Chapter Summaries

Lin Chen and the Azure Cloud Sect’s leaders met with True Ancestor Changqing to discuss the worsening war against the Demonic Cultivators. The group rejected Lin Chen’s proposal to retreat to the main mountain gate, and Changqing kept Lin Chen behind to ask for another solution.

• Zhang Zhiming introduced Lin Chen to the sect’s senior True Disciples, and they reminded him to take up his responsibilities.
• The gathered leaders recognized Zhang Mengyao, who had returned to life and appeared decades younger, but she refused to explain her treatment.
• The group met True Ancestor Changqing beneath the Spirit Tree, and Zhang Zhiming reported attacks, covert demonic arts, and Blood Cultivator unrest alongside the stalemate at the frontline.
• Lin Chen proposed abandoning the frontline to preserve their forces, but the other leaders, including Zhang Mengyao, argued that retreat would surrender territory and expose millions of mortals.
• True Ancestor Changqing ordered everyone to prepare to adapt to the situation, then dismissed the others and asked Lin Chen for a better solution.

Lin Chen proposed abandoning Azure Cloud Sect’s defenses to strike the demonic cultivators at the front line when they divided their forces. True Ancestor Changqing asked him to secretly manage the situation while Qingyang focused on his Nascent Soul breakthrough, and Lin Chen agreed after negotiating several valuable rewards.

• Lin Chen explained his Tactical Transformation plan to True Ancestor Changqing, pointing to the demonic army facing the Azure Cloud forces as the target for a concentrated attack.
• Lin Chen predicted the demonic cultivators would divide their forces to carry out their broader scheme, creating an opportunity for Azure Cloud to counterattack.
• True Ancestor Changqing revealed that Qingyang had encountered an obstacle in his Nascent Soul breakthrough and asked Lin Chen to secretly cover the sect’s affairs.
• True Ancestor Changqing tested Lin Chen’s strength with his spiritual energy, and Lin Chen resisted the attack with his three-colored spiritual power.
• True Ancestor Changqing offered Lin Chen a lifespan-reducing sorcery, treasury privileges, and records about Nascent Soul cultivators, and Lin Chen accepted the responsibility.

Lin Chen asked True Ancestor Changqing about the lands beyond Lingnan and learned that leaving would mean crossing spiritless territory and risking the Demon Court or Dragon Palace. He also heard the sect’s account of Ancient Cultivators, whose unexplained disappearance before the Demonic Calamity ended with a baffling declaration: “Spiritual Energy Cultivation itself does not exist.”

• True Ancestor Changqing showed Lin Chen a map of Lingnan and explained that the Ten Thousand Monster Mountain Range lay to the northwest and the East Sea to the southeast.
• True Ancestor Changqing warned that spiritless lands and powerful demons made leaving Lingnan nearly impossible without outside help, while Lin Chen considered the potential of his Instant Thousand Mile Talisman.
• True Ancestor Changqing told Lin Chen that the Side World once had seven continents and five oceans before Ancient Cultivators merged its continents into one.
• True Ancestor Changqing described Ancient Times as an age of powerful cultivators and said a Demonic Calamity ended it after the top Ancient Cultivators had mysteriously disappeared.
• True Ancestor Changqing revealed that the vanished Ancient Cultivators had all said, “Spiritual Energy Cultivation itself does not exist.”

Lin Chen struggled to understand the Ancient Cultivators’ claim that Spiritual Energy Cultivation did not exist, and feared it might mean the world and everyone in it were false. The story then shifted to True Ancestor Changqing and other Golden Core cultivators guarding True Person Qingyang as he approached a breakthrough to Nascent Soul.

