Chapter Summaries

Li Yan questioned the captured Nascent Souls, released those whose stories he believed, and killed those who lied or showed murderous intent. After several days, he prepared to awaken the final captive, a Body Integration Cultivator's Nascent Soul, while concealing his cultivation.

• Li Yan returned the young man in yellow his sword case, Pills, and spirit stones, then opened the formation and let him teleport away.
• The red-robed old woman's Nascent Soul left the formation after Li Yan questioned her, and Li Yan resumed releasing captives, starting with the Spirit Transformation cultivators.
• Over several days, Li Yan released nineteen of the twenty-five Nascent Souls and killed the rest for lying or developing killing intent toward him.
• Li Yan activated Wing Guard and concealed his cultivation before sending a wisp of finger wind into the final captive Nascent Soul's forehead.

Li Yan released Hong Wujing with a Brain-Entangling Corpse Gu hidden inside him, then traveled to Saint Demon City to find a way to obtain the White Devil Race’s Heavenly Demon White Jade Disk cultivation art for Zhao Min. He entered the city in disguise, determined to make contact with the powerful race despite the danger.

• Li Yan released Hong Wujing after secretly planting a Brain-Entangling Corpse Gu inside him and letting him believe he had been spared out of indifference.
• Li Yan reflected that the twenty released Nascent Souls faced danger and might escape, find new bodies, or be captured again.
• Li Yan reached Saint Demon City aboard a white jade flying boat, disguised his appearance, and concealed his cultivation as a middle-stage Void Refinement Realm cultivator.
• Li Yan recalled his earlier days in Saint Demon City and considered the White Devil Race’s deep foundations and formidable cultivators.
• Li Yan entered the city intending to contact the White Devil Race and find a way to secure the Heavenly Demon White Jade Disk art for Zhao Min.

Li Yan entered Saint Demon City and investigated ways to obtain the White Devil Race’s cultivation method, but found that neither infiltrating the Holy Devil Palace nor joining as an outsider would give him access. He chose to try another approach, stayed in the city while preparing, then left and flew northwest.

• Li Yan paid one hundred low-grade spirit stones for a five-day entry token and entered Saint Demon City.
• Li Yan explored the city’s shops and gathered information while gradually approaching the Holy Devil Palace.
• Li Yan sensed a supreme expert guarding the White Devil Race and ruled out stealing a cultivation method from the palace.
• Li Yan learned that outsiders could become only low-level servant or outer disciples, who could not enter the palace or obtain its important methods.
• Li Yan decided to try another approach, noting that he had informed Min'er and Sixth Senior Sister he might stay for up to twenty years.
• Li Yan spent another half month visiting places around Saint Demon City, then left and flew northwest.

Li Yan searched for a suitable White Devil Race cultivator to capture and settled on infiltrating a remote Azure Glaze Gold mine guarded by a Void Refinement Realm elder. After reaching the mountain undetected, he watched the patrols and studied how they passed through the formation, suspecting that it checked entrants’ identities through their divine sense.

• Li Yan rejected targeting a Body Integration Realm cultivator and decided to seek a Void Refinement Realm cultivator outside Saint Demon City instead.
• He compared information about White Devil Race resources and chose a distant mountain range containing an Azure Glaze Gold vein.
• Li Yan avoided White Devil Race patrols, approached the goat-shaped mountain, and located a likely entrance to its formation.
• He concealed himself near the entrance and observed patrol squads entering and leaving throughout the day.
• Li Yan noted that returning cultivators faced little verification, while entrants had to release divine sense after the squad leader opened the formation passage.

Li Yan infiltrated the White Devil Race’s mineral-vein cavern by controlling a Nascent Soul cultivator, then used Soul Search to target a powerful Void Refinement guard. As Li Yan approached his target, he sensed someone repeatedly searching the cavern and began to suspect that his presence had been discovered.

• Li Yan realized the array verified entrants through their divine sense and devised a plan to enter with a controlled patrol cultivator.
• Li Yan subdued a Nascent Soul cultivator, hid inside his Spirit Storage Ring, and passed through the array with the patrol team.
• Li Yan emerged inside the cavern, Soul Searched the cultivator, altered some of his memories, and learned about the three Void Refinement guards.
• Li Yan chose the guard at the peak of the Middle Void Refinement Realm as his target and set out through the cavern passages.
• Li Yan noticed a concealed divine sense repeatedly searching the area and wondered whether its owner was looking for him.

