Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “Sea Demon Spies! Market District Search!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Teleportation Formation is temporarily unusable, forcing Li Bufan to remain in Stilltide City for several days.
• Rather than treating the delay as an inconvenience, Li volunteers to help investigate suspected Sea Race spies infiltrating the city.
• Meng Xinghe brings Li to the City Lord’s Mansion, where they meet Meng Xinghe’s father, City Lord Meng Changyuan.
• Meng Changyuan explains that the City-Guarding Grand Formation detected three faint demonic auras entering the city from the southwest sea.
• The traces led to the Southwestern Market District before disappearing. The city has been sealed, allowing people to enter but preventing anyone from leaving.
• Meng Changyuan suspects the infiltrators are targeting the core of the City-Guarding Grand Formation, located deep beneath the City Lord’s Mansion. Destroying it would leave Stilltide City defenseless against a Sea Race assault.
• Meng Xinghe is ordered to lead a search party through the market district. He and Li follow one of three designated routes, using a jade tracking disk to follow the lingering demonic aura.
• The trail leads to an abandoned blacksmith’s shop and then to a sealed well whose stone cover shows signs of recent movement.
• A passage beneath the well appears to connect to the city’s underground drainage tunnels. Meng Xinghe and Li descend into the darkness to continue the pursuit.

Character Developments

• Li Bufan demonstrates loyalty, courage, and a strong sense of responsibility by volunteering to help despite being a newcomer to Central Province. His willingness to risk himself earns Meng Xinghe’s and Meng Changyuan’s respect.
• Meng Xinghe acts decisively and responsibly, introducing Li to his father and accepting command of the search operation. He is willing to investigate the threat personally rather than remain behind.
• Meng Changyuan is shown as an experienced and cautious city leader. He evaluates Li carefully, recognizes his potential, and gives him a chance to contribute while warning Meng Xinghe to protect him.
• Li and Meng Xinghe’s friendship deepens through their shared willingness to confront danger.

Significant Themes

• Duty over personal convenience: Li accepts the delay in his travel and chooses to help defend the city instead.
• Trust and earned respect: Li’s straightforward offer of assistance wins the confidence of both Meng family members.
• Hidden danger beneath apparent order: Though Stilltide City appears orderly and peaceful, its heightened patrols and tense atmosphere reveal the threat lurking beneath the surface.
• Preparedness and vigilance: The city’s defenses, grand formation, patrols, and coordinated search efforts emphasize the importance of anticipating an enemy attack.
• Courage in the face of uncertainty: Both men enter the dark underground passage despite knowing that the enemy may be powerful and prepared.

Character Interactions

• Li and Meng Xinghe discuss the failed teleportation and Li’s desire to help with the Sea Race threat.
• Meng Xinghe introduces Li to Meng Changyuan, emphasizing Li’s Golden Core cultivation and formidable strength.
• Meng Changyuan questions Li’s motives and ability but accepts his assistance after seeing his sincerity.
• Meng Changyuan briefs the commanders and explains the likely purpose of the spies, while Meng Xinghe volunteers to lead the search.
• Before the descent, Meng Xinghe warns Li about the underground passage, and Li responds confidently, refusing to retreat after promising to help.
• The chapter ends with the two allies entering the underground tunnels together, setting up a confrontation or discovery in the next chapter.

Chapter Summary: “Suspected Truth-Seeking! Exploring the Dry Well!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Meng Xinghe and Li Bufan descend into a dry well beneath a blacksmith shop and discover a hidden underground passage.
• Meng Xinghe’s Seeking-Demon Compass detects an unusually powerful demonic aura. Its light is even stronger than when he previously encountered a seventh-rank demon shark.
• They infer that the hidden sea demon may be at least eighth-rank and possibly a great demon at or above the Truth-Seeking Realm—powerful enough to destroy the entire city.
• The two briefly return to the surface so Meng Xinghe can order a soldier to report the danger to City Lord Meng and request reinforcements.
• Despite the danger, Meng Xinghe and Li Bufan re-enter the passage to continue investigating before help arrives.
• They discover an immense, carefully constructed underground complex far larger and more refined than ordinary drainage tunnels. The architecture resembles a secret palace, with traces of carvings depicting sea beasts and waves.
• Li Bufan suspects either that City Lord Meng built the tunnels as part of a larger plan or that someone inside the city secretly constructed them to aid the sea demons. He wisely keeps these suspicions to himself to avoid affecting Meng Xinghe’s judgment.
• Using the compass to compare paths, they follow the right-hand passage, where the demonic aura is strongest.
• The compass suddenly reaches maximum brightness, and the hidden demon launches a surprise attack with enormous claws.
• Meng Xinghe blocks the attack with a wine-based astral-force barrier, while Li Bufan wounds or repels one of the demon’s scaled arms with a Spirit Force blade.
• The demon reveals itself through enormous green, vertical pupils and mocks them for being only Golden Core cultivators. Meng Xinghe recognizes that they have finally found the true target.

Character Developments

• Meng Xinghe demonstrates responsibility and decisiveness by immediately reporting the possible Truth-Seeking Realm demon, yet he also shows courage—or recklessness—by returning to investigate before reinforcements arrive.
• His knowledge of the Seeking-Demon Compass allows him to accurately assess the severity of the threat.
• Li Bufan proves cautious, observant, and tactically minded. He suggests comparing the compass’s brightness at each fork to avoid wasting time and notices the implications of the mysterious underground construction.
• Li Bufan also shows restraint and emotional intelligence by withholding suspicions that might unsettle Meng Xinghe or cause him to act rashly.
• Their partnership becomes more coordinated as they move carefully through the tunnels and respond effectively to the demon’s ambush.

