Chapter Summaries

Xu Yan kept watch on Wu Hua and followed him from the Heavenly River Market into the Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain Range, intending to kill him. Wu Hua vanished deep in the mountains before Xu Yan could attack.

• Xu Yan disguised himself, watched the Hundred Spirits Pill Workshop from the Autumn Moon Lodge, and waited for Wu Hua to leave the market.
• Wu Hua prepared a second-tier spirit-fruit plant as a gift for Gu Tieshan, hoping to become a nominal disciple of Purple Cloud Peak.
• Wu Hua left the workshop and told Senior Brother Li he would attend Gu Tieshan’s birthday celebration later.
• After Wu Hua carefully circled the market and left, Xu Yan followed him into the Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain Range.
• Wu Hua continued deep into the mountains, and then suddenly vanished from Xu Yan’s view.

Xu Yan followed Wu Hua to a concealed cliff and discovered him harvesting a second-tier Vermilion Wood Thunderfruit. Xu Yan ambushed Wu Hua as he emerged, but Wu Hua used a pill to raise his cultivation and prepared another attack while Xu Yan revealed a crimson pill of his own.

• Xu Yan tracked Wu Hua to a hidden cliff and watched him inspect two Thunderstruck Woods.
• Wu Hua used a Formation Disk to reveal a Vermilion Wood Thunderfruit growing between the trees.
• Wu Hua uprooted the fruit tree, sealed it in a jade box, and stored it away.
• Xu Yan attacked Wu Hua with six fireballs as he flew up from the cliff, but Wu Hua's robe blocked them.
• Wu Hua recognized Xu Yan and attacked with a flying sword, which the Black Tortoise Shield stopped.
• Wu Hua swallowed a blood-red pill that raised his cultivation to the seventh layer of qi refining, and Xu Yan took out a crimson pill as Wu Hua attacked again.

Xu Yan killed Wu Hua with a Crimson pill explosion, took his flying sword and Storage Bag, and escaped to a hidden cave to recover. After refining the sword and inspecting his spoils, Xu Yan discovered a strange crimson token and opened the jade box containing a Vermilion Wood Thunderfruit.

• Xu Yan blocked Wu Hua's flying sword with the Black Tortoise Shield and detonated a crimson pill, killing Wu Hua in a sea of flames.
• Xu Yan collected Wu Hua's flying sword and Storage Bag, then traveled to a secluded cave and recovered his Magic Power.
• Xu Yan spent seven days refining the black flying sword and tested its power against the cave wall.
• Xu Yan searched Wu Hua's Storage Bag and found a Vermilion Wood Thunderfruit, cultivation supplies, and a chilling crimson token engraved with a ghost face.
• Xu Yan opened the purple jade box, releasing a beam of silver light and a rich fragrance.

After consuming the Vermilion Wood Thunderfruit, Xu Yan advanced to the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining and learned the flying sword was far more powerful. He received Jin Xin’s information about the two cultivators he sought and learned that Chen Lie had entered the Ancient Ruins Battlefield.

• Xu Yan swallowed the Vermilion Wood Thunderfruit and, after a month of cultivation, broke through to the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining.
• Xu Yan tested his pitch-black flying sword, cleaving a rock wall, then discovered the Sword Control Art was only an introductory manual.
• Xu Yan read a delayed message from Inspired Rogue Person Jin Xin and went to Ascendant City to meet him.
• Jin Xin told Xu Yan that Wang Liu was likely still near Separation Valley Market and that Chen Lie had entered the Ancient Ruins Battlefield three months earlier.
• Jin Xin explained that the Six Great Sects controlled the Ancient Ruins Battlefield and that rogue cultivators had to pay ten low-grade spirit stones to enter.

Xu Yan tracked down Wang Liu, one of the men who had ambushed him years earlier, and killed him in a ruined Land God Temple. After looting the temple and dealing with a silver marten, Xu Yan left with his gaze fixed toward the Ancient Ruins Battlefield.

• Xu Yan left Ascendant City determined to kill the two men who had ambushed him.
• Wang Liu recognized a teenage rogue cultivator at his market stall and, unsettled by memories of Xu Yan, packed up and fled to his hiding place in Inkstone City.
• Xu Yan confronted Wang Liu in the Land God Temple, revealed his identity, and heard Wang Liu blame Qin Lie for ordering the old ambush.
• Xu Yan killed Wang Liu before he could use a True Fire Talisman, then took the talisman and searched Wang Liu's Storage Bag.
• Xu Yan killed a silver marten that attacked him and left the temple looking toward the Ancient Ruins Battlefield.

Xu Yan arrived in Ancient Ruins Town to learn about the Ancient Ruins Battlefield, where he planned to kill Chen Lie and seek cultivation resources. After seeing Spirit Beast Mountain disciples arrive and hearing rumors that something had drawn more cultivators to the battlefield, he decided to enter through the guarded teleportation formation.

