Chapter Summaries

The Second Patriarch tricked the Sunshade Clan into fleeing while he hid the Soul Prison Clan behind a formation, and the clans’ conflict continued through ambushes and unanswered searches. After Elder Hao and the others resealed the ruins, they learned the Soul Prison Clan might not have been destroyed, but its fate and the Second Patriarch’s whereabouts remained unknown.

• Badly wounded and surrounded, the Second Patriarch threatened to destroy the clan-protecting formation, making the Sunshade Clan powerhouses retreat with captured Soul Prison Clan cultivators.
• The Second Patriarch revealed that he had only feigned the formation’s imminent destruction, then concealed the Soul Prison Clan beneath dense fog and a mountain range.
• Three thousand years later, suspected Soul Prison Clan Soul Cultivators ambushed the Sunshade Clan repeatedly, causing casualties on both sides before the attacks ceased.
• The Sunshade Clan investigated the discovered Soul Prison Clan ruins but found them incomplete and could not determine whether the clan’s hidden members still survived.
• After Elder Hao and the others resealed the ruins, the Sunshade Clan’s Supreme Grand Elder ordered an investigation, and Elder Hao questioned what had happened to the Second Patriarch and the clan.

Elder Hao decided to attack the Sunshrouding Clan’s strongest cultivators after learning how their ancestral tree had devoured the Soul Prison Clan’s members and gained power. He left the rest of the clan alive as a potential source of Soul Crystal Sprouts, then joined Master Lan and Li Yan in launching the assault.

• Master Lan suggested capturing the Sunshrouding Clan’s Supreme Great Elder for another Soul Search, but Elder Hao chose to target the clan’s powerful cultivators and ancestral tree instead.
• Elder Hao learned from the silver-robed young man’s memories that the ancestral tree had devoured living souls, failed an ascension attempt under black lightning, and might have incurred the Heavenly Dao’s karma.
• Elder Hao stored the silver-robed young man in a spirit storage bag and decided to leave the rest of the Sunshrouding Clan alive as a source of mature Soul Crystal Sprouts.
• Li Yan reflected that his loyalties depended partly on circumstance and that he was focused on protecting himself and his loved ones.
• Elder Hao, Master Lan, and Li Yan moved against the Sunshrouding Clan’s powerful cultivators, including two Void Refinement Realm experts and one late Body Integration Realm cultivator.

Elder Hao and his companions captured the Sun-Shrouding Clan’s leaders and ancestral tree, then killed the captives after Soul Searches revealed nothing more about the Soul Prison Clan. Master Lan’s attempt to destroy the tree failed because its vast root system spread its vitality and absorbed her attacks.

• The Sun-Shrouding Clan’s ancestral tree broke free of Master Lan’s soul restraints, but Elder Hao quickly subdued it with a soul attack.
• Elder Hao and the others captured the clan’s high-level cultivators and ancestral tree, then searched their souls without learning anything new about the Soul Prison Clan.
• After the searches, Elder Hao and his companions killed the captives, including the yellow-robed woman, and collected their Soul Crystal Sprouts.
• Master Lan’s soul technique weakened the ancestral tree briefly, but its aura soon recovered.
• Master Lan discovered that the tree’s roots extended tens of thousands of zhang underground across several thousand li, dispersing her attacks through its enormous body.
• Master Lan realized she could kill the tree by striking its Nascent Soul equivalent, but its widespread roots would survive and could grow into more Soul Crystal Sprouts.

Li Yan poisoned the Sun-Obscuring Clan’s ancestral tree, ensuring it would spread deadly toxins through its roots and destroy the clan’s source of power. After leaving the clan with Elder Hao and Master Lan, the group considered their next destination, though they had not solved their greatest problem.

• Master Lan discovered bloody aura throughout the ancestral tree, and Elder Hao’s Soul Search revealed that it had devoured Soul Prison Clan cultivators and their bodies.
• Elder Hao abandoned the idea of claiming the tree’s soul crystal bud and resolved to destroy every root so it could not regenerate.
• Li Yan poisoned the tree’s Nascent Soul, causing toxic spiritual energy to spread through its roots and branches while leaving it alive for the time being.
• After confirming that the poison was spreading, Li Yan, Elder Hao, and Master Lan left the Sun-Obscuring Clan, whose members remained unaware of what had happened.
• Master Lan asked whether they should return to the Northern Ice Continent, and the group discussed the cultivation methods they had gained from the clan.