Significant Themes

• Duty versus caution: The characters understand the danger but continue investigating because the city’s safety depends on discovering the demon’s identity and purpose.
• Hidden threats and deception: The underground palace suggests that the sea demons’ infiltration is part of a larger, organized conspiracy.
• Trust and restrained judgment: Li Bufan’s decision not to voice every suspicion emphasizes the importance of choosing when and how to reveal potentially destabilizing information.
• The limits of apparent strength: Although Meng Xinghe and Li Bufan are capable Golden Core cultivators, the demon’s effortless attack reveals the vast danger posed by a higher-ranked enemy.
• Uncovering buried truths: The physical descent into the well mirrors their investigation into secrets hidden beneath the city’s surface.

Character Interactions

• Meng Xinghe explains the compass’s readings to Li Bufan, establishing the seriousness of the threat.
• The two briefly debate whether to retreat and report, ultimately agreeing to alert the City Lord while continuing the search.
• Li Bufan offers practical guidance when they encounter the vast underground complex, and Meng Xinghe accepts his method of comparing routes.
• During the ambush, Meng Xinghe protects them with his astral-force barrier while Li Bufan counterattacks, showing effective cooperation.
• The chapter ends with Meng Xinghe calmly acknowledging that they have encountered the actual demon, setting up the coming confrontation.

Key plot points and events

• Li Bufan and Meng Xinghe encounter a gigantic black ant in an underground passage. The creature claims its kind lives on land, not in the sea, and reveals itself as a powerful demon.
• The ant’s opening attack sends both cultivators flying, though their defenses let them survive. It then creates a crushing gravity field that makes escape nearly impossible.
• Li Bufan and Meng Xinghe decide to fight together: Li will restrain the ant and seek an opening, while Meng draws its attention.
• Li’s Thousand Silk Water Bind fails when the ant flexes its armor and snaps the threads.
• Meng launches a fierce sword assault with his fire and sword intent, briefly forcing the ant back three steps. But when he falters, the ant breaks his wine-crystal armor and hurls him into the wall, leaving him badly injured.
• As the ant approaches the trapped Meng, Li draws the Seven Killings Blade and plunges it point-first into the rubble beneath him. The chapter ends before his next move is revealed.

Character developments

• Li Bufan shows resilience and tactical composure despite being wounded and overwhelmed. He adapts quickly, coordinates with Meng, and appears to be preparing a different tactic after his binding technique fails.
• Meng Xinghe displays exceptional fire and sword skill, pushing the demon farther than expected. His powerful offense comes at a cost, however: he exhausts himself and becomes vulnerable.
• The giant ant is established as overwhelmingly powerful and arrogant. It recognizes the humans’ unusual talent but treats them as prey, enjoying the chance to toy with them.

Significant themes

• Courage against overwhelming odds: The two cultivators stand and fight when escape is blocked.
• Teamwork and complementary roles: Li’s restraint-and-strategy approach supports Meng’s direct assault.
• Power and its limits: Meng’s impressive technique can pressure the ant, but talent and force alone cannot overcome its superior strength and armor.
• Adaptation under pressure: Li’s final, unexplained action suggests he is searching for a new way to turn the fight around.

Character interactions

• Li and Meng communicate through a quiet voice transmission and agree on a coordinated plan.
• The ant mocks both men, then gives Meng grudging praise for his swordsmanship while insisting he is still no match for it.
• Li’s attention shifts from the approaching ant to the vulnerable Meng, prompting him to act just as the demon closes in.

Key plot points and events

• Li Bufan’s hidden Seven Killings Blade strike wounds the ant demon’s forelimbs, distracting it long enough for him to rescue Meng Xinghe from the rubble.
• Li Bufan uses his Wind-Thunder Nine Heavens Step to flee with Meng, but the ant catches them just short of the dry well and knocks them deep underground. Li Bufan is badly battered but survives; Meng is less injured.
• Li reveals that his earlier blade strike also sent a signal, bringing help from the City Lord’s Mansion. He and Meng prepare to hold out until reinforcements arrive.
• To protect the city’s civilians from the battle, Meng reinforces their underground space with a spiritual barrier.
• Li faces the ant directly, combining his Nine Yang Body Protection, Blade Domain, Greedy Wolf Saber Technique, and Five Elements Heaven Skill. His five-element net briefly restrains the demon, allowing a massive blood blade to strike it.
• The ant breaks free and withstands the attack with a golden-white barrier. Though barely damaged, it acknowledges Li as a worthy opponent and asks his name.

Character developments

• Li Bufan shows resourcefulness and courage: he rescues Meng while under pressure, sends for help, and prioritizes protecting civilians even as he confronts a far stronger enemy.
• Meng Xinghe recognizes Li’s skill and judgment, then supports him by shielding the battlefield with his Spirit Force.
• The ant demon shifts from dismissive confidence to respect after witnessing Li’s abilities, though it remains overwhelmingly powerful.

Significant themes

• Courage against overwhelming odds: Li refuses to retreat despite facing a Truth-Seeking Realm demon.
• Power through strategy and combination: His speed, blade arts, and five-element technique work together to create a brief opening.
• Responsibility and self-sacrifice: Li and Meng take care to prevent their fight from endangering ordinary people.
• Respect earned in combat: The ant’s attitude changes only after Li proves himself through action.

Character interactions

• Li and Meng cooperate closely: Li protects and carries Meng, while Meng checks his injuries and later reinforces the battlefield.
• Li’s confidence and determination contrast with the ant’s initial contempt, which gives way to grudging respect after their clash.

Key events

• Li Bufan continues his duel with the ant demon, first trading powerful blows with it and then breaking through its golden-white protective barrier with a sequence of fire- and light-based attacks.
• The ant demon speeds up and counterattacks. Li responds by unleashing Blazing Spirit Seal, combining his golden defensive energy, threefold true fire, five-element Spirit Force, and a fire dragon.
• The seal overwhelms the demon and drives it into the ground, triggering a massive collapse. The dry well and the surrounding ground cave in, leaving a vast sinkhole.
• Though nearly depleted and injured, Li catches Meng Xinghe with a thin thread of Spirit Force and uses the rock walls to slow their fall. They land in a lower underground chamber.
• The pair discover an extensive network of passages marked by the ant demon’s movements—effectively a city beneath the city.
• Meng Xinghe explains that Stilltide City’s defensive formation detects water-attribute demons, but the ant demon is metal-attribute and therefore could evade it. He suspects it infiltrated long ago, perhaps before even his father realized anything was wrong.

