Chapter Summaries

Li Yan visited Ming Qi and Ming Yu at the Red-Eyed Flame-Horned Beast Clan’s military camp, where his effortless entry revealed that his strength far exceeded their estimates. When he asked why the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan was fighting, Ming Qi began explaining that her people had been drawn into the war against their will.

• Ming Qi and Ming Yu recognized Li Yan’s Undying Underworld Phoenix blood essence and believed he had come to see their rare clan.
• Li Yan’s silent passage through the camp’s defenses and his implied visit to the clan grounds shocked the sisters, who realized they had underestimated his strength.
• Ming Qi welcomed Li Yan and tried to gauge his cultivation, while he congratulated both sisters on reaching the Void Refinement Realm.
• Li Yan said he had come to witness the clan’s inheritance awakening and questioned why the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan was fighting.
• Ming Qi explained that several phoenix clans had joined the Red-Eyed Flame-Horned Beast Clan’s war against the Black Devil Race, insisting her clan had no choice.

Ming Qi explained how the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan had gradually weakened and controlled the four other phoenix clans, including the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan. She revealed that her clan’s desperate search for strength had led Ming Qi and Ming Yu to Yellow Qi Valley, while Li Yan wondered whether other phoenix clans had killed Tatian.

• Ming Yu blamed the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan for the conflict and prompted Ming Qi to explain its involvement in the Red-Eyed Flame-Horned Beast Clan’s battle against the Black Devil Race.
• Ming Qi described how the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan used force, cultivation resources, intermarriage, and control of high-grade materials to bind the other four phoenix clans to it.
• Ming Qi explained that the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan preserved its identity better than the other clans, and that she and Ming Yu belonged to its stubbornly independent elite.
• Li Yan recalled Tatian’s death and wondered whether cultivators from the other phoenix clans had ambushed the Undying Underworld Phoenix.
• Ming Qi said the four clans’ strength had dwindled despite their efforts, and that the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan’s attempt to grow stronger had led her and Ming Yu to Yellow Qi Valley.

After the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan used the Silver Sand to restore its strength, the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan ordered the four clans to send cultivators to a war between the Crimson-Eyed Flame-Horn Beast Clan and the Black Devil Race. The four clans were unsettled by the order and suspected the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan had concealed its true motives.

• Ming Qi and Ming Yu returned with Silver Sand, and the Supreme Great Elder wept as he received it and heard their account of what had happened.
• The Supreme Great Elder secretly distributed some Silver Sand to core clan members, helping him advance to the peak of the late Body Integration Realm and enabling other cultivators to break through.
• After the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan noticed the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan's breakthroughs, the clan concealed further progress while the Supreme Great Elder began pursuing the Tribulation Transcendence Realm.
• The Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan ordered the four clans to provide cultivators for a war between the Crimson-Eyed Flame-Horn Beast Clan and the Black Devil Race.
• The Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan promised the four clans eighty percent of the cultivation resources from the Crimson-Eyed Flame-Horn Beast Clan, but the clans suspected it was hiding greater benefits.

Ming Qi explained how the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan had maneuvered the Phoenix Four Clans into the war against the Black Devil Race, taking benefits while leaving the other clans to bear most of the casualties. Li Yan learned the full extent of the scheme and questioned why the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan had not seized the silver sand that strengthened the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan.

• The four clans refused to send troops to all three defense lines, and the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan agreed to send its own cultivators to the third line while reserving the right to call on the alliance if the battle grew desperate.
• Ming Qi and the other cultivators investigated the Red-Eyed Flaming Horn Beasts' terms and suspected the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan had taken a Nine-Seas Treasure Dragon's essence blood and embezzled much of the promised resources.
• As the Black Devil Race inflicted heavy losses, the four clans complained that the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan kept its own casualties low while sending them to the front, but the Green Phoenix Clan dismissed their grievances.
• Ming Qi told Li Yan that the other three clans understood the need for their secret alliance despite resentment over the war, and she felt relieved after voicing her frustration to him.
• Li Yan concluded that the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan aimed to weaken the four clans and profit from the war, then asked why it had not tried to take the silver sand that had rapidly strengthened the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan.

Ming Qi explained how the Supreme Great Elder concealed the Silver Sand inheritance with a decoy vertebra and carefully staged successes and failures among the clan. As Li Yan considered the clan’s war, Ming Yu asked whether he could help them escape it, leaving Ming Qi rebuking her while privately sharing her hope.

