Recaps

A rural Sacred Venerable refused to pursue the throne but agreed to let Daoist Sanhua handle the Snow Robe Demon Venerable. After the Gongsun Clan crushed a rebellion and the Cui and Lin clans attacked the weakened Qu Clan, Li Xinge sent Li Xuantong to support the Qu Clan, restoring a fragile calm across the south.

• Daoist Sanhua told the Sacred Venerable that the Snow Robe Demon Venerable had killed the ancestors of the Gongsun and Qu clans, then urged him to recruit the Demon Venerable; the Sacred Venerable refused to seek the throne but left the matter to Daoist Sanhua.
• The Xiang Province administrator rebelled against the Gongsun Clan, but a supposedly dead Gongsun ancestor emerged and crushed the revolt, wiping out its participants and their kin.
• The Cui and Lin clans seized Qu Clan holdings while the Qu Clan lacked its ancestor and clan head, prompting Li Xinge to decide that the Li Family would help.
• Li Xinge sent Li Xuantong to Chu Province to support the Qu Clan, and other southern factions followed, forcing the Cui and Lin clans to abandon their campaign.
• The south returned to outward calm, though hidden tensions remained.

The Sky-Eating Demon Venerable visited the Snowy Robe Sacred Cult to propose an alliance against the Great Zhou, but Li Xinge rejected his plan as premature. Li Xinge predicted the dynasty would fall into chaos within a hundred years, leaving his visitor wondering how he knew.

• The Sky-Eating Demon Venerable arrived at Myriad Bone Hall and requested an audience with the Snow Robe Demon Venerable.
• Li Wuyou and Zhao Wujiu learned the visitor led the overseas Heaven-Eating Demonic Sect, welcomed him, and sent word to Li Xinge.
• Li Xinge transformed into the Snow Robe Demon Venerable and entered Myriad Bone Hall to meet the Sky-Eating Demon Venerable.
• The Sky-Eating Demon Venerable proposed joining forces to conquer the southern clans, pacify the Central Plains, and overthrow the Great Zhou.
• Li Xinge dismissed the plan, citing the Great Zhou's strength, and predicted the world would fall into chaos within a hundred years.
• The Sky-Eating Demon Venerable asked why Li Xinge was so certain, but Li Xinge kept his reasons to himself.

Li Xinge defeated Sky-Eating Demon Venerable and made him and Heaven-Eating Demonic Sect swear obedience, establishing himself as Devil Master. After they returned to Myriad Bone Hall, Sky-Eating Demon Venerable revealed the strength of his sect.

• Li Xinge rejected Sky-Eating Demon Venerable’s offer of an alliance and declared that the Demonic Path needed one sovereign to unite it.
• Li Xinge challenged Sky-Eating Demon Venerable to a fight, wagering that the loser’s sect would obey the winner unconditionally.
• Li Xinge defeated Sky-Eating Demon Venerable beyond the Ninth Heaven by revealing his Three Sha Demon God aspect.
• Sky-Eating Demon Venerable accepted defeat and pledged himself and Heaven-Eating Demonic Sect to Li Xinge as their Devil Master.
• Back in Myriad Bone Hall, Sky-Eating Demon Venerable told Li Xinge that his sect had two Divine Mansion experts, a Half-step Divine Mansion expert, an Innately Great Perfection expert, and seventy-four other Innate Realm experts.

Li Xinge appointed the Sky-Eating Demon Venerable to guard the Sacred Cult and announced plans to conquer Eastern Ridge in a year. He mobilized the Li Family and summoned Yang Province’s officials, where Prefect Wu Ren openly opposed the campaign.

• Li Xinge appointed the Sky-Eating Demon Venerable Guardian Dharma King and left him to oversee the Sacred Cult while he prepared to conquer the eastern continent.
• Li Xinge ordered the Li Family elders to prepare for war against Eastern Ridge in one year, assigning roles across the clan.
• Li Xinge summoned the Prefects of Yang Province’s thirty-seven commanderies to the Governor’s Mansion, where officials worried the meeting might signal another demonic uprising.
• Li Xinge told the assembled officials he would sweep Eastern Ridge clean in a year.
• Wu Ren warned Li Xinge that Eastern Ridge offered little benefit, had two Divine Mansion cultivators, and could leave Yang Province weakened; Li Xinge listened with an unreadable smile.

