Recaps

Li Yan attended an auction where wealthy cultivators drove up the prices of several treasures before he tried to buy Crystalbone Water for refining his growth-type magic treasure. The bidding for the rare material unexpectedly surged as multiple private boxes joined the contest, leaving Li Yan unsure why it was so sought after.

• Wang Wuzhong opened the auction with Heavenly Gate Sand, which a bidder in a red-rose private box won for six thousand spirit stones.
• Several treasures were sold, including the Water-Linked Pearl Swords for two hundred and thirty thousand spirit stones and tier-two Golden Flood Dragon Python eyes for one hundred and seventy thousand.
• Li Yan learned that his remaining one hundred and fifty thousand spirit stones should be enough to purchase the tier-one Crystalbone Water he needed.
• A black-robed bidder with a white daffodil on their cuff and Li Yan began bidding for the Crystalbone Water, then two private boxes joined the contest.
• The daffodil-cuffed bidder, the red-rose box, and other private boxes rapidly raised the price, while Li Yan wondered why so many people wanted the material.

Li Yan lost the bidding for the Crystal Bone Water and continued north toward the Pure Land Sect, seeking a way to reach the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Tower. After taking shelter from a snowstorm, he recognized the Foundation Establishment cultivator being chased by a Gold Core Realm pursuer as someone he knew.

• Li Yan bid 130,000 spirit stones for the Crystal Bone Water, but the Red Rose private room raised the price to 150,000 and won it.
• Li Yan left Jade Pass City and headed north, planning to seek the Crimson Mother Essence in the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Tower.
• Li Yan sensed two Gold Core Realm cultivators pursuing one another and changed course to avoid getting involved.
• Li Yan carved a cave in the mountains, set up protective formations, and began recovering his spiritual power.
• Li Yan recognized the fleeing Foundation Establishment cultivator as an acquaintance when the pair flew over his mountain refuge.

Li Yan secretly watched Su Hong flee from a seductive early Golden Core cultivator who wanted an unknown item and threatened to capture her. As Su Hong, badly injured and nearly out of spiritual power, began forcing her energy to end her life, Li Yan remained hidden and uncertain whether she could act before her pursuer stopped her.

• Su Hong fled from the woman in azure gauze, who demanded an item and offered to spare her if she submitted.
• Su Hong accused the woman of cultivating the Seven Mysteries Yin Nü Art and explained that she would rather die than be captured.
• Su Hong proposed that the woman inspect her Storage Pouch, but the woman refused to let her go.
• Li Yan observed the confrontation from a concealed cave and decided not to intervene.
• Su Hong began forcing her dwindling spiritual power to circulate despite the severe pain in her body.

Su Hong struggled to escape the beautiful woman in azure gauze, who had identified her as the buyer from the Red Rose private room and realized she was nearly out of strength. When the woman attacked, a hidden Li Yan sent Su Hong instructions to flee toward a rock jutting from the cliff, and an unseen force pulled her out of the woman's grasp.

• The beautiful woman in azure gauze confronted Su Hong about the treasures from the Singing Robes Gathering, and Su Hong admitted she had been in the Red Rose private room.
• Su Hong recognized the attacker as someone associated with the people wearing white narcissus on their cuffs, while Li Yan listened from a nearby cave and weighed whether to intervene for the Crystal Bone Water.
• The beautiful woman in azure gauze saw that Su Hong was badly injured and had been stalling to recover, then flew toward her.
• Su Hong realized she could neither recover enough to fight nor kill herself before the attacker reached her.
• Li Yan secretly told Su Hong to descend toward a protruding rock halfway down the mountain, and she obeyed.
• The beautiful woman in azure gauze lashed an azure streak after Su Hong, but an invisible force yanked Su Hong sideways and left the streak grasping empty air.

Li Yan concealed himself near his cave and used poison to disable Su Hong, offering to help her escape in exchange for her Crystal Bone Water. When the beautiful woman in azure gauze attacked Su Hong, Li Yan ambushed her and began overpowering the Gold Core Realm cultivator.

