Chapter Summaries

Wang Yan escaped the Two-Headed Lion Beast and entered a ruined passage, where he discovered fresh footprints and signs of a Divine Sense Restriction. After spotting a familiar woman and recognizing an enemy among the people pursuing her, he followed them toward a distant commotion.

• Wang Yan lured the Two-Headed Lion Beast away from the others, escaped into a passage, and treated his wounds.
• Wang Yan found fresh footprints and a Divine Sense Restriction, then decided with Card Fairy to explore what he suspected was an inheritance site.
• Wang Yan hid as a woman he recognized passed by and headed into the right passage.
• Wang Yan recognized a familiar voice among two pursuers and followed them, intent on taking revenge.
• Wang Yan heard a crash and rumbling from farther down the passage as he cautiously advanced.

Wang Yan followed the lit passage and found White Spirit Sect cultivators trying to break a golden barrier. Luo Bai and Luo Yan sacrificed their disciples to empower a two-headed giant wolf White Spirit, which eventually shattered the barrier and revealed churning air beyond it.

• Wang Yan cautiously followed the curving passage toward its summit, where he found White Spirit Sect cultivators attacking a golden barrier with their demon beasts.
• Luo Yan persuaded Luo Bai to use a forbidden technique, and the White Spirit Sect cultivators swallowed blood-red pills that greatly increased their power.
• Luo Bai and Luo Yan fused their demon beasts into a two-headed giant wolf White Spirit by feeding it the other cultivators’ beasts and blood essence.
• Luo Bai ordered the weakened cultivators killed, and the two-headed giant wolf devoured them to strengthen itself further.
• The two-headed giant wolf repeatedly struck the golden barrier until it broke, exposing churning air beyond it.

Luo Yan and Luo Bai led White Spirit into a hall, where it fought and destroyed a powerful One-Horned Giant Serpent. As they went to claim three Treasure Chests, two Flying Swords attacked them, but they revealed they had expected the ambush.

• White Spirit charged into the passage and fought the One-Horned Giant Serpent while Luo Yan and Luo Bai replenished and controlled it.
• Wang Yan followed a hidden figure toward the hall, hoping to kill an enemy ahead.
• The One-Horned Giant Serpent overwhelmed White Spirit, so Luo Yan and Luo Bai made the wolf self-detonate, killing the serpent and knocking the Treasure Chests down.
• Luo Bai and Luo Yan headed toward the fallen Treasure Chests, discussing the rewards they would earn.
• Two blackish-purple-flamed Flying Swords shot from the passage, but Luo Yan and Luo Bai countered them with gray-light longswords, revealing they had anticipated an attacker.

Fairy Purple Smoke confronted Luo Yan and Luo Bai, but Wang Ziling interrupted and launched a surprise attack against her. After she overcame his demonic arts and gave chase, Wang Ziling trapped her with a spell that left her unable to use her magic power.

• Fairy Purple Smoke revealed herself to Luo Yan and Luo Bai and demanded that they surrender.
• Wang Ziling arrived, giving Luo Yan and Luo Bai an opening to attack Fairy Purple Smoke, who killed them with her flaming swords.
• Wang Ziling attacked Fairy Purple Smoke with black-red mist, ghost heads, and flaming spheres, but she used her Red-Light Flame to break free.
• Wang Ziling fled down the passage, and Fairy Purple Smoke pursued him and sent her swords after him.
• Wang Ziling activated a rune-covered trap beneath Fairy Purple Smoke, preventing her from mobilizing magic power as thorny vines wrapped around her.

Wang Yan ambushed Wang Ziling while he was using a black-red formation and demonic energy to subdue Fairy Purple Smoke. Wang Ziling recognized Wang Yan after defending against the attack, and the two faced off with Fairy Purple Smoke still nearby.

