Chapter Summaries

Li Yan captured Xiao Yunzong and searched his soul, confirming that the expert was gravely injured and learning part of the reason for his arrival. To prevent Xiao Yunzong from recovering or escaping, Li Yan destroyed his cultivation and confined him in a sealed cave guarded by venomous insects.

• Li Yan revealed that he had kept Xiao Yunzong talking while poison weakened him, then used Tuban to secure the unconscious man.
• Li Yan gave Xiao Yunzong an antidote and conducted a Soul Search, but seals in Xiao Yunzong’s sea of consciousness blocked access to the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect’s inherited secrets.
• After gathering the information he could, Li Yan woke Xiao Yunzong with a series of blows and examined him to ensure he remained alive.
• Li Yan destroyed Xiao Yunzong’s Nascent Soul and dantian sea and severed his eight extraordinary meridians to prevent his recovery.
• Li Yan sealed Xiao Yunzong inside a cave, ordered venomous insects to feed him fasting pills, and left him trapped without spiritual energy.

Li Yan recognized Xiaoyun Sect and recalled the chain of traps Dong Fuyi and True Lord Qianzhong had prepared for the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect. Xiaoyun Sect had been caught in their linked magical-treasure traps near the red lightning-arc ice plains, where the final mechanisms were about to activate.

• Li Yan recognized Xiaoyun Sect and kept the Ghost Trace formation in place after withdrawing his incarnation.
• Li Yan recalled how Dong Fuyi had briefed him on Xiaoyun Sect and the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect’s plans, and how Dong Fuyi and True Lord Qianzhong had laid clues to lure pursuers toward the red lightning-arc ice plains.
• After Xiaoyun Sect recovered, the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect rebuked him and ordered him to investigate Yu Zishu’s death, while sending another powerful cultivator to investigate with him.
• Xiaoyun Sect separated from the other cultivator and followed the clues he had retained until he reached the outskirts of the red lightning-arc ice plains.
• Xiaoyun Sect hesitated over the suspicious clues, but a magical treasure set by True Lord Qianzhong trapped him and transported him to the plains’ entrance.
• Dong Fuyi and True Lord Qianzhong’s linked formations began teleporting Xiaoyun Sect and several magical treasures while triggering their self-destruction mechanisms.

Xiao Yunzong survived the Five Immortals Sect’s trap assassination but was left gravely injured and stranded on the red lightning-arc ice plain. After more than a century of searching for an exit and struggling to recover, he spotted a cultivator whose healthy appearance and behavior suggested they had come looking for something.

• Xiao Yunzong was swept by the earth-element magic treasure into a random teleportation array, which sent him deep into the red lightning-arc ice plain.
• As three Integration Realm magic treasures self-detonated, Xiao Yunzong’s defenses failed and he lost half his body, but he survived by fleeing beneath a glacier.
• Xiao Yunzong spent more than a hundred years recovering, while his soul, sea of consciousness, and Nascent Soul remained badly damaged.
• Unable to find an exit, Xiao Yunzong endured attacks from red lightning, spirits, and demon beasts as he searched and tried to conserve his pills and spirit stones.
• Xiao Yunzong hid inside his ice-transformed silver-shuttle puppet to recover, then awoke when he sensed a healthy-looking cultivator searching nearby.

Xiao Yun Sect mistook Li Yan for a chance to escape the icefield and tried to lure him into helping, but Li Yan recognized him as a Yin-Yang Chaos Sect cultivator. The chapter leaves Xiao Yun Sect’s identity exposed as Li Yan connects him to the trap set by his master and martial uncle.

• Xiao Yun Sect concealed himself in a silver shuttle puppet and mistook Li Yan’s arrival for an opportunity to escape by capturing him.
• Xiao Yun Sect tried to draw Li Yan into a chase, but Li Yan trapped him with an unusual array and a yellow-light prison.
• Xiao Yun Sect used the puppet to break through the yellow light, then was caught by the noose of Shi Ligui’s modified “Ghost Trail” array.
• Xiao Yun Sect planned to exploit Li Yan’s interest in the “Polar Ice Heart” and secretly evade any restriction by transferring it to the shuttle.
• Li Yan recognized Xiao Yun Sect despite his altered appearance and recalled Dong Fuyi’s account of the trap set for Yin-Yang Chaos Sect cultivators.

Li Yan exposed the Xiao Yun Sect’s true identity, poisoned and captured him, then used a Soul Search to learn about the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect’s remaining strongholds on the North Ice Continent. He planned to destroy them after leaving the icefield, while keeping in mind the danger posed by another Body Integration Realm expert investigating the Desolate Moon Continent.

