Recaps

Li Yan and Bai Rou received an urgent mission to find and rescue two Luoshu Lake disciples embedded with Devil cultivators near Zhouyang Town. After questioning the sparse intelligence, they chose three Ninth Squad members to join them, and Li Yan explained how each would contribute.

• Wei Zhongran gave Li Yan images of the two missing disciples and described their uncertain patrol schedule, likely route, and the token that would prove the rescuers’ identities.
• Li Yan asked nine questions about the squad, its guards, and the captives’ restrictions, then privately considered how far he might search using his Divine Sense.
• Wei Zhongran handed Li Yan a heavy iron scroll bearing the character “Yu” and an image of a lake.
• Bai Rou and Li Yan selected Hu Xiaowang, Yan Feijun, and Sun Guoshu to join the mission.
• Li Yan explained that Hu Xiaowang specialized in defense, Yan Feijun in concealment and infiltration, and Sun Guoshu in intelligence gathering and survival.

Li Yan and Bai Rou were assigned to a secret mission with Hu Xiaowang, Yan Feijun, and Sun Guoshu to retrieve two Luo Book Lake disciples from the Devil Race. Wei Zhongran privately warned Li Yan to protect the mission’s secrecy and laid out a lethal last resort, then the team was offered rewards to secure their cooperation before setting out.

• Wei Zhongran and Elder Chigong approved Li Yan and Bai Rou’s choice of Hu Xiaowang, Yan Feijun, and Sun Guoshu for the mission.
• After Bai Rou and Elder Chigong left, Wei Zhongran secretly told Li Yan to bring the two Luo Book Lake disciples back or kill them and disguise their deaths; he also ordered Li Yan to keep the mission’s true purpose concealed.
• Wei Zhongran and Elder Chigong summoned Hu Xiaowang, Yan Feijun, and Sun Guoshu, warned them that the mission had to be completed within fifteen days, and threatened severe punishment for failure.
• Elder Chigong promised Hu Xiaowang and Yan Feijun cultivation techniques and a chance to become disciples under an elder, while Wei Zhongran offered Sun Guoshu a chance to enter the outer sect if he returned safely.

Wei Zhongran offered Sun Guoshu entry into the Phantom Sect’s outer sect if he completed the mission, then appointed Li Yan to lead the group departing to find two informants among the Devil Race. After the group left, Wei Zhongran arranged backup, while Li Yan discovered that the mission jade slip had been altered to conceal the targets’ location.

• Sun Guoshu accepted Wei Zhongran’s offer of outer sect disciple status, unaware that Wei Zhongran had placed a lethal restriction inside him.
• Wei Zhongran appointed Li Yan as mission captain, and Bai Rou handed him a jade slip and a small iron scroll.
• Li Yan led Bai Rou, Hu Xiaowang, Yan Feijun, and Sun Guoshu away on the Cloud-Piercing Willow.
• Wei Zhongran told Elder Chi that Fellow Daoist Feng was secretly protecting the group and ordered another team to scout the Devil Race army as backup.
• Li Yan explained that the mission was to find two informants among the Devil Race and bring them back, then discovered the jade slip named the targets but concealed their location.

Li Yan revealed that the squad's destination was Zhouyang Town on the edge of the Devil Race army and prepared the group to travel there in secret. As they began their dangerous journey, he assigned Sun Guoshu to scout ahead, showing that he trusted abilities Sun Guoshu usually concealed.

• After flying a little over a thousand li, Li Yan's group landed in a mountain hollow to avoid enemy scouts.
• Li Yan told Hu Xiaowang, Yan Feijun, and Sun Guoshu that their destination was Zhouyang Town at the edge of the Devil Race army, alarming them with the danger of the mission.
• Li Yan explained that stealthy travel would take about three days and that the group had at most nine days to complete its task and return.
• Li Yan and Bai Rou changed into ordinary clothes, while Yan Feijun used a concealment method and offered to hide the group with an array.
• Li Yan assigned Sun Guoshu to scout ahead, and Hu Xiaowang questioned the choice before Li Yan said Sun Guoshu was more capable than he appeared.

