Recaps

The Demonic Path launched a coordinated assault on the Taiyi Sect while True Lord Tai Xuan was away, forcing the sect elders to activate the Taiyan Demon Subduing Formation. The battle left Wen Xia’s Nascent Soul breakthrough ruined, and the chapter ended as the attackers unleashed their strongest weapons against the formation.

• Gui Li, Zhu Jiuyin, and the Demonic Path forces surrounded the Taiyi Sect and attacked while True Lord Tai Xuan was away.
• The Taiyi Sect elders activated the Taiyan Demon Subduing Formation, cutting off the spiritual energy Wen Xia needed for her Nascent Soul breakthrough and causing her cultivation to collapse.
• Gui Li’s sword strikes and the Demonic Path’s Forbidden Breaking Talismans pressured the elders, who chose to maintain their defense rather than counterattack.
• Gui Li brought out the Four Symbols Suppressing Heaven Cauldron, while Zhu Jiuyin summoned two sentient ten-thousand-year-old yin corpses.
• The Blood Cloud Hall descended as the two yin corpses and Gui Li’s cauldron attacked the formation, leaving the Taiyi Sect elders facing imminent disaster.

The demonic sects shattered the Taiyi Sect’s formation and destroyed its mountain gate, leaving the sect’s survivors at their mercy. As Zhu Jiuyin and Gui Li searched the ruins, a discovery beneath the mountain prompted someone to cry out that Old Ghost Tai Xuan was there.

• Gui Li used the Four Symbols Suppressing Heaven Cauldron to break the Taiyan Demon Subduing Formation and destroy the Taiyi Sect’s mountain gate.
• The assault killed many Taiyi Sect disciples and elders, while demonic forces captured or killed the survivors and gathered corpses and blood.
• Zhu Jiuyin and Gui Li searched the ruined sect for its treasures as the demonic forces dealt with the aftermath.
• A cry from beneath the mountain identified Old Ghost Tai Xuan, and Gui Li hurried toward the sound with the cauldron ready.

Gui Fan evaded True Person Zhiyang until True Lord Tai Xuan learned that his Dao Body had been destroyed and ordered the duel to end. The Rakshasa Demon Lord then escaped with Gui Fan and revealed that the Taiyi Sect’s mountain gate had been breached, leaving True Lord Tai Xuan enraged.

• Gui Fan continued avoiding True Person Zhiyang, while spectators criticized his retreat and True Person Zhiyang prepared to stop pursuing him.
• True Lord Tai Xuan sensed that his Dao Body had been destroyed and accused the Rakshasa Demon Lord, who denied responsibility and challenged him to ask Palace Mistress Yue Xuan about the formation.
• True Lord Tai Xuan ordered Palace Mistress Yue Xuan to lift the seal and told True Person Zhiyang and Gu Haoran to end the battle and return.
• True Lord Tai Xuan attacked the Rakshasa Demon Lord with the Primordial Origin Sacred Art, but the Rakshasa Demon Lord vanished after leaving a pool of blood behind.
• The Rakshasa Demon Lord captured Gui Fan and escaped with him, saying he would use him as a hostage to claim the Blood Spirit Sect’s share of the gains from breaching the Taiyi Sect’s mountain gate.
• The Rakshasa Demon Lord’s revelation shocked the gathered cultivators, and True Lord Tai Xuan roared in fury as Li Qing realized what had happened.

After the Devil Dao destroyed Taiyi Sect, the Great Desolation Region’s righteous factions collapsed or fled, leaving the region under Devil Dao control. True Lord Tai Xuan never retaliated, while Wang Chan read the news and quietly resolved herself to something unknown.

• True Lord Tai Xuan left Moon Chasing Palace with Gu Haoran after learning Taiyi Sect had been raided, and Li Qing chose to remain at Moon Chasing Palace for ten days rather than risk returning to Nanyang Spirit Peak.
• Gui Li learned that a weak Core Formation woman had escaped Taiyi Sect and ordered a bounty placed on her, while the Devil Dao factions withdrew to guard against True Lord Tai Xuan.
• Reports of Taiyi Sect’s destruction spread through the Great Desolation Region, revealing how the Devil Dao had used the battle at Moon Chasing Palace to conceal its attack.
• The Free and Unfettered Sect secretly abandoned its mountain gate and left the Great Desolation Region, while True Lord Tai Xuan’s expected revenge never came.
• The Devil Dao took control of the Great Desolation Region, and Wang Chan read the news and wondered whether the righteous path was also nearing destruction.

