Recaps

After recovering from his injuries and strengthening his meridians and bones, Li Yan reached the brink of the middle stage of the False Core Realm. He examined the You Wu Qiong branch he had stolen and tested its extraordinary resilience, leaving him to consider how he could shape it into weapons.

• Li Yan woke after nearly half a year of recovery and found that his meridians had widened and his bones had strengthened, bringing his cultivation close to the middle stage of the False Core Realm.
• Li Yan confirmed that the Purple Divine Dragon Elephant had stayed safe, fed it several hundred fierce souls, and began sorting through the gains from his journey.
• Li Yan recalled stealing a section of the You Wu Qiong branch after waiting for the Blue Demon Flood Dragon to leave, then barely escaping with it.
• Li Yan struck the branch with a golden spiritual blade, but even nearly all his magical power could only cut a tiny wound that healed within moments.
• Li Yan wrapped the branch in a black spiritual flood dragon, but the branch resisted until the dragon burst apart and the branch returned to its original size.

Li Yan tested the Wandering Without End branch, checked his dwindling Melting Bamboo Shoot, and captured the Snow Mosquito king to refine the growing swarm. He brought the rank-two mosquito out of Tuban, where the Purple God Dragon-Elephant questioned its usefulness and the mosquito insulted him.

• Li Yan tested the Wandering Without End branch with different spiritual powers and found it exceptionally difficult to melt, then returned it to Tuban.
• Li Yan inspected the remaining Melting Bamboo Shoot, sealed it back into the ice seat, and used his Divine Sense to locate the Snow Mosquito king.
• Li Yan seized the mosquito king from Tuban and brought it into the cave, where the other Snow Mosquitoes noticed its disappearance.
• The Purple God Dragon-Elephant questioned why Li Yan wanted a Snow Mosquito, and Li Yan explained that the swarm's group attack was powerful.
• The Snow Mosquito insulted the Purple God Dragon-Elephant, who threatened it and privately resolved to punish it after Li Yan refined it.

Li Yan brutally refined the Snow Mosquito into a servant, leaving it fearful and obedient after two days of torment. When it awoke, the Purple God Dragon-Elephant mocked it, and the Snow Mosquito struggled to understand his insult.

• Li Yan bound the Snow Mosquito and used a blood-soul searing art to refine it, while the Purple God Dragon-Elephant watched and recalled his own gentler refinement.
• After two days, Li Yan withdrew his seals and forced the feeble Snow Mosquito to open its eyes instead of pretending to remain unconscious.
• The Snow Mosquito called Li Yan its master and felt an instinctive fear of him after the refinement fused black runes into its soul.
• The Purple God Dragon-Elephant mocked the Snow Mosquito and threatened to swallow it, prompting the confused mosquito to look for the person called “Punk.”
• The Snow Mosquito challenged the Purple God Dragon-Elephant and declared itself the Mosquito King.

The Snow Mosquito King’s memories revealed how it rose to rule its swarm inside the Northern Underworld Demon-Suppressing Tower and how Li Yan’s growth left it powerless. As the Purple God Dragon-Elephant identified the king’s mixed bloodlines, Li Yan wondered about the tower’s creator, while the king asked where its ancestral Demon Beast races could be found.

• The Snow Mosquito King recalled surviving battles among the swarm, monopolizing the ice platform, and becoming a second-tier king.
• The king blamed Li Yan for the mysterious aura’s repeated disappearance and realized it could no longer resist him when Li Yan captured it.
• The Purple God Dragon-Elephant mocked the king as a mongrel and identified traces of Bloodthirsty Phantom Wolf, Ice Crystal Spider, and Mystic Crystal Mosquito bloodlines.
• Li Yan considered what the Snow Mosquito’s origins implied about the power of the Northern Underworld Demon-Suppressing Tower’s first master.
• The Snow Mosquito King asked where the three ancestral Demon Beast races were inside the tower, and the Purple God Dragon-Elephant mocked it for the question.