• Ming Qi told Li Yan that the Supreme Great Elder had kept the Silver Sand secret and used a useless ancestral vertebra as a decoy inheritance.
• Ming Qi explained that the Supreme Elder secretly implanted Silver Sand in chosen clansmen, while planned failures and later successes made the vertebra seem authentic.
• Li Yan praised the Supreme Great Elder’s foresight and remarked that he had arrived at an inconvenient time because the clan was at war.
• Ming Yu asked Li Yan whether he could help the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan escape the war, and Ming Qi immediately rebuked her.
• Ming Qi reflected that Li Yan’s mysterious abilities made him seem capable of helping, even as she recognized her own hope in him.

Li Yan considered Ming Yu’s request to help the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan escape the war and proposed that he might borrow the Black Devil Race’s power. He asked the sisters about their clan’s attitude toward the Black Devil Race and its allies, leaving his plan unexplained.

• Ming Yu asked Li Yan to help her clan, and Ming Qi apologized for her sister’s bluntness.
• Li Yan said he was willing to consider helping but would proceed only if the clan accepted his conditions.
• Ming Qi misunderstood Li Yan’s words and feared he intended to demand a personal or intimate favor.
• Li Yan clarified that he might need to borrow the Black Devil Race’s power and asked how the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan viewed them.
• Ming Qi said her clan resented the Black Devil Race for its killings but blamed the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan most.
• Ming Qi told Li Yan that the three allied phoenix clans shared her clan’s attitude.

Li Yan proposed helping the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan break free from the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan and leave the Jieyou Realm, not merely withdraw from the war. Ming Qi and Ming Yu accepted that the proposal deserved consideration, but said their clan’s leaders would have to decide; Li Yan planned to consult the Black Devil Race first.

• Ming Qi and Ming Yu considered cooperating with the Black Devil Race to escape the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan’s control.
• Li Yan asked whether the sisters could reconcile with the Black Devil Race, and Ming Yu said they could accept cooperation despite their newly formed enmity.
• Li Yan asked whether the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan would leave the Jieyou Realm, shocking both sisters with the scale of his proposal.
• Ming Qi said the plan exceeded their authority and asked Li Yan to return with her so the clan could consider it.
• Li Yan said he would first seek the Black Devil Race’s support and asked how he could contact the sisters when he returned.

Li Yan and Ming Qi arranged a discreet way for him to visit the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan and assess a possible alliance. He planned to return to the Black Devil Race to discuss the proposal with Mu Guyue while Ming Qi prepared for their meeting in two days.

• Ming Qi explained that the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan monitored teleportation activity at the destination, making it risky to bring a stranger back openly.
• Li Yan proposed sending an incarnation to enter Ming Qi’s Spirit Storage Space, avoiding the need to disguise himself or teleport as an attendant.
• Ming Qi chose to meet Li Yan outside the main camp while inspecting the first line of defense and gave him a jade slip recording her route.
• Li Yan said he would return to the Black Devil Race and discuss the plan with Mu Guyue, urging Ming Qi and Ming Yu to begin preparing.

Ming Qi asked Li Yan to stop the four clans from suffering more casualties while possible cooperation with the Black Devil Race was pursued, and Li Yan set out to target the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan commanders. The chapter revealed that Han Ting was deliberately exposing the four clans to heavier losses as their liaison on the first defensive line.

• Ming Qi asked Li Yan to find a way to pause the four clans’ attacks, and Li Yan requested detailed information on the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan commanders and Red-Eyed Flame-Horned Beast Clan reinforcements.
• Li Yan said he would resolve the problem with a violent but simple method, then secretly left the military camp after using another cultivator to slip past its exit.
• Li Yan studied Ming Qi’s jade slip while flying toward the first defensive line and developed a cold smile.
• Han Ting, the late Spirit Transformation Realm liaison on the first defensive line, dismissed representatives of the four clans who had asked him to adjust troop deployments.
• Han Ting recalled that his clan had instructed him to exhaust the strength of the four clans, and he continued sending them into battle while sparing Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan cultivators from heavy casualties.

Han Ting met with You Cha to hear new military intelligence, but You Cha suddenly attacked and subdued him. Han Ting recognized a silver gleam and realized You Cha was from the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan.

• Han Ting returned to his cave abode and prepared to cultivate after drinking spiritual tea.
• You Cha visited Han Ting, claiming to bring military intelligence and orders for the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan to cooperate.
• Han Ting activated the cave’s formation to keep their conversation private and offered You Cha tea.
• You Cha suddenly grabbed Han Ting by the neck, imprisoning his spiritual power, spiritual sense, and Nascent Soul.
• You Cha revealed a silver gleam, and Han Ting realized he belonged to the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan.