Li Qing learned that Wen Xia had been severely injured and her cultivation had fallen, creating an opportunity to rebuild Lingyun Sect and confront Shangqing Sect. He and Shen Ningbing began preparing to return to the Qingling Region, while Liu Hanyue agreed to help him obtain Forbidden Breaking Talismans.

• A goateed old Daoist divined that the Great Desolation Region faced a chaotic future and urged his disciple Qiu Zhen to leave.
• Li Qing reviewed reports and discovered that Wen Xia was wanted by the Ghost Sword Sect, with her cultivation reduced to Early Core Formation after suspected severe injuries.
• Li Qing told Shen Ningbing that Wen Xia's weakened state gave them an opportunity to rebuild Lingyun Sect, but they first needed to prepare Forbidden Breaking Talismans in the Great Desolation Region.
• Li Qing asked Liu Hanyue for more than ten Third-tier Forbidden Breaking Talismans and one Fourth-tier talisman, and she agreed to trade him five Third-tier talismans.
• Liu Hanyue said she had people searching for other Lingyun Sect members and asked Li Qing to notify her when he decided to act.

Li Qing and Shen Ningbing visited a hidden secret market, where Daoist Jinbao offered a way to obtain seven Forbidden Breaking Talismans in exchange for help repairing his damaged Golden Light Dart. Jinbao led them to True Person Fu Xuan, who agreed to receive them after sensing their Core Formation auras.

• Li Qing and Shen Ningbing entered a concealed secret market using a token Zhang Da had provided.
• Daoist Jinbao offered to help Li Qing obtain seven Forbidden Breaking Talismans if Li Qing and Shen Ningbing lent their Core Formation Fire to repair his Golden Light Dart.
• Jinbao revealed that True Person Fu Xuan owed him a favor because Jinbao had sent him a suitable disciple.
• Jinbao led Li Qing and Shen Ningbing to Fu Xuan's cave abode in a city built across two mountains.
• Fu Xuan initially objected to Jinbao's request, then sensed Li Qing and Shen Ningbing's auras and invited them inside.

Li Qing and Shen Ningbing reunited with Chu Lingyi at True Person Fu Xuan’s cave, where she was his unruly new disciple. Li Qing sought Fu Xuan’s Third-tier Forbidden Breaking Talismans and invited him to help rebuild Lingyun Sect, but Fu Xuan explained why he had always avoided joining factions.

• Li Qing and Shen Ningbing heard Chu Lingyi arguing with True Person Fu Xuan about studying basic runes as Daoist Jinbao led them into the cave.
• Chu Lingyi recognized Li Qing and Shen Ningbing, cried with relief, and asked about the Lingyun Sect disciples who had left with them.
• Li Qing calmed Fu Xuan and explained that he had come seeking Third-tier Forbidden Breaking Talismans, then revealed that he and Chu Lingyi belonged to the fallen Lingyun Sect.
• Fu Xuan offered seven Forbidden Breaking Talismans for free if Chu Lingyi stayed in the Great Desolation Region to study under him.
• Li Qing invited Fu Xuan to join their effort to attack the Shangqing Sect and rebuild Lingyun Sect, offering him the position of Supreme Ancestor.
• Fu Xuan said he had refused offers from other factions because he wanted to devote himself to the Talisman Dao and avoid worldly disputes.

Li Qing and Shen Ningbing persuaded True Person Fu Xuan to join the Lingyun Sect, with Chu Lingyi's defiance helping change his mind. The chapter ended with Chu Lingyi formally accepting Fu Xuan as her master and the group celebrating.

