Chapter Summaries

Zhou Xun and his companions joined the Core Formation cultivators gathering to break the ruins’ formation, while the Demonic Alliance tried to claim the entrance. After the formation shattered, the cultivators flooded inside, where Zhou Xun discovered a Fourth-Order Spiritual Vein.

• Yuan Jinshan, Li Daniu, and Wen Yue refused to leave Zhou Xun, and he agreed to take Li Daniu and Wen Yue with him if necessary.
• The Demonic Alliance seized the entrance and drove away the other cultivators after a square-faced man wounded an Early-Stage Core Formation cultivator.
• Daoist Feng of the Righteous Alliance and Daoist Zhu of the Heavenly Dao Alliance negotiated with the Demonic Alliance, then organized the gathered cultivators to attack the formation together.
• The combined attacks shattered the formation, and the cultivators rushed into the ruins before the three major factions followed them.
• Zhou Xun entered the ruins with Li Daniu and the others and recognized the dense Spiritual Qi as coming from a Fourth-Order Spiritual Vein.

Zhou Xun and the other cultivators discovered medicinal gardens filled with rare spirit medicines, but a strange incense drove them into a murderous frenzy. Zhou Xun uncovered the cause and learned that a Tier 4 Demon Emperor had lured them into the ruins to weaken them before attacking.

• The cultivators found several gardens full of high-grade spirit medicines, and Zhou Xun continued searching for the Nine-Veined Violet Spirit Ginseng instead of joining the rush.
• Yuan Jinkai and the others entered a breached garden and seized spirit medicines, but Yuan Jinkai was killed and cultivators began slaughtering one another.
• A blue-robed Tier 4 Demon Emperor watched the melee with more than forty great demons, planning to attack once most of the humans were dead.
• Zhou Xun sensed the Miro Incense stirring greed in his heart, extinguished it with Yin Lightning, and sealed it in a jade box.
• The Demon Emperor appeared at the blocked entrance, and Zhou Xun realized the demon had used the incense to make the cultivators kill one another before claiming the survivors as prey.

Zhou Xun watched the Human Race cultivators face a Demon Emperor and more than forty Tier 3 Great Demons, then killed two high-grade demons with the Edge of Utmost Sharpness. The Demon Emperor attacked Zhou Xun and broke open the ruins’ restriction, giving more than ten cultivators a chance to escape as the demons pursued them.

• Fang Kui tried to rally the Human Race cultivators against the Demon Emperor, but the Demon Emperor summoned more than forty Tier 3 Great Demons and ordered them to leave none alive.
• The Human Race cultivators fought back, while Wen Yue and Li Daniu struggled against two demons and a concealed gray-robed Elder secretly killed two demon kings.
• Zhou Xun killed a Jade-Eyed Python and an Azure Water Dragonfish, both high-grade Tier 3 Great Demons, and stored their corpses.
• The Demon Emperor transformed into an ugly Demon Alligator and fired a black beam at Zhou Xun, killing a Human Race cultivator and blasting a gap in the restriction.
• More than ten Human Race Core Formation cultivators fled through the gap, and the demonic beasts chased after them.

Zhou Xun rescued Li Daniu and fought the Tier 4 Demon Alligator after the other Human Race cultivators escaped. He trapped the demon with lightning chains, but it shrank and broke free as Zhou Xun prepared to use the Mystic Thunder Sword.

• Zhou Xun killed a third-tier Shrimp Demon, rescued Li Daniu, and urged him to escape.
• The Demon Alligator attacked Zhou Xun with over a hundred black cones, but Zhou Xun blocked them with Lightning Shields.
• The Demon Alligator grew to over five hundred zhang long and clashed with Zhou Xun’s lightning chains and yin lightning.
• The Demon Alligator unleashed its Demon Energy, shrank, and tried to flee while Zhou Xun empowered the Mystic Thunder Sword with twenty-seven sword lights.
• The Demon Alligator broke through the ruins and escaped the lightning chains as Zhou Xun prepared to pursue it.

Zhou Xun drove off the Tier 4 Demon Alligator, reunited with Wen Yue and Li Daniu, and invited them to join him at Heaven Talisman Island. When he went to retrieve the Nascent Soul spirit herbs, he found the gardens empty and used the Diviner’s Compass to track the thief.