After discovering that the Soul Prison Clan had abandoned its ruins after the Sun-Shrouding Clan’s attack, Li Yan, Elder Hao, and Master Lan searched for clues to where the clan had gone. They suspected the Desolate Moon Continent, but their investigation of the valley pool revealed no new passage or evidence.

• The Soul Search of the Sun-Shrouding Clan revealed that it had obtained only the Nascent Soul-level portion of Saint Soul Transformation, disappointing Li Yan.
• Elder Hao explained that Li Yan had realized the Soul Prison Clan’s ancestors likely left the ruins after the attack, based on the abandoned cave dwelling and the disorderly remains.
• Master Lan reasoned that the Second Ancestor may have feared hidden tracking measures and suggested the Soul Prison Clan could have fled to the Desolate Moon Continent through the underground passage.
• Li Yan urged them to search the valley again, directing their attention away from the Four Great Sects and toward the pool he had once feared to explore.
• The three searched the pool’s muddy bottom for a day but found no abnormalities beyond the hollow leading to the Qingqing Continent, so they gave up.

Li Yan, Master Lan, and Elder Hao searched the valley for clues connected to the Second Patriarch, with Li Yan confronting memories of his family as he inspected the ruins. At the pond, Li Yan noticed the spring-water channels on the cliff and flew up to investigate them, then returned with his attention fixed on a particular spot.

• Master Lan argued that the pond’s bottom might conceal a formation, and Elder Hao ordered everyone to search the valley separately before investigating the pond by other means.
• Elder Hao searched the southern slope, Master Lan examined the valley entrance, and Li Yan searched the northern ruins where the stone houses had stood.
• Li Yan’s memories of the valley brought back thoughts of his parents and siblings, but he recovered and continued searching, especially around Strategist Ji’s former house.
• After finding no clues in the valley, Li Yan returned to the pond and noticed that spring water flowing down the cliff had carved several channels.
• Li Yan followed the spring channels toward the mountaintop, then returned to the pond and stared at a particular spot on the cliff.

Li Yan discovered that soul power flowing from the broken wine jar revealed a concealed spatial passage in the mountain valley. Elder Hao and Master Lan identified it as a teleportation route to another Soul Prison Clan hideout, and the three prepared to enter.

• Li Yan tested the mountain’s water channels with soul power, mana, and the broken wine jar, finding no anomaly until spring water infused with soul power spilled from the jar at the mountaintop.
• The overflowing water triggered a spatial distortion, and Li Yan sensed the hidden passage and called Elder Hao and Master Lan.
• Master Lan identified the distortion as a spatial teleportation passage and judged that its entrance posed no danger.
• Elder Hao concluded the passage led to another Soul Prison Clan hideout, told Li Yan and Master Lan to prepare their defenses, and stepped toward the mountain wall.

Elder Hao, Master Lan, and Li Yan traveled through the teleportation array and found themselves inside a black prison, where Soul Cultivators attacked them. Elder Hao identified them as members of the Soul Prison Clan, but the guards refused to believe him, leaving him to break the cell’s formation by force.

• Elder Hao, Master Lan, and Li Yan prepared magical and soul defenses before entering the teleportation passage.
• Elder Hao emerged inside a black prison cell and was attacked by six Golden Core Realm Soul Cultivators and the prison’s formations.
• Elder Hao announced that he belonged to the Soul Prison Clan and endured the attacks without retaliating, while the guards summoned the other clan elders and sent an emergency message to their Patriarch.
• The guards suspected the arrivals were enemies and intensified their attacks despite Elder Hao’s claim that they were disciples of the Second Patriarch’s legacy.
• Elder Hao unleashed his aura and shattered the cell’s formation, sending its shockwaves toward the six guards.

Elder Hao confronted the clan members guarding a hidden site and revealed that he came from the Soul Prison Clan’s long-lost Third Ancestor’s branch. After he offered proof of his origins, the gray-haired Ancestor learned that a descendant of the Great Ancestor was also present.

