Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: Banner of Demon Souls, Suppressing the Three-Headed Lion

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Chang’an offers over ten thousand top-grade Spirit Stones for a complete Blood-Soul Contract, causing excitement across the Black Markets. However, despite Lord Wanjin receiving tens of thousands of leads, none prove genuine or useful.
• Li Chang’an’s clone visits the Myriad Formation Sect to commission a Quasi-fifth-Rank Demon Soul Banner, intending to preserve and utilize the souls of Demonic Beasts he defeats in the future.
• On the way, he encounters Yu Xiaosheng and Mei Mengxuan. Yu explains that Mei resents Li Chang’an for becoming a guardian while she was rejected, believing Luo Heavenly Lord treated her unfairly.
• Yu informs Li that the Monster Race’s attacks have intensified, with the Seventy-Ninth Immortal City nearly falling and several other cities requesting reinforcements. He warns Li to remain vigilant against the powerful Golden Peng Clan attacking his Ninth Immortal City.
• Yu also advises Li to accumulate Merit Points. With enough contributions and the support of several Spirit Transformation cultivators, Li may eventually apply for a Spirit Gathering Pill or Spirit Gathering Flower, aiding his advancement to Spirit Transformation.
• At the Artifact Refining Peak, Li meets Yuan Shan, a Nascent Soul Peak cultivator and Quasi-fifth-Rank Artifact Refining prodigy whom Li previously rescued from captivity.
• Yuan Shan agrees to refine the Demon Soul Banner without payment. He also shares his insights on advancing from Peak Fourth-Tier to Quasi-fifth-Rank Artifact Refining, greatly benefiting Li.
• Yuan Shan successfully forges a high-quality Demon Soul Banner. Li tests it by capturing a Demonic Beast’s soul, confirming that the banner works perfectly.
• After returning to Azure Mountain, Li learns from the Demon Cattail Flower that the Three-Headed Lion Clan will attack the Human Race the following day.
• Li secretly enters the clan’s territory and discovers nineteen Quasi-fifth-Rank Three-Headed Lions, including one who has reached the third step of the Nine Steps to Godhood.
• Rather than fight them individually, Li surrounds their meeting chamber with thirty-six interconnected Quasi-fifth-Rank formations.
• During the clan’s final war meeting, the Three-Headed Lions boast about exterminating the Human Race. Li activates the formation, plunging the chamber into darkness and suppressing all the Tier 4 Three-Headed Lions beneath overwhelming pressure.

Character Developments

• Li Chang’an remains patient, calculating, and resourceful. He expands his preparations on multiple fronts: seeking the Blood-Soul Contract, improving his artifact-refining knowledge, obtaining the Demon Soul Banner, and preparing a decisive strike against the Three-Headed Lion Clan.
• His outlook becomes more open-minded regarding cultivation and craftsmanship. After learning from Yuan Shan, Li realizes that isolating himself is insufficient and that he must communicate with talented cultivators to improve.
• Li also demonstrates greater strategic confidence. Instead of engaging the Three-Headed Lions one by one, he uses formations to trap and overwhelm their entire leadership at once.
• Yu Xiaosheng acts as a helpful and well-informed ally, warning Li about the worsening Monster Race offensive and offering valuable advice about earning sect resources.
• Mei Mengxuan remains hostile toward Li because of his appointment as guardian, though Li chooses not to take her resentment personally.
• Yuan Shan shows gratitude and loyalty toward Li for rescuing him. His exceptional artifact-refining talent and willingness to teach provide Li with an important opportunity for growth.
• The Three-Headed Lion Clan is revealed to be arrogant and dismissive of the Human Race, underestimating both Li and the power of formations.

Significant Themes

• Preparation and strategic superiority: Li’s success comes from long-term planning, gathering resources, learning from others, and choosing favorable battlefields.
• The value of contribution and loyalty: Yu’s advice emphasizes that talent alone is not enough; a cultivator’s contributions to their sect determine whether they can receive its greatest resources.
• Learning through cooperation: Li recognizes that even with his long lifespan and accumulated experience, communicating with true prodigies is essential for further advancement.
• Underestimation and arrogance: The Three-Headed Lions’ confidence blinds them to the danger surrounding them, contrasting with Li’s cautious and methodical approach.
• Resource utilization: The Demon Soul Banner reflects Li’s practical philosophy of wasting nothing, turning the souls of slain Demonic Beasts into a powerful cultivation resource.
• Human–Monster conflict: The chapter heightens the impending confrontation between the Human Race and the Monster Race, with the Three-Headed Lion Clan preparing an extermination campaign.

Character Interactions

• Li and Yu have a friendly, informative conversation about Mei’s resentment, the Monster Race’s attacks, Li’s achievements, and the possible path toward obtaining a Spirit Gathering resource.
• Li and Mei have only a brief encounter, but her cold reaction reveals lingering jealousy and dissatisfaction.
• Li and Yuan Shan share a respectful and cooperative relationship. Yuan repays Li’s rescue by crafting the Demon Soul Banner and teaching him Artifact Refining techniques.
• Li works closely with the Demon Cattail Flower, relying on its intelligence about the Three-Headed Lion Clan.
• The Three-Headed Lion chieftain attempts to rally his clan for the coming assault, but his confident speech is interrupted when Li’s formations trap and suppress them all.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Li Chang’an traps the Three-Headed Lion Clan’s leaders inside a barrier formed by thirty-six arrays. Their attacks cannot break through, and their monster power steadily drains.
• As the Quasi-fifth-Rank lions prepare to burn their life sources to escape, Li Chang’an repeatedly strikes them with the Heart-Questioning Technique. He turns them into Wood Seed Puppets and captures the clan’s high-ranking fighters.
• With the clan’s strongest members gone, its territory is left vulnerable. Li Chang’an explores its Treasure Vault, finding far greater wealth than the Flame Dragon and Golden Wolf tribes possessed, then searches its library for bloodline cultivation methods. The records offer no solutions to his own bloodline problem or methods suitable for Little Black and Da Huang.
• Li Chang’an interrogates the captured lions. They reveal that the Winged Human Race persuaded five races to cooperate and wants the altar, which may hold secrets about reaching Tier 5. The Azure Roc Clan also possesses a power-gathering treasure, though the lions believe it is limited.
• Using a black feather containing a Winged Human envoy’s aura, Li Chang’an divines the Winged Human territory’s location in the far north. He orders Demon Cattail Flower to expand northward, while cautioning that the Winged Humans may not be the ultimate power behind the plot.
• That night, Li Chang’an sends Yu Jiao Lan, Jin Langyi, and Jin Langhui to take control of the Three-Headed Lion territory. Their departure catches Yanlong Gan’s attention, but Old Mountain Hound jokingly guesses they may be moving against the five Monster Races.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Chang’an demonstrates overwhelming strength and composure, defeating the Three-Headed Lion leadership without revealing himself during the battle. He remains focused on intelligence-gathering and long-term threats, rather than accepting the chief’s offer of treasure in exchange for mercy.
• The Three-Headed Lion chief shifts from bargaining and attempted resistance to regretful submission. He answers Li Chang’an’s questions, though he cannot help with the bloodline issue and knows little about the Winged Human Race’s deeper plans.
• Jin Langyi is fully convinced of Li Chang’an’s superiority after witnessing the clan’s defeat. He and Yu Jiao Lan begin to suspect Li Chang’an may be the figure foretold by their ancestor’s dying vision.
• Yu Jiao Lan and Jin Langhui share that growing suspicion and are tasked with taking over the conquered territory.
• Yanlong Gan remains wary of the trio’s secretive movements, while Old Mountain Hound treats his concern lightly.

