Recaps

Li Yan demonstrated that he had cultivated more than half of the power of Cold Moon, giving Soul-Suppressing Palace hope of proceeding with its long-prepared plan. The elders revealed that the plan aimed to open a passage through the Dreamback Ant’s throat to the outside world, and explained how their first sect master had devised a formation to overcome the chaotic powers there.

• Elder Tang tested Li Yan’s power of Cold Moon and confirmed that he had cultivated more than fifty percent of it in less than a hundred years.
• Master Lan, Elder Hao, and the other elders celebrated Li Yan’s progress and agreed to begin the next stage of the plan.
• Sect Master Xue Tieyi told Li Yan that Soul-Suppressing Palace had been searching for an exit from the Dizhen Domain since its first sect master discovered the limits of cultivating there.
• Xue Tieyi explained that the first sect master had found outside power seeping through a cave behind the mountain, which he believed was the Dreamback Ant’s throat.
• Xue Tieyi described how the first sect master planned to use a formation powered by spirit stones and spiritual energy to advance through the throat and open a passage to the outside world.

Xue Tieyi recounted how the old sect master’s grand formation was damaged, leaving the mountain cleft shrouded in deadly yellow mist, and explained Soul-Suppressing Palace’s plan to investigate the cave again. Li Yan agreed to enter with Master Lan and Elder Hao, while Elder Tang would remain outside to guide his return.

• Xue Tieyi explained that the old sect master and five Void Refinement elders had vanished after an accident damaged their formation in the space beyond the mountain cleft.
• Xue Tieyi said the two Supreme Elders had explored the grand formation but gone missing, and that the old sect master’s party had likely died in the cave’s chaotic forces.
• Xue Tieyi told Li Yan that he would accompany Master Lan and Elder Hao into the space and release Cold Moon power monthly, while Elder Tang remained outside as a lifeline.
• Li Yan realized the mission was dangerous but agreed to take part because it might reveal an exit to the outside world.
• The two Supreme Elders left the hall, and Tang Feng urged Li Yan to give the mission everything he had.

Li Yan, Master Lan, and Elder Hao entered the mountain cleft and traveled through disorienting yellow mist, with Li Yan repeatedly releasing the power of Cold Moon to keep contact with Elder Tang. After finding the vast formation built by the old Sect Master, they followed Master Lan’s search across a blue sea and reached a reef island that stirred Elder Hao’s memories.

• Elder Tang instructed Li Yan to release the power of Cold Moon inside the mountain cleft, while Elder Hao took Li Yan and Master Lan in and Elder Tang stayed behind to guard the entrance.
• Li Yan traveled through the yellow mist with Elder Hao and Master Lan, periodically releasing the power of Cold Moon and struggling to judge the passage of time.
• After Li Yan had released the power of Cold Moon three hundred and fifteen times, Elder Hao found the grand formation built outside the cave by the old Sect Master.
• Master Lan led Li Yan and Elder Hao across the blue sea, stopping repeatedly to search for parts of the formation.
• The three arrived at a large reef island, where Elder Hao recalled the many years he and the Third Elder had spent there.

Li Yan accompanied Elder Hao and Master Lan to a mountain cave whose chaotic powers seemed to connect the island to the sea and draw outsiders into the Dizhen Domain. After Elder Hao warned him not to enter the cave, Li Yan tested its defenses and found his soul power shattered by the lights.

• Elder Hao explained that power leaking from the cave dispersed through the sea and could attract outsiders, and warned Li Yan not to dive too deep or enter the cave.
• Master Lan searched the area with a green compass while Elder Hao prepared to help her construct a formation.
• Li Yan stayed well back from the cave but sensed its deadly danger and used Cold Moon soul power to probe the entrance.
• The cave’s lights instantly shredded Li Yan’s soul power, jolting him and stirring turmoil in his soul.
• Li Yan summoned a black ring saber and sent it toward the cave’s edge.

Li Yan studied the dangerous powers surrounding the cave while Master Lan spent more than six years preparing a formation to strike its entrance. The formation’s single attack erupted with tremendous force, and the chapter ended as chaotic light battered Elder Hao’s defensive barrier.

