Chapter Summaries

Liu Yu opened the Origin Sun Villa branch courtyard in the Yuan Kingdom with a formal ceremony and began initiating its first group of disciples. As the spiritual-root testing began, the chapter introduced Shen Shan, a poor tenant farmer’s son among the new recruits.

• Liu Yu nurtured his Golden Jade Ring and Ten-Thousand Souls Banner, then took a Third Tier Essence-Nourishing Pill and reflected on the need to earn Spirit Stones and improve his alchemy.
• Wen Caiyi reported that preparations were complete, and Liu Yu went to Eternal Spring Mountain to open the branch courtyard.
• Liu Yu welcomed the gathered cultivators, while Sun Yulan presided over the opening ceremony and Liu Yu inscribed the Origin Sun Villa plaque.
• Ma Wencai praised Liu Yu’s calligraphy and asked for a piece, which Liu Yu agreed to provide.
• Sun Yulan began the initiation ceremony for 513 new disciples, and Stewards started testing their spiritual roots.
• Shen Shan, a poor boy from a tenant farming family, watched Liu Yu nervously as the testing began.

Liu Yu oversaw the first intake’s spiritual root testing at Origin Sun Villa, then ordered Sun Yulan to arrange the new disciples’ instruction. Three years passed as Liu Yu refined pills, while the recruits faced the prospects their aptitude had set for them.

• Shen Shan and Gong Xinyuan met while awaiting the spiritual root test, and they shared their hopes for becoming Immortal Masters.
• Xiao Yushan tested as having outstanding earth and water dual spiritual roots, while Shen Shan and Gong Xinyuan were found to have false spiritual roots and Xu Haoran struggled to accept his poor aptitude.
• Sun Yulan reported the intake’s results to Liu Yu, who instructed her to arrange literacy and cultivation lessons for the five hundred disciples.
• Liu Yu left the ceremony, returned to his cave abode, and refined batches of second-tier pills to replenish his spirit stones and prepare for third-tier alchemy.
• Three years passed in the blink of an eye.

Three years after establishing the Yuan Kingdom branch, Liu Yu refined third-tier Essence-Nourishing Pills in secret and attended the first graduation assessment for its Outer Courtyard disciples. The assessment left gifted disciples advancing while Shen Shan and other youths who fell short were demoted to menial servants.

• Liu Yu successfully refined seven Essence-Nourishing Pills, bringing his success rate to thirty percent, but decided to conceal his third-tier alchemy skills.
• Wen Caiyi told Liu Yu that the first group of Outer Courtyard disciples was taking its graduation assessment, and he ordered preparations to begin.
• Sun Yulan announced the assessment requirements, which allowed qualified disciples to enter the outer sect and let exceptionally talented disciples become Inner Disciples.
• Ma Wencai announced Xiao Yushan's promotion to the Inner Sect after she reached the fifth layer of Qi Refining.
• Shen Shan failed the assessment at the second layer of Qi Refining and was escorted away to become a menial servant, while Gong Xinyuan also awaited his result.

After the graduation assessment, Liu Yu ordered Leng Yuexin to abduct a hundred failed disciples and begin training them as deathsworn. Shen Shan awoke among the captives and recognized Leng Yuexin, who revealed that she had noticed him pretending to be unconscious.

• Shen Shan and Gong Xinyuan failed the assessment and tried to encourage each other, while Xu Haoran raged over his failure.
• Sun Yulan reported that fifty-one disciples had passed, and Liu Yu ordered them sent to the sect the following morning.
• Liu Yu instructed Leng Yuexin to seize eliminated servants and train them as deathsworn, with Ji Ruyan helping her operation.
• Leng Yuexin and her allies abducted a hundred servants, including Shen Shan, Gong Xinyuan, and Xu Haoran, without the guards noticing.
• Shen Shan regained consciousness in an unfamiliar place and pretended to be asleep, but Leng Yuexin exposed him as the most capable newcomer.

Leng Yuexin abducted Outer Courtyard disciples and forced them into a deathsworn training program, while Liu Yu used those who failed its first elimination round for experiments on primordial spirits. Years later, Liu Yu continued his research and cultivation, then received another group of trembling servant disciples at Morning Sun Mountain.