• Wang Ziling used black-red thorny vines and a formation to restrain Fairy Purple Smoke, then released her while the Passion-Inducing Mist affected her.
• Wang Yan attacked Wang Ziling from behind with Red-Light Steel Needles and Red-Light Fireballs, interrupting his assault on Fairy Purple Smoke.
• Wang Ziling deflected most of the needles with Black-Red Claws and summoned a Metal Skull to block the fireballs.
• Wang Ziling saw Wang Yan and cried out in disbelief that he was still alive.

Wang Yan returned after nearly two years and attacked Wang Ziling with the Infinite Fire God Needles. As Wang Ziling neared defeat, the Blacklight Devil Lord began possessing him, transforming him and turning the fight against Wang Yan, who was left caught in the Metal Skull’s pull.

• Wang Yan detonated needles embedded in Wang Ziling, then attacked him with a spinning vortex of Infinite Fire God Needles and a fireball.
• Wang Ziling called on the Devil Lord, whose black energy appeared as a giant figure and helped him resist Wang Yan’s attacks.
• Wang Yan detonated more needles in Wang Ziling’s back and sent another barrage at him while the Devil Lord attacked Wang Yan with a ghost claw.
• The Devil Lord began pouring demonic energy into Wang Ziling, who grew into a horned, half-monster form and knocked away the incoming needles with the Metal Skull.
• Wang Ziling’s aura rose to the early Core Condensation Realm, and he enlarged the Metal Skull and sent it after Wang Yan.
• Wang Yan used a Wind-Riding Talisman to flee, but the Metal Skull’s black mist pulled him in as it closed in behind him.

Wang Yan battled Wang Ziling, whose early Core Condensation cultivation and Metal Skull gave him a decisive advantage. Wang Yan dodged the Metal Skull and used his flying rings to evade Wang Ziling’s blade attacks, then plunged back toward him with the Water-Fire Blast Card activated.

• Wang Ziling struck Wang Yan with the Metal Skull, sending him crashing across the hall and badly damaging the Ironwood Shield.
• Wang Yan launched fire spells and his Mother-and-Son Flying Rings, but Wang Ziling shattered the spells and knocked the rings away with black blades.
• Wang Ziling sent the Metal Skull at Wang Yan again, and Wang Yan used the Fire Fist Spell Card to blast himself upward and avoid it.
• Wang Ziling pursued Wang Yan into the air and unleashed dozens of blade rays, but Wang Yan bounced upward on his flying rings to reach the hall’s ceiling.
• Wang Yan reversed direction with a blast from the ceiling and activated the Water-Fire Blast Card as he plunged toward Wang Ziling.

Wang Yan used his Water-Fire Blast Technique and the traps he had planted in the passage to badly injure Wang Ziling, but Wang Ziling survived beneath the rubble. As Wang Yan rushed to finish him, Wang Ziling agreed to merge with the Devil Lord to stay alive.

• Wang Yan endured Wang Ziling’s attacks and redirected his Water-Fire Blast Technique toward him, driving Wang Ziling into the passage.
• Wang Yan detonated the fire blast traps and Explosive Fire Talismans he had planted in the passage, burying Wang Ziling beneath rubble.
• The Card Fairy sensed that Wang Ziling was still alive, and Wang Yan hurried toward the blocked passage to finish him off.
• Wang Ziling struggled beneath the rubble and agreed to merge with the Devil Lord, who began chanting as black runes swirled over Wang Ziling’s body.

Wang Yan was gravely wounded by demonic energy, but the Card Fairy poured her remaining strength into him, healing his injuries and greatly increasing his power. As Wang Ziling emerged from the rubble merged with the Devil Lord, Wang Yan fought back and launched a strengthened Water-Fire Blast Technique at the Metal Skull.

