Chapter Summaries

Li Xiaoya discovered that the black bead on his necklace had turned white and that it contained the devil whose smoke had been sealed inside it. The devil explained that Li Xiaoya was trapped in a Demon-Sealing Grand Array, while the necklace’s origins and Li Xiaoya’s parents remained a mystery.

• The devil spoke to Li Xiaoya from inside his necklace and offered to help him reach the Core Condensation Stage.
• The devil claimed that the necklace had absorbed him when its five-colored light saved Li Xiaoya, though Li Xiaoya doubted his story and refused to release him without learning more.
• Li Xiaoya asked about the necklace’s origins, and the devil said it was no ordinary object and that Li Xiaoya’s parents might have been cultivators.
• The devil told Li Xiaoya that they were in a place built to suppress demons and that escaping with his cultivation would be extremely difficult.
• The devil explained that the Demon-Sealing Grand Array had been used to imprison powerful Devil Lords after demons invaded the Human Realm and lost a war against its cultivators.

Li Xiaoya questioned the demon trapped in his necklace, who claimed to be the Spirit Communion cultivator Feng Chenzi and urged him to find a way to release him. Meanwhile, Xuandaozi rushed to Heavenly Venerable Daoling with news about the Spiritlight Lake Immortal Gathering, and Daoling revealed Li Xiaoya’s Lifebound Primordial Spirit Lamp.

• The demon falsely claimed to be the long-trapped Spirit Communion cultivator Feng Chenzi, and Li Xiaoya questioned his story while asking how to escape.
• Feng Chenzi said he had found a way out before Li Xiaoya’s necklace drew in his primordial spirit and soul, then explained that his physical body had perished.
• Li Xiaoya began examining the necklace, while Feng Chenzi offered to help him understand it.
• Xuandaozi received an emergency report from Spirit Daoist and hurried to Heavenly Venerable Daoling’s cave abode to discuss the Spiritlight Lake Immortal Gathering.
• Daoling produced a Lifebound Primordial Spirit Lamp, and Xuandaozi recognized it as possibly belonging to Li Xiaoya.

Heavenly Venerable Daoling confirmed that Li Xiaoya was alive through his Lifebound Primordial Spirit Lamp, and the Heavenly Dao Sect recalled its disciples from Spiritlight Lake. Li Xiaoya remained trapped in a vast white space with Feng Chenzi, unable to control the necklace or find a way out.

• Heavenly Venerable Daoling examined Li Xiaoya's lamp, saw that Li Xiaoya was alive and thriving, and told Xuandaozi to recall the disciples.
• Xuandaozi sent Spirit Daoist the sect's decision, and Spirit Daoist gathered the disciples to return to the sect.
• Spirit Daoist led the disciples away from Spiritlight Lake, prompting rumors among the other sects about Li Xiaoya's identity and importance.
• Li Xiaoya wandered the endless white space and failed to control the necklace, while Feng Chenzi refused to reveal the way out.
• Li Xiaoya silenced Feng Chenzi with a Concealment Spell and wound the necklace around his wrist after it would no longer fit in his Storage Pouch.

Trapped in the Devil Lord Suppression Formation, Li Xiaoya released Feng Chenzi from his necklace and pressed him for a way out. Feng Chenzi explained that escaping required Golden Core cultivation, then hinted that the formation had weaknesses but left Li Xiaoya waiting for the details.

• Li Xiaoya grew restless in the endless white space and released Feng Chenzi from his necklace to ease his boredom.
• Li Xiaoya asked Feng Chenzi how they could escape and promised to seek help from his sect elders if he got out.
• Feng Chenzi said the Devil Lord Suppression Formation created its own small world and that escaping required a Golden Core Stage cultivator.
• Feng Chenzi revealed that his years of observation had uncovered weaknesses in the formation, then teased Li Xiaoya about his low cultivation and need for Grain-Avoidance Pills.
• Li Xiaoya pleaded with Feng Chenzi to stop keeping him in suspense and explain the weaknesses.

Li Xiaoya resisted Feng Chenzi’s offer to cultivate using a Demon Crystal, then discovered that the methods Senior Brother Liu Hang had left him included the Heavenly Dao Sect’s foundational treasures. The chapter ended with Feng Chenzi demanding to know how Li Xiaoya had obtained them.

• Feng Chenzi told Li Xiaoya that he had wandered for twenty years trying to reach the formation’s boundary and advised him to first reach the Golden Core Stage.
• Feng Chenzi offered to teach Li Xiaoya a secret cultivation method that would let him absorb the Demon Crystal’s energy, but Li Xiaoya refused to trust him.
• Feng Chenzi warned Li Xiaoya that he needed a cultivation method for the next stage to break through to Core Condensation, and Li Xiaoya realized why his attempts had failed.
• Li Xiaoya took out the cultivation methods Senior Brother Liu Hang had left him and began reading their names aloud.
• Feng Chenzi recognized the Water Spirit Art and Divine Flame Technique as foundational treasures of the Heavenly Dao Sect and demanded to know how Li Xiaoya had obtained them.