Significant themes

• Power and control: Li Chang’an’s arrays and techniques turn a seemingly formidable clan into prisoners, making the balance of power shift almost instantly.
• Hidden threats and uncertainty: The Winged Human Race appears to be orchestrating events, but Li Chang’an suspects a still more powerful figure may be behind it.
• Prophecy and destiny: The companions increasingly connect Li Chang’an to the ancestor’s vision of a heavenly figure who would save the Human Race.
• Knowledge and advancement: The altar, bloodline cultivation, and the search for Tier 5 reveal Li Chang’an’s ongoing pursuit of answers that could strengthen himself and the Human Race.

Plot points and events

• Yu Jiao Lan, Jin Langyi, and Jin Langhui attack the Three-Headed Lion Clan. Jin Langyi destroys the clan’s main hall and the trio massacre its lower-ranked members; Li Chang’an stays hidden, collecting their souls with the Demon Soul Banner.
• The Lion Clan’s Quasi-fifth-Rank elders never appear: they have already been killed. Yu Jiao Lan demands the survivors submit to humanity. Those who resist are killed; the rest surrender their Essence Blood, completing an ancient Slave Contract that marks them as humanity’s slaves.
• Li Chang’an studies the contract as a possible clue for improving his own Blood-Soul Contract. He also tells Yu Jiao Lan to publicize the surrender, hoping the news will draw out the Winged Human Race.
• Scouts from other clans find the massacre and a monument declaring humanity’s victory. Jin Langyi warns them away, confirming that the Lion territory is now under human control. The news spreads, shocking both human and nonhuman factions.
• Yanlong Gan and Old Mountain Hound learn of the victory. Yu Jiao Lan attributes it to a powerful treasure, keeping Li Chang’an’s role secret.
• The Azure Roc, White Mastiff, Nether Flood Dragon, and Golden Ape clans meet and decide to face humanity together rather than involve the Winged Human Race. They gather their Fourth-Tier forces and issue a declaration: humanity must surrender within a month or be exterminated.
• The Stone Mountain and Cloud Eagle clans, which previously refused to help humanity, debate whether to make amends but remain on the sidelines. They privately hope humanity loses, which would vindicate their earlier choice.

Character developments and interactions

• Yu Jiao Lan takes command of the surrender and enforces it ruthlessly, while concealing Li Chang’an’s involvement from Yanlong Gan and Old Mountain Hound. They accept her explanation but recognize she is withholding something.
• Li Chang’an remains a strategic presence in the background: harvesting souls, studying the Slave Contract, and orchestrating events to provoke the Winged Human Race.
• Jin Langyi serves as the attack’s visible force and later guards the conquered territory, deterring foreign scouts.
• The Lion Clan survivors move from confidence in their elders to panic and despair, then submit under threat.
• Stone Mountain and Cloud Eagle’s elders regret alienating humanity but are too uncertain to act. Their discussion shows their concern for their own standing as much as for the coming conflict.

Significant themes

• Power and submission: Victory becomes permanent political control through the Slave Contract, not merely battlefield defeat.
• Secrecy and strategic manipulation: Li Chang’an hides his role and shapes public perception to draw out a larger enemy.
• Fear and shifting alliances: The Lion Clan’s collapse unsettles rival factions, while former allies reconsider their choices.
• Uncertainty and self-interest: Even after humanity’s unexpected victory, other clans hesitate to commit, weighing risks and hoping events justify their past decisions.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Li Chang’an remains concealed in Azure Mountain, waiting for the Winged Human Race to respond to news about the Three-Headed Lion Clan. His fortified mountain is now protected by a Quasi-fifth-Rank Formation.
• The Nine-Headed Bird, whose forces have suffered heavy losses in the war against the Monsters, visits and tries to buy Azure Mountain. Li refuses every offer, including a Quasi-fifth-Rank Spiritual Vein and three Tier 5 Treasures. When Li asks for a Spirit Gathering Pill or Flower instead, the Nine-Headed Bird abandons the negotiation.
• Unable to acquire the treasures hidden beneath Azure Mountain through a purchase, the Nine-Headed Bird decides to have Li killed. Disguised as a Tier 4 Golden Peng, he hires assassins through the Myriad Gold Black Market, paying 3,000 top-grade Spirit Stones upfront.
• Most of the assembled assassins accept the job, confident they can exploit a weakness in Li’s defenses. Black Face refuses, warning that a Tier 5 Formation makes the mission perilous.
• Black Face is revealed to be Wu Chen, who secretly alerts Li to the assassination plot. He identifies the Nine-Headed Bird as the likely force behind the disguised employer and warns Li about Daoist Rift Wind, a swift assassin with a Wind Spirit Root.
• Li is unconcerned because he secretly wears Tier 5 armor. After waiting almost a month without an attack, he shifts his attention to the four Monster Clans gathering in the Moon Gazing Secret Realm.
• On the eve of their deadline, Li infiltrates the Azure Roc Clan’s territory and observes more than forty Quasi-fifth-Rank beasts gathered for battle. The Azure Roc Old Ancestor unveils the clan’s Monster Gathering Disk, claiming it can combine their power and ensure victory over human territory.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Chang’an remains firm and strategically cautious. He refuses to trade away Azure Mountain, uses Luo Yu’s status as subtle leverage, and keeps his Tier 5 armor secret.
• The Nine-Headed Bird grows more openly hostile after failing to obtain Azure Mountain. His military losses have weakened him, but he still pursues the secret treasures beneath the mountain and turns to assassination.
• Wu Chen / Black Face reveals his double life as a Black Market assassin. Though he refuses to join the attack, he risks warning Li and shares crucial information about the hired killers.
• The hired assassins display confidence in their own skill and skepticism that Li’s external defenses can protect him. Their dismissal of Black Face’s caution contrasts with his more prudent judgment.
• The Azure Roc Old Ancestor rallies the four Monster Clans around the Monster Gathering Disk, presenting it as the key to their coming assault.

Significant themes

• Caution versus overconfidence: Black Face recognizes the danger of confronting Li’s defenses, while the other assassins underestimate them.
• Hidden strength and misdirection: Li conceals his armor; the Nine-Headed Bird disguises his identity; and Wu Chen’s Black Market persona hides his connection to the Immortal Sects.
• Loyalty, survival, and divided identities: Wu Chen joined the Black Market both for practical reasons and as insurance should the Immortal Sects lose the war.
• Power and strategic resources: Azure Mountain matters not for its Spiritual Vein alone, but for the secret realms and treasures beneath it. The Monster Gathering Disk likewise suggests that coordinated power may outweigh individual strength.