Li Yan tested his control over the newly refined Snow Mosquito King, then sent it and the Purple Divine Dragon Elephant into Tuban while he examined three silver sheets. Far away at Tai Xuan Sect’s headquarters, black smoke engulfed a remote island, and a yellow-robed old man fled with four injured companions as a realm-opening force threatened to erupt.

• Li Yan explained to the Snow Mosquito King that it was in the Desolate Moon Continent and warned it to obey him, then tested its icy breath and confirmed his control over it.
• The Purple Divine Dragon Elephant asked to enter Tuban, and Li Yan sent it there to watch over the weakened Snow Mosquito King.
• Li Yan brought three silver sheets before him and drew one closer to examine it.
• Black smoke spread across a remote island near Tai Xuan Sect’s headquarters, withering its plants and pulling birds into it.
• A yellow-robed old man and four gravely injured companions escaped the island after their formation collapsed, and the old man warned that an approaching force could destroy them.
• The yellow-robed old man fled ahead while the four struggled to follow, and the woman in the fiery-red dress cried out for him to help them.

The yellow-robed elder carried four men away as a black hole opened over the South Sea and released a host of ancient, bloodthirsty figures who declared their return. Meanwhile, Li Yan entered the silver paper with his divine sense and heard the dying Undying Underworld Phoenix Heaven-Treader entrust him with its blood essence and a warning to return it to the clan.

• The yellow-robed elder dragged the four men away, and a vast explosion erased the island and opened a black hole beneath a pillar of black radiance.
• A gaunt black-robed elder emerged from the vortex, announced that he had brought his people back, and vowed to reclaim their world and supreme treasure.
• Hundreds of emaciated figures rose from the hole, chanting of their lost homeland and rivers of blood.
• Li Yan forced his divine sense into the silver paper but found only a silent, empty silver expanse despite testing it with spiritual power and spell incantations.
• A voice identified itself as Heaven-Treader, fourth elder of the fifty-ninth generation of the Undying Underworld Phoenix clan, and ordered Li Yan to return the object to the clan and tell them nine drops of blood essence remained.

Li Yan discovered that the voices in the silver papers were recordings carried by weakening Divine Sense imprints, not remnant souls. He decided not to return the papers to the Undying Nether Phoenix clan and reflected on the transformative value of powerful cultivators’ essence blood.

• Li Yan compared the silver papers with his past encounter with Dong Fuyi and concluded that the papers held dormant Divine Sense imprints rather than remnant souls.
• Li Yan fed spiritual power into the first silver paper and repeatedly awakened the same recorded voice, noticing that its power diminished each time.
• Li Yan tested the other two silver papers and heard the same recorded words from each.
• Li Yan decided he could not return the silver papers to the Undying Nether Phoenix clan.
• Li Yan considered how powerful essence blood could remake a cultivator’s body and bloodline, and even improve their spiritual root aptitude.

Li Yan tried to locate the Undying Underworld Phoenix essence blood hidden in the silver papers, then realized the papers themselves might be transformed drops of blood. As he tested his discovery with flame, the chapter shifted to Qiu Shi and a purple-robed ancestor examining an identical sheet in the Pure Land Sect’s territory.

• Li Yan searched the silver papers with the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief but found no seals or restrictions it could sense.
• Li Yan reasoned that the Phoenix’s silvery-white blood might explain the papers’ appearance and suspected that each sheet was a transformed drop of essence blood.
• Li Yan engulfed a silver paper in flame to test his theory.
• A purple-robed ancestor failed to refine an identical silver paper despite burning it for two days, then asked Qiu Shi where he had obtained it.
• Qiu Shi told the ancestor that he had seized the sixth sheet to appear on the second floor of the Northern Underworld Demon-Suppressing Tower, prompting the ancestor to question why such a treasure had appeared there.

Qiu Shi’s silver sheet was taken by the violet-robed elder, who failed to unravel it despite days of refining. Li Yan also failed to refine his three sheets with ordinary flames, but tried the Li Fire from his Mysterious Yellow Fan and watched it burn one sheet for half an hour.

