Chapter Summaries

Yan Xiujin admired the lightning attack and learned how far she would need to advance to wield comparable power, while Yi Xizhou regarded Yuan Yujun’s arrival as a complication. The chapter left the eight Subterranean Beasts straining against the golden beams of the sealing formation.

• Yan Xiujin asked Yuan Yujun what cultivation level she would need to unleash an attack like the lightning strike, and Yuan Yujun estimated the Enlightened Intent Realm or, with enough effort, the Spirit Infusion Realm.
• Yuan Yujun said Ling Wuyuan would likely wield comparable power after advancing to the Spirit Infusion Realm and reflected on his talent and diligence.
• Yan Xiujin grew discouraged by how distant those cultivation levels seemed, while Yao Yueyan silently judged her junior sister’s lazy nature.
• Yi Xizhou recognized the Jade Night Tower Ship and felt Yuan Yujun’s arrival would make matters more troublesome rather than welcome.
• The City Lord asked Yi Xizhou whether they should greet the Pavilion, and Yi Xizhou left the decision to him before turning his attention to the sealing formation.
• Yi Xizhou watched the eight Subterranean Beasts struggle as the golden beams restraining them shook increasingly hard.

Yi Xizhou watched the eight Divine Ability Realm beasts batter their golden cage while weighing possible conspiracies and preparing for trouble. When the cage finally collapsed, the beast tide surged across Wuchen Province, leaving the surrounding countries to face the attack.

• Yi Xizhou viewed the eight beasts as caught in a long-prepared trap but worried that the other countries or hidden forces might disrupt the operation.
• Yi Xizhou recalled that he and another Divine Ability Realm cultivator from the White Mist Royal Family had made contingency plans and arranged for support.
• As dark green ghostly light weakened the Golden Cage, a vast number of lesser Subterranean Beasts gathered outside it, and the countries held back from attacking to avoid provoking the strongest beasts.
• After another half hour, the Golden Cage collapsed into streaks of golden light, leaving only the outer formation barrier around Wuchen Province.
• Dark green beams shot into the sky, and the beasts surged in every direction, shaking the ground as they charged.

Yi Xizhou watched the beast tide advance on the fortress city as more than a thousand Rune Cannons blasted the attackers. He focused on the eight intelligent beast leaders, knowing that destroying them was the key to stopping the assault.

• The eight Divine Ability Realm beast leaders flew among their aerial forces and warily observed the Jade Night Tower Ship, then relaxed when it stayed beyond the formation barrier.
• The fortress city opened fire with over a thousand Rune Cannons, blasting craters through the approaching beast tide.
• The beasts continued charging despite their wounds, driven onward by stronger members of their kind.
• Yi Xizhou recalled his past defense of the city and judged that ordinary attacks could not reliably stop the beasts.
• Yi Xizhou watched the eight leaders, expecting them to probe the defenses and attack wherever they found a weak point.

The beast tide reached the city walls, where defenders fought back with Rune Cannons, Rune City Crossbows, and personal weapons. Yi Xizhou kept his own power hidden to deter eight powerful beasts, while Ling Wuyuan observed the battle and marveled at the locals’ composure and formidable War Weapons.

• The subterranean beast tide pushed through the defenders’ attacks and reached the city, prompting the Rune Cannons and Rune City Crossbows to fire at full force.
• City defenders fought beasts that breached the formation barrier or attacked from the air, while casualties and destruction continued across the walls and civilian districts.
• Yi Xizhou directed the defense without fighting, concealing his strength so the eight powerful beasts would not attack together.
• Yi Xizhou accepted that White Mist Country might sacrifice Northern Wuchen Province if necessary to protect the rest of the country.
• Ling Wuyuan watched from the Jade Night Tower Ship, noted the locals’ calm response to the beasts, and assessed the power of the War Weapons.

After watching the Rune Cannons' destructive power, Ling Wuyuan compared them to nuclear weapons and explained their environmental danger to Pei Suxia. He said he could not reproduce nuclear weapons in this world, leaving Pei Suxia disappointed that she could not see one in action.

• Ling Wuyuan observed the Rune Cannons' power and remarked that nuclear weapons could be stronger but polluted the environment.
• Pei Suxia asked Ling Wuyuan what nuclear weapons were and whether they left lasting harm behind.
• Ling Wuyuan explained that nuclear weapons could poison the surrounding area and harm future generations.
• Pei Suxia asked Ling Wuyuan to make a nuclear weapon so she could see its effects.
• Ling Wuyuan said he knew only basic principles and lacked the materials and conditions needed to make one in this world.
• Pei Suxia accepted that she would not get to see a nuclear weapon and felt disappointed.

