Chapter Summaries

Zhang Su divided the team into squads to cautiously explore the dangerous secret realm, and Li Yan searched the swamp while disguised as Zhuang Muhua. After spotting Gleaming Gold Blood Worms and approaching them to study their attacks, he sensed danger and was caught in a sudden eruption of sludge, shielding himself with fire-element spiritual power.

• Zhang Su assigned the disciples to two squads led by himself and Elder Hu, with a rendezvous planned after half a month.
• Li Yan joined Hu Qianqiu's squad and slowly searched the swamp while learning its environment and avoiding low-level Demon Beasts.
• Over four days, Li Yan found three pieces of Stove-Heart Earth but otherwise gained little.
• Li Yan sensed a gathering of Gleaming Gold Blood Worms and flew toward them to observe their group attack.
• Near the worms, Li Yan sensed danger, retreated, and found sludge erupting around him, so he enveloped himself in fire-element spiritual power.

Li Yan was trapped in a Mud Tide and attacked by a swarm of Gleaming Gold Blood Leeches, but he escaped by merging with his sword. A powerful leech watched him flee while its clan prepared to move the secret realm and trap the outside cultivators inside for revenge.

• Li Yan recognized the Mud Tide as it drained his spiritual power and discovered Gleaming Gold Blood Leeches concealed within it.
• Li Yan used fireballs to burn through the leeches and their golden threads, but the swarm quickly weakened his attacks and blocked his retreat.
• Li Yan merged with his Guiyi Water-Parting Spike and cut through the leeches, threads, and lightning to escape.
• An enormous Gleaming Gold Blood Leech withdrew its divine sense and vowed that the invaders would die in the secret realm.
• The Gleaming Gold Blood Leech revealed that its great clans were preparing to move the secret realm and erase its entrance, trapping the cultivators inside.

Li Yan escaped a mire ambush by Radiant Gold Bloodworms and later discovered that the sixth-order beast had withdrawn its clan deeper into the secret realm. He rejoined the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect group, where Zhang Su and Hu Qianqiu organized a rest period and preparations for their next expedition.

• Li Yan used the Ji Yi Water-Parting Spike to flee a mire filled with Radiant Gold Bloodworms and sensed a sixth-order Demon Beast beneath it.
• Li Yan decided to report the danger to Hu Qianqiu later, but the Radiant Gold Bloodworms migrated away before he returned to investigate.
• The sixth-order Radiant Gold Bloodworm withdrew deeper into the secret realm after suspecting Li Yan’s presence had exposed its position.
• Hu Qianqiu summoned the cultivators to an island, where Zhang Su and Hu Qianqiu confirmed everyone had returned safely.
• Zhang Su gathered reports on dangers and searched areas, then ordered the cultivators to rest, replenish supplies, and prepare for their next expedition.

Li Yan used a clone disguised as Zhuang Muhua to remain at the team’s resting place while his true body secretly headed toward the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect’s search area. After capturing and searching a female cultivator, he learned the sect had only two teams in the secret realm, leaving him to revise his plan.

• Li Yan agreed to refine pills for one cultivator, then concealed a Zhuang Muhua clone inside a formation and left the resting area.
• Li Yan traveled cautiously through cleared territory toward the rear of the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect’s search area.
• Li Yan found a lone female Yin-Yang Chaos Sect cultivator and struck her unconscious before bringing her into Tuban.
• Li Yan searched the female cultivator’s soul and learned that one of the sect’s teams had left the secret realm two months earlier, while its replacement had not arrived.

Li Yan investigated the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect’s teams and deduced where one would gather, while keeping his wider plan dependent on the Wangliang Sect and Life Extinction Sect proceeding normally. He reached the gathering island as Xu Yusheng, Shi Chen'an, and their team assembled, leaving him poised to act.

• Li Yan learned that the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect had fewer than forty Spirit Transformation cultivators remaining and that one team would not gather for more than a month, so he sought out the other team.
• Li Yan discovered that the other team would gather in four days and that Shi Chen'an was still recovering from a serious injury, then tracked the two leading cultivators to predict their gathering sites.
• Li Yan selected two likely islands as gathering locations, watched one of them, and confirmed that the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect cultivators were heading there.
• Xu Yusheng arrived at the island and reflected on his prospects for advancing to the late Void Refinement Realm after returning from the secret realm.
• Shi Chen'an joined Xu Yusheng, still pale from the ambush by a Radiant Gold Blood Leech that had disguised itself as a withered tree.
• More than ten cultivators, including the woman Li Yan had Soul Searched, gathered on the island, and Xu Yusheng and Shi Chen'an began asking about their recent experiences.

