Chapter Summaries

Elder Shi and Elder Hu spotted Li Yan in Bone Echo Market and quietly arranged to follow him, suspecting his arrival might be a trap. Li Yan and Tang Feng continued their staged shopping trip, aware that Chunyang Hall's people had taken the bait and were watching them.

• Elder Shi and Elder Hu identified Li Yan beneath a tree and ordered their companions to conceal themselves and follow him.
• Li Yan and Tang Feng complained about low offers from shops and headed toward another store to sell their treasures.
• Elder Hu sent Shi Ru, Zhang Xinhong, and Lou Ping to check whether the pair had genuinely visited nearby shops to sell items.
• Tang Feng relied on Bu Luo's Reality-Muddling Pill to hide his true appearance while Li Yan used his own face to ensure Chunyang Hall recognized him.
• Li Yan and Tang Feng noticed their pursuers changing appearances and entering nearby shops, confirming that the group was cautious and suspicious.

Li Yan and Tang Feng sold goods belonging to Chunyang Hall’s missing elders at Bone Echo Market, confirming to Elder Shi and Elder Hu that Pojun Sect had outside help. When Li Yan sensed surveillance, the pair abandoned their exit plan and entered Returning Goose Pavilion while the elders arranged to watch them and the market exits.

• Elder Shi and Elder Hu recognized Chunyang Hall treasures and the missing elders’ belongings among the goods Li Yan and Tang Feng sold.
• Elder Shi and Elder Hu concluded Pojun Sect had an ally and decided to capture Li Yan and Tang Feng after they left the market to search their souls.
• Li Yan sensed someone watching them, and Tang Feng scanned the surroundings as the pair considered whether Chunyang Hall had found them.
• Li Yan and Tang Feng suspected their pursuers might be from Chunyang Hall and decided not to leave Bone Echo Market that day.
• Elder Shi and Elder Hu followed Li Yan and Tang Feng into Returning Goose Pavilion’s vicinity, then stationed themselves in a tavern and sent others to watch the streets and market entrances.

Elder Hu and Elder Shi realized that Li Yan and Tang Feng might be luring Chunyang Hall toward an ambush involving Heart-Severing Cliff, rather than revealing a real plan at Bone-Eroding Ravine. They decided to change their appearances and keep watching the pair, while Li Yan and Tang Feng continued their covert communication under surveillance.

• Elder Hu and Elder Shi studied their maps and recognized that Bone-Eroding Ravine lay along their route to Pojun Sect.
• Elder Hu warned Elder Shi that their confidence in Chunyang Hall’s strength had made them treat the overheard conversation as reliable and might have led them into a trap.
• Elder Hu deduced that Heart-Severing Cliff could be backing Pojun Sect and that Bone-Eroding Ravine might be a decoy meant to steer Chunyang Hall into an ambush.
• Elder Shi and Elder Hu decided to alter their appearances and watch Li Yan and his companion for signs of accomplices.
• Li Yan and Tang Feng secretly discussed their plan through Soul Cultivator sound technique, and Li Yan said they had acted suspiciously to keep Chunyang Hall from going directly to Bone-Eroding Ravine.

Li Yan and Tang Feng discussed how Chunyang Hall’s suspicions could not be tied to Heart-Severing Cliff without evidence. Elder Shi entered Returning Goose Pavilion to join Elder Hu and the eight Void Refinement Realm cultivators tracking Li Yan and the cultivator surnamed Yan, but activating her room’s formation triggered a trap that left her weakened and trapped against the door.

• Tang Feng and Li Yan discussed Chunyang Hall’s surveillance and how it lacked evidence to accuse them of involving Heart-Severing Cliff.
• Eight Void Refinement Realm cultivators gathered information on Li Yan and the cultivator surnamed Yan, reporting that the pair had met privately but had not left the inn.
• Elder Shi arrived at Returning Goose Pavilion in disguise and chose a room near Li Yan and the cultivator surnamed Yan while Elder Hu and the others watched.
• Elder Shi activated the room’s formation with a jade ruyi, but her disguise began to fail and her strength rapidly drained.
• Elder Shi discovered the jade ruyi had turned blood-red and fused to her hand, then slammed into the door as she tried to retreat.

