Chapter Summaries

Bai Rou, Li Wuyi, and Hu Chen Wuding turned the tide against their opponents with powerful abilities, while Qiu Jiuzhen fought fiercely despite her grief. The chapter left Qiu Jiuzhen trapped by a foreign cultivator’s sealing treasure as he swung both hammers toward her head.

• Bai Rou collected the damaged treasures and storage pouches of two slain Golden Core Realm cultivators, then summoned more puppets to frighten nearby enemies.
• Li Wuyi overwhelmed a South Sea False Nascent Soul cultivator and trapped him inside a blood-red character, where he was crushed to death.
• Hu Chen Wuding’s deep-blue mist shriveled and destroyed a massive devil cultivator who struggled to escape.
• Qiu Jiuzhen attacked an aged black-robed foreign False Nascent Soul cultivator, but he countered her with a patterned grasshopper and bound her with Withered Vine Dust.
• The aged black-robed foreign cultivator raised both hammers and swung them toward Qiu Jiuzhen’s temples while she remained sealed in place.

Baili Yuan rescued Qiu Jiuzhen from the aged foreign cultivator, while the battle between the cultivators and the Devil Race grew increasingly desperate. As the Nascent Soul fighters shifted opponents, Great Mirror Zen Master unleashed a new technique against Li Yan, revealing a manifestation fueled by power of faith.

• Baili Yuan pulled Qiu Jiuzhen free from the withered vine and urged her to recover before the enemy attacking him could reach them.
• Du Sanjiang stored the unconscious Wang Tian in a spirit storage pouch, and Li Changting did the same for the gravely wounded Miao Wangqing after his gu insects protected her.
• Arhat One Leaf was wounded by Hang Lin's flying sword while Wei Zhongran held off two devil cultivators, and Li Yan sent Li Yuyin to assist One Leaf.
• Li Yuyin intercepted Hang Lin as she left, allowing Li Yan to fight Great Mirror Zen Master without holding back.
• Great Mirror Zen Master withdrew his Vajra Bodhisattva and summoned kneeling figures of green smoke and a golden hoop, which Li Yan recognized as power of faith.

Grand Zen Master Dajing trapped Li Yan with mind power and prepared to kill him with flaming Buddhist beads, but Li Yan’s spiritual power broke the karmic threads and caused Dajing’s technique to backlash. Li Yan appeared before the helpless Dajing and struck at his head with both fists.

• Grand Zen Master Dajing used his mind power to ensnare Li Yan, while Wei Zhongran, Arhat Yiye, Mo Qing, and Li Yuyin tried to reach him.
• Dajing sent karmic threads into Li Yan, filling his consciousness with voices and leaving him motionless beneath the golden hoop.
• Li Yan’s five-element spiritual power surged through his meridians, severed the karmic threads, and dispelled the figures in his consciousness.
• Dajing ignited his eighteen Buddhist beads to attack Li Yan, but he suddenly spat blood as his mind power suffered a backlash.
• Li Yan vanished from beneath the beads, appeared before Dajing, and swung both fists toward his ears.

Li Yan broke free of Master Dajing’s power of thought and overwhelmed him with a poison-laced assault, then flew to aid Wei Zhongran after making the others believe Master Dajing’s Nascent Soul had escaped. The battle continued with Li Yan’s opponents now wary of his strength and his apparent ability to threaten Nascent Souls.

• Li Yan broke Master Dajing’s restraint with the Five Elements Return to Primordial Chaos and launched a rapid assault, while Wei Zhongran blocked the demon generals from intervening.
• Li Yan battered Master Dajing with poisoned strikes that damaged his body and caused his Nascent Soul to grow groggy.
• Li Yan appeared to search for Master Dajing’s escaped Nascent Soul, while Mo Qing told him to stop and help Wei Zhongran.
• Hang Lin warned the others that Li Yan was a high-level poison cultivator, and Sixth Mister complained that Master Dajing had fled.
• Li Yan concealed that he had destroyed Master Dajing’s Nascent Soul and flew toward Wei Zhongran.

As the battle turned against the Devil Race and its allies, Great Master ordered a retreat while Gu Jiuqi attacked him. Li Yan’s fighting had helped change the tide, and Wei Zhongran kept an intermediate-stage devil general trapped as the chapter ended.