Li Yan tested Sun Guoshu’s scouting abilities, and the squad relied on his danger sense to evade several searches while traveling around the battlefield. On the second night, a Devil Race Gold Core cultivator attacked them with Divine Sense, but a Windcool Mountain Gold Core cultivator intervened and protected the squad, while Li Yan’s concealment surprised both Gold Core cultivators.

• Li Yan sent Sun Guoshu ahead to scout, and Sun Guoshu demonstrated his skill at hiding his aura, detecting danger, and warning the squad.
• The group traveled more than a thousand li through the forests and detoured west around the main battlefield, avoiding several Divine Sense searches.
• When Yan Feijun asked about his abilities, Sun Guoshu explained that repeated brushes with death had given him an instinctive warning of danger.
• On the second night, two powerful Divine Senses found the squad, and a Devil Race Gold Core cultivator attacked Bai Rou and the others.
• A Windcool Mountain Gold Core cultivator intercepted the attack, and Li Yan reappeared after escaping the Devil Race cultivator’s Divine Sense with Night Concealment.

Li Yan led his group westward to escape a Devil Race pursuit while a Fengliang Mountain Golden Core Realm cultivator held off their enemy. As the pursuers closed in and the group debated whether to fight, Li Yan still had to find a way to reach their mission target.

• Li Yan rescued Bai Rou and the others from a Golden Core Realm cultivator’s attack and used the Cloud-Piercing Willow to carry them and the injured Sun Guoshu away.
• A Fengliang Mountain Golden Core Realm cultivator intercepted the Devil Race cultivator and gave Li Yan’s group time to flee west, while an eight-person Devil Race squad pursued them.
• Li Yan chose the western route to avoid revealing their mission, though the detour cost them time and the pursuers used a secret technique to keep pace.
• After traveling about a thousand miles, Li Yan told the group that they still needed to escape the pursuers’ Divine Sense range but were moving farther from their target.
• Yan Feijun suggested killing the eight pursuers, but Hu Xiaowang warned that the enemy included three false Golden Core cultivators, while Sun Guoshu considered escaping on his own.
• The two Devil Race cultivators on the gray flying wardrobe used iron rings and chains to draw up black liquid, repeatedly boosting the wardrobe’s speed.

Li Yan and the others fled in the Cloud-Piercing Willow while Wuyuan and Gefeng burned through their devil origin power to keep pursuing them. When the pursuers began catching up, Li Yan proposed splitting the group in a forest ambush, with him drawing two Devil Race cultivators away alone.

• Wuyuan and Gefeng used their devil origin power to drive their flying devil cabinet after Li Yan's group, while Wang Changkun reported that the Cloud-Piercing Willow had slowed.
• Li Yan concluded that the Golden Core Realm devil cultivator could not investigate them and that the pursuing squad of eight was their immediate threat.
• Li Yan proposed abandoning the westward flight and entering the forest, where he would lure away two Devil Race cultivators while the others fought the remaining pursuers.
• Hu Xiaowang, Yan Feijun, Bai Rou, and the others challenged Li Yan's plan and asked how he could make the pursuers split up.
• Li Yan said Yan Feijun could prepare concealment and ambush formations, and explained that the others would need to trust him to draw the two devil cultivators away.

Li Yan persuaded the others to follow his plan to split the pursuers, with him drawing away two Devil Race cultivators while the rest fought the six foreign cultivators. As Wuyuan and Gefeng closed in, they mistook the group's descent and exhausted appearance for weakness, setting up the ambush.

• Li Yan assured Hu Xiaowang and Bai Rou that he could lure away two Devil Race cultivators and hold them off, while Bai Rou remained with the main fighting force.
• Bai Rou considered using Elder Chigong's golden stone to protect Li Yan if he faced danger, then blushed at the thought.
• Wuyuan and Gefeng noticed that Li Yan's group had slowed and decided to spend more Devil Origin Power to catch up, while Wang Changkun warned that the humans might be setting a trap.
• Li Yan and the others descended into a forest and let their restriction vanish, appearing exhausted to the pursuers.
• Wuyuan and Gefeng mistook the group's apparent fatigue for weakness and argued over who would claim Bai Rou after capturing her.