Character development and interactions

• Li Bufan shows confidence, resolve, and resourcefulness in battle. He willingly tests his physical strength against the demon, then uses his abilities strategically when it attacks at greater speed. Even after exhausting his Spirit Force, he prioritizes rescuing Meng Xinghe and manages their fall.
• Meng Xinghe remains observant and analytical. After the fight, he examines the rubble and connects the demon’s metal attribute to a weakness in the city’s defenses.
• Their relationship is marked by cooperation and trust: Li protects Meng during the collapse, while Meng helps interpret the threat and its implications for the city.

Significant themes

• Power and sacrifice: Li’s decisive finishing move consumes all his Spirit Force and leaves him vulnerable.
• Adaptability and strategy: Raw strength matters, but understanding the demon’s attributes and the formation’s limits reveals how the invasion went undetected.
• Hidden threats and institutional failure: The underground network suggests the danger has existed beneath Stilltide City for a long time, unnoticed by its defenders.

Key plot points and events

• After Li Bufan’s Blazing Spirit Seal badly wounds the truth-seeking realm Ant Demon, he and Meng Xinghe pause to recover. Li Bufan quickly replenishes his Spirit Force with Essence Fluid; the strain of the battle has also strengthened his body and widened his energy channels.
• As they continue downward, they realize Stilltide City’s reinforcements have not arrived. Meng suspects either the messenger was stopped or something has happened at the City Lord’s Mansion.
• Li Bufan urges Meng to return and investigate, offering to pursue the wounded demon alone. Meng accepts reluctantly and hurries back toward the surface.
• Li Bufan reaches a vast underground cavern teeming with thousands of Gold-Eating Ants. Recognizing them from the Ten Thousand Insects Secret Realm, he uses his concealment technique to slip deeper into their nest.
• He finds the wounded Ant Demon resting on a magnetite platform while silver light slowly repairs its injuries. Li Bufan consults the Creation Cauldron, which assures him it can subdue the demon and prepares its inhabitants to receive it.
• As Li Bufan approaches, the Ant Demon senses him and springs up. Li Bufan strikes first: the Heaven Severing Seal expands and crashes down toward its head.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Bufan shows confidence, resourcefulness, and tactical restraint. He recognizes the ants, conceals his presence, and waits for the demon to be vulnerable before attacking. Despite his strength, he also tells Meng he knows when not to push himself.
• Meng Xinghe demonstrates trust and responsibility. Though worried about leaving Li alone, he accepts Li’s plan because his duties as the young City Lord require him to investigate the missing reinforcements.
• Small Cauldron enthusiastically assures Li it can contain even stronger demons and alerts the other beings inside to prepare.
• Li and Meng part on mutual respect and concern, with Meng warning Li not to overextend himself.

Significant themes

• Strategic strength: Li succeeds through recovery, concealment, timing, and preparation—not merely raw power.
• Trust and duty: Meng entrusts the pursuit to Li while returning to protect or investigate his city.
• Escalating danger and mystery: The immense ant colony and the absence of city reinforcements suggest a larger threat beneath Stilltide City.
• Adaptation through hardship: Li’s battle not only tests his reserves but appears to improve his physical capacity.

Key events

• Li Bufan uses the Heaven Severing Seal and Creation Cauldron to capture the wounded Gold-Eating Ant demon. Inside Blazing Sun Space, the Small Cauldron binds it with spatial laws and air chains, while the Great Sun Golden Yang Flame suppresses its power.
• Li Bufan interrogates the ant about why its clan dug tunnels toward the City Lord’s Mansion. When it resists, he threatens to burn through its carapace until it agrees to explain.
• The ant reveals that its clan settled on the island now occupied by Stilltide City tens of thousands of years ago. The island’s Golden Crystal Stone vein sustained them and helped their numbers grow.
• More than thirty thousand years ago, humans built a city and the Sea-Calming Earth-Origin Formation over the island, sealing the vein from the ants. Attempts to bypass the formation failed, so the clan moved beneath the sea and survived on poorer ores amid constant attacks by sea beasts. Its population dwindled to a few hundred.
• The ant says that a hundred years ago, a speaking fish arrived from the depths of the sea—an event that appears to have changed the clan’s circumstances.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Bufan shows control and resolve: he recognizes the ants’ tunnels suggest a larger plan and uses the Cauldron’s power to demand answers.
• The Small Cauldron takes pride in its capture and reveals that the Creation Cauldron’s recovery has strengthened the Great Sun Golden Yang Flame to seventh grade, giving it power comparable to the Golden Core Realm.
• The Gold-Eating Ant shifts from defiance to reluctant disclosure. Its account presents the clan not simply as intruders, but as a people displaced and driven toward desperation by human expansion.

Significant themes

• Conflicting claims to territory: The ants considered the island their home long before humans arrived, complicating the notion that they are the sole aggressors.
• Survival and displacement: The formation protects the human city but also cut off the ants’ food supply, forcing them into a harsher habitat.
• Power and coercion: Li Bufan obtains the truth through overwhelming force, while the ants’ history shows how powerful groups can shape—and constrain—the survival of weaker ones.
• A new mystery: The speaking fish’s arrival is left unexplained, hinting at the cause behind the clan’s recent actions.