• Gu Jiuqi destroyed Great Master’s summoned talon and taunted him after the Devil Race lost two Nascent Soul cultivators.
• Great Master ordered Sixth Master and the others to retreat, while Gu Jiuqi attacked him with wine-condensed sword energy.
• Mo Qing and Arhat Yiye pursued the fleeing enemies, but Mo Qing delayed activating the grand formation to protect Laojun Peak’s low-level cultivators.
• Wang Lang chased a wounded South Sea traitor cultivator, while Qiu Jiuzhen reconsidered her earlier doubts after seeing Li Yan’s impact on the battle.
• Li Yan pursued an initial-stage devil general, and Wei Zhongran trapped an intermediate-stage devil general with ancient seal characters.
• Wei Zhongran urged the trapped devil general to self-detonate and struck one of his twin hammers, unleashing a violent aura.

Wei Zhongran used lightning, character runes, and a golden drum to destroy the mid-stage demon general’s body and trap his grievously wounded Nascent Soul. Li Yan pursued another demon cultivator to the sect-protecting formation’s boundary, where the demon produced a small gray stone as Li Yan closed in.

• Wei Zhongran used the twin hammers and lightning to draw the mid-stage demon general into a rotating pillar, then struck a golden drum three times and burst his body apart.
• The demon general’s Nascent Soul fled into the Gate character runes sealing the surrounding space, and Wei Zhongran trapped it despite exhausting and injuring himself.
• Li Yan sensed Mo Qing activate Phantom Sect’s sect-protecting grand formation and continued chasing a fleeing demon cultivator without using Wind Soaring Heaven.
• The demon cultivator struck the formation’s invisible boundary and endured its lightning retaliation as Li Yan caught up.
• As Li Yan closed in, the demon cultivator showed little panic and produced a small gray stone.

Li Yan and the Phantom Sect’s defenders watched invaders escape through spatial rifts opened with gray stones, while Gu Jiuqi recognized the stones as Sandstar Stones and realized the enemy had prepared a way through turbulent space. Great Master challenged Gu Jiuqi to follow him into turbulent space, leaving their confrontation unresolved.

• The devil cultivator opened a spatial rift with a gray stone and escaped, while Li Yan stayed behind and suspected the stone enabled the dangerous passage.
• Li Yan saw Devil Race and alien-domain cultivators use identical stones to flee through rifts, while Li Wuyi and One-Leaf Arhat’s pursuers could only watch.
• Gu Jiuqi recognized the stones as Sandstar Stones and realized they helped the invaders find exits through turbulent space beyond the Phantom Sect’s formation.
• Gu Jiuqi deduced that the devil and alien-domain cultivators had another treasure capable of protecting them from astral winds.
• Great Master taunted Gu Jiuqi and offered to continue their battle in turbulent space.

Great Master fled the Phantom Sect with Gu Jiuqi pursuing him, while Li Yan discovered that the enemy cultivators were escaping through the turbulent void and prepared to teleport away if necessary. Ping Tu recognized Great Master’s aura and urgently had Li Yan throw him the diamond crystal, leaving Li Yan unsure what Ping Tu intended.

• Great Master explained how Sand Star King Stones protected cultivators in the turbulent void and fled toward the edge of the Phantom Sect while Gu Jiuqi followed.
• Li Yan found that many enemies, including Hang Lin and the others, had disappeared, then left the grand formation and spotted Mo Qing and other cultivators nearby.
• When Li Yan sensed Great Master and Gu Jiuqi approaching, he contacted Ping Tu through the ancient round diamond crystal.
• Ping Tu recognized Great Master’s aura as belonging to a sect from the secret realm and ordered Li Yan to throw the crystal after the two fleeing cultivators.
• Li Yan hurled the crystal toward Great Master and Gu Jiuqi, and it vanished, cutting off his contact with Ping Tu.

The Great Master fled Gu Jiuqi but was teleported into the Five Elements Dao-Evil Bead by Ping Tu, who intended to grind him down and take his nascent soul. The Great Master then found himself at the entrance to a silent, desolate street.