• Qiu Shi brought the silver sheet from the Northern Darkness Demon-Suppressing Tower to his family head, who passed it to the violet-robed elder after failing to decipher it.
• The violet-robed elder questioned Qiu Shi, kept the silver sheet, and tried unsuccessfully to refine it for several days.
• Other cultivators, including Nascent Soul cultivators, also failed to open or refine silver sheets found in the tower.
• Li Yan spent two days trying to refine his three silver sheets and decided to return to the Phantom Sect to use an alchemy chamber’s earth fire.
• Li Yan tested a small amount of Li Fire from his Mysterious Yellow Fan on one sheet, then unleashed all the fan’s Li Fire and watched it burn for half an hour.

Li Yan discovered that Li Fire could alter the silver paper, then placed it in the blood river, where it transformed into a powerful silver droplet. When he tried to lift the droplet from the river, its immense pressure overwhelmed him and slammed him to the cave floor.

• Li Yan noticed that Li Fire had slightly softened and contracted the silver paper, though earthfire might not work because its flames had a different nature.
• Li Yan suspected the blood river’s nature was responsible and threw the silver paper into it.
• The Flying Sickle Blood Mantises fled the river in terror, and Li Yan stored their weakened essence souls inside Tuban.
• The silver paper vanished and became a silver droplet that radiated immense power within the blood river.
• Li Yan formed a spiritual-power finger to lift the droplet, but exposing part of it unleashed crushing pressure that broke the Great Dragon Elephant Array and knocked him onto the cave floor.

Li Yan escaped the collapsing mountain with the blood river and realized its power could shield him from the Undying Nether Phoenix essence blood. He began drawing a tiny thread of the blood’s power into his body, enduring agony and the essence blood’s hostile will as he tried to refine it.

• Li Yan recovered from the pressure of the silver essence blood and reinforced the Great Dragon Elephant Array before leaving the cave.
• Li Yan took the blood river and the two silver sheets with him, then fled as the mountain and nearby ranges collapsed.
• A day later, Li Yan reasoned that the blood river restrained the essence blood and could let him absorb its weakened power safely.
• Li Yan used his Divine Sense to find the thinnest silver thread and drew it into his fingertip.
• Li Yan fought the Undying Nether Phoenix’s inherited will and endured the thread tearing through his flesh and meridians.

As Li Yan struggled to survive the power of the Undying Nether Phoenix’s essence blood, the Devil Race invaded the Desolate Moon Continent and destroyed the Supreme Mystery Sect’s Southern Sea headquarters. The other great sects ordered cultivators to gather at Yin Devil Cliff, leaving the continent in confusion as Li Yan’s condition and the invasion’s consequences remained unresolved.

• The Purple Divine Dragon Elephant pressured the wounded Snow Mosquito King to defend its rule, and the Snow Mosquito King secretly asked it to hold off its rivals while it recovered.
• The Tuban space trembled as Li Yan struggled to circulate the Gui Water True Scripture and keep his mind and soul from collapsing.
• The Devil Race opened a passage in the Southern Sea and its forces broke the Supreme Mystery Sect’s Seventy-Two Heavenly Gates Grand Array, destroying the sect’s headquarters.
• Yuandu lost his physical body in the attack, while a small number of leaders and disciples escaped with treasured artifacts and many others were killed, captured, or scattered.
• The three other great sects ordered cultivators to gather near Yin Devil Cliff, while the mysterious secret realm sent demon beasts toward the rift and the cultivation world descended into turmoil.

After a year and a half refining the Undying Underworld Phoenix’s blood essence, Li Yan reached the limit his body could bear and awakened with greatly enhanced strength. He left the mountain after comprehending the bloodline movement technique Phoenix Soaring.

• The white-headed gray eagle tried once more to enter the cave, but Li Yan’s awakening unleashed a terrifying aura that suppressed it and shook the mountain.
• Li Yan stopped refining the blood essence because his body could no longer contain more, and stored the blood river in Tuban.
• Li Yan reflected on how the blood essence had condensed his spiritual power and greatly strengthened his body.
• Three days later, Li Yan flew out of the cave, and the white-headed gray eagle fled its former territory for good.
• Li Yan tested Phoenix Soaring and found he could travel more than a thousand li without the Cloud-Piercing Willow.

