Chapter Summaries

After the eight-year standoff ended, Li Xiaoya brought the Second Army home, reunited with his family and partners, and received a new appointment at the Heavenly Dao Sect. He left for the Treasure Pavilion to claim the Three-Colored Ring, though hostilities between the Righteous and Demonic Paths continued.

• Li Xiaoya escorted the Second Army back to the Heavenly Dao Sect in stages and helped turn its fortress into a market district that recruited rogue cultivators.
• Li Xiaoya reunited with Li Mother and Li Muzhi at Rainbow Rosy Peak, then encouraged them to keep cultivating by revealing that he was gathering materials for the Nine-Turn Spirit Communion Pill.
• Liu Xian'er and Zhang Hong visited Li Xiaoya, and he spent the night with Zhang Hong after they left his parents’ cave abode.
• The First Army and the other forces withdrew safely, but clashes between the Righteous and Demonic Paths grew more frequent as old grudges persisted.
• High Person Qianshan appointed Li Xiaoya to oversee Heavenly Capital Peak, and Li Xiaoya accepted after Senior Brother Murong Qi declined the post.
• Li Xiaoya headed to the Treasure Pavilion to claim the Three-Colored Ring.

Li Xiaoya chose the dragon-carved bronze mirror from the Treasure Pavilion and discovered it was the True Immortal Spirit Treasure called the Water Dragon Heaven-Turning Mirror. After studying it in seclusion, he reunited with the Wood Family Three Treasures, who had come to ask him for help.

• Li Xiaoya searched the Treasure Pavilion and chose the dragon-carved bronze mirror over the three-colored bracelet.
• Li Xiaoya identified the mirror as the Water Dragon Heaven-Turning Mirror and spent seven or eight days studying its divine abilities.
• Qin Xian told Li Xiaoya that three old acquaintances had waited several days to see him, and Li Xiaoya recognized them as Mu Dafeng, Mu Zhongfeng, and Mu Xiaofeng.
• Li Xiaoya welcomed the three cultivators, learned they had reached the late Golden Core stage, and invited them to tell him what help they needed.

Mu Dafeng recounted how a masked Nascent Soul cultivator forced the Mu Household into submission and lured the Wood Family Three Treasures into practicing a demonic cultivation method. With its bloodlust and blood-sacrifice demands threatening their lives and the household, the brothers asked Li Xiaoya to free them from its backlash; Li Xiaoya recognized a connection to the masked cultivators in black.

• Mu Dafeng explained that a masked Nascent Soul cultivator had bound the Mu Household with soul contracts and offered the brothers a way to reach the Nascent Soul realm.
• Mu Dafeng secretly practiced the gifted manual, advanced rapidly, and suspected it was a demonic cultivation method; Mu Zhongfeng and Mu Xiaofeng later obtained copies and joined him in practicing it.
• The brothers learned that the method demanded blood sacrifices of cultivators, refused to comply, and prepared to attack the cultivator who had deceived them.
• The masked cultivator left and their soul contracts dissolved, but the brothers continued to suffer bloodlust, declining cultivation, and dwindling lifespans from the method.
• Mu Dafeng, Mu Zhongfeng, and Mu Xiaofeng asked Li Xiaoya to help them overcome the method's backlash, while Li Xiaoya connected their story to the masked cultivators in black.

Li Xiaoya examined the Wood Family Three Treasures and found their demonic cultivation had turned their golden cores into demonic cores, leaving them at risk of losing most of their cultivation. Their condition revealed more of the Demon Realm’s scheme, and Li Xiaoya began planning how to protect the Heavenly Dao Sect while studying their cultivation method for a cure.

• Li Xiaoya examined Mu Dafeng, Mu Zhongfeng, and Mu Xiaofeng and warned that undoing their demonic cultivation might leave them with only a third of their power.
• Li Xiaoya gave the three brothers elixirs to suppress their demonic qi and arranged for Qin Xian to find them rooms in the cave abode.
• After they left, Li Xiaoya deduced that the Heaven-Shaking Great Emperor was a demonic beast’s divided spirit recruiting cultivators to prepare a Demon Realm invasion.
• Li Xiaoya suspected the Heaven-Shaking Great Emperor had supplied Fire Dragon Palace with the Heavenly Net and wondered what role the Five Poisons Sect had played.
• Li Xiaoya resolved to strengthen the Heavenly Dao Sect, prepare weapons, and investigate small sects and lineages for demonic infiltration.
• Li Xiaoya pressed Mu Zhongfeng’s jade slip to his forehead to study the cultivation method and find a way to help the three brothers.