• While pursuing the Great Master, Gu Jiuqi watched him turn back toward Mo Qing and then vanish in a subtle spatial fluctuation.
• Li Yan contacted Ping Tu, who revealed that he had trapped the Great Master inside the Five Elements Dao-Evil Bead and believed he could kill him with its power.
• Ping Tu considered trapping Gu Jiuqi too, but let the idea go after Li Yan pleaded for his martial uncle's safety.
• Li Yan left the forest to patrol for escaped enemies as Golden Core cultivators approached.
• Inside the Five Elements Dao-Evil Bead, the Great Master examined a dim, deserted street lined with silent shops and taverns.

Great Master was drawn into a deadly independent space near the Phantom Sect, where a black shadow overwhelmed him and consumed his arm and staff. Meanwhile, Mo Qing and the others reviewed the battle’s heavy casualties, and Gu Jiuqi killed Sixth Master in the turbulent space.

• Great Master entered an isolated street after sensing a familiar aura and suspected it was connected to the secret realm he had sought.
• Great Master triggered deadly traps in several shops before a vast black shadow advanced, erasing everything in its path.
• Great Master’s attack accelerated the shadow, which engulfed his arm and staff and left him badly injured as it pursued him.
• Mo Qing and the others received the battle report, which listed five fallen Nascent Soul cultivators on Great Master’s side and said Great Master had escaped into turbulent space.
• Gu Jiuqi found Sixth Master in the turbulent space and killed him with a finger strike to the back of the head.

Gu Jiuqi reported the deaths and dangers he encountered in turbulent space, while Li Yan and the Wangliang Sect assessed the battle’s heavy casualties. Mo Qing and Arhat Yiye concluded that the enemy had suffered a major setback, though many losses remained uncertain.

• Gu Jiuqi’s attempt to search the Sixth Master’s soul triggered the restrictions in his sea of consciousness, destroying the nascent soul.
• Gu Jiuqi watched the cultivator surnamed Ye and eight others perish when they encountered a drifting fracture node in turbulent space.
• Li Yan learned that the gray stones were Sandstar Stones, while Mo Qing and the others estimated the enemy had lost roughly two hundred and thirty to two hundred and forty golden core cultivators.
• Li Yan sent the gravely injured Qianji to Tuban for recovery, while the Wangliang Sect counted its dead and treated the battle’s wounded.
• Mo Qing and Arhat Yiye discussed the losses and concluded that the enemy’s forces had been badly weakened and would struggle to mount another ambush for centuries.

After the battle, the four great sects agreed to compensate the fallen cultivators’ sects, purge suspected traitors, and publicize the Devil Race’s failed attack. Li Yan returned to Small Bamboo Peak, helped Miao Wangqing stabilize her damaged golden core, and checked on Bai Rou and Sun Guoshu at Four Symbols Peak.

• Wei Zhongran, Mo Qing, Arhat Yiye, Li Yan, and Li Yuyin agreed that the Taixuan Sect should compensate the victims’ sects and purge suspected traitors, while the four great sects would protect lineages whose leaders had fallen.
• Gu Jiuqi assured the others that Spirit Transformation cultivators on the Desolate Moon Continent would handle the Great Master, and Mo Qing announced the attack and the sects’ losses to the cultivation world.
• Li Yuyin returned to her peak and entered seclusion, while Li Wuyi stayed at Small Bamboo Peak, furious that Miao Wangqing and Qianji had nearly died.
• Li Yan checked Small Bamboo Peak’s wounded cultivators and spent five days stabilizing Miao Wangqing’s cracked golden core until it began to heal.
• Li Yan visited Four Symbols Peak, where Sun Guoshu explained that Bai Rou’s puppets had protected him during the battle and that he had survived despite severe injuries.

Li Yan comforted Bai Rou and Sun Guoshu after the battle, assuring them that the Great Master would not threaten them again, while Bai Rou chose to remain nearby and recover. Back in seclusion, Li Yan began studying the spoils from Great Mirror Zen Master and Qi Jinghong, discovering a vast fortune and several valuable treasures.