Key plot points and events

• Chijin, the Gold-Eating Ant leader, reveals that a silver-white fish calling itself the Emissary of the Abyssal Depths recruited its clan. The fish promised help reclaiming the golden crystal vein and destroying Stilltide City in exchange for secret tunnels and an inside assault.
• The plan has been developing for a century. Treasures from the Abyssal Depths helped conceal the ants’ metal-aspected demonic power from the city’s formation. The fish last visited six months ago, claiming its master—an ancient being sealed beneath the Eastern Sea—would soon break free and had chosen Stilltide as its first target.
• Li Bufan leaves Chijin imprisoned in the Creation Cauldron under Small Cauldron’s guard and hurries to alert Meng Xinghe.
• Before he can reach the City Lord’s Mansion, the city shakes and an earthen-yellow defensive barrier rises around Stilltide. Meng Changyuan announces that sea demons are attacking. Residents evacuate toward the mansion while trained martial artists mobilize for the walls.
• Li Bufan realizes the city faces threats both outside and within: the unknown fish spy and the many Gold-Eating Ants still in their nest. He decides to intercept the spy rather than immediately join the defenders, reasoning that an internal breach could doom the city.
• Returning secretly to the nest, Li Bufan hides near the ants’ platform. The silver fish arrives and asks for Chijin. An ant tells it the leader was injured and is recovering; the fish suspects Chijin may have acted without permission and exposed the clan.

Character developments

• Li Bufan shifts from gathering intelligence to making an urgent strategic choice. Though he recognizes the danger to the city, he identifies the internal conspiracy as the threat he can most directly prevent.
• Chijin is revealed as a willing conspirator, motivated by reclaiming the gold vein and restoring its clan’s home beneath the island.
• The silver fish emerges as an authoritative, suspicious operative who knows the nest well and appears to supervise the alliance.
• Small Cauldron is entrusted with keeping Chijin contained without killing it.

Significant themes

• Hidden threats and betrayal: The sea demon attack is part of a long-planned conspiracy, not a sudden assault.
• Duty and self-interest: Li Bufan has personal reasons to escape, but chooses to help defend the city; he also understands that survival depends on preventing an internal breach.
• Strategy over brute force: Rather than rushing to the walls, Li Bufan targets the connection between the attackers and the ants.

Character interactions

• Chijin explains the alliance and its terms to Li Bufan, while Li assigns Small Cauldron to guard it.
• Meng Changyuan’s public warning mobilizes the city’s residents and defenders.
• Li hides as the silver fish questions the ants; an ant lies or conceals the truth about Chijin’s capture, and the fish immediately questions its account.

Key plot points and events

• A silver fish-beast from the Abyssal Depths arrives at the Gold-Eating Ants’ dais and orders an ant to announce its “important business,” threatening the colony if it delays.
• Li Bufan recognizes the visitor as a newly formed Demon Core creature. Believing it weaker than himself, he attacks from concealment with Dragon Gang Suppresses the World and Threefold True Fire.
• The fish vanishes and reappears without any detectable movement, avoiding the strike. Li Bufan realizes it can manipulate space, though only across a limited distance and with a brief pause after each jump.
• Li Bufan uses Wind-Thunder Nine Heavens Step and rapidly fires attacks from the Sunflare Divine Fist, but the fish repeatedly slips through the openings with its spatial jumps.
• The fight draws hundreds of Gold-Eating Ants toward the chamber, making a quick victory essential. Li Bufan deploys Thousand Silk Water Bind to constrict the fish’s movement and secretly prepares Ten Thousand Year Ice Coffin, which can freeze space and time.
• As the fish mocks him and offers to spare him if he serves its kind, Li Bufan responds confidently that it will not have the chance.

Character developments

• Li Bufan shifts from a surprise attack to careful observation and tactical adaptation. He identifies the fish’s spatial ability and its limits, then devises a plan to trap it rather than relying on speed alone.
• The silver fish is revealed as evasive and overconfident. Though its raw strength appears modest, its spatial power makes it difficult to hit; it also believes its faction’s coming conquest guarantees its superiority.

Significant themes

• Strategy over brute force: Li Bufan studies the fish’s abilities and builds a layered counter rather than continuing to attack blindly.
• Power and vulnerability: The fish’s rare spatial gift lets it evade stronger attacks, but its limited range may be exploited.
• Escalating danger: The converging ant colony creates a deadline, while the fish’s reference to conquering Stilltide City suggests a broader threat.

Character interactions

• The Gold-Eating Ant obeys the fish’s threatening order and hurries off to report.
• Li Bufan and the fish engage in a fast, tactical duel. The fish taunts him and offers him a chance to surrender; Li Bufan refuses to be intimidated and prepares a trap.

Plot points

• Li Bufan traps the elusive silver fish by pinning it briefly with the Five Elements Diagram, sealing it inside the Ten Thousand Year Ice Coffin, and drawing it into the Creation Cauldron.
• With the Small Cauldron’s help, he immobilizes the fish and interrogates it about the forces sent by the Sea Abyss.
• When the fish refuses and threatens him with the Lord of the Sea Abyss, Li Bufan tortures it with saber-infused Spirit Force. He then threatens to roast and eat it.
• The fish appears ready to talk, but a hidden restriction in its Demon Core activates and makes it self-destruct. Li Bufan survives behind his Nine Yang Body Protection, though his shield is badly damaged; the fish is completely destroyed.
• Li Bufan concludes that the Lord of the Sea Abyss planted the restriction to silence messengers. He keeps one of the fish’s scales and confronts Chijin, the Gold-Eating Ant Clan patriarch, with what happened.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Bufan proves resourceful and ruthless, combining several techniques and artifacts to capture the fish. He remains composed after its death and uses the event to challenge Chijin’s trust in the Sea Abyss.
• The silver fish shifts from smug confidence to fear and apparent surrender, but ultimately dies before revealing anything.
• The Small Cauldron confidently claims control over its space, then admits it missed the hidden restriction. Li Bufan accepts the mistake without blaming it.
• Chijin watches the fish’s destruction and becomes wary. Li Bufan argues that the Sea Abyss cannot be trusted with its allies; Chijin responds with a deep sigh, suggesting the warning affects him.