Li Xiaoya discovered a way to remove the demonic qi afflicting the Wood Family Three Treasures without sacrificing their cultivation, then learned from High Person Qianshan and Buddha Xuanmen how far his abilities still lagged behind theirs. He returned to Tranquil Valley resolved to cultivate harder, while High Person Qianshan concluded that Li Xiaoya’s strength gave the Heavenly Dao Sect hope of surviving the coming crisis.

• Li Xiaoya studied the incomplete blood-sacrifice cultivation method and realized the Wood Family Three Treasures needed help before their cultivation and lifespans were drained away.
• Li Xiaoya used Diamond Grass Liquid to remove the demonic qi from the Wood Family Three Treasures, preserving and strengthening their cultivation; after recovering, they tried to become his disciples, and Qin Xian escorted them away.
• Li Xiaoya told High Person Qianshan and Buddha Xuanmen about his suspicions and learned that small lineages had vanished, the Fire Dragon Palace was recruiting widely, and the Heavenly Spirit Church faced internal strife.
• Li Xiaoya tested himself against Buddha Xuanmen and High Person Qianshan, losing after a few hundred exchanges and three moves respectively, then returned to Tranquil Valley determined to cultivate diligently.
• High Person Qianshan and Buddha Xuanmen revealed their relief after Li Xiaoya left, and High Person Qianshan celebrated that Li Xiaoya had endured three moves of his Windwood Nine Heavens and might help the Heavenly Dao Sect weather the calamity.

Li Xiaoya visited Spring Renewal Peak to find the remaining ingredients for the Nine-Turn Spirit Communion Pill. Alchemy Spirit Child said the Spring Returning Church had lost most of its medicinal treasures, but suggested the Medicine Venerable might have some.

• Li Xiaoya decided to resume cultivation, then left Tranquil Valley to seek ingredients for the Nine-Turn Spirit Communion Pill.
• Li Xiaoya arrived at Spring Renewal Peak and impressed its patrolling disciples with his reputation and powerful aura.
• Alchemy Spirit Child personally welcomed Li Xiaoya and escorted him into the main hall.
• Li Xiaoya gave Alchemy Spirit Child a jade slip listing the ingredients he needed and said he would pay for them.
• Alchemy Spirit Child explained that the Spring Returning Church had lost most of its treasures and suggested Li Xiaoya ask the Medicine Venerable.

Li Xiaoya visited the Medicine Venerable of Spring Returning to obtain rare ingredients for an elixir he was preparing. After the Medicine Venerable offered to refine it himself, Li Xiaoya insisted on trying his own hand and agreed to trade the pill formula.

• Alchemy Spirit Child brought Li Xiaoya to Spring Renewal Peak after the Medicine Venerable of Spring Returning invited him in.
• Li Xiaoya identified the Five-Element Void Spirit Pill from its medicinal fragrance, impressing Alchemy Spirit Child and the Medicine Venerable.
• Li Xiaoya asked the Medicine Venerable for rare ingredients and explained that his elixir improved cultivation, divine sense, constitution, and bottleneck breakthroughs.
• The Medicine Venerable offered to refine the elixir, but Li Xiaoya declined and said he wanted to practice refining it himself.
• The Medicine Venerable asked to trade for the pill formula, and Li Xiaoya agreed.

Li Xiaoya traded three valuable pill formulas to the Medicine Venerable of Spring Returning for the ingredients needed to refine the Nine-Turn Spirit Communion Pill, then shared alchemy insights with him. After giving a Five-Element Void Spirit Pill to his father, Li Muzhi, he returned to find Liu Xian'er waiting with something to discuss.

• Li Xiaoya gave the Medicine Venerable of Spring Returning three detailed pill formulas in exchange for the missing ingredients and a Five-Element Void Spirit Pill.
• Li Xiaoya and the Medicine Venerable of Spring Returning discussed alchemy until the following day, while Alchemy Spirit Child listened and wondered how Li Xiaoya had gained such deep expertise at his age.
• Li Xiaoya left with all the ingredients for the Nine-Turn Spirit Communion Pill but kept its formula secret, then gave the Five-Element Void Spirit Pill to Li Muzhi.
• Li Xiaoya reflected on the Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma's bead form and its gradually strengthening aura before returning to his cave abode.
• Li Xiaoya found Liu Xian'er waiting for him, and she said she had come to discuss something else.