Li Xinge ordered Yang Province to prepare for an invasion of Eastern Ridge in one year, then heard Li Xuanyong’s proposal to conscript demons for the campaign. The chapter ended with Li Xinge stunned by the Third Elder’s plan to strengthen his army, weaken the demons, and use them as food.

• Li Xinge praised Wu Ren for speaking honestly, then argued that Eastern Ridge threatened Yang Province and announced an invasion in one year.
• Li Xinge ordered Fu Yu to coordinate the commanderies, Wang Tianming to prepare the army and its supply routes, and the prefects to register cultivators for service.
• Li Xinge declared that he intended to kill the Eastern Ridge King and privately vowed to settle his old debt with Wu Huo.
• After Li Xinge returned to Green Maple Valley, Li Xuanyong supported the invasion and proposed conscripting the Demon Race as troops and provisions.
• Li Xinge stared in shock as Li Xuanyong explained that the plan would strengthen Yang Province, deplete the demons, and reduce the army’s food costs.

Li Xingzong received Li Xinge’s order to conscript Yang Province’s Demon Race for the campaign against Eastern Ridge. After Li Xuanyong advised him, he used the Governor’s Jin Order to secure the Qinghe Mountain Range Demon Lords’ compliance, though they suspected they would serve as cannon fodder.

• Li Xinge summoned Li Xingzong and ordered him to recruit Yang Province’s major Demon Race groups for the campaign against Eastern Ridge.
• Li Xuanyong met Li Xingzong outside the patriarch’s courtyard and quietly advised him about the task.
• Li Xingzong flew to the Qinghe Mountain Range and presented the Governor’s Jin Order to the Fire Winged Tiger Lord and the assembled Demon Lords.
• Li Xingzong ordered the Qinghe Mountain Range Demon Race to report to Eastern Continent Prefecture within six months, promising rewards after Eastern Ridge fell.
• The Fire Winged Tiger Lord accepted the order and told the other Demon Lords that reducing their lower-ranked population could ease pressure on their food and territory.

Li Xingzong ordered the demons of Mist Mountain to join the campaign against Eastern Ridge, but the Crimson Flame Bear Lord rejected the State Governor's Jin Order and drove him away. The remaining Demon Lords followed the three-tailed fox to a secluded valley to discuss what had happened.

• Li Xingzong reached Mist Mountain and summoned the Crimson Flame Bear Lord, whose Late-stage Innate aura revealed his great strength.
• Li Xingzong presented the State Governor's Jin Order and commanded Mist Mountain's demons to report for the campaign within six months.
• The Crimson Flame Bear Lord rejected the order, declared that Mist Mountain's demons answered only to the Demon King, and threatened to eat Li Xingzong.
• Li Xingzong left without fighting, silently resolving that the Bear Lord would regret his defiance.
• The Crimson Flame Bear Lord dismissed the Governor's envoy, and the three-tailed fox led seven remaining Demon Lords to a secluded valley to talk.

Three-tailed Fox Lord sent Black Owl Demon Lord to intercept Li Xingzong and offer the Demon Race of Mist Mountain’s help in killing Crimson Flame Bear Lord. Li Xingzong agreed to return with a powerful ally in three days, while Three-tailed Fox Lord and Black Owl Demon Lord prepared to betray Crimson Flame’s followers.

• Three-tailed Fox Lord persuaded the Demon Lords of Mist Mountain to help Li Xingzong kill Crimson Flame Bear Lord in exchange for protection.
• Black Owl Demon Lord caught up with Li Xingzong and explained that the other Mist Mountain demons opposed Crimson Flame’s actions.
• Three-tailed Fox Lord arrived and offered to kill Crimson Flame Bear Lord’s four trusted Demon Lords, asking Li Xingzong to help defeat Crimson Flame.
• Li Xingzong agreed to deal with Crimson Flame Bear Lord and gave the demons three days to prove their sincerity.
• Black Owl Demon Lord set aside its doubts after Three-tailed Fox Lord suggested taking over more territory.