• Elder Hao overwhelmed six cultivators who attacked him, then demanded to know whether they belonged to the Second Ancestor’s or Great Ancestor’s branch.
• The gray-haired Ancestor appeared and prepared to fight, believing Elder Hao might be an enemy from the Sun-Obscuring Clan.
• Elder Hao explained that he was a descendant of the Third Ancestor’s branch and asked the Ancestor to produce a clan token.
• The Ancestor and the six cultivators reacted with shock when Elder Hao’s claim connected their clan to the supposedly vanished Third Ancestor’s branch.
• Elder Hao offered to demonstrate the Third Ancestor’s cultivation art and revealed that a descendant of the Great Ancestor was with him, prompting the Ancestor to ask whether the Great Ancestor had survived.

Elder Hao and Master Lan demonstrated the Sacred Soul Transformation and a Soul Refining Formation to persuade the Soul Suppression Palace survivors that they were allies. Li Yan then revealed the Great Ancestor’s wine urn token, leaving the gray-haired old man shocked and seemingly convinced of their identity.

• Elder Hao circulated the Sacred Soul Transformation, prompting the frail scholar to recognize the cultivation art while the gray-haired old man remained wary.
• Master Lan formed and dismissed a Soul Refining Formation, impressing the survivors and easing the gray-haired old man's doubts.
• Master Lan explained that her simplified formation was based on the Second Ancestor's complex underground formation and demonstrated her knowledge of its refinement.
• Li Yan used Elder Hao's technique to activate the battered wine urn with a black spear, releasing a battle vision that stirred killing intent in the onlookers.
• Li Yan displayed the Sacred Soul Transformation as the urn returned to normal, and the gray-haired old man recognized the Great Ancestor's token and cried out in shock.

Hao Lixing explained to Sikong Lai how he, Lan Feng, and Li Yan found the Great Ancestor’s successor and traced the Soul Prison Clan’s disappearance to the Sun-Obscuring Clan. Sikong Lai was stunned to learn that they had killed the Sun-Obscuring Clan’s Nascent Soul Realm experts and gravely wounded its ancestor tree.

• Sikong Lai demonstrated the Second Ancestor’s wine jar token and Sacred Soul Transformation technique, confirming his identity to Hao Lixing and the others.
• Sikong Lai introduced himself and asked how the three had found him and whether the Great Ancestor had survived.
• Hao Lixing explained that Li Yan had inherited the Great Ancestor’s legacy and that the group had followed the Third Ancestor’s final instructions to locate the Soul Prison Clan.
• Hao Lixing recounted how the group found clues in the ruins and learned that the Sun-Obscuring Clan had attacked the Soul Prison Clan, whose survivors were sealed away by the Second Ancestor.
• Hao Lixing said the group had killed all the Sun-Obscuring Clan’s experts above the Nascent Soul Realm and gravely wounded its ancestor tree, prompting Sikong Lai to demand when and how they had done it.

Elder Hao showed Sikong Lai five Sun-Veiling Soul Crystals and explained that they had killed the Sun-Veiling Clan’s strongest members, leaving the clan weakened rather than destroyed. Sikong Lai realized the visitors were Spirit Transformation cultivators, and Elder Hao said they had come to fulfill the ancestors’ wishes and bring the Great Ancestor’s whereabouts back to the clan.

• Elder Hao presented five Sun-Veiling Soul Crystals, including four from Nascent Soul cultivators and one from a Spirit Transformation cultivator.
• Sikong Lai asked whether the visitors had exterminated the Sun-Veiling Clan, and Elder Hao clarified that they had killed its strongest members but left the clan to decline on its own.
• Elder Hao warned Sikong Lai that openly destroying the clan would attract scrutiny and make its enemies targets.
• Sikong Lai reasoned that all three visitors were Spirit Transformation cultivators, given how easily they had overcome the Sun-Veiling Clan’s experts.
• Elder Hao said the group had come to honor the ancestors’ wishes by returning to their ancestral roots and bringing the Great Ancestor’s whereabouts back to the clan.

Sikong Lai welcomed Elder Hao, Li Yan, and Master Lan after learning of their connection to the Soul Prison Clan and their role in striking the Sun-Obscuring Clan. He recounted how the Soul Prison Clan came to hide in the cave abode, while the visitors sought to learn what happened after the Second Ancestor’s battle.

