Chapter Summaries

Li Wuyi explained the identities and abilities of several powerful Demon Beasts to Li Yan as they gathered for the Wheel of Life and Death. The leading Golden Core cultivators then stopped talking and looked into the distance.

• Li Wuyi warned Li Yan that the sects might turn on one another and said they would find and kill whoever caused a death.
• Li Wuyi identified Yin Congfeng, Lin Mingyu, and Yan Motian, describing their strengths and abilities.
• Li Wuyi named several powerful second-rank Demon Beasts, including Jin Chuiyan, Wu Wu'an, and Yue Henguo, and explained their deadly innate abilities.
• Li Wuyi introduced more Demon Beasts, including Yan Shuichu, while Li Yan admired his knowledge.
• The Golden Core cultivators, including Lin Mingyu and Peak Master Li, fell silent and looked into the distance.

The four sects and Demon Beast parties gathered at the valley to prepare for the Wheel of Life and Death harvest, while Li Yan learned about their plan and notable opponents. After the Wangliang Sect chose to fight and the parties exchanged intelligence, Elder Peng, Sword King Xiahua, and Yin Congfeng took their places at the concealed valley entrance to open the realm.

• The Pure Land Sect and Ten-Step Academy arrived, and their leaders introduced their parties after the Jade Qilin asked to meet unfamiliar cultivators.
• Li Yan noticed that the Qi Condensation cultivators of the Taixuan Sect, Pure Land Sect, and Ten-Step Academy shared similar auras, suggesting the three sects had joined forces.
• Elder Peng said the three sects would still compete with one another during the harvest, and ninety percent of the Wangliang Sect disciples chose to take part in the fighting.
• Li Wuyi, Baili Yuan, Wang Tian, and other Foundation Establishment cultivators shared intelligence about important rivals, including Wang Lang, Quan Jiuxing, Chan Monk Zhiliao, and Chan Monk Zhiwei.
• Elder Peng, Sword King Xiahua, and Yin Congfeng stepped forward to open the Wheel of Life and Death, while the Taixuan Sect and Pure Land Sect sent no Golden Core cultivator to join them.

The sects and demon beasts used the Heavenly Heart Disc to send Foundation Establishment cultivators into the secret realm’s gathering area, where the disc marked and separated each group before releasing them to move freely. As the elders waited outside, the chapter recounted a past expedition in which a mysterious fog attack killed several Golden Core cultivators, leaving everyone wary of what might happen this time.

• Elder Peng and four other Golden Core cultivators joined three brown implements into the Heavenly Heart Disc and explained its entry marks, rescue function, and map.
• The second-tier demon beasts entered first, followed by the sects and other demon beast groups, with the disc assigning each batch a separate area and a distinct color.
• The five elders activated the disc, removing the area restrictions and sending the seven groups moving in different directions.
• Elder Peng told the waiting Qi Condensation cultivators that life and death inside the realm were up to fate, while the Golden Core elders watched the other groups and discussed matters.
• The narration described a past expedition when a sudden fog obscured sight and divine sense, enabling an attack that killed six Golden Core cultivators and severely wounded others.
• The surviving elders from the four sects joined forces to guard against further attacks, then escorted the survivors out and reported the incident to their Nascent Soul patriarchs.

Li Yan waited with the Wangliang Sect inside a defensive formation while cultivators entered the secret realm to gather herbs and treasures, and he worried as several black points vanished from the Heavenly Heart Disc. He eventually settled into cultivation, but a violent sandstorm and rumbling awakened him in the dark, with the disc no longer visible.

• The Nascent Soul patriarchs concluded that the strange attacks were likely connected to ancient cultivators and ordered each sect to send at least seven stronger Golden Core Realm cultivators into the secret realm.
• The Wangliang Sect elders established the Eight Trigrams Lesser Yin Formation around their disciples, and Peak Master Yi told them to stay inside and cultivate for the month.
• Li Yan watched the Heavenly Heart Disc as black points disappeared, and a badly injured Buli Peak cultivator reported that Pure Land Sect monks had killed his companion and that he had lost his four Ascension Gu.
• Li Wuyi told Li Yan that worrying could not help their missing companions and urged him to focus on cultivation; Li Yan calmed himself and practiced the Gui Water True Scripture.
• A sudden Divine Sense disturbance woke Li Yan, who found the sky dark, the Heavenly Heart Disc gone, and sand and dust raging outside the formation amid repeated rumbling.

