Chapter Summaries

Xu Yan discovered a plaza of marked skeletons and a ruined stone hall connected to the Ancient Demon Race, where a troop of Demon Apes was refining a mysterious substance. After spying on the apes with his divine sense, he realized the old Demon Ape was the main threat and the hall held the secret he sought.

• Xu Yan examined a plaza filled with cultivator skeletons bearing one long and two short glowing markings, and suspected the Demon Ape was hiding a secret.
• Xu Yan approached the massive stone hall and found that the markings reacted when his divine sense touched a skull.
• Inside the hall, the wounded Demon Ape reported his encounter to an old Demon Ape and the others as a damaged formation sent white light into a black-stone cauldron.
• The old Demon Ape decided to act because the spiritual substance in the cauldron was nearly refined and could help him advance to the second tier.
• Xu Yan sensed the Demon Apes inside the hall, recognized the formation from Kong Xuan's memories, and judged the old Demon Ape to be the only particularly dangerous opponent.

Xu Yan ambushed the Demon Ape pack and killed its members, including the badly wounded old Demon Ape. The old Demon Ape’s surprise attack shattered Xu Yan’s Greenedge Sword, but Xu Yan dodged and finished it off.

• Xu Yan hid near the stone hall and prepared to ambush the old Demon Ape as it led its pack outside.
• Xu Yan struck the old Demon Ape with his Redfire Burning Art and Purple Sun Sword Art, gravely wounding it and burning several other Demon Apes.
• Xu Yan pursued and killed the fleeing Demon Apes.
• The wounded old Demon Ape attacked Xu Yan from behind and shattered his Greenedge Sword, but Xu Yan dodged the blow.
• Xu Yan crushed the old Demon Ape’s head with his bare hand.

After killing the Demon Apes, Xu Yan investigated their stone hall and identified it as a site where the Giant Spirit Race’s progenitor had refined soul liquid to strengthen divine sense. He realized the cauldron might contain a valuable opportunity, though the Demon Apes had likely wasted much of its contents.

• Xu Yan recovered his magic power, collected the old Demon Ape’s Azure-Gold Copper Rock club, and entered the stone hall.
• Xu Yan examined the ancient formation surrounding the black stone cauldron and searched Kong Xuan’s memories for clues.
• Xu Yan recognized the carvings as depicting the Giant Spirit Race and learned they had been created through unions between Ancient Demon Race and human cultivators.
• Xu Yan recalled that the Giant Spirit progenitor had developed a cruel secret art that refined soul liquid to strengthen divine sense.
• Xu Yan concluded that the cauldron held the remnants of this secret art’s substance and regretted that the Demon Apes had likely squandered much of it.

Xu Yan searched the Giant Spirit Race hall for a legacy, then studied the first volume of the Great Azure Soul-Tempering Art while waiting for the Soul Liquid to finish refining. His attempt to circulate the art nearly damaged his sea of consciousness, so he decided to wait until he could consume the Soul Liquid.

• Xu Yan searched the hall repeatedly but found no legacy beyond the spiritual substance in the round black stone cauldron.
• Xu Yan discovered that the four stone coffers held cultivators' remains, whose flesh-and-blood essence powered the damaged formation refining Soul Liquid.
• Xu Yan set up his formations at the hall entrance and began studying the Great Azure Soul-Tempering Art using Kong Xuan's memories.
• Xu Yan learned that Kong Xuan's spiritual sense had more than tripled upon reaching the art's introductory stage, and that the method had four stages.
• Xu Yan tried to circulate the art, but the pain nearly damaged his sea of consciousness before the Green Pearl protected him.
• Xu Yan stopped practicing and decided to wait for the Soul Liquid to finish refining before trying again.

Xu Yan collected the Soul Liquid and used it to strengthen his divine sense while cultivating the Great Azure Soul-Tempering Art. After more than a year in the stone hall, he grasped the method’s basics and expanded his divine sense to four hundred and fifty zhang.

• Xu Yan opened the black stone cauldron, sealed its spiritual energy, and collected a dozen or so drops of Soul Liquid in a jade bottle.
• Xu Yan swallowed a drop of Soul Liquid and absorbed it over half a month, strengthening his divine sense by more than thirty percent before resting for three days.
• Xu Yan swallowed another drop and circulated the Great Azure Soul-Tempering Art, absorbing it over a month as his divine sense doubled in strength.
• Xu Yan spent over a year cultivating in the great stone hall and finally grasped the basics of the Great Azure Soul-Tempering Art.
• Xu Yan’s divine sense spread through the hall and reached four hundred and fifty zhang.

Xu Yan discovered that the Giant Spirit Race’s stone hall hid a secret passage activated by four sets of middle-grade Spirit Stones. He entered the gate and found a huge cave whose carved images included the middle-aged cultivator from the square holding an enormous head.