• Sikong Lai apologized to the three visitors and invited them into the clan, relieved by their account of the Sun-Obscuring Clan’s defeat.
• Elder Hao asked Sikong Lai what had happened after the Second Ancestor fought the Sun-Obscuring Clan.
• Sikong Lai explained that the Second Ancestor escaped an ambush by threatening to detonate the clan-protecting formation, then sealed the clan away and brought the survivors to the cave abode.
• Sikong Lai recounted that the cave abode had once belonged to the evil cultivator who enslaved the three ancestors, and that the ancestors returned there to overcome the trauma that hindered their cultivation.
• The three ancestors concealed and expanded the cave abode, later making it a backup refuge connected to the Soul Prison Clan through protected entrances.

The chapter recounts how the Second Ancestor protected the Soul Prison Clan in its refuge, then left to seek a way to heal his soul injuries and avenge the clan. His departure went unexplained to the Third Ancestor, who searched for him and the Great Ancestor until his own death.

• The Second Ancestor sealed the refuge, ordered the clansmen to cultivate, and later warned them not to seek revenge until they had grown stronger.
• After more than three hundred years in seclusion, the Second Ancestor told his disciples that his injuries were beyond healing and that he would seek an ascension node, requiring them to protect the clan and preserve its inheritance.
• The Second Ancestor sat alone in the small black Stone Chamber where the three ancestors had once been imprisoned, and his eldest disciple bowed to him before leaving.
• The Second Ancestor quietly departed the refuge, never to be heard from again, while his eldest disciple later led a brief attack on the Sun-Obscuring Clan and suffered grave injuries.
• The Third Ancestor never learned that the Second Ancestor had entered the backup refuge, continued searching for the Great Ancestor, and died without finding either brother.

Li Yan connected the Second Ancestor’s failed ascension and death in the Soul Prison Clan ruins to a jade slip he had heard about, while Sima Lai explained how the clan’s revenge against the Sun-Veiling Clan led to the ruins being exposed. The Soul Prison Clan later returned to hiding, but dwindling cultivation resources forced its members to venture out and blend into ordinary life.

• Li Yan concluded that the Second Ancestor had failed his ascension, returned grievously injured, and died in the Soul Prison Clan’s original grounds, as described in the jade slip.
• Sima Lai explained that the Second Ancestor’s successors stayed behind, built up their strength, and launched a costly campaign of vengeance against the Sun-Veiling Clan.
• The Second Ancestor’s transmission passage and token let Soul Prison Clan cultivators strike the Sun-Veiling Clan, but the attacks gradually depleted the clan’s elite fighters.
• After two wounded Soul Prison Clan cultivators were discovered, one died covering the other’s escape, and the pursuers followed traces to the ruins’ entrance restriction.
• Golden Core Realm cultivators used an ancient treasure to expose the Soul Prison Clan ruins, drawing outsiders into a scramble for plunder.
• After the clan’s attacks ceased and its resources dwindled, its members began venturing out discreetly and disguising themselves among other cultivators.

Sikong Lai recounted how the Soul Prison Clan had declined and how difficult it was to regain its former strength. Elder Hao asked the clan to decide whether to welcome the Third Ancestor’s line back and to consult the Great Ancestor’s descendants, then left with Li Yan and Master Lan to await an answer.

• Sikong Lai described the Soul Prison Clan’s losses, its long decline, and his centuries-long stagnation at the middle stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.
• Elder Hao said the Third Ancestor’s line had done everything it could to settle the old conflict and asked whether the Soul Prison Clan would accept their return.
• Elder Hao asked Sikong Lai to gather the Great Ancestor’s line and seek their opinion, since Li Yan was now the Great Ancestor’s successor.
• Elder Hao, Li Yan, and Master Lan prepared to leave, giving Sikong Lai three days to deliberate rather than pressing him for an immediate decision.
• Sikong Lai promised to give Elder Hao a clear answer in three days about the legacies of the Great Ancestor and the Third Ancestor.