Liu Xian'er tested her new divine abilities against Li Xiaoya and worried that her cultivation and fighting strength were falling behind. After Li Xiaoya helped arrange for her and Zhang Hong to stop practicing their combined technique, he spent several years improving his alchemy before preparing to refine the Nine-Turn Spirit Communion Pill, though one problem remained.

• Liu Xian'er sparred with Li Xiaoya using her new abilities, but became discouraged when she could not defeat him.
• Liu Xian'er explained that she wanted to practice the Water-Fire Combined Strike with Zhang Hong less often so they could focus on cultivation and she could keep pace with Dong Santong.
• Li Xiaoya spoke with Zhang Hong about her cultivation bottleneck and suggested she stop practicing the combined technique with Liu Xian'er; Zhang Hong agreed that she had been thinking the same thing.
• Li Xiaoya began studying how to refine the Nine-Turn Spirit Communion Pill and exchanged alchemy insights with the Medicine Venerable of Spring Returning over the next few years.
• Li Xiaoya felt his alchemy had improved enough to begin refining the pill, but he still needed to resolve one problem first.

Li Xiaoya waited for the Spiritlight Lake Immortal Gathering so he could refine Nine-Turn Spirit Communion Pills beneath the lake, while the Great Illusion Continent gradually recovered and rumors about the Heaven-Shaking Great Emperor spread. At the lakebed, he discovered that the Demon-Sealing Grand Array had been broken and its prisoner had escaped, raising the possibility that the demon was the Heaven-Shaking Great Emperor.

• Li Xiaoya chose Spiritlight Lake as the safest place to refine the Nine-Turn Spirit Communion Pills and waited until the gathering reopened.
• Over the following years, Little White advanced to the eighth tier, the Heavenly Dao Sect investigated demonic cultivation, and the Great Illusion Continent began to recover.
• Ten years later, Li Xiaoya told Liu Xian'er, Zhang Hong, Li Mother, and Li Muzhi about his plan, then went alone to Spiritlight Lake.
• Li Xiaoya entered the lake and found that the Demon-Sealing Grand Array was damaged, its chains broken, and the black crystal stone missing.
• Li Xiaoya suspected the escaped demon might be the Heaven-Shaking Great Emperor, released the restrictions on the Immortal Dao Chain, and told the Devastation Devil Lord what he had found.

Li Xiaoya learned that the Devastation Devil Lord’s missing body might have been taken by the Heaven-Shaking Great Emperor, who had come from the Demon Realm and might possess terrifying cultivation. He began refining the Nine-Turn Spirit Communion Pill, and after more than three years, the cauldron reached its final stage.

• Li Xiaoya taunted the Devastation Devil Lord and discovered that the Demon-Sealing Grand Array had suppressed the devil lord’s physical body, which had gone missing.
• The Devastation Devil Lord revealed that he knew the Heaven-Shaking Great Emperor and inadvertently disclosed that he had once reached the Great Void Stage.
• Li Xiaoya suspected the Heaven-Shaking Great Emperor had arrived around the time the Devastation Devil Lord’s body was released and might have taken it.
• Li Xiaoya restored the restrictions on the Immortal Dao Chain and decided to focus on cultivating and refining the Nine-Turn Spirit Communion Pill.
• Li Xiaoya set up a formation and used the Primordial Chaos Golden Cauldron to refine the pill for more than three years.
• As the pill reached its final stage, golden runes circled the rising cauldron, and Li Xiaoya shouted for it to open, sending a pillar of five-colored light skyward.

Li Xiaoya completed a batch of Nine-Turn Spirit Communion Pills, but most shattered as he tried to collect them. He secured three pills and decided to recover and review his alchemy before refining another batch, while the Demon-Sealing Divine Milk continued to hold the celestial phenomenon overhead.

• Li Xiaoya tried to collect the Nine-Turn Spirit Communion Pills one by one, but the first three he targeted burst apart.
• Li Xiaoya used the Primordial Chaos Immortal's method to collect the remaining pills at once, and three reached his fire spirit jade bottle intact.
• Li Xiaoya inspected the three pills, then lamented that they were not enough for his family and friends.
• Li Xiaoya decided to recover his strength and review his alchemy before starting a second batch.
• Li Xiaoya noticed that the Demon-Sealing Divine Milk still contained the five-colored spiritual light and wondered whether the phenomenon had other uses.