Li Yan endured an eerie attack on the formation, then watched cultivators recover and advance while the Wangliang Sect elders uncovered signs that the other three sects had prepared their disciples for the Wheel of Life and Death. The elders resolved to enter the coming contest despite suspecting a trap, knowing their disciples could be sacrificed and that no survivors might return with information.

• Li Yan learned from Li Wuyi and Elder Peng that an attack had cut off their sight and Divine Sense, then watched Peak Master Li and a Laojun Peak elder hold the formation until the assault ended.
• Elder Peng deactivated the formation but kept the disciples inside its protected area, while Li Yan noticed the Demon Beasts gloating and saw that many points had vanished from the Heavenly Heart Disc.
• Li Yan and Li Wuyi observed cultivators breaking through during the following days, but Li Wuyi noticed that far fewer disciples from the other three sects advanced than expected.
• Elder Peng and the Wangliang Sect elders secretly concluded that the other sects had joined forces and used drugs to raise their disciples' cultivation, leaving many with heavy auras of death.
• The Wangliang Sect elders recognized that the Wheel of Life and Death could be a trap but decided they had to participate, even if their disciples were lost.

Li Yan advanced to the peak of early eighth-level Qi Condensation in the secret realm, astonishing Li Wuyi with how quickly he stabilized his cultivation. Li Yan then asked whether his fellow disciples could rank among the top hundred, while their survival in the life-and-death wheel remained uncertain.

• Li Yan broke through to early eighth-level Qi Condensation and, after consolidating his cultivation, advanced to its peak.
• Li Wuyi reflected on his own slight progress, Wei Zhongran's effort to secure his entry, and the danger facing the Wangliang Sect disciples in the life-and-death wheel.
• Li Wuyi noticed Li Yan's rapid advance and suspected his cultivation was unusually powerful, but Li Yan attributed it vaguely to good fortune and his Mixed Spirit Root.
• Li Wuyi advised Li Yan to keep consolidating his cultivation, and Li Yan agreed.
• Li Yan asked Li Wuyi whether Second Brother and the others could rank among the top hundred cultivators who entered the secret realm.

Li Wuyi told Li Yan how terrain, timing, and luck let him escape three Pure Land Sect monks by using gut-eating fish and two herbs. As the secret realm’s deadline arrived, the remaining entrants were transported out, revealing heavy losses and many exhausted or wounded survivors.

• Li Wuyi recounted how he had used spirit-fishwort powder and river-clinging willow to turn gut-eating fish against three Pure Land Sect monks, escaping while one monk died.
• Li Yan understood that he would need to stay calm, use his surroundings, and rely on himself when facing danger in the secret realm.
• Li Yan spent eight of the remaining nine days consolidating his cultivation, while reports and the dwindling lights on the Tianxin Disc showed that more than 150 of the 343 entrants had died.
• The surviving cultivators and Demon Beasts watched one another warily outside the valley, holding back their anger despite the blood feuds formed inside.
• At the hour of Xu, the remaining entrants emerged in a burst of light, many exhausted, injured, or unconscious, and handed themselves over to their elders for care.

Li Yan and the other Wangliang Sect cultivators emerged from the secret realm with injuries and valuable harvests, and the sect selected teams for the upcoming Life-and-Death Wheel battle. Li Yan joined Gong Chenying’s team, and the chapter ended as the sects and demon cultivators gathered around a floating spherical mountain that might be the Wheel or its entrance.

• Li Yan and Li Wuyi confirmed that their companions had survived, and the cultivators recounted their injuries, escapes, and discoveries in the secret realm.
• Elder Peng named Baili Yuan, Gan Shi, and Gong Chenying as the Wangliang Sect’s leaders for the Life-and-Death Wheel battle, and Li Wuyi explained that Gan Shi and Gong Chenying were chosen for their formation skills.
• Gong Chenying requested Li Yan for her team, and Li Yan accepted before the sects set out the next morning.
• Li Wuyi advised Gong Chenying and Li Yan to assess the other teams and leaders before entering the Wheel.
• The sects and demon cultivators arrived at a vast lake, landed on separate peaks, and examined a floating spherical mountain at the center, speculating that it was the Life-and-Death Wheel or its entrance.