Key plot points and events

• Li Chang’an recognizes the Monster Gathering Disk as an ancient treasure that combines formation, battle-array, and artifact-refining techniques. The four clans’ strongest beasts charge it with their power until it can unleash an attack near the Peak of the Seventh Step.
• Before the Azure Roc Old Ancestor can use the disk to threaten the Winged Human Race and conquer humanity, Li Chang’an ambushes him with a Heart-Questioning Technique. Formations trap and suppress the assembled beasts, and Li Chang’an takes the disk. He plans to lend it to Zheng Qingqing as a protective treasure.
• Li Chang’an captures the clans’ high-tier beasts and loots their treasure vaults, libraries, and ancestral graves. He collects valuable remains from the Azure Roc and Three-Headed Lion clans, then strips the White Mastiff and Nether Flood Dragon clans of their valuables as well.
• In the Flood Dragon Palace’s library, he finds Bloodline Cultivation Methods for flood dragons and turtles, the latter potentially useful for Little Black. He also discovers notes by a Nether Flood Dragon Old Ancestor who once met the Heavenly God.
• The notes warn that the Moon God’s Bloodline Cultivation Method may be a trap: descendants’ growing bloodline power could make them stronger offerings for the Moon God to consume. The Heavenly God supposedly killed the Moon God, leaving the races a chance to escape her control.
• When Li Chang’an questions the captured beasts, they reveal little about the Winged Human Race beyond having been forced to obey it. The chapter ends as the Nether Flood Dragon Clan Chief recounts the Heavenly God’s answer about the Moon God.

Character developments

• Li Chang’an remains calculating and resourceful, using surprise and layered formations to seize a major weapon without a direct contest of strength. His discovery of the Bloodline Path’s possible danger makes him more cautious about pursuing unfamiliar cultivation methods.
• Zheng Qingqing is characterized as independent and devoted to cultivation; Li Chang’an chooses the disk for her because she often seeks opportunities on her own.
• Jin Langyi admires Li Chang’an’s thoroughness after watching him plunder the ancestral graves.
• The Nether Flood Dragon Clan Chief shifts from pleading for understanding to cooperating by sharing what he knows about his ancestor’s encounter with the Heavenly God.

Significant themes

• Power and control: The disk turns the four clans’ combined strength into a weapon, but Li Chang’an’s tactics show that control and preparation can overcome raw power.
• Cultivation as a potential trap: Powerful methods and treasures may conceal dangers or serve the interests of beings who created them.
• Bloodline and exploitation: The Moon God’s alleged plan recasts bloodline cultivation as a means of feeding her power, rather than benefiting her descendants.
• Pragmatism and opportunism: Li Chang’an treats victory as an opportunity to acquire weapons, knowledge, and valuable beast remains.

Character interactions

• The Azure Roc Old Ancestor warns the weaker beasts not to study the disk’s patterns, then coordinates the clans in charging it.
• Li Chang’an interrupts the Old Ancestor’s triumph, takes control of the disk, and suppresses the assembled beasts. He ignores their demands for an explanation.
• Jin Langyi silently takes Li Chang’an’s grave-robbing as a lesson in thoroughness.
• Li Chang’an questions the captured clans about their connection to the Winged Human Race and the Heavenly God; the Flood Dragon Chief’s account provides the chapter’s major revelation.

Key plot points and events

• The Nether Flood Dragon Clan Chief explains that the Moon God’s bloodline dominates the world’s races, preventing most from cultivating their other bloodlines. The Heavenly God believed another bloodline could eventually suppress it, but success was extraordinarily rare.
• Li Chang’an realizes the Essence Blood within him is even more dominant: its power has absorbed his Bloodline Treasures and blocked him from sensing his own weaker bloodlines. He considers cultivating his body’s bloodline from scratch but has no immediate solution.
• The demons report rumors of powerful beings in Monster Race territory who can defeat Ninth-Step cultivators and may be close to godhood. Li Chang’an regards them as a possible threat but knows he can retreat to the outside world if necessary.
• Li Chang’an considers exploiting the Boundary River’s treasures, but rejects a campaign to subdue its Water Demon clans as too troublesome and risky.
• The remaining four clans submit and sign Slave Contracts. News spreads, and the Human Race’s victory over the four great clans transforms its reputation.
• The Mountain Hound Clan receives Bloodline Treasures from Li Chang’an, gains a new Quasi-fifth Rank powerhouse, and secures a powerful ally.
• The Stone Mountain and Cloud Eagle clans regret not supporting the Human Race. Their Old Ancestors bring gifts to seek forgiveness, but Yanlong Gan’s ally Old Mountain Hound rebukes them.
• Other clans, including the Gold-Patterned Fire Python and Netherworld Human-Faced Spider clans, arrive with gifts to propose alliances. The influx of treasure becomes so great it overflows the Human Race’s vault.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Chang’an remains pragmatic and cautious. He seeks ways to overcome the Essence Blood’s influence and acquire treasures, but avoids plans that could provoke unknown powers or exceed his control.
• Yanlong Gan and Old Mountain Hound move from fearing the Human Race’s destruction to celebrating its triumph. Yanlong becomes a sought-after ally, while Old Mountain Hound bluntly confronts the clans that abandoned them.
• The Stone Mountain and Cloud Eagle Old Ancestors are humbled by their misjudgment and try to repair relations through apologies and gifts.
• The Gold-Patterned Fire Python Old Ancestor and other clan leaders approach Yanlong to build alliances, reflecting the Human Race’s newfound influence.
• The Nether Flood Dragon Clan Chief respectfully shares inherited knowledge, giving Li Chang’an a clearer understanding of the world’s bloodline system.

Significant themes

• Bloodline and inherited power: The Moon God’s legacy shapes every race, while Li Chang’an’s far stronger Essence Blood suppresses his own potential.
• Power and political realignment: The Human Race’s unexpected victory changes how other clans assess it and prompts a wave of diplomacy.
• Regret and loyalty: The clans that stood aside now lament their choice, contrasted with the Mountain Hound Clan’s reward for supporting the Human Race.
• Caution versus ambition: Li Chang’an weighs opportunities for greater power and wealth against the dangers of overreaching.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Three months after the Human Race’s victories, it hosts a grand alliance banquet attended by over a hundred top-tier races and tens of thousands of smaller races seeking protection.
• The seating arrangements reveal shifting political power. The Iron-Armed Demon Ape and Dragon Carp clans receive places of honor, while former allies such as the Stone Mountain and Cloud Eagle clans are relegated to less prestigious positions because they abandoned the Human Race during its crisis.
• During the banquet, Demon Cattail Flower reports discovering a group of more than thirty powerful Human Race cultivators deep within Winged Human Race territory. They travel on a massive Dragon Eagle, and their leader, Black Dragon Yun, has reached the Fifth Step of God Ascension.
• Li Chang’an becomes suspicious because the Human Race was previously known to have only four Quasi-fifth Rank experts. He orders Demon Cattail Flower to continue spying on them and to search for the remaining five altars.
• Demon Cattail Flower discovers that humans living in Winged Human Race territory—including cultivators—are enslaved. They bear Slave Character Marks, are forced to serve the Winged Humans, and can be beaten or eaten at will.
• Several days later, the Dragon Eagle arrives at the banquet with the powerful human cultivators. The guests initially assume these experts were secretly involved in the Human Race’s recent victories.
• Black Dragon Yun reveals that his group belongs to the supposed “Main Line” of the Human Race, while Yanlong Qian’s people are merely a “Branch Line.” He claims the Main Line descended from humans who once followed the Heavenly God.
• Black Dragon Yun proposes reunifying the Human Race, but adds a shocking condition: the local Human Race must submit to the Winged Human Race.
• He reveals that he and every one of his followers already bears a Slave Contract. The chapter ends with the assembled races wondering whether the Human Race will accept enslavement.

