Recaps

Li Yan learned that the Devil Race was gathering for a battle that could begin as soon as the next day, then lured Jiao Hua into a private conversation by claiming he possessed a technique that enhanced human cultivators at the cost of their lifespans. He left Jiao Hua intrigued, with the restriction token and Li Yan’s true plan still undisclosed.

• Li Yan agreed to let Bai Rou and the other three get acquainted with Jiao Hua’s six cultivators while warning Jiao Hua that they would part ways if his squad proved ineffective.
• Li Yan told Bai Rou that he had the Luoshu Lake restriction token but no firm plan, and asked her group to learn the whereabouts of another target who might have died.
• Jiao Hua and the short, stout devil cultivator told Li Yan that summoned squads were gathering and that an attack could begin within a day, possibly targeting Windcool Mountain.
• Li Yan invited Jiao Hua to speak privately about making the human cultivators more useful, and Jiao Hua took him into a room.
• Li Yan claimed he had a secret technique that consumed lifespan to strengthen human cultivators, telling Jiao Hua it had let Bai Rou and the others fight at least twenty percent above their realms.

Li Yan tricked Jiao Hua into touching a poisoned jade slip, then subdued him and searched his Storage Pouch. He discovered crimson iron blocks containing soul essences bound to six captives, leaving their fate in his hands.

• Jiao Hua sealed the room and examined Li Yan’s jade slip, believing they would negotiate over the secret art.
• Li Yan revealed the jade slip was blank and used its poison to rob Jiao Hua of control over his spiritual power and Divine Sense.
• Li Yan forcibly broke through Jiao Hua’s Storage Pouch imprint, causing Jiao Hua severe pain, and found spirit stones, strange talismans, and a magic treasure.
• Li Yan inspected two crimson iron blocks and identified trapped soul essences belonging to six Qingling Sect disciples, including the Luoshu Lake disciple from the courtyard.
• Li Yan realized that destroying the blocks could free the captives, while shattering any one of the faces would kill its corresponding person.

Li Yan decided to keep the restriction tokens and the surviving Luoshu Lake disciple for the mission, then tortured Jiao Hua to learn the limits of his devil body. The chapter left Jiao Hua alive in unbearable agony while Li Yan dismissed the devil cultivator’s famed toughness.

• Li Yan chose not to break the crimson iron blocks, took Jiao Hua’s Storage Pouch and restriction tokens, and concluded that the other missing Luoshu Lake disciple had died.
• Li Yan told Jiao Hua he would test the methods used to torture Desolate Moon Continent cultivators and pierced Jiao Hua’s armor and body with one finger.
• Li Yan hooked Jiao Hua’s spine with his finger and snapped it, leaving Jiao Hua unable to use his final desperate counterattack.
• Li Yan repeatedly broke Jiao Hua’s spine and inflicted severe wounds while keeping him conscious, mocking his strength as only that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
• Li Yan washed the blood from his transformed arm and said he would forgo Jiao Hua’s devil core so Jiao Hua could continue suffering.

Li Yan secured the restriction tokens from Jiao Hua and learned that Yu Yuanjun was the only surviving target they sought. With demonic reinforcements possibly arriving by morning, the group prepared to extract Yu Yuanjun and escape Zhouyang Town that night.

• Li Yan left Jiao Hua poisoned and disabled, then returned to Bai Rou and the others with two restriction tokens bearing the faces of six people.
• Bai Rou confirmed that Yu Yuanjun was likely their living contact, while the other target had died six days earlier after Jiao Hua triggered his restriction token.
• Li Yan warned that demonic reinforcements might arrive by morning and urged the group to escape that night.
• Sun Guoshu proposed calling Yu Yuanjun over as a way to remove him without raising suspicion, and Li Yan approved the plan.
• Sun Guoshu went to Yu Yuanjun's room and called him over, while Yu Yuanjun privately despaired over the loss of his younger clansman and feared his Lineage had abandoned him.

Yu Yuanjun learned that Li Yan was rescuing him after confirming the Luo Shu Lake Lineage token and the restriction holding his essence soul. Li Yan refused to rescue the five other Qingling Sect disciples, and the group prepared to leave without exposing their plan.