• Leng Yuexin brought Shen Shan and other youths to Morning Sun Mountain, warned that withdrawal or failure meant death, and killed a girl who begged to return to mining.
• The youths received cultivation resources and learned that twenty of the hundred recruits would be eliminated after a month of training.
• Liu Yu arrived after the first elimination round and had Leng Yuexin bring him the twenty defeated contestants; he used a Seven-Nail Soul-Locking Formation to study their primordial spirits.
• After three months of experiments, Liu Yu destroyed the hidden chamber and decided to target rogue cultivators for further research.
• Three or four years later, Liu Yu stood at Morning Sun Mountain as another group of servant disciples entered his cave abode, trembling under his presence.

Liu Yu used the Glazed Heart-Confusion Technique to make most of his prospective death soldiers abandon thoughts of escape, then spent fifteen years preparing his force while the Great Beast Tide threatened Southern Heaven. He ordered forty Qi Refining cultivators to attempt Foundation Establishment and began refining materials for his Life-bound Treasure.

• Liu Yu subjected the prospective death soldiers to another elimination round, using the Glazed Heart-Confusion Technique; three died, while the survivors lost their desire to escape.
• Liu Yu confirmed the technique had altered the survivors’ minds and planned to reinforce its effects alongside the Primordial Spirit Restriction.
• Over the next fifteen years, the Great Beast Tide intensified, and the Seven Kingdoms Alliance sought reinforcements as Liu Yu avoided assignments and focused on cultivation.
• Leng Yuexin reported that forty death soldiers had reached Qi Refining perfection, and Liu Yu ordered them to attempt Foundation Establishment with three Foundation Establishment Pills each.
• Liu Yu stayed on Morning Sun Mountain to oversee the arrangements, then began purifying spirit ore to refine his Life-bound Treasure.

Liu Yu refined spear Magical Artifacts to improve his skills for crafting the Setting Sun Golden Rainbow Spear, then reviewed the results of his Foundation Establishment Pills and ordered a deadly selection trial for his Death Soldiers. The eighteen survivors prepared to compete for nine jade tokens, with Xu Haoran already seeking allies as the trial approached.

• Liu Yu successfully refined a Superior-grade spear Magical Artifact and continued practicing spear artifact refining, eventually improving his results to four successes from ten sets of materials.
• Two months after Liu Yu gave Leng Yuexin the Foundation Establishment Pills, Gong Xinyuan and Xu Haoran began Foundation Establishment at the same time.
• Ten months later, Leng Yuexin reported that eighteen of forty Death Soldiers had achieved Foundation Establishment, and Liu Yu ordered her to bring the survivors to him.
• Liu Yu decided that only nine of the eighteen Death Soldiers would remain, and announced a trial in one month in which they would fight by any means to claim one of nine jade tokens.
• Xu Haoran recognized that his peers viewed him as a threat and began looking for allies, while the Death Soldiers left to prepare for the contest.

Foundation Establishment death soldiers competed for jade tokens in a deadly canyon assessment, where alliances collapsed and cultivators fought to survive. Shen Shan reached the exit after Gong Xinyuan sacrificed herself to hold off their pursuers, and Liu Yu gave him the code name White Tiger.

• Leng Yuexin began the assessment, and the death soldiers’ groups hunted down the isolated cultivators before searching for jade tokens.
• Xu Haoran’s group ambushed Feng Hongyi and Shu Tiancheng, killed them, and took their jade tokens.
• Xu Haoran and another teammate abandoned Shen Shan and Gong Xinyuan when One-Eyed Dragon’s five-person group demanded tokens, forcing Shen Shan and Gong Xinyuan to flee toward the exit.
• Gong Xinyuan attacked One-Eyed Dragon’s group to hold them back, while Shen Shan escaped past their treacherous teammate and reached the canyon exit.
• Liu Yu used the Glazed Heart-Confusion Technique to question Shen Shan, then named him White Tiger.

Liu Yu organized the Shadow of the Sun, sent Chun Xue to secretly protect the Liu Family’s descendants, and entered seclusion to refine his skills and prepare his Life-bound Treasure. He began forging the Setting Sun Golden Rainbow Spear, completing the melting and blood-refining stages before using Millennium Spirit Milk to replenish his dwindling magic power.