Significant themes

• Control and countermeasures: Li Bufan’s layered restraints overcome the fish’s spatial abilities, but the hidden Demon Core restriction defeats his attempt to interrogate it.
• Betrayal and expendability: The Lord of the Sea Abyss has equipped its own messenger with a self-destructing safeguard, showing its extreme distrust and willingness to sacrifice subordinates.
• Power has limits: Even Li Bufan’s careful preparations cannot prevent the fish’s destruction, leaving him with no intelligence beyond what he can infer.

Chapter Summary: “The Big Stick and the Sweet Date! Scarlet Gold Submits!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Bufan offers Scarlet Gold, chief of the Gold-Eating Ant clan and a Truth-Seeking Realm demon, the chance to become his subordinate.
• He proves his knowledge of Scarlet Gold’s origins by identifying it as a creature from the Ten Thousand Insects Secret Realm and revealing that Small Cauldron, Unfixed, and other spirit bodies came from the same place.
• Li Bufan brings Scarlet Gold to the transformed Spirit Gathering Cave, where abundant spirit ore, essence stones, and exceptionally valuable golden crystal stone fill the space.
• Although Scarlet Gold recognizes that the cave is ideal for rebuilding and multiplying its clan, it refuses to submit because of its pride and its belief that a powerful demon should not serve a Golden Core cultivator.
• Li Bufan orders Small Cauldron to refine Scarlet Gold. The Great Sun Golden Yang Flame burns through its shell, body, and Demon Essence, bringing it close to death.
• Facing unbearable pain and the destruction of its strength, Scarlet Gold finally agrees to submit. It releases a fragment of its soul, which Li Bufan refines and uses to control its life and death.
• After securing Scarlet Gold’s loyalty, Li Bufan has Small Cauldron stop the flames and uses Essence Fluid to help stabilize the badly injured demon.
• Li Bufan promises not only to spare Scarlet Gold’s clan but to move the entire Gold-Eating Ant clan into the Spirit Gathering Cave.
• Scarlet Gold reveals that its clan produces an exceptionally hard and sharp type of ore after consuming minerals, suggesting that the ants may provide valuable resources.
• Li Bufan and Scarlet Gold return to the underground nest, where Scarlet Gold begins informing the other ants of their relocation.

Character Developments

• Li Bufan demonstrates a combination of coercion and generosity. He first uses overwhelming force to break Scarlet Gold’s resistance, then offers protection, resources, and a future for the entire clan.
• Scarlet Gold changes from a proud, defiant clan chief into a reluctant but genuine subordinate. Its submission is driven first by fear of death, but its attitude softens when Li Bufan proves he intends to preserve rather than destroy its people.
• Small Cauldron acts as Li Bufan’s enforcer and shows greater care in controlling its flames, specifically ensuring that Scarlet Gold cannot self-destruct.
• The Gold-Eating Ant clan is positioned to recover from its decline, thanks to the Spirit Gathering Cave’s abundant ore and vital energy.

Significant Themes

• Power and submission: Li Bufan establishes dominance through force, proving that status and cultivation level cannot protect Scarlet Gold from a stronger master.
• Coercion balanced by benevolence: The chapter presents Li Bufan’s “hard and soft” approach—punishment and fear are followed by mercy and material benefits.
• Pride versus survival: Scarlet Gold’s dignity and status initially prevent it from submitting, but the instinct to survive and restore its clan ultimately wins.
• Mutual benefit and loyalty: The relationship becomes more than simple domination when Li Bufan offers the ants a safe habitat and gains their unique ore-producing ability in return.
• Rebuilding and transformation: The Spirit Gathering Cave’s evolution mirrors the opportunity for Scarlet Gold’s weakened clan to regain its former strength.

Character Interactions

• Li Bufan confronts Scarlet Gold directly, using knowledge of its origins and clan to establish authority.
• Scarlet Gold challenges Li Bufan’s legitimacy, emphasizing the gap between its Truth-Seeking Realm power and Li Bufan’s Golden Core cultivation.
• Small Cauldron obeys Li Bufan without hesitation, attacking Scarlet Gold and later stopping immediately when ordered.
• Li Bufan’s promise to spare and relocate the ants surprises Scarlet Gold, creating the first real foundation for trust.
• Scarlet Gold returns to its clan as Li Bufan’s subordinate and begins communicating the plan to move them to the Spirit Gathering Cave.

Plot points and events

• Gold-Eating Ant chief Chijin tells his clan that Li Bufan has found them a far better home, with abundant ore and vital energy. Nearly all the ants immediately choose to follow their chief.
• Li Bufan uses the Creation Cauldron to relocate roughly a thousand ants to the Spirit Gathering Cave and asks Small Cauldron to give the injured Chijin essence fluid.
• With the ant clan and the silver fish threat dealt with, Li Bufan leaves the underground nest and rushes to Stilltide City’s walls.
• The city is under attack by a horde of at least ten thousand sea demons. Their relentless assault has badly weakened the Sea-Calming Earth-Origin Formation, while the defenders’ arrows do little to halt the attackers.
• City Lord Meng Changyuan rallies the troops, reminding them that their families and homes are at stake. Three commander-level experts launch an attack against the strongest sea demons.
• Li Bufan reports the successful resolution of the underground threats to Meng Changyuan. Meng offers the Meng Household’s future support; Li responds that he acted because he could not stand aside and because he and Meng Xinghe have fought together.
• Li Bufan and the wounded but eager Meng Xinghe pass through the barrier and fly toward the powerful sea demons. The horde sends sea serpents and giant crabs to intercept them.