Wu Yuan and Ge Feng pursued Li Yan and the four cultivators who had split from him, but Yan Feijun’s concealment formation hid the group from their senses. Wu Yuan suddenly insisted on chasing Li Yan himself, and his clash with Ge Feng over the pursuit left the reason for his change of heart unresolved.

• Wu Yuan ordered Wang Changkun to send two people after Li Yan while he and Ge Feng searched for the four cultivators, but they discovered that the group had disappeared inside a concealment formation.
• Bai Rou, Yan Feijun, Hu Xiaowang, and Sun Guoshu watched from the forest and worried that Li Yan might have used them as bait, though Bai Rou trusted him.
• Wu Yuan’s expression changed as he sensed something connected to Li Yan, and he abruptly ordered Ge Feng and Wang Changkun to deal with the four while he pursued Li Yan alone.
• Wang Changkun and the other foreign-domain cultivators sensed nothing unusual about Li Yan, while Ge Feng challenged Wu Yuan’s decision to pursue him personally.
• Wu Yuan argued that he and Ge Feng should not both leave the four cultivators unattended, but Ge Feng dismissed the danger and pressed his objection.

Wu Yuan and Ge Feng pursued Li Yan, each scheming to claim the devil core and eventually kill the other. Li Yan lured them away from Bai Rou’s group and feigned exhaustion, while the group prepared an ambush; the two pursuers neared the rocks where Li Yan had fallen.

• Wang Changkun left to confront the human cultivators, while Wu Yuan and Ge Feng pursued Li Yan and agreed to split the treasure they expected to take from him.
• Wu Yuan claimed he had a Devil-Transforming Yin-Yang Box, and Ge Feng coveted both the box and the treasure while Wu Yuan secretly planned to kill him.
• Li Yan used the devil core from Sorrow Spirit Manor to attract the pursuers and pretended his spiritual power was failing so he could draw them away from Bai Rou and the others.
• Bai Rou urged Yan Feijun, Hu Xiaowang, and Sun Guoshu to ambush the pursuers and strike Wang Changkun first once the chance arose.
• Li Yan plunged toward a pile of rocks, and Ge Feng urged Wu Yuan to hurry after him while keeping his guard up against Wu Yuan.

Li Yan concealed his strength and used Ge Feng and Wu Yuan’s greed for the Devil Core to turn their attacks against each other. After Ge Feng was gravely injured, Li Yan vanished, leaving Wu Yuan to face him alone.

• Wu Yuan moved in close to Ge Feng while both approached Li Yan, planning to strike after Ge Feng killed him.
• Ge Feng and Wu Yuan attacked Li Yan at the same time, but Li Yan blocked Ge Feng’s kick with his sword and counterattacked.
• Wu Yuan’s staff struck Ge Feng as Ge Feng was thrown away, leaving him badly injured and unconscious.
• Wu Yuan accused Li Yan of hiding his cultivation, then grew cautious when Li Yan’s aura still seemed to be at the mid Foundation Establishment Realm.
• Li Yan vanished from Wu Yuan’s Divine Sense, and his voice sounded beside Wu Yuan as he asked whether Wu Yuan still wanted the Devil Core.

Li Yan overwhelmed Wu Yuan after Wu Yuan sprang a trap and attacked him with his Dark Devil Eagle essence souls and Bone-Mottled Armor. The chapter ended with Li Yan gripping Wu Yuan by the neck and suppressing his devil qi and source power.

• Wu Yuan used his Dark Devil Eagle staff and a bone spur from his Bone-Mottled Armor to counterattack the unseen Li Yan.
• Li Yan struck Wu Yuan with a single punch, breaking his bone spur and crippling his arm.
• Wu Yuan watched his Dark Devil Eagle essence souls weaken and fall around Li Yan, apparently affected by poison that targeted essence souls.
• Li Yan vanished again as Wu Yuan released his remaining essence souls and tried to retreat on his devil cabinet.
• Li Yan appeared atop the devil cabinet, seized Wu Yuan by the neck, and left Wu Yuan unable to mobilize his devil qi or source power.