Li Yan abandoned his attempt to infiltrate the Azure Glaze Gold mine after a White Devil Race elder detected an anomaly in a controlled cultivator and began investigating. He escaped without being discovered and chose a different target: a White Devil Race marketplace.

• Li Yan noticed a divine sense repeatedly searching the formation and the nearby Nascent Soul Cultivator's cave, so he decided to abort his operation.
• Li Yan quietly left the mine with a group of cultivators as the refined old man continued investigating.
• The refined old man traced the anomaly to the Brain-Eating Gu's brief interference with a cultivator's consciousness and concluded that the enemy had likely stayed outside the formation.
• The refined old man considered the mine's defenses and later prompted changes requiring departing disciples to verify themselves with divine sense.
• Li Yan left the area, reconsidered his plans, and selected a medium-sized White Devil Race marketplace guarded by Void Refinement Realm cultivators.

After uncovering why his earlier infiltration of the Azure Glass Gold mine vein had failed, Li Yan used what he learned to open a gu insect shop in Saint Demon City. He hoped the shop would help him find a way to obtain the Heavenly Demon White Jade Disk technique, and he began pursuing a third plan based on the White Devil Race seeking cultivators with the Ice Soul Blue Jade Body.

• Li Yan learned through Soul Search that bloodline inheritance marks in the Azure Glass Gold mine vein’s defenses had exposed his controlled Nascent Soul Cultivator, and he resolved to remain vigilant.
• Li Yan successfully gathered information at a medium-sized market and concluded that markets lacked the special marks used at the mine vein.
• Li Yan rented a small storefront near Saint Demon Palace, paid the former artifact-forging shop owner to leave, and eventually opened Gu Garden.
• Li Yan stocked Gu Garden with gu insects he had purchased from distant markets and cultivation cities, presenting himself as its sole shopkeeper.
• Li Yan rejected stealing the Heavenly Demon White Jade Disk technique or joining the White Devil Race as an outer disciple, and reasoned that the race would seek cultivators with the Ice Soul Blue Jade Body to inherit the technique.

Li Yan investigated the White Devil Race’s practitioners of the Heavenly Demon White Jade Disk and chose the Void Refinement Realm cultivator Luo Beixi as his target for obtaining the technique. He returned to Saint Demon City and began investigating the gu-insect shops Luo Beixi frequented, seeking a chance to capture him.

• After failing to find useful information through inquiries in Saint Demon City, Li Yan Soul Searched two Void Refinement Realm cultivators and learned that seven White Devil Race cultivators practiced the Heavenly Demon White Jade Disk.
• Li Yan ruled out the Foundation Establishment and Nascent Soul cultivators for having too little of the technique, and avoided the Body Integration cultivators because confronting them would draw dangerous attention.
• Li Yan chose Luo Beixi, the sole known Void Refinement Realm practitioner, and learned that he kept to himself and rarely left his sect.
• Li Yan discovered that Luo Beixi had repeatedly visited shops selling gu insects, possibly to pursue poison arts or another use for them.
• Li Yan investigated Saint Demon City’s two gu-insect shops in different disguises and confirmed that Luo Beixi often visited, though the assistants knew few details because he dealt directly with the shopkeepers.

Li Yan opened Gu Walk Garden near the Saint Demon Palace to attract Luo Beixi, whose interest in Gu insects might give Li Yan a chance to approach him. After years of quietly running the shop, Li Yan continued studying Gu arts so he could hold Luo Beixi’s interest if he came.

• Li Yan decided to exploit Luo Beixi’s interest in Gu insects by opening a shop, hoping to draw him into making contact.
• Li Yan chose a storefront near the Saint Demon Palace, purchased varied Gu insects to stock it, and added some of the insects he had raised himself.
• Li Yan opened Gu Walk Garden without hiring staff so he could keep the shop discreet and avoid obstacles if an opportunity to act arose.
• Neighboring shops initially watched Li Yan’s business, but they lost interest when he remained focused on selling Gu insects.
• Over the years, Li Yan kept the shop running and occasionally sold fine Gu insects, gradually building its reputation.
• Li Yan studied books and jade slips about Gu insects so he could converse knowledgeably with Luo Beixi if he visited.

Li Yan continued using his shop, Gu Garden, to wait for Luo Beixi while maintaining the alias Wang Xing and cultivating connections among local cultivators. After selling Ding Liumin a fourth-rank cultivation-assisting gu, Li Yan closed the shop early and headed to the courtyard behind it.