Li Yan and the Wangliang Sect entered the Wheel of Life and Death after the rival sects revealed signs of a plan to target them. The thirty-seven members of Gong Chenying’s team arrived on a silent, deserted street, where Li Yan suspected their trial had not yet begun.

• Li Yan exchanged farewells with Li Changting and Zhao Min before joining Gong Chenying’s team as the cultivators flew toward the spherical mountain.
• Elder Peng, Sword King Xiahua, and Yin Congfeng opened twenty passageways, each requiring a captain and thirty-six cultivators to choose a colored crystal key.
• Baili Yuan, Gan Shi, and Gong Chenying chose purple-cored crystals, while Li Yan recognized that rival sects had preserved the strength of their likely captains and seemed prepared to target the Wangliang Sect.
• At Sword King Xiahua’s command, the teams entered their passageways, and Li Yan’s team arrived together on a silent street at dusk.
• Gong Chenying ordered the group into six teams to watch their surroundings, and Li Yan told Senior Brother Wu that the trial probably had not started because no enormous black shadow had appeared behind them.

Li Yan and Gong Chenying led the group through a sinister street where shops attacked them with animated goods and objects. Gong Chenying escaped the fabric shop, but the group was trapped on the street as a giant shadow descended and attacks erupted from both sides.

• Li Yan reasoned that the trial might not have begun yet, while Wu Shixi and Yu Yiyong approved of his insight.
• Gong Chenying entered a dusty fabric shop, where living cloth trapped her and the floor opened beneath her.
• Li Yan sensed the danger and warned Gong Chenying, who broke free, blasted the shop apart, and rejoined the group.
• A gigantic misty figure emerged from the ruined buildings and spread a vast black shadow over the street.
• The shops attacked the fleeing cultivators with weapons, food, and coffins, while Gong Chenying discovered that flight was restricted and her attacks could not break through the street's boundaries.

Gong Chenying led the cultivators through the Wheel of Life and Death’s endless street as they fought off relentless attacks and fled a vast black shadow. Just as exhaustion set in, Gong Chenying spotted an enormous yellow sphere at the street’s end.

• Gong Chenying failed to break through the invisible barrier beside the street, so she destroyed the shops lining the road to clear a safer path.
• Li Yan sensed danger and warned Gong Chenying that a huge black shadow was approaching from behind, silently consuming the shops in its path.
• Gong Chenying urged everyone to use their talismans and spiritual power to escape the shadow, and the cultivators rushed forward while defending themselves from flying debris.
• Li Yan realized the group had traveled only four or five li and suspected they would reach a junction around the ten-li mark.
• Gong Chenying ordered the stronger cultivators to form an outer defensive net, then prepared to land to conserve her strength.
• Gong Chenying spotted an enormous yellow sphere where the endless street appeared to end.

Gong Chenying led the Phantom Sect cultivators into a glowing sphere to escape the approaching black shadow, but they found no exit and waited for the trial to advance. The Pure Land Sect group then arrived, and both sides faced one another as the final battle loomed.

• Gong Chenying led the exhausted cultivators into the yellow sphere after finding the street ahead had ended, then determined that the enclosed space had no exit.
• Gong Chenying checked the approaching black shadow and searched outside for a way to activate the sphere, but found nothing and returned to meditate.
• Li Yan sensed spiritual power gathering at a section of the sphere wall, and Gong Chenying warned the group that someone was coming.
• Eighteen Pure Land Sect monks emerged through the rippling wall, and the Phantom Sect cultivators recognized that the two routes had met.
• The gaunt Pure Land Sect Chan master faced Gong Chenying while mourning the nineteen monks’ injuries and the companions they had lost on the rain-soaked mountain road.