Li Yan killed Han Ting and returned to the Black Devil Race, while the five phoenix clans discovered the murder and launched an investigation. The investigation quickly found the culprit, but the result stunned everyone, including Ming Qi and Ming Yu.

• You Cha snapped Han Ting's neck and destroyed his sea of consciousness and Nascent Soul before leaving his cave abode.
• Li Yan flew back toward the Black Devil Race and considered how the enemy might respond to the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan's situation.
• The Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan discovered Han Ting's body, sealed the camp, and reported the killing to the other clans.
• Ming Qi and Ming Yu suspected the other four phoenix clans might have killed Han Ting, and Ming Qi went to investigate with the other forces.
• Ming Qi and the investigators examined Han Ting's untouched cave abode and confirmed he had been strangled and his consciousness and Nascent Soul destroyed.
• The investigators found the culprit in less than half an hour, leaving Ming Qi, Ming Yu, and the others stunned.

After Li Yan killed Han Ting and framed You Cha, the investigation exposed You Cha’s innocence but deepened suspicion between the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan and the Red-Eyed Flame-Horn Beast Clan. The Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan ordered its forces to rest while the murder remained unresolved, and Li Yan then went to see Mu Guyue at the Black Devil Race’s second line of defense.

• The Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan’s investigation accused You Cha of killing Han Ting, but a Soul Search found no memory of the crime and cleared him of the accusation.
• Ming Qi recognized that the old man in gray had deliberately left crude clues to implicate You Cha and create distrust between the allied clans.
• Mu Han suggested that the Black Devil Race had staged the murder to sow discord, while the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan continued investigating and withheld a declaration of You Cha’s innocence.
• The Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan ordered its cultivators to rest and await further instructions, giving the allied army a temporary pause in fighting.
• Li Yan arrived at the Black Devil Race’s second-line camp and was escorted to Mu Guyue’s cave residence after the guards confirmed his identity.

Li Yan returned to Mu Guyue and revealed that his dealings with the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan might help the Black Devil Race weaken the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan and alter the war. After evaluating the proposal, Mu Guyue decided to send the intelligence to the clan’s upper echelons as urgent, top-secret information.

• Li Yan entered the military camp, returned to Mu Guyue, and said he had a way to affect the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan’s role in the war.
• Li Yan explained that he had helped cultivators of the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan and learned of problems involving the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan.
• Li Yan told Mu Guyue to keep his identity secret from Ming Qi and the others.
• Mu Guyue judged that the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan’s proposal was credible and could weaken the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan while reducing the Black Devil Race’s costs.
• Mu Guyue used an encrypted jade slip to report the intelligence to the clan’s upper echelons without informing the other Devil Emperors at the camp.

Mu Guyue reported Li Yan’s connection to the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan while concealing his blood-essence secret, and the Black Devil Race quickly sent the powerful Great Devil King Ge Eryuan to meet them. Ge Eryuan recognized Li Yan’s unusual abilities and suspected that he came from a powerful hidden sect.

• Mu Guyue proposed telling the Black Devil Race that one of Li Yan’s elders had saved the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan’s Supreme Great Elder, and Li Yan agreed to keep his blood essence secret.
• Li Yan reminded Mu Guyue to include the two-day deadline for the reply, and Mu Guyue sent the jade slip to her clan.
• Mu Guyue teased Li Yan about having saved two female cultivators, then returned with a prompt message from a Great Devil King ordering Li Yan to wait at the camp.
• After Li Yan and Mu Guyue waited three hours, Ge Eryuan arrived at their cave abode and introduced himself as a Great Devil King.
• Ge Eryuan praised Li Yan, enclosed the cave abode in a ward, and inferred from Li Yan’s mask and keen senses that he had powerful backing.

Geeryuan met with Li Yan and Mu Guyue in secret and asked five detailed questions about the Phoenix Four Clans and the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan. Li Yan prepared to answer carefully, knowing the Black Devil Race’s response could determine whether his broader plans succeeded.

• Geeryuan praised Li Yan’s abilities and inferred that Li Yan’s wife and child would remain valuable members of the Black Devil Race.
• Li Yan realized Geeryuan had not discovered his true cultivation because he had concealed the strength of his divine sense.
• Mu Guyue understood that Geeryuan’s concealed visit showed the clan had given Li Yan’s proposal serious attention.
• Geeryuan asked Li Yan about the Phoenix Four Clans’ leaders, armies, strength, experts, and willingness to leave the Jieyou Realm.
• Li Yan considered how to phrase his answers and prepared to explain what he knew.