Character developments and interactions

• Chijin proves to have deep authority and loyalty among the Gold-Eating Ants: almost the whole clan follows him without hesitation.
• Li Bufan shows practical leadership by arranging the ants’ relocation and care, then immediately turns to defend the city. He regards his actions as a matter of responsibility and fellowship, not a favor.
• Meng Changyuan is exhausted and worried but remains resolute. Grateful for Li’s help, he promises the Meng Household’s alliance.
• Meng Xinghe, despite his injured arm and pale appearance, joins Li eagerly, reinforcing their bond as comrades who have shared danger.
• Li and Meng Changyuan exchange mutual respect, while Li and Meng Xinghe set out together against the enemy.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and trust: The ants’ devotion to Chijin and the friendship between Li and Meng Xinghe drive the chapter’s cooperation.
• Duty and solidarity: Li helps defend the city because others are in danger, while Meng’s speech unites the defenders around protecting their home.
• Sacrifice under siege: The sea demons’ overwhelming numbers and the formation’s dwindling strength make the city’s defense increasingly desperate.
• Alliances and mutual aid: Li’s actions strengthen ties between himself and the Meng Household as the larger battle begins.

Key plot points and events

• Li Bufan and Meng Xinghe cut through the sea-demon horde, protecting themselves from venom and attacks with powerful techniques. Together, they quickly kill a great-mastery demon-core seahorse demon.
• Their assault draws two Truth-Seeking Realm enemies: an enormous octopus demon and a mountain-sized golden crab. The men face the pair back-to-back and exchange a joking promise to celebrate with a lavish drinking session if they survive.
• At Stilltide City, Meng Changyuan maintains the defensive formation and orders a second volley of spirit-force arrows against the horde.
• Li asks Meng Xinghe to hold off the octopus while he deals with the crab. Using the Blazing Spirit Seal, Li overpowers the crab’s golden beam, cracks its shell, and then kills it beneath the sea with massive blade strikes.
• Meng Xinghe holds the octopus at bay despite being driven back and having his arm wound reopen. Li joins him and wounds the demon from behind, creating an opening for Meng’s attack. The chapter ends as Meng drives his sword into the octopus’s head; its fate is not yet confirmed.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Bufan displays confidence, tactical judgment, and formidable versatility, switching between defense, close combat, and powerful spiritual techniques. He trusts Meng Xinghe to hold one enemy while he eliminates the other.
• Meng Xinghe proves courageous and steadfast, continuing to fight despite injury and fading strength. His coordination with Li is central to their success.
• Meng Changyuan watches his son’s growth with pride, then returns to his command duties and supports the defense of the city.
• Li and Meng’s easy banter and seamless teamwork reveal mutual respect and strong comradeship.

Significant themes

• Trust and cooperation: The heroes prevail by coordinating their attacks and relying on one another.
• Courage under pressure: Meng Xinghe refuses to yield even when wounded and outmatched.
• Growth and recognition: Meng Changyuan’s reaction underscores how much Xinghe has matured.
• Collective defense: The duel unfolds alongside Stilltide City’s organized resistance, linking individual heroism to the wider battle.

Plot points and events

• Li Bufan kills the Octopus Demon with the Seven Killings Blade, following the Giant Crab’s defeat. The defenders of Stilltide City cheer, and the Sea Demons’ assault briefly falters.
• Li senses a vastly stronger presence rising from the seabed—one comparable to, or beyond, a Dharma-Form Realm expert. He warns Meng Xinghe, and both flee for the city.
• A colossal deep-sea beast emerges, carrying the corpses of the three city-guard captains it has killed. It attacks the fleeing pair with two bolts of purple energy.
• Li blocks one bolt with the Heaven Severing Seal, but the strike cracks the treasure. He reaches the city’s formation and crosses its barrier; the bolt follows, tears through the weakened formation, shatters his protective layers, and leaves him gravely wounded and drained.
• Meng Xinghe’s Wine Gourd is destroyed while shielding him. Meng is also badly injured.
• The beast’s roar empowers the Sea Demons, who pour through the two breaches and overwhelm the city’s defenders. Watching from the wall, Meng Changyuan accepts that the crisis has arrived.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Bufan shows keen perception and decisive judgment, recognizing the danger and prioritizing retreat. Despite his courage and skill, the disparity in power leaves him nearly incapacitated.
• Meng Xinghe trusts Li’s warning and flees alongside him. He sacrifices his treasured Wine Gourd to protect himself, but is left severely wounded.
• Meng Changyuan remains strikingly composed as the city’s defenses collapse, suggesting grim acceptance—or readiness—for what is to come.
• Li and Meng’s cooperation is tested by the overwhelming attack: they escape together, but both pay a heavy price.

Significant themes

• The limits of individual strength: Even powerful fighters and treasured artifacts cannot overcome an enemy of vastly higher cultivation.
• Sacrifice and survival: Li’s defensive measures and Meng’s Wine Gourd buy them time, but only at great cost.
• A fragile defense: The city’s formation, already weakened, offers little protection against the new threat.
• Escalating catastrophe: Victory over two major demons proves temporary as a far more terrifying enemy turns the battle into a city-wide disaster.

Plot and key events

• Meng Changyuan rescues the badly injured Li Bufan and Meng Xinghe from the city wall and gives them healing pills.
• With Stilltide City under attack, he rallies the surviving soldiers to fight and confronts the Deep-Sea Behemoth alone.
• His attacks barely penetrate the monster’s defenses, but he keeps fighting, using his earth-based Kunyuan techniques to withstand its tentacles and seek an opening.
• Meng Changyuan lands a major blow by detonating his sword inside the behemoth’s head. When it prepares a counterattack, he tells Li Bufan to run.
• He traps the behemoth’s tentacles in stone and unleashes the full power of his cultivation in a self-destruction. The blast shatters the monster’s attack, destroys many tentacles, wounds its head and eye, and leaves it gravely weakened. Meng Changyuan is killed.
• Despite its injuries, the behemoth orders the Sea Demons to keep attacking Stilltide City. Meng Xinghe awakens in time to see his father’s broken sword and realizes what happened.