2. Character Developments

• Li Chang’an remains calm, perceptive, and strategically cautious. He distrusts the newly arrived human cultivators and recognizes that their appearance is connected to the Winged Human Race.
• Demon Cattail Flower proves herself an effective intelligence-gatherer. Through her infiltrated Demonic Beasts, she uncovers both the movements of the Black Dragon Tribe and the widespread enslavement of humans.
• Yanlong Qian is confronted with the possibility that his people are not the Human Race’s Main Line. Although surprised, he prioritizes racial unity and suggests joining forces rather than arguing over historical legitimacy.
• Black Dragon Yun presents himself as the representative of a superior human lineage. He initially appears to offer unity, but his demand reveals that he is also an enslaved subordinate of the Winged Human Race.
• The Stone Mountain and Cloud Eagle Old Ancestors recognize that their earlier political choices have permanently damaged their relationship with the Human Race.
• The various allied races shift from seeking friendship with the Human Race to fearing it, then become shocked and cautious upon learning that even the powerful Black Dragon Tribe has been enslaved.

3. Significant Themes

• Power determines respect and political status: Formerly arrogant races now seek alliances because the Human Race has demonstrated overwhelming strength.
• Betrayal and trust: The demotion of the Stone Mountain and Cloud Eagle clans shows that abandoning an ally during hardship has lasting consequences.
• Unity versus submission: The promise of reunifying the Human Race is undermined by the demand that unity occur under another race’s control.
• The meaning of strength: Despite possessing dozens of Quasi-fifth Rank experts, the Black Dragon Tribe has surrendered its freedom, suggesting that power alone does not guarantee independence.
• Slavery and dehumanization: The chapter emphasizes the cruelty of the Winged Human Race, which enslaves, abuses, and consumes humans—even those stronger than their captors.
• Hidden history and identity: The revelation of Main Lines and Branch Lines challenges the Human Race’s understanding of its origins and legitimacy.
• Political appearance versus reality: The banquet appears celebratory and peaceful, but beneath it lies espionage, rivalry, historical manipulation, and the threat of conquest.

4. Character Interactions

• Li Chang’an and Demon Cattail Flower communicate secretly, coordinating surveillance of the mysterious human force.
• Li Chang’an observes and judges the Stone Mountain and Cloud Eagle ancestors, concluding that their past disloyalty makes them unreliable.
• Black Dragon Yun publicly confronts Yanlong Qian and Jin Langyi, declaring their peoples to be Branch Lines rather than the Main Line.
• Yanlong Qian rejects the importance of arguing over lineage and proposes cooperation, but Black Dragon Yun’s condition turns the proposed reunion into a demand for submission.
• Jin Langyi and Jin Langhui express confusion over their people’s origins, highlighting the uncertainty surrounding the Human Race’s history.
• The gathered races privately discuss the danger of a united Human Race, then react with disbelief when Black Dragon Yun reveals that the supposed Main Line is enslaved.
• The chapter concludes with all attention focused on Yanlong Qian and the Human Race’s impending decision: resist the Winged Human Race or bow to it.

Key plot points and events

• At the banquet, Black Dragon Yun demands that the local Human Race submit to the Winged Human Race. Submission would unite and protect them, but every human would have to sign a Slave Contract. Yun threatens to return and destroy them if they refuse.
• The human leaders—Yanlong Qian, Jin Langhui, Yu Jiao Lan, and Jin Langyi—reject slavery. Li Chang’an privately assures Yu Jiao Lan he can handle the Winged Human Race, giving her confidence to speak openly.
• Other races urge the humans to submit, then withdraw from the banquet as the danger becomes clear. Stone Mountain and Cloud Eagle leave as well, while Old Mountain Hound stays to support the Human Race.
• The Iron-Armed Demon Ape Clan also departs, unwilling to risk war. The Dragon Carp Clan stays, wagering that the Human Race may prevail and bring them greater power.
• At the chapter’s end, Demon Cattail Flower reports that she could not find the five Altars in Winged Human Territory.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Chang’an moves from silence to decisive support. He condemns the Black Dragon Tribe’s servility and gives Yu Jiao Lan the assurance she needs.
• Yu Jiao Lan asserts the Human Race’s independence and denounces the Black Dragon Tribe as no longer truly human.
• Yanlong Qian, Jin Langhui, and Jin Langyi remain firm despite threats and pressure from other races.
• Black Dragon Yun presents enslavement as protection and honor, revealing how thoroughly his people have accepted subordination.
• Old Mountain Hound remains loyal, unlike the departing Stone Mountain and Cloud Eagle leaders.
• The Dragon Carp chief chooses to stay based on his clan’s tradition of trusting its good fortune; the Iron-Armed Demon Ape chief considers this reckless and leaves.

Significant themes

• Freedom versus security: The Black Dragon Tribe argues that submission brings protection and strength; the local humans insist that survival is not worth surrendering their freedom.
• Courage and loyalty under pressure: The human leaders and their few allies stand firm as potential supporters abandon them.
• Pragmatism versus faith: Most clans avoid the risk, while the Dragon Carp chief trusts instinct and fortune.
• The effects of subjugation: The chapter contrasts the humans’ resistance with the Black Dragon Tribe’s belief that slavery is an honor.

Key plot points and events

• After failing to find an altar among the Winged Humans, Li Chang’an suspects they may be pawns of a stronger force deeper in Monster territory. He orders the Demon Cattail Flower to keep searching and, if necessary, seize Winged Human leaders for questioning.
• The Dragon Carp Clan formally allies with the Human Race. Other clans, fearing retaliation from the Winged Humans, distance themselves from the Dragon Carps, while Black Dragon Tribe envoys continue pressuring the Flame Dragon Tribe to submit. Yanlong Qian and his allies refuse.
• Li Chang’an travels to the Azure Wood Divine Pagoda with more than 100,000 top-grade Spirit Stones, earned by selling treasures from the five monster clans. With the Tower Spirit’s help, he repeatedly draws blood from the imprisoned Tier 5 exotic beast and uses it to nourish the Golden God Tree.
• The tree reaches quasi-fifth rank, though spending all the Spirit Stones still does not bring it close to true Tier 5. It produces more than a hundred powerful Golden God Fruits.
• Li Chang’an eats the fruits and raises his Spiritual Sense to quasi-fifth rank, restoring the strength he had lost by splitting it among his Wood Seeds and puppet clones.
• He notices the exotic beast has weakened after centuries of imprisonment and repeated blood extraction. The beast offers power and promises not to harm him if released, but Li Chang’an refuses, planning instead to subdue it after reaching Spirit Transformation.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Chang’an remains pragmatic and unflappable: he exploits the beast for resources, strengthens the Golden God Tree and his own Spiritual Sense, and treats the beast’s threats with skepticism. He also remains wary of Mo Qingkuang, believing the latter may have reached Spirit Transformation if still alive.
• The Golden God Tree grows from early Tier 4 to quasi-fifth rank and becomes more confident, boasting that it can beat the Dragon Ox. Its eager flattery of the Tower Spirit amuses Li Chang’an.
• The Tower Spirit helps Li Chang’an harvest the beast’s blood and reflects sadly on the uncertain fate of its creator, the Azure Wood Heavenly Lord.
• The exotic beast shifts from furious threats to bargaining once Li Chang’an exposes its declining strength, but it refuses to submit and vows never to serve him.
• The Dragon Carp Clan commits to the Human Race, while neighboring clans’ fear isolates it. Yanlong Qian, Yu Jiao Lan, and their allies remain firm despite mounting pressure.