• Xu Yan used his strengthened divine sense to search the stone hall but found no divine sense Secret Art.
• Xu Yan noticed strange markings on a stone pillar glow when he focused his divine sense on them.
• Xu Yan overturned the stone shrines and found blood-red runes and holes beneath them, then tested the pits with low-grade Spirit Stones.
• Xu Yan powered the four pits with forty middle-grade Spirit Stones, activating the pillars and opening a blue-green gate.
• Xu Yan entered the gate and found himself in a cave lined with enormous carvings, including an image of the middle-aged cultivator holding a giant head.

Xu Yan discovered the Giant Spirit Race’s tomb and learned from its progenitor, Ling Jie, that the Ancient Demon Race had enslaved the Giant Spirit Race with Slave Talismans. Ling Jie revealed how he developed a deadly divine sense art, and Xu Yan focused on learning it for his own cultivation.

• Xu Yan examined the cave’s carvings and suspected the Giant Spirit Race’s progenitor had killed an Ancient Demon cultivator.
• Xu Yan entered a vast chamber containing more than a thousand Giant Spirit Race soul tablets and found Ling Jie’s tablet at the top of the platform.
• Xu Yan read that the Ancient Demon Slave Talisman could be used to sacrifice cultivators and refine their essence into Soul Liquid.
• A Projection Pearl showed Ling Jie explaining that the Ancient Demon Race had branded the Giant Spirit Race with Slave Talismans and that their race had been wiped out in a calamity.
• Ling Jie described how he developed a divine sense attack that could kill a Spirit Transformation Ancient Demon cultivator, and urged his descendants to destroy the Ancient Demon Race.
• Xu Yan decided the secret art could benefit his cultivation and listened closely for clues on how to learn it.

Xu Yan learned the Soul-Annihilating Demon Needle from Ling Jie’s fading remnant in the Giant Spirit Race tomb, then escaped the cave and spent a year mastering the technique. He left the chapter ready to test his new divine sense attack.

• Ling Jie revealed that the Soul-Annihilating Demon Needle could grievously injure an enemy’s divine sense but also harmed its user and required a month of recovery between uses.
• Ling Jie recited the technique’s cultivation formula, then was destroyed by a curse Xu Yan suspected came from the Ancient Demon Race’s Slave Talisman.
• Xu Yan searched the tomb, found no way to understand the Slave Talisman, and returned through the azure portal just before its spirit stones crumbled.
• Xu Yan studied Ling Jie’s formula and spent a year compressing his divine sense into a Soul Dao Needle.
• Xu Yan learned to control the needle and sent it shooting out of the stone hall, eager to see how the technique affected a target.

Xu Yan left the Giant Spirit Race’s stone hall and traveled deeper into the Ancient Demon Abyss, where he discovered a Medicine King Valley elder confronting a Crimson Flame Demon Leopard over a millennium fire lotus. He watched from hiding as the battle began, hoping to seize an opportunity afterward.

• Xu Yan finished mastering the Demon-Slaying Needle of Evolved Sense, packed away the hall’s formations, and continued into the Ancient Demon Abyss.
• Xu Yan found a dead cultivator beneath an ancient tree and took the spatial Purple Jade Gourd from its hand.
• Xu Yan spotted a Purple-Robed Daoist facing a cave and learned the elder sought a millennium fire lotus guarded by a beast.
• A Crimson Flame Demon Leopard emerged from the cave, and Xu Yan recognized the Purple-Robed Daoist as a Medicine King Valley cultivator.
• The Crimson Flame Demon Leopard attacked with a pillar of fire, and the Purple-Robed Daoist summoned his Violet-Gold Spirit-Refining Cauldron to absorb it.

Xu Yan watched a Purple-Robed Daoist battle a Crimson Flame Demon Leopard, then killed the Daoist with a divine sense attack while the man suffered a backlash from a powerful Pill. He collected both bodies and their possessions, finding little in the Daoist’s Storage Bag.

• The Purple-Robed Daoist neutralized the Crimson Flame Demon Leopard’s Nine-Yan Spirit Fire and attacked it with his Purple-Gold Great Cauldron.
• Xu Yan moved closer as the two fought, hoping they would fatally wound each other.
• The Purple-Robed Daoist swallowed a pale golden Pill, transformed into a golden giant, and struck the Crimson Flame Demon Leopard down.
• Xu Yan used the Soul-Annihilating Demon Needle to kill the Purple-Robed Daoist, whose divine sense was weakened by the Pill’s backlash.
• Xu Yan killed the wounded Crimson Flame Demon Leopard, took its corpse and the Purple-Robed Daoist’s Storage Bag and cauldron, and sealed the Daoist’s corpse.