Character developments

• Meng Changyuan is shown as a steadfast commander and devoted father. Even while gravely injured, he protects the city, gives the wounded a chance to recover, and ultimately sacrifices himself to cripple the behemoth.
• Meng Xinghe wakes from his injuries and is confronted with his father’s death; his grief is conveyed through his trembling voice and clenched hands.
• Li Bufan, also badly wounded, is among those Meng Changyuan saves. He understands the City Lord’s final instruction to flee.

Character interactions

• Meng Changyuan encourages the soldiers with a direct command to fight, and they charge despite knowing they may die.
• He shows a rare moment of tenderness toward Meng Xinghe before leaving to face the behemoth.
• During the battle, Meng Changyuan challenges the behemoth and repeatedly meets its attacks with his techniques.
• At the end, he silently tells Li Bufan to run, then turns back to hold off the monster.
• Meng Xinghe’s final “Father…” underscores the bond between them and the cost of Meng Changyuan’s sacrifice.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and duty: Meng Changyuan gives his life to defend the city and its people.
• Courage amid despair: The soldiers continue fighting despite overwhelming odds, while Meng Changyuan refuses to yield.
• Love expressed through action: His care for his son and the wounded is shown through protection and sacrifice rather than words.
• The cost of resistance: The behemoth is severely damaged, but the battle—and the danger to the city—continues.

Key plot points and events

• After City Lord Meng Changyuan sacrifices himself to destroy the formation and wound the deep-sea beast, Meng Xinghe tries to rush back into battle. Li Bufan stops him, reminding him that his father died to give him a chance to live.
• With Stilltide City’s defenses collapsing and civilians still in danger, Li Bufan draws on his Golden Core’s Origin Essence, despite knowing that burning it may destroy his cultivation or kill him.
• Li charges the wounded giant beast alone. Using the Seven Killings Blade and the Heaven Severing Seal, he reaches its head and unleashes a devastating attack that destroys its eye and skull, killing it.
• The Sea Demons lose their leader and begin retreating, apparently saving the city. Li falls with his Golden Core shattered and his meridians severed, but is glad Stilltide has held.
• A vast black energy then surges from the sea, swallowing corpses and racing toward the city. A golden sword descends between it and the shore, forcing the darkness back. A mysterious old man in golden Daoist robes appears and orders it to retreat.

Character developments

• Li Bufan moves from helplessly watching the defense collapse to making a deliberate, self-sacrificial choice to fight. He accepts the likely cost of his power and gives everything he has to protect the city.
• Meng Xinghe is devastated by his father’s death and initially wants to charge back into danger. Li’s reminder of his father’s sacrifice forces him to confront his grief and the need to survive.
• Meng Changyuan’s sacrifice continues to shape the battle: his death bought the city time and inspired the desperate resistance.
• The golden-robed elder arrives as a powerful new figure, halting the next threat, though his identity and motives remain unknown.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and legacy: Meng Changyuan’s death gives others a chance to live; Li Bufan chooses to make a similar sacrifice.
• Courage in hopeless circumstances: Li fights despite believing either choice will cost him his life.
• The price of protection: The city survives only through the deaths of its defenders and the destruction of Li’s cultivation.
• Victory’s fragility: Just as the Sea Demons retreat, a larger and more mysterious danger emerges.

Character interactions

• Li restrains the grieving Meng Xinghe and reminds him why his father sacrificed himself.
• Meng Xinghe tries to stop Li from burning his Origin Essence, warning that it will kill him.
• Before attacking, Li entrusts what follows to Meng Xinghe, then fights alone.
• The golden-robed elder confronts the black energy and shields Stilltide City from it.

Plot points and events

• An old man in golden robes appears above the sea and draws the Azure Sea, Blue Firmament Sword. With one stroke, he cleaves a vast rift through the black energy and destroys the blood-rune-etched box sustaining it.
• Without its source, the black energy dissipates, the sea clears, and Stilltide City is spared further destruction.
• The old man sees the gravely wounded Li Bufan and uses golden light to protect his shattered golden core, mend his meridians, and begin healing his body.
• On the city wall, Meng Xinghe recognizes the stranger as Wang Shu, an elder of Heavenly Foothill Academy. Wang asks whether the City Lord is still alive; Meng reports that Meng Changyuan died fighting alongside the city’s martial warriors.
• After Meng recounts the events, Wang says the “thing” behind the attack has awakened. The black energy and its source were only a puppet it created; the true crisis is still ahead.
• Wang urges Meng to cultivate if he wants revenge and warns him not to let his father’s death be in vain. He leaves Li Bufan in Meng’s care, tells the survivors to get far away, and flies east toward the horizon.
• Meng carries the unconscious Li Bufan down from the wall.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Shu reveals overwhelming power and a compassionate side: after saving the city, he treats Li Bufan and comforts Meng. His easy manner briefly surfaces when he asks after Meng’s former master, Xie Yan, but he becomes grave when discussing the looming threat.
• Meng Xinghe shifts from grief and shock to resolute acceptance. He reports his father’s death, openly acknowledges his desire for revenge, and accepts Wang’s advice.
• Li Bufan survives his near-fatal injuries, though his recovery will take time. Wang entrusts him to Meng.
• Wang and Meng connect through the Heavenly Foothill Academy and Xie Yan. Wang offers comfort and counsel; Meng responds with respect and follows his instructions.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and grief: Meng Changyuan and the city’s defenders fought to the end, leaving the survivors to mourn and carry on.
• The scale of the threat: The battle was only a warning; the force behind it is far more powerful than its puppet.
• Recovery and resolve: Li Bufan is given a chance to heal, while Meng is urged to turn grief into disciplined preparation.
• Mentorship and responsibility: Wang’s guidance places the duty of remembering the dead and preparing for what comes next on the survivors.