• Li Yan confirmed that the apparent Polar Ice Heart was actually the wounded Xiao Yun Sect, trapped inside his Ghost Trace formation.
• Li Yan secretly poisoned the Xiao Yun Sect while pretending to converse with him, then captured him with the hanged ghost’s noose and performed a Soul Search.
• Li Yan learned that the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect had six remaining strongholds on the North Ice Continent, guarded mostly by Nascent Soul Cultivators and one Spirit Transformation cultivator.
• Li Yan recalled that Dong Fuyi, Pei Buchong, and True Lord Qianzhong had previously destroyed most of the sect’s forces and strongholds.
• Li Yan resolved to sweep through the remaining strongholds, while considering the risk that the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect’s other Body Integration Realm expert might trace the investigation back to him.

Li Yan used Xiao Yun Sect’s memories to locate the glacial gorge where the Polar Ice Heart might be hiding, then descended and fought a spirit creature guarding the area. After Li Yan destroyed it, its core collided with a red lightning arc, triggering a sudden sense of danger.

• Li Yan learned that Xiao Yun Sect had seen a roughly three-inch Polar Ice Heart in a nearby gorge and had exaggerated its size to tempt him.
• Nine days later, Li Yan descended into the gorge he had identified from Xiao Yun Sect’s memories.
• Li Yan shattered ice around the gorge and attacked a snow-covered spirit creature with ice arrows.
• Li Yan overwhelmed the spirit creature and destroyed its crystalline body, exposing its red core.
• The core darted into a falling red lightning arc, which flared as Li Yan felt an intense warning of danger.

Li Yan faced a spirit creature whose mutated ability formed a net of linked red electric arcs, then tested the net with his Qiongqi attack and a red handheld lantern. The lantern repeatedly struck the red light and returned unharmed, leaving Li Yan baffled as the battle continued overhead.

• Li Yan realized the spirit creature could link red electric arcs into a giant net and evade its descending attack while probing it with Divine Sense.
• The red net attacked Li Yan's Divine Sense, so he sent a Qiongqi phantom upward using the "prison shatter" technique.
• The net trapped the Qiongqi and restored its broken nodes with blood-red light, preventing it from breaking free.
• Li Yan launched his red handheld lantern at the spirit creature's red light, and the electric arcs knocked it back without damaging it.
• Li Yan repeatedly sent the lantern into the red light and retrieved it, then stared at it in confusion when it remained intact.

Li Yan discovered that the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief could absorb the red lightning arcs and the monster that had been fighting his prison-breaking technique. The monster and its red net vanished into the kerchief, leaving Li Yan to ponder the strange connection between it and the fragile red handheld lantern.

• Li Yan tested the red handheld lantern against the red lightning arcs and found that it remained unharmed, though it still could not withstand even a small infusion of spiritual power.
• Li Yan struck the red net with a Wind Blade, which the lightning quickly destroyed, then brought out the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief.
• Li Yan sent the kerchief over the battlefield, and it absorbed the red light, the monster, and the entire red net.
• Li Yan dispelled the weakened Qiongqi phantom and watched the falling snow and red lightning arcs enter the kerchief without a sound.
• Li Yan recalled that he had sensed a similar aura in the lantern and kerchief, and realized the kerchief had revealed a power he had never discovered before.

Li Yan investigated the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief after it absorbed a sprite’s core and crimson lightning, suspecting that the ancient treasure might be repairing itself. He found faint reddish changes among its inner threads but could not locate what it had swallowed, leaving him wary of the kerchief’s unexplained transformation.

• Li Yan waited for changes in the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief, then took it and descended deep into the glacial gorge, where the snow and crimson lightning disappeared.
• Li Yan hid in an ice-covered cave, laid protective formations, and examined the kerchief, finding no outward change or disruption to his connection with it.
• Li Yan sent an incarnation to investigate the kerchief’s interior, keeping its dangerous crimson lightning away from his own sea of consciousness.
• The incarnation found chaotic crystalline threads with a barely visible reddish tint, but it could not locate the lightning, crimson net, or sprite’s core.
• Li Yan noticed that some intersections among the kerchief’s threads resembled the crimson net formed by the sprite.

Li Yan suspected that the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief and the hand-held red lantern were connected to the ice field, but tests showed no clear improvement in the kerchief’s power. He stored both treasures separately in Tuban under watch and continued searching the glacier for the Polar Ice Heart.

• Li Yan noticed similarities between the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief’s threads and the ice field’s red net, then tested the kerchief against a Ghost Trace formation barrier.
• Li Yan found that the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief’s restriction-breaking ability had barely changed and considered whether it had devoured too few red arcs or contained a hidden artifact spirit.
• Li Yan isolated the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief in Tuban and left concealed Divine Sense nearby to monitor it.
• Li Yan placed the hand-held red lantern in a separate area of Tuban and arranged the same precautions because its aura resembled the kerchief’s.
• Li Yan continued descending through the glacier in search of the Polar Ice Heart and spotted an ice creature resembling a vulture near a concealed cave entrance.