• The beautiful woman in azure gauze found no cultivator near the cave and concluded that its modest defenses belonged to an abandoned Foundation Establishment abode.
• Li Yan told Su Hong he wanted her Crystal Bone Water and would help her escape, while secretly poisoning her on the rock.
• Su Hong pretended to accept Li Yan's offer and planned to use the ensuing fight to recover and escape.
• The beautiful woman in azure gauze attacked Su Hong, who could not move because Li Yan's poison had cut off her spiritual power.
• Li Yan appeared and struck the beautiful woman in azure gauze, breaking her right arm and injuring her left wrist before pursuing her with another attack.

Li Yan drove the beautiful woman in blue gauze away after a brutal fight, then rescued Su Hong and fled with her. A day later, he stopped in a mountain hollow and asked Su Hong to discuss her earlier promise.

• The beautiful woman in blue gauze failed to poison Li Yan, suffered his repeated attacks, and fled when her shield and injuries could no longer hold out.
• Li Yan revealed that he had used his full strength and deliberately let the woman escape to hide his Foundation Establishment cultivation; he collected his formation flags and took Su Hong away.
• The beautiful woman in blue gauze returned to the empty cave, guessed that her ambusher might be weaker than she had thought, and flew off after sensing in another direction.
• Li Yan flew northwest with Su Hong, who silently studied him and seemed increasingly certain of something about his identity.
• After more than a day of travel, Li Yan set Su Hong down beside a stream and asked her to discuss her earlier promise.

Li Yan received the Crystal Bone Water from Su Hong, but became suspicious when she revealed she knew he belonged to the Phantom Sect. After Su Hong showed him a Phantom Sect token that could detect nearby sect cultivators, she began explaining the recent mysterious disappearances of sects.

• Su Hong presented Li Yan with the Crystal Bone Water and said he owed her for it, prompting him to threaten her with killing intent.
• Su Hong revealed a brown Phantom Sect token, which convinced Li Yan that she had a reason to recognize him.
• Li Yan accepted the token and jade bottle, confirmed the bottle held eight droplets of first-grade Crystal Bone Water, and tested the token's ability to locate Phantom Sect cultivators.
• Su Hong explained that her token could sense nearby Phantom Sect members through ordinary restrictions, and Li Yan obscured his own token with spiritual power.
• Li Yan asked why the sect had given Su Hong the token, and she connected it to recent reports of sects mysteriously disappearing or being uprooted.

Li Yan learned that Su Hong’s Return Home network secretly cooperated with Phantom Sect and had been investigating a mysterious force. After accepting the treasures she offered, he agreed to escort her north and protect her while she recovered.

• Su Hong explained that Return Home had ties to Phantom Sect and had been tasked with gathering intelligence and assisting its cultivators.
• Su Hong recognized Li Yan as the bidder for Crystal Bone Water at the Garment-Singing Gathering, and Li Yan confirmed it.
• Li Yan decided to keep the Crystal Bone Water and offered Su Hong spirit stones, but she gave him the Heavenly Gate Sand and Golden Flood Python eyes as well.
• Su Hong asked Li Yan to escort her toward a teleportation point, and he agreed to travel north with her.
• Li Yan carried Su Hong several thousand li northwest to a secluded place where she could heal.

Li Yan and Su Hong escaped the ambush and parted ways, while Su Hong realized that Zhong Mengyin and the Red Cicada Sect were tied to the mysterious force. Zhong Mengyin regrouped with Elder Feng and the other attackers, who debated the identity of the cultivator who had disrupted their pursuit.

• Su Hong told Li Yan that she had suspected the mysterious force was targeting items at the Robe-Singing Convention and described how Zhong Mengyin and three Golden Core cultivators ambushed her.
• Li Yan and Su Hong hid while she recovered, then traveled to a teleportation point and parted ways without exchanging names.
• Su Hong deduced that Zhong Mengyin cultivated the Seven Profound Yin Maiden Art and was likely a hidden Red Cicada Sect elder, then resolved to send the information back immediately.
• Elder Feng reproached Zhong Mengyin for letting Su Hong escape, and she blamed the powerful defenders and the unknown cultivator who had intervened.
• Elder Feng suggested that the unknown body cultivator might have belonged to the Pure Land Sect.