Li Yan reported the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan’s potential cooperation with the Black Devil Race, and Ge Eryuan agreed to wait for the clan’s leaders to confirm their intentions before sending anyone. Two days later, Ming Qi used the turmoil over Han Ting’s death to leave the main camp and travel toward the first defensive line.

• Li Yan told Ge Eryuan that the Phoenix Four Clans had rejected the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan’s request to staff a third defensive line and described the limits of their forces and willingness to cooperate.
• Ge Eryuan decided the Black Devil Race would support the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan if it chose to cooperate, but would wait for confirmation from its true leadership and urged caution.
• Li Yan explained that the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan could take visitors through its second defensive line and use a concealed teleportation array, though he would not send his true body.
• Ge Eryuan suspected Ming Qi and another elder were sounding out the Black Devil Race privately, so he chose not to send an emissary yet.
• Ming Qi left the main camp for a frontline camp, using the unresolved investigation into Han Ting’s death as her reason.

Ming Qi met Li Yan in secret and learned that the Black Devil Race had agreed to support the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan’s attempt to escape the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan’s control. The chapter ended with Li Yan explaining how he had concealed the reason for their connection while protecting the clan’s inheritance.

• Ming Qi left the second defensive line’s camp and followed the agreed route to meet the gray-robed elder.
• Ming Qi paused above a peaceful lake, reflected on the war’s devastation, and spotted the gray-robed elder appearing on the shore.
• Li Yan brought Ming Qi through a hidden restriction and told her that the Black Devil Race was willing to help the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan.
• Li Yan warned Ming Qi to avoid involving the other phoenix clans unless their participation was safe, and Ming Qi agreed that her clan would not risk its survival for revenge.
• Li Yan explained that he had given the Black Devil Race a carefully chosen account of how he knew Ming Qi’s clan, keeping its inheritance secret.

Ming Qi returned from meeting Li Yan and briefed Ming Yu on how to conceal their plans while she went back to the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan. She arrived at the clan and headed toward the Supreme Great Elder, intending to discuss a matter that could determine the clan’s survival without alerting anyone else.

• Ming Qi ended her meeting with Li Yan, then returned to her cave and spoke privately with Ming Yu.
• Ming Qi told Ming Yu to keep the camp’s routines unchanged while she used the lack of a clan reply as an excuse to return.
• Ming Qi traveled through a transmission array to the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan’s territory.
• Ming Qi passed through the bamboo forest, avoiding both the new and old Clan Leaders as she prepared to take her concerns to the Supreme Great Elder.

Ming Qi returned from the front and went straight to the Supreme Great Elder to report an urgent matter. He feared the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan would keep the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan from gaining strength, and he was prepared to risk his life seeking a breakthrough to the Tribulation Transcendence Realm.

• Ming Qi followed the bamboo paths to the Supreme Great Elder’s secluded courtyard and requested an audience.
• The Supreme Great Elder asked whether a major event had happened at the front, since Ming Qi had not first met with Ming Hua.
• He recalled the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan’s recent losses and worried that his decisions had contributed to them.
• The Supreme Great Elder concluded that the clan needed a Tribulation Transcendence Realm cultivator and resolved to risk his life attempting the breakthrough.
• Ming Qi confirmed that an urgent matter required his attention and glanced back outside as she spoke.

Ming Qi reported to the Supreme Great Elder that the gray-robed old man who had aided her and Ming Yu had returned and could move through the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan’s defenses undetected. After carefully questioning her, the Supreme Great Elder realized that the Black Devil Race’s willingness to intervene might give the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan a chance to escape its subjugation.

• Ming Qi asked the Supreme Great Elder to hold her alone responsible for the matter she was about to reveal, then explained that the gray-robed old man had secretly visited her two days earlier.
• The Supreme Great Elder listened without interrupting as Ming Qi recounted the old man’s actions, then spent several hundred breaths considering her report.
• The Supreme Great Elder questioned Ming Qi about the old man’s ability to pass through the second line of defense and confirmed that his incarnation possessed Void Refinement Realm cultivation.
• The Supreme Great Elder compared the new report with what Ming Qi and Ming Yu had previously told him, reconsidering his estimate of the mysterious old man’s strength and identity.
• The Supreme Great Elder recognized that the Black Devil Race’s intervention might let the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan plan an escape from the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan.