Chapter Summaries

Liu Yu refined Blood-Melting Pills and used two drops of blood essence to prepare his Sharpgold Sword for Blood-Sacrificial Escape, giving himself a way to flee danger. After spending months recovering, he received an unexpected visit from an Inner Disciple who had survived pursuit and returned to Moonwatch City.

• Liu Yu refined twenty-three Blood-Melting Pills from thirty batches of ingredients after six days of work.
• Liu Yu sacrificed two drops of blood essence to the Sharpgold Sword, sealing in power that could boost his flight speed by about thirty percent.
• Liu Yu swallowed a Blood-Melting Pill to restore his vital energy and estimated that his blood essence would take roughly six months to regenerate.
• Liu Yu continued cultivating while recovering, with the loss of blood essence slowing his cultivation but leaving his Divine Preservation Art practice mostly unaffected.
• An Inner Disciple of the Primordial Yang Sect arrived at Liu Yu's Cave Abode, and Liu Yu recognized him as someone who had escaped enemy pursuit and returned to Moonwatch City.

Yan Kai delivered the Elders Council’s summons, and Liu Yu attended a meeting with nine other Foundation Establishment cultivators. Wu Yuhan revealed that the Huang Household had colluded with Snowfall Pavilion and leaked sect intelligence, causing the deaths of four Foundation Establishment cultivators.

• Yan Kai told Liu Yu to attend a City Lord’s Mansion meeting in three days on behalf of the Elders Council.
• Liu Yu prepared to flee the Chu Kingdom if the mission went badly, then traveled to the City Lord’s Mansion.
• Liu Yu greeted Yan Hongyu and Li Butong and tried to learn what the gathering might involve.
• Wu Yuhan sealed the hall and explained that she was conveying a mission assignment from the three elders.
• Wu Yuhan said the Huang Household of Heavenly Citadel had colluded with Snowfall Pavilion, leaked sect intelligence, and caused four Foundation Establishment cultivators to die.

Wu Yuhan briefed Liu Yu and the other Foundation Establishment cultivators on the Huang Household’s betrayal and their mission to destroy it. The Elders Council ordered them to attack swiftly and leave no Huang Household cultivators alive.

• Wu Yuhan revealed that an undercover agent had exposed the Huang Household’s collusion with Snowfall Pavilion and its leak of sect intelligence, which had led to the deaths of four disciples.
• Xie Junjie questioned the report and the Huang Household’s motives, but Wu Yuhan said the agent was reliable and the Elders Council had approved action against Heavenly Citadel.
• Wu Yuhan explained that Huang Yicheng led the five Foundation Establishment cultivators still guarding the Huang Household, while two others had been sent to Moonwatch City.
• Wu Yuhan said the mission force consisted of ten Foundation Establishment disciples and one hundred elite City Guard Army soldiers, and ordered them to destroy the Huang Household without allowing anyone to escape.

Wu Yuhan sent Li Butong and Yan Hongyu to lead a mission against the Huang Household, while Liu Yu joined the force departing Moonwatch Immortal Fate City. As the Origin Returning Boat prepared to carry them toward their target, Liu Yu assessed his strength and ability to survive a clash with stronger cultivators.

• Wu Yuhan ordered the Primordial Yang Sect cultivators to wipe out the Huang Household and appointed Li Butong and Yan Hongyu as mission leaders.
• The ten Foundation Establishment cultivators left the hall and headed for the city gates, where a hundred elite City Guard Army soldiers awaited them.
• Yue Liang reported that the soldiers were assembled, and Li Butong summoned the Origin Returning Boat.
• Yan Hongyu ordered the soldiers aboard, and Liu Yu watched them board while calmly considering the battle ahead.
• Liu Yu judged that he could slightly outmatch an ordinary middle-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, might kill one by revealing trump cards, and could protect himself from a late-stage cultivator without using a Talisman Treasure.