• True Ancestor Changqing told Lin Chen that the Ancient Cultivators had denied the existence of Spiritual Energy Cultivation, leaving Lin Chen to consider whether the world itself was an illusion.
• True Ancestor Changqing said the sect held no other records about the Ancient Cultivators, though the Spirit Transmutation Celestial Venerable likely knew more.
• Lin Chen warned True Ancestor Changqing that, if the Ancient Cultivators were right, cultivation, longevity, and even life might all be false.
• True Ancestor Changqing joined Zhentian and Jian Xuan in the Azure Cloud Sect’s formation to protect True Person Qingyang during his breakthrough.
• True Ancestor Changqing assured Jian Xuan and Zhen Tian that he had arranged the sect’s defenses and trusted the person who had reclaimed the Enlightenment Stone.
• True Person Qingyang’s Golden Core grew illusory as a Nascent Soul formed within it, converting nearby Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy into Fire Spiritual Energy.

Lin Chen weighed his agreement to serve as the Azure Cloud Sect's hidden hand, his planned Golden Core breakthrough, and his ambition to turn the Heaven and Earth Ant into a miniature intelligent swarm factory. He decided not to risk deviating from Zhang Hao's prediction about his breakthrough location and began considering how to transform the ant queen.

• Lin Chen returned to his abandoned laboratory and set aside speculation about Ancient Cultivators for lack of evidence.
• Lin Chen reaffirmed his agreement to serve as the Azure Cloud Sect's hidden hand, while reserving the right to withdraw if his safety was threatened.
• Lin Chen considered advancing to Golden Core and awakening the legendary Yin Yang Five Elements Spiritual Body, but decided not to challenge Zhang Hao's prediction that he would break through at the Mysterious Yin Gate.
• Lin Chen visited the Heaven and Earth Ant's Blood Pool and resolved to develop the swarm into a factory capable of carrying out complex cultivation tasks.
• Lin Chen considered making the Queen Insect function like artificial intelligence and took out a book titled [Basic Mathematics].

Lin Chen implanted mathematics into the Queen Insect and used the Heaven and Earth Ants to create a miniature intelligent Swarm Factory. After it successfully built a Spirit Gathering Array, he recognized that a powerful Soul Spirit Insect might become key to a future project.

• Lin Chen forced the Queen Insect to absorb mathematical knowledge, intending to wear down its instincts and cultivate it into something like strong artificial intelligence.
• Lin Chen reflected that his knowledge came from the education of his previous life, then continued implanting higher mathematics into the Queen Insect despite its cries and struggles.
• The ants used terrain scans, formation templates, Spirit Stones, and runes to construct and activate a first-rank Spirit Gathering Array.
• Lin Chen declared the miniature intelligent Swarm Factory a success and planned to expand it for formations, alchemy, artifact refinement, and other work.
• Lin Chen picked up a Soul Spirit Insect whose unusually strong Soul Fluctuation suggested it could be crucial to a future project.

Lin Chen studied the Soul Spirit Insects and began developing a swarm-based Soul Internet that could relay information and potentially cast spells. As he envisioned a far-reaching Spirit Net, he remained unaware that the situation outside the cave had begun to change violently.

• Lin Chen discovered that Soul Spirit Insects could devour souls, refine their power, and share information through the swarm.
• Lin Chen connected his soul to an ant and experimented with controlling it and transferring information between insects.
• Lin Chen confirmed that the insects could communicate within ten li directly and use the queen insect as a relay within a hundred li.
• Lin Chen planned to use the swarm to build an external Soul Internet for gathering and exchanging intelligence without making himself the network's central relay.
• Lin Chen imagined teaching spells to Soul Spirit Insects and developing a cultivation-world Spirit Net capable of letting living beings cast sorcery through it.
• As Lin Chen continued researching in the cave, the situation outside began changing violently.

Wu Xueting recognized that the escalating Blood Cultivator attacks threatened Cloud Arrival Market and decided her family should flee, but the marketplace came under a coordinated assault. After the attackers used a second-rank Barrier Breaking Talisman to breach its formation, three Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators appeared above the market.