Significant themes

• Power through cultivation and resources: Vast wealth accelerates the Golden God Tree’s advancement, but the gap between quasi-fifth rank and true Tier 5 remains immense.
• Pragmatism and control: Li Chang’an turns both the beast’s blood and the Golden God Fruits to practical use, while weighing the possibility of eventually controlling the beast.
• Loyalty versus fear: The Dragon Carp Clan chooses alliance despite the danger, while other clans retreat into self-preservation.
• Hidden threats and uncertainty: The missing altars suggest a stronger force may be manipulating events, and Li Chang’an’s concern about Mo Qingkuang shows that past enemies may still pose a danger.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Chang’an returns to the Ninth Immortal City after deciding not to subdue the powerful exotic beast in the Moon Gazing Secret Realm.
• Over the following year, the Black Dragon Tribe secretly infiltrates the Flame Dragon and Golden Wolf Tribes, recruiting traitors. However, the Demon Cattail Flower discovers the plot and infiltrates the Black Dragon Tribe even more extensively through her countless offshoots.
• The Demon Cattail Flower breaks through to the fifth step of the Nine Steps to Godhood. Her breakthrough triggers Li Chang’an’s own opportunity, allowing him to advance smoothly to the mid-Nascent Soul stage.
• Li Chang’an hides his true cultivation by suppressing his aura to the early Nascent Soul level, ensuring that neither his allies nor potential enemies realize how powerful he has become.
• A disguised Black Market assassin, Daoist Rift Wind, arrives at the Ninth Immortal City pretending to be an injured Yin Yang Sect elder. Li Chang’an sees through the disguise with the Immortal Gazing Technique but deliberately allows him into the city.
• Rift Wind attempts to assassinate Li Chang’an using a hidden weapon and later the Paper Doll Substitute Death Technique. Li Chang’an easily avoids the attack, sees through the substitute, traps Rift Wind with the city’s Tier 5 formation, and destroys him after learning that the Golden Peng Clan hired him.
• The Black Market sends another assassin, Three-Eyes, who tries to lure Li Chang’an away from the city under the pretense of asking for help rescuing imprisoned demonic beasts. Li Chang’an anticipates the ambush and kills him effortlessly.
• Over the next several years, numerous powerful Black Market experts attempt to assassinate Li Chang’an, but every one of them is defeated and captured or killed. Their Nascent Souls are collected for the Blood-Origin Soul-Devouring Gu.
• After losing eleven top experts, the various Black Markets cancel the assassination missions. Lord Wanjin and the others finally acknowledge that Li Chang’an is far more dangerous than they had assumed.

Character Developments

• Li Chang’an: Reaches mid-Nascent Soul after deliberately accumulating power for years. His extraordinary Nascent Soul, mastery of concealment, Immortal Gazing Technique, Shadowless Carefree Steps, and control of the Ninth Immortal City make him nearly impossible to assassinate. He becomes increasingly confident, calculating, and ruthless toward those who target him.
• Demon Cattail Flower: Grows substantially stronger by devouring demonic beasts through her offshoots and breaks through to the fifth step of the Nine Steps to Godhood. Her infiltration ability becomes a major strategic advantage for Li Chang’an.
• Daoist Rift Wind: Revealed as a highly skilled assassin with exceptional evasion abilities, disguises, and substitute techniques. Despite his reputation, he is completely outmatched by Li Chang’an’s insight and preparation.
• Black Market forces: Initially underestimate Li Chang’an and repeatedly send elite assassins against him. Their losses force them to abandon the campaign and recognize him as a deadly opponent.

Significant Themes

• Strength concealed beneath appearances: Li Chang’an hides his breakthrough, while Rift Wind disguises himself as a wounded cultivator. The chapter repeatedly contrasts outward appearances with true power.
• Preparation versus surprise: Li Chang’an’s careful observation and preparation allow him to defeat attacks that would overwhelm ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators.
• Infiltration and betrayal: The Black Dragon Tribe recruits traitors from rival tribes, while the Demon Cattail Flower secretly infiltrates the Black Dragon Tribe in return.
• Consequences of underestimating an enemy: The Black Market’s repeated failures and heavy losses demonstrate the danger of judging Li Chang’an by his apparent early-Nascent-Soul cultivation.
• Strategic patience: Rather than revealing his full strength, Li Chang’an quietly gathers intelligence, cultivates, and lets enemies expose themselves.

Character Interactions

• The Demon Cattail Flower reports the Black Dragon Tribe’s infiltration activities to Li Chang’an, and he relies on her intelligence network.
• Li Chang’an and Daoist Rift Wind engage in a tense deception contest: Rift Wind pretends to be injured, while Li Chang’an pretends to believe him and leads him into a controlled chamber.
• After Rift Wind’s failed assassination attempt, the two openly acknowledge each other’s abilities, but Li Chang’an refuses negotiation and kills him.
• Three-Eyes attempts to manipulate Li Chang’an into leaving the city, but Li Chang’an reverses the ambush and kills him with overwhelming ease.
• Lord Wanjin and the other Black Market leaders discuss the repeated deaths of their assassins and eventually agree that Li Chang’an should no longer be provoked.

Key plot points and events

• After killing more than a hundred Nascent Soul cultivators hired by the Golden Roc Clan, Li Chang’an finds that attacks on him have stopped. Lord Wanjin, head of the local Black Market, visits to apologize for posting the original assassination mission and reveals the Golden Roc Clan is planning further attacks.
• Li Chang’an accepts Wanjin’s explanation, gives him treasures to sell, and pays him to relay information about the Immortal Extermination Alliance. Wanjin warns that the Golden Roc Clan intends to target Li’s subordinates, including Hong Lei.
• Li warns his men, but Hong Lei is unconcerned. Li’s divination shows their deathly auras are extremely strong, so he secretly places spiritual-sense marks on several of them to monitor them.
• The Nine-Headed Bird learns that the Black Markets have abandoned the mission, deeming Li and the Ninth Immortal City’s defenses too dangerous. It decides to find another way to investigate Li’s abilities without provoking the powerful Luo Yu.
• In the Great Wei Immortal Dynasty, Wei Mingyue tells Li—who is using the name Lin Mu—that Du Mingyue has found a Blood-Soul Contract. Du, daughter of the defector Du Yi, possesses it in a Moonlight Tower discovered in ancient ruins.
• Du explains that the tower cannot be opened by force: it requires someone to earn its approval. When Li and the others touch it with their spiritual sense, they learn the test is to comprehend a spell left by an ancient senior. Whoever succeeds may become the senior’s disciple and choose one treasure inside—including the contract.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Chang’an remains calm and strategic. He turns Wanjin’s approach into a source of intelligence, anticipates danger to his subordinates, and pursues the contract as an alternative to using harmful curse techniques against the Nine-Headed Bird. However, he doubts his own ability to pass the Moonlight Tower’s comprehension test.
• Lord Wanjin reveals information despite Black Market rules, claiming loyalty to the human race; Li recognizes that fear of retaliation is likely his real motive. The two nonetheless establish a practical business and intelligence-sharing relationship.
• Hong Lei and the other subordinates remain confident despite the warning, prompting Li to monitor them rather than argue further.
• The Nine-Headed Bird grows frustrated at the Black Markets’ failure and shifts toward a more cautious, indirect strategy.
• Du Mingyue is introduced as a powerful, cool-tempered cultivator and a principled dissenter. Disillusioned by the exploitation of mortals across the Immortal Extermination Alliance, she ignores Great Wei’s orders and clashes with its imperial family. She and Wei Mingyue exchange cultivation insights before discussing the tower.
• Wei Mingyue helps Li by locating Du and guiding the meeting, showing warmth and continued willingness to support him.

