing Xuan Sha and the sect’s Golden Core cultivators to suppress him. Inside Xue Yuan’s sea of consciousness, Tu Shan Jun recognized that he lacked the experience and foundation to handle the crisis and faced the prospect of being captured or destroyed.

• Xuan Sha sensed Xue Yuan’s demonic deviation and hurried back into the Blood Fiend Sect, while True Person Chun Jun and the others waited outside the gates.
• Xue Yuan emerged from the underground palace amid demonic flames, destroyed a subsidiary fire furnace, and knocked the bald grandmaster back with an evil ghost summoned from the Soul Banner.
• Xue Yuan struck the sect-protecting formation with the transformed Soul Banner, and Xuan Sha activated the formation to restrain him.
• The Blood Fiend Sect’s Golden Core cultivators attacked Xue Yuan, but their spells and treasures could not penetrate his protective true astral qi.
• Xuan Sha summoned the Nine Resentful Demons to bind Xue Yuan, while Tu Shan Jun realized that Xue Yuan’s uncontrolled power could exhaust the Nether God Demon Life Pill and leave him vulnerable.

Tu Shan Jun seized control of Blood Yuan’s demonized body and used the Soul Banner and Blood Yuan’s protective ring to contain the demon within his sea of consciousness. He escaped the Blood Fiend Sect’s formation with the spirit treasure, leaving the sect’s Golden Core cultivators to recognize that the escaped figure carried a spirit treasure.

• Tu Shan Jun used Blood Yuan’s mana to set up a demon-sealing formation in the sea of consciousness and pinned down the demon that had devoured Blood Yuan’s Yin Spirit.
• Tu Shan Jun placed the pale white ring into the formation, stabilized the spirit platform, and sat upon it to confront the demon.
• Above the Blood Fiend Sect, Old Monster Xuan Sha reinforced the sect formation and called for the ancestor to act as the demon’s apparent inactivity raised suspicions.
• A spirit-treasure spearhead struck at Blood Yuan, but Tu Shan Jun blocked it with the Soul Banner and took control of the demonized body.
• Tu Shan Jun unleashed the Soul Banner’s power, broke free of the attackers, and passed through the sect formation using Blood Yuan’s token and knowledge of its incantations.
• True Person Changshui, True Person Chunjun, and Tu Shan Jinghong recognized the escaping figure’s weapon as a spirit treasure, which Tu Shan Jinghong identified as his father’s magical artifact.

Tu Shan Jun fled toward Sun City while pursued by the Blood Fiend Sect and Myriad Dharma Sect, hoping True Person Meteorflame would honor their old agreement. As Xuan Sha struck him with the dragon spear, Tu Shan Jun reached Sun City and called out to Meteorflame, prompting the city's grand formation to activate.

• Old Monster Xuan Sha rallied the Blood Fiend Sect's Golden Core Grandmasters and pursued Tu Shan Jun, who realized the Myriad Dharma Sect's cultivators were closing in from ahead.
• Tu Shan Jun weighed his escape routes and decided to head east toward Sun City, despite fearing that his arrival might bring trouble to the city.
• Tu Shan Jinghong recognized Tu Shan Jun's divine sense but warned Pure Jun not to attack, while Pure Jun held back and the pursuing cultivators continued to wear Tu Shan Jun down.
• Xuan Sha called on his ancestor to strike with the dragon spear, and Tu Shan Jun used the Soul Banner and Heavenly Baleful True Spirit Astral Qi to block it, though the spear pierced his shoulder.
• Tu Shan Jun reached the outskirts of Sun City, called out to True Person Meteorflame to fulfill their appointment, and Sun City's grand formation activated.

True Person Meteorflame activated Sun City's defenses when a host of powerful cultivators arrived, but recognized the fleeing Tu Shan Jun and remembered their appointment to refine pills. As Xuan Sha attacked Tu Shan Jun with a spirit treasure, Meteorflame intercepted the strike and left the confrontation poised to continue.

• Sun City activated its grand formation after reports of approaching Demon Cultivators, and True Person Meteorflame appeared to command its defenses.
• True Person Meteorflame identified the approaching group as powerful Golden Core cultivators from many sects, with Xuan Sha pursuing Tu Shan Jun.
• Tu Shan Jun called out to Meteorflame about their appointment to refine pills, and Meteorflame recognized him and celebrated his survival.
• Xuan Sha empowered the White Bone Dragon-Binding Spear and attacked Tu Shan Jun, who pleaded for Meteorflame to save him.
• True Person Meteorflame used the Sunflame Treasure Art to strike the spirit treasure and protect Tu Shan Jun.

Tu Shan Jun reunited with True Person Yunyan as the Blood Fiend Sect and cultivators from across the Little Wasteland Domain surrounded Sun City, demanding the fiend be handed over. Tu Shan Jun revealed that devouring a late-stage Golden Core cultivator could raise him to Nascent Soul True Lord, while True Person Yunyan faced the gathered sect masters and considered their demands.

• True Person Yunyan arrived with the Solar Flame Fire Phoenix and joined Tu Shan Jun, who explained that he needed to devour a late-stage Golden Core cultivator to reach Nascent Soul True Lord.
• True Person Yunyan hesitated over Tu Shan Jun's plan, but remained beside him as the Blood Fiend Sect and Myriad Dharma Sect approached Sun City.
• Xuan Sha and the Blood Fiend Sect accused True Person Yunyan of sheltering a fiend, and True Person Yunyan trapped the approaching cultivators inside Sun City's grand formation.
• True Person Chunjun and other sect masters demanded that True Person Yunyan hand over Tu Shan Jun, while Tu Shan Jinghong recognized him and wept with relief.
• Cultivators from many sects gathered outside Sun City and threatened to join forces against True Person Yunyan, who fell silent as he considered their demands.