• Li Yan tested the cave’s light barrier with his black ringed saber and judged that entering the cave would be deadly without strong protection.
• Li Yan explored the area and secretly conducted repeated tests near the cave while Master Lan investigated the formation and Elder Hao watched over them.
• For six years, Master Lan prepared to activate the formation, while Li Yan continued his research and checked for Elder Tang the Third’s Cold Moon power each month.
• Master Lan summoned Li Yan to a defensive barrier a hundred miles away before she and Elder Hao began the formation’s single strike.
• Master Lan’s formation launched a giant spiked sphere into the cave entrance, unleashing chaotic light that slammed into Elder Hao’s barrier.

Master Lan and Elder Hao used a powerful formation to break through the cave’s restrictions, but the chaotic energies began regenerating before they could reach the far entrance. After their efforts to contain or destroy the passage failed, Li Yan arrived and offered to try, sending out two magic treasures.

• Master Lan and Elder Hao drove a crimson spiked sphere through more than a hundred miles of cave, but their triangular formation exhausted its power before opening the passage completely.
• Master Lan explained that the restrictions regenerated because the cave had not been fully opened, then tried formations to stop the advancing chaotic energies.
• Elder Hao charged through the curtain of light but returned scorched, reporting that the chaotic energies continued for dozens of miles without a break.
• Master Lan’s formations and Elder Hao’s powerful spells failed to stop the energies, and his strongest strike could not destroy the cave.
• Elder Hao decided they had to retreat, but Li Yan arrived and offered to try, sending two magic treasures forward.

Li Yan used his twin brushes to transform the chaotic powers blocking the tunnel into water-element law power, allowing Elder Hao to extract it and merge it into the surrounding normal five-element energy. The trio began clearing a path forward, while Master Lan and Elder Hao were astonished by Li Yan’s technique.

• Li Yan entered the tunnel after seeing Elder Hao and Master Lan retreating from the advancing chaotic powers.
• Li Yan used his twin brushes to draw yin-yang-like circles that transformed the chaotic powers into pure water-element law power.
• Li Yan asked Elder Hao to extract the transformed power before it reverted to its chaotic state.
• Elder Hao pulled the water-element law power away, where it merged into the normal five-element energy surrounding them.
• Elder Hao extracted more transformed power, opening a small patch of space, and praised Li Yan’s technique.

Li Yan used Five Elements Return to Primordial Chaos to turn the cavern’s chaotic forces into singular powers, concealing the technique behind yin-yang laws from the Sacred Soul Transformation. Elder Hao and Master Lan helped clear the path, though Li Yan knew they might grow suspicious as they advanced.

• Li Yan explained to Elder Hao that he had comprehended yin-yang laws from the Sacred Soul Transformation while continuing to control his brush-like weapons.
• Li Yan recalled how he had discovered that Five Elements Return to Primordial Chaos could transform chaotic forces into singular powers, and decided to risk revealing a disguised version of the technique.
• Elder Hao and Master Lan considered Li Yan’s explanation, exchanged a glance, and set aside their suspicions to focus on clearing the cavern.
• Li Yan merged patches of chaotic power across the light screen, while Elder Hao and Master Lan extracted the converted power.
• The three advanced faster than the chaotic forces could spread, and an eerie calm settled over the cavern.

Li Yan, Elder Hao, and Master Lan pushed through the chaotic forces as Li Yan used Flying Spirit Pills to restore his spiritual power. After seven days, Li Yan stopped advancing to question how Elder Hao and Master Lan planned to deal with him, while the newly orderly area began filling with chaotic force again.

• Li Yan asked to retreat and recover, but Elder Hao gave him Flying Spirit Pills and warned him to divide each pill into five doses.
• Li Yan swallowed one portion of a Flying Spirit Pill, restored most of his spiritual power, and resumed breaking through the restrictions.
• Over the next seven days, Li Yan advanced with Elder Hao and Master Lan, who coordinated their efforts around his progress.
• After Master Lan swept away a patch of force, the group noticed that the chaotic forces ahead had become more orderly and less solid.
• Li Yan stopped his brushes, and Elder Hao angrily demanded to know what he was doing as chaotic force rushed back into the cleared area.
• Li Yan asked Elder Hao and Master Lan how they intended to deal with him afterward.

