Chapter Summaries

Dong Fuyi and Pei Buchong traced the people spreading rumors about Pangu Sand and mixed spiritual roots toward their hidden source, while the Tianli Clan’s search for a place to relocate ran into major obstacles. Li Yan remained at Shamen Temple, cultivating despite Zhuo Lingfeng’s delayed answer.

• Dong Fuyi identified seventeen people who shared a concealed auxiliary technique and planned to trace their orders back to the main altar, while Pei Buchong urged him to remain undercover.
• The Fifth Elder reported that the Tian Gui Tribe had been wiped out by powerful wind beasts and that the Hengji and Yuxing Sects already controlled the other western relocation site.
• The Grand Elder told the Fifth Elder to investigate possible northern sites and return within three years as the Tianli Clan faced a worsening shortage of time.
• The Fifth Elder asked about Li Yan, and the Grand Elder said he had gone out to handle matters without explaining further.
• Li Yan continued cultivating at Shamen Temple after three and a half years, although Zhuo Lingfeng had not yet given him the promised answer.

Li Yan cultivated while waiting for Zhuo Lingfeng and the monks of Shamen Temple to devise a method for refining his Buddhist treasure. After a difficult seven-month refinement succeeded, Li Yan left the temple with four and a half powerful Vajrapani Bodhisattvas.

• Li Yan advanced his Nine Cauldrons Gui Water cultivation and continued strengthening his body through the Qiongqi Purgatory Art.
• Zhuo Lingfeng brought Li Yan the completed refining method and explained that their chances of success were below forty percent.
• After ten months of recovery and preparation, Zhuo Lingfeng led Li Yan into a secret chamber to begin the refinement with Monk-Sage Konghai.
• Monk-Sage Konghai suppressed repeated disturbances as Zhuo Lingfeng refined the Sunken True Dragon materials into four complete Vajrapani Bodhisattvas and one incomplete manifestation.
• Li Yan left Shamen Temple with the newly refined treasure after Zhuo Lingfeng encouraged him to depart.

Li Yan left Sand Gate Temple with a more powerful activation incantation for his magic treasure, then returned to the Tianli Clan and told Gong Chenying he had achieved his objective. He reunited with Gong Shanhe, who sought confirmation that Li Yan could delay the Yinshan Beast’s escape from its seal by at least ten years.

• Zhuo Lingfeng gave Li Yan a jade slip containing an incantation that could more than double the power of Vajra's Secret Mark Suppressing the Mountains, and Li Yan gave him seven Sandstar King Stones in thanks.
• After taking precautions to ensure no one followed him, Li Yan reflected on how Ling'e, Zhuo Lingfeng, and others had made his success possible.
• Li Yan returned to the Tianli Clan, greeted the Great Elder, and went to find Gong Chenying in his pavilion.
• Li Yan told Gong Chenying that he had basically achieved his objective and asked to discuss the next steps with her and the Clan Chief.
• Gong Chenying summoned Gong Shanhe, who arrived and asked whether Li Yan could delay the Yinshan Beast from breaking its seal by at least ten years.

Li Yan returned with a plan to reinforce Hongyin’s seal on the fifth-tier wind beast, potentially buying the Tianli Clan a thousand years or sealing the beast permanently. He demanded all remaining layers of the Qiongqi Purgatory Art if he succeeded, then proposed using the beast as leverage to make Yan San and the other clans end their war with the Tianli Clan; the group went to Hongyin to assess his magical treasure.

• Gong Shanhe learned that Li Yan had returned with a way to delay the fifth-tier wind beast and hurried to meet him.
• Li Yan explained that his Nascent Soul-level sealing treasure could reinforce Hongyin’s existing seal, and Gong Shanhe said Hongyin should judge whether it could work.
• Li Yan asked for all remaining layers of the Qiongqi Purgatory Art if he could seal the beast for a thousand years or permanently, and Gong Shanhe agreed to consider it if he succeeded.
• Li Yan proposed using the threat of the wind beast to make Yan San and the other clans abandon their attacks and make peace with the Tianli Clan.
• Gong Shanhe and Gong Chenying accompanied Li Yan to Hongyin’s residence so she could assess the treasure and the sealing plan.

Li Yan demonstrated the Buddhist-bead magic treasure, and Hongyin confirmed that its Dharma Idols could form a formation powerful enough to help seal the fifth-tier Yin Mountain Beast. Before Gong Shanhe could take the plan to the Great Elder, Hongyin revealed that reaching the beast’s true body meant confronting it at the most dangerous central wind eye of the Sky Eye Wind.