• Demonic energy spread through Wang Yan's wounds, leaving him weak as the Card Fairy warned that it had invaded his body.
• The Card Fairy gave Wang Yan her remaining strength, and the Immortal Card Artifact healed his wounds while boosting his magic power.
• Wang Ziling broke through the rubble with the Devil Lord's power and charged Wang Yan with a Ghost Claw.
• Wang Yan stopped Wang Ziling's attack with Red-Light Flame, surprising Wang Ziling with his strength.
• Wang Ziling sent the enlarged Metal Skull at Wang Yan, who combined Red-Light Flame and Blue-Light Flame into a sphere and hurled it toward the skull.

Wang Yan overwhelmed Wang Ziling with his newly amplified magic power and drove him toward the hall’s blasted opening, but Fairy Purple Smoke’s embrace stopped Wang Yan from pursuing him. The chapter left Wang Yan frozen as she pressed her lips to his.

• Wang Yan’s Water-Fire Blast Technique shattered Wang Ziling’s Metal Skull and blasted a massive crater into the hall wall.
• Wang Yan attacked with the Mother-and-Son Flying Rings and a Fire Fist Spell, melting Wang Ziling’s sabers and severely wounding him.
• Wang Ziling summoned demonic ghost heads and Passion-Inducing Mist, but Wang Yan destroyed the heads and burned away the mist.
• Wang Ziling tried to escape through the hole in the wall, and Wang Yan blasted his back as he fled through it.
• Wang Ziling kicked Fairy Purple Smoke toward Wang Yan, and she clung to him, stopping his pursuit and pressing her lips to his.

Wang Yan and Fairy Purple Smoke were overcome by the Passion-Inducing Mist and became intimate, while Ye Shisan was persuaded to remain inside the ruin. Wang Yan woke to find Fairy Purple Smoke gone and a spiritual longsword plunging toward his throat.

• Fairy Purple Smoke's Passion-Inducing Mist affected Wang Yan, and the two became entangled in the hall.
• Ye Shisan tried to leave the Illusion Formation to find Wang Yan, but Zhang Qiulin and Zhang Qiulang convinced him to stay.
• Wang Yan woke beside Fairy Purple Smoke while the mist's effects still lingered, and they became intimate again.
• Fairy Purple Smoke bit Wang Yan's shoulder, and they eventually collapsed from exhaustion.
• Wang Yan opened his eyes and saw a spiritual longsword pointed at his throat as it plunged toward him.

Wang Yan awakened to find Fairy Purple Smoke attacking him over what had happened between them, and he fled through the ruined hall while she pursued him with her treasures. He escaped through a blasted opening, but her attack struck his back and sent him flying over a bottomless abyss.

• Fairy Purple Smoke woke before Wang Yan, retrieved the Golden-Light Box, and attacked him when he awakened, accusing him of being a lecher.
• Wang Yan searched for Wang Ziling and the golden boxes, then found that Card Fairy did not answer because she had gone to sleep after transferring her power.
• Fairy Purple Smoke recognized Wang Yan and intensified her pursuit with flying swords, a mirror treasure, and a Purple-Red Light Net.
• Wang Yan used his Immortal Card ability to blast himself clear of the net and noticed that Fairy Purple Smoke struggled to move because of her injuries.
• Wang Yan ran through the opening he had blasted into the hall, but Fairy Purple Smoke struck his back with a purple-red beam and sent him flying over the abyss.

Wang Yan, Fairy Purple Smoke, Ye Shisan, Zhang Qiulin, Zhang Qiulang, and the Two-Headed Lion Beast were swept away by five-colored spiritual light as the Cloud Mountain Treasure Land expedition ended. They reappeared outside the Five Great Sects, where Wang Yan crashed onto the beast and was seized as it tried to eat him.