Li Xingzong recruited Xiang Yesheng and other Innate Realm experts to help him eliminate Crimson Flame Bear Lord after the bear lord defied the State Governor’s summons. Three-tailed Fox Lord arrived with proof of his alliance, and Li Xingzong prepared to move against their shared target.

• Li Xingzong visited the Xuanshui Xiang Clan and asked Patriarch Xiang Yesheng to help eliminate Crimson Flame Bear Lord.
• Xiang Yesheng explained that he could not defeat the bear lord, so Li Xingzong asked him only to keep the enemy occupied, and Xiang agreed.
• Three days later, Li Xingzong gathered Xiang Yesheng and more than a dozen Innate Realm experts near Mist Mountain.
• Three-tailed Fox Lord arrived with Black Owl Demon Lord and five other Demon Lords, carrying the corpses of Crimson Flame Bear Lord’s four trusted subordinates.
• Li Xingzong accepted the corpses as proof of Three-tailed Fox Lord’s sincerity and secretly told him how to cooperate in the attack.

Crimson Flame Bear Lord gathered the Demon Lords to confront Li Xingzong and the Human cultivators approaching Fog Mountain, unaware that Three-tailed Fox Lord had betrayed him. The Humans and allied Demons killed him in a coordinated ambush, and Li Xingzong ordered the Fog Mountain Bear Clan exterminated.

• Three-tailed Fox Lord warned Crimson Flame Bear Lord that Li Xingzong was approaching with more than a dozen Human Innate Realm cultivators, and Crimson Flame Bear Lord summoned the Demon Lords.
• Crimson Flame Bear Lord confronted the Human group and charged Xiang Yesheng, who fought him while Li Xingzong and the others battled the remaining Demon Lords.
• Three-tailed Fox Lord called for the attack, and the Humans and Demons turned on Crimson Flame Bear Lord while he was locked in combat with Xiang Yesheng.
• The coordinated assault shattered Crimson Flame Bear Lord's body and killed him, leaving him bewildered by his own kind's betrayal.
• Li Xingzong ordered his men to collect Crimson Flame Bear Lord's remains and wipe out the Fog Mountain Bear Clan, frightening Three-tailed Fox Lord and the other Demons.

Li Xinge secured a verified sixth-tier protective formation for Green Maple Valley and recruited Sage Xuanji to accompany him to the Eastern Ridge by promising to restore his Physical Body Realm. Meanwhile, Li Zhenshan and his wife welcomed their third son, Li Changsheng, whose poor bone structure meant he could not cultivate.

• Li Xingzong appointed the Three-tailed Fox Lord to lead the Mist Mountain demons after the Crimson Flame Bear Lord died, and recruitment went smoothly.
• Sage Xuanji completed a sixth-tier protective formation around Green Maple Valley and gave its control plate to Li Xinge.
• Li Xinge verified that the formation plate had no abnormalities, then persuaded Sage Xuanji to join him on his trip to the Eastern Ridge by promising to rebuild his Physical Body Realm.
• Li Zhenshan's wife gave birth to a healthy boy, but Li Zhenshan found that the baby had poor bone structure and was unsuited to cultivation.
• Li Zhenshan and his wife named their third son Li Changsheng.

Xiong Li and Wu Huo prepared Eastern Ridge for Li Xinge’s planned invasion, while Xiong Li sent Wu Huo to seek help from Xu Province. In Eastern Continent Prefecture, the Helm Master learned that a traitor had warned Eastern Ridge and ordered the agent found within three days.

• Wu Huo told Xiong Li and the tribal chiefs that Li Xinge planned to attack Eastern Ridge in a year, and Xiong Li warned them not to underestimate him.
• Xiong Li ordered Eastern Ridge’s forces to gather and defend their natural barriers rather than attack Yang Province.
• After the chiefs left, Xiong Li asked Wu Huo to seek aid from Xu Province, which would be threatened if Li Xinge conquered Eastern Ridge.
• A white-robed man told the Helm Master that Eastern Ridge knew of the invasion and planned to wait behind its defenses.
• The Helm Master ordered the traitor identified within three days, sparing no expense.