Elder Shi was killed and her soul captured by Master Lan and Elder Tang, revealing the Pojun Sect's Soul Cultivators and their trap inside Bone Echo Market. The chapter explained how Li Yan designed the scheme, and it left the Pojun Sect preparing to use Returning Goose Pavilion as its ambush site.

• Elder Shi was thrown back by the door, had her soul torn from her body, and died before she could escape.
• Master Lan and Elder Tang emerged from concealment, and Elder Tang confirmed to Elder Shi that the Pojun Sect had chosen Bone Echo Market for its attack.
• Master Lan assessed Elder Shi's soul strength and concluded that Chunyang Hall cultivators had unusually formidable cultivation techniques.
• Elder Tang recounted how Li Yan rejected wilderness ambush sites and proposed striking in Bone Echo Market to catch Chunyang Hall off guard.
• Elder Tang and the others selected Returning Goose Pavilion as their ambush site, while Shangguan Tianque and Li Yan opposed killing its staff after taking control of the inn.

Li Yan’s plan led Elder Tang, Master Lan, Zuo Qiudan, and Shangguan Tianque to ambush Elder Shi inside Returning Goose Pavilion and capture her soul and body without alerting the market. As Elder Hu waited for Elder Shi to begin their operation against Li Yan and Tang Feng, he grew concerned when she failed to appear.

• Li Yan proposed secretly replacing several Returning Goose Pavilion attendants, and Elder Tang’s group rehearsed the plan before entering Bone Echo Market.
• Zuo Qiudan and Shangguan Tianque disguised themselves as Golden Core Realm attendants while Elder Tang and Master Lan tracked Elder Shi and her companions by sensing their souls.
• After Zuo Qiudan led the disguised Elder Shi to her room, Shangguan Tianque briefly altered its formation so Elder Tang and Master Lan could enter and set an ambush.
• Master Lan weakened Elder Shi with a Soul-Severing Seal, and Elder Tang subdued her soul, stored her body, and sealed her soul in a jade box.
• Elder Hu waited for Elder Shi at their agreed time, then crushed a voice-transmission talisman when she did not appear.

Elder Hu discovered that Elder Shi and both targets, Li Yan and Tang Feng, had vanished from their rooms, leaving him to realize that Chunyang Hall’s planned attack on Pojun Sect had been outmaneuvered before it began. Overcome by rage, he collapsed, then awoke after wandering through darkness.

• Elder Hu crushed a paired transmission talisman and summoned Chunyang Hall’s eight Void Refinement elders after Elder Shi failed to respond.
• Elder Hu persuaded the innkeeper to open Elder Shi’s room and found it empty, with a jade slip saying she had left to cast aside the mortal world.
• Elder Hu used a technique to control the innkeeper’s consciousness and ordered him to open Li Yan’s and Tang Feng’s rooms.
• Elder Hu and the elders found both rooms empty and realized their enemies had vanished.
• Elder Hu spat blood and passed out, then opened his eyes after experiencing an endless darkness filled with distant voices and figures.

After Elder Hu awoke outside Bone Echo Market, he accepted that Pojun Sect had captured Elder Shi and sent his followers to gather intelligence rather than launch a rescue. The chapter revealed how Elder Tang and Master Lan had secretly taken Elder Shi and escaped with Li Yan and Tang Feng, while Elder Hu began a cautious investigation.

• Jiang Cangfeng told Elder Hu that the group had read the jade slip, fled Bone Echo Market, and gathered on a remote mountain after Elder Hu lost consciousness.
• Elder Hu concluded that Pojun Sect had carefully lured them into a trap and captured Elder Shi, while the jade slip warned Chunyang Hall to withdraw.
• Elder Hu questioned his followers, then divided them into groups to investigate Pojun Sect, Bone-Eroding Ravine, and Heart-Severing Cliff.
• Elder Hu chose to investigate Bone Echo Market himself and delayed confronting Pojun Sect because he feared its power and worried the jade slip might be another trap.
• Elder Tang and Master Lan used a prepared escape route to take Elder Shi, Li Yan, and Tang Feng out of the Returning Goose Pavilion inn.
• Shangguan Tianque and Zuo Qiudan released the two servants whose memories had been altered, then left the market with the others and headed toward Pojun Sect.