• Zhou Xun pursued the fleeing Demon Alligator but returned without killing it, then accepted Fang Kui’s thanks for saving the cultivators.
• Wen Yue and Li Daniu reunited with Zhou Xun and told him Yuan Jinshan had died while they were under attack.
• Zhou Xun invited Wen Yue and Li Daniu to return with him to Heaven Talisman Island as guest elders, and they agreed.
• Zhou Xun searched the ruins and found the medicinal gardens empty, with the Nine-Veined Violet Spirit Ginseng and the other Nascent Soul Material already taken.
• Zhou Xun suspected the gaunt Elder with the excellent concealment technique and used Tier 4 Spirit Soil with the Diviner’s Compass to locate the thief’s direction.

Zhou Xun captured the Elder who had stolen the spirit herbs and recovered the Void Tribulation Flower and Nine-Veined Violet Spirit Ginseng. After securing the Nascent Soul materials, he fed the Elder’s soul to the Soul Devourer Azure Ape.

• Zhou Xun collected the Tier 4 and Tier 3 spirit soil before following his compass to the island’s northwest seabed.
• Zhou Xun exposed the Elder hiding inside a shark and paralyzed him with Yin lightning as he tried to use a Crimson Flame Thunderfire Pearl.
• Zhou Xun searched the Elder’s Storage Pouch and found four Tier 4 Lower Grade spirit herbs, more than twenty Tier 3 spirit herbs, and two sealed jade boxes.
• Zhou Xun opened the boxes and identified the Void Tribulation Flower and Nine-Veined Violet Spirit Ginseng, completing his collection of the four main Nascent Soul materials.
• Zhou Xun summoned the Soul Devourer Azure Ape and used white lightning to help it overcome the Elder’s resistance and consume his soul.

Zhou Xun returned to Heaven Talisman Island with Wen Yue and Li Daniu, securing two Core Formation guest elders for the Heaven Talisman Sect. He assessed his expedition's valuable gains and began preparing the cultivators' corpses for refinement into Bloodfiend Spawns.

• Zhou Xun brought Wen Yue and Li Daniu to Heaven Talisman Island and introduced them to Cao Feiyu as new Core Formation guest elders.
• Cao Feiyu welcomed the two cultivators, and he hosted a banquet where Li Daniu developed a taste for Thousand Talisman Spirit Wine.
• Zhou Xun reviewed his expedition's gains, including the Nine-Veined Violet Spirit Ginseng, a Void Tribulation Flower, spirit herbs, spirit soil, and seventeen cultivators' corpses.
• Zhou Xun summoned the green ape to remove a lingering soul from a corpse, then began refining it into a Bloodfiend Spawn.
• Zhou Xun used the same process to initially refine all seventeen Core Formation corpses.

Zhou Xun began nurturing his Bloodfiend Spawns and sought Ironside True Lord’s help improving his Mystic Thunder Sword after assessing his fighting ability against a fourth-rank Demon Alligator. He prepared to travel to Seatown Immortal City to address the Nascent Soul Pill and gather materials, leaving Heaven Talisman Island under Ironside True Lord’s protection.

• Zhou Xun returned to the Land of Four Yin, set up the Extreme Yin Corpse Raising Formation, and began nurturing seventeen Bloodfiend Spawns that would need another ten years to mature.
• Zhou Xun assessed that his combat strength matched an ordinary Nascent Soul Early Stage cultivator but that his methods and magic treasures needed improvement.
• Zhou Xun traveled to Ringless Island and asked Ironside True Lord whether his mid-grade Mystic Thunder Sword could be upgraded to high grade.
• Ironside True Lord said the sword required fourth-rank thunder-attributed spirit materials, gave Zhou Xun a Jade Slip listing advancement plans, and offered to watch over Heaven Talisman Island.
• Zhou Xun accepted a letter for Daoist Heaven's Gift and prepared to leave for Seatown Immortal City after informing Thousand Talisman True Man.