• Chu Lingyi urged Li Qing and Shen Ningbing to leave after Fu Xuan refused to help, prompting him to stop them.
• Li Qing defended Chu Lingyi's right to refuse Fu Xuan and confronted him as tensions rose.
• Fu Xuan agreed to join the Lingyun Sect, help destroy the Shangqing Sect once, and then avoid sect affairs to study talismans.
• Li Qing proposed that Chu Lingyi complete the master-disciple ceremony, and she knelt before Fu Xuan and called him Master.
• Daoist Jinbao offered spiritual wine to celebrate, and Chu Lingyi drunkenly boasted about her talent and plans to create an Ascension Talisman.

Li Qing learned how Chu Lingyi had crossed into the Great Desolation Region and considered whether their missing fellow disciples were stranded in the Nether Realm. He then examined Daoist Jinbao’s damaged Golden Light Dart and discovered that it contained an Artifact Spirit.

• Chu Lingyi told Li Qing and Shen Ningbing that she had activated an Ancient Grand Teleportation Formation and crossed into the Great Desolation Region with the protection of a Great Teleportation Token.
• Chu Lingyi explained that Daoist Jinbao had rescued her after the teleportation left her unconscious, and she had repaid him by inscribing talismans.
• Li Qing wondered whether their missing Lingyun Sect fellow disciples had been lost in the Nether Realm, but Daoist Jinbao could offer only scattered information about it.
• Li Qing asked Daoist Jinbao to show him the magic treasure he wanted repaired, and Daoist Jinbao produced his cracked Golden Light Dart.
• Li Qing sensed that the Golden Light Dart contained a damaged Artifact Spirit and explained that such a spirit could let even a low-level cultivator command the treasure.

Li Qing repaired the Golden Light Dart's body with essence refined from Stone Gold Mother, but found restoring its Artifact Spirit beyond his current ability. While replacing its damaged Dao patterns with patterns of his own design, he discovered the Artifact Spirit was trying to guide him, but chose to continue his experiment.

• Li Qing and Daoist Jinbao concluded that the Golden Light Dart's body could be repaired, but its severely damaged Artifact Spirit would be much harder to restore.
• Daoist Jinbao bought Stone Gold Mother, and Li Qing began refining it in True Person Fu Xuan's cave abode using the Nether Cold Fire and Spirit Devouring Demonic Flame.
• After several days, Li Qing extracted a small amount of golden essence and used it to repair the Golden Light Dart's body.
• Li Qing began imprinting his own Dao patterns on the dart, and its damaged Artifact Spirit released spiritual sense fluctuations that seemed to show him how to restore the original patterns.
• Li Qing ignored the Artifact Spirit's guidance and continued his experiment, while a weak golden monkey glared at him from inside the dart.

Li Qing finished repairing Daoist Jinbao’s Golden Light Dart and asked him to gather intelligence about the Nether Realm. Jinbao instead asked to join the Lingyun Sect, and he agreed even after Li Qing warned him that rebuilding it would mean opposing the powerful Shangqing Sect.

• Li Qing completed the Golden Light Dart’s repair and discovered that its damaged Artifact Spirit still limited how often it could be used.
• Li Qing returned the dart to Daoist Jinbao as repayment for saving Junior Sister Chu.
• Li Qing asked Daoist Jinbao to gather intelligence about the Nether Realm and promised him compensation.
• Daoist Jinbao asked to join Li Qing’s planned reconstruction of the Lingyun Sect.
• Li Qing warned Daoist Jinbao that the Shangqing Sect had helped destroy the Lingyun Sect and dominated the Qingling Region, but Jinbao still agreed to join.

Li Qing gathered intelligence about the Nether Realm and learned that its soil preserved corpses and could nurture them into spirits. Despite the region's horrors, he decided to travel there alone to find Wu Chong and the others.

• True Person Fu Xuan crafted seven Third-tier Forbidden Breaking Talismans, bringing Li Qing's total to fifteen.
• Daoist Jinbao and Liu Hanyue sent Li Qing intelligence describing the Nether Realm's deathly stillness, sparse population, and many burial sites.
• Li Qing learned from Daoist Jinbao's report that Nether Realm soil could preserve corpses and potentially nurture them into spirit-aware old corpses.
• Li Qing decided to search the Nether Realm for Wu Chong and the others despite his unease.
• Chu Lingyi asked to accompany Li Qing, but Li Qing and True Person Fu Xuan refused, and Shen Ningbing's offer was also declined.
• Li Qing chose to travel alone, leaving Shen Ningbing and the others behind because they did not know whether one Great Teleportation Token could transport several people.