Significant themes

• Pragmatism and self-interest: Wanjin’s professed loyalty contrasts with Li’s clear-eyed reading of his motives; cooperation still proves useful.
• Threats and foresight: Li’s divination and precautions suggest looming danger for his subordinates even as they dismiss it.
• Moral disillusionment: Du Mingyue’s experience shows that oppressive treatment of mortals persists across rival powers, blurring the distinction between factions.
• Merit through understanding: The Moonlight Tower’s test makes comprehension, rather than force, the path to its legacy—and to the Blood-Soul Contract Li needs.
• Escalating uncertainty: With the assassination mission abandoned, the Golden Roc Clan and Nine-Headed Bird are likely to pursue subtler methods.

Key plot points and events

• Li Chang’an worries that his comprehension is no match for the gifted Xia Yuanxiang. Du Mingyue explains that Xia, once a mortal-world warrior, created her own cultivation method in just thirty years.
• As everyone studies Moonlight Tower’s restrictions, Li Chang’an unexpectedly sees them resolve into the complete perfect-grade Spell Moonlight Attraction. The Sword Spirit explains that the tower is actually testing for Quasi-fifth-Rank Spiritual Sense while restricting entrants to the Nascent Soul realm—not testing comprehension. Li Chang’an alone meets both conditions.
• Li Chang’an activates Moonlight Attraction, causing Moonlight Tower to rise and its restrictions to disappear. To avoid revealing the true reason for his success, he claims he recognized the Spell from a fragment found in ancient ruins. He shares the complete Spell with Du Mingyue and Wei Mingyue, both of whom have Moonlight Spirit Bodies.
• Li Chang’an returns the tower, since its legacy is intended for Moonlight Spirit Body cultivators and offers him little. Du Mingyue, impressed by his good fortune and generosity, gives him a communication treasure and fulfills her promise by handing over the valuable Blood-Soul Contract.
• Li Chang’an and Wei Mingyue leave together. He reassures her that he withheld Moonlight Attraction only because he had possessed an incomplete version. Wei’s curiosity about his hidden abilities grows.
• That night, Li Chang’an’s main body receives the contract and uses it to bind the Blood-Origin Soul-Devouring Gu. After preparing Nascent Souls and other supplies in case the Gu is weakened, he signs the contract with both their essence blood. The Gu awakens and greets him as its master.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Chang’an remains cautious and modest, concealing the tower’s true test and the extent of his abilities. His rare Spiritual Sense—not superior comprehension—explains his success. He also gains the long-sought Blood-Soul Contract and awakens the Gu.
• Wei Mingyue initially believes in Li Chang’an’s comprehension, then shares the others’ confusion at his sudden success. She accepts his explanation about the Spell and becomes increasingly intrigued by what he may be hiding.
• Du Mingyue shifts from a detached, formal manner to warmer regard after Li Chang’an shares Moonlight Attraction. She offers future assistance and keeps her promise to give him the contract.
• Xia Yuanxiang, despite her exceptional reputation and confidence in her own talent, cannot decipher the tower’s restrictions. She is relieved when Li Chang’an’s success is explained as a fortunate prior encounter rather than superior comprehension.
• The Sword Spirit clarifies the tower’s hidden requirements, helping Li Chang’an understand why he passed when more accomplished comprehenders did not.

Significant themes

• Hidden qualifications and misjudgment: Apparent tests may measure a quality different from what observers assume; Li Chang’an succeeds through Spiritual Sense, not comprehension.
• Secrecy and trust: Li Chang’an protects his advantages with a plausible explanation, while reassuring Wei Mingyue and building trust with Du Mingyue through sharing the Spell.
• Fortune and relationships: A fortunate discovery helps Li Chang’an gain both a valuable artifact and a useful ally.
• Preparation and caution: Before awakening the ancient Gu, Li Chang’an anticipates possible danger and prepares resources to sustain it.

Key plot points and events

• Li Chang’an discovers that his newly acquired Blood-Origin Soul-Devouring Gu is unusually weak because its source was damaged during a long period of dormancy.
• The Gu says it can recover by devouring another of its kind—or by consuming a rare Tier 5 mid-grade Myriad Races Blood-Soul Pill. It also reveals that Hundred Gu True Lord once possessed nine such Gu, though only three survived the ancient calamity.
• Li Chang’an searches for more Demonic Gu Arts Legacies through the Myriad Gold Black Market, spending lavishly. Most offer no new information, but one explains the pill-based method of repairing the Gu’s source.
• He leaves a clone behind to continue searching for a way to cultivate the Gu from scratch, while he travels to the Dan Ding Sect to seek help making the pill.
• On the way, three Late Nascent Soul cultivators from the Nether Prison Sect ambush him, mistaking him for a weak rogue cultivator. They admit they were ordered by Dark Nether Demon Lord to target Li Chang’an, though they do not know why.
• Li Chang’an easily destroys their weapons and bodies, captures their Nascent Souls for questioning, then continues to the Dan Ding Sect.
• He asks Meng Qingfeng to recommend an alchemist for the pill, disguising his real reason as a desire to improve his Body Refining.

Character developments

• Li Chang’an shows patience, wealth, and secrecy as he pursues a solution for his Gu. He remains composed during the ambush and demonstrates overwhelming physical strength, far beyond what his disguised cultivation suggests.
• Blood-Origin Soul-Devouring Gu reveals its history and limitation: it was one of the three strongest survivors among nine, but not the strongest, and cannot explain how its kind was originally created.
• Lord Wanjin is impressed by Li Chang’an’s spending but continues helping him, prioritizing the profitable business.
• Meng Qingfeng remains perceptive and supportive, quickly realizing Li Chang’an has come to ask a favor and advising him to prioritize cultivation and alchemy.

Character interactions

• The Myriad Poison Gu jokingly claims seniority over the Blood-Origin Soul-Devouring Gu, but Li Chang’an postpones their dispute.
• Li Chang’an and Lord Wanjin conduct repeated, discreet purchases, with Li Chang’an refusing to reveal what he is truly seeking.
• The three Nether Prison Sect cultivators boast about their mission, then panic when Li Chang’an exposes their weakness and defeats them. Their capture reveals the involvement of Dark Nether Demon Lord.
• Li Chang’an maintains his longstanding connection with Meng Qingfeng, who invites him into his Dao Field and challenges him to demonstrate his alchemy progress.

Significant themes

• Persistence and resourcefulness: Li Chang’an keeps searching despite the rarity of the information and the Gu’s recovery needs.
• Secrecy and deception: He hides both the Gu’s existence and his true reason for seeking the pill, while disguising his identity and strength.
• Power concealed beneath appearances: The ambushers misjudge Li Chang’an, turning their apparent advantage into a swift defeat.
• Lingering consequences of time: The Gu’s damaged source shows how even powerful beings can suffer lasting effects from long dormancy and history.