Li Yan secretly used five-element vibrations to draw Xu Yusheng and the others out of their defenses, then lured Radiant Gold Blood Leeches onto their island. The chapter ended as the leeches launched their attack on the startled group.

• Li Yan watched the group from concealment and waited until they had scattered to rest.
• Li Yan sent vibrations through the ground, creating rustling sounds that made Xu Yusheng and the others leave their protected locations to investigate.
• Xu Yusheng and Shi Chen'an searched for the sound's source, but it stopped before they could find it.
• The rustling resumed, and Xu Yusheng and the others spotted Radiant Gold Blood Leeches swarming across the island.
• The Radiant Gold Blood Leeches sprang into the air and attacked the group.

Xu Yusheng and the cultivators were trapped in a premeditated Radiant Gold Bloodworm ambush that cut them off from one another and steadily drained their strength. As two concealed sixth-tier beasts closed in and Xu Yusheng weakened, he sent a voice transmission to another team for help, but still held back from using his life-saving golden leaf.

• Radiant Gold Bloodworms swarmed the island, separating the cultivators before Xu Yusheng and Shi Chen'an could organize them.
• Xu Yusheng sensed three concealed sixth-tier auras and urged the others to gather around him without revealing the danger to the weaker cultivators.
• Li Yan remained at the island's edge, maintaining spells and monitoring the battle as the bloodworms kept attacking in endless waves.
• Xu Yusheng failed to find his companions, exhausted his magical power and divine sense, and realized two of the concealed beasts were approaching him.
• Xu Yusheng sent a voice transmission requesting help from another team, but chose not to crush his golden leaf and summon the elder outside the secret realm.

Li Yan’s carefully prepared ambush trapped Xu Yusheng and Shi Chen'an’s team on an island, where hallucinogenic poison made them fight imaginary Radiant Gold Blood Leeches. After killing them all, Li Yan confirmed that the first half of his plan had succeeded.

• Li Yan watched Xu Yusheng send a sound-transmission talisman instead of using his golden leaf, then saw Shi Chen'an call for help as well.
• Li Yan launched his attack as Xu Yusheng and Shi Chen'an continued fighting the leeches, and the two cultivators died amid the battle.
• Li Yan found Xu Yusheng, Shi Chen'an, and eighteen others dead, with no Radiant Gold Blood Leeches left on the island.
• Li Yan recalled enclosing the island with the Ghost Trace formation and using hallucinogenic poison to make the team believe they were fighting leeches.

Li Yan used the Ghost Trace formation and hallucinogenic poison to lure the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect cultivators into exhausting themselves fighting imagined Glittering Gold Blood Leeches, then killed all twenty and disguised the evidence. After Xu Yusheng and Shi Chen'an sent pleas for help, another squad arrived at the island, where Li Yan's trap awaited them.

• Li Yan drew the island's defenders out of their formation with strange sounds, poisoned them, and made them hallucinate Glittering Gold Blood Leeches.
• Li Yan isolated the cultivators with the Ghost Trace formation and pressured Xu Yusheng and Shi Chen'an until they sent sound transmission talismans requesting help.
• Li Yan attacked the exhausted cultivators and killed all twenty, including Xu Yusheng and Shi Chen'an.
• Li Yan cleared the poison, corroded the corpses and magic treasures to imitate leech attacks, and rearranged the bodies before leaving.
• A dozen members of the other squad arrived at the island, led by two young men.

Heng Guyuan’s group reached the island and found Xu Yusheng and the others dead, but no Brightgold Blood Worms or clear sign of an ambush. After Gao Bing’s team and the short young man searched the island, Heng Guyuan descended with the others to look for traces of the enemy.

• Heng Guyuan and the short young man surveyed the corpses and sent Gao Bing and three disciples to search the island.
• Gao Bing’s group found no demon beasts, traps, or formations and reported that Xu Yusheng and the others had been killed by attacks to vital areas.
• The short young man descended and inspected the island, then signaled Heng Guyuan that he had found no immediate danger.
• Heng Guyuan concluded that the Brightgold Blood Worms had likely retreated and joined the search, trusting the formation the short young man had secretly prepared.

Li Yan annihilated Heng Guyuan’s Yin-Yang Chaos Sect team and carefully arranged the corpses and evidence to implicate the Wangliang Sect and Life Extinction Sect without leaving proof against them. After checking the island for flaws, he took Heng Guyuan’s golden leaf to summon experts from outside the secret realm.