• Li Yan reflected that Luo Beixi might take many years to hear about Gu Garden, and accepted the long wait.
• Ding Liumin visited the shop, and Li Yan greeted the early Void Refinement Realm poison cultivator under his alias, Wang Xing.
• Li Yan showed Ding Liumin a fourth-rank gu that assisted cultivation, and Ding inspected its jade slip.
• Ding Liumin bought the gu and left, satisfied with the price he had paid.
• Li Yan closed Gu Garden before evening and went toward the small courtyard behind the shop.

Li Yan sensed Qianji’s voice and rushed to the cave where Qianji had been sealed, finding him awake as a disoriented soul. Qianji’s memories returned in a painful flood, and he discovered that even trying to think triggered agony.

• Li Yan closed his shop early, entered Tuban with his divine sense, and hurried to the northern cave after hearing Qianji call to him.
• Qianji awoke inside a colorful sphere, broke free, and realized his body was an insubstantial soul.
• Qianji suffered a wave of pain as countless memories flooded back into his consciousness.
• After briefly recovering, Qianji triggered another stabbing pain whenever he moved or tried to think.

Qianji recovered his memories and believed he had died in battle, then woke to find himself trapped in a sealed cave abode and feared he was in the Netherworld. Li Yan restored the cave’s entrance and showed Qianji the familiar people waiting outside.

• Qianji remembered blocking an attack to protect Zi Kun and concluded that he had died afterward.
• Qianji searched the empty cave abode, failed to open its sealed gate, and feared he was trapped in the Netherworld.
• Qianji called for Zi Kun and his missing master, then collapsed into despair when no one answered.
• Li Yan examined Qianji and called loudly until Qianji recognized him and begged him to escape the Underworld.
• Li Yan removed the restrictions and opened the cave abode’s gate, revealing the blizzard and familiar auras outside.

Li Yan brought Qianji to the Snow Mosquito Clan’s frozen homeland and explained how Qianji had died, been saved, and slept for centuries. Qianji prepared to regain a body, while Li Yan insisted that he would eventually dissolve their master-servant contract and choose his own path.

• Li Yan showed Qianji the Snow Mosquito Clan’s ice plains, and Qianji realized he had come home.
• Qianji asked about Zi Kun and his own fate, and Li Yan explained that Qianji had died and that a soul pill had restored him.
• Li Yan recounted the centuries that had passed, and Qianji was astonished to learn that Zi Kun had reached spirit transformation.
• Li Yan told Qianji to possess a prepared body and recover, then dissolve their contract and decide where to go for himself.
• Li Yan revealed that he had sealed several suitable snow mosquito bodies for Qianji, while Qianji began to object to his plans.

After Qianji recovered from possessing a Snow Mosquito, Li Yan freed him from their contract and let him live and work outside Tuban while building up his cultivation. Eight years passed without Li Yan’s intended target appearing, and Qianji was still working at Gu Xing Garden as winter settled over Saint Demon City.

• Li Yan ensured Qianji’s possession succeeded, then waited eight years for the target without success.
• After Qianji’s body stabilized, Li Yan inspected him, dissolved their master-servant contract, and advised him to reach the Spirit Transformation Realm before traveling.
• Qianji chose to remain with Li Yan, asked to live outside Tuban to learn about the Immortal Spirit Realm, and purged the Snow Mosquito Clan to secure his rule.
• Li Yan arranged for Qianji to work at Gu Xing Garden, where he helped run the shop while cultivating and occasionally visiting his clan.
• As snow fell over Saint Demon City, Qianji prepared to close the shop on the day of Li Yan’s year-end festival in the Mortal Realm.

Li Yan celebrated the Desolate Moon Continent’s year-end festival with Qianji, cooking ordinary food and remembering his family and their mountain village. As they raised their bowls in Saint Demon City, Li Yan silently wished his family well and recalled the green mountains of his homeland.

• Li Yan prepared a year-end feast using wild vegetables and beasts he had gathered outside Saint Demon City, while Qianji came in to join him.
• Li Yan remembered his parents, siblings, and childhood in a mountain village, and recalled how he had begun keeping vigil alone on the festival each year.
• Qianji poured the wine and asked Li Yan about the festival’s customs, and Li Yan offered a toast to the Great Dao and immortal fate.
• Li Yan silently wished his family well as he and Qianji toasted one another for the new year.

Qianji managed Li Yan’s shop in Saint Demon City while they waited for Li Yan’s target to appear. Two Holy Devil Palace cultivators arrived, and the young man matched the target’s description, so Qianji went to fetch Li Yan.