• Wu Xueting's grandson reported that supplies were being redirected and Blood Cultivators had destroyed seventeen small factions, while Wu Xueting recalled how a mysterious guest had once helped her anticipate war.
• Wu Xueting ordered her family to leave Azure Cloud Sect's territory and lie low, but she and her grandson saw Blood Mist spread across Cloud Arrival Market.
• The Azure Sky Like Water Formation activated as Blood Cultivators inside the market began attacking and destroying buildings; the formation blasted many of them apart.
• A second-rank Barrier Breaking Talisman disrupted the formation, allowing Blood Cultivators outside the marketplace to pour in and slaughter its inhabitants.
• The elderly Foundation Establishment Cultivator guarding Cloud Arrival Market looked up and saw three Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators beneath the moon.

After Azure Cloud Sect learned that Blood Cultivators had destroyed three marketplaces, Zhang Mengyao and Wang Cheng led separate responses. At Cloud Arrival Market, Wang Cheng encountered Ye Ming and other Demonic Cultivator True Disciples, unleashed a self-destructive technique, and died as his soul lamp went out.

• Zhuang Yuanzhang announced that Cloud Arrival Market, Surging Waves Marketplace, and another marketplace had been destroyed, and the elders agreed to hunt down the attackers.
• Zhang Mengyao departed for Surging Waves Marketplace, Wang Cheng set out for Cloud Arrival Market, and the Sect Master sent cultivators to the third marketplace.
• Wang Cheng found Cloud Arrival Market reduced to ruins and ordered his companions to search for traces of the attackers.
• Ye Ming and two other Demonic Cultivator True Disciples ambushed Wang Cheng with three Blood Cultivators, leaving him no route to escape.
• Wang Cheng ignited his essence blood, true essence, and divine soul, creating a white sun that exploded and leveled the marketplace.
• True Ancestor Changqing felt a sudden premonition, and Wang Cheng's soul lamp went out.

After Wang Cheng was killed by Demonic Cultivators on Azure Cloud Sect territory, Sect Master Zhuang Yuanzhang and an elder went to seek help from the mysterious True Disciple Lin Chen. In Lin Chen’s cave, they discovered signs of a mass slaughter before Lin Chen’s Blood Ant Clone appeared before them.

• An elder discovered that Wang Cheng’s Natal Soul Lamp had gone out, and Sect Master Zhuang Yuanzhang learned that Wang Cheng had been killed by at least seven Demonic Cultivators.
• Zhuang Yuanzhang warned Zhang Mengyao and others, reported Wang Cheng’s death to the Golden Core Patriarchs, and received instructions to seek out the mysterious True Disciple.
• Zhuang Yuanzhang and the elder followed a spirit talisman to Lin Chen’s cave and sensed a disturbing presence as they explored it.
• Zhuang Yuanzhang’s Spiritual Sense encountered visions of suffering and blood, and he concluded that tens of thousands had died there in terrible pain.
• As Zhuang Yuanzhang and the elder prepared to withdraw, Lin Chen’s Blood Ant Clone formed from swarming blood ants, and a Soul Spirit Insect opened its blood-red eyes.

After Wang Cheng’s death, Lin Chen investigated the scene and deduced that the Demonic Cultivators’ plan was to lure Azure Cloud Sect cultivators into isolated positions and ambush them. As Lin Chen arrived at Jia Tai Market, seven hooded figures revealed that he was the big fish they had baited—and an old acquaintance.

• Lin Chen learned that Wang Cheng had died while being besieged by Demonic Cultivators and took his soul lamp to investigate.
• At Cloud Arrival Market, Lin Chen traced lingering auras north toward Jia Tai Market and set out there with Enforcement Cultivators.
• During the journey, Lin Chen reasoned that the Demonic Cultivators planned to exploit the rear’s unrest by dividing Azure Cloud Sect’s forces and ambushing isolated Foundation Establishment cultivators.
• Lin Chen arrived above Jia Tai Market as seven hooded figures nearby declared that their bait had caught a big fish and recognized him as an old friend.
• The seven figures vanished amid thunder and lightning.

Ye You and six Demonic Cultivators infiltrated Jia Tai Market using a blood-fed cloth doll to bypass its formation, aiming to kill Lin Chen and weaken the Azure Cloud Sect. They discovered Lin Chen had set a trap, and his Spirit Bullet Storm engulfed them.