• Heng Guyuan and his companions heard rustling on the island, and Li Yan later found them all dead after attacking them with illusion poison and Dazzling Gold Blood Earthworms.
• Li Yan kept Heng Guyuan alive until he took out his golden leaf, then strangled him and collected it.
• Li Yan restored the cultivators’ storage treasures to their owners so the scene would look like an attack by Dazzling Gold Blood Earthworms rather than a theft.
• Li Yan reasoned that leaving the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect’s belongings intact would keep suspicion between the sects while denying the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect concrete evidence against either rival.
• Li Yan checked the island and waited for the illusion poison to dissipate before taking out the golden leaf to draw the outside experts there.

Li Yan crushed the golden leaf to lure the sect elders into the secret realm while concealing his true plan. He Yiniang arrived at the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect’s assigned area and found a massacre, leaving her unsure what had happened.

• Li Yan considered how to hide his theft from Heng Guyuan, then flew toward the Wangliang Sect’s area and crushed the golden leaf.
• He Yiniang, Elder Yang, and Liao assembled the broken sword outside the secret realm and opened the Light Gate before entering together.
• Elder Yang and Liao checked their own sects’ teams and found them safe, then redirected their divine sense toward the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect’s region.
• He Yiniang searched for her sect’s disciples and discovered an island strewn with corpses and broken magical artifacts.
• He Yiniang recognized four dead Void Refinement Realm team leaders and raised her guard without descending to the island.

After finding the corpses of Heng Guyuan's and Xu Yusheng's teams, the beautiful married woman surnamed He investigated the island while Elder Yang and the burly man surnamed Liao searched the rest of the secret realm. She found no trace of a natural danger and concluded that Heng Guyuan had truly sent the plea for help, but the cause of the deaths remained unclear.

• The beautiful married woman surnamed He saw the bodies of both teams and realized they had likely gathered after Xu Yusheng's team called for aid.
• Elder Yang and the burly man surnamed Liao searched the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect's search zone and found no surviving disciples.
• Elder Yang and the burly man surnamed Liao speculated that an extreme danger had killed the teams, while also considering whether their own sect's disciples could be suspected.
• The beautiful married woman surnamed He searched the island and concluded that an ambush had occurred and its attackers had already withdrawn.
• The beautiful married woman surnamed He examined Heng Guyuan's corpse and spatial treasures, finding no discrepancies and confirming that he had crushed the golden leaf.

He, Elder Yang, and Liao investigated the slaughtered Yin-Yang Chaos Sect cultivators but found no clear cause, while the other sects’ disciples remained unaware. Deep in the secret realm, four surviving Goldflame Blood Worm leaders discussed the threat posed by the human cultivators and searched their ancient records for a way to save their race.

• He examined the corroded corpses and abandoned treasures, then summoned Elder Yang and Liao to investigate with her.
• Elder Yang and Liao found no abnormal fluctuations and checked on their sects’ disciples, who remained unaware of the calamity that had struck the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect.
• Far beneath a gray swamp, the four remaining leaders of the Goldflame Blood Worm royal clan gathered after sensing three powerful cultivators enter the secret realm.
• The leaders recalled how human cultivators had invaded their home, killed their clansmen, and used the secret realm to train their disciples.
• The four searched their race’s ancient records and learned that the secret realm had once been a space beyond the boundaries of the realm, where their ancestors had fled after being hunted.

The four powerful cultivators of the Radiant Gold Bloodworm clan discovered their secret realm was an outside refuge connected to the Cangxuan Realm by a teleportation passage. Unable to sever it by force, they refined and deployed a costly formation seven years ago, but left it inactive as they waited for the right moment.

• The four demons searched their clan's ancient records as calamity threatened and found a jade slip revealing their ancestors had hidden the clan in a secret realm outside the Cangxuan Realm.
• The four demons learned the passage to the Cangxuan Realm was temporary and tried to sever it, but their combined strength could only weaken it slightly.
• The four demons concluded that their ancestor's power had sealed the passage beyond their reach and that their clan's heart-demon blood oath would doom them if the secret realm were lost.
• The four demons chose to spend most of the clan's resources on a formation that might provide enough power to sever the passage, despite its low chance of success.
• The four demons arranged for smaller clans to delay the outside cultivators and had two injured elders recover while their eldest brother refined the formation.
• The strongest cultivator completed the formation seven years earlier, and the clan deployed it inside the secret realm but kept it inactive.

The four Radiant Gold Bloodworm Demon Cultivators debated whether to use their formation after learning that three Human Race experts had entered the secret realm, but they chose to wait for information. At the island where the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect disciples had died, the beautiful woman surnamed He questioned Elder Yang and the burly man surnamed Liao about the attack, and the three prepared to investigate farther inward.