Li Xiaoya studied Liu Hang’s cultivation insights to prepare for breaking through to Core Condensation, learning about the risks and the Spiritlight Lake’s benefits. When he realized he lacked auxiliary elixirs, Feng Chenzi directed him to search among the stone steles, leaving Li Xiaoya examining a massive stele for a hidden gap.

• Li Xiaoya concealed Feng Chenzi again and focused on studying the cultivation methods and Liu Hang’s cultivation insights.
• Li Xiaoya learned the requirements and risks of breaking through to Core Condensation, along with how Spiritlight Lake water could improve the process.
• Li Xiaoya asked Feng Chenzi for guidance because he lacked elixirs to assist his breakthrough.
• Feng Chenzi said he had plenty of elixirs and directed Li Xiaoya to a location among the stone steles.
• Li Xiaoya reached a massive stone stele, and Feng Chenzi told him to check for a gap beneath it.

Li Xiaoya discovered Feng Chenzi’s hidden stone chamber and learned about Divine Condensation Pills that could help with core condensation. He settled into the chamber but realized his state of mind was not ready for a breakthrough.

• Li Xiaoya opened a secret entrance in the stone stele and found a furnished chamber with a Pill Furnace and shelves of bottles and jars.
• Feng Chenzi explained that he used the Pill Furnace to condense spiritual qi into pills and refused to teach Li Xiaoya the divine ability.
• Li Xiaoya found bottles of Divine Condensation Pills and learned to swallow them in two portions because his cultivation was still low.
• Li Xiaoya declared that he would live in the chamber, cast a soundproofing spell on the Necklace, and searched the room for useful items.
• Li Xiaoya found nothing else and rested on the animal hides, recognizing that he was not in the right state of mind to attempt a breakthrough.

Li Xiaoya discovered a black Storage Pouch in the Small Stone Chamber and later decided to cultivate in hopes of finding a way out. Meanwhile, Buddha Xuanmen entered seclusion to attempt a breakthrough, while Li Xiaoya began practicing the Divine Flame Art and took a Divine Condensation Pill.

• Li Xiaoya found a black Storage Pouch but could not open it, then fell asleep on the Beast Hide.
• Buddha Xuanmen told Dong Santong to cultivate under Grand Patriarch Heavenly Venerable Daoling while he entered seclusion, and reassured Daoling that Li Xiaoya's Lifebound Primordial Spirit Lamp remained unharmed.
• Buddha Xuanmen entered seclusion at Little Mirror Lake, and news of his attempted breakthrough into the Spirit Communion Stage spread through the Liang Kingdom and nearby kingdoms.
• After waking refreshed, Li Xiaoya took a Grain-Avoidance Pill and decided to attempt a breakthrough into the Core Condensation Stage to improve his chances of escaping.
• Li Xiaoya studied and practiced the Divine Flame Art using Senior Brother Liu Hang's annotations, then swallowed a Divine Condensation Pill and felt its spiritual energy surge through him.

Li Xiaoya endured the dangerous effects of the Divine Condensation Pill and appeared to break through while meditating. The chapter left him examining his transformed magic power and wondering whether he had advanced successfully.

• Li Xiaoya struggled as the pill's energy overwhelmed his meridians, then recalled Liu Xian'er’s description of Core Condensation and changed his approach.
• Li Xiaoya persisted in circulating the Divine Flame Art until his magic power began to condense and his meridians grew stronger.
• Dong Santong emerged from seclusion after breaking through, and Zhang Facai told him that Li Xiaoya was still safe but had not returned.
• Dong Santong returned to his sealed chamber, hoping to settle who was stronger with Li Xiaoya when he came back.
• Li Xiaoya awoke to find his magic power and divine sense greatly increased, with condensed magic power and a tiny liquid sphere in his dantian.

After advancing to the Core Condensation Stage, Li Xiaoya learned that he had meditated for over four months and received Feng Chenzi’s Sleep God Art. Feng Chenzi said he would explain how to escape once Li Xiaoya could damage the stone steles, and Li Xiaoya tested his new strength against one.

• Li Xiaoya woke from his meditation, discovered his breakthrough and asked Feng Chenzi how long he had been meditating.
• Feng Chenzi estimated that Li Xiaoya had meditated for a little over four months and taught him the Sleep God Art.
• Feng Chenzi told Li Xiaoya that sleeping on the Spirit-Transforming Beast hide could restore magic power and improve divine sense.
• Feng Chenzi said he would reveal an escape method if Li Xiaoya could shatter or mark the stone steles, but warned that he would need to reach the Golden Core Stage.
• Li Xiaoya ignored Feng Chenzi’s warning and struck a stone stele with a greatly strengthened Cross Flame Blade.