• Ye You and the other Demonic Cultivators discussed their plan to slaughter Azure Cloud Sect Foundation Establishment Cultivators before withdrawing.
• The seven used a blood-fed cloth doll to fool Jia Tai Market’s formation and enter the marketplace.
• They followed clues to Lin Chen’s location and slipped into the pavilion where he and another Foundation Establishment Cultivator waited.
• Ye You recognized the setup too late as over a thousand gun barrels appeared across the ceiling.
• Lin Chen unleashed Spirit Bullet Storm, blanketing the room and engulfing the Demonic Cultivators.

Lin Chen’s Blood Ant Clone lured Ye You and two Demonic Cultivator True Disciples into believing they had killed him, while his true body revealed overwhelming power. As the three attacked again, Lin Chen summoned heavenly thunder to strike them.

• Lin Chen ambushed the injured Ye You, but Old Demon Taiyin’s ghost shadow blocked his scythe and trapped him in Killing Intent and yin ice.
• Ye You consumed the ghost shadows in his Human Skin Book to raise his strength, while two other Demonic Cultivator True Disciples joined him in attacking Lin Chen.
• The three Demonic Cultivators appeared to kill Lin Chen, but Ye You realized the body was only a Blood Ant Clone.
• Lin Chen revealed himself above them, protected by powerful spirit-force qi, and the three Demonic Cultivators attacked again.
• Lin Chen called upon the Thunder Duke, and terrifying lightning descended from the heavens, engulfing the battlefield.

Lin Chen used Golden Core power to destroy the Ghost Tide, then faced an avatar of True Person Taiyin, who tried to recruit him to the demonic sect. Lin Chen refused because Taiyin’s offer was too small and prepared to fight with spirit formations linked to the lightning.

• Lin Chen drew upon the storm to unleash spirit lightning and annihilate most of the Ghost Tide.
• True Person Taiyin’s avatar emerged from the remaining ghosts and recognized that Lin Chen’s body was an avatar linked to his soul by a Curse Method.
• True Person Taiyin offered Lin Chen treasures, Golden Core resources, and a chance to take his place if he joined the demonic side.
• While Lin Chen appeared to consider the offer, spirit formations rose beneath the marketplace and connected to the sea of lightning.
• Lin Chen told True Person Taiyin that he was not refusing to join because of righteousness, but because the offer was too small.

Lin Chen used True Person Taiyin’s Soul-Summoning Banner to draw his attention into a soul clash while his formations gathered the lightning into a massive Ball Lightning. After Lin Chen severed the curse connection, True Person Taiyin realized the danger too late as the Ball Lightning rose to strike him.

• Lin Chen activated the lightning formation and attacked True Person Taiyin, who summoned his Soul-Summoning Banner and used Soul-Seizing Nether-Piercing to assault Lin Chen’s soul.
• The soul attack traveled through the connection to Lin Chen’s true body underground, where he resisted it with the Same Breath Curse Soul method and prepared to sever the link.
• While True Person Taiyin focused on the soul clash, Lin Chen’s formations gathered thunder and Yuan Magnetic Force into an expanding Ball Lightning.
• Lin Chen destroyed his avatar and severed the curse medium, leaving True Person Taiyin to notice the enormous Ball Lightning forming above the Marketplace.
• True Person Taiyin tried to flee with Five Ghosts Moving, but the Ball Lightning surged through the darkness and began rising.

Lin Chen captured Ye You and planted hidden methods in the fleeing demonic cultivators after defeating Old Demon Taiyin’s clone. From Ye You’s memories, he discovered that the demonic cultivators’ True Disciples might have been bait to draw out the Azure Cloud Sect’s Golden Core True Persons.

• Ye You proposed joining the battle to help Grand Ancestor Taiyin, but Lin Chen appeared behind him after counter-killing Taiyin’s clone.
• Ye You’s two companions fled, and Ye You knelt and offered Lin Chen information about the demonic cultivators’ plans.
• Lin Chen searched Ye You’s memories and used a Blood Ant Clone to implant Soul Spirit Insects in him, killing him in the process.
• Lin Chen confirmed that the two fleeing True Disciples had been parasitized and secretly marked with an illusion technique to influence their thoughts.
• Lin Chen learned that the demonic cultivators’ True Disciples might have been bait intended to draw out the Azure Cloud Sect’s Golden Core True Persons.