Li Yan searched a glacier cave for the Polar Ice Heart and seized an unusually cold ice pillar he suspected concealed it. The pillar proved to be a decoy, and the Polar Ice Heart escaped while the cave’s icicles attacked him.

• Li Yan silently traveled through the glacier, using his knowledge of local monsters and temperatures to search for the Polar Ice Heart.
• Li Yan noticed a flocculent substance among thin ice pillars and grabbed the pillar that seemed colder than its surroundings.
• The cave’s icicles broke loose and fell on Li Yan, who defended himself as ice fragments refroze into obstacles around him.
• Li Yan emerged from the ice fragments and examined the pillar, discovering its flocculent substance had vanished and realizing the Polar Ice Heart had left behind a false body.

Li Yan failed to catch the Polar Ice Heart after its decoy trapped him and its true body escaped. Four months later, the creature revealed it had remained hidden in the glacier and began planting new decoys.

• The Polar Ice Heart escaped while Li Yan was frozen by the decoy’s trap, and Li Yan searched the cave and glacier without finding it.
• Li Yan spent three days destroying the glacier’s surroundings and killing six spirit creatures, then left without forcing the Polar Ice Heart to appear.
• Four months later, the Polar Ice Heart revealed itself in the damaged cave and mocked Li Yan for failing to destroy the glacier’s natural environment.
• The Polar Ice Heart cleared poisoned ice from the cave and began placing four false bodies inside it, with plans to make two more outside.

Li Yan used his knowledge of the Polar Ice Heart’s growth conditions to lay a concealed Ghost Trace array across the glacial gorge and lure it into revealing itself. The Polar Ice Heart realized it had been tricked and fled through the ice, while Li Yan remained outside the cave with his plan underway.

• The Polar Ice Heart headed for the cave entrance, noticed that it could not get closer, and spotted Li Yan’s phantom watching from the ice.
• The Polar Ice Heart concealed itself and fled, cursing Li Yan for his patience as Li Yan’s true body waited outside the cave.
• Li Yan recalled records from the Blood-Eyed Toad and the Phantom Sect, concluding that the Polar Ice Heart would remain near the glacial gorge’s most suitable growing place.
• Li Yan feigned anger and destroyed parts of the area while secretly using the Gui Water True Scripture to assess changes in the laws and laying the Ghost Trace array across a wide range.
• Li Yan released his aura to attract ice sprites and killed them with Scattered Poison, concealing the array and hoping the Polar Ice Heart would emerge to remove the poison.

Li Yan used the Ghost Trace formation and carefully chipped away the ice concealing the Polar Ice Heart, forcing it to panic as its attempts to flee kept bringing it back to the cave. After detecting the creature among the ice fragments, Li Yan caught it with a noose, leaving it dangling helplessly in the air.

• Li Yan waited four months, then isolated the cave’s enormous block of ice with the Ghost Trace formation and demanded that the Polar Ice Heart come out.
• Li Yan punched away the ice bit by bit, using his controlled blows and divine sense to search for anything concealed among the fragments.
• The Polar Ice Heart fled through the ice, but it kept finding itself near the cave entrance as Li Yan’s blows drew closer.
• Li Yan noticed an ice fragment behaving differently, then threw it aside without revealing that he had found the Polar Ice Heart.
• The Polar Ice Heart rejoiced at what it thought was a successful escape, but Li Yan’s noose suddenly caught the ice containing it and suspended it in the air.

Li Yan captured the Polar Ice Heart and prepared to split it, intending to keep half for Zhao Min and give the rest to the Blood-Eyed Toad. The Polar Ice Heart revealed itself and offered to lead him to Snow Pearls and Dragon Lightning Essence, leaving Li Yan to question how far away the treasures were and whether it was telling the truth.

• Li Yan used the Hanging Ghost Noose and a Vermilion Bird flame technique to expose and restrain the Polar Ice Heart.
• Li Yan decided to cut the Polar Ice Heart in half, keeping a portion for Zhao Min and reserving the rest for the Blood-Eyed Toad.
• The Polar Ice Heart revealed a child's face and pleaded with Li Yan to spare it, offering to find him Snow Pearls and Dragon Lightning Essence.
• The Polar Ice Heart explained that Snow Pearls were its source and that Dragon Lightning Essence could temper Divine Sense.
• Li Yan questioned the Polar Ice Heart about the treasures' locations while keeping his killing intent poised.

Li Yan rejected the Polar Ice Heart’s proposal to guide him deeper into the icefield, despite its promises of treasure and help with cultivation. He decided to keep it for its ice attribute and considered severing half its body to fulfill his blood oath to the Blood-Eyed Toad.