Zhong Mengyin and her companions investigated the unknown attacker and traced him through Ouyang Jinfei to Hu Chen Jianghai, while Li Yan's former Lineage fell into upheaval. Li Yan arrived at the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Tower and prepared to enter the forbidden zone cautiously.

• Zhong Mengyin suspected the attacker was a poison cultivator and urged her companions to investigate cultivators who attended the Garment Singing Gathering.
• Zhong Mengyin and the others captured Ouyang Jinfei, whose Soul Search linked the poison cultivator to Hu Chen Jianghai.
• Patriarch Hu Chen destroyed the Ye family and confined Hu Chen Jianghai, who later escaped the Lineage and vanished.
• The chapter described how the four great sects controlled the Four Great Forbidden Zones and issued entry tokens through their subordinate Lineages.
• Li Yan arrived near the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Tower and reminded himself to be cautious around the powerful Pure Land Sect.

Li Yan reviewed what he knew about the Northern Underworld Demon-Suppressing Tower and disguised his appearance before traveling there to refine his bonded magical treasure. He reached the tower and saw its Pure Land Sect guards and several other cultivators waiting to enter.

• Li Yan read Huchen Wuding’s jade slip about the tower’s history, dangers, treasures, and rules for cultivators entering its forbidden grounds.
• Li Yan considered the unspoken consequences of killing elite disciples, then made a subtle illusion to alter his appearance.
• Li Yan rode the Cloud-Piercing Willow to the mountaintop where the Northern Underworld Demon-Suppressing Tower stood.
• Li Yan surveyed the monks guarding the entrance and recognized that they inspected entrants and checked returning cultivators for possession.
• Li Yan noticed two women, a Confucian scholar with his book attendant, and another woman waiting near the entrance.

Li Yan arrived at the Northern Underworld Demon-Suppressing Tower and learned that entry required a Mystic Nether Token, with lower-ranked tokens also requiring spirit stones. A gaunt Buddha recognized Li Yan’s Gold Star token as belonging to the Hu Chen Lineage, gave him a single-use map of the first three floors, and sent him into the tower.

• Li Yan observed several cultivators enter the tower after presenting Mystic Nether Tokens and paying the required spirit stones.
• Li Yan noticed the tiny star marking on his token and suspected its faint golden edge indicated a higher rank than the woman’s Bronze Star token.
• A gaunt Buddha identified Li Yan’s token as a Gold Star Mystic Nether Token and recognized him as a member of the Hu Chen Lineage.
• Li Yan said he was a disciple of the Hu Chen Lineage and corrected the Buddha, explaining that the next inheriting son was Hu Chen Wuding, not Hu Chen Wanli.
• The Buddha gave Li Yan a jade slip containing a one-time map of the tower’s first three floors and warned him against attempting the third floor.
• Li Yan accepted the jade slip and was told to enter, where his life and gains would depend on fate.

Li Yan entered the Northern Underworld Demon-Suppressing Tower and learned that he had been transported to the dangerous Snow Marsh, far from the southern entrance to the second floor. As he flew south across the silent snowfield, a vast swarm of snow mosquitoes attacked him.

• Li Yan entered the tower and found himself alone in an ice-sculpted stone chamber surrounded by a vast snowfield.
• Li Yan read the jade slip, learned the tower’s dangers, and discovered that snow mosquitoes inhabited the area outside his chamber.
• Li Yan learned he had to cross the Snow Marsh, Melt Caves, and Scorching Winds to reach the glacier region and the entrance to the second floor.
• Li Yan left the chamber and flew south through the Snow Marsh, protected by his spiritual power barrier and Vajra Talismans.
• Li Yan sensed faint traces of cold and was attacked by a massive swarm of nearly invisible snow mosquitoes.