Zhou Xun left Heaven Talisman Island for Seatown Immortal City after arranging for Ironside True Lord to protect it, then reunited with Song Yiqing at Forgetful River Lake. Song Yiqing began forming her core with Zhou Xun’s super-grade Essence Crystallization Pill and Crimson Flame’s help, but the chapter ended as the pill’s power spread through her meridians.

• Zhou Xun gave Thousand Talisman True Man Ironside True Lord’s communication talisman and asked him to call for help if Heaven Talisman Island faced trouble.
• Zhou Xun rode the Earth Origin Beast toward Seatown Immortal City, then enjoyed Tier 3 High-Grade Spirit Mist Tea at Stillheart Pavilion.
• Song Yiqing emerged from seclusion at Foundation Establishment Perfection and told Zhou Xun she was ready to attempt core formation.
• Zhou Xun gave Song Yiqing a super-grade Essence Crystallization Pill and gathered the spirit vein’s Spiritual Qi into her cultivation chamber.
• Song Yiqing prepared with Crimson Flame, swallowed the pill, and felt its medicinal power spread through her meridians.

Song Yiqing successfully formed a core with the Crimson Fire Luan’s help, then celebrated with Zhou Xun and their companions. Meanwhile, the Black Reef Demon King told the South Abyss Demon Emperor he was determined to attempt a breakthrough to the fourth realm despite the deadly tribulation.

• Song Yiqing used an Essence Crystallization Pill and the Spirit Mastery Scripture to gather a vast Spiritual Qi vortex over Forgetful River Lake.
• Zhou Xun confirmed to Yuan Pan'er and Xing Huaian that Song Yiqing was forming her core, while Wang Shun and Xu Shaoqing watched from nearby.
• With the Crimson Fire Luan sharing the pressure and stabilizing her body, Song Yiqing condensed her liquid spiritual power into a pale golden Dan pellet.
• Song Yiqing stabilized her cultivation, emerged from the cultivation chamber, and celebrated her success with Zhou Xun and the others at Stillheart Pavilion.
• The Black Reef Demon King told the South Abyss Demon Emperor that he had decided to challenge the fourth realm, accepting that failure would mean death.

The Black Reef Demon King entered the South Abyss Forbidden Ground with a Transformation Fruit to attempt a breakthrough into the Demon Emperor Realm and take revenge on Zhou Xun. After reaching Seatown Immortal City, Zhou Xun obtained a permanent entry token and reunited with True Lord Tian Ci, who asked why he had come.

• The South Abyss Demon King gave the Black Reef Demon King a Transformation Fruit to aid his breakthrough into the Fourth Realm.
• The Black Reef Demon King entered the forbidden ground, vowing to capture Wang Lin and repay his humiliation.
• After traveling east for half a year through repeated Beast Tides, Zhou Xun arrived at Seatown Immortal City.
• Feng Yu registered Zhou Xun and gave him a permanent token because he was a Core Formation cultivator.
• Zhou Xun went to True Lord Tian Ci's cave abode, where Tian Ci welcomed him and asked what important matter had brought him there.

Zhou Xun asked True Lord Tian Ci to help refine a Nascent Soul Pill and improve the Mystic Thunder Sword, so Tian Ci invited True Lord Dan Yuan to assist. Dan Yuan agreed to refine the pill after Zhou Xun gave him an ancient spirit-tea method, and he inspected the ingredients Zhou Xun had gathered.

• Zhou Xun told True Lord Tian Ci that he had obtained the Nine-Veined Violet Spirit Ginseng and asked for help refining a Nascent Soul Pill.
• Zhou Xun asked Tian Ci to investigate materials for enhancing the Mystic Thunder Sword, and Tian Ci pointed to an upcoming auction in Seatown Immortal City as a possible source.
• Tian Ci invited True Lord Dan Yuan, and Zhou Xun gave him a Jade Slip containing an ancient spirit-tea preparation method.
• Zhou Xun asked Dan Yuan to refine a Nascent Soul Pill, and Dan Yuan agreed despite regretting that he had already promised Zhou Xun a favor.
• Zhou Xun laid out the four main ingredients and supplementary materials, and Dan Yuan examined them.