• The Polar Ice Heart told Li Yan about a nearby Snow Pearl and a Dragon Lightning Essence in a region thick with red lightning, offering to guide him in exchange for its freedom.
• Li Yan distrusted the Polar Ice Heart’s claims and refused to venture farther into the dangerous icefield, deciding that the spirit itself was all he needed.
• When Li Yan threatened to kill it, the Polar Ice Heart begged for its life and claimed it could improve his ice cultivation by twenty percent.
• Li Yan questioned whether cutting off part of the Polar Ice Heart would preserve its cultivation benefits, while the spirit pleaded against being severed.
• Li Yan remained intent on taking half of the Polar Ice Heart to deliver to the Blood-Eyed Toad and satisfy his blood oath.

Li Yan cut away part of the Polar Ice Heart while preserving its intelligence by placing a restriction inside its core. He planned to keep it and recreate its icy cave environment in Tuban, though he still intended to test the effects before moving the Snow Mosquito race there.

• The Polar Ice Heart revealed that its body had to remain at least two inches long to preserve its intelligence and said it could still improve cultivation results by about ten percent.
• Li Yan decided to keep the Polar Ice Heart intelligent, plant a restriction in its core, and remove one and three-tenths inches from its body.
• After cutting it into two sections, Li Yan examined them and confirmed that both retained the same coldness and ice-law power despite their different sizes.
• The surviving Polar Ice Heart asked Li Yan to store it with ice from the cave, and he agreed without answering whether he would seek the Snow Pearl and Lightning Dragon Essence.
• Li Yan considered moving glacier ice into Tuban and recreating the cave environment for the Polar Ice Heart, while planning to test the conditions before relocating the Snow Mosquito race.

Li Yan moved the ice from the Polar Ice Heart’s cave into Tuban, his ice-element spatial treasure, and discovered that the space could sustain and help restore the weakened treasure. The Polar Ice Heart welcomed the unexpected refuge, while Li Yan continued refining the space’s ice-element laws to their current limits.

• Li Yan asked the Polar Ice Heart to move as much cave ice as possible and agreed to stop searching for Snow Pearls and Dragon Lightning Essence.
• Li Yan sealed off the Polar Ice Heart’s senses and transferred the cave’s ice into Tuban, leaving the treasure confused when it still appeared to be in the same cave.
• Li Yan revealed that the cave had been moved into an ice-element spatial treasure, and the Polar Ice Heart explored the self-contained space.
• The Polar Ice Heart confirmed that Tuban’s ice and laws provided about forty percent of the conditions it needed, enough to sustain it for roughly fifteen hundred years and allow it to recover slowly.
• Li Yan adjusted Tuban’s ice-element laws, pleased that the space could help the Polar Ice Heart recover.

Li Yan suspected the Polar Ice Heart had discovered his secret space, but learned it could sense the Melting Bamboo Shoot there and help it grow. He asked how old the Melting Bamboo Shoot needed to be for the Polar Ice Heart to accompany its growth.

• Li Yan prepared to leave the Polar Ice Heart in the cave while he observed the Snow Mosquito clan’s migration.
• The Polar Ice Heart hesitated while discussing Li Yan’s magical treasure, making him suspect it had seen through his secret space.
• The Polar Ice Heart revealed that it could sense the Melting Bamboo Shoot and described how it could accelerate the treasure’s growth and produce more liquid.
• Li Yan realized the Polar Ice Heart’s ability could revive the dwindling usefulness of his Melting Bamboo Shoot.
• Li Yan asked how old the Melting Bamboo Shoot needed to be for the Polar Ice Heart to accompany its growth.

Li Yan showed the Polar Ice Heart a two-thousand-year-old Melting Shoot and questioned it about the ice field’s spirit creatures and the shoot’s effects. The Polar Ice Heart realized Li Yan was from the Immortal-Spirit Realm, while Li Yan remained focused on the mysteries of the ice field and the two stronger Fusion Realm experts trapped there.

• The Polar Ice Heart offered to nurture a Melting Shoot sprout with Li Yan, then froze in astonishment when he revealed a piece of one.
• The Polar Ice Heart lunged for the Melting Shoot, but Li Yan suppressed it with the restriction planted in its core and demanded answers.
• The Polar Ice Heart explained that spirit creatures inherited knowledge from predecessors and gained innate understanding from the ice field’s laws of heaven and earth.
• The Polar Ice Heart said the two-thousand-year-old Melting Shoot could support Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators, while a shoot around three and a half inches long could benefit a Void Refinement Realm cultivator.
• The Polar Ice Heart inferred from Li Yan’s question that he was a cultivator from the Immortal-Spirit Realm, while Li Yan recalled that two far stronger Fusion Realm experts were trapped in the ice field.