Plot and key events

• Meng Qingfeng tests Li Chang’an’s alchemy skills to make sure his focus on Body Refining has not weakened his Alchemy Dao. Li refines a near-peak Tier 4 pill smoothly, reassuring Meng.
• Li needs a Tier 5 mid-grade Myriad Races Blood-Soul Pill. Since Meng cannot refine it, he arranges for Heavenly Lord Redfire, an accomplished alchemist, to do so. Redfire lacks several rare ingredients and may need up to ten years to gather them. Li agrees to wait and pays three of the nine required Tier 5 fire-element treasures as a deposit.
• Over the following year, Redfire sends no update. Li also tries to recreate the Blood-Origin Soul-Devouring Gu by inducing mutations in ordinary Gu, but the results are unsuccessful. He suspects Hundred Gu True Lord’s lost legacy holds the method and continues searching for it.
• Li learns that Devouring Gu Daoist, a cultivator from ninety thousand years ago and Hundred Gu True Lord’s friend, has awakened in Great Wei’s Southern Region. He travels there to meet him.
• Devouring Gu reveals that he survived by merging with a long-lived ten-thousand-year Gu and sleeping through the Great Tribulation. The fusion left him with a mostly Gu-like body; he can restore parts of himself by molting, though his torso remains altered.
• Li recruits Devouring Gu for the Great Wei Imperial Clan as a Guest Elder, then asks about Hundred Gu True Lord. Devouring Gu recounts that Hundred Gu disappeared after seeking a strange, treasure-filled Immortal Mountain shortly before the Great Tribulation. No one has found the mountain or learned what became of him.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Chang’an proves his alchemy remains strong, showing both discipline and humility. He avoids involving Heavenly Lord Wansen because he distrusts him, accepts Redfire’s costly but reliable offer, and pursues his Gu research patiently. He also acts strategically by securing Devouring Gu’s allegiance and seeking information about Hundred Gu.
• Meng Qingfeng takes a protective, mentor-like role: he tests Li’s skills, praises his progress, and helps arrange the pill transaction.
• Heavenly Lord Redfire is presented as capable and straightforward. He agrees to hunt rare ingredients himself, though the task may take years.
• Devouring Gu Daoist is a survivor marked physically by his unusual method of escaping the Great Tribulation. Though saddened by the loss of his old world, he intends to resume cultivation and accepts Li’s invitation to join Great Wei.

Significant themes

• Survival and its cost: Devouring Gu’s extraordinary longevity preserves his life but transforms his body and separates him from his former era.
• Knowledge and uncertainty: Li’s attempts to reproduce a rare Gu fail, while Hundred Gu’s disappearance and the mysterious Immortal Mountain leave key answers out of reach.
• Patience and long-term cultivation: Li accepts years of waiting for the pill and continues searching despite repeated setbacks.
• Loyalty, trust, and political opportunity: Meng helps Li through their mentor relationship, while Li turns his encounter with Devouring Gu into both a personal connection and a strategic recruitment.

Key plot points and events

• Devouring Gu Daoist recounts that Hundred Gu True Lord vanished after entering a mysterious immortal mountain. Many suspect murder, but Li Chang’an recognizes the description as Wujie Mountain, where time passes far more slowly than in the outside world. Hundred Gu may therefore still be alive.
• Li Chang’an confirms Wujie Mountain’s existence, winning Devouring Gu Daoist’s gratitude. News spreads across the cultivation world, prompting cultivators from Great Wei, the Immortal Extermination Alliance, and the Nine Great Immortal Sects to search for the mountain as a refuge from the ongoing tribulation.
• Li Chang’an introduces Devouring Gu Daoist to Wei Mingyue, who hires him for his exceptional Gu Dao skills. The two cultivators become neighbors and exchange insights; Devouring Gu Daoist’s suggestions help Li Chang’an with his Gu research.
• Months later, Li Chang’an divines that Hong Lei, Ling Meng, and their companions are in mortal danger. He follows them after finding that his presence changes their fate for the better.
• The group, emboldened by recent victories against demonic beasts, ignores Li Chang’an’s earlier guidance and pursues their prey into a trap. The beasts were bait, and the Golden Roc Clan has ensnared them in a quasi-fifth-rank formation, hoping to use them to lure Li Chang’an out.
• Unable to contact the Ninth Immortal City, the group fails to break the formation despite exhausting their attacks and treasures. As they despair, Li Chang’an arrives.
• The captives apologize for defying him and acknowledge their past arrogance. But the Golden Peng has planned for Li Chang’an’s arrival: it launches a powerful spiritual-sense attack, confident that Li’s apparent early-tier-4 spiritual sense cannot withstand its own peak-tier-4 strike. The chapter ends as the attack reaches Li Chang’an.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Chang’an shows insight by identifying Wujie Mountain, generosity by supporting Devouring Gu Daoist, and caution by investigating the group’s dangerous fate. His composed arrival reassures the captives, though the Golden Peng’s specialized attack puts him in immediate danger.
• Devouring Gu Daoist gains a place in Wei Mingyue’s service and begins a collegial relationship with Li Chang’an.
• Hong Lei and Ling Meng move from confidence and contempt for Li Chang’an’s advice to regret and sincere apologies after their recklessness leaves them trapped. The others likewise admit they had abused their status and mistreated Li Chang’an’s allies.
• The Golden Roc Clan, led by a peak fourth-tier Golden Peng, reveals a deliberate strategy: exploit the group as bait, isolate Li Chang’an, then attack a weakness his ordinary tier-5 defenses may not cover.

Significant themes

• Humility and the cost of arrogance: Success makes the group careless; their disregard for sound advice leads directly into the trap.
• Trust and loyalty: Li Chang’an risks leaving the city’s protection to help people who had rejected his guidance, while their ordeal teaches them to value his judgment.
• Preparation and hidden danger: The Golden Peng anticipates Li Chang’an’s strengths and chooses a specialized spiritual-sense attack, suggesting that raw power alone may not decide the confrontation.
• Time, survival, and fate: Wujie Mountain offers a possible means of outlasting catastrophe, while Li Chang’an’s divination shows that choices and interventions can alter people’s destinies.

Key plot points and events

• A Golden Peng attacks Li Chang’an’s sea of consciousness but is overwhelmed by its immense scale. Li wounds him so severely that the Peng flees, then catches and kills him despite the clan’s famed speed. He hunts down the remaining Golden Pengs, retrieves the formation hub, and frees Hong Lei and the others.
• Back in the Ninth Immortal City, the rescued cultivators apologize to Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, and their companions for their earlier hostility. Li interrogates the captured demon infants and learns that the Golden Pengs had tried to lure him from the city so they could destroy it. Their wider clan rivalry means the Black Market plot remains unexplained.
• Li learns that another Golden Peng elder plans to pressure the city by targeting the deputy city lords’ relatives and associates. He warns Red Fox and others to keep their people safe, especially Red Fox’s sister, White Fox. They dismiss the danger, confident that their shapeshifting lets them move unnoticed.
• The Golden Roc Clan then attacks Nascent Soul sects and families across the kingdoms of Yuan and Zhao, hoping to distract the city’s defenders and unsettle them about their homelands. Li’s puppet bodies trace the attackers’ auras and kill nearly a hundred beasts in a day. Some concealed intruders remain, and the Golden Roc Clan continues sending more.
• Several days later, while one of Li’s clones passes through the mortal Qian Shui Kingdom, Li senses an unusual opportunity and enters a prefectural city. The place recalls his past connection to Wang Songde and the knight-errant woman. He finds that the mortal world’s ordinary bustle deepens his understanding of the Return to Mortal Sword Dao.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Chang’an demonstrates overwhelming spiritual strength, speed, and reach through his clones. He stays composed under pressure, protects the city and surrounding factions, and remains focused on cultivation rather than being provoked into leaving his post.
• Hong Lei and the other rescued cultivators become much more cautious and deferential after nearly dying; they now remain behind the array when confronting enemies.
• Red Fox and White Fox, along with the other monsters, remain overconfident and disregard Li’s warning, believing their disguises will keep them safe.
• The Golden Peng captives initially resist questioning but submit after Evil Soul tortures them. Their testimony reveals the clan’s plans, though they know little about its internal factions.
• Azure Dragon and Vermilion Bird’s group are puzzled by the unexpected apologies and compensation, realizing Li’s intervention likely changed the others’ behavior.