• Liu Yu named his nine Foundation Establishment death soldiers the Shadow of the Sun, appointed Leng Yuexin as elder, White Tiger and Haoran as guardians, and assigned the rest as hall masters.
• Liu Yu gave Chun Xue a Talisman Treasure, a High-Grade Spirit Artifact, and the first two levels of the Spirit-Concealing Art, then sent her to protect the Liu Family’s descendants in the mortal world.
• Liu Yu entered secluded cultivation, refined a Top-grade Magical Artifact spear that he named Red Flame, and decided to begin making his Setting Sun Golden Rainbow Spear.
• Liu Yu spent a month melting the spear’s supplementary materials and ten days and nights melting its main material, the falling sun crystal.
• Liu Yu used nine drops of blood essence to refine the liquefied materials, then continued forming the embryonic treasure as his magic power rapidly declined.
• Liu Yu drank a drop of Millennium Spirit Milk, restoring his magic power from just over twenty percent to forty percent so he could continue refining.

Liu Yu completed and refined the Setting Sun Golden Rainbow Spear as his Life-bound Treasure after a grueling two-month forging process, then recovered from severe essence blood loss. As he prepared to leave seclusion, his blood and vital energy stirred, suggesting an opportunity to advance his body cultivation to the third tier.

• Liu Yu used Millennium Spirit Milk and the Treasure Shaping technique to fuse the spirit materials into a treasure embryo and shape it into the Setting Sun Golden Rainbow Spear.
• Liu Yu inscribed the spear with golden crow powder, overcame its fierce rejection by suppressing it through their Blood Refining connection, and finished the Treasure.
• Liu Yu tested the spear, refined it for his use, and bound it as his Life-bound Treasure with hand seals and three drops of essence blood.
• Liu Yu suffered from losing twelve of his twenty-eight drops of essence blood, swallowed Blood-Melting Pills, and slept for three days before spending another week replenishing his strength.
• Liu Yu prepared to leave seclusion but felt his blood and vital energy surge, recognizing a possible opportunity to advance his body cultivation to the third tier.

Liu Yu broke through to the third tier of body cultivation by advancing the Astral True Form to the Blazing Sun Stage with solar power as a catalyst. He gained million-jin strength and the Astral Eyes Divine Ability, then discovered that returning to an ordinary-sized body restricted his power.

• Liu Yu began his breakthrough in seclusion, circulating the third level of the Astral True Form until he grew to thirty-three feet tall and his physical strength continued rising.
• When his cultivation stalled at the third-tier threshold, Liu Yu released solar power from a teardrop pendant and absorbed its light and heat rather than risking direct absorption.
• Liu Yu developed blazing sun magic power, formally entered the Blazing Sun Stage, and increased his physical strength to the million-jin level.
• Liu Yu tested his third-tier Gang Qi, confirming that it could strike at range without rapidly losing power.
• Liu Yu awakened Astral Eyes, which let him see flows of Spiritual Power and burn distant objects with his gaze.
• Liu Yu ended his Astral True Form and realized that his ordinary-sized body confined him to using only about seventy percent of his strength.

Liu Yu learned that the search for the remaining levels of the Azure Yang Art had found no leads and ordered Jiang Qiushui to expand the search, even at the cost of their death soldiers. After three more years of cultivation, Elder Yan arrived with the sect’s order for Liu Yu to leave the Yuan Kingdom and help defend against the approaching beast tide; Liu Yu agreed to depart after settling the branch villa’s affairs.

• Liu Yu asked Jiang Qiushui about the Azure Yang Art, and she reported that the search had found no leads.
• Liu Yu ordered Jiang Qiushui to assign ten Foundation Establishment death soldiers to search across the Seven Kingdoms Alliance and the Righteous and Demonic Path territories.
• Liu Yu continued cultivating for three years, while Wen Caiyi advanced to Foundation Establishment and remained his head maid.
• Elder Yan visited Liu Yu at the branch villa and explained that the Primordial Yang Sect needed Golden Core cultivators to defend against the approaching beast tide.
• Liu Yu learned that Martial Uncle Tianfeng had backed the sect’s decision and agreed to leave after settling the branch villa’s affairs.

Liu Yu prepared to leave the Yuan Kingdom for the Demon-Subduing Frontline, assigning Leng Yuexin, Jiang Qiushui, and Ji Ruyan to protect his branch and giving them cultivation resources. After returning to the sect and arranging his affairs, he reached Golden Spear Immortal City, where he asserted his authority and met the other Golden Core cultivators stationed there.