True Lord Dan Yuan refined Zhou Xun’s Nascent Soul Pills, producing two proper pills and one inferior pill, and shared cultivation insights before departing. Zhou Xun then visited Wang Erniu, reuniting with his old friend and finding him cultivating in a Tier 4 cave dwelling.

• True Lord Dan Yuan refined the Nascent Soul Pills and produced two proper pills and one inferior pill.
• True Lord Dan Yuan waived his fee for the flawed refinement and shared insights into Nascent Soul formation with Zhou Xun.
• Zhou Xun stored the pills and planned to improve the Mystic Thunder Sword before resuming seclusion to pursue Peak Core Formation.
• Zhou Xun visited Wang Erniu, who greeted him with excitement after decades apart and revealed his Mid-Stage Core Formation cultivation.
• Zhou Xun entered Wang Erniu’s elegant cave dwelling and noticed its Tier 4 Spiritual Qi.

Zhou Xun visited Wang Erniu in Seatown Immortal City and learned that Erniu had become a disciple of Nine Swords True Lord. With Erniu’s guidance, Zhou Xun broke through to the third layer of the Sword Shadow Unification Technique, but the powerful strike damaged the Mystic Thunder Sword, leaving him intent on upgrading it.

• Wang Erniu told Zhou Xun that Nine Swords True Lord had saved him during the human-demon war and accepted him as a disciple.
• Zhou Xun updated Wang Erniu on Shun'er, Xiuyin, and Youhe, then asked Erniu for guidance on the third layer of the Sword Shadow Unification Technique.
• Zhou Xun and Wang Erniu left Seatown Immortal City for an uninhabited island so Zhou Xun could practice safely.
• Zhou Xun divided the Mystic Thunder Sword into eighty-one sword shadows and fused them into it, completing the third layer and unleashing a Nascent Soul Realm strike that destroyed most of the island.
• The strike damaged the Mystic Thunder Sword’s spirituality, so Zhou Xun resolved to seek materials to upgrade it to a High-Grade Mystic Treasure.

Zhou Xun advanced his alchemy to Tier 3 High-Grade and received another request from Zhang Baichuan to sell a Nascent Soul Pill. He refused to part with the pills for now but offered to reconsider after he reached the Nascent Soul Realm.

• Zhou Xun spent months cultivating, improving his crafts, and learning from True Lords and Wang Erniu.
• Zhou Xun successfully refined three Tier 3 High-Grade Spirit Gathering Pills, completing his advancement in alchemy.
• Zhang Baichuan visited Zhou Xun with gifts and asked to buy a Nascent Soul Pill, explaining his wish to restore his declining lineage.
• Zhou Xun rejected Zhang Baichuan's offers of spirit stones, herbs, a Profound Gold Crystal, and a sworn favor.
• Zhou Xun told Zhang Baichuan that he might trade a pill after forming his Nascent Soul if any remained, and otherwise asked him to leave.

Zhou Xun declined True Lord Xuan Feng’s proposed exchange and returned the Cassia Branch Orchid, then attended Seatown Immortal City’s grand auction with True Lord Tian Ci to seek a fourth-rank lightning material for his Mystic Thunder Sword. The auction began with a fierce sale of a Golden Moon Sword, while Zhou Xun awaited the items he needed.

• Zhou Xun rejected True Lord Xuan Feng’s offer, and True Lord Xuan Feng left after accepting the returned Cassia Branch Orchid.
• Four months later, True Lord Tian Ci told Zhou Xun that the grand auction would feature the fourth-rank lightning-attribute material he needed.
• Zhou Xun and True Lord Tian Ci arrived at Seatown Grand Hall, where True Lord Yuan An warned them that Thunder Prison True Lord might compete for the material.
• Zhou Xun and True Lord Tian Ci took their private room as the auction filled with Core Formation and Nascent Soul cultivators.
• True Lord Yuan An opened the auction, and an Early-Stage Core Formation cultivator bought the Golden Moon Sword for five hundred and twenty thousand spirit stones.

At the Seatown Immortal City auction, Zhou Xun watched rare treasures sell for enormous sums while waiting for the Tier 4 lightning material he wanted. He bid seven million spirit stones for Azure Sky Thunder Jade, but another bidder in private room fifty-five raised the price to seven million five hundred thousand.