Li Yan tested the speed and strength gained from the Undying Nether Phoenix essence blood, discovering that Phoenix Soars to Heaven enhanced his concealed movement and his body far beyond his expectations. After investigating Devil Race magic and destroying the young woman's remains, he continued south and reached the area near Sorrow Spirit Manor, intending to use a nearby teleportation array.

• Li Yan found that Phoenix Soars to Heaven was faster than Cloud-Piercing Willow but quickly drained his spiritual power and strained his meridians.
• Li Yan discovered that Phoenix Soars to Heaven let him move faster while Night Concealment remained fully effective, and he tested his enhanced bodily strength by leveling a desolate valley.
• Li Yan concluded that his Qiongqi Purgatory Art had grown unusually powerful and resolved to keep the Melt Bamboo Shoot and Undying Nether Phoenix essence blood secret.
• Li Yan examined the Devil Race woman's remains and learned that devil qi from a devil core could drive Devil Race magic treasures but diminished with use.
• Li Yan destroyed the woman's remains, flew south for more than a dozen days, and slipped past Sorrow Spirit Manor on his way to a nearby teleportation array.

Li Yan approached the teleportation formation while concealing his identity, but a Pure Land Sect Golden Core cultivator grew suspicious and intercepted him. Li Yan claimed that his master had earned permission to borrow the formation two years earlier, leaving the cultivator questioning his story.

• Li Yan detected a Golden Core cultivator and hidden disciples at Sorrow Spirit Manor, then flew far away before heading toward the teleportation formation.
• The dark-robed cultivator sensed Li Yan approaching the formation, suspected he might be connected to the Devil Race, and left the manor to intercept him.
• Li Yan pretended to be a frightened Foundation Establishment cultivator and introduced himself as Jiang Hai, saying he wanted to borrow the formation.
• The dark-robed cultivator questioned whether Li Yan had used the formation before, and Li Yan said his master had told him about it.
• Li Yan claimed his master had saved Pure Land Sect cultivators two years earlier and had been promised permission to borrow the formation; the dark-robed cultivator asked him to clarify the story.

Li Yan persuaded a black-robed cultivator to let him use the teleportation formation by claiming to be the disciple of a secluded master connected to the Pure Land Sect. Before Li Yan could depart for Great Tranquility City, the cultivator revealed that the Devil Race had invaded and the four great sects had issued a new Nascent Soul Summoning Order, leaving Li Yan shocked by the upheaval.

• Li Yan described Ding Yushan's patrol squad and said he was seeking a teleportation formation to reach Great Tranquility City.
• Li Yan presented a gray copper coin associated with a Pure Land Sect Buddha, convincing the black-robed cultivator of his master's powerful connections.
• The black-robed cultivator allowed Li Yan to use the formation, and Li Yan agreed to pay the required spirit stones.
• As he began to leave, the black-robed cultivator warned Li Yan that the Devil Race had invaded and that Foundation Establishment cultivators and above were summoned to war.
• Li Yan reacted with genuine shock and wondered what had happened to the four great sects, the Phantom Sect, and Gong Chenying.

Li Yan learned that the Devil Race had seized the Grand Mystery Sect’s Southern Sea Region, but he pretended he had to continue to Great Peace City to avoid turning back. After reaching the southern transmission array, he encountered Martial Uncle Li, who examined his identity jade slip and reacted with surprise.

• The black-robed cultivator told Li Yan about the Devil Race’s invasion and urged him to return to his master instead of traveling to Great Peace City.
• Li Yan inferred that the Grand Mystery Sect had been crippled, the four great sects had united, and Phantom Sect was safe for now.
• Li Yan claimed he had to retrieve a rare refining material for his master before a shop resold it, so the black-robed cultivator left without changing his mind.
• The guards escorted Li Yan to the transmission array, gave him a jade slip proving his identity, and sent him south after he paid the spirit stones.
• Six cultivators surrounded Li Yan at the concealed southern array, and Martial Uncle Li took the jade slip and examined it.
• Martial Uncle Li’s expression softened as he read the jade slip, surprising the six cultivators.