Li Yan fought his way through a vast Snow Mosquito swarm, discovering that fire disrupted their crystal-sword formations but consumed his spiritual energy rapidly. He escaped the swarm’s territory and began recovering on the Cloud-Piercing Willow, still considering whether he could capture some mosquitoes with Tuban.

• Li Yan used Vajra Talismans and the Cloud-Piercing Willow to evade the Snow Mosquitoes, whose formations struck like crystal swords and shattered his defenses.
• Li Yan dodged the crystal swords and learned that his attacks could knock them aside but struggled to break them apart.
• Li Yan used a Fire Wall Technique and fireballs to scatter the formations and kill the Snow Mosquitoes, but their desperate attacks quickly drained his spiritual energy.
• Li Yan considered capturing Snow Mosquitoes inside Tuban, reasoning that they could serve as an ambush force despite their vulnerability to fire.
• Li Yan pressed through the swarm until the Snow Mosquitoes thinned at the edge of their territory, then used Pills and spirit stones to recover while the Cloud-Piercing Willow flew onward.

Li Yan tested whether Tuban could sustain the Snow Mosquitoes by creating a cold, snowy environment, then crossed the snowfield toward the Melt Caverns. He encountered three Foundation Establishment cultivators who had followed him, and confronted their leader, Cheng Wenming, about their intentions.

• Li Yan found the Snow Mosquitoes weakening inside Tuban, chilled part of the space, and watched them recover in the snowfall.
• Li Yan crossed the snowfield, surviving four Snow Mosquito swarms and dealing easily with other Demon Beasts while collecting herbs.
• As Li Yan neared the Melt Caverns, he sensed three Foundation Establishment cultivators approaching from behind.
• Cheng Wenming introduced himself as a member of the Ancient Pool Sect, while his two companions watched Li Yan.
• Li Yan asked Cheng Wenming why the three had followed him, and the two scholar-dressed cultivators reacted with displeasure.

Li Yan met Cheng Wenming and two Clear Heart Sect cultivators, who explained why the Fusion Caves blocked the route to the second level and invited him to join them. The chapter left Li Yan considering the danger and the requirement that three cultivators combine their souls to open a cave entrance.

• Cheng Wenming explained that he and his companions had crossed the snowy plains after being teleported far from the southern glacier.
• Li Yan rejected Cheng Wenming’s invitation to travel together and started to leave.
• Cheng Wenming persuaded Li Yan to listen by explaining that the Fusion Caves were the necessary, dangerous passage to the southern glacier and second level.
• Cheng Wenming revealed that opening a Fusion Cave required a combined soul attack from three cultivators at or above early Foundation Establishment, not merely their combined cultivation.
• Cheng Wenming said the three had invited Li Yan to join them because he could not open a cave entrance alone unless his soul rivaled a Golden Core cultivator’s.

Li Yan, posing as Jiang Hai, distrusted Cheng Wenming and the two Clear Heart Sect cultivators who approached him near the thaw caverns. Cheng Wenming proposed a mutually beneficial deal involving snow spirits, but Li Yan demanded that he explain the real purpose.

• Li Yan decided he might need allies to enter the thaw caverns and introduced himself to Cheng Wenming's group as Jiang Hai, claiming to be a rogue cultivator.
• Cheng Wenming inferred that Jiang Hai had a fire spiritual root from his safe crossing of the snowfield, and explained why he and his companions had stopped him.
• Li Yan questioned why the group needed his help when three cultivators could already open a passage into the thaw caverns.
• The tall Clear Heart Sect cultivator, Ye, urged Cheng Wenming to leave Jiang Hai alone, while the shorter companion showed brief killing intent.
• Cheng Wenming said he wanted to discuss a mutually beneficial matter and asked whether Jiang Hai knew about snow spirits.
• After Cheng Wenming began describing the value of snow spirit beast cores, Li Yan cut him off and demanded that he get to the point.