Li Yan killed Wuyuan with his enhanced physical strength and reflected on how the Undying Nether Phoenix's essence blood had transformed his speed and body. Meanwhile, Wang Changkun led his group through the forest, wary of their opponents and troubled by the losses their people had suffered.

• Li Yan snapped Wuyuan's neck, blasted out his devil core, and collected his belongings before burning the body.
• Li Yan found only bloody water where Gefeng had been, then flew away and considered how Heart-Erosion poison and his new physical abilities had decided the fight.
• Li Yan concluded that his speed and strength could let him defeat powerful cultivators, then extended his Divine Sense into the distance.
• Wang Changkun cautiously led five companions through the forest and considered the foreign cultivators' advantages and his group's mounting casualties.
• Wang Changkun recalled how the three patriarchs' people had survived on a meteorite in chaotic-flow space, where breaches in its protective formation had terrorized weaker cultivators.

Wang Changkun’s memories revealed how he lost his family on a shrinking meteorite and came to despise the people of the Desolate Moon Continent, though mounting casualties made him cautious. In a dim forest, he led five others while three meteor sand beasts searched ahead, and the chapter ended before their purpose was revealed.

• Wang Changkun’s father died shielding the family from meteorite fragments, and the three patriarchs saved Wang Changkun and his brothers while his mother was mortally wounded.
• Wang Changkun lost his mother and both younger brothers, then survived on the meteorite’s dangerous outskirts until a nascent soul middle stage cultivator took him in.
• Wang Changkun learned that lineage determined who could live near the meteorite’s center, and he resolved to earn his place through cultivation.
• The surviving clansmen reached the Desolate Moon Continent, where Wang Changkun joined the devil race in slaughtering its inhabitants and blamed them for his people’s past suffering.
• After hearing that seventy or eighty of his people had died, Wang Changkun grew more cautious and led five companions through a forest with three meteor sand beasts scouting ahead.

Wang Changkun used three Meteor Sand Beasts to locate Bai Rou and her companions’ concealed formation and led five allies into an attack. Yan Feijun’s ambush failed, and the chapter left him facing a Meteor Sand Beast that survived a direct strike and charged back at him.

• Wang Changkun released his three Meteor Sand Beasts, which detected fluctuations from Bai Rou and her companions’ formation and led his group toward it.
• Bai Rou and her companions recognized that the insects were tracking their position, while Yan Feijun opened the concealment formation and flew out with the subsidiary killing formations still in place.
• Yan Feijun attacked one Meteor Sand Beast with his life-bound purple ring, expecting to destroy it easily.
• The Meteor Sand Beast emerged without a mark and charged back at Yan Feijun.

Yan Feijun and his companions fought Wang Changkun and his five cultivators while Li Yan was away, and Yan Feijun lost his left hand to the Meteor Sand Beasts. As the battle turned against them and they worried about Li Yan, the four began retreating toward their hidden subsidiary killing formations.

• Wang Changkun sent his Meteor Sand Beasts at Yan Feijun, who lost his left hand after trying to strike one head-on.
• Bai Rou asked whether Yan Feijun could keep fighting, and he agreed to follow their plan rather than confront Wang Changkun alone.
• The battle split into two groups, with Yan Feijun and Sun Guoshu fighting five cultivators while Bai Rou and Hu Xiaowang faced Wang Changkun and the beasts.
• Bai Rou and her companions grew anxious about Li Yan as the fighting drained Hu Xiaowang and left Yan Feijun badly weakened.
• Sun Guoshu urged the group to use their formations, and the four quietly retreated toward the subsidiary killing formations.

Hu Xiaowang and Yan Feijun trapped Wang Changkun’s group in poison formations and killed everyone inside, including the three Death Sand Beasts. Li Yan returned safely and claimed that a nearby martial uncle had slain the two demonic cultivators pursuing him, leaving the others to wonder about the sect’s hidden support.