Master Lan questioned Elder Hao’s decision to leave the Soul Prison Clan without securing Li Yan’s cultivation technique or the Great Ancestor’s descendants. Elder Hao explained his safeguards, and Li Yan left confident that he would obtain the complete Sacred Soul Transformation, while the clan’s decision remained pending.

• Master Lan worried that Sikong Lai might alter the teleportation formation, block Li Yan from getting the complete Sacred Soul Transformation, or prevent the Great Ancestor’s descendants from recognizing him.
• Elder Hao confirmed that he had told Li Yan they would discuss the cultivation technique after leaving the Soul Prison Clan.
• Elder Hao explained that pressing the Great Ancestor’s descendants while Sikong Lai was present could invite deception, force, and a decision made under pressure.
• Elder Hao revealed that he had left behind a strand of Divine Thought to stop Sikong Lai from destroying the teleportation passage if he failed to summon the Great Ancestor’s descendants in good faith.
• Elder Hao said they would secure the cultivation technique and ask the descendants their intentions, then either take them to the Northern Ice Continent if they accepted Li Yan or leave if they refused.
• Li Yan thanked Elder Hao, pleased that he could obtain the complete Sacred Soul Transformation.

Li Yan and Elder Hao considered Sikong Lai’s suspicions after they left the Soul Prison Clan, while Sikong Lai prepared to consult the clan elders and secretly entered the Second Ancestor’s forbidden cave. The chapter ended with Sikong Lai reaching its secret chamber, intending to teleport to the Verdant Continent, as Elder Hao watched from outside the deadly mist.

• Li Yan wondered where the Soul Prison Clan’s backup location was, and Elder Hao believed Sikong Lai’s suspicions would lead him to misjudge them.
• Sikong Lai inspected the prison and its spatial passage, then ordered six Golden Core cultivators to gather the clan elders in two days and reveal only that an heir of the Great Ancestor had appeared.
• Liuxuan and Daiyun recognized the damaged wine jar as the Great Ancestor’s token and left to consult their branch.
• Sikong Lai used the intact Second Ancestor’s wine jar to pass through the mist and enter the forbidden cave, while Elder Hao followed but stayed outside the formation.
• Sikong Lai reached the cave’s secret chamber with the wine jar and intended to teleport to the Verdant Continent.

Sikong Lai traveled to the former entrance of the Sun-Obscuring Clan and returned to convene the Soul Prison Clan’s Golden Core elders, who disagreed over Li Yan’s identity and the Great Ancestor’s branch. As Sikong Lai began asking for their decision, he appeared atop the southern peak near Green Mountain Pass City, where Elder Hao and two others were waiting.

• Sikong Lai used the teleportation array to reach Azuregreen Continent and investigated the vanished entrance to the Sun-Obscuring Clan’s cave.
• Two days later, the Soul Prison Clan’s Golden Core elders gathered and debated whether the Sun-Obscuring Clan had truly been destroyed and whether Li Yan was the Great Ancestor’s rightful descendant.
• Xuanyi asked Liuxuan what decision the Great Ancestor’s branch had made, and Liuxuan said they would wait for Sikong Lai to decide.
• Daiyun and two other women supported recognizing Li Yan, while Liuxuan and another elder wanted him to hand over the token.
• Sikong Lai appeared in the hall, asked for the Great Ancestor’s branch’s opinion, and then appeared atop the southern peak near Elder Hao and two others.

Sikong Lai confirmed that the Sunshade Clan had suffered a major disaster and discussed the return of the three branches with Elder Hao, Master Lan, and Li Yan. He agreed to their return and accepted Li Yan as the Great Ancestor’s inheritor, leaving the handling of the Great Ancestor’s branch to Li Yan.

• Sikong Lai reported that the Sunshade Clan had tightened its defenses and withdrawn its forces, confirming the three’s claims about the clan’s losses.
• Sikong Lai asked Elder Hao how the three branches would live together after returning.
• Elder Hao proposed that the branches remain independent and share burdens in times of trouble, while Li Yan would decide whether the Great Ancestor’s branch stayed or left.
• Sikong Lai agreed to the return of the three ancestors and said he would not interfere when Li Yan took over the Great Ancestor’s branch.
• Sikong Lai asked Li Yan to punish the guilty without excessive bloodshed, and Elder Hao welcomed his decision.