Liu Yu reflected on the Primordial Yang Sect’s dominance and the Huang Household’s certain defeat, then asked Yan Hongyu to help him obtain a copy of the Huang Household’s alchemy inheritance. Yan Hongyu agreed, and Liu Yu went to rest aboard the boat.

• The City Guard Army boarded the Origin Returning Boat, which departed for the Huang Household under Yan Hongyu’s control.
• Liu Yu considered how the Five Great Sects and the Primordial Yang Sect maintained power through overwhelming force, and concluded that the Huang Household’s fate was sealed.
• Liu Yu realized the Huang Household might possess a useful alchemy inheritance and decided he wanted a copy.
• Liu Yu asked Yan Hongyu to mediate if another sect member obtained the inheritance, offering to pay spirit stones and reward her.
• Yan Hongyu agreed to help, and Liu Yu thanked her before heading to the cabins to rest.

Liu Yu and the Primordial Yang Sect forces reached Heavenly Citadel Mountain to attack the Huang Household before it could activate its protective formation. The Origin Returning Boat approached under concealment, and the city guards began surrounding the mountain as the assault drew near.

• Liu Yu and the other cultivators passed Heavenly Citadel and headed toward Heavenly Citadel Mountain, where the Huang Household lived.
• Yan Hongyu and the other Foundation Establishment cultivators prepared to strike before the Huang Household could activate its mountain-protecting formation.
• Yan Hongyu slowed and concealed the Origin Returning Boat as it neared the mountain.
• Sixteen city guards split into four groups and flew down to encircle Heavenly Citadel Mountain.
• The Origin Returning Boat continued toward the mountain, becoming visible when it came within four li.

The Primordial Yang Sect's force landed on Heavenly Citadel Mountain and began its assault on the Huang Household. After the City Guard Army killed the young cultivators who rushed to the summit, Yan Hongyu ordered the purge to continue, and Liu Yu and the other Foundation Establishment cultivators prepared to advance.

• Yan Hongyu revealed the Origin Returning Boat and sent it flying to the summit of Heavenly Citadel Mountain as the Huang Household's patrol sent warnings to its elders.
• Liu Yu sensed six approaching Foundation Establishment auras while Yan Hongyu's ten Foundation Establishment cultivators and Yue Liang's eighty-four City Guard Army members disembarked and took positions.
• A dozen young Huang Household cultivators raced to the summit, then stopped in fear when they saw the Primordial Yang Sect's forces.
• Yan Hongyu ordered an attack, and the City Guard Army's volleys of arrows killed the young cultivators who had arrived.
• Yan Hongyu ordered the forces to purge the Huang Household from the top down, and Liu Yu and the other nine Foundation Establishment cultivators prepared to descend.

Yan Hongyu, Liu Yu, Li Butong, and the other Primordial Yang Sect cultivators slaughtered Huang Household defenders as they descended the mountain. Liu Yu tested how much energy the Azure Yang Demonic Flame gained from the dead and continued using it against their enemies; the group stopped near the mountainside after about fifteen breaths.

• A tall, thin Huang Household elder watched the attackers kill his granddaughter but held back to avoid bringing ruin on his lineage.
• The City Guard Army hurled spears at the elder and the Huang Household cultivators around him, killing them within moments.
• Liu Yu burned the fresh corpses with the Azure Yang Demonic Flame and found that the dead Qi Refining cultivators had provided only a tiny increase in its power.
• Yan Hongyu and Li Butong observed Liu Yu's flame, while the other Foundation Establishment cultivators continued down the mountain without objecting to his use of it.
• Liu Yu burned through Huang Household cultivators' magical defenses with the Azure Yang Demonic Flame as the group slaughtered its way downhill and stopped near the mountainside.

The Primordial Yang Sect attacked the Huang Household on the Elders Council’s orders, while Huang Yicheng concealed his secret collusion with the Snowfall Pavilion. The Huang Household’s hastily formed defense began to fail, leaving its cultivators with nowhere safe to flee.