• Hu Xiaowang and Yan Feijun activated four subsidiary killing formations, separating Wang Changkun and the other foreign cultivators from the Wangliang Sect group.
• Wang Changkun and the Death Sand Beasts struggled against the poison, while the four foreign cultivators in the other formations fell silent.
• Hu Xiaowang and Yan Feijun dismantled the formations and confirmed that all five captives had died, leaving no bodies or belongings behind.
• Bai Rou urged the others to hurry toward Li Yan, but he appeared flying back alone before they could leave.
• Li Yan said a martial uncle had killed the two demonic cultivators pursuing him, and Yan Feijun suggested the sect had arranged backup for their mission.

Li Yan and the others hid near Zhouyang Town after surviving an encounter with foreign cultivators and their strange demon beasts. From their vantage point, they surveyed the demonic cultivator stronghold, and Hu Xiaowang pressed Li Yan to explain how they would find their targets.

• Li Yan warned the group not to rely on the possibility of a hidden Golden Core Realm protector, while Bai Rou believed Martial Uncle Wei had arranged secret protection.
• Hu Xiaowang explained that Yan Feijun had been wounded by Wang Changkun’s powerful spells and resilient Meteor Sand Beasts, and he and Yan Feijun regretted destroying the enemy’s Storage Pouches.
• Li Yan revealed that he had secretly watched Wang Changkun’s group die in the formation before returning to his companions, then urged everyone to leave before the third day began.
• Over the next two days, Li Yan and the others traveled cautiously and reached a hidden mountainside three li north of Zhouyang Town on the fifth evening.
• The group observed that Zhouyang Town held many demonic cultivators and no apparent mortals, while Hu Xiaowang demanded that Li Yan explain how they would locate their two insider targets.

Li Yan and the others watched Zhouyang Town for the two Luoshu Lake informants, but an unexpected buildup of Devil Race forces and repeated searches made their hiding place unsafe. After Bai Rou spotted one informant among a wounded Qingling Sect squad, the group decided they had to enter the crowded town to make contact.

• Li Yan explained that the informants had no fixed contact time, so the five companions divided the town into sections and watched the courtyards without using Divine Sense.
• As more Devil Race squads gathered in Zhouyang Town, Sun Guoshu judged that they were assembling for redeployment rather than hunting the group.
• Bai Rou spotted one supposed informant in a seven-person squad of wounded Qingling Sect cultivators, but the squad vanished into the crowded town before they could follow it.
• Hu Xiaowang and Yan Feijun urged the group to infiltrate the town and contact the informant, while warning squads searched near their illusion array.
• Li Yan agreed they could no longer stay hidden, but the group faced entering a town now crowded with at least two thousand cultivators.

As Divine Sense sweeps threatened to expose the group, Li Yan urged his companions to infiltrate Zhouyang Town that night and proposed disguising themselves as a Devil Race scouting squad. He revealed that he could imitate the devil cultivator Wuyuan and produce authentic devilish qi, but his companions mistook him for an enemy and attacked before he could explain.

• Li Yan warned that powerful Divine Senses were sealing off the area and said the group had to reach Zhouyang Town before their escape route became a battlefield.
• Hu Xiaowang asked how they could approach the town, and Li Yan proposed disguising the group as a Devil Race scouting squad.
• Bai Rou pointed out that they could not imitate devil cultivators' aura, while Hu Xiaowang and Yan Feijun doubted Li Yan's plan.
• Li Yan transformed into Wuyuan and radiated pure devilish qi, frightening the others into preparing to fight.
• Li Yan dispelled the devilish qi and reappeared on Cloud-Piercing Willow, explaining that an item in his hand was the key to producing it.

Li Yan used a devil core to disguise his aura and led Bai Rou, Hu Xiaowang, Yan Feijun, and Sun Guoshu toward Zhouyang Town. After blending in with returning squads, they faced questions from a devil cultivator inspecting their group, leaving Li Yan to maintain his cover.

• Li Yan explained that a devil core could release devilish qi and demonstrated how he used it to disguise himself.
• Li Yan advised the others to alter their appearances and pose as South Sea cultivators, then changed his own face to resemble the manor lord of Grieving Spirit Manor.
• Yan Feijun considered asking Li Yan for the devil core, but Hu Xiaowang stopped him from risking their mission.
• Li Yan activated the devil core and concealed his spiritual aura, convincing the others that his disguise was convincing.
• Li Yan led the group out past the patrols and flew with them to Zhouyang Town, where they joined the arriving cultivator squads.
• A devil cultivator questioned Li Yan about why only five had returned, and Li Yan claimed they had encountered a Golden Core cultivator before a Lord Devil appeared.