Li Xinge and Sage Xuanji chose a mountain site in Eastern Ridge Land for a Baleful Intent Gathering Array. After Night Owl Hall exposed the Shen Family’s betrayal, Li Wu led a squad toward the clan, where Shen Yuren killed his own ancestor in a desperate bid to save himself.

• Sage Xuanji identified three baleful yin earth veins beneath a mountain and agreed to prepare a Baleful Intent Gathering Array for Li Xinge.
• Li Yanjing brought evidence of the Shen Family’s betrayal to Li Xuantong, who ordered Li Wu to wipe out the clan.
• Li Wu assembled the Hall of Law Enforcement’s finest and set off for Eastern Continent Prefecture by spirit boat.
• Shen Xiangwen told Shen Yuren that the Shen Family had been exposed and was being watched while the Li Family awaited its chance to act.
• Shen Yuren attacked Shen Xiangwen, killed him, and laughed that he would survive and the Shen Family could live on.

Shen Yuren killed his ancestor Shen Xiangwen and tried to plead the Shen Family’s innocence to the Upper Clan’s emissary, Li Wu. Li Wu killed Shen Yuren and ordered the Shen Family exterminated, while the Grand Elder burned the clan register and led the survivors into battle.

• Shen Yuren warned the Grand Elder to stay silent about his killing of Shen Xiangwen, then presented Shen Xiangwen’s head to the watching Innate True Persons and claimed he had acted to punish treason.
• Li Wu arrived by Cloud Boat, questioned Shen Yuren about his relationship to Shen Xiangwen, and killed him with two punches when Shen Yuren admitted Shen Xiangwen was his ancestor.
• Li Wu captured Shen Yuren’s departing shadow and ordered the Hall of Law Enforcement to exterminate the Shen Family under the State Governor’s authority.
• The Shen Family’s Grand Elder ordered a cultivator to fetch the clan register, then burned it in the ancestral hall to keep Li Wu from finding the family’s names.
• The Grand Elder called the Shen Family members to follow him into battle and repay the clan with their deaths.

The Li Family destroyed the Shen Family and hunted down its surviving descendants, while Li Xingyue ascended to the Innate Realm. Ten months later, Yang Province’s forces gathered in the Eastern Continent Prefecture, where leaders prepared for war.

• The Li Family burned the Shen Family estate after killing its members and looting its treasury.
• Shen Nanxing and the other survivors emerged from a concealed cellar, but Li Family cultivators found and killed them as they watched the ruins.
• Li Xingyue condensed a Thunder Spirit Golden Core, became the Li Family’s eleventh Innate True Person, and joined the Hall of Law Enforcement as an elder.
• Ten months later, elite forces from across Yang Province gathered around the Eastern Continent Prefecture, while craftsmen prepared supplies and weapons for war.
• Nearly two hundred Innate cultivators and major leaders, including Li Xuantong, Zhao Wujiu, the Fu Family’s ancestor, and the Ouyang Family’s Half-step Divine Mansion Realm ancestor, assembled in the central command tent.

Li Xuantong rallied the human forces behind the Governor’s vow to destroy Eastern Ridge as the Demon Race began its invasion. At Severed Head Ravine, the fortress’s defensive formation withstood the Demon Lords and the Fire Winged Tiger Lord, who then struck it with a thousand-foot flaming manifestation.

• Li Xuantong announced that the war would continue until Eastern Ridge was destroyed, and the camp echoed his declaration.
• The Fire Winged Tiger Lord led the Demon Race’s beast tide into Eastern Ridge, overrunning checkpoints until it reached Severed Head Ravine.
• Eastern Ridge’s defenders used rune-inscribed ballistae and a defensive formation to repel the beasts and block the Demon Lords’ attacks.
• The Fire Winged Tiger Lord poured a Sea of Fire onto the fortress, but the barrier held.
• Angered by the Demon Lords’ doubts, the Fire Winged Tiger Lord formed a thousand-foot flaming tiger and slammed it toward the fortress’s barrier.