Xu Yan retrieved the Millennium Fire Lotus and swallowed a petal to refine his body, enduring a month of intense pain as the herb strengthened him and restored his lifespan. He planned to continue absorbing its power and attempt a breakthrough to Qi Refining Perfection before heading toward the heart of the Ancient Demon Abyss.

• Xu Yan collected the sealed corpse of the Purple-Robed Daoist and entered the cave to find the Millennium Fire Lotus.
• Xu Yan sealed the Millennium Fire Lotus and placed it in a jade box, preserving its spiritual power.
• Xu Yan restored his magic power, swallowed a lotus petal, and endured a month of agonizing bodily refinement.
• Xu Yan emerged from the cocoon with a stronger body, glowing bones, and black hair restored as his lifespan was replenished.
• Xu Yan decided to seek the Ancient Demon Race's legacy in the heart of the Ancient Demon Abyss and continued cultivating to try to reach Qi Refining Perfection.

Xu Yan used the spiritual energy from the Millennium Fire Lotus and Qi Gathering Pills to reach Qi Refining Perfection, then traveled deeper into the Ancient Demon Abyss in search of Ancient Demon Race inheritance. After encountering mysterious black holes that poured out demonic qi, he crossed the black sand wastes and noticed an unusual massive dune ahead.

• Xu Yan circulated the Taiyi Five Elements Art and used his Qi Gathering Pills to break through to Qi Refining Perfection.
• Xu Yan consolidated his cultivation, stored the remaining intact formations, and left the mountain cave.
• Xu Yan traveled toward the Core of the Ancient Demon Abyss, where he discovered black holes that devoured his divine sense and emitted demonic qi.
• Xu Yan avoided the black holes during three months of travel and crossed several Black Sandstorms.
• Xu Yan spotted a massive, peculiar black dune and walked toward it.

Xu Yan discovered a colossal Ancient Demon Race skeleton buried beneath a black dune and found evidence that its owner had been killed by a powerful divine ability. Unable to carry the entire skeleton, he broke off one of its ribs and continued toward the Core of the Ancient Demon Abyss.

• Xu Yan used his divine sense to uncover a half-kneeling giant skeleton buried beneath the black sand dune.
• Xu Yan examined the skeleton and realized that a divine ability had pierced its brow, killing its powerful owner.
• Xu Yan found a broken Bronze Long Spear bearing an Ancient Demon Slave Talisman, confirming that the skeleton belonged to an Ancient Demon Race cultivator.
• Xu Yan decided he could not fit the colossal skeleton in his Storage Bag and struck it with the Purple-Gold Great Cauldron.
• Xu Yan broke off a black rib, stored it in his Storage Bag, and continued toward the Core of the Ancient Demon Abyss.

Xu Yan traveled deeper into the Ancient Demon Race’s heartland, where he found evidence that the race and its powerful spirit beasts had been slaughtered in a single strike. After hearing an ancient, sorrowful sound, he discovered an apparently abandoned Ancient Demon Race settlement shrouded by a vast demonic cloud and approached its entrance.

• Xu Yan avoided frequent black holes and examined more Ancient Demon Race remains, concluding that an immensely powerful cultivator had wiped out the race.
• Xu Yan found the skeletons of enormous Demon Beasts and suspected they had once been spirit beasts controlled by the Ancient Demon Race.
• Xu Yan heard rhythmic sounds resembling an ancient language, concealed his aura, and spotted a black-stone tribal settlement surrounded by heaps of Demon Beast remains.
• Xu Yan approached the settlement and felt the sound affect his emotions, then used magic power to clear his consciousness.
• Xu Yan reached the settlement’s twenty-zhang walls and saw a huge demonic cloud overhead, dark light, and a gap flanked by mountains of bones.

Xu Yan explored an abandoned Ancient Demon Race settlement and discovered the remains of young cultivators who had been killed while an elder taught them their secret arts. After dispersing the elder’s lingering obsession and finding no useful items, Xu Yan planned to search the living quarters, but the strange sounds began again.

• Xu Yan entered the Ancient Demon Race settlement after confirming that no cultivators were near its entrance.
• Xu Yan examined a giant statue and found no trace of an Ancient Demon Race inheritance.
• Xu Yan reached a bluestone plaza and discovered hundreds of skeletons facing an elder’s lingering obsession and a wooden bird puppet.
• Xu Yan learned that a vast palm had killed the young cultivators and a finger had pierced the elder’s brow while he taught them secret arts.
• Xu Yan dispersed the elder’s obsession, searched the remains without finding spiritual items, and prepared to explore the living quarters as the strange sound returned.