• Qianji continued running the shop as his cultivation advanced toward the peak of the Nascent Soul Early Stage.
• Two powerful cultivators entered the shop, and Qianji recognized their moon-white robes as the clothing of Void Refinement Realm members of the Holy Devil Palace.
• Qianji identified the young cultivator as matching the target Li Yan had described, but waited for an excuse to leave the shopfront.
• The young cultivator asked whether the shop sold all its gu insects, and Qianji said he needed to consult the proprietor.
• Qianji went to the rear courtyard, where Li Yan’s door opened as he approached.

Li Yan met Luo Beixi and his middle-aged companion at his shop, but their guarded visit gave him no chance to strike. He discovered that the companion was a White Devil Race Soul Cultivator and suspected the race had found a soul-cultivation inheritance in the Immortal Spirit Realm.

• Li Yan sensed a probing soul art and warned Qianji, who reported that two Holy Devil Palace cultivators had come to the shop.
• Li Yan greeted Luo Beixi and his middle-aged companion and discussed their request for water-attribute Gu, but neither bought anything.
• Li Yan recognized the visitors as Luo Beixi and a Void Refinement Early Stage Soul Cultivator, and decided he could not attack them while they were together.
• Li Yan considered whether the White Devil Race had inherited Soul Prison Clan methods, rejected that theory, and concluded they had likely found a separate soul-cultivation lineage in the Immortal Spirit Realm.
• Li Yan recalled that the middle-aged cultivator had used a nonlethal soul art to probe the rear courtyard and that he had restrained himself from retaliating.

Li Yan considered why Luo Beixi and a Soul Cultivator had visited his shop, confirmed that Luo Beixi practiced the Heavenly Demon White Jade Disk, and assessed the two men’s strength. After they left, Luo Beixi asked Junior Brother Ye what his soul probing had revealed, and Ye reported unusual fluctuations around the shop assistant but little reaction from Wang Xing.

• Li Yan weighed whether Luo Beixi had brought the Soul Cultivator to the shop deliberately and suspected Luo was searching for a soul-related gu worm.
• Li Yan sensed that Luo Beixi practiced the Heavenly Demon White Jade Disk and judged him to be at least a formidable middle-stage Void Refinement cultivator.
• Li Yan assessed the accompanying Soul Cultivator as an early-stage Void Refinement cultivator whose soul techniques and cultivation method were inferior to his own.
• Luo Beixi and Junior Brother Ye left Li Yan’s shop and went directly to the Holy Devil Palace’s mountain gate.
• Luo Beixi asked Junior Brother Ye what he had found, and Ye reported strong soul fluctuations from the shop assistant but a mostly steady soul from Wang Xing.

Luo Beixi investigated Gu Garden after learning it sold rare gu insects, suspecting the shop might be targeting him because of his hidden secrets. After visiting with Junior Brother Ye, he found no clear evidence of a trap and returned to his cave abode still uncertain.

• At a cultivator gathering, Luo Beixi bought Ding Liumin's poison pills at a high price and learned their gu insect ingredient came from Gu Garden.
• Luo Beixi checked the palace's records, grew suspicious that Gu Garden's location and specialty might be aimed at him, and decided to inspect it.
• Luo Beixi visited Gu Garden with Junior Brother Ye, but found nothing in the shop that he needed.
• After returning to the sect, Luo Beixi questioned Junior Brother Ye about the shop assistant and Wang Xing, but their behavior offered no clear evidence of wrongdoing.
• Luo Beixi parted from Junior Brother Ye and returned to his cave abode, still carrying questions about Gu Garden.

Li Yan continued waiting for a chance to act against Luo Beixi while running Gu Xing Garden and studying Luo Beixi’s cautious visits. When Luo Beixi finally asked to speak privately in the back courtyard, Li Yan saw an opportunity but wondered whether Ye was truly away.

• Li Yan dismissed Qianji’s concerns and told him to keep the shop operating normally while he waited for Luo Beixi to return.
• Over three years, Gu Xing Garden’s business grew, and Li Yan limited its expansion to avoid disrupting his plan.
• Luo Beixi resumed visiting with Ye, then came increasingly often, discussing and buying varied gu insects while remaining cautious about possible enemies.
• Li Yan concluded Luo Beixi was guarding against someone else and had not fully trusted him, despite their growing familiarity.
• Luo Beixi arrived alone during a busy period and asked Li Yan to speak somewhere quiet, so Li Yan led him to the back courtyard.
• Li Yan considered acting in the carefully prepared courtyard but questioned whether Ye had really left Luo Beixi alone.