• Huang Yicheng’s guilt grew as he kept his deal with the Snowfall Pavilion secret from the Huang Household.
• Yan Hongyu ordered the Primordial Yang Sect cultivators and City Guard Army to attack, and Liu Yu joined the assault while concealing his true strength.
• Huang Yicheng and the five Huang Household elders raised a formation as the Academy Elder and the clan’s cultivators fought to repel the incoming attacks.
• The Huang Household’s weaker formation shook under the Sect’s coordinated assault, and its defenders realized they could neither hold out nor escape the Primordial Yang Sect’s control of Qing Province.

Liu Yu suspected that Huang Yicheng and a few trusted allies had secretly colluded with Snowfall Pavilion, while the rest of the Huang Household remained unaware. Yan Hongyu revealed that Moonwatch City's Elders Council had ordered the household's eradication after two of Huang Yicheng's confidants leaked intelligence, and the elders turned on their patriarch in shock.

• The Huang Household's Academy Elder pleaded with the Primordial Yang Sect cultivators to explain their attack while fighting to protect the household's formation.
• Liu Yu attacked the formation with his Soul-Chasing Blades and Gleaming Gold Bow, then grew suspicious of Huang Yicheng's silence and considered that the patriarch alone might have arranged the collusion.
• Yan Hongyu said the Huang Household had sold intelligence to Snowfall Pavilion, causing casualties, and that Moonwatch City's Elders Council had ordered every member killed.
• Yan Hongyu revealed that two Foundation Establishment cultivators sent to Moonwatch City had been arrested and would undergo Soul Searching by a Golden Core Cultivator.
• The Academy Elder and the other Huang Household elders realized Huang Yicheng's trusted confidants had been involved, and the Academy Elder confronted him in disbelief.

The Primordial Yang Sect attacked the Huang Household after Huang Yicheng’s betrayal, and the sect’s leaders made clear that every Huang cultivator would be killed. As the formation continued to hold, Liu Yu assessed the powerful Li Butong and concluded he was not yet strong enough to match him.

• Huang Yicheng admitted that he had secretly cooperated with the Snowfall Pavilion and begged the Primordial Yang Sect to spare his lineage, while accepting punishment himself.
• Yan Hongyu continued attacking despite Huang Yicheng’s plea, and Liu Yu recognized that the sect had already decided to destroy the Huang Household and obtain intelligence through Soul Searching.
• Li Butong declared that traitors and their factions would never meet a peaceful end, then battered the Huang Household’s formation with sword qi.
• The formation endured Li Butong’s attacks without breaking, and Liu Yu judged that he would need to reach Foundation Establishment Middle Stage and complete his fifth Demon Fire Refining Essence to contend with Li.

Liu Yu assessed Li Butong’s strength as the Primordial Yang Sect attacked the Huang Household, and Li Butong’s top-grade spirit artifact shattered the household’s hastily assembled formation. The Huang Household elders began a desperate breakout, but the Primordial Yang Sect moved to stop them.

• Liu Yu judged that he would need to reach the late stage of Foundation Establishment to defeat Li Butong in a direct fight and considered how his divine sense might give him an advantage.
• Li Butong transformed his top-grade spirit artifact into an azure flood dragon and sent it charging into the Huang Household’s formation.
• Huang Yicheng concluded that the Huang Household could not withstand the attack and instructed the elders to help promising disciples escape and preserve the lineage.
• The azure flood dragon destroyed the formation, killed more than a dozen Qi Refining cultivators, and was finally forced back by three Huang Household elders.
• The five elders ordered the household to break out separately, used spirit talismans to attack, and fled with promising clansmen as Primordial Yang Sect cultivators moved to intercept them.

Liu Yu destroyed the Black Bird Flame Talisman and slaughtered the Huang Household’s Qi Refining cultivators to strengthen his Azure Yang Demonic Flame, while the Primordial Yang Sect’s Foundation Establishment cultivators pursued the household’s elders. Huang Yicheng remained behind to face Li Butong, and Liu Yu continued harvesting under cover of his sect’s assault.