• Gong Shanhe reinforced the courtyard restrictions while Li Yan revealed the four and a half Dharma Idols housed in his Buddhist beads.
• Hongyin tested one Dharma Idol against Gong Shanhe and found its power comparable to a middle-stage Nascent Soul cultivator; she explained that the complete formation could suppress a late-stage Nascent Soul expert.
• Hongyin said the magic treasure could reinforce the seal on the Yin Mountain Beast, and Gong Shanhe agreed to discuss Li Yan’s plan with the Great Elder and the others.
• Hongyin stopped Gong Shanhe and explained that sealing the beast required approaching its true body, not entering the caves, which were merely the nostrils of its manifested image.
• Hongyin revealed that the beast’s true body was recovering at the central wind eye of the Sky Eye Wind, where the frigid power was strongest, and Gong Shanhe recognized the danger.

Li Yan proposed using his Buddhist formation and another ancient defensive formation to reinforce the seal on the fifth-tier wind beast, despite the dangers of reaching the Sky Eye Pit’s central wind eye. After the Tianli Clan’s elders agreed to investigate his plan, they tested the formation and learned how it could strengthen their defenses.

• Hong Yin warned Li Yan, Gong Shanhe, and Gong Chenying that reaching the central wind eye was extremely dangerous and that even a Spirit Transformation cultivator might struggle to seal the sleeping Yin Mountain Beast.
• Li Yan assured the others that the Grand Elder would not need to go, hinting that he could rely on a Spirit Transformation-grade treasure rather than asking a cultivator to act personally.
• Gong Shanhe gathered the Tianli Clan’s elders, explained Li Yan’s proposed plan, and negotiated with them over his request for the complete Qiongqi Purgatory Art.
• Li Yan demonstrated the Diamond Vajra Mountain Suppression Formation by having Hong Yin direct its full power at the Grand Elder, who survived the test.
• Li Yan explained that the Diamond Vajra Mountain Suppression Formation would be placed inside the Primordial Qi Supreme Clarity Formation, which could multiply its power and provide additional defensive and offensive functions.

Li Yan demonstrated that the Yuanqi Supreme Clarity Formation strengthened the Vajra Mountain-Suppressing Formation and could withstand even the Great Elder's ninety-percent-strength attack. The group judged that the reinforced seal could hold the sleeping fifth-tier wind beast for at least a hundred years, and they turned to planning how Li Yan would reach the Heavenly Eye Wind's eye and arrange the seal.

• Li Yan brought the Vajra Mountain-Suppressing Formation into the Yuanqi Supreme Clarity Formation, where the Great Elder tested its enhanced suppressive power.
• The Great Elder struck the formation barrier with sixty percent of his strength, then with ninety percent, and concluded that even his full strength would not break it.
• Hongyin said the reinforced seal could prevent the sleeping wind beast from escaping for at least a hundred years, provided the Buddhist Dharma treasure remained intact and the formation was maintained.
• The Second Elder questioned how Li Yan would protect himself while arranging the formation at the eye of the Heavenly Eye Wind, but Li Yan refused to reveal his method and reaffirmed his promise.
• The Second Elder reminded Li Yan that the ninth-level cultivation technique depended on persuading Yan San, and the group decided to invite Yan San out for a talk.

Li Yan proposed confronting Yan San to persuade the Wind Beasts to accept the Tianli Clan’s plan, and the Great Elder led the clan’s elders to the front line to negotiate. Yan San arrived suspicious of their intentions, and Li Yan challenged him to fight alone, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• The Great Elder agreed that the Tianli Clan would prepare to migrate while pressuring Yan San if he refused, and he decided to meet Yan San that day.
• Li Yan reassured Gong Shanhe that the risky plan should preserve his life, and the Great Elder and the clan’s elders accompanied him to the forward defense line.
• The Great Elder called for Yan San, drawing Tianli Clan cultivators and soldiers to watch as the clan’s leading Nascent Soul cultivators gathered.
• Yan San arrived with three fourth-order Wind Beasts and suspected the Tianli Clan had found a migration site or intended to attack them.
• Li Yan claimed he alone could face Yan San and proposed that they fight after both sides withdrew five thousand li, then suggested they rise ten thousand zhang if Yan San feared an ambush.

Li Yan faced Yan San in a duel high above the ground, revealing extraordinary speed, physical strength, and soul-attacking weapons. After trading several powerful blows without being defeated, Li Yan asked Yan San to reconsider the likely outcome of a decisive battle.

• Yan San sent his allies five thousand li away, and Li Yan followed him ten thousand zhang into the sky for their duel.
• Li Yan surprised Yan San with his speed and met Yan San's iron-hard tail feathers with a powerful body-refining strike.
• Li Yan hurled two black streaks that made Yan San's soul tremble, while Yan San's gray hammer struck Li Yan's bare palm without breaking through.
• Li Yan knocked Yan San's hammer aside, recalled the two black streaks, and asked whether he could continue exchanging blows and what a decisive battle would bring.