• Yu Yuanjun hesitated to answer Sun Guoshu's summons, fearing the demonic cultivators were testing his connection to Luo Shu Lake, but went to Li Yan's room.
• Li Yan showed Yu Yuanjun the Lineage token, and Yu Yuanjun recognized the character "Yu" and the lake engraved on it.
• Li Yan revealed the restriction token containing Yu Yuanjun's essence soul, then explained why it had to remain hidden until they reached the rear.
• Yu Yuanjun asked Li Yan to rescue the five other Qingling Sect disciples, but Li Yan refused and warned him not to expose their whereabouts.
• Hu Xiaowang opened the door, and the group left the room with Yu Yuanjun following as Li Yan addressed Jiao Hua before they departed.

Li Yan led his group out of the courtyard after secretly killing Jiao Hua, then found the town entrance sealed to departures. After pretending to give up, Li Yan prepared to force their way out and gave Yu Yuanjun pills to swallow.

• Li Yan ordered Yu Yuanjun to lead the group away while the courtyard's cultivators mistakenly assumed Li Yan and Jiao Hua had merely quarreled.
• Li Yan and the others reached Zhouyang Town's entrance and learned from four guards that no one could leave.
• Li Yan pretended to accept the restrictions and led the group back down the street, easing the guards' suspicions.
• Li Yan quietly asked the group if they were ready, and Hu Xiaowang urged Yu Yuanjun to swallow the pills he had been given.
• Li Yan told Yu Yuanjun to swallow the pills if he wanted to survive.

Li Yan and his companions caused a poisonous, chaotic disturbance at Zhouyang Town’s entrance and used it to escape. They flew north on the Cloud-Piercing Willow, leaving Yu Yuanjun bewildered and captive as they put distance between themselves and the town.

• Li Yan’s group triggered explosions and poisonous smoke at the town entrance, making cultivators believe demon beasts were attacking.
• Li Yan seized the dazed Yu Yuanjun, forced the pill into his mouth, and carried him through the mist while the group shouted that enemies were attacking.
• Li Yan and his companions passed through the apparent demon-beast threat and emerged outside town, where no beasts were present.
• Li Yan summoned the Cloud-Piercing Willow, and the six escaped north without being stopped or pursued.
• Hu Xiaowang praised Li Yan’s plan, while Yu Yuanjun remained confused about their escape.
• The group’s earlier plan had relied on Hu Xiaowang and Yan Feijun secretly setting poisonous formations at the entrance while the others distracted and covered them.

Li Yan and his companions escaped Zhouyang Town using poison and illusion formations, but Golden Core devil cultivators soon discovered the attack and Teng Wuji pursued a suspicious squad. Li Yan noticed Teng Wuji heading directly toward them as they fled north.

• Hu Xiaowang and Yan Feijun set poison and illusion formations at the town entrance, allowing Li Yan's group to escape while killing six devil cultivators and injuring others.
• Li Yan's group disguised themselves as devil cultivators and flew north at a normal pace to avoid attracting attention.
• Teng Wuji and another Golden Core devil cultivator destroyed the formations, assessed the casualties, and ordered an investigation into the guards and perimeter watch.
• Teng Wuji spotted a suspicious squad heading north and pursued it while Wu handled the aftermath in Zhouyang Town.
• Li Yan sensed Teng Wuji leaving the town and realized the devil cultivator was flying straight toward their group.

Li Yan and his companions fled from the pursuing Golden Core Realm cultivator Teng Wuji, who used an immortal art to try to stop them. Li Yan resisted the spell and revealed his human identity, but Teng Wuji renewed his attack as the group remained in danger.

• Li Yan sensed a powerful pursuer, accelerated the Cloud-Piercing Willow, and changed course while Bai Rou and the others realized they were being chased.
• Two Fengliang Mountain squads found their route blocked by the Devil Race’s repeated Divine Sense scans and considered infiltrating between sweeps to reach Zhouyang Town.
• Teng Wuji concluded that Li Yan’s group was hiding something and ordered them to stop as he pursued them.
• Teng Wuji’s mind-affecting immortal art made Bai Rou and the others move to stop Li Yan, but Li Yan shouted to break its hold and kept the Cloud-Piercing Willow moving.
• Li Yan’s disguise began to fail, so he returned to his true appearance and put away the devil core he had used to disguise himself.
• Teng Wuji saw that Li Yan was human and threatened the group, while Li Yan endured the renewed pressure without stopping.

Li Yan and his companions fled from Teng Wuji, but his No Trace of the Demonic Shadow technique let him catch up despite the Cloud-Piercing Willow’s speed. With escape impossible, the group hid in a valley and prepared for a fight as Teng Wuji searched overhead.

• Teng Wuji’s demonic sound attack failed to overwhelm Li Yan and his companions, and he pursued them while trying to intercept them with Devil Race squads.
• Li Yan guided the Cloud-Piercing Willow around enemy squads and kept searching for allied forces while Hu Xiaowang recovered and thanked him for saving them.
• Teng Wuji used No Trace of the Demonic Shadow to close the distance, forcing Li Yan to tell the others to prepare to defend and wait for rescue.
• Li Yan and his companions descended into a valley and vanished from Teng Wuji’s view.
• Teng Wuji hovered above the valley and searched for them while six pairs of eyes watched him from below.

Li Yan and the others’ illusion formation failed to hide them from Teng Wuji, whose thunderous area attack devastated the valley and left Hu Xiaowang and Yan Feijun badly injured. As Teng Wuji closed in for a killing strike, the group fled, while Li Yan considered using Phoenix Soars to Heaven to escape; meanwhile, Elder Chigong was intercepted near Fengliang Mountain.

• Teng Wuji counted down, then unleashed dark golden thunderbolts across the valley, setting the landscape ablaze and striking Li Yan’s formation.
• Hu Xiaowang was severely injured while sustaining the formation, and Yan Feijun collapsed after the attack damaged his Divine Sense.
• Teng Wuji spotted the concealed group, appeared above them, and formed a powerful dark golden sphere to attack.
• Hu Xiaowang used his strongest defensive technique, and Sun Guoshu led the group out of the formation as the sphere expanded to engulf them.
• Elder Chigong was intercepted near Fengliang Mountain by a blood-cloaked cultivator while traveling to meet Li Yan and the others.
• Li Yan judged that Phoenix Soars to Heaven could let him escape the attack’s range and considered fleeing with the Cloud-Piercing Willow.

Li Yan led Bai Rou and the others in a desperate escape from Teng Wuji, who pursued them with lightning-powered orbs. After Cloud-Piercing Willow’s barrier shattered, Li Yan endured a direct strike, and the five survivors remained airborne as Teng Wuji stared in disbelief.

• Bai Rou used her jade ruler treasure to break Teng Wuji’s first attack, and Li Yan carried the group out of the valley on Cloud-Piercing Willow.
• Teng Wuji sent three dark golden orbs after the fleeing group and reduced their power while suspecting the cultivators were involved in a hidden scheme.
• Li Yan steered Cloud-Piercing Willow around the first orb and used a mid-grade spirit stone to reinforce its barrier against the second.
• The third orb shattered Cloud-Piercing Willow’s barrier and struck the six cultivators, sending them tumbling toward the ground.
• Li Yan endured the lightning strike with his body, and five figures remained in the air, astonishing Teng Wuji.

Li Yan and Bai Rou faced Teng Wuji, a mid-stage Golden Core Realm demonic cultivator, after his lightning attack incapacitated Hu Xiaowang and the others. Li Yan supplied Bai Rou with mid-grade spirit stones to strengthen her puppets as Teng Wuji sent a demonic tiger after her and attacked Li Yan.

• Li Yan pretended to be badly hurt while reassuring Bai Rou, and they discovered Hu Xiaowang and the other three had survived but fallen unconscious.
• Teng Wuji recognized the strength of Li Yan's body and Bai Rou's puppets, then resolved to capture Bai Rou and seize the group's treasures.
• Li Yan asked Bai Rou whether her puppets could use mid-grade spirit stones, and she confirmed that they could.
• Teng Wuji sent a White-Blazing Demonic Tiger after Bai Rou and a scarlet attack toward Li Yan.
• Li Yan threw three mid-grade spirit stones to Bai Rou, then advanced to meet Teng Wuji's attack as Bai Rou prepared to power her puppets.

Li Yan charged Teng Wuji but was caught by the Spirit-Absorbing Bottle and taken inside. Bai Rou launched her three puppets at the White Blazing Demon Tiger in a desperate attempt to reach the bottle and save him.

• Bai Rou sent her three long-armed giant ape puppets after Li Yan, but the White Blazing Demon Tiger blocked them and attacked.
• Teng Wuji used the Spirit-Absorbing Bottle to ensnare Li Yan in red light and draw him into the bottle.
• Li Yan was pulled into the Spirit-Absorbing Bottle before Bai Rou could intervene.
• Bai Rou made her puppets abandon defense and attack the White Blazing Demon Tiger, which soon fell into a disadvantage.

Teng Wuji captured Bai Rou and tried to uncover the pill she had swallowed, while Li Yan struggled to survive the scorching interior of the Spirit-Absorbing Bottle. Li Yan used the Gui Water True Scripture to steady his spiritual power, but he emerged badly desiccated and remained trapped inside.

• Bai Rou prepared to detonate her three puppets and take poison rather than be captured, but Teng Wuji seized her before she could act.
• Teng Wuji restrained Bai Rou, disabled her spiritual power, and forced her mouth open to inspect the pill as her puppets fell inactive.
• Inside the Spirit-Absorbing Bottle, Li Yan endured heat that rapidly dried his body and sent his spiritual power surging out of control.
• Li Yan sensed a force resisting the heat, entered his violet dantian chamber, and circulated the Gui Water True Scripture to regain control.
• Li Yan discovered that his fire spiritual power had restrained the other four cauldrons, saving him, though it had been depleted by more than ninety percent.

Li Yan escaped the Spirit-Absorbing Bottle by using the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief and emerged in time to save Bai Rou from Teng Wuji. His surprise attack freed her and wounded Teng Wuji slightly, but the devil cultivator quickly recovered, leaving Li Yan aware that his poison and strength might not be enough to defeat him.

• Li Yan converted his spiritual power into pure fire spiritual power, endured the Spirit-Absorbing Bottle's restrictions, and failed to break through its barrier by force.
• Li Yan used the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief to cover the bottle's opening and escaped as Teng Wuji prepared to exploit Bai Rou's helplessness.
• Teng Wuji removed the poison pill from Bai Rou's mouth and restrained her, while she wept in despair.
• Li Yan appeared beside Bai Rou, struck Teng Wuji twice to free her, and kicked him back while urging Bai Rou to be careful.
• Teng Wuji recovered from Li Yan's attack and questioned how he had escaped the bottle, while Li Yan realized that his poison had only slightly injured the devil cultivator.

Li Yan rescued Bai Rou and faced Teng Wuji while the Incandescent Demon Tiger attacked the Great Dragon-Elephant Array. After narrowly evading Teng Wuji’s ambush, Li Yan left Bai Rou to defend the array as the Purple God Dragon-Elephant revealed itself and she sent her puppets into battle.

• Li Yan placed Bai Rou and her damaged puppets inside the Great Dragon-Elephant Array, then tried to stall Teng Wuji outside it.
• Teng Wuji ordered Duanfeng to attack the array while he confronted Li Yan, but his surprise strike only cut through Li Yan’s afterimage.
• Bai Rou prepared to fight Duanfeng as the Incandescent Demon Tiger blasted the array, whose defenses held against its attacks.
• The Purple God Dragon-Elephant revealed itself to Bai Rou and explained that Li Yan had ordered it to conserve its strength for Teng Wuji.
• Bai Rou activated her three long-armed giant ape puppets and sent them out to confront Duanfeng.

Li Yan fought Teng Wuji while trying to keep him occupied until reinforcements could arrive, but Teng Wuji’s attacks exposed Li Yan’s hidden strength and left him badly wounded. Li Yan continued evading and weakening the dark-golden spheres, though his strained meridians threatened to end the delay soon.

• Bai Rou sent her three long-armed giant ape puppets into a fierce attack, startling the Purple Divine Dragon Elephant.
• Li Yan dodged Teng Wuji’s sneak attack and used Melt Bamboo Shoot liquid to restore his body while keeping Teng Wuji away from the formation.
• Teng Wuji struck Li Yan with a dark-golden sphere, badly burning his arms and tearing his clothes, and recognized that Li Yan’s cultivation and Divine Sense concealed unusual strength.
• Teng Wuji unleashed six more dark-golden spheres, while Li Yan fled with Phoenix Soars to Heaven and cast repeated wind blades to slow and weaken them.
• Li Yan continued trying to delay Teng Wuji, but the strain on his meridians threatened to exhaust him before reinforcements could arrive.

Li Yan used Phoenix Soars to Heaven and the Li Fire Mysterious Yellow Fan to resist Teng Wuji’s Dark-Gold Lightning Radiance, but Teng Wuji kept pursuing him and laying spatial prisons. As Li Yan’s strength waned, the battle below between Bai Rou and the White Blazing Demon Tiger also reached a critical point.

• Teng Wuji used his Divine Sense to track Li Yan’s spatial fluctuations and tried to exhaust him as Li Yan repeatedly fled with Phoenix Soars to Heaven.
• Li Yan sent a net of Li Fire from the Li Fire Mysterious Yellow Fan against Teng Wuji’s Dark-Gold Lightning Radiance, destroying one sphere of light.
• Teng Wuji formed more than twenty spheres of Dark-Gold Lightning Radiance and launched them from all directions, forcing Li Yan to release the fan’s remaining Li Fire.
• Li Yan’s blood-red Li Fire net shattered five spheres and reached Teng Wuji, who dissolved it into black smoke and recognized its unusual dissolving power.
• Teng Wuji stopped using Dark-Gold Lightning Radiance and repeatedly pursued Li Yan, casting spatial prisons that Li Yan narrowly escaped.
• The battle between Bai Rou and the White Blazing Demon Tiger below reached a critical juncture.

Bai Rou and her three spirit-stone-powered giant ape puppets fought the White Blazing Demon Tiger while Li Yan stalled Teng Wuji. The injured tiger broke the puppets’ formation by sacrificing its tail to immobilize one, then circled back toward the trapped puppet as the small puppet appeared beside it.

• Bai Rou used her three puppets to drive the wounded White Blazing Demon Tiger back while the Great Dragon Elephant Formation kept her safe.
• The White Blazing Demon Tiger targeted the small puppet, whose surprise attacks had opened a severe wound in its waist.
• The tiger curled into a ball, smashed through the puppets’ encirclement, and tried to break free.
• Bai Rou sent a large puppet to block it, but the White Blazing Demon Tiger severed its own tail and used the transformed tail to entangle and pin the puppet underground.
• The other large puppet fired a white-gold arrow, but the White Blazing Demon Tiger circled back toward the pinned puppet as the small puppet appeared beside it.

Bai Rou and the Purple Divine Dragon Elephant killed the White Blazing Demon Tiger with a surprise pull and a spirit-stone arrow, then hurried to aid Li Yan. Teng Wuji attacked as Bai Rou rearmed her puppets, leaving Li Yan badly wounded and struggling to control his mana while Bai Rou prepared to block the pursuer.

• The White Blazing Demon Tiger trapped one of Bai Rou’s giant ape puppets and moved to destroy it, but the Purple Divine Dragon Elephant pulled the beast into the path of Bai Rou’s white-gold arrow, killing it.
• Bai Rou recognized the Purple Divine Dragon Elephant and replaced the puppets’ depleted spirit stones so they could help Li Yan.
• Teng Wuji seized the two spirit stones and attacked Bai Rou and the puppets, but Li Yan shoved them into the Great Dragon Elephant Formation.
• Bai Rou saw that Li Yan was gravely wounded after holding Teng Wuji off for several breaths, and Li Yan told her not to join the fight.
• Bai Rou sent the three puppets to stop Teng Wuji’s pursuit while Li Yan stayed put and tried to steady his surging mana.