Li Yan admitted that he was an outsider cultivator and used his role in clearing the chaos to bargain with Elder Hao and Master Lan before they escaped the passage. He revealed that the Li Yan before them was only a soulless avatar, leaving the two elders wary of his intentions.

• Li Yan stopped clearing the chaotic forces and threatened to withhold his help until Elder Hao and Master Lan negotiated with him.
• Elder Hao and Master Lan repeatedly cleared the chaos Li Yan had fused as he explained that his value to them would diminish once they escaped.
• Li Yan admitted he was an outsider cultivator but said he had never betrayed the Soul Suppression Palace and had helped the sect.
• Li Yan warned that the elders could use a soul imprint to control him after escaping, prompting Elder Hao to threaten to plant one immediately.
• Li Yan revealed that he was only an avatar formed by a spell and that it had no soul.

Li Yan revealed that his body before Elder Hao and Master Lan was an incarnation, while his true body remained hidden inside Tuban, and he risked everything to seek a way out. After surviving Elder Hao’s test and drawing the elders’ attention with a question about the Immortal-Seeking Lineage, Li Yan faced Elder Hao’s demand to explain how he knew of it.

• Li Yan weighed the risks of keeping Tuban with his incarnation and decided that gambling with his life was his only chance to escape the Dizhen Domain.
• Elder Hao bound Li Yan and probed for his soul, but found no soul to mark; Elder Hao and Master Lan then searched for Li Yan’s hidden true body without success.
• Li Yan asked Elder Hao and Master Lan what promise they would offer in exchange for his help escaping, while they continued searching and deliberated.
• Li Yan asked whether the elders knew of the Immortal-Seeking Lineage, and Elder Hao’s aura blasted him away before he regained control.
• Li Yan swallowed a Flying Spirit Pill, returned to stop the chaotic power from spreading, and repeated the lineage’s name; Elder Hao demanded to know how he had learned of it.

Li Yan revealed that he had inherited the Martial General lineage, prompting Elder Hao and Master Lan to recognize his connection to the Soul Prison Clan. After Li Yan proved his claim with the complete Condensation Qi Realm method for Sacred Soul Transformation, Elder Hao asked which ancestral lineage he belonged to.

• Elder Hao pressed Li Yan to explain his identity after Li Yan returned safely.
• Li Yan said he had inherited the Martial General lineage and asked why the Soul-Suppressing Palace possessed the Hall of Civil and Martial.
• Master Lan connected Li Yan's rapid cultivation of Sacred Soul Transformation to his having obtained the complete technique.
• Li Yan described the long-alley formation and asked why the sect possessed the Martial General statue.
• Master Lan asked Li Yan to show the Condensation Qi Realm method for the additional five corporeal souls, and he sent her a soul jade slip.
• After verifying the technique, Elder Hao asked Li Yan whether he came from the Great Ancestor's lineage or the Second Ancestor's lineage.

Li Yan, Elder Hao, and Master Lan agreed to cooperate after Elder Hao swore a soul curse confirming the Soul-Suppressing Palace’s connection to Li Yan’s clan. They cleared the cave’s chaotic power and reached a silver desert, but Elder Hao discovered that crossing it led to gorges filled with even stronger chaotic power.

• Li Yan recalled Su Hong’s account that three Immortal-Seeking Lineage members founded the Soul Prison Clan, then pressed Elder Hao and Master Lan to explain their connection to him.
• Elder Hao swore a soul curse not to harm Li Yan and revealed that the Soul-Suppressing Palace came from the same clan and had been searching for its clansmen.
• Li Yan, Elder Hao, and Master Lan continued clearing the chaotic power until the cave opened onto a silver desert, where the Five Elements rules began to feel normal again.
• Elder Hao investigated the desert and returned, warning that its silver light could turn a Nascent Soul to silver in fewer than a hundred breaths.
• Elder Hao reported that the desert ended at mountain ranges and gorges filled with chaotic power more than twice as strong as what they had cleared, leaving the trio facing another dangerous obstacle.

Li Yan, Master Lan, and Elder Hao crossed the silver desert and slowly opened a canyon through the Dreamback Ant’s teeth, finally reaching a vast forest beyond it. Li Yan and his companions emerged from the deadly region, while Elder Tang San had spent months outside fearing they had perished.