Li Yan used Illusory Poison and the Vajra Mountain-Suppressing Array to defeat and restrain Yan San after surviving his mountain-smashing attack. With Yan San’s defeat making the Wind Beast alliance’s hopes of victory collapse, Li Yan offered cooperation instead of driving him back into the Sky Eye Pit, leaving Yan San to consider the proposal.

• Yan San transformed into a black-robed old man, uprooted two mountains, and smashed them toward Li Yan, while the nearby forces raised barriers against the shockwaves and falling stones.
• Li Yan appeared above Yan San with four Dharma manifestations, revealing that Illusory Poison had made Yan San attack an illusory target.
• Li Yan used the Vajra Mountain-Suppressing Array to restrain Yan San and positioned the Guiyi Water-Parting Spike at his head, forcing Yan San to stop resisting.
• Li Yan asked whether Yan San still believed the three Wind Beast clans could win, and Yan San answered that the Tianli Clan could not reach the Sky Eye Pit and threatened him with what lay beneath the swamp.
• Li Yan told Yan San that the humans had come to propose cooperation, and Yan San fell silent as he considered the offer.

Li Yan defeated Yan San, then released him to propose an alliance against the sealed fifth-tier Yin Mountain Beast. The negotiations continued inside a restricted sphere, while Li Yan and Gong Chenying left, confident they could seal the beast or fight the wind-beast clans if talks failed.

• Li Yan overwhelmed Yan San, then withdrew his restraints and proposed that they cooperate against the fifth-tier beast beneath Sky Eye Pit.
• Li Yan told Yan San that the beast was a sealed Yin Mountain Beast and that the seal might last only about ten more years, offering more information if they negotiated.
• Yan San asked what Li Yan required, and Li Yan proposed that Yan San and Gong Shengguang support his sealing attempt and that both sides sign a blood pact against future invasions.
• After half an hour, Li Yan and Gong Chenying flew away as the leaders and experts of both sides continued negotiations inside a brightly colored sphere of restrictions.
• Li Yan told Gong Chenying that he would seal the beast himself if the negotiations failed, then lure out and kill the wind-beast clans' high-level experts.

Li Yan and Gong Chenying prepared for the joint sealing of the Yin Mountain Beast, while Gong Chenying delayed the expedition so Li Yan could strengthen himself. Five months later, after confirming his cultivation had reached the peak of the Nascent Soul Middle Stage, Gong Chenying revealed that he had still failed to meet her six-month deadline.

• Li Yan explained that he had about a sixty-percent chance of sealing the Yin Mountain Beast and discussed the risks of the Buddhist seals clashing or the beast awakening.
• Gong Chenying insisted Li Yan refine one drop of Undying Underworld Phoenix blood essence before the mission, and they agreed to wait while negotiations proceeded.
• Gong Shanhe showed Li Yan, Hong Yin, and the elders the blood pact with Yan San's side, and Gong Chenying set the expedition for half a year later so Li Yan could master the sealing methods.
• Five months later, Hong Yin tested Li Yan's strength and confirmed that he had reached the peak of the Nascent Soul Middle Stage after increasing his power.
• Gong Chenying told Li Yan that she had given her father a six-month timeline, not five months, then flew away and left him standing in the array.

Yan San, the Grand Elder, and Li Yan traveled to Sky Eye Pit to seal the fifth-order wind beast. As they descended toward the wind-eye, black snowflakes disrupted Li Yan’s spiritual power and weakened his defenses.

• Yan San received the Grand Elder’s message that they would depart at dawn, then met Li Yan and the Grand Elder outside the Tianli Clan’s defensive line.
• Yan San carried Li Yan and the Grand Elder on a black-feather flight treasure toward Sky Eye Pit, leaving Gong Shanhe and Gong Chenying behind.
• Half a month later, the three descended beneath the swamp and reached the region of orderly wind pillars above the sealed beast.
• Li Yan and the others followed the strongest wind pillars downward, where thin pillars and upward-blown black snowflakes surrounded them.
• The black snowflakes spun into flywheels on Li Yan’s body, disrupting his spiritual power and weakening his protective barrier.

Li Yan, the Great Elder, and Yan San descended through the Sky Eye Wind’s deadly frigid winds, where they encountered the double-headed Yin Mountain Beast incarnation. Yan San moved to hold it back while the Great Elder took Li Yan deeper, but the creature attacked as they fled.