Li Yan posed as Jianghai, the disciple of a reclusive master named Wuyouzi, while traveling toward Great Peace City to collect artifact-refining materials. Before he could continue, Hua Siwang arrived to conscript cultivators, leaving Li Yan facing the prospect of being sent to the battlefield.

• The gray-robed old man asked Li Yan about his master, and Li Yan gave the name Wuyouzi while hiding the master's supposed real name.
• Li Yan told the gray-robed old man that he was called Jianghai and was traveling to Great Peace City to collect materials for his master.
• The gray-robed old man warned Li Yan that cultivators were being conscripted and that traveling openly could get him drafted.
• Hua Siwang of the Severing Mountain Sect arrived with eight Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators and demanded to know why Li Yan was not helping eliminate fiends.
• The gray-robed old man tried to present Li Yan as an old friend's disciple, while Hua Siwang approached and asked whether he was carrying out a mission there.

Hua Siwang identified the gray-robed old man and his companions as Pure Land Sect conscripts, then tried to conscript Li Yan and learn about his master. The old man quietly warned Hua Siwang that Li Yan’s master was likely at the pseudo-Nascent Soul stage, while Li Yan resented being caught up in the exchange.

• Hua Siwang checked the gray-robed old man’s devil-slaying token and the pale-gold tokens carried by his six companions.
• Hua Siwang questioned Li Yan, who gave his name as Jiang Hai and identified his master as Wuyouzi.
• Hua Siwang explained that he was enforcing conscription orders and had forced Huangxuan Valley’s Foundation Establishment cultivators to leave for the assembly point.
• The gray-robed old man considered how to protect Li Yan without exposing his own mission or provoking Hua Siwang further.
• The gray-robed old man sent Hua Siwang a quiet warning that Li Yan’s master had a formidable background and was probably at the pseudo-Nascent Soul stage.

Li Yan was forcibly conscripted by Hua Siwang despite the gray-robed old man's warning that Li Yan might have a powerful master. As Hua Siwang flew south with Li Yan and eight cultivators from Yellow Dazzle Valley, Li Yan watched for a chance to escape and overheard them wonder where they were being taken.

• Hua Siwang dismissed the gray-robed old man's warning and decided to take Li Yan to the assembly point rather than risk visiting Li Yan's sect himself.
• The gray-robed old man told Li Yan to notify his master, but Hua Siwang insisted that the conscription order applied and compelled Li Yan to board his giant blade.
• Hua Siwang flew away with Li Yan and eight Foundation Establishment cultivators from Yellow Dazzle Valley, while the gray-robed old man silenced the remaining cultivators who discussed the matter.
• Li Yan quietly observed the journey and listened in on the eight cultivators as they debated whether they were heading to the Soaring Cloud Sect; one of them said they were traveling south and slightly east instead.

Li Yan abandoned his plan to escape Hua Siwang’s group and traveled south with them, hoping to reach Phantom Sect territory or the Yin Devil Cliff Rift. As Hua Siwang gathered and transported increasing numbers of cultivators, he killed those who tried to flee, while Li Yan stayed aboard to benefit from the free teleportation.

• Li Yan overheard Yellow Dazzle Valley disciples speculate that Hua Siwang’s group was heading toward the Yin Devil Cliff Rift, and he decided to remain with them to reach Phantom Sect territory.
• Hua Siwang joined forces with other requisition envoys, gathering more than a hundred people and paying for their teleportation southward.
• Over seven days, Hua Siwang used a roster map to collect Foundation Establishment cultivators, inspect Golden Core Realm cultivators, and force rogue cultivators into the group.
• Hua Siwang hunted down escapees and returned with their severed heads, frightening the remaining cultivators out of attempting flight.
• Li Yan stayed with the group for its free teleportation and mingled with other requisitioned cultivators to gather information.