Li Yan and the others captured Elder Shi, learned Chunyang Hall and the Moji Dao Sect’s intentions, and killed her before returning to strengthen the Pojun Sect’s defenses. Elder Hu’s investigation failed to uncover their allies or expose their schemes, and he ended the chapter secretly testing the Pojun Sect’s powerful protective array.

• Elder Tang used Elder Shi’s likeness to record a second jade slip, setting a trap for Elder Hu if he sought help from the market town’s cultivators.
• Li Yan and the others performed a Soul Search on Elder Shi and learned that Chunyang Hall’s other leaders had been reluctant to get involved and that the Moji Dao Sect wanted the Pojun Sect eliminated.
• Elder Tang killed Elder Shi after learning what Chunyang Hall and the Moji Dao Sect intended.
• The Pojun Sect strengthened its defenses while Elder Hu’s investigation in Bone Echo Market failed to identify the Pojun Sect’s allies or find evidence of the jade-slip scheme.
• Elder Hu led eight Void Refinement Realm elders to the Pojun Sect, then failed to break its protective array in secret.

Li Yan entered seclusion and tried to comprehend a strand of Qiongqi power, which pulled him into a vision where he became a wounded Qiongqi fighting a stronger rival. The chapter left him charging into a clash as his opponent thrust a glowing horn toward his throat.

• Elder Hu abandoned his watch after sensing the power of Pojun Sect’s formation and receiving no news of Elder Shi.
• Li Yan entered seclusion and released the foreign Qiongqi power inside him to study its strength.
• The foreign power transformed into a three-inch Qiongqi and tore through Li Yan’s own power, forcing him to form a matching phantom and fight it.
• Li Yan was drawn into a vision of nine red suns, where he became a Qiongqi battling a stronger rival across a scorched landscape.
• The rival charged Li Yan with its glowing horn, creating spatial rifts that slowed his advance.

Li Yan’s Qiongqi Purgatory Art reached the threshold of Body Integration Realm, bringing an imminent heavenly tribulation that he knew could kill him. He left farewell jade slips for those close to him, then sought Elder Tang’s guidance before heading to the Dizhen Domain to face the trial.

• Li Yan used the power of the nine suns through his Qiongqi horn to stop and destroy the charging Qiongqi.
• The Qiongqi phantom entered Li Yan’s Shanzhong acupoint, revealing that Prison-Horn Light Convergence had appeared and that a Body Integration heavenly tribulation would arrive within seven days to three months.
• Li Yan accepted the danger of the tribulation and inscribed jade slips for his friends and family, including secret-language instructions for Ding Shuying.
• Li Yan told Elder Tang that he had gained insight into Body Integration through a body-refining cultivation art and asked for guidance on surviving the tribulation.
• Elder Tang gathered Master Lan, Tang Feng, Shangguan Tianque, and Zuo Qiudan, and they discussed the increasing danger of heavenly tribulations with Li Yan.

Li Yan prepared to break through to the Body Integration Realm in the Dizhen Domain, where a brutal Heavenly Tribulation tested his strength. After seven days of thunder, he survived and restored his badly damaged body, leaving Elder Tang and Xue Tieyi relieved.

• Elder Tang arranged for Lan Feng and Tang Feng to remain behind while he took Li Yan back to the Dizhen Domain and summoned reinforcements for the Pojun Sect.
• At the silver desert, Li Yan gave Elder Tang a storage ring of restricted jade slips, then settled down to prepare for his breakthrough near the Dream-Returning Ant's tongue.
• After thirty-four days, the red light in Li Yan's chest rose toward his crown, summoning violent winds and pitch-black clouds that gathered into a Heavenly Tribulation.
• Golden thunder struck Li Yan, and he shattered the first bolt with a punch while Xue Tieyi and Elder Tang watched from across the desert.
• The Heavenly Tribulation lasted seven days and left Li Yan bloodied, blackened, and missing half his body, but he absorbed the tribulation's essence and restored himself before Elder Tang and Xue Tieyi reached him.