Gong Chenying launched a fierce assault on Zhizhong, the Pure Land Sect leader whose Blood Child Tuo technique concealed his cruel past. Meanwhile, Li Yan’s group and the other Phantom Sect cultivators held off the eighteen monks with coordinated defenses, leaving the battle unresolved.

• Gong Chenying attacked Zhizhong before he could stall, and their first clash revealed the sphere had expanded after the Pure Land Sect entered.
• Zhizhong tried to keep his distance and capture Gong Chenying, but she broke his grip with a knee strike that injured two of his fingers.
• Gong Chenying’s enormous halberd battered Zhizhong’s yellow kasaya as he retreated and used the garment to block her next attack.
• The eighteen monks fought in an Eighteen Arhats Formation, briefly driving back the thirty-six Phantom Sect cultivators with fierce attacks.
• The Phantom Sect teams used surrounding layers of vapor, mist, rain, and sand to blunt the monks’ attacks, while Li Yan’s rain curtain ruined incoming weapons and helped his team hold its ground.

As the enormous black shadow began corroding the sphere, Gong Chenying and Zen Master Zhizhong used blue diamond crystals to hold it back while the Phantom Sect and Pure Land Sect resumed their battle. Li Yan recognized that the Eighteen Arhats Formation was prolonging the fight, and the chapter ended with him searching for a way to break it before the sphere failed.

• A black substance spread over the sphere as the enormous shadow pressed down, and two earthen platforms rose where the groups had entered.
• Gong Chenying and Zen Master Zhizhong channeled spiritual power through blue diamond crystals, briefly muffling the sphere’s sizzling.
• Li Yan attacked a Pure Land Sect monk and urged his squad to abandon their defensive formation and fight with all their strength.
• The Phantom Sect squads scattered into individual attacks, but the Eighteen Arhats Formation deflected their strikes while the Bhadra Finger nearly pierced Li Yan’s robe.
• As the sphere’s sizzling grew louder and the two captains’ strength waned, Li Yan concluded that they had to break the Eighteen Arhats Formation.

Li Yan devised a plan to weaken the Eighteen Arhats Formation, but Master Zhizhong and the eighteen Pure Land Sect monks chose mutual destruction when defeat became unavoidable. As the monks began to self-detonate, Li Yan called on Gong Chenying to stop them and shouted for an explosion.

• Li Yan realized the monks' formation confined them to a small area and sent nearby Phantom Sect cultivators instructions to attack, recall their spirit beasts, and seal their senses.
• Li Yan cast a large Cloud and Rain Technique as the Phantom Sect launched a full-force assault, drenching the eighteen monks and leaving them staggered but still defended by the formation.
• Master Zhizhong crushed his blue diamond crystal and attacked Gong Chenying with a wooden fish; Gong Chenying met his strike with an azure halberd, and both were badly hurt.
• Master Zhizhong ordered the eighteen monks to enter bliss, and they dispersed the formation, chanted sutras, and began expanding their bodies to self-detonate.
• Gong Chenying prepared to stop Master Zhizhong, but Li Yan shouted for her to stop the Qi Condensation Realm monks and called for an explosion.

Li Yan’s poison stopped the Pure Land Sect monks’ attempted self-destruction, while Gong Chenying’s strike weakened the sphere containing the battlefield. The Phantom Sect cultivators escaped through a newly discovered opening just before a spreading black shadow consumed the sphere.

• Li Yan’s Twelve Severances caused Monk Zhizhong’s body to burst and drain of spiritual power, and Zhizhong died after saying, “A pity—they had met too soon.”
• Gong Chenying and the Phantom Sect cultivators attacked the eighteen monks, but ten monks used a Buddhist secret art to block her strike while sending the other eight flying away to self-destruct.
• As the eight monks began to self-destruct, Li Yan’s poison took effect, stopping them and making their flesh fall away; he checked that the Phantom Sect cultivators showed no signs of poisoning.
• Li Yan noticed the sphere’s shadow pressing through the weakened barrier, and Gong Chenying ordered everyone to search for an exit.
• Gong Chenying tested a purple-lit passage, briefly scouted outside, then ordered the cultivators to clear the battlefield and leave; everyone escaped before the black shadow broke through and consumed the sphere.