Li Qing activated the Ancient Teleportation Array with a Great Teleportation Token and traveled to the Nether Realm. After emerging in a remote river valley, he encountered ghost fires and discovered strange corpses reviving underground.

• Li Qing found the Ancient Teleportation Array in a remote mountain cave and used Spirit Stones and a Great Teleportation Token to activate it.
• Li Qing vanished from the cave and emerged in an unknown river valley in the Nether Realm.
• Li Qing surveyed the barren valley and continued on foot as night fell without a moon or stars.
• Li Qing used his Nether Cold Fire to scatter ghost fires gathering ahead of him.
• Li Qing sensed several stiff-moving corpses crawling out of the earth and identified them as Fuzzy Corpses.

Li Qing reached the Nether Realm, defeated a group of zombies, and found a human settlement while searching for his fellow disciples. After learning the local language and customs from a captive, he planned to seek news of Wu Chong through the powerful Xiling Divine Hall.

• Li Qing burned several black-furred zombies with his Core Formation Fire and flew out of the dried-up river valley.
• Li Qing found the earthen forts of Lian Family Village and approached them, but the villagers’ language was incomprehensible to him.
• When bells rang across the forts, Li Qing knocked out a man in coarse linen and carried him away to learn the local language.
• Li Qing learned that Lian Family Village and four nearby villages offered Yin Stones to Xiling Divine Hall whenever Polar Day arrived.
• Li Qing questioned the captive about the tribute system and decided to seek news of Wu Chong through Xiling Divine Hall.

Li Qing investigated how the mortals of Lian Family Village mined Yin Stones and discovered that the crystals drained lifespan and were formed by the yin energy of dead villagers. After destroying the attacking spirits, he flew toward the Xiling Divine Hall.

• Li Qing watched Lian Family Village miners excavate Yin Stones and overheard them discuss Lian Feng’s lost memories after Li Qing had erased them.
• After the miners left, Li Qing mined Yin Stones himself and felt them diminish his lifespan, realizing why cultivators avoided the work.
• Li Qing saw dull-witted yin spirits emerge from the stone wall and draw yin energy together to form Yin Stones.
• The spirits attacked Li Qing, who destroyed them with Soul Condensing Slash and learned they were the souls of ordinary dead mortals.
• Li Qing reflected on the Nether Realm’s strange spirits and flew toward the Xiling Divine Hall.

Li Qing found Wu Chong, who had been posing as Taotie True Person, while he disrupted Xiling Divine Hall’s Yin Sacrifice. After Li Qing helped Wu Chong fight off the Hall Master’s pagoda, the two prepared to face the Hall Master and his summoned yin spirits.

• Li Qing approached Xiling Divine Mountain to investigate the Yin Sacrifice and waited nearby until it began.
• Wu Chong attacked Xiling Divine Hall as Taotie True Person, and the Hall Master abandoned the sacrifice to fight him.
• The Hall Master used the Xiling Pagoda to suppress Wu Chong, but Li Qing struck the pagoda with his hammer and knocked it away.
• Wu Chong recognized Li Qing, and the two reunited before joining forces against the Hall Master.
• The Hall Master opened a third eye to summon yin spirits, so Wu Chong and Li Qing prepared their techniques to stop him.

Li Qing and Wu Chong fought the Hall Master of Xiling Hall, whose Netherworld Eye restored a Fierce Ghost after Li Qing damaged it. The Xiling Pagoda captured Li Qing’s three Breaking Army Blades, but Li Qing realized it might not be able to take Natal Magic Treasures and charged the Hall Master with his Primordial Peerless Hammer.