Li Xiaoya discovered that the Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma’s pearl absorbed the five-colored spiritual light produced while he refined Nine-Turn Spirit Communion Pills. After four years, the Ganoderma briefly awakened and explained that the light was five-element primordial power, but its consciousness soon began to fade again.

• Li Xiaoya found that the pearl absorbed the celestial phenomenon’s five-colored spiritual light, though it also drew on his Nascent Soul power when he held it outside his body.
• Li Xiaoya spent four years preparing and refining nearly twenty Nine-Turn Spirit Communion Pills, collecting seven before the rest exploded.
• Li Xiaoya brought out the pearl again, and it absorbed the lingering five-colored spiritual light until it began to flicker and change.
• The Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma awakened when Li Xiaoya’s Nascent Soul touched the pearl and spoke to him after he returned it to his body.
• The Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma said the light was five-element primordial power, then warned Li Xiaoya that its consciousness was about to fall asleep again.

Li Xiaoya left Spiritlight Lake hoping to find another source of five-element primordial power to help the Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma recover. On his way back to the Heavenly Dao Sect, he rescued Liu Xin'er from a middle-aged cultivator who had drugged and abducted her, but she began to stir with something still affecting her.

• Li Xiaoya reasoned that cultivators' breakthroughs and high-grade elixirs might produce five-element primordial power, then left Spiritlight Lake to return to the Heavenly Dao Sect.
• Li Xiaoya discovered that Demon-Sealing Divine Milk lost its effects once it left the Demon-Sealing Grand Array and discarded it.
• Li Xiaoya sensed Liu Xin'er fighting a middle-aged cultivator, then pursued them after the man subdued her and carried her into a cave.
• The middle-aged cultivator tried to drug Liu Xin'er with a pink pill, but Li Xiaoya appeared and struck him into the cave wall.
• Li Xiaoya recognized Liu Xin'er, who began to stir with her face flushed, while the wounded middle-aged cultivator groaned.

Li Xiaoya rescued Liu Xin'er from a fellow disciple who had poisoned and tried to exploit her, then searched the attacker’s soul. He discovered the man practiced a demonic cultivation method taught by Elder Ma, leaving Li Xiaoya troubled by how many Snow Jade Peak disciples might be involved.

• Li Xiaoya confronted the middle-aged cultivator from Snow Jade Peak, who begged for mercy and claimed to be Elder Ma’s disciple.
• When the attacker remained lustful toward the poisoned Liu Xin'er, Li Xiaoya knocked him unconscious and used an elixir and spiritual energy to purge the poison from her.
• Li Xiaoya sealed the Mountain Cave and performed a soul search on the middle-aged cultivator, killing him in the process.
• Li Xiaoya learned the cultivator had used a yin-stealing yang-nourishing method to prey on female cultivators and had targeted Liu Xin'er for her intact primordial yin and Golden Core Stage cultivation.
• Li Xiaoya discovered that Elder Ma had taught the demonic cultivation method to the cultivator and wondered how many of Elder Ma’s other disciples had harmed fellow disciples.

After discovering that Elder Ma had secretly taught demonic cultivation and concealed the murders committed by his disciples, Li Xiaoya burned Ma Lingran to ashes and suspected Elder Ma was far more cunning than he appeared. Liu Xin'er left the cave seeking revenge, while Li Xiaoya headed for Divine Path Mountain and encountered a group from Snow Jade Peak.

• Li Xiaoya used a spell to burn Ma Lingran and his treasures to ashes, then reasoned that Elder Ma had been secretly directing the demonic practices for years.
• Elder Ma sensed Ma Lingran's death, abandoned his seclusion, and sent dozens of cultivators out from Snow Jade Peak.
• Li Xiaoya considered using the Emotion-Erasing Art on the unconscious Liu Xin'er, but fled when she began to wake.
• Liu Xin'er dressed, murmured “Ma Lingran,” and flew toward Divine Path Mountain; Li Xiaoya worried her revenge could draw the Liu Family into conflict with the Ma Family.
• Li Xiaoya suspected Elder Ma might be possessed by a demonic beast and flew toward Divine Path Mountain to investigate.
• Li Xiaoya met Elder Chai and Snow Jade Peak disciples heading down the mountain, probed them for demonic qi without finding any, and watched them depart.