After three years of consolidating his breakthrough, Li Yan stabilized at the early Body Integration Realm and prepared to leave the Silver Desert. He reflected on the ordeal of body-cultivation tribulation and discovered how greatly his divine sense had advanced.

• Li Yan completed his final training stance at the edge of the Silver Desert and confirmed that his Body Integration Realm had stabilized.
• Li Yan recalled surviving the seven-day tribulation through sheer endurance and considered why body cultivators faced especially difficult breakthroughs.
• Li Yan thought of Min'er, A-Ying, and Gu Yue, and hoped his breakthrough would help them pursue the Body Integration Realm as well.
• Li Yan tested his enhanced divine sense and learned that it could form independent divine thought avatars.
• Li Yan considered the tradeoffs between avatars made only from divine thought and those made with essence blood, which could cultivate independently but weakened the main body.

Li Yan tested the changes brought by entering the Body Integration Realm, finding that his techniques, defenses, and physical abilities had grown dramatically. He discovered that his Qiongqi and Undying Underworld Phoenix powers had merged to transform Phoenix Soaring, and confirmed that his Zhili Poison remained intact despite no longer residing visibly in his body.

• Li Yan tested True Spirit Armor and Prison Breaker, finding that the armor could endure attacks from Body Integration Early Stage cultivators and that Prison Breaker could shatter a powerful array with one strike.
• Li Yan received the Primordial Heaven-Slaying Strike inheritance and found that Flame-Feather Meteor Arrows had advanced, allowing him to fire three silent, elusive arrows at once.
• Li Yan combined Qiongqi power with Phoenix Soaring, manifested illusory Demonic Wings, and accidentally flew across the Silver Desert into a mountain.
• Li Yan tested the mutated Phoenix Soaring and learned that the wings could propel him at immense speed and fold around him to block attacks.
• Li Yan examined his body and discovered that Zhili Poison had vanished from his chest and abdomen, then summoned and transformed it at his fingertip without difficulty.

Li Yan discovered that reaching the Body Integration Realm had fused Zhili Poison with his flesh and sea of consciousness, giving him automatic defenses against attacks and soul searches. After stabilizing his realm, he returned to the Pojun Sect with Elder Tang and learned that Chunyang Hall had not attacked again, though it might be preparing a decisive assault.

• Li Yan tested his transformed Disjointed Poison Body and found Zhili Poison automatically blocked a Soul-Seeking Technique and counterattacked through his clone.
• Four days later, Li Yan left the restricted area, where Elder Wang recognized that he had successfully reached the Body Integration Realm.
• Li Yan met Elder Tang and Xue Tieyi, confirmed that his realm had stabilized, and learned that Chunyang Hall had not attacked the Pojun Sect for several years.
• Elder Tang warned that Chunyang Hall might be gathering strength for another assault, while Xue Tieyi and the sect had prepared their defenses.
• Li Yan and Elder Tang teleported back to the Pojun Sect, where its cultivators gathered to welcome Li Yan after his breakthrough.

Li Yan returned to the Pojun Sect after breaking through to the Body Integration Realm, and Shangguan Tianque announced his advancement to the entire sect. Li Yan agreed to a grand celebration, giving the shaken sect new confidence as its cultivators hoped to stand more securely beside the Prison clan.

• Tang Feng reported Li Yan’s successful breakthrough, and Shangguan Tianque proclaimed the news throughout the Pojun Sect.
• Li Yan returned with Elder Tang and greeted the assembled elders, including Tang Feng, Bu Luo, and Qianji.
• Shangguan Tianque urged Li Yan to hold a grand ceremony to raise the sect’s morale, and Li Yan agreed.
• The elders discussed the celebration, and Shangguan Tianque saw the Pojun Sect’s cultivators regain their spirit.
• The Pojun Sect’s elders welcomed Li Yan’s advancement as a source of strength and a chance to stand more equally with the Prison clan.