• Li Yan gave Bai Rou Divine Surplus Pills and warned her not to exhaust herself so recklessly in battle.
• Li Yan assured Bai Rou and Sun Guoshu that the Great Master would not appear again, and said his Nascent Soul celebration would be canceled.
• Bai Rou decided to stay and recover near the Phantom Sect so she could respond if enemies attacked.
• Li Yan returned to Small Bamboo Peak, sealed his courtyard, and prepared to enter seclusion after reflecting on his first battle as a Nascent Soul cultivator.
• Li Yan broke Great Mirror Zen Master's storage restriction and found more than ten thousand high-grade spirit stones, valuable pills, and other treasures.
• Li Yan tested Great Mirror Zen Master's prayer beads, talismans, hoop, and rope, but could not uncover the beads' full abilities.

Li Yan examined Master Dajing’s spoils, learning about the limits of Secret-Traces Vajra Mountain Suppression and discovering a water-attribute supreme-grade spirit stone inside a trapped jade box. He stored the stone and continued sorting the pouch’s contents, where an unusually heavy demon beast tailbone caught his attention.

• Li Yan read Secret-Traces Vajra Mountain Suppression and concluded that Master Dajing had likely summoned only one Vajrapani Bodhisattva manifestation because of the art’s demanding spirit-root and spiritual-power requirements.
• Li Yan found no way to control the prayer beads’ thought power and decided to study Buddhist scriptures so he could better understand the art.
• Li Yan triggered and shattered the jade box’s powerful golden-hand restriction, then protected his cultivation chamber when the opened box released immense spiritual pressure.
• Li Yan identified the box’s contents as a water-attribute supreme-grade spirit stone, examined it, and stored it inside Tuban.
• Li Yan inspected the remaining spiritual plants and demon beast materials in Master Dajing’s pouch, then struggled to lift an unidentified six-foot tailbone.

Li Yan inspected Chan Master Dajing’s storage pouches and Qi Jinghong’s storage ring, uncovering immense wealth, two supreme-grade spirit stones, and three sheets of the Undying Underworld Phoenix’s essence blood. A map in Qi Jinghong’s jade box suggested he had tracked the silver paper across the Pure Land Sect and Ten-Step Academy territories, including locations tied to people Li Yan knew.

• Li Yan examined Dajing’s unidentified tailbone, herbs, beast materials, and Sandstar Stone, then found heaps of treasures and spirit stones in Dajing’s two gray pouches.
• Li Yan searched Qi Jinghong’s storage ring and discovered abundant materials, spirit stones, four powerful magical treasures, and another Sandstar Stone, but no cultivation methods.
• Li Yan opened two jade boxes and found two supreme-grade spirit stones, one earth-attribute and one wood-attribute.
• Li Yan broke the restriction on the final jade box and found three silver sheets of the Undying Underworld Phoenix’s essence blood.
• Li Yan read a map marked with seventeen locations, eight crossed out, and inferred that Qi Jinghong had searched for the silver paper, including at the Qiu, Zuo, and Huchen lineages.

Li Yan studied Qi Jinghong’s map of possible silver-page locations and chose to delay searching until he was strong enough to avoid discovery. After distributing Bodhi Pill portions to Qianji and Li Wuyi, he tested the Sandstar King Stone by entering turbulent space and emerged beneath a clear sky, immediately inspecting his surroundings.

• Li Yan examined the map’s nine uncrossed locations and decided not to pursue the silver pages while the sects were on high alert and his cultivation arts remained incomplete.
• Qi Jinghong’s past investigation was revealed: he found a silver page, traced other pages to the Northern Underworld Demon-Suppressing Tower, and created a map while searching for them.
• Qi Jinghong captured and killed Huchen Jianghai, suspected Huchen Ancestor had concealed information about the pages, and postponed his search when the Devil Race demanded his service.
• Li Yan put away the three silver pages, sorted his acquired storage artifacts, and sent Bodhi Pill portions to Qianji and Li Wuyi, who left to help the unconscious Miao Wangqing.
• Li Yan entered turbulent space using the Sandstar King Stone, endured its astral winds, sensed a connection leading away, and returned through a rift beneath a clear sky.
• After emerging, Li Yan swept the area with his Divine Sense and fixed his gaze on a spot below him.

Li Yan gathered another Sandstar Stone, gave Ping Tu three top-grade spirit stones, and spent more than thirty years cultivating while the South Sea Domain recovered from the Devil Race's attack. He emerged from seclusion after Zhao Min's message and considered seeking the later portions of the Qiongqi Purgatory Art on the Wind God Continent.