• Huang Yicheng used his artifacts and spells to delay the Primordial Yang Sect’s Foundation Establishment cultivators while the Huang Household fled.
• Liu Yu used the Gleaming Gold Bow to destroy the Black Bird Flame Talisman and rushed toward the Huang Household’s Qi Refining cultivators.
• Liu Yu sent the Mother-and-Son Soul-Chasing Blades through the fleeing cultivators, burning their bodies and souls into fuel for the Azure Yang Demonic Flame.
• Yan Hongyu and seven other Foundation Establishment cultivators split up to pursue the Huang Household’s five elders, while Li Butong stayed to fight Huang Yicheng.
• Liu Yu kept his distance and continued killing Qi Refining cultivators as the City Guard Army pursued those who had escaped farther away.

Liu Yu harvested fuel for his Azure Yang Demonic Flame by killing Huang Household cultivators after their formation collapsed. He joined the pursuit of the fleeing survivors, leaving the battle against Huang Yicheng to Li Butong.

• After the formation broke, Liu Yu killed more than forty Huang Household cultivators who had failed to escape and absorbed their energy into the Azure Yang Demonic Flame.
• Liu Yu collected five Storage Bags as his share of the spoils and found that the flame had grown strong enough for the fourth Demon Fire Refining Essence.
• Liu Yu rode the Mother-and-Son Soul-Chasing Blades toward the fleeing cultivators to harvest more fuel while the City Guard Army pursued them.
• The City Guard Army destroyed the Huang Household’s talisman attacks and prevented its cultivators from taking flight on their magical artifacts.
• Liu Yu sent a clump of Azure Yang Demonic Flame through a gray-robed cultivator’s magical artifact and protective barrier, burning him to ash.

Liu Yu hunted Huang Household cultivators, captured Huang Yonghua, and forced him to surrender an alchemy inheritance and the location of the household’s Spirit Herb Garden. Liu Yu seized rare herbs, including soul-calming grass, and left the garden before his sectmates could discover his private gains.

• Liu Yu killed Huang Household cultivators and found Huang Yonghua fighting two City Guard Army soldiers, then subdued him with the Mother-and-Son Soul-Chasing Blades.
• Liu Yu questioned Huang Yonghua, who revealed his identity as Huang Yicheng’s son and surrendered a copy of the household’s alchemy inheritance.
• Huang Yonghua offered the Spirit Herb Garden’s control token and disclosed that it held soul-calming grass, so Liu Yu took the token and let him flee.
• Liu Yu secretly arranged for a Long Spear to kill Huang Yonghua as he ran away, then flew to the Spirit Herb Garden.
• Liu Yu opened the concealed garden, collected the soul-calming grass and spirit herbs missing from his Immortal Mansion, and left the rest untouched.

Liu Yu finished hunting the Huang Household cultivators and returned to the rendezvous point, where Yan Hongyu reported that the battle against the household’s Foundation Establishment elders was going well. The Primordial Yang Sect’s victory seemed close, and Liu Yu reflected on how Elder Yan’s influence had secured him the lucrative mission.

• Liu Yu killed a Huang Household cultivator with the Azure Yang Demonic Flame and abandoned his remaining hunt as the scattered survivors were nearly wiped out.
• Liu Yu returned to the agreed rendezvous point and added most of his storage bags to the City Guard Army’s collected spoils.
• Yan Hongyu told Liu Yu that she had killed the Huang Household’s Disciplinary Hall elder, Xie Junjie had killed its Pill Hall elder, and other disciples had slain the Internal Affairs Elder.
• Yan Hongyu said five Foundation Establishment disciples were pursuing the household’s last two elders and expected to defeat them soon.
• Liu Yu concluded that Elder Yan had used his influence to arrange the profitable mission, then watched the ongoing battles and considered his years of cultivation.