Li Yan and his companions entered Zhouyang Town by deceiving the devil cultivators guarding its gate, then split up to search for informants. Sun Guoshu found the informants’ location, and Li Yan prepared to gather the others and bring them back.

• Li Yan pretended to be a powerful devil cultivator, copied the order to report to the third area, and led Bai Rou and the others past the town inspection.
• After they escaped the guards’ attention, Li Yan assigned the five of them separate search areas and set the ruined altar as their meeting place.
• Li Yan searched his area for Luoshu Lake disciples but found none, then returned to the altar and met Sun Guoshu.
• Sun Guoshu told Li Yan that he had located the informant’s squad in a courtyard about two li away, where roughly forty people and four or five devil cultivators had gathered.
• Li Yan praised Sun Guoshu’s success and said they needed to find the others quickly and bring them back.

Li Yan and the others found the courtyard where the Luo Shu Lake disciple was staying and learned that they needed to obtain a restriction token from the leading demonic cultivator before rescuing the informants. Li Yan entered the courtyard under the pretense of seeking a place to rest, but the demonic cultivators refused to give his squad a room.

• Bai Rou and Sun Guoshu independently identified the target's courtyard, and the five gathered to share their intelligence.
• Li Yan explained that they needed the restriction token held by the leading demonic cultivator before they could take the two Luo Shu Lake disciples out of Zhouyang Town.
• The group investigated the courtyard and learned that four demonic cultivators were inside, while the presence of another leader remained uncertain.
• Li Yan led the others through the courtyard gate, pushed past the human cultivators on guard, and used his Divine Sense to locate the Luo Shu Lake disciple's room.
• Li Yan claimed his squad needed a temporary room, but the short, sturdy demonic cultivator said the courtyard was full and refused.

Li Yan used the demonic cultivators’ need to reorganize their teams to gain an opening to approach Jiao Hua, the Clear Spirit Sect leader he had been seeking. Jiao Hua agreed to combine their teams under Li Yan’s command, and the chapter ended as he called his injured subordinates out to meet them.

• Jiao Hua asked Li Yan whether he was looking to form a team, and Li Yan confirmed that he wanted to join forces with others.
• Jiao Hua and the other demonic cultivators described torturing captured human cultivators, angering Bai Rou and the others behind Li Yan.
• Li Yan deflected suspicion by criticizing both his own subordinates and the South Sea cultivators, then asked which people belonged to Jiao Hua.
• A sinister-faced demonic cultivator offered to combine his stronger team with Li Yan’s but insisted on being captain; Li Yan ignored him and asked Jiao Hua instead.
• Jiao Hua agreed that Li Yan should be captain, and Li Yan asked him to bring out his six subordinates so they could meet.

Li Yan negotiated with Jiao Hua over merging their squads after discovering that the six Clear Spirit Sect cultivators were badly weakened and controlled by restrictions. As Li Yan pressed for a larger share of battle spoils, he tried to confirm whether the devil cultivators intended to use his team as shields in the coming battle.

• Jiao Hua brought six Clear Spirit Sect disciples into the courtyard, including a Luo Shu Lake cultivator whose grief and hatred Li Yan noticed.
• Li Yan inspected the six disciples and realized that three were close to death after losing much of their essence blood and cultivation.
• Jiao Hua proposed that his six disciples merge with Li Yan's team, while carefully avoiding saying that Li Yan would command them.
• Li Yan feigned dissatisfaction with the weakened squad, prompting Jiao Hua to offer him a share of the spoils in exchange for cooperation.
• Li Yan demanded forty percent, and Jiao Hua countered with twenty percent while weighing the value of using Li Yan's people as shields.
• Li Yan continued bargaining to probe the purpose of the devil cultivators' gathering and the role his team would play in the coming battle.