Li Yan prepared for a grand ceremony marking his breakthrough, instructed Qianji in cultivation, and began practicing Body Integration Realm spells. Just before the ceremony, explosions struck the Pojun Sect’s mountain gate, leaving cultivators dead and wounded as Li Yan rushed to the scene.

• Li Yan agreed to hold the Pojun Sect’s celebration a month later, despite preferring a simpler ceremony.
• Elder Tang sent Elders Liu and Hua back to the Dizhen Domain to protect Elder Hao.
• Li Yan answered Qianji’s cultivation questions and arranged to travel with him to Guiqulaixi to collect refining materials.
• Li Yan practiced Body Integration Realm spells while the Pojun Sect prepared for the ceremony.
• Explosions rocked the mountain gate, and Li Yan rushed there to find Pojun Sect cultivators dead or gravely wounded.

Li Yan and the others rushed to treat Pojun Sect’s wounded as four Body Integration Realm cultivators attacked its mountain gate. The attackers had spent years tracing Pojun Sect’s backing to Heart-Severing Cliff, and the chapter ended with the formation holding under their assault while the sect faced a planned attempt at destruction.

• Zuo Qiudan, Bu Luo, and Yu Banjiang arrived and joined Li Yan, Shangguan Tianque, and Elder Tang in treating Pojun Sect’s wounded.
• Li Yan identified the four attackers outside the mountain gate as a beautiful middle-aged woman, a thick-bearded man, Elder Wei, and Elder Hu, who were battering the Sect Protection Array.
• Elder Wei recalled how Elder Hu had reported Elder Shi’s disappearance, prompting Chunyang Hall and Moji Dao Sect to debate Pojun Sect’s powerful backing and whether to destroy it.
• Moji Dao Sect sent the beautiful middle-aged woman and the thick-bearded man with Elder Wei and Elder Hu to investigate Pojun Sect’s suspected allies before attacking.
• After years of investigation, the four concluded that Heart-Severing Cliff was likely behind Pojun Sect and launched their assault on its mountain gate.

Four Body Integration Realm cultivators attacked Pojun Sect, and their assault killed nearly a hundred people before they could break the sect’s protection array. Enraged, Li Yan rushed outside alone in disguise, while Master Lan struggled to hold the array and the attackers prepared to enter.

• The four confirmed Heart-Severing Cliff’s role in supporting Pojun Sect and secretly approached its mountain gate to break the protection array.
• Their attempts triggered the array’s defenses, so they unleashed a concentrated assault that devastated the surrounding forest and killed nearly a hundred Pojun Sect members.
• Li Yan saw the deaths and left the sect alone despite Shangguan Tianque’s attempt to stop him; Elder Tang followed him outside.
• Master Lan took control of the protection array and realized it could withstand the four attackers for only a few more breaths, while the outer trapping array had already been destroyed.
• Li Yan changed his appearance into that of a bald, withered old man as he emerged, while the beautiful middle-aged woman ordered the others to capture Pojun Sect’s Void Refinement Realm cultivators alive.

Li Yan ambushed the four cultivators attacking the formation, killing the beautiful middle-aged woman before turning on Elder Hu. The chapter ended with Li Yan bearing down on Elder Hu, who struggled to resist his overwhelming strength.

• Li Yan rushed through the beautiful middle-aged woman's golden defense and struck her, but her Three-Colored Leaf blocked his knee.
• Li Yan used a Soul-Splitting Slash to disrupt the woman's magic, then crushed her with his Demonic Wings and took her spatial magical treasures.
• Elder Tang attacked the thickly bearded man as the other cultivators reacted to Li Yan's ambush.
• Elder Hu launched two Life-Seizing Nails at Li Yan, but Li Yan appeared before him and struck down with his fists.
• Elder Hu roared and tried to raise his saber as Li Yan's immense force pinned him down.