True Ancestor Changqing was trapped at Azure Cloud Sect’s mountain gate by Old Demon Taiyin while demonic forces hunted cultivators across the region. Lin Chen warned Changqing not to send out any Golden Core Cultivators and prepared to use mass-produced Blood Ant Clones to hunt the invaders.

• True Ancestor Changqing confronted Old Demon Taiyin at the mountain gate after rushing out to rescue Wang Cheng, and realized the demonic forces were luring Golden Core Cultivators away from the sect.
• Lin Chen contacted True Ancestor Changqing and warned him that the scattered Demonic Cultivators were expendable bait meant to draw out Azure Cloud Sect’s Golden Cores.
• Lin Chen assured Changqing that he would handle the demonic forces outside, then ended the communication.
• Lin Chen considered his clone research and explained how the Queen Insect could direct swarms to produce Blood Ant Clones that carried his consciousness.
• Lin Chen planned to expand his Soul Networking through insect-swarm base stations and vanished into the rainy night to pursue the Demonic Cultivators.

Demonic Cultivators tested Corpse Poison and reported their attacks had killed fourteen Azure Cloud Sect Foundation Establishment Cultivators. Ye Ming sent a squad to investigate his brother Ye You’s disappearance, but as the squad prepared to move, an unseen figure appeared at dawn and declared it would kill them.

• Demonic Cultivators overwhelmed Yuan Mountain Market with zombies, confirming their Corpse Poison could infect cultivators and help them breach the Azure Cloud Sect’s protective array.
• Reports reached Ye Ming that fourteen Azure Cloud Sect Foundation Establishment Cultivators had been killed, and he ordered the squads to accelerate their hunts.
• Ye Ming sensed that his brother Ye You was likely dead and ordered the second squad to abandon its pursuit of Zhang Mengyao and go to Jia Tai Market.
• The second squad’s Foundation Establishment Late Stage Old Devil decided to use the assignment as an excuse to plunder other marketplaces.
• An unseen figure appeared before the squad at dawn, revealed itself while dragging a scythe, and said it had come to kill them.

Lin Chen used his newly developed light-and-shadow art to ambush and kill the Demonic Cultivators, leaving only ashes behind. His Blood Ant clone began to fail, but he judged its short lifespan sufficient and set out to find his next target.

• Lin Chen used illusions and a flaming scythe to kill three Blood Cultivators and then another Demonic Cultivator.
• The Foundation Establishment Late Stage Old Devil and the surviving Demonic Cultivators struggled to detect Lin Chen, whose art concealed both his true body and his spiritual presence.
• Lin Chen tricked the fat Demonic Cultivator and his allies into attacking an illusion, then killed the fat cultivator with a scythe strike.
• Lin Chen surrounded the two remaining Demonic Cultivators with dozens of illusory selves and killed them.
• Lin Chen noted that his Blood Ant clone could last no more than a quarter of an hour, then disappeared into the morning light to find his next target.

Lin Chen used the Heaven and Earth Ants to establish an information-gathering relay and map cultivator movements across the region. After spotting the scattered Demonic Cultivators on the map, he planned to infiltrate their communications and began probing a seized Bone Jade.

• Lin Chen had the king insect feed on dead Demonic Cultivators, helping it advance and reproduce a swarm of demon ants.
• Lin Chen used the swarm’s altar to relay information to the Queen Insect and his Soul Computer, creating an ant station that monitored its surroundings.
• Lin Chen viewed a map of cultivator positions and concluded the Demonic Cultivators were targeting the Azure Cloud Sect’s rear regions.
• Lin Chen reasoned that he could infiltrate the Demonic Cultivators’ communication system and use it to locate them for a coordinated hunt.
• Lin Chen sent the combined soul power of the Soul Spirit Insects into a seized Bone Jade to study its communication fluctuations.