• Xu Yan arrived in Ancient Ruins Town and learned that the Six Great Sects governed it and controlled access to the Ancient Ruins Battlefield.
• Xu Yan listened at the Spirit Wind Lodge as rogue cultivators discussed the battlefield and the Six Great Sects' decision to let rogue cultivators stay there for half a year.
• A tall, thin rogue cultivator invited fellow Daoist Yun and fellow Daoist Lan to explore the battlefield with him, suspecting that the Six Great Sects had discovered something.
• More than a dozen Spirit Beast Mountain disciples rode armored Demon Beasts into town, prompting Xu Yan to suspect that dangers and opportunities awaited in the battlefield.
• Xu Yan resolved to enter the battlefield to kill Chen Lie and left the inn for the teleportation formation.

Xu Yan entered the Ancient Ruins Battlefield through a random teleportation array and found himself alone on its desolate outskirts. As he prepared to head toward the battlefield’s center, his expression suddenly changed.

• Xu Yan learned that Foundation Establishment cultivators Ancient Jade and Yu Qianji guarded the entrance, and he declined a rogue cultivator’s offer to team up.
• After waiting his turn and paying ten low-grade spirit stones, Xu Yan entered a group of twenty cultivators and heard that the array could teleport them separately.
• Ancient Jade activated the array, and Xu Yan was transported alone into the Ancient Ruins Battlefield.
• Xu Yan surveyed the gray, barren landscape, found that a fragment of Third-Tier Spirit Iron had crumbled to dust, and concluded he had landed near the battlefield’s outskirts.
• Xu Yan decided to head toward the center, but his expression suddenly shifted.

Xu Yan practiced the Redfire Burning Art against Ruin Beasts as he traveled toward the center of the Ancient Ruins Battlefield, eventually reaching the Nine-Flame Realm. He then infused his Scarlet Pills with the perfected spell, creating powerful trump cards for the dangers ahead.

• Xu Yan killed a Ruin Beast with the Redfire Burning Art and decided to use the beasts as targets to perfect the spell.
• Over half a month, Xu Yan killed several hundred Ruin Beasts and advanced the Redfire Burning Art to the eight-flame realm while traveling thousands of miles toward the battlefield's center.
• Twenty days later, Xu Yan instantly unleashed the Nine-Flame Realm spell to kill a seventh-layer Qi refining Ruin Beast, completing his spell's perfection.
• Xu Yan infused his Scarlet Pills with nine-flame fire, finding that each pill could safely hold two masses of flame before it risked cracking.

Xu Yan encountered a Demon Cultivator elder in the Ancient Ruins Battlefield and fought back against his attempt to seize Xu Yan’s blood essence. The elder revealed his Ninth Layer strength and Bloodfiend Cloak, leaving Xu Yan to hurl a Scarlet Pill at the elder’s enormous claws.

• Xu Yan restored his magic power and continued traveling toward the center of the Ancient Ruins Battlefield.
• A Demon Cultivator elder emerged from behind a sand dune, identified Xu Yan as a Sixth Layer cultivator, and demanded his blood essence.
• Xu Yan struck with an instantly cast flame spell, shattering the elder’s black beast-bone barrier and damaging his artifact.
• Xu Yan sent his flying sword at the elder, who activated the Bloodfiend Cloak and surged to the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining.
• The elder merged the cloak with his arms and attacked Xu Yan with enormous demonic claws.
• Xu Yan threw a Scarlet Pill toward the descending claws.

Xu Yan defeated a Ninth Layer Qi Refining Demon Cultivator and pursued him across nearly a thousand li before killing him. Xu Yan took the man’s Storage Bag and began inspecting its contents, though the chase had left him weakened.

• Xu Yan’s Scarlet Pill shattered the elderly Demon Cultivator’s blood-red claw and gravely injured him.
• The elderly Demon Cultivator fled using a Superior Spirit Talisman, but Xu Yan pursued him with the Bloodfiend Shadow-Escaping Steps.
• Both cultivators consumed pills to restore their strength and speed as their pursuit stretched across several hundred li.
• After nearly a thousand li, Xu Yan used his flying sword to sever the elderly Demon Cultivator’s right arm.
• Xu Yan ignored the man’s threat that the Scarlet Firmament Demon Sect would seek revenge and killed him with his flying sword.
• Xu Yan took the elderly Demon Cultivator’s Storage Bag, swallowed a pill, and extended his divine sense into it.

Xu Yan looted the elderly Demon Cultivator’s Storage Bag, learned about the Blood Demon Pill, and recovered before pressing deeper into the Ancient Ruins Battlefield. He stopped two rogue cultivators carrying news of an ancient Nascent Soul True Person’s tomb in the Demonfall Pit.