After the Huang Household was effectively exterminated, Liu Yu decided to strengthen his ties with the Yan Household, whose support had already benefited him. The surviving Foundation Establishment cultivators began dividing the spoils while Yan Hongyu oversaw the operation.

• Liu Yu decided to pursue closer ties with Yan Qun'er, Yan Hongyu, and the Yan Household rather than rely on the Outer Courtyard Faction.
• Yue Liang reported that the City Guard Army had killed the Huang Household cultivators around Heavenly Citadel Mountain, though three Qi Refining cultivators had escaped.
• Yan Hongyu ordered Yue Liang to inventory and secure the sect's property, warning him that missing items would bring severe punishment.
• The remaining Foundation Establishment cultivators returned, leaving the Huang Household's fighters nearly wiped out, and Liu Yu used the gathering to meet fellow cultivators.
• Yan Hongyu placed a barrier around the group, and they sorted and assessed the contents of more than two hundred Storage Bags before dividing the spoils.

After the Primordial Yang Sect forces divided the Huang Household’s spoils and secured its mountain resources, they returned to Heavenly Citadel to decide what to do with its more than two hundred thousand mortals. Yan Hongyu asked the Foundation Establishment cultivators for a solution, and Xie Junjie suggested setting the city ablaze.

• Yan Hongyu distributed the Huang Household’s resources, with Liu Yu receiving a share worth about twenty-two hundred spirit stones and supporting her plan.
• The city guards discovered the Huang Household’s Spirit Herb Garden, and the Foundation Establishment cultivators opened it with a Control Token; Yan Hongyu registered it as sect property and overlooked the missing spirit grass that Liu Yu had taken.
• After the Huang Household’s cultivators on Heavenly Citadel Mountain were exterminated, Yan Hongyu organized the remaining resources and led the group aboard the Origin Returning Boat toward Heavenly Citadel.
• Yan Hongyu asked how they should handle the city’s many mortals, who were intermingled with people unrelated to the Huang Household, and the cultivators stayed silent as Liu Yu rejected the idea of using them as fuel for his Azure Yang Demonic Flame.
• Xie Junjie broke the silence and tentatively proposed setting a fire to deal with the mortals.

Yan Hongyu rejected Xie Junjie’s proposal and ordered the Huang Household punished while unrelated mortals were identified and spared. After half a month of waiting at Heavenly Citadel, Liu Yu sensed the air growing hot and dry and went to the deck, where a commotion below drew his attention.

• Yan Hongyu decided to postpone Xie Junjie’s proposal and ordered the Huang Household’s direct descendants punished, its collateral branches enslaved, and Heavenly Citadel burned.
• Yan Hongyu gave Yue Liang Blood Spirit Pearls and ordered him to separate unrelated mortals from the Huang Household’s people within half a month.
• Yue Liang led the City Guard Army into Heavenly Citadel while Liu Yu and the other cultivators waited on a nearby mountain.
• Liu Yu entered the Immortal Mansion, planted the soul-calming grass and ten Foundation Establishment spirit herbs, then returned to his room to study his cultivation manuals.
• After half a month, Liu Yu noticed the air had grown hotter and drier and went to the deck, where a great commotion below caught his attention.

Liu Yu watched Heavenly Citadel burn after the Huang Household was destroyed, then visited Xie Junjie with Yan Hongyu to request a copy of the household’s Foundation Establishment pill formulas. Xie Junjie had not yet answered when the chapter ended.

• Liu Yu watched Heavenly Citadel’s buildings collapse as Huang Household mortals mourned their ruined homes and faced punishment for their lineage’s crimes.
• Liu Yu returned to his room to study his cultivation arts and alchemy manual while the Origin Returning Boat remained in flight.
• The Origin Returning Boat departed north for Moonwatch City, marking the end of the mission and the destruction of the Huang Household of Heavenly Citadel.
• Liu Yu and Yan Hongyu visited Xie Junjie, and Liu Yu asked to copy the Huang Household’s Foundation Establishment pill formulas in exchange for twenty Mid-Grade Spirit Stones.