Significant themes

• Hidden strength and misjudgment: Li’s apparent cultivation level conceals far greater power, and enemies repeatedly underestimate his abilities.
• Caution versus arrogance: Hong Lei’s hard-won caution contrasts with White Fox and Red Fox’s confidence that they can evade danger.
• Warfare through pressure on others: The Golden Roc Clan targets allies, relatives, and distant sects to divide attention and provoke Li into action.
• The mortal world and cultivation: Ordinary life in Qian Shui Kingdom offers Li a deeper path to insight, suggesting that spiritual understanding can arise beyond battles and cultivation resources.

Chapter Summary

• Li Chang’an encounters a familiar bond: While traveling incognito through a city, Li Chang’an is drawn to Wang Qingsong, a young merchant heir kneeling outside his family’s mansion. Although they have never met, Qingsong feels strangely familiar to him—much like Qingyue, an elder of the Moonwatch Sect, whom Li Chang’an also feels he may have known before.
• A lovers’ separation: Li learns that Qingsong’s father, Wang Youcai, wants him to marry for a family alliance. Qingsong refuses because he loves Gu Yunqiao, a wandering swordswoman whom the Wang family considers an unsuitable match. Outside the city, Wang-family fighters prevent Gu from returning to see Qingsong. When she persists, their first-rate martial artist breaks her sword and nearly cripples her.
• Li intervenes: Li blocks the attack effortlessly. The martial artists mistake his power for that of a Martial Grandmaster, but one recognizes that he is an immortal. Li orders the Wang family to accept the marriage; Wang Youcai and the clan submit out of fear and reverence.
• An offer—and a sacrifice: Li discovers that Qingsong has a mid-grade spirit root and offers to take him onto the Immortal Dao. Gu, however, has no spirit root and cannot cultivate immortality by ordinary means. Though his family urges him to accept, Qingsong refuses: he would rather spend one mortal lifetime with Gu than live for centuries without her. Gu is moved to tears by his choice.
• A different kind of blessing: Respecting Qingsong’s decision, Li uses his power to open both lovers’ meridians, elevate them to the peak of mortal martial ability, and grant them elite techniques. The two later marry, leave to roam the martial world, and become celebrated heroes. Li watches them from afar and suspects they are reincarnations of Wang Songde and the Knight-errant Woman, whose former-life relationship ended in regret.
• The next threat: Their story deepens Li’s questions about reincarnation, especially his unexplained connection to Qingyue. His reflection is interrupted when several Nascent Soul cultivators from the Nether Prison Sect appear outside Azure Mountain.

Character Developments and Interactions

• Wang Qingsong proves that his love matters more to him than status, family expectations, or the chance to become immortal. His choice also defies the Wang clan’s hopes of gaining power through his spiritual talent.
• Gu Yunqiao remains determined to reunite with Qingsong despite being outmatched. Learning she cannot cultivate saddens her, but Qingsong’s loyalty restores her joy; Li’s martial blessing gives her a future of shared adventure with him.
• Li Chang’an acts on an inexplicable sense of familiarity and compassionately supports the couple without forcing Qingsong to accept immortality. Their apparent reincarnation prompts him to reconsider his own connection to Qingyue.
• Wang Youcai and the Wang family shift from coercing Qingsong to obeying Li’s command, then from disappointed relatives to grateful beneficiaries of Qingsong’s rise as a Martial Grandmaster.

Significant Themes

• Love versus power and longevity: Qingsong rejects the Immortal Dao because a long life without Gu would be meaningless.
• Social hierarchy and freedom of choice: Both the mortal world and cultivation society enforce status-based boundaries, but Li’s intervention lets the lovers choose their life together.
• Reincarnation and unfinished bonds: The couple’s apparent reunion across lifetimes raises questions about fate, memory, and Li’s own past.
• Different paths to greatness: Qingsong and Gu do not pursue immortality, yet Li enables them to become legends in the martial world.

Li Chang'an learned that a mysterious woman had rescued Ye Hao and suspected she was Ye Shuang, while discovering that Nine-Headed Bird was working with the Dark Nether Demon Lord against him. After consulting Tian Ming and receiving his support, Li Chang'an returned to seclusion, then noticed True Lord White Fox had gone treasure hunting in the Ruins again.

• Li Chang'an captured Nether Prison Sect cultivators spying on Azure Mountain and learned that a mysterious woman had rescued Ye Hao from the Bliss Heavenly Lord and Nether Dragons.
• Li Chang'an suspected the woman was Ye Shuang and divined that one of Nine-Headed Bird's bodies was inside the Nether Prison Sect, where the Heavenly Mechanism Net blocked further divination.
• Nine-Headed Bird urged the Dark Nether Demon Lord to attack Li Chang'an, and the Demon Lord agreed, hoping to draw Ye Hao out and ease pressure on his master.
• Li Chang'an visited Tian Ming in the Nether Prison Sect, gave him nine Tier 5 treasures, and learned the mysterious woman's cultivation and ice-attribute abilities.
• Tian Ming told Li Chang'an to capture the Dark Nether Demon Lord if he attacked and bring him in, then advised him on cultivation before Li Chang'an left the next day.
• Li Chang'an secluded himself for several months to digest Tian Ming's guidance, then noticed True Lord White Fox had left the Ninth Immortal City to hunt for treasure in the Ruins again.

Li Chang'an rescued White Fox from an ambush by demonic beasts serving the Golden Roc Clan and warned the Ninth Immortal City’s residents to stay on guard. After months of thwarting the clan’s schemes, his divination revealed that Ye Qingqiu faced an approaching danger.

• Li Chang'an followed White Fox into the Ancient Ruins and rescued her after the Immortal Extermination Alliance exposed her disguise and surrounded her.
• Li Chang'an defeated the demonic beasts with a Sword Formation, captured them, and returned White Fox to the Ninth Immortal City.
• Li Chang'an warned everyone to avoid leaving the city, but Red Fox, Qing He, and Zi Teng remained confident they could handle the Golden Roc Clan.
• Li Chang'an questioned the captured beasts, learned they served the Golden Roc Clan, and discovered they knew little about the clan’s plans.
• Over the following months, Li Chang'an thwarted the Golden Roc Clan’s schemes and later divined that Ye Qingqiu's hexagram was slightly ominous.

Li Chang'an discovered that the Dark Nether Demon Lord had tried to lure Ye Qingqiu off Azure Mountain, then captured and interrogated him. He learned that the Nine-Headed Bird had hired the demon lord, while the reason for the Bliss Heavenly Lord’s intense hostility toward Ye Hao remained unclear.

• Li Chang'an used divination to trace Ye Qingqiu's ominous hexagram to the servants who regularly left Azure Mountain.
• The Dark Nether Demon Lord controlled the servants and ordered them to call Ye Qingqiu down, hoping to use her to lure out Li Chang'an.
• Li Chang'an confronted the Dark Nether Demon Lord, took his storage bag, and found the Nether Prison Sect spell Blissful Heaven Sound inside.
• After the Dark Nether Demon Lord refused to answer questions, Li Chang'an sent him to Evil Soul for interrogation and studied Blissful Heaven Sound.
• The Dark Nether Demon Lord revealed that the Nine-Headed Bird had paid him three thousand top-grade spirit stones to act, but he knew little about why the Bliss Heavenly Lord wanted Ye Hao dead.