• Wu Chong summoned a Taotie while Li Qing attacked the Fierce Ghost with the Shattering Yuan Black Flame Seal, damaging it with the Spirit Devouring Demonic Flame.
• The Hall Master of Xiling Hall used his Netherworld Eye to restore the Fierce Ghost, which then fought Wu Chong’s Taotie.
• Li Qing sent three Breaking Army Blades toward the Hall Master, but the Xiling Pagoda drew them inside and cut off his control of them.
• Li Qing reasoned that the pagoda could not take Natal Magic Treasures because it had not captured his Primordial Peerless Hammer or Wu Chong’s Sky Swallowing Ring.
• Li Qing charged the Hall Master with the Primordial Peerless Hammer.

Li Qing defeated the Hall Master of Xiling Hall by overpowering the Xiling Pagoda, surviving the ghost attack, and burning his opponent to ashes. After the battle, Wu Chong urged him to hurry to the Yin Vein before the Yin Sacrifice ended, and Li Qing retrieved the pagoda and the three Breaking Army Blades before following.

• Li Qing used the Primordial Peerless Hammer, empowered by Seven-Colored Vitality Essence, to blast the Xiling Pagoda away and leave the Hall Master of Xiling Hall exposed.
• The Hall Master of Xiling Hall summoned Fierce Ghosts by feeding his body to them, but Li Qing's Nether Cold Fire destroyed them.
• Li Qing trapped the weakened Hall Master of Xiling Hall in his Spiritual Sense Killing Field, then burned him to ashes with Spirit Devouring Demonic Flame.
• The summoned Nine Nether Fierce Ghost dissipated after the Hall Master of Xiling Hall died, and Wu Chong praised Li Qing before urging him toward the Yin Vein.
• Li Qing retrieved the Xiling Pagoda and the three Breaking Army Blades inside it, then flew after Wu Chong into Xiling Divine Mountain.

Wu Chong and Li Qing opened Xiling Divine Mountain’s Yin Vein with the Yin Stones gathered for the sacrifice and entered the Other Shore, where Li Qing discovered that refining Nether Marrow improved his cultivation. The chapter left him beginning to refine the Nether Marrow on a Lotus Dao Platform.

• Wu Chong explained that Xiling Hall forced nearby mortals to mine Yin Stones and that he had disrupted its Yin Sacrifice each year.
• Wu Chong used Spiritual Power to make the Yin Stones resonate with the Nether Stele, releasing their Yin Energy and opening a passage into the Yin Vein.
• Wu Chong and Li Qing entered the passage, where Li Qing regained his senses by following the Yang Energy that connected the Yin Vein to the outside world.
• Wu Chong led Li Qing to the Other Shore, a vast ocean of Yin Energy lined with Lotus Dao Platforms, and told him to sit on one to seek its fortune.
• Li Qing sat on a Lotus Dao Platform, drew in Nether Marrow, and found that refining it slightly increased his cultivation.

Li Qing refined Nether Marrow with his Heaven and Earth Spirit Fires, boosting his cultivation and strengthening his Primordial Peerless Hammer while Wu Chong outpaced him with the Taotie Divine Art. Outside, rumors that the Xiling Divine Hall had been devastated drew Rogue Cultivators to its ruins, where they chased a fleeing protector and moved to plunder the sect.

• Li Qing refined Nether Marrow, felt his stagnant cultivation begin to rise, and tried to match Wu Chong's faster absorption.
• Li Qing used the Spirit Devouring Demonic Flame and Nether Cold Fire to refine Nether Marrow much more quickly.
• Li Qing discovered that refining Nether Marrow also strengthened his Primordial Peerless Hammer.
• Rumors spread that the Taotie Demon Ancestor had devastated the Xiling Divine Hall and possibly killed its Hall Master.
• Rogue Cultivators gathered at Xiling Divine Mountain, saw a protector flee, and chased him while others rushed to search the ruins.

Li Qing pulled Wu Chong out of his sudden enlightenment and escaped the Yin Vein with him just before the connection to the Yang World vanished. After they returned, a bolt of thunder struck Li Qing, and thunderclouds gathered overhead.