Li Xiaoya poured nearly all his magic power into a powerful strike against the stone stele, managing only to leave a hair-thin crack. Feng Chenzi revealed that the steles were treasures suppressing the Devil Lord, while Li Xiaoya remained trapped inside the array.

• Li Xiaoya tested the stone stele with the Cross Flame Blade, but it remained unharmed as the crater in the ground repaired itself.
• Li Xiaoya charged the Fire Dragon Sword for a quarter of an hour and unleashed Fire Dragon Spits Pearl, yet the stone stele still appeared unscathed.
• Li Xiaoya spotted a hair-thin crack where his attack had hit and told Feng Chenzi that his Supreme Spiritual Artifact had left the mark.
• Feng Chenzi pointed out that Li Xiaoya had exhausted his magic power and could not break the stele anytime soon.
• Feng Chenzi explained that the stone steles suppressed the Devil Lord and that the True Demon-Sealing Grand Array had trapped his true body.

Li Xiaoya questioned Feng Chenzi’s claims about the sealed Devil Lord and pretended to accept his advice while growing more suspicious. After secretly blocking Feng Chenzi’s hearing, he tested the Fire Dragon Sword against the stele, then returned to the stone chamber to sleep.

• Feng Chenzi told Li Xiaoya that the Devil Lord was already dead and urged him to practice a demonic cultivation method so he could eventually break the stele.
• Li Xiaoya avoided learning Feng Chenzi’s method by asking whether it was fire-element, then went to the stone chamber to meditate.
• Li Xiaoya cast a Concealment Spell over the White Necklace and concluded that Feng Chenzi might be the Devil Lord or his avatar.
• Li Xiaoya used the Fire Dragon Sword and a Giant Strength Spell to strike the stele, leaving a sword mark several feet long and two fingers deep.
• Li Xiaoya put away the sword, decided to test it again after recovering, and returned to the stone chamber to sleep.

Li Xiaoya sought Feng Chenzi’s guidance on cultivation while concealing his own plans, then used a Divine Condensation Pill to advance his Core Condensation Stage cultivation. He remained trapped and longed to escape and see his master and senior brothers again.

• Li Xiaoya asked Feng Chenzi for a body-tempering method, claiming he would need strength to move the stone stele after cutting through it.
• Feng Chenzi agreed to prepare a cultivation method and told Li Xiaoya to focus on raising his cultivation and take one Divine Condensation Pill each month.
• Li Xiaoya cast a Concealment Spell on the necklace, examined the imprisoned Devil Lord’s Demon Crystal, and grew more suspicious of Feng Chenzi’s connection to it.
• Li Xiaoya swallowed a Divine Condensation Pill and meditated for half a month, reaching about halfway through the first level of the Core Condensation Stage.
• Li Xiaoya thought of his master and senior brothers and wished he could escape to see them again.

Li Xiaoya used the Fire Dragon Sword to hack at the stone stele and then cultivated with pills while trapped at the bottom of Spiritlight Lake. After more than a month of training, he developed a stronger spinning Flame Blade attack and named it Fire Whirlwind.

• Li Xiaoya examined the necklace that had imprisoned Feng Chenzi and resolved to cultivate until he could escape and search for his parents.
• Li Xiaoya repeatedly struck the stone stele with the Fire Dragon Sword, carving a deep gash before exhausting his magic power and injuring his hands.
• Li Xiaoya treated his wounds and began cultivating with a White Gold Pill from Liu Hang, while Heavenly Venerable Daoling noticed that Li Xiaoya's Primordial Spirit Lamp had grown brighter and suspected he had advanced.
• After more than a month of training, Li Xiaoya concentrated his magic power to create a spinning, eight-edged Flame Blade that blasted a small pit into the stele.
• Li Xiaoya celebrated his new technique and named it Fire Whirlwind.

Li Xiaoya received the Overlord Art from Feng Chenzi and began studying the cultivation method, unaware that it was a trap. A year later, Heavenly Venerable Daoling sent Liu Yulan to find his missing seventh disciple, giving her Li Xiaoya’s Lifebound Primordial Spirit Lamp to guide her.

• Li Xiaoya undid the Concealment Spell and asked Feng Chenzi about the body-refining cultivation method.
• Feng Chenzi taught Li Xiaoya the nine-level Overlord Art, secretly intending to use the demonic technique to kill him.
• Li Xiaoya memorized and recorded the method, believing Feng Chenzi had not tampered with it.
• After a year passed, Heavenly Venerable Daoling grew concerned about Li Xiaoya’s unusually rapid cultivation.
• Heavenly Venerable Daoling sent Liu Yulan to search for Li Xiaoya and gave her his Lifebound Primordial Spirit Lamp to track him.