• Zhen Xuan auctioned an array of treasures, and the Lesser Nascent Soul Pills drew fierce bidding from Core Formation cultivators and Nascent Soul Cultivators.
• True Lord Xuan Feng bought the first Lesser Nascent Soul Pill for six million spirit stones, while the second sold for six million two hundred thousand.
• Zhou Xun recognized Azure Sky Thunder Jade as the Tier 4 lightning material he wanted for upgrading his treasure and decided he would secure it.
• True Lord Xuan Feng revealed that he had arranged for the Azure Sky Thunder Jade to be auctioned in hopes of luring Zhou Xun into bidding.
• When an Elder tried to buy the jade for three million one hundred thousand spirit stones, Zhou Xun bid seven million from private room thirty-nine.
• A bidder in private room fifty-five raised the price to seven million five hundred thousand spirit stones.

Zhou Xun won the Azure Sky Thunder Jade at auction and gathered the materials needed to upgrade his Mystic Thunder Sword. After True Lord Tian Ci obtained a Tier 4 Middle-Grade Spirit Essence Ginseng for him, Zhou Xun prepared to leave Seatown Immortal City, having fulfilled his main goals there.

• Zhou Xun outbid Thunder Prison True Lord with an offer of eight million five hundred thousand Spirit Stones and won the Azure Sky Thunder Jade.
• Zhou Xun inspected the jade, paid for it, and stored it as the primary material for upgrading his thunder sword.
• After the auction, Zhou Xun asked True Lord Tian Ci to exchange a Lesser Nascent Soul Pill for a Tier 4 Middle-Grade spirit medicine at the Nascent Soul Cultivators' gathering.
• Zhou Xun bought the supplementary materials for the Mystic Thunder Sword upgrade from shops in Seatown Immortal City.
• True Lord Tian Ci returned with a Tier 4 Middle-Grade Spirit Essence Ginseng, and Zhou Xun prepared to leave the city after fulfilling his main purposes.

True Lord Xuan Feng recruited Hong and Lin Mochou to intercept Zhou Xun, using a Wind-Guiding Butterfly to track him after he left Seatown Immortal City. Zhou Xun departed with Wang Erniu’s sword formation secret art, then halted in flight and released Lightning Seeds as the pursuers’ plan began.

• True Lord Xuan Feng persuaded Hong and Lin Mochou to join him in intercepting Zhou Xun over his Nascent Soul Pills, and swore a Heart Demon Oath to convince them.
• True Lord Xuan Feng revealed that he had marked Azure Sky Thunder Jade with Spirit Guiding Elixir and would use his Wind-Guiding Butterfly to track Zhou Xun.
• Zhou Xun said farewell to True Lord Tian Ci and Wang Erniu at the western city gate, and accepted Wang Erniu’s sword formation secret art.
• The Wind-Guiding Butterfly reacted as Zhou Xun left the city, and True Lord Xuan Feng realized he was on the move.
• Zhou Xun flew several thousand miles, halted, and released several Lightning Seeds around himself.

Zhou Xun was intercepted outside Seatown Immortal City by True Lord Xuan Feng and two Core Formation cultivators demanding his Nascent Soul Pill. After calmly overpowering their attacks, Zhou Xun revealed the immense sword power he had been holding back, leaving the three preparing to withstand his strike.

• True Lord Xuan Feng intercepted Zhou Xun and demanded that he hand over the Nascent Soul Pill, while two hidden Core Formation cultivators emerged to surround him.
• Zhou Xun recognized the three as Late-Stage Core Formation cultivators and welcomed the chance to test his newly advanced Sword Shadow Unification Technique and recover his expenses.
• True Lord Xuan Feng attacked with four fire dragons, but Zhou Xun's Lightning Shields cut them apart.
• The Bald Brute and the middle-aged beauty struck with a demonic seal and a crimson ribbon, but Zhou Xun's lightning net damaged the seal and his lightning whip held back the ribbon.
• As the three planned to exhaust Zhou Xun, he summoned eighty-one sword-light streaks, prompting them to panic and gather behind True Lord Xuan Feng's defenses.