• Stilltide City is abandoned: After the sea demons’ vanguard is driven back, Meng Xinghe addresses the survivors. He reveals that the city’s protective formation has been destroyed, his father and City Lord, Meng Changyuan, died defending them, and fewer than one in ten soldiers survived. With the main sea-demon force still a threat, he urges the people to flee. Though many initially resist leaving their ancestral home, his appeal to protect their families persuades them to go. They mourn as they depart, carrying keepsakes and soil from the city.
• Meng Xinghe leaves in grief: After watching the people evacuate, Meng packs his belongings and carries the unconscious Li Bufan onto the Azure Boat. He looks back at Stilltide City once, then flies inland toward Heavenly Foothill Academy without turning around. As the journey continues, his grief becomes visible: he sits in silence, weeps until his tears run dry, and develops streaks of white hair. He eventually begins cultivating to heal his severe injuries, though his emotional anguish remains.
• Li Bufan wakes: After an extended journey, Li regains consciousness aboard the boat. Meng helps him sit up and gives him water. When Li asks about Stilltide, Meng replies that the city is gone, his controlled tone masking profound pain. Li offers condolences but recognizes that words cannot ease the loss and gives him space.
• Li discovers his golden core is shattered: Examining himself, Li finds that his physical wounds have healed, but his golden core has broken into many fragments. An unknown, immense golden light holds the pieces together and prevents them from scattering. Its nature is beyond Li’s understanding and unlike any elemental or spirit-force attribute he knows.
  Character developments and interactions: Meng shifts from young lord and defender to a bereaved survivor forced to lead his people into exile. His exchange with the citizens shows his devotion to the city and his acceptance that survival must come before attachment to home. Li, newly awakened and himself physically weakened, responds to Meng with sympathy and restraint; their quiet interaction conveys trust and companionship without pretending grief can be easily comforted.
  Significant themes: The chapter centers on the cost of survival, the painful loss of home and heritage, leadership through sacrifice, and grief that cannot be repaired by simple consolation. It also introduces mystery around Li’s shattered core and the extraordinary force keeping it intact.

Key plot points and events

• Li Bufan wakes after the Sea Demon crisis and learns that Elder Wang Shu destroyed the demons’ source and saved him.
• His golden core is shattered, though an unknown force is preventing it from vanishing completely. His physical strength and spiritual sense remain intact.
• Meng Xinghe apologizes for what happened, but Li Bufan insists his choice to risk his life was his own. He accepts the danger of the martial path without regret, and Meng promises to protect him.
• After several days of travel, they reach the mainland and use a Teleportation Formation to travel to Heavenly Foothill Academy.
• They arrive at the academy’s extraordinary, cloud-surrounded city, then pass through a spatial barrier into the academy’s much larger inner realm—a landscape of mountains, courtyards, rivers, lakes, and floating buildings. Li Bufan is overwhelmed by its abundance of spiritual energy and the view of the sky.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Bufan remains optimistic despite his grave injury. He refuses to blame Meng Xinghe, accepts the consequences of his own choices, and faces their uncertain future with confidence.
• Meng Xinghe is burdened by guilt and sorrow, but Li Bufan’s composure eases some of his grief. He becomes protective, guides Li through the journey, and shows deep emotion upon returning to the academy.
• Their friendship is reinforced through mutual trust: Meng offers support, and Li readily accepts his help.

Significant themes

• Resolve and responsibility: The characters accept danger as part of the path they chose.
• Friendship and loyalty: Li’s forgiveness and Meng’s promise to protect him strengthen their bond.
• Recovery and uncertainty: Li’s shattered core leaves his future unclear, even as he remains hopeful.
• Wonder and scale: The journey reveals the vastness of the Central Domain and the almost otherworldly grandeur of the academy.

Plot points and events

• Meng Xinghe reveals that the visible grounds are only Heavenly Foothill Academy’s outer layer; its core lies near the Heavenly Path. Even True Disciples must pass trials to enter it.
• Before the assessment begins, Meng takes Li Bufan to visit Gu Moxie, who lives in a secluded mountain courtyard beneath a permanent canopy of thunderclouds.
• Li and Gu greet each other warmly, and the three friends share wine and stories. Meng recounts the death of Meng Changyuan in Stilltide City; Gu quietly promises to remember what happened.
• As dusk falls, Gu proposes a spar. Meng starts to warn him that Li’s Golden Core is shattered, but Li chooses to accept, and Meng joins them.
• The chapter ends as they take their positions: Gu channels lightning, Meng releases his spirit force, and Li reveals the immense strength of his body cultivation. A divine-mountain phantom forms behind him, setting the stage for the fight.

Character development

• Li Bufan remains determined despite his shattered Golden Core. His powerful physique and Mountain Character Art show that his cultivation is far from ruined.
• Meng Xinghe is still grieving Meng Changyuan, though he keeps speaking through the pain. He also discovers how much Li’s physical strength has grown.
• Gu Moxie shows affection for his old friends through his warm reunion with Li and his quiet solidarity with Meng. His challenge suggests he wants to reconnect through combat.

Themes

• A wider world and higher goals: The academy’s true core near the Heavenly Path reveals how much lies beyond Li’s former understanding.
• Resilience beyond conventional cultivation: Li’s strength persists—and may even be formidable—despite the loss of his Golden Core.
• Brotherhood and remembrance: The friends’ reunion, shared wine, and Gu’s pledge honor their bonds and the dead.
• Testing strength: The proposed spar is both a friendly reunion and a measure of how each has changed.

Character interactions

• Meng guides Li through the academy and introduces him to Gu. Their easy banter hints at a long friendship, though Meng’s brief reaction to Gu’s observation that he has changed suggests some personal weight.
• Gu and Li greet one another with mutual warmth and unspoken understanding.
• When Meng recounts the tragedy in Stilltide City, Gu offers support without pressing for details.
• Meng tries to protect Li from the spar because of his shattered core, but Li stops him and accepts, showing trust and self-confidence.