• Li Qing discovered that Wu Chong was bound to his Lotus Dao Platform by Nether Marrow and could not be moved while he remained in his sudden enlightenment.
• Li Qing burned away the Nether Marrow, pulled Wu Chong free, and broke his enlightenment, prompting Wu Chong to say he had seen his Master below.
• Li Qing dragged Wu Chong along the fading golden thread and escaped the Yin Vein just before Polar Day ended.
• Li Qing noticed some of the Nether Marrow’s aura still coiled around him and wondered about the purpose of the Lotus Dao Platforms.
• A bolt of thunder struck Li Qing after he and Wu Chong landed, and dense thunderclouds formed above them.

After refining Nether Marrow outside the Lotus Dao Platform, Li Qing triggered a heavenly tribulation meant to purge the Netherworld aura from his body. He discovered that his Primordial Peerless Hammer could absorb Dao patterns from the lightning, but the tribulation continued, leaving him to consider using Body Tempering Secret Arts to survive.

• Wu Chong explained that Li Qing had triggered the tribulation by refining Nether Marrow outside the Lotus Dao Platform and warned that outsiders could not help him cross it.
• Li Qing endured successive lightning strikes with his Golden Jade Armor, then used his Primordial Peerless Hammer to absorb Dao patterns and grow stronger despite suffering injuries.
• When the lightning turned scarlet and began damaging both Li Qing and the hammer, he sheltered inside the Black Furnace, but a bolt struck him when he emerged.
• Wu Chong told Li Qing that the tribulation would persist until it removed all the Netherworld aura, and Li Qing realized the Black Furnace could not fool the Heavenly Dao.
• Li Qing ruled out fleeing to the Eternal Night World and decided to try his Body Tempering Secret Arts to withstand the lightning.

Li Qing cultivated the third layer of the "True Body of the Brahma King" by enduring heavenly lightning outside the Black Furnace. After surviving the tribulation’s final two-colored lightning strike, he collapsed, barely alive.

• Li Qing decided to use the heavenly lightning around the Black Furnace to temper his body and began cultivating the third layer of the "True Body of the Brahma King."
• Li Qing endured repeated scarlet and blue lightning strikes without relying on the Golden Jade Armor, while Wu Chong watched in shock.
• The tribulation produced unexpectedly powerful two-colored lightning, injuring Li Qing and forcing him to retreat into the Black Furnace to recover.
• Li Qing realized the lightning had awakened much of his body’s hidden potential and returned outside to continue tempering his flesh.
• After enduring several more strikes and taking the final bolt of two-colored lightning, Li Qing collapsed onto the ground, still alive.

After surviving the heavenly tribulation at Xiling Divine Mountain, Li Qing urged Wu Chong to take him away before their enemies investigated. As they escaped, Li Qing learned that their other fellow disciples were scattered and revealed his plan to rebuild the Lingyun Sect with five Core Formation cultivators.

• Li Qing survived the heavenly tribulation but was severely depleted, and Wu Chong marveled at his ability to endure it.
• Li Qing warned that people beyond the heavenly curtain would investigate Xiling Divine Mountain, so Wu Chong hid him in the Sky Swallowing Bowl and flew east.
• Li Qing questioned Wu Chong about his two Natal Magic Treasures, and Wu Chong explained that he had imitated his master's pair without knowing the drawbacks.
• Wu Chong told Li Qing that most of their fellow disciples had left or become separated, while those who remained in the Nether Realm struggled to cultivate.
• Li Qing said he would rebuild the Lingyun Sect after recovering, then revealed that he could gather five Core Formation cultivators, leaving Wu Chong astonished.

Li Qing reunited with Wu Chong and recounted his journey through the Great Desolation Region. Wu Chong brought him to an island where former Lingyun Sect disciples lived, and they welcomed Li Qing back in astonishment at his Core Formation cultivation.

• Li Qing told Wu Chong about his experiences in the Great Desolation Region, including winning over True Person Fu Xuan.
• Wu Chong flew Li Qing across the sea to the island where he and the other disciples had settled to cultivate.
• Wu Chong called the island’s residents out to greet the companion he had brought back.
• Li Qing revealed himself to the gathered disciples, and Senior Brother Wen recognized him with surprise.
• Li Qing reunited with Lu Fan and other old acquaintances, who addressed him as Martial Uncle after sensing his Core Formation cultivation.