• The strongest Demon Cultivator summoned the other three after the secret wards reported that three Human Race experts had entered the secret realm.
• The timid Demon Cultivator urged the group to activate their formation, while Second Brother advised waiting for reports from the outer perimeter.
• The strongest Demon Cultivator agreed to wait and ordered the central-region clans to send back news using low-rank demon beasts.
• The beautiful woman surnamed He asked Elder Yang and the burly man surnamed Liao for their assessment of the dead Yin-Yang Chaos Sect disciples.
• Elder Yang and Liao suspected the Radiant Gold Bloodworms had ambushed the disciples and proposed investigating deeper into the secret realm.

The beautiful woman surnamed He demanded to inspect the storage artifacts of the two sects’ disciples to investigate the massacre of the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect cultivators. Elder Yang and the burly man surnamed Liao agreed, and the gathered disciples arrived on the island as the three elders watched their reactions.

• The beautiful woman surnamed He argued that inspecting the disciples’ storage artifacts could help rule them out and reveal clues about the deaths.
• Elder Yang and the burly man surnamed Liao agreed to summon their disciples to the island, trusting their own judgment and hoping to clear away suspicion.
• Elder Yang and the burly man surnamed Liao used voice transmissions to call their disciples and scattered nearby demonic beasts with their pressure.
• More than a hundred disciples gathered on the island in groups after confirming their elders’ identities and coordinating with fellow sect members.
• The beautiful woman surnamed He, Elder Yang, and the burly man surnamed Liao silently observed the disciples’ expressions as they saw the scene.

Elder He investigated the disciples of the Wangliang Sect and Life Extinction Sect after finding Yin-Yang Chaos Sect cultivators dead, but uncovered no evidence against them. She sent the two sects away for two hours to search the island alone, leaving her increasingly convinced that the attack may have been planned by their sects.

• Elder Yang and Liao summoned the sect disciples to the island, where they saw the bodies of many Yin-Yang Chaos Sect cultivators.
• Elder Yang and Liao ordered the disciples to open their storage artifacts and Spirit Storage Spaces, and He searched them and checked their bodies.
• He found nothing suspicious but asked Yang and Liao to take their disciples out of the secret realm while she investigated the area.
• Yang and Liao agreed to give He two hours and led their disciples away; Li Yan left without looking back or releasing his divine sense.
• After the others departed, He suspected that the Wangliang Sect and Life Extinction Sect might have orchestrated the killings using a formation or treasure.

Li Yan left the secret realm with the Wangliang Sect and Life Extinction Sect while the beautiful woman surnamed He searched for evidence of the killings. As Li Yan decided to stay and continue his plan, the four Golden Blood Earthworm experts chose to launch a desperate attack against the outside cultivators.

• The beautiful woman surnamed He suspected the Wangliang Sect and Life Extinction Sect had staged the deaths, ordered them out of the secret realm, and began searching the area herself.
• Elder Yang and the burly man surnamed Liao separated the two sects' disciples and questioned them about recent events.
• Li Yan weighed whether to leave, then decided to stay so he could release Zhuang Muhua and carry out his plan.
• The four Golden Blood Earthworm experts received no intelligence from the outskirts and suspected the outside cultivators were preparing to attack them.
• Big Brother warned that their formation had less than a twenty percent chance of activation, but the four agreed to fight anyway.

The Radiant Gold Blood Earthworm demons learned that most outside cultivators had left and concluded an attack was imminent, so they rushed to activate their formation. Meanwhile, the beautiful woman surnamed He witnessed the secret realm entrance vanish and realized she was trapped inside.

• Eldest Brother sensed that around one hundred and ten Spirit Transformation and Void Refinement Realm cultivators and two experts had left the secret realm, and Second Brother concluded the enemy was preparing a devastating attack.
• Eldest Brother and the other three demons hurried toward the secret chamber controlling their formation, believing they had one last chance to act.
• The beautiful woman surnamed He searched the swamp for traces left by the departing sects and prepared to question two Demon Beasts.
• The secret realm shook, and the entrance's white light rapidly contracted as the beautiful woman surnamed He rushed toward it.
• An invisible force blocked the beautiful woman surnamed He and hurled her away, injuring her as the entrance disappeared completely.
• The beautiful woman surnamed He wondered whether Elder Yang and the burly man surnamed Liao had somehow closed the entrance, though she believed the jointly refined artifact should have required all three sects' incantations.