• Elder Hao revealed that the canyon ahead likely led out through the Dreamback Ant’s mouth, and he carried Li Yan and Master Lan across the silver desert to it.
• Li Yan, Master Lan, and Elder Hao began clearing the canyon’s chaotic forces, advancing inch by inch over four months as their pills dwindled.
• Master Lan sensed that the canyon was nearly open, and eight days later Li Yan detected the outside world but continued clearing the remaining chaotic forces.
• Li Yan, Master Lan, and Elder Hao burst out of the canyon into a vast forest, where Li Yan found wild beasts but no demonic beasts within ten thousand li.
• Elder Tang San continued searching for the group and considered notifying Xue Tieyi after another two months without contact.

Li Yan, Elder Hao, and Master Lan emerged from the Dizhen Domain into what they believed was the Heavenly Demon Grassland and cautiously surveyed their surroundings. They secured the passage entrance and planned to return to the Soul Suppressing Palace to organize its use and search for the old sect master and the missing elders.

• Master Lan and Elder Hao marveled at their restored Divine Sense, while Li Yan warned them that the area might be dangerous and urged them to conceal the passage.
• Master Lan laid concealment and defensive formations at the canyon entrance as Li Yan and Elder Hao investigated the surrounding area.
• Li Yan and Elder Hao judged that they were probably on the outskirts of the Heavenly Demon Grassland, though they considered that the area could be a Demon Beast clan's heartland or a region avoided because of the Dream-Returning Ant's strange phenomena.
• Elder Hao reassured Master Lan that the outside world offered new resources and opportunities, and she resolved to learn about it while planning the next steps.
• Master Lan proposed reinforcing the exit, returning to inform the Soul Suppressing Palace's core members, controlling who could use the passage, and searching for the old sect master and the missing elders.

Li Yan asked Elder Hao and Master Blue to explain the Soul-Calming Palace before revealing more about his own lineage. Elder Hao traced the Soul Prison Clan’s origins to three sworn brothers, leaving their story at the moment they escaped an evil cultivator’s restraints.

• Li Yan reasoned that the passage facing the great maw was the likeliest exit, though the Soul-Calming Palace still needed to search the canyons for the old sect master and seal any other routes.
• Elder Hao invoked the Soul Curse, then asked Li Yan whether he belonged to the Great Ancestor’s or Second Ancestor’s lineage and what had become of their clansmen.
• Li Yan asked Elder Hao to explain the Soul-Calming Palace so he could verify their claim of shared ancestry, and Elder Hao agreed.
• Elder Hao explained that the Soul-Calming Palace belonged to the Third Ancestor’s lineage and recounted how three ministers of an ancient dynasty joined the Immortal-Seeking Lineage, found an immortal art, and began cultivating.
• After an evil cultivator captured and restrained the three brothers for soul refinement, the eldest eventually broke free and helped the other two destroy their restraints.

The chapter recounted how the three founders created the Soul Prison Clan and joined the war against the Devil Race. After the Great Ancestor was left behind in a disastrous battle, the Second Ancestor learned what had happened and headed alone into the Lost Continent.

• The three brothers found a Soul Cultivator technique, developed it into Sacred Soul Transformation, and later founded the Soul Prison Clan.
• When the Devil Race invaded the Azure Azure Continent, the Great Ancestor and Third Ancestor led the clan into battle, while the Second Ancestor stayed behind with his direct disciples.
• The Soul Prison Clan’s attacks helped turn the tide of the war, but the Devil Race eventually lured its forces into a deadly trap in the Lost Continent.
• The Great Ancestor stayed behind so the Third Ancestor could escape, and more than two hundred Soul Prison Clan disciples were left with him; the Third Ancestor fled with only a dozen or so survivors.
• The Second Ancestor questioned the Third Ancestor about his missing elder brother, then left the clan and infiltrated the Lost Continent.

Elder Hao recounted the Soul-Suppressing Palace’s origins, leading Li Yan to connect its history with the Soul Prison Clan and resolve several mysteries. Li Yan revealed that he belonged to the Great Ancestor’s lineage and said he had searched for clansmen on the ruined Qingqing Continent.

• The Second Ancestor returned wounded without finding the Great Ancestor, blamed the Third Ancestor, and eventually drove him from the Soul Prison Clan with its statues and disciples.
• The Third Ancestor searched for the Great Ancestor’s reincarnation, settled in the Northern Ice Continent, and passed down only part of the Sacred Soul Transformation art before dying with his search unfinished.
• The Third Ancestor’s disciples established the Soul-Suppressing Palace, whose later leaders hid the sect and sought a foothold in the Immortal-Spirit Realm as other powers suppressed them.
• Elder Hao explained the Soul-Suppressing Palace’s history, and Li Yan inferred how the ancestors’ statues, the concealed Soul Prison Clan, and its cross-realm corridor were connected.
• Li Yan told Elder Hao and Master Lan that he was descended from the Great Ancestor and had searched for clansmen on the Qingqing Continent, where he found only ruins.

Li Yan explained to Master Lan and Elder Hao how he obtained the Great Ancestor’s legacy on the Lost Continent and traveled to Qingqing Continent to find the Soul Prison Clan. As Elder Hao pressed him about the clan’s inheritance, Li Yan prepared to use the clay jar and his incomplete Sacred Soul Transformation technique to support his account.

• Master Lan questioned Li Yan about his origins, the Great Ancestor, and the Soul Prison Clan, and Li Yan said he had obtained the legacy himself on the Lost Continent.
• Li Yan recounted finding a Storage Pouch and a sound-recording jade slip in a blood pool, but said he found no soul-nourishing treasure or surviving soul nearby.
• Master Lan and Elder Hao concluded that the Storage Pouch had belonged to the Great Ancestor, whose soul had likely perished after he failed to find a rescuer.
• Elder Hao questioned how Li Yan had reached Qingqing Continent as a late Golden Core cultivator, and Li Yan explained that the two continents had a cross-realm teleportation formation.
• Elder Hao suggested the Storage Pouch must have contained a token that let Li Yan inherit the Great Ancestor’s techniques, and Li Yan asked whether he meant the clay jar.
• Li Yan considered how to present the clay jar and his incomplete Sacred Soul Transformation as evidence of his connection to the Soul Prison Clan.

Li Yan explained the broken clay jar as part of the Great Ancestor’s inheritance, then learned that it was the wine-urn token described in the sect records. Elder Hao tested it with a soul-forged spear, awakening its images and leaving Li Yan struggling to suppress a surge of killing intent.

• Li Yan decided he had to keep his story about obtaining the inheritance consistent and protect his true body in case his lies were exposed.
• Elder Hao told Li Yan that the Great Ancestor’s token had been recorded as a wine urn, and Li Yan realized his broken clay jar matched that description.
• Li Yan produced the jar, and Elder Hao and Master Lan examined it without finding anything unusual.
• Elder Hao pinned the jar in midair and struck it with a three-inch black spear made of soul force.
• The jar’s three images connected and revealed a battle scene that stirred Li Yan’s Holy Soul Transformation and filled him with killing intent.
• Li Yan suppressed the urge to attack, while he noticed that Elder Hao and Master Lan had also been affected by the images.

Li Yan convinced Elder Hao and Master Lan that he had inherited the Soul Prison Clan’s cultivation art and explained why he had left the Second Ancestor’s statue behind. After they accepted his account and discussed his role in saving the Soul-Suppressing Palace, Li Yan asked about the clay jar, and Elder Hao began to explain its significance.

• Li Yan used the clay jar to prove his connection to the Great Ancestor, and Elder Hao and Master Lan accepted it as the Great Ancestor’s token.
• Li Yan claimed the jar had teleported him from the Second Ancestor’s statue into Master Lan’s long-alley formation, where he cultivated the Sacred Soul Transformation art.
• Li Yan said he had cleared the formation’s trials before a spatial-breaking formation sent him far from Qingqing Continent, explaining why he could not take the statue.
• Master Lan believed Li Yan’s account and excitedly recognized the formation as the Second Ancestor’s spatial-breaking formation.
• Elder Hao connected Li Yan’s inheritance and rescue of the Soul-Suppressing Palace to the Soul Prison Clan’s karmic ties, while Li Yan confirmed he had comprehended yin-yang power.
• Li Yan asked about the jar’s patterns and the image of the troops, and Elder Hao began explaining why the jar was the Great Ancestor’s token.