Li Yan risked his life to protect Bai Rou and the others after Teng Wuji attacked them in grief over the White Blazing Demonic Tiger’s death. Li Yan met Teng Wuji’s enormous stomp head-on and injured his leg, but Li Yan was left severely wounded as the clash continued.

• Teng Wuji mourned the White Blazing Demonic Tiger and turned his fury on Bai Rou and the puppets.
• Li Yan used Tuban and the Snow Mosquitoes to delay Teng Wuji, then pulled Bai Rou and the three puppets into the Great Dragon Elephant Array.
• Teng Wuji ignored Li Yan and stomped toward the array, determined to kill Bai Rou and the others.
• Li Yan chose to defend the array, unleashed his full strength, and told the Little Purple Divine Dragon Elephant to drag him inside if he lost consciousness.
• Li Yan struck Teng Wuji’s foot with both fists, suffering severe injuries while Teng Wuji’s right leg went numb and his body was thrown backward.

Li Yan and Bai Rou wounded Teng Wuji, but Teng Wuji nearly killed Li Yan with a crushing elbow strike. Li Yan vanished at the last moment and was found unconscious inside the battered Great Dragon-Elephant Array, while Bai Rou entrusted his survival to the little Purple God Dragon-Elephant.

• Li Yan struck Teng Wuji, and Bai Rou’s three puppets pierced Teng Wuji’s right calf, severely injuring it.
• Bai Rou collapsed from the backlash of controlling the puppets, and Li Yan fell unconscious after suffering grave injuries from Teng Wuji’s attack.
• Teng Wuji attacked Li Yan again as the Purple God Dragon-Elephant tried to pull him into the array.
• Just before Teng Wuji’s elbow struck his head, Li Yan vanished, and the collision devastated the valley.
• The little Purple God Dragon-Elephant fed pills to the unconscious Li Yan, and Bai Rou told it that their survival depended on it.

Li Yan used a desperate secret art and a carefully timed ambush to grievously wound Teng Wuji, then collapsed near death and was rescued by the little Purple Divine Dragon Elephant. Teng Wuji reached the Great Dragon Elephant Formation and struck it as Bai Rou and the others faced what seemed to be their final moments.

• Li Yan swallowed the prepared Melt Bamboo Shoot and used Five Elements Return to Primordial Chaos to unleash a near-fatal attack on Teng Wuji, damaging his throat before the recoil left Li Yan unconscious and badly injured.
• The little Purple Divine Dragon Elephant caught Li Yan with its trunk and carried him back into the Great Dragon Elephant Formation.
• Bai Rou entrusted the group’s fate to the formation spirit as the injured Teng Wuji approached, consumed by hatred and the heart demon caused by his defeat.
• Teng Wuji gathered the power of heaven and earth and punched the formation, making its purple barrier crack and shed sparks.
• Bai Rou looked toward the unconscious Li Yan without fear as the formation’s purple radiance whirled around the six people and its dragon and elephant cries grew louder.

Teng Wuji’s attack was stopped by an unseen cultivator while Li Yan wandered through a freezing, flame-lined bridge in an unconscious vision. Wei Zhongran treated Li Yan’s catastrophic injuries as the group traveled north, but feared Li Yan would lose his body and need to possess another; then Wei Zhongran realized something was wrong.

• Teng Wuji enlarged his body and struck at the violet sphere, but an unseen person seized his wrist and challenged him for bullying the younger generation.
• Li Yan found himself alone on a bridge of ghostly blue flames, unable to remember who he was or use Divine Sense.
• Li Yan touched a flame, became encased in spreading frost, and began losing consciousness as his organs burned.
• Bai Rou and Hu Xiaowang’s group traveled north with Wei Zhongran, who treated Li Yan while the others learned how severe his injuries were.
• Wei Zhongran said Li Yan might not preserve his body and would need to possess another after his soul recovered, then suddenly realized something was wrong.