The Demon Race army conquered more than a dozen Eastern Ridge strongholds but stalled at Yun Tian Pass, where the Eastern Ridge’s forces and Spirit Swallowing Iron defenses stopped their advance. Li Xuantong ordered a prolonged siege, while the Barbarian chiefs trusted the pass and expected Yang Province’s supplies to run out first.

• The Fire Winged Tiger Lord shattered a defensive array and breached a stronghold, prompting its defenders to flee as the Demon Race took the pass.
• The Demon Race army captured more than a dozen Eastern Ridge strongholds before its assault on Yun Tian Pass was halted by the formidable fortress.
• The Fire Winged Tiger Lord and dozens of Demon Lords failed to break Yun Tian Pass’s barrier, and Eastern Ridge experts killed three Demon Lords before withdrawing inside.
• Li Xuantong rejected Fu Yu’s warning about the pass and ordered the army to bombard it with siege engines in shifts, day and night.
• The Chitu and Shuize Tribe chiefs watched Spirit Swallowing Iron absorb the attacks and argued that Yang Province would exhaust its supplies before the pass fell.

After six months of failing to break Yun Tian Pass, Li Xingyue proposed striking the Barbarian tribes behind the front to force their fighters to abandon the pass. Li Xuantong approved the plan, and Wu Ren volunteered to lead the dangerous mission, accepting the burden of its bloodshed and infamy.

• Fu Yu urged Li Xuantong to halt the attacks on Yun Tian Pass because the army's spirit-stone reserves were running low.
• Li Xingyue proposed sending a small force into Eastern Ridge to attack the poorly defended Barbarian tribes and disrupt the garrison at Yun Tian Pass.
• Li Xingyue argued that Yang Province could answer the Barbarians' massacres in kind, and Li Xuantong approved his plan.
• Fu Yu volunteered for the mission, recalling the atrocities he had witnessed in Eastern Ridge.
• Wu Ren stepped forward and explained that he had once opposed the war but now believed striking the tribes could protect Yang Province's people, then offered to lead the mission himself.

Li Xingyue volunteered to lead a dangerous mission behind enemy lines and received the Snowy Guard as his unit. While Yang Province attacked Yun Tian Pass to draw the defenders’ attention, Li Xingyue prepared to move into Eastern Ridge with the Snowy Guard.

• A Rogue Cultivator and other officers volunteered for the mission behind enemy lines, but Li Xingyue insisted that he should carry it out himself.
• Li Xuantong approved Li Xingyue’s decision and assigned him the fifty-member Snowy Guard.
• Li Xuantong ordered Yang Province’s forces to launch an all-out assault on Yun Tian Pass the following night.
• The Yang Province army attacked Yun Tian Pass, prompting the Chitu and Shuize Tribe chiefs to question the assault’s intensity.
• Three hundred li from the pass, Li Xingyue assembled the Snowy Guard and vowed to live and die with them.

Li Xingyue and the Snowy Guard attacked the Qingtai Tribe, slaughtered its people, and captured its sole remaining Innate Realm expert, Qingtai Guluo. After having Qingtai Guluo flayed alive and ordering his skin sent to Yun Tian Pass, Li Xingyue left the tribe burning.

• Li Xingyue studied intelligence about the Qingtai Tribe and ordered the Snowy Guard to attack it at night.
• The Snowy Guard silently killed a patrol before Qingtai Guluo sensed the invasion and raised the alarm.
• Li Xingyue confronted Qingtai Guluo, drove him into retreat, then struck him down with lightning and crippled him.
• Li Xingyue and the Snowy Guard killed more than a million Qingtai tribespeople as they tried to flee.
• Li Xingyue ordered the Snowy Guard to flay Qingtai Guluo and send his skin to Yun Tian Pass.
• Li Xingyue left the Qingtai Tribe engulfed in flames and added another skull to his string.

Li Xingyue and the Snowy Guard destroyed four great tribes in Eastern Ridge, prompting the Royal Court to send Hutai Xie after the Yang Province attackers. At Yun Tian Pass, Qingtai Jie learned that his tribe and Guluo had been slaughtered and roared in grief and rage.