Li Yan and Gong Chenying’s group emerged onto an ancient desert road after a grueling stage in the Wheel of Life and Death, while another section of the realm revealed an impossible joint route for two sects. Seeing his exhausted companions, Li Yan urged the Wangliang Sect disciples to recover fully and volunteered to keep watch, and Gong Chenying agreed.

• Supreme Mystery Sect and Ten-Step Academy cultivators descended the tower’s narrow stairs together, fighting endless flying Demon Beasts as a black shadow pursued them.
• Brother Wang and Brother Quan discussed their combined route and the limits on Foundation Establishment fighters, while an ancient voice recognized a familiar scent from a mixed-spirit-root cultivator.
• Gong Chenying led the Wangliang Sect group onto a desert road and ordered everyone to recover for half an hour without moving forward or touching anything.
• Li Yan recovered fully and warned Gong Chenying that advancing while the group was depleted could cause heavy casualties, suggesting that the realm might provide safe recovery time at each stage.
• Gong Chenying accepted Li Yan’s reasoning, ordered everyone to focus on recovering, and asked him to keep watch.

Li Yan discussed what might trigger the restriction in the trial with Yu Yiyong and Hu Ziyi, then faced accusations from two Buli Peak disciples over his earlier battle orders. After they left, Mei Bucai and the Laojun Peak disciples thanked Li Yan and tried to learn about his poison technique, and Li Yan prepared to ask them a question.

• Li Yan suggested that the trial's restriction might activate as the group moved forward or triggered on its own, prompting Yu Yiyong and Hu Ziyi to consider the possibility.
• Qi Busheng and Mi Yuanzhi challenged Li Yan over his poison and his orders during the previous trial, while Mei Bucai and the Laojun Peak disciples defended him.
• Li Yan warned Qi Busheng and Mi Yuanzhi that he could report their disrespect to the Buli Peak Disciplinary Hall, and the two departed after Cheng Jingnian criticized their accusations.
• Mei Bucai, Ding Yiwei, and Cheng Jingnian thanked Li Yan for his help in the previous trial and tried to draw out details of his poison technique, but he kept silent.
• Li Yan spoke with the Laojun Peak disciples about the trial, then said he had a question for them.

Li Yan explained how he had used the Twelve Severances to kill the Chan Master and the eighteen Pure Land Sect monks during the previous stage. When the next stage began, he and Gong Chenying led the Phantom Sect group down the ancient road toward the rising black qi.

• Cheng Jingnian told Li Yan that cultivators resented his rumored closeness with Zhao Min.
• Li Yan recalled laying remote-controlled poisons around the sphere and using Flowing Water Never Stagnates to kill the wounded Chan Master.
• Li Yan used Thousand Mechanisms Seek to poison the eighteen monks, exploiting their sealed breathing and weakened perception.
• Li Yan felt the next stage approach, shouted to Yu Yiyong and the others, and rushed to Gong Chenying.
• Gong Chenying assembled the six squads and led them along the ancient road as black qi rose on the horizon.

Li Yan and Gong Chenying’s group struggled through the second trial’s ancient road, battling statue fragments, poisonous red lizards, and swarms of black beetles. Gong Chenying led them off the road to avoid the attacks, but as they ventured deeper into the desert, Li Yan sensed an urgent danger.

• A band of Demon Beasts rushed through a forest toward the end of their trial, hoping to ambush their opponents as they had in the previous trial.
• Li Yan and the other cultivators advanced slowly along the desolate ancient road while fighting flying statue limbs, red lizards, and formations of black beetles; Gong Chenying stored two injured companions in a spirit-storage pouch.
• Three ninth-level Qi Condensation cultivators activated Ghost Chariot Talismans after red lizards injured two of their companions, while Li Yan conserved his talisman and defended himself with his own spiritual barrier.
• After half an hour, the group had advanced only six li, spent much of their spiritual power, and suffered another injury.
• Gong Chenying led the group diagonally off the ancient road after noticing attacks came from deep in the desert; the attacks dwindled, but the group’s unease grew as Li Yan sensed his spiritual power surging and urged him to leave.