Zhu Danfeng became interested in Ling Wuyuan’s description of nuclear weapons, while the group watched the battle at North Town City. Three hours into the beast tide, the city’s defenses were damaged and breached in places, but Yi Xizhou remained calm as Formation Masters repeatedly patched the grand formation.

• Zhu Danfeng considered how Ling Wuyuan’s ideas about nuclear weapons might inspire her artifact refining.
• Ling Wuyuan, Pei Yi, and the others focused on the battle between the Divine Ability Realm cultivators, which Yuan Yujun had brought them to witness.
• After three hours of fighting, the beast tide and War Weapons had transformed the battlefield around North Town City into a scene of widespread destruction and casualties.
• Subterranean Beasts dug tunnels into the city, but Formation Masters repaired breaches in the city-defending grand formation as defenders fought off the intruders.
• Yi Xizhou remained calm because the defenders had not reached their limits and many civilians had yet to take up arms.

Yi Xizhou judged that the battle could last for several more days, but expected the intelligent Subterranean Beasts to strike quickly and retreat before reinforcements arrived. A powerful beast then gathered deathly energy into a compressed sphere and unleashed a vast wave of deadly mist over the battlefield.

• Yi Xizhou considered the Subterranean Beasts’ looting tactics and recognized that [Snow Moon Cloud Heaven Pavilion] was observing the battlefield from the [Jade Night Tower Ship].
• Yi Xizhou noticed a giant wolf-lizard creature gathering power in the distance.
• The creature summoned dark green mist across a vast area, drawing it into a rapidly shrinking sphere above its head.
• Observers in other nations identified the attack as one driven by deathly energy and recognized that the battlefield suited the enemy’s power.
• The creature roared and launched the compressed sphere skyward, where it exploded and sent a colossal wave of dark green mist crashing down over the battlefield.

A dark green mist tide descended over Wuchen Province, threatening its people while strengthening the Subterranean Beasts. Yi Xizhou unleashed his Divine Ability, and his giant tornado clashed with the mist, leaving the battle raging across the province.

• A dark green mist tide covered Wuchen Province and filled its inhabitants with terror.
• People saw the mist strengthen the Subterranean Beasts while threatening their enemies.
• Yi Xizhou activated his Divine Ability and used invisible Wind Blades to slaughter millions of beasts outside North Town City.
• Yi Xizhou's Wind Blades formed a tornado dozens of li wide that collided with the descending mist.
• The tornado and mist twisted together, drawing in and grinding up the earth as their struggle shook the land.

Yi Xizhou and defenders across the region resisted an assault by powerful ferocious beasts, which tested their defenses before concentrating five Divine Ability Realm attackers against one city. A giant snake smashed through the city’s golden shields, devastating the surrounding area and cracking the city-protecting formation as the beasts closed in on its guardian.

• Yi Xizhou used a giant tornado to counter the dark green mist while ferocious beasts assessed the defenses across the region.
• Three of the eight Divine Ability Realm ferocious beasts split off to hold back enemies in three directions, while the other five attacked the remaining city.
• The defenders raised golden shields and sent chains after two diving beasts, but the giant snake evaded the chains and charged through the shields head-on.
• The giant snake’s collision created contracting walls of air that crushed weaker ferocious beasts and shattered the earth around them.
• The city-protecting grand formation shook and developed dense cracks under the shockwaves, while the giant snake’s forehead was split and bleeding.
• The other four Divine Ability Realm ferocious beasts reached the city, with the city’s guardian as their first target.

Ling Wuyuan and the others saw that the giant snake and four other vicious beasts had devastated the city responsible for guarding Western Wuchen Province. The two surviving Divine Ability Realm cultivators faced the beasts and realized they would have to hold out until their own country sent reinforcements.

• The shockwave from the giant snake’s attack scattered rocks and soil through the sky, and Yuan Yujun created an ice mirror so everyone could see the devastation below.
• Ling Wuyuan and the others saw that the city had been reduced to a deep pit, with only a tiny area still standing and few survivors likely remaining.
• Two Divine Ability Realm cultivators faced the five vicious beasts above the ruins, wounded but not seriously injured.
• The two cultivators realized that the other three countries were unlikely to send help quickly and that reinforcements from their own country would probably arrive late.
• The two cultivators knew they had to find a way to hold out against the beasts.

Ling Wuyuan studied the Divine Ability Realm battle through Yuan Yujun’s ice mirror, using Abyssal Divine Speed to follow the fighters despite the strain it put on his body. After he took medicine for the resulting injuries, Pei Yi and the others worried over him, while Yan Xiujin blamed his cultivation habits.