• Fairy Purple Smoke knocked Wang Yan into Cloud Mountain’s flight-prohibited abyss, then vanished in five-colored spiritual light.
• The Two-Headed Lion Beast broke into the ruins and seized Zhang Qiulin and Zhang Qiulang, while Ye Shisan tried to fight it.
• Five-colored light transported Ye Shisan, both women, and the Two-Headed Lion Beast away; Wang Yan vanished just before hitting a stone spire.
• Cultivators across the Cloud Mountain Treasure Land were transported out as the month-long expedition ended.
• The Two-Headed Lion Beast, Zhang Qiulin, Zhang Qiulang, and Ye Shisan appeared at the Firecloud Sect’s gathering place, where Wang Yan crashed onto the beast and knocked Ye Shisan down.
• The Two-Headed Lion Beast caught the badly injured Wang Yan and lunged to bite him.

Wang Yan survived the Two-Headed Lion Beast’s attack when Hua Zhitian killed it with a powerful axe, then was summoned with his companions to explain themselves aboard the Flying Boat. Elsewhere, Fairy Purple Smoke concealed a painful injury as the sects reacted to the losses and the Purple Flame Sect’s haul of inheritance treasures.

• Hua Zhitian’s red axe decapitated the Two-Headed Lion Beast and returned to him, saving Wang Yan, who had suffered severe injuries.
• Ye Shisan and the two women helped Wang Yan set and splint his broken bones while Hua Zhitian summoned him and his companions aboard the Flying Boat.
• Firecloud Sect survivors assembled for a headcount, and cultivators discussed Wang Yan’s group and the slain beast.
• The White Spirit Sect, Twin Joy Sect, and Pale Moon Sect lamented that none of their elite disciples had returned, while the Purple Flame Sect celebrated Fairy Purple Smoke’s inheritance treasures.
• After Uncle Long berated Xiao Han and the others, Fairy Purple Smoke returned to her room, revealed her injury, cursed Wang Yan, and took medicine.

Injured Wang Yan and his companions spoke with Hua Zhitian, who questioned them about Cloud Mountain’s ruins and the golden boxes. Wang Yan blamed the Purple Flame Sect for taking them, then the group joined the line to surrender their spoils, where Lingyu demanded four additional items from the Double-Sword Daoist.

• Wang Yan complained inwardly about Fairy Purple Smoke and wondered whether Wang Ziling had survived their fall from Cloud Mountain.
• Hua Zhitian questioned Wang Yan and his companions about the ruins and the three golden boxes, and Wang Yan claimed the Purple Flame Sect had taken them.
• Hua Zhitian told the four to hand over their medicinal herbs and leave, then wondered aloud whether the Purple Flame Sect had obtained at least three boxes.
• Wang Yan and his companions joined the line to surrender their spoils and met the Double-Sword Daoist, who said they must also hand over four items.
• The Double-Sword Daoist refused Lingyu’s demand for the four items.

After the Cloud Mountain Treasure Land expedition, Wang Yan and his companions joined the Firecloud Sect, and Wang Yan began recovering from his severe injuries. Card Fairy remained unconscious, leaving him unable to access several Storage Bags or rely on her guidance for cultivation.

• Lingyu forced the Double-Sword Daoist and the other survivors to surrender their Storage Bags and Spirit Medicine before the sect announced the expedition rankings.
• Yue Yang took first place, the Double-Sword Daoist placed second, and Wang Yan ranked fourth; Ye Shisan, Zhang Qiulin, and Zhang Qiulang took fifth through seventh.
• Hua Zhitian learned that only the Firecloud Sect and Purple Flame Sect direct disciples had returned from the expedition, and the major sects departed the next day after suffering heavy losses.
• Wang Yan and the other survivors became full Firecloud Sect members, while Ye Shisan, Zhang Qiulin, and Zhang Qiulang pooled their resources to buy him an Advanced Bone-Setting Pill.
• Wang Yan began healing in his residence, but Card Fairy remained unconscious, preventing him from retrieving his companions' Storage Bags or safely attempting a breakthrough to the Core Condensation Realm.

Wang Yan met with Ye Shisan and the Zhang sisters, learned that older Firecloud Sect disciples preyed on newcomers, and urged his friends to enter secluded cultivation and attempt breakthroughs. The next day, they went to the peak-assignment gathering, where the disciples were ordered to line up by their Cloud Mountain Treasure Land rankings.