• Xu Yan found Spirit Stones, pills, magic artifacts, and formation disks in the elderly Demon Cultivator’s Storage Bag, including a Blood-Colored Pill Furnace and a Jade Slip explaining the Blood Demon Pill.
• Xu Yan stored the furnace and two Spirit-Detonating Pills, then retreated to a temporary cave abode to recover from his injuries.
• After three days, Xu Yan destroyed three Ruin Beasts attacking his formations and noticed that Ruin Beasts were appearing with unusual frequency.
• Xu Yan traveled toward the center of the Ancient Ruins Battlefield, where Ruin Beasts grew more numerous, then stopped to recover his magic power in a mountain cave.
• Xu Yan overheard two rogue cultivators report an ancient tomb in the Demonfall Pit and blocked their path with a pitch-black flying sword.

Xu Yan questioned Liu Feng and Liu Yun about an ancient Nascent Soul True Person’s cave abode in the Demonfall Pit, then robbed them of their Storage Bags and set off for the site. After fighting ruin beasts and recovering his magic power, he concealed his aura and approached the enormous pit.

• Xu Yan stopped Liu Feng and Liu Yun, made them swear Heart-Demon Blood Oaths, and asked about the ancient cave abode.
• Liu Feng explained that the cave abode had been found in the Demonfall Pit three days earlier but remained protected by an ancient formation and surrounded by ruin beasts.
• Xu Yan spared the two cultivators but demanded their Storage Bags, then took their belongings and left for the cave abode.
• Xu Yan traveled for half a day, killed twelve ruin beasts, recovered his magic power, and concealed his aura with the Great Void Breath-Concealing Art.
• Xu Yan continued onward and saw the enormous Demonfall Pit in the distance.

Xu Yan entered the Demonfall Pit, fended off ambushes and pursued Ruin Beasts while pressing toward the Nascent Soul True Person's cave abode. He reached an enormous rift where hundreds of cultivators faced a growing horde of Ruin Beasts blocking the way.

• Xu Yan entered the Demonfall Pit after spotting three old men on a flying boat, then fought off a brown-robed old man's ambush and let him flee.
• Xu Yan encountered three rogue cultivators fleeing more than twenty Ruin Beasts, killed the woman when she rushed toward him, and escaped as the beasts overwhelmed the two men.
• Xu Yan used a medicinal pill to recover before continuing deeper into the Demonfall Pit, where the demonic qi grew thinner.
• Xu Yan arrived at an enormous rift emitting white light and saw more than five hundred cultivators held back by over three hundred Ruin Beasts, with more crawling out from below.

Xu Yan observed rogue cultivators battle Ruin Beasts at the Demonfall Pit while Chen Lie prepared a demonic ritual and the Six Sects plotted to slaughter outsiders. After noticing the ground devour the blood essence of the dead, Xu Yan tried to flee, but a sudden upheaval began.

• Xu Yan noticed that no Six Sects cultivators were present as rogue cultivators gathered at the fissure and attacked the Ruin Beasts.
• Chen Lie watched cultivators converge on the Demonfall Pit, then used a blood-red jade flute to summon the Sacred Sect for his prepared spiritual sacrifices.
• The Six Sects assembled a thousand li away, where their leading disciple issued an order to kill every cultivator outside their sects who had entered the battlefield.
• Xu Yan cautiously fought off Ruin Beasts and withdrew as the battle grew chaotic and nearly a hundred rogue cultivators died.
• Xu Yan saw the ground absorb the blood essence from the dead and hurried toward the Demonfall Pit's outskirts, but a sudden upheaval struck.

A blood-colored formation trapped the cultivators, and Daoist San Zui identified it as a simplified Blood-Devouring Spirit-Nourishing Formation. After the Ruin Beasts were slain, a group descended into the fissure to seek a Spirit Treasure, where they were attacked by something unseen.

• A blood-colored formation sealed the area, and Ruin Beasts killed more than ten cultivators before the survivors fought back.
• The old man from the Azure Flying Boat rallied the cultivators and unleashed Talisman Papers against the Ruin Beasts.
• Daoist San Zui recognized the formation and hurried to another section of its edge after examining the fissure; Xu Yan followed him.
• The cultivators killed the Ruin Beasts, and more than twenty rogue cultivators followed the Azure Flying Boat old man into the fissure to search for a Spirit Treasure.
• The white light inside the fissure vanished, and screams came from below before the wounded old man crashed back out as two terrifying roars sounded.

Xu Yan and the other cultivators were trapped in a Blood-colored Grand Formation with two Foundation Establishment Realm Ruin Beasts, while Daoist San Zui worked to break the formation. After the beasts slaughtered more than a dozen cultivators, the survivors gathered to hold them off and buy San Zui time.