Li Yan learned about snow spirit lords and joined Cheng Wenming, Ye Xiuwen, and Tan Zeshan in a hunt, agreeing to share a lord’s demon core according to their contributions. After traveling south together, the four reached an immense wall of ice and snow at the edge of the plains.

• Cheng Wenming explained that powerful snow spirits could become second-rank snow spirit lords and invited Li Yan to help hunt one for its valuable demon core.
• Cheng Wenming described the snow spirit lords’ Netherflame Devouring and explained that genuine fire abilities could counter the freezing flame.
• Li Yan agreed to join the group after Cheng Wenming proposed that he and Li Yan each receive forty percent of a snow spirit lord’s demon core, with Ye Xiuwen and Tan Zeshan sharing the remaining twenty percent.
• Li Yan traveled south with Cheng Wenming, Ye Xiuwen, and Tan Zeshan, and they learned more about one another while fighting snow mosquitoes and other demon beasts.
• The four emerged from the snowy plains around midnight and found an immense wall of ice and snow before them.

Li Yan and Cheng Wenming’s group reached the great wall of ice and snow, where cultivators gathered to enter the melt caves. After choosing a cave and clearing the surrounding area, Cheng Wenming and his companions began breaking its restrictions.

• Li Yan admired the ice-and-snow wall and reflected on the freedom and companionship he wanted from cultivation.
• Cheng Wenming explained that cultivators generally avoided fighting on the tower’s first level unless a worthwhile prize was at stake.
• Li Yan sensed more than twenty cultivators near the wall as the group approached its melt caves.
• Cheng Wenming led the group east until they found a cave with no nearby cultivators.
• Cheng Wenming, Ye Xiuwen, and Tan Zeshan flew toward the chosen melt cave to break its restrictions while Li Yan waited.

Li Yan watched Cheng Wenming, Ye Xiuwen, and Tan Zeshan use a costly golden talisman to break the Fusion Cave’s restriction, while their concealed leaks of yin wind tested him. After the entrance opened, Li Yan and the others flew into the vast, icy cave, where mournful winds came from deeper within.

• Cheng Wenming explained that the golden talisman would help the group break the Fusion Cave’s restriction without exhausting their spiritual power.
• Cheng Wenming, Ye Xiuwen, and Tan Zeshan channeled their power through their magic treasures and the talisman, forming a golden net that pressed against the cave entrance.
• Li Yan endured leaking yin winds that chilled his body and sent fierce-soul illusions into his mind, which he dispelled with his Divine Sense.
• The golden net shattered the restriction, and Cheng Wenming told Li Yan that the entrance was open.
• Li Yan and the other four flew into the broad cave, whose ice-covered walls glowed blue as chilling, mournful winds blew from within.

Li Yan and the others encountered a second-tier ice mandarin duck in a melt cave, where its soul-targeting attacks caught Tan Zeshan off guard. As Cheng Wenming moved to defend him, Li Yan recognized that the bird’s white hook-shaped attack could tear out Tan Zeshan’s soul.

• Cheng Wenming explained the dangers of melt caves and the territories of Snow Spirit Lords as the group flew through the cave.
• Li Yan detected a camouflaged ice mandarin duck before the others and watched it charge at Tan Zeshan.
• The ice mandarin duck unleashed a sonic attack that dazed all four cultivators and injured Tan Zeshan.
• The bird sent a hook-shaped streak of white light at the dazed Tan Zeshan, and Cheng Wenming cast a fire spell to intervene.
• Li Yan recognized that the white light targeted Tan Zeshan’s soul and could leave him a soulless walking corpse.

Li Yan and his companions fought through the cavern’s snow spirits as Cheng Wenming explained the danger and value of a snow spirit lord. They encountered an upper-stage second-rank lord leading over a hundred snow spirits, and prepared to attack it while Ye Xiuwen and Tan Zeshan held off the horde.