• Wang Yan welcomed Ye Shisan and the Zhang sisters, who told him that new disciples would be assigned to branches the next day and gave him a Jade Slip of sect rules and notes.
• The Zhang sisters and Ye Shisan agreed to leave their valuables with Wang Yan after warning that older disciples targeted newcomers for their merit points and treasures.
• Wang Yan proposed that Ye Shisan and the sisters enter secluded cultivation to attempt breakthroughs to the Core Condensation Realm and avoid being assigned chores while vulnerable.
• After reading the Jade Slip, Wang Yan went with Ye Shisan and the sisters to the gathering place, where disciples discussed the four peaks and their benefits.
• A senior ordered everyone to line up according to their rankings in the Cloud Mountain Treasure Land.

Wang Yan watched four Golden Core cultivators arrive to choose disciples, but their selection turned into a dispute over who would take him. He stepped forward to ask that the cultivators respect the disciples’ wishes, leaving his own fate undecided.

• Daoist Fire Tiger, High Person Golden Cloud, Fairy Dream Mysterious, and Venerable Gray Three arrived to select disciples from the assembled cultivators.
• Fairy Dream Mysterious claimed Zhang Qiulin and Zhang Qiulang, while the four cultivators argued over which peak would choose first.
• Daoist Fire Tiger offered Venerable Gray Three the first choice, and Venerable Gray Three selected the Double-Sword Daoist before demanding Wang Yan instead.
• Venerable Gray Three pressured Wang Yan, Ye Shisan, and the Double-Sword Daoist, but Daoist Fire Tiger objected when Gray Three tried to change his choice.
• Wang Yan stepped forward and told the Golden Core cultivators there was no need to argue, prompting Daoist Fire Tiger to say they should respect the disciples’ wishes.

Wang Yan chose Yellow Cloud Peak over Heaven Cloud Peak and gained Venerable Gray Three’s favor, becoming his nominal disciple and receiving two Qi Condensation Pills. As Venerable Gray Three flew him to the peak, he warned Wang Yan not to let his cleverness backfire and began explaining why he had accepted him.

• Wang Yan chose Yellow Cloud Peak because Venerable Gray Three reminded him of his late grandfather, then reasoned that the smaller peak would value him more.
• Venerable Gray Three made Wang Yan his nominal disciple and gave him two Qi Condensation Pills, while Daoist Fire Tiger regretted losing him.
• High Person Golden Cloud selected Ye Shisan, Fairy Mengxuan chose Zhang Qiulin and Zhang Qiulang, and Daoist Fire Tiger took the Double-Sword Daoist.
• Venerable Gray Three reluctantly accepted the final disciple, who had earned no merit points and claimed he had been robbed.
• Venerable Gray Three flew Wang Yan to Yellow Cloud Peak and warned him that his cleverness could trip him up before asking why Wang Yan thought he had accepted him.

After recovering on Yellow Cloud Peak, Wang Yan prepared to seek the pills and cultivation technique he needed to advance, while learning that Venerable Gray Three had taken him as a disciple partly to find a successor. On his way to visit his master, Wang Yan was cornered by senior disciples demanding Spirit Stones.

• Venerable Gray Three told Wang Yan that newly advanced Core Condensation Realm disciples had to enter the Four Peaks Competition and that losing would get him posted to a Branch Hall.
• Wang Yan arrived at Yellow Cloud Peak, where Venerable Gray Three hinted that he had little time left to live.
• After more than a month in seclusion, Wang Yan recovered from his injuries and began preparing to obtain two more Qi Condensation Pills and a Core Condensation Realm technique.
• Wang Yan saw several disciples surrounding a thin youth they called Zero Merit, but chose not to intervene and continued up the mountain.
• Four senior disciples blocked Wang Yan on the steps and demanded that he lend them Spirit Stones to buy Qi Condensation Pills.