• Li Yan resisted the black snowflakes with defensive talismans and fire while the Great Elder confronted Yan San about concealing what he knew.
• The trio passed through the black snowflakes and entered the wind eye’s edge, where the frigid gale shattered their defenses and the Great Elder and Yan San protected them with magic treasures.
• Yan San explained that the wind eye’s core could lie as far as five hundred zhang below, and Li Yan insisted they descend.
• A double-headed incarnation of the Yin Mountain Beast appeared and recognized Li Yan and Yan San.
• Yan San attacked the incarnation with enormous shears as the Great Elder led Li Yan downward, but the creature countered with its hat wings and sent a sound wave toward the Great Elder.

Li Yan descended alone into the Eye of Heaven Winds while Yan San and the Great Elder fought the two-headed man above. He used the Stabilize rune to pass the winds that had stopped his descent, but found no sign of the wind beast at five hundred zhang and concluded it lay deeper.

• Yan San and the Great Elder agreed they had to join forces against the two-headed man, while Li Yan insisted on descending alone.
• Li Yan used the Primordial Qi Supreme Clarity Formation and the Cloud-Piercing Willow to plunge into the wind eye as Yan San and the Great Elder attacked the two-headed man.
• Li Yan found the chaotic winds prevented him from descending past roughly four hundred twenty zhang, even with the Nine Cauldrons Gui Water technique.
• Li Yan summoned the Stabilize rune given to him by True Lord Qianzhong, which dispersed the winds and allowed him to descend safely.
• Li Yan reached five hundred zhang, found only empty space, and determined that the wind beast must be deeper in the wind eye.

Li Yan descended into the wind eye and began joining Hong Yin’s Buddhist seal with the Primordial Qi Supreme Clarity Formation to trap the Yin Mountain Beast. The beast awakened and surged toward him as Yan San and the Great Elder tried to stop its two-headed counterpart from reaching the wind eye.

• Li Yan found the Yin Mountain Beast more than eight hundred zhang below the wind eye and stopped above it at Hong Yin’s sealing barrier.
• Li Yan used Zhuo Lingfeng’s prayer beads and Hong Yin’s hand seals to summon Buddhist manifestations, then began laying the Primordial Qi Supreme Clarity Formation around them.
• Yan San and the Great Elder struggled against the two-headed man in the top scholar’s red robe, and the Great Elder proposed taking turns recovering while he held their opponent off.
• The two-headed man sensed that Li Yan had reached his true body and rushed downward, but Yan San and the Great Elder moved to block him.
• The Yin Mountain Beast awakened while Li Yan was casting, but Li Yan ignored its questions and accelerated the formation.
• The beast erupted upward, destroyed Li Yan’s Divine Sense, and brought its enormous head directly beneath him as Li Yan realized he was in danger.

Li Yan subdued the fifth-tier Yin Mountain Beast with Hongyin’s seal and the Primordial Qi Supreme Clarity Array. He then used Hongyin’s special spell seals to move the sealed beast away from the eye of the Heavenly Eye Wind, though its destination remained uncertain.

• The awakened Yin Mountain Beast attacked Li Yan, but Hongyin’s three-faced, eight-armed Bodhisattva manifestation struck it down and sealed it again.
• Li Yan completed the Primordial Qi Supreme Clarity Array and used the four half-dharma manifestations to reinforce the suppression until the beast’s aura disappeared.
• Li Yan realized the sealed beast’s golden glow could attract other creatures, and he recalled Hongyin’s explanation that her seal enclosed the beast’s body rather than the surrounding region.
• Li Yan sent the four half-Vajrapani Bodhisattvas through Hongyin’s seal using her spell seals, which allowed them to reach the beast without damaging the seal.
• Li Yan directed the four manifestations to push the sealed Yin Mountain Beast away from the eye of the Heavenly Eye Wind.

Li Yan returned from sealing the fifth-tier Yinshan Beast and showed the Grand Elder and Yan San where he had hidden it beneath a formation. After confirming the seal, Yan San asked Li Yan to teach his clan how to activate the formation.

• Li Yan found the Grand Elder waiting near the Heaven's Eye Wind, and learned that Yan San had gone down to search for him.
• The Grand Elder explained that he and Yan San had killed the Yinshan Beast's avatar after Li Yan's seal cut it off from the wind eye's power.
• Yan San returned, and Li Yan told him and the Grand Elder that he had sealed the fifth-tier Yinshan Beast and moved it far from the wind eye.
• Li Yan led the two men to the hidden beast, where the seal prevented them from approaching and Yan San recognized the aura that had wounded him before.
• Yan San asked whether they could kill the beast, but Li Yan explained that removing Hong Yin's