• Daoist San Zui told Xu Yan he needed an incense stick to break the formation, and Xu Yan agreed to guard him.
• Two intelligent Foundation Establishment Realm Ruin Beasts emerged from the fissure and charged the cultivators.
• The Ruin Beasts killed the Green-Robed Cultivator and more than a dozen others as the survivors fled toward the formation's edge.
• The cultivators attacked the Blood-colored Grand Formation together, disrupting Daoist San Zui's work and failing to break through.
• Daoist San Zui urged the survivors to hold off the beasts while he deciphered the formation, and Xu Yan joined the gathering group.

Xu Yan and the rogue cultivators battled two Foundation Establishment Realm Ruin Beasts inside the Blood-Devouring Spirit-Nourishing Formation while Daoist San Zui tried to break it. When Wang Teng and the Six Sects arrived, Daoist San Zui shattered the formation and exposed the Six Sects’ plan to use cultivators’ blood to ripen a Tier Four True-Meaning Ice Lotus, leaving the crowd facing a massacre.

• Xu Yan and the cultivators injured the two Ruin Beasts, which retaliated with devastating wind-blade divine abilities that killed dozens.
• Daoist San Zui continued working to break the formation while the surviving cultivators fought the weakened Ruin Beasts.
• Wang Teng arrived aboard a Flood Dragon-shaped Spirit Ark with hundreds of Six Sects cultivators, and Daoist San Zui realized he had to abandon the True-Meaning Ice Lotus.
• Daoist San Zui exposed the Six Sects’ blood-sacrifice scheme and used a Tier Three Formation-Breaking Talisman to shatter the formation.
• The furious cultivators charged the Spirit Ark, and Wang Teng drew his purple spirit sword and ordered his forces to kill them all.

During the Six Sects’ assault in the Demonfall Pit, Xu Yan killed a Spirit Sword Sect disciple and escaped toward the outskirts while pursuing blood essence to refine Blood Demon Pills. He reached the demonic-qi boundary but stopped to face three pursuers aboard an Azure Flying Boat.

• The Six Sects’ disciples attacked the wounded cultivators, and Xu Yan blocked a sword strike from a Spirit Sword Sect disciple.
• Xu Yan instantly cast three Nine-Flame Realm spells, killed the disciple with his flying sword, and absorbed the man’s blood essence into the Blood-Colored Pill Furnace.
• Xu Yan used the Bloodfiend Shadow-Escaping Steps to flee, and Wang Teng ordered several cultivators to pursue him.
• Xu Yan raced toward the outskirts of the Demonfall Pit and considered the Six Sects’ alliance and his plan to refine Blood Demon Pills.
• Three pursuers aboard an Azure Flying Boat caught up near the demonic-qi boundary, so Xu Yan stopped to fight them.

Xu Yan fought three cultivators from the Six Sects and killed them despite exhausting his magic power and severely injuring himself. He fled toward the outskirts of the Demonfall Pit and hid underground to recover.

• A Spirit Beast Mountain disciple sent his Green-Patterned Black Spider to attack Xu Yan while two Spirit Sword Sect disciples struck with sword light.
• Xu Yan destroyed the spider with Nine-Flame Realm fire, then killed its burly master with a flying sword.
• Xu Yan blocked the Spirit Sword Sect disciples' attack with the Black Tortoise Shield, which shattered under their combined sword strikes.
• Xu Yan used his flying sword and five masses of Nine-Flame Realm fire to kill both Spirit Sword Sect disciples, badly injuring his meridians in the process.
• Xu Yan drained the three cultivators' blood essence, took their Storage Bags, burned their bodies, and fled toward the outskirts of the Demonfall Pit.
• After several hours, Xu Yan hid in a hole underground when his magic power ran dry.

After recovering in a cavern, Xu Yan decided to gather blood essence from the Six Immortal Sects’ disciples to finish refining a Blood Demon Pill and improve his chances of escaping the Ancient Ruins Battlefield. Disguised in Spirit Sword Sect robes, he approached a fight between two Medicine King Valley disciples and a demonic cultivator.

• Xu Yan recovered from most of his injuries, concluded that he needed the blood essence of at least a dozen more cultivators, and resolved to ambush disciples of the Six Sects.
• Xu Yan refined the Azure Leaf Boat, looted the Storage Bags of three slain cultivators, and learned beast-control techniques from a copy of the Beast-Taming Art.
• Xu Yan left the cavern in Spirit Sword Sect robes and tested his disguise by passing a ninth-layer Qi Refining cultivator riding an Azure Wolf Demon.
• Xu Yan spotted two wounded Medicine King Valley disciples fighting a wounded demonic cultivator and flew toward them.
• The Medicine King Valley disciples mistook Xu Yan for an ally and called on him to help kill the demonic cultivator.