• Liu Yu told Leng Yuexin he was leaving for the frontline and entrusted her with overseeing the Shadow of the Sun and training death soldiers, then gave her a wood-aligned Golden Core Condensation Pill.
• Liu Yu told Jiang Qiushui and Ji Ruyan to manage the Yuan Kingdom branch during his absence, gave Ji Ruyan a Purpleheart Barrier-Breaking Pill, and entrusted Jiang Qiushui with a Water-Type Golden Core Condensation Pill.
• Liu Yu bid farewell to Jiang Qiushui and Ji Ruyan, returned to the sect, visited fellow Golden Core cultivators, and left Qingyang Peak and the Jade Pill Hall in Yan Hongyu's care.
• Liu Yu arrived at Golden Spear Immortal City, where Ling Xuzi challenged his entry before Yan Kai recognized him and opened the city gate.
• Liu Yu pressured Ling Xuzi until Daoist Cangyun intervened, then accepted Cangyun's invitation to meet the other Golden Core cultivators at the City Lord's Mansion.

Liu Yu joined the Golden Spear City defense council, negotiated preparations for the approaching beast tide, and inspected the southern city assigned to the Primordial Yang Sect. He remained doubtful that the city could withstand the threat and resolved to retreat if the situation became hopeless.

• Liu Yu entered the council hall and encountered Zhuo Mengzhen, who still resented their past defeat, while Sima Yong greeted him cordially.
• Daoist Cangyun urged the four leaders to cooperate against the beast tide, and Liu Yu proposed using rewards to recruit rogue cultivators to hunt demon beasts.
• The leaders approved Liu Yu's proposal and divided responsibility for Golden Spear City's walls and satellite cities among their forces.
• Liu Yu warned Sima Yong that earlier beast tides had erased neighboring kingdoms and advised him to prepare for the worst.
• Liu Yu inspected the southern city with Yan Kai and learned that the Primordial Yang Sect had sent thirty-five Foundation Establishment cultivators and five hundred Qi Refining cultivators.

Liu Yu organized Golden Spear City's defenses and drew rogue cultivators into demon hunting with a subsidy, but the long-awaited beast tide erupted and overwhelmed the satellite cities. Faced with the Third Satellite City's imminent fall, Liu Yu ordered its defenders to retreat rather than risk sending aid, leaving Yan Kai shocked by his ruthless decision.

• Liu Yu appointed Yan Kai chief steward of the south city and assigned trusted cultivators to key positions before securing his residence with a defensive formation.
• Liu Yu ordered Yan Kai to ensure the Demon-Hunting Subsidy was paid in full and monitored its distribution to rogue cultivators who flocked to hunt demon beasts.
• Three years later, the Black Mountain Seven Friends spotted the beast tide and fled to the Third Satellite City, where its defenders and assembled cultivators attacked the approaching horde.
• White Tiger alerted Liu Yu that the Third Satellite City was close to falling, and Liu Yu ordered its defenders to abandon it and retreat to Golden Spear Immortal City.
• Yan Kai and several Foundation Establishment stewards urged Liu Yu to send aid, but he refused, prompting Yan Kai to privately condemn his decision.

Liu Yu prepared Golden Spear City for the approaching beast tide after refusing to send a rescue force to the satellite cities. When cultivators fleeing the fallen cities reached the walls, he flew out to protect White Tiger and demonstrated the power of his Setting Sun Golden Rainbow Spear.

• Liu Yu asked whether anyone would volunteer to rescue the cultivators in Third Satellite City, but Yan Kai and the others stayed silent, so he ordered Golden Spear City to activate its defenses and prepare for battle.
• Liu Yu joined Daoist Cangyun, Sima Yong, and Zhuo Mengzhen to plan the city's defense, and they learned that First Satellite City and Third Satellite City had fallen to the beast tide.
• Liu Yu inspected the city walls and ordered Yan Kai to distribute the Demon-Hunting Crossbows, Divine Crystal Cannons, and other special magical artifacts without conserving them.
• Liu Yu spotted White Tiger and two companions fleeing flying demon beasts, then flew out from Golden Spear City to intercept their pursuers.
• Liu Yu swept the Setting Sun Golden Rainbow Spear and unleashed a hundred streaks of golden light, killing the pursuing demon beasts after one survived the first attack.