• Ling Wuyuan contemplated the fundamental differences between cultivation realms and hoped to witness Divine Ability Realm cultivators’ hidden abilities firsthand.
• Ling Wuyuan used Abyssal Divine Speed to follow the battle, but sustaining accelerated perception strained his body and cracked some of his blood vessels.
• Ling Wuyuan took pills to heal himself, prompting Pei Yi to ask why he was injured and drawing the group’s concerned attention.
• Ling Wuyuan joked that he had been shocked by the battle so deeply that he felt it firsthand.
• Yan Xiujin dismissed his explanation and warned him that cultivating too many methods at once could cause problems.

Yuan Yujun found Ling Wuyuan exhausted but not suffering from a cultivation mishap, while he concealed the truth about his trump card. When he asked why the countries did not sever the earth veins sustaining the underground passage, Yuan Yujun explained that doing so would devastate the surrounding region, leaving the Subterranean Beast Tide as the less damaging threat.

• Yuan Yujun sensed that Ling Wuyuan's Qi and Blood, true qi, and essence, qi, and spirit were depleted, but not out of control.
• Yuan Yujun wondered if Ling Wuyuan had exhausted himself through realistic mental simulations, while Ling Wuyuan kept Abyssal Divine Speed secret.
• After recovering somewhat with medicinal pills, Ling Wuyuan reassured Pei Yiman and the others that he was in control.
• Ling Wuyuan asked Yuan Yujun why the surrounding countries did not sever the earth veins that sustained the spacetime passage to the underground world.
• Yuan Yujun explained that Wuchen Province's earth veins were a major convergence point whose damage would harm White Mist Country and its neighbors, so the Subterranean Beast Tide was preferable to the widespread devastation.

Ling Wuyuan learned that the surrounding countries had allowed the Subterranean Beast Tide to worsen rather than surrender their claim to its spoils by using other nations’ contingencies. The eight Divine Ability Realm ferocious beasts had breached Zhennan City of Tieliang Country before the countries could unite, leaving the defenders at risk of heavy losses.

• Ling Wuyuan suspected that the Subterranean Beast Tide was shaped by both natural forces and the surrounding countries’ interests.
• Ling Wuyuan asked Yuan Yujun why the battlefield had deteriorated despite the many countries with contingencies around Wuchen Province.
• Yuan Yujun explained that the four countries bordering Wuchen Province controlled the spoils unless they used methods left by other nations, which would entitle those nations to claim a share.
• Yuan Yujun said the four countries had hoped to defeat the tide with their own forces, terrain, and traps, but the eight beasts were stronger and smarter than expected and had breached Zhennan City of Tieliang Country.
• Yuan Yujun warned that the surrounding countries’ greed and delay could cost them dearly, while Ling Wuyuan understood that the world’s competition forced factions to take risks for greater gains.

Ling Wuyuan reflected on the rulers’ greed and the commoners’ vulnerability as the four countries’ forces struggled against eight Divine Ability Realm ferocious beasts. After watching the battle, he asked Yuan Yujun what Divine Abilities were, and Yuan explained that they were powers capable of transcending common sense.

• Ling Wuyuan realized the rulers of the four countries had risked disaster for the potential profits of capturing the eight ferocious beasts.
• Ling Wuyuan watched the ice mirror show the countries’ cultivators being overwhelmed and considered the likely mass casualties if the beasts broke through.
• Ling Wuyuan observed that the people around him felt surprise and some pity but little compassion for outsiders, and he approved of their restraint in showing kindness.
• Ling Wuyuan asked Yuan Yujun what Divine Abilities were, prompting Xi Xianlan and the others to listen.
• Yuan Yujun explained that some Divine Abilities resembled unusual techniques, while others—especially certain Natal Divine Abilities—could violate what was reasonable.

Yuan Yujun explained that Divine Abilities let cultivators achieve effects impossible through ordinary strength and technique, and Ling Wuyuan recognized that [Abyssal Divine Speed] seemed to fit that description. He suspected it might be a Natal Divine Ability awakened early by his body’s passage through the spacetime tunnel, but he remained unsure because his current level might not support such power.

• Yuan Yujun explained that Divine Abilities could multiply a cultivator’s capabilities or enable feats beyond what ordinary effort could accomplish.
• Ling Wuyuan realized Divine Abilities could create a decisive gap between cultivators of the same level and found the concept interesting.
• Ling Wuyuan considered how [Abyssal Divine Speed] granted him extreme mobility and seemed to meet the definition of a Divine Ability.
• Yuan Yujun explained that Natal Divine Abilities awakened when cultivators reached the [Divine Ability Realm] and were exclusive to their owners.
• Ling Wuyuan suspected that his body’s reconstruction while crossing the spacetime tunnel had awakened [Abyssal Divine Speed] early, but he remained uncertain because he might lack the strength to bear a true Divine Ability.