• Scouts found the Qingtai Tribe burned and its people dead, and the Eastern Ridge Royal Court began investigating the massacre.
• Xiong Li ordered an investigation, but Li Xingyue soon led the Snowy Guard to destroy the Black Rock, Chiling, and Heze Tribes.
• The Royal Court blamed attackers from Yang Province, and Xiong Li ordered Hutai Xie to kill them within three days.
• At Yun Tian Pass, Qingtai Jie learned that Guluo had been killed and that more than a million Qingtai tribespeople had been slaughtered.

After the Qingtai Tribe and three others were wiped out, their chiefs nearly abandoned Yun Tian Pass to seek revenge. Xiong Ju, the Great Prince, arrived with the Country Lord’s order forbidding anyone from leaving their post, and the defenders’ unrest was suppressed.

• Qingtai Jie told Chituli that over a million Qingtai Tribe members had been slaughtered and asked to leave Yun Tian Pass to hunt down the killers.
• Chituli argued that abandoning the pass would endanger Eastern Ridge, and Qingtai Jie agreed to stay and avenge his tribe later.
• Messengers announced that the Black Rock Tribe, the Chiling Tribe, and the Heze Tribe had also been wiped out, prompting the defenders to panic.
• Xiong Ju arrived at Yun Tian Pass and announced that Hutai Xie would investigate the massacres.
• Xiong Ju relayed the Country Lord’s decree that anyone who abandoned the pass without permission would be branded a traitor and have their entire clan executed.

Li Xingyue chose the distant Qing Falcon Tribe as the Snowy Guard’s next target and launched a nighttime assault. He confronted the tribe’s chief, Qing Sunming, and their clash began with Li Xingyue’s lightning-infused blade forcing the stronger opponent to retreat.

• Xiong Ju took command at Yun Tian Pass with the Country Lord’s Golden Scepter while the surviving tribe leaders argued over the massacres.
• Li Xingyue reviewed a map and selected the Qing Falcon Tribe, which had three Innate experts but only two Early-stage experts summoned to defend Yun Tian Pass.
• Ten days later, Li Xingyue led the Snowy Guard in an attack that plunged the Qing Falcon Tribe into chaos and slaughtered its defenders.
• Qing Sunming confronted Li Xingyue, expecting his Middle Stage Innate strength to overwhelm the Early-stage attacker.
• Li Xingyue’s lightning-charged blade met Qing Sunming’s spear, numbing his arms and forcing him back two steps.

Li Xingyue and the Snowy Guard destroyed the Qing Falcon Tribe, but the repeated massacres sparked panic and demands to abandon Yun Tian Pass. Xiong Ju invoked the Country Lord’s Scepter to silence the tribal chiefs, though the Xuan Wolf chief remained unreadable.

• Li Xingyue defeated Qing Sunming with Startling Thunder, killed him, and took his golden core before the Snowy Guard wiped out the Qing Falcon Tribe.
• Hutai Xie arrived too late and ordered his people to pursue the killers.
• News of the Qing Falcon Tribe’s destruction reached Yun Tian Pass, where tribal chiefs demanded to return home and defend their people.
• The Xuan Wolf chief challenged Chituli and Xiong Ju, while the Purple Scorpion chief warned that his tribe could be attacked next.
• Xiong Ju invoked the Country Lord’s Scepter and threatened the chiefs, silencing their calls to retreat; the Xuan Wolf chief concealed his reaction.

The Xuan Wolf Tribe's old man led dozens of tribal chiefs in deciding to abandon Yun Tian Pass after the royal court failed to protect their people. Xiong Ju and the royal tribes moved to stop them, but the departing tribes stood together and refused to turn back.

• The Purple Scorpion chief and other leaders complained that their tribes were being sacrificed while the royal court left them unprotected.
• The Xuan Wolf Tribe's old man persuaded the chiefs to leave Yun Tian Pass together and ordered them to move that night.
• Xiong Ju learned that the tribes were gathering to leave, seized the Country Lord's Scepter, and rushed out of his tent.
• Chituli, Shuize Tu, and other royal tribal chiefs blocked the camp's exit and confronted the departing tribes.
• The Xuan Wolf Tribe's old man declared that they were abandoning the pass to protect their people, while the Purple Scorpion chief and others vowed to treat anyone who blocked them as an enemy.