• Li Yan used a Sandstar Stone to locate and retrieve another matching stone, but a second attempt to find an exit in turbulent space failed.
• Li Yan gave Ping Tu three top-grade spirit stones to help restore his true body before entering seclusion.
• The four great sects purged suspected collaborators, and the weakened Taixuan Sect sealed the South Sea Domain for three hundred years.
• Over the following decades, the continent heard no further news of the Devil Race, while the Taixuan Sect remained weakened and politically isolated.
• Li Yan emerged after more than thirty years of cultivation, having improved his techniques and refined one drop of Undying Nether Phoenix essence blood.
• After receiving Zhao Min's voice transmission, Li Yan left seclusion and considered traveling to the Wind God Continent to seek the later portions of the Qiongqi Purgatory Art.

Li Yan emerged from seclusion, checked on Zi Kun and Qianji in Tuban, and reunited with Zhao Min, who explained Zhao Zhi’s cultivation troubles. On the mountain path, Zhao Min proposed that she and Li Yan become Dao companions, leaving him stunned as she asked whether he was unwilling.

• Li Yan reviewed his improved Phoenix Soars to Heaven technique and found Zi Kun cultivating in the late Golden Core Realm and Qianji preparing to break through to the middle Golden Core Realm in Tuban.
• Li Yan visited Wei Zhongran, Zhao Zhi, and Zhao Min, then walked with Zhao Min through the back mountain after Wei Zhongran and Zhao Zhi left them alone.
• Zhao Min told Li Yan that Zhao Zhi had damaged her meridians while forcing a breakthrough, and that her cultivation and confidence had suffered despite recovering from her injuries.
• Li Yan learned that Zhao Min had reached the limits of her spiritual power but still lacked the insight needed to advance to the Nascent Soul Realm.
• Zhao Min proposed that she and Li Yan become Dao companions, explaining that their union might ease Zhao Zhi’s worries and help her state of mind, then asked Li Yan if he was unwilling.

Zhao Min and Li Yan announced that they wished to become Dao companions, bringing Zhao Zhi rare joy as she worried about her limited time with her daughter. At Small Bamboo Peak, Li Yan reunited with his senior brothers and met Li Wuyi’s children, Fuge and Lichou.

• Zhao Min told Li Yan to announce their marriage to her mother and the others, and Li Yan agreed.
• Wei Zhongran offered Zhao Zhi Bright Immortal Powder to help her find a breakthrough opportunity, but she refused, believing the needed insight lay elsewhere.
• Li Yan and Zhao Min returned to the courtyard, where Li Yan asked Wei Zhongran and Zhao Zhi to let him become Dao companions with Zhao Min; Zhao Min shyly agreed, and Zhao Zhi celebrated.
• Li Wuyi received a voice-transmission talisman from Miao Wangqing and reacted with delighted laughter.
• At Small Bamboo Peak, Li Yan greeted Li Wuyi, Yun Chunqu, and Li Changting, then met Li Wuyi’s children, Fuge and Lichou.

Li Yan gave Li Fuge and Li Lichou poison pills and antidotes, then learned that he and Zhao Min would marry in May of the year after next. During a later meeting with Ping Tu, Li Yan confirmed that Great Master had died inside the Five Elements Dao-Evil Bead, though Ping Tu had consumed his Nascent Soul to recover from his injuries.

• Li Yan gave Li Fuge and Li Lichou poison pills he had condensed himself and matching antidotes, while Li Wuyi warned them not to use the pills recklessly.
• Wei Zhongran announced that Li Yan and Zhao Min would hold their wedding in May of the year after next, and Li Changting began organizing the preparations.
• Tang Yuniang told Bai Rou that Li Yan was getting married, prompting Bai Rou to consider what wedding gift the Wood Flow Sect should send.
• Li Yan met Ping Tu, who praised his cultivation and said Great Master had survived for four years inside the Five Elements Dao-Evil Bead before dying.
• Ping Tu told Li Yan that he had captured and consumed Great Master's Nascent Soul to help his injuries recover, and he lamented that Li Yan had prevented him from killing Gu Jiuqi.