Liu Yu and the other Golden Core cultivators prepared Golden Spear City for the beast tide, then led its defense against overwhelming attacks. The Five-Element Rotation Formation eased the pressure, but five powerful third-tier demon cultivators appeared, leaving Liu Yu wary of the city's prospects.

• Liu Yu learned that third-tier demon cultivators had helped overwhelm the four satellite cities, and he joined Zhuo Mengzhen, Daoist Cangyun, and Sima Yong in waiting through the night at Golden Spear City.
• Liu Yu detected the approaching beast tide before the other Golden Core cultivators and attacked its vanguard with the Setting Sun Golden Rainbow Spear, while the others helped kill thousands of beasts.
• The beast tide split to attack all four sides of Golden Spear City, and the four Golden Core cultivators took charge of separate walls as the city’s defenders and specialized weapons opened fire.
• Liu Yu ordered Yan Kai to activate the Five-Element Rotation Formation’s offensive function, and its five elemental hurricanes tore through the beast tide and gave the defenders a chance to recover.
• Liu Yu sensed five third-tier demon cultivators, including a late-stage Heavenfrost Eagle, and realized the attackers outmatched the city’s defenders.

Liu Yu and the cultivators of Golden Spear City fought off the beast tide as third-tier demon cultivators attacked the city’s defenses. After three days and nights of battle, the demon cultivators withdrew the beast tide fifty li to regroup, leaving the city a brief respite.

• Liu Yu and the other cultivators unleashed five-colored hurricanes that slaughtered low-tier demon beasts, but the Heavenfrost Eagle destroyed two hurricanes while the other third-tier demon beasts attacked.
• Daoist Cangyun, Zhuo Mengzhen, Sima Yong, and Liu Yu engaged the attackers; Liu Yu wounded the Snow-Spirit Leopard with the Setting Sun Golden Rainbow Spear and forced it onto the defensive.
• The Rock Turtle battered the Five-Element Rotation Formation while the Heavenfrost Eagle continued destroying the hurricanes, leaving Golden Spear City at a disadvantage.
• Liu Yu kept his hidden strength in reserve, judging that he had fulfilled his duty by fighting without making himself a greater target.
• The battle continued for three days and nights, until the third-tier demon cultivators halted the assault and withdrew the beast tide fifty li to regroup.

After Golden Spear City endured repeated beast-tide assaults, Liu Yu conserved resources, managed the defenders, and deliberately fought without revealing his full strength. Three months later, the sects told the city to hold out for five years without reinforcements, and Liu Yu resolved to let events take their course while keeping an escape plan ready.

• After the first three-day battle, Liu Yu ordered Yan Kai to reduce the use of costly magical artifacts and rotate the southern-wall cultivators in two groups.
• Liu Yu sensed the Heavenfrost Eagle among the regrouping demon beasts, met with Zhuo Mengzhen, Cang Yun, and Sima Kong, and later fought the Snow-Spirit Leopard while deliberately holding back.
• After the four-day assault, Liu Yu told Yan Kai to protect the defenders’ morale, and Yan Kai organized a team of female cultivators to encourage them.
• Three months later, Liu Yu, Zhuo Mengzhen, Sima Yong, and Daoist Cangyun received word that no reinforcements could come and that Golden Spear City had to hold out for five years.
• Zhuo Mengzhen condemned the order, while Liu Yu silently decided not to interfere as the city’s situation worsened and prepared to flee if necessary.

After two years of resisting the beast tide, Golden Spear City’s resources ran out and its formation finally broke. As demon beasts flooded into the city, Liu Yu and the other Golden Core cultivators fled in different directions.

• During the eighth month of the beast tide, Liu Yu and the defenders fought increasingly fierce attacks while the city’s supplies dwindled.
• Over the next two years, eight third-tier demon cultivators surrounded Golden Spear City, and Liu Yu prepared White Tiger and his companions for a possible escape.
• As the Five-Element Rotation Formation neared collapse, Liu Yu concealed his strength and prepared to flee rather than risk his life defending the city.
• The Heavenfrost Eagles summoned the other demon cultivators, whose combined attacks shattered the formation and exposed Golden Spear City to the beast tide.
• Daoist Cangyun, Zhuo Mengzhen, and Sima Yong escaped in separate directions, and Liu Yu followed by flying toward Qing Province.