Ling Wuyuan set aside his questions about Abyssal Divine Speed and watched the battle between Divine Ability Realm cultivators, believing he had understood a little despite being unable to identify their divine abilities. Yuan Yujun and Xi Xianlan were surprised by his insight, while the other juniors struggled to follow the battle.

• Ling Wuyuan decided that understanding Abyssal Divine Speed could wait and focused on watching the cultivators fight.
• Yan Xiujin lost interest in the battle and secretly ate snacks, while Xi Xianlan and her other Senior Sisters struggled to make out the cultivators' movements.
• Yuan Yujun noticed Ling Wuyuan's serious expression and asked whether he had understood anything.
• Ling Wuyuan said he had understood a little but could not tell whether the fighters had used their divine abilities.
• Xi Xianlan was surprised by Ling Wuyuan's claim but believed he was telling the truth.

Ling Wuyuan revealed that he possessed the speed-enhancing ability [Abyssal Divine Speed], which Yuan Yujun had correctly deduced from his earlier behavior. Meanwhile, a coastal harbor in a distant country sensed an approaching threat and faced a colossal tsunami carrying armed, strange-looking figures.

• Yuan Yujun guessed that Ling Wuyuan had used a Special Ability, and he admitted that he possessed [Abyssal Divine Speed].
• Ling Wuyuan explained that the ability had awakened when he was ten and enhanced speed-related abilities, including movement and observation.
• Wu Yanlian remembered Ling Wuyuan using the ability during the Imperial Grand Competition, while Yan Xiujin teased her about her greed for money.
• At a harbor in a distant coastal country, people smelled a strange odor on the sea breeze and fled inland as soldiers rushed to their posts.
• A warning bell rang, and the harbor’s people saw a thousand-meter-high tsunami hundreds of kilometers wide, with armed figures visible atop it.

Yuan Yujun learned that the sea clan had launched a massive invasion and destroyed two coastal nations, prompting her to take the Jade Night Tower Ship back to Snow Moon Cloud Heaven Pavilion. Wu Yanlian refused to join the fight, while Ling Wuyuan remained curious about the cultivators’ divine abilities.

• Yuan Yujun received a report that the sea clan was invading the coastal regions and that Wangjing Country and Yuanliu Country had already fallen.
• Yuan Yujun told Wu Yanlian to fight the sea clan, but Wu Yanlian pleaded that she was not capable and Yuan Yujun slapped her away.
• Yan Xiujin whispered to Ling Wuyuan that she would not behave as embarrassingly as Wu Yanlian.
• Yuan Yujun set the Jade Night Tower Ship on course for Snow Moon Cloud Heaven Pavilion to respond to the invasion.
• Ling Wuyuan watched the battle below and wondered about the cultivators’ divine abilities, confident that none surpassed Abyssal Divine Speed.

Yuan Yujun and the elders discussed the sea clans’ invasion while Ling Wuyuan and Pei Yiman examined reports of crises across many countries. Ling Wuyuan suspected the sea clans had engineered the diversions and wondered whether Snow Moon Cloud Heaven Pavilion would have to intervene directly.

• Ling Wuyuan listened without speaking as Yuan Yujun and the elders debated the invasion, since his low standing kept him from joining their discussion.
• Ling Wuyuan and Pei Yiman reviewed reports showing that countries across the region had faced recent crises that diverted their experts.
• Bai Jingshu questioned whether the sea clans could have caused incidents as far inland as White Mist Country, and Yao Yueyan allowed that they might have an unknown method.
• Pei Suxia argued that the sea clans’ rapid conquest of five or six countries showed they had prepared their invasion in advance, though she could not understand their motive.
• Ling Wuyuan connected the sea clans’ invasion to the prematurely opened underground beast-tide passage and considered whether Snow Moon Cloud Heaven Pavilion would need to fight directly, given the high number of Divine Ability Realm casualties.

Ling Wuyuan listened as Yuan Yujun assessed the sea race’s invasion and learned that two of its True Form Realm cultivators had appeared. He realized the sea race could transform conquered territory into coastal marshland, giving it the means to push deep inland.

• Ling Wuyuan heard that the sea race had already revealed two True Form Realm cultivators, prompting the Snow Moon Cloud Heaven Pavilion to treat the invasion as a grave threat.
• Yuan Yujun explained that the sea race had rapidly conquered coastal countries through swift attacks and heavy sacrifices, forming a defensive arc backed by the sea.
• Ling Wuyuan noted that the sea race remained more than ten million li from White Mist Country, and at first thought its inland advance would be difficult.
• Yuan Yujun said the sea race might use a vast formation to draw in seawater and turn its conquered territory into coastal marshland.
• Ling Wuyuan realized the sea race could reshape enormous areas and use the changed environment to advance inland, making his expression more solemn.