• Cheng Wenming and Tan Zeshan destroyed an ice mandarin duck after it attacked the group.
• Li Yan concealed his water and metal spiritual powers while fighting snow spirit packs and collected more than ten demon cores.
• Cheng Wenming told Li Yan that he hoped to exchange spirit stones for a lone snow spirit lord’s core and warned him about its powerful suction and blue-flame attacks.
• The group traveled through the cavern and encountered a snow spirit lord leading over a hundred snow spirits.
• Cheng Wenming identified the lord as an upper-stage second-rank beast and proposed that he and Li Yan attack it while Ye Xiuwen and Tan Zeshan held back the horde.
• The snow spirit lord declared the cultivators trespassers and threatened to kill them.

Li Yan and Cheng Wenming fought a snow spirit lord while Ye Xiuwen and Tan Zeshan lured the horde away and sealed them behind shields. The snow spirit lord seized control of Li Yan’s fire spell, and Cheng Wenming revealed his betrayal, but the lord’s confidence faltered as it noticed Li Yan still struggling against its control.

• Cheng Wenming and Li Yan attacked the snow spirit lord while Ye Xiuwen and Tan Zeshan drew more than a hundred snow spirits away with red powder.
• Ye Xiuwen and Tan Zeshan blocked the cavern passage with the Iron Scroll and Cinnabar Book, trapping the horde away from the snow spirit lord.
• Li Yan dodged the lord’s close-range strike and retaliated with a palm, then cast Beacon Fires Fill the Sky.
• The snow spirit lord sent blue flames into Li Yan’s spell, took control of it, and began draining his spiritual power as Cheng Wenming stopped attacking.
• Cheng Wenming admitted he was a fire cultivator and told Li Yan he had been sold out, while the snow spirit lord explained its strength and threatened them.
• The snow spirit lord noticed that Li Yan was still trying to sever their connection, and bewilderment spread across its face.

Li Yan vanished after escaping the snow spirit lord’s ghostly blue flames, leaving Cheng Wenming, Ye Xiuwen, and Tan Zeshan to face the enraged demon alone. As the snow spirit lord attacked, Cheng Wenming coordinated a desperate defense and struck back with his Green Dragon Crescent Blade.

• Li Yan disappeared without a trace, and Cheng Wenming, Ye Xiuwen, and Tan Zeshan realized he had truly escaped the snow spirit lord.
• The three men feared Li Yan was a powerful Golden Core cultivator and pleaded with the empty air to spare them.
• The snow spirit lord searched for Li Yan, then gave in to its greed for fire cultivators and charged at Cheng Wenming.
• Cheng Wenming sent Ye Xiuwen and Tan Zeshan instructions to divide their defense and prepare to escape together.
• Cheng Wenming retreated from the snow spirit lord’s grasp and slashed at its neck with his Green Dragon Crescent Blade.

Cheng Wenming, Tan Zeshan, and Ye Xiuwen fought the Snow Essence Lord while trying to escape the ice cave. Cheng Wenming finally used his fire-element artifact to break free, but the Snow Essence Lord attacked all three as they moved to break through.

• The Snow Essence Lord blocked Cheng Wenming’s Green Dragon Crescent Blade with his forearm, while Tan Zeshan struck him with a chain hammer and inflicted wounds that his blue flames soon healed.
• Tan Zeshan’s spiritual power waned as he and Cheng Wenming fought the Snow Essence Lord, while Ye Xiuwen defended against the surrounding Snow Essences.
• The Snow Essences self-destructed their demon cores, and Ye Xiuwen warned that he could hold the defenses for only a short time before they would have to break out.
• Cheng Wenming brought out his crimson iron ruler and used its fire against the Snow Essence Lord, whose ghostly flames began to drain his spiritual power.
• A crimson crow emerged from Cheng Wenming’s ruler and cut it free from the blue flames before the flames swallowed the crow; Cheng Wenming then slipped beneath the Snow Essence Lord.
• Ye Xiuwen and Tan Zeshan moved in from opposite sides as the Snow Essence Lord sent a blue-flame net after Cheng Wenming and formed flaming claws to attack the other two.