Elder Hao explained the origins and powers of the wine urn and the iron scroll of cinnabar writing, revealing how the three ancestors created them as tokens containing incomplete versions of "Sacred Soul Transformation." Li Yan learned that the urn’s battlefield imagery was tied to an ancient clan whose descendants the Soul Prison Clan had been instructed to treat well.

• Elder Hao told Li Yan that the three ancestors had forged a brotherhood in a mortal dynasty and that the Great Ancestor made the tokens to commemorate their bond and record their cultivation technique.
• The Second Ancestor argued that the tokens should contain complementary, incomplete techniques, and the three ancestors agreed before he reforged the wine urn and iron scroll.
• After the Great Ancestor fell and the Third Ancestor left the Soul Prison Clan, the iron scroll disappeared, while the Third Ancestor’s disciples preserved an incomplete copy of "Sacred Soul Transformation" and were told to seek the Great Ancestor or his token.
• Elder Hao explained that the wine urn’s battlefield imagery could strengthen combat but might consume the souls and spirits of those who watched it too long.
• Elder Hao revealed that the urn’s three images recorded an ancient clan’s symbols, and that the iron scroll’s words could become war drums that coordinated Soul Cultivators in battle.

Li Yan learned the history and hidden uses of the wine-jar token, then discussed Elder Hao’s hope that he would help Soul-Suppressing Palace fulfill the Third Ancestor’s final wish. Li Yan had not agreed to stay, but he considered whether the sect could help him find a route to the lower realm.

• Elder Hao explained that the Second Ancestor had reforged the tokens, and Li Yan deduced that the wine jar contained a hidden passage linked to the underground long corridor.
• Elder Hao asked Li Yan whether he planned to remain in Soul-Suppressing Palace, and Li Yan said he would return to the sect he had joined after ascending.
• Elder Hao asked Li Yan to stay or, if he left, to bring the token and help Soul-Suppressing Palace return to the Soul Prison Clan’s ancestral land.
• Li Yan asked whether Elder Hao knew a route to the lower realm, and Elder Hao said the sect would search for one after its disciples became familiar with the outside world.
• Li Yan considered that Soul-Suppressing Palace’s strength might help him find a route to the lower realm faster than the Po Jun Sect could.

Li Yan agreed to help the Soul Suppression Palace while Elder Hao declared him a secret disciple of the Soul Prison Clan and the Great Ancestor’s lineage. After the group discussed the valley’s restrictions and plans to secure the Dizhen Domain, Elder Tang arrived and asked whether they had opened a passage to the outside world.

• Elder Hao told Li Yan he would be a secret disciple of the Soul Prison Clan, and Li Yan offered to record the Sacred Soul Transformation technique for the sect.
• Elder Hao asked Li Yan to help deal with the chaotic forces and explore the valley, and Li Yan agreed to assist with the preliminary work before leaving.
• Li Yan, Elder Hao, and Master Lan found that clearing the chaotic forces had not changed the valley’s laws or lifted its suppression of Divine Sense.
• Elder Hao rejected Li Yan’s suggestion to open more outward passages, explaining that the sect would preserve the valley’s restrictions as a defense and send cultivators who needed to advance outside.
• Elder Hao sensed Elder Tang near the throat cave and warned him about the silver sand; Elder Tang asked whether they had opened a passage to the outside world and arrived before Li Yan and Master Lan.

Elder Tang found Elder Hao, Li Yan, and the youthful boy after using the Soul Lodging Moon to navigate the yellow mist, and learned they had opened a passage to the outside world. Five years later, Li Yan and Tang Feng emerged from the gorge, ready to travel beyond the mountain.

• Elder Tang explained that the power of Cold Moon and the Soul Lodging Moon had guided him through the mist to the grand formation.
• Elder Hao showed Elder Tang the opened passage, and Elder Tang hurried through it to experience the outside world.
• Elder Tang confronted Li Yan about concealing his identity, while Elder Hao sent him back to monitor the yellow mist and told Li Yan to wait for a later conversation.
• Five years later, Li Yan and Tang Feng emerged from the mountainside as the unusual signs behind them vanished.
• Li Yan warned Tang Feng that his combat experience was limited and urged him to be careful as they began exploring the outside world.