Li Yan and Hua Siwang’s growing party traveled to the southeastern Desolate Moon Continent to join the war centered on the Yin Devil Cliff Rift. As Hua Siwang led them toward their gathering point, Li Yan encountered the mountain gate of Sword-Washing Pavilion and wondered whether it belonged to the Ten-Step Academy.

• Li Yan listened as fellow cultivators discussed the Devil Race’s advance, the battle lines near the Yin Devil Cliff Rift, and the likely strength of the enemy.
• Li Yan reflected that the four great sects’ mass requisition of cultivators showed how serious the war had become, and he hoped he might meet his fellow disciples at their destination.
• After twenty-seven days of travel, Li Yan and the others arrived in the southeastern Desolate Moon Continent, where Hua Siwang warned them to stop spreading rumors and promised rewards for those who served well.
• Hua Siwang led the now one-hundred-and-fifty-person party from the teleportation formations toward its gathering point, and his promises lifted the cultivators’ spirits.
• After flying for nearly half a day, Li Yan saw the mountain gate of Sword-Washing Pavilion; when he examined its inscription with his Divine Sense, sword light struck him and forced him to withdraw it.

Li Yan and the other conscripted cultivators reached the Sword-Washing Pavilion, where Hua Siwang opened its deadly sword formation with a token and his spiritual power. After teleporting inside, Li Yan found a crowded plaza with four routes up the mountain, and an unseen voice ordered the newcomers to line up and follow.

• Hua Siwang allowed cultivators to suffer painful backlash after they swept the mountain gate’s characters with Divine Sense, while protecting disciples from sects that had rewarded him.
• Deng Lingtian identified the silver barrier as a rare, powerful sword formation, and Li Yan sensed its chilling sword intent.
• Hua Siwang used the Pure Land Sect Conscription token and his spiritual power to open the formation, then ordered the group to enter quickly.
• Li Yan and the others teleported to a vast plaza where more than a thousand cultivators were gathering in four queues leading toward paths up the mountain.
• A cold voice behind Li Yan’s group ordered them to line up and follow.

Li Yan discovered that the plaza was a gathering point for the four great sects and sought a discreet way to leave Hua Siwang’s party for the Phantom Sect. After identifying himself to Hua Siwang, he waited to see how the senior would respond, leaving his transfer unresolved.

• Li Yan used his Divine Sense to confirm that the four sects were registering their recruited cultivators at separate mountain paths, and he recognized Zhu Gaotai and another Buli Peak disciple among the registrars.
• Li Yan stayed in the Pure Land Sect line and waited for the Grand Profound Sect line to clear so he could approach the Phantom Sect without drawing attention.
• Li Yan stepped out of line and told nearby cultivators that he had found an old acquaintance, while Deng Lingtian stayed behind and pondered his words.
• Hua Siwang considered his successful recruitment mission until Li Yan transmitted that he was a Phantom Sect disciple bound for the far north and thanked Hua Siwang for his protection.
• Hua Siwang controlled his anger, warned Li Yan against impersonating a sect disciple, and questioned him about Wuyouzi and Li Hanqing.

Li Yan used his supposed ties to Wei Zhongran to calm Hua Siwang and slip away from the traveling group. He reached the Phantom Sect registration point, where Zhu Gaotai and Senior Brother Xia recognized him.

• Li Yan explained that Wuyouzi was his master's friend and implied that Wei Zhongran would remember Hua Siwang's help, easing Hua Siwang's anger.
• Hua Siwang summoned Li Yan to the front, then staged a silent exchange so Li Yan could leave the group without drawing suspicion.
• Li Yan approached the Phantom Sect registration point, drawing hostile attention from a Golden Core Realm cultivator who thought he was cutting in line.
• Li Yan greeted Senior Brother Xia and Senior Brother Zhu before the Golden Core Realm cultivator could rebuke him.
• Zhu Gaotai recognized Li Yan, and Senior Brother Xia identified him as the taciturn cultivator from the past.