Liu Yulan left Heavenly Capital Peak carrying the Lifebound Primordial Spirit Lamp and materials for Heavenly Venerable Daoling’s old friends, while Li Xiaoya continued training in the Overlord Art and cutting down stone steles. After months of painful practice, he had mastered the art’s first level, but his progress at felling the current stele remained slow.

• Heavenly Venerable Daoling gave Liu Yulan the Lifebound Primordial Spirit Lamp, a jade slip, and a Storage Pouch, then told her to visit his old friends and report anything unusual about the lamp.
• Liu Yulan left Heavenly Capital Peak and flew northwest toward Spiritlight Lake, while Heavenly Venerable Daoling returned to cultivation.
• Li Xiaoya reflected on mastering the first level of the Overlord Art and accepted Feng Chenzi’s explanation that the body-tempering method belonged to the Demonic Path.
• Li Xiaoya finished a painful training session atop a stone stele and complained about the agony of practicing the Overlord Art.
• Li Xiaoya used the Fire Dragon Sword to chop at the stele, but its increasingly hard and tough interior left him panting before he could cut it down.

Li Xiaoya pressed Feng Chenzi to explain how they could escape the Demon-Sealing Grand Array, and Feng Chenzi proposed building a tower to reach the sky above. The chapter ended with Li Xiaoya realizing they might escape through the bottom of Spiritlight Lake.

• After advancing to the second layer of the core condensation stage, Li Xiaoya discussed an escape plan with Feng Chenzi through the Necklace.
• Feng Chenzi told Li Xiaoya that the stone steles regrew after several years and explained that he wanted to build a tall tower and climb it.
• Li Xiaoya questioned why Feng Chenzi had not escaped before, and Feng Chenzi said an unexpected event had thwarted his earlier attempt.
• After Feng Chenzi asked how Li Xiaoya had entered the array, Li Xiaoya realized they might escape through the bottom of Spiritlight Lake.

Li Xiaoya accepted Feng Chenzi’s plan to escape Spiritlight Lake and focused on cultivating while trapped beneath it. Liu Yulan searched for him near the lake but left, while Liu Xian'er prepared to leave her sect with Li Xiaoya on her mind.

• Feng Chenzi told Li Xiaoya they would escape through the bottom of Spiritlight Lake, concealing how dangerous the lake’s pressure and formation were to him.
• Li Xiaoya realized the necklace alone would not let him swim upward, so he resolved to cultivate the Overlord Art and took a Divine Condensation Pill.
• Liu Yulan used Li Xiaoya’s Lifebound Primordial Spirit Lamp to locate Spiritlight Lake but stayed away because the Heavenly Spirit Church was on watch and the sect rules barred her entry.
• Liu Yulan sent her master a message, waited in a cave for several days, then destroyed the cave and flew southwest.
• Liu Xian'er stood at Jade Bamboo Peak before leaving the Heavenly Dao Sect to gain experience, thinking about Li Xiaoya and feeling an unsettling concern for him.

After more than four years trapped inside the Demon-Sealing Grand Array, Li Xiaoya used his formidable cultivation to build a towering structure from stone steles while seeking a way out. With his Grain-Avoidance Pills dwindling and no ingredients left to make more, he continued cutting steles and prepared to speed up his escape.

• A girl waited in the Bamboo Forest Sea for Li Xiaoya, then left the mountain to gain experience after he failed to return for four years.
• Li Xiaoya finished placing a stone stele atop his tower and reflected on his progress in the Overlord Art and Core Condensation Stage.
• Li Xiaoya recalled that he had reached the third level of the Core Condensation Stage, run out of pill ingredients, and lacked the formula for Grain-Avoidance Pills.
• Worried that he might eventually starve, Li Xiaoya jumped from the tower and landed safely in the white ground.
• Li Xiaoya used the Fire Dragon Sword to cut through a stone stele, then struck its weakened base until it toppled.

Li Xiaoya improved his method of breaking stone steles and carried one toward the tower. Elsewhere, Liu Xian'er, known as the Blue Ice Fairy, killed the Three Yellow Sand Fiends and continued her campaign against wicked cultivators.

• Li Xiaoya broke a stone stele with one blow, then lifted it onto his back and trudged toward the tower.
• The Three Yellow Sand Fiends fled through Yellow Sand Valley, but the Blue Ice Fairy killed them with Ice Spikes.
• The Blue Ice Fairy dissolved the fiends’ corpses and destroyed their Storage Pouches, magical artifacts, and other belongings.
• News spread through the Liang Kingdom's Cultivation World that the Blue Ice Fairy had killed the Three Yellow Sand Fiends, her twenty-fourth such incident.
• The chapter revealed that the Blue Ice Fairy was Liu Xian'er, who had taken up hunting wicked cultivators during her travels after being harassed by them.