Xu Yan discovered that the enormous wooden bird was an Anomaly and stored it in his Spirit Beast Bag, hoping to restore it and eventually claim its innate divine ability. He then went to the Ancient Demon Race’s ancient hall to seek its inheritance, entering the vast structure built from the bones of great Demon Beasts.

• Xu Yan watched the wooden bird produce an eerie cry and suspected it was an Anomaly born from heaven and earth.
• Xu Yan failed to place the wooden figure in his Storage Bag but successfully stored it in his Spirit Beast Bag.
• Xu Yan conjectured that the Ancient Demon Race elder had sacrificed the Anomaly to preserve his lingering obsession, and considered restoring it to gain its unique divine ability.
• Xu Yan set off to search for the Ancient Demon Race’s inheritance, particularly the Slave Talisman Secret Art.
• Xu Yan reached the ancient hall built from the bones of Nascent Soul Realm Demon Beasts and entered after finding no danger with his divine sense.

Xu Yan explored the Ancient Demon Race’s altar and deciphered their script using the wordless stone book. He learned that the half-broken stele praised their progenitor and revealed a bloodline-restricted body-refinement art, but the passage ended before he could learn more.

• Xu Yan examined the altar’s cauldron, half-broken stele, and wordless stone book, then discovered that the stele contained writing he could not understand.
• Xu Yan sent his Divine Sense into the wordless stone book and found ancient spirit script paired with Ancient Demon Race annotations.
• Xu Yan spent three days using the ancient spirit script to decipher the Ancient Demon Race’s writing, then rested for a day to recover his Divine Sense.
• Xu Yan read the half-broken stele and discovered that it recorded the deeds of the Ancient Demon Race’s progenitor, Xuan Hua, rather than the race’s inheritance.
• Xu Yan learned that Xuan Hua had devised a body-refinement art requiring core bloodlines and the Sacred Evolution Bloodline.

Xu Yan learned the Ancient Demon Race's Slave Talisman Secret Art and used a teleportation formation to reach the race's central ancestral grounds. He headed toward the Sacred Pavilion on Primordial Demon Mountain and concluded that five Spirit Transformation Realm cultivators had died there.

• Xu Yan memorized the Slave Talisman Secret Art but learned that mastering it required time and essence blood from Demon Beasts with at least six Spirit Demon Bloodlines.
• Xu Yan activated the tribe's charged Demon Stones and entered the teleportation formation, which injured him because it was built for the Ancient Demon Race's people.
• Xu Yan arrived at the ruined outer edge of the Ancient Demon Race's central ancestral grounds and saw Primordial Demon Mountain in the distance.
• Xu Yan climbed Primordial Demon Mountain toward the Sacred Pavilion, the heart of the Ancient Demon Race's legacy grounds.
• Xu Yan reached black-gold skeletons on the mountainside and realized that five Ancient Demon Race cultivators at the Spirit Transformation Realm had perished there.

Xu Yan reached the Primordial Demon Mountain’s Sacred Pavilion and discovered the Ancient Demon Race’s core inheritance, including the Annihilation Demon Finger divine ability. He began studying its cultivation method, hoping to gain a powerful trump card before the Six Sects entered the Ancient Demon Abyss.

• Xu Yan climbed past the five skeletons and reached the summit, where he found a Sacred Pool unusable to anyone without a pure Ancient Demon Race bloodline.
• Xu Yan entered the ruined Sacred Pavilion and found its first floor strewn with bones and emptied shelves.
• Xu Yan discovered Ancient Demon Race inheritance carved into the second-floor walls, including murals depicting the Annihilation Demon Finger.
• Xu Yan learned that the divine ability could draw on a cultivator’s essence blood and lifespan, or use a living being branded with a Slave Talisman.
• Xu Yan sat down to study the technique, but his eyelids grew heavy and he unconsciously closed his eyes.

Xu Yan broke the Ancient Demon creature’s Nightmare Demon Illusion and destroyed its remaining wisp of divine sense with the Soul-Annihilating Demon Needle. With the demonic energy fading, he discovered a huge black egg-like object and wondered if it was a Demon Embryo.

• The Mysterious Green Pearl warned Xu Yan in time, allowing him to awaken from Golden Light Daoist’s illusion before the Fish Intestine Short Sword could strike.
• Xu Yan confronted the demonic beast on the Sacred Pavilion’s third floor and rejected its offers of essence blood and ancient demon true blood.
• The demonic beast threatened Xu Yan, but he invited it to attempt Body Seizure, trusting the Mysterious Green Pearl to protect his sea of consciousness.
• Xu Yan attacked with the Soul-Annihilating Demon Needle, which made the demonic beast’s remaining divine sense dissipate.
• Xu Yan saw a ten-foot-wide black, patterned object emerge as the demonic energy thinned and wondered whether it was a Demon Embryo.