Li Xiaoya returned to Tranquil Valley, reunited with Zhang Hong and Liu Xian'er, and playfully teased them before telling them about his successful pill refining. He had made seven Nine-Turn Spirit Communion Pills but planned to wait until they were ready and better prepared before anyone took one.

• Li Xiaoya returned to Heavenly Capital Peak, greeted the larger Little White, and reunited with Zhang Hong and Liu Xian'er in Tranquil Valley.
• Zhang Hong showed off her advancement to the late Nascent Soul stage, and Li Xiaoya teased and kissed both women.
• Zhang Hong kissed Liu Xian'er on the cheek, leaving Liu Xian'er embarrassed before they went inside.
• Li Xiaoya told Zhang Hong and Liu Xian'er that he had successfully refined seven Nine-Turn Spirit Communion Pills.
• Li Xiaoya explained that the pills were dangerous and that none of them had reached the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm, so they would wait and make further preparations.

Li Xiaoya told High Person Qianshan and Buddha Xuanmen what he had learned about the Heaven-Shaking Great Emperor, and they discussed the Demon Realm’s invasion plans and the limits on Great Void cultivators. When Elder Ma arrived, Qianshan hid Li Xiaoya and Buddha Xuanmen in the Dueling Arena, where Buddha Xuanmen immediately challenged Li Xiaoya to a spar.

• Li Xiaoya sparred with Liu Xian'er and Zhang Hong while his magic power was still depleted, and the two women defeated him with their improved Water-Fire Combined Strike.
• Li Xiaoya visited High Person Qianshan and Buddha Xuanmen, reported that the Heaven-Shaking Great Emperor was a Great Void cultivator, and informed them that Elder Ma had taught demonic cultivation methods to his disciples.
• High Person Qianshan explained that Great Void cultivators risked heavenly tribulations in the Human Realm and that the Demon Realm sought to conquer the Human Realm as a route to attacking the Upper Realm.
• High Person Qianshan sensed Elder Ma approaching and sent Li Xiaoya and Buddha Xuanmen into his Dueling Arena before admitting him.
• Buddha Xuanmen proposed a spar, then attacked Li Xiaoya with a Rock Giant Hand that stirred a Spatial Storm.

Elder Ma sought the Heavenly Dao Divine Mirror to investigate his disciple’s death, but High Person Qianshan denied him access and suspected Li Xiaoya was responsible. Li Xiaoya realized Qianshan had likely shielded him, then sensed Liu Xin'er near Li Mother as he approached Rainbow Rosy Peak.

• Elder Ma reported that Ma Lingran had died near the Divine Path Mountain Range and asked to use the Heavenly Dao Divine Mirror.
• High Person Qianshan refused Elder Ma’s request, saying the mirror had recently been used, and assigned him to investigate the death.
• Li Xiaoya recognized that Elder Ma might suspect him, but High Person Qianshan reassured him that the mirror could not be used again for forty-nine years.
• High Person Qianshan gave Li Xiaoya cultivation guidance, then told Buddha Xuanmen that the death was probably connected to him and brought out the mirror.
• Li Xiaoya realized High Person Qianshan had likely concealed the truth for him and sensed Liu Xin'er near Li Mother as he neared Rainbow Rosy Peak.

Li Xiaoya reunited with his parents after refining the Nine-Turn Spirit Communion Pill and considered the dangers surrounding its use and the hidden threat of the Heaven-Shaking Great Emperor. He ordered Qin Xian to investigate Ma Luo and the Ma Family, then entered seclusion to recover his cultivation.

• Liu Xin'er thanked Li Xiaoya for the treasures he had given her, but he left to visit his mother before she could say more.
• Li Xiaoya showed his parents the Nine-Turn Spirit Communion Pill and explained that they needed to strengthen their bodies before attempting to use it.
• Li Xiaoya worried that the Heaven-Shaking Great Emperor and the Black-Robed Masked Cultivators were hiding while preparing an unknown plan.
• Li Xiaoya instructed Qin Xian to investigate Ma Luo and the Ma Family after revealing that Elder Ma had secretly taught a disciple demonic cultivation.
• After Qin Xian left, Li Xiaoya decided to wait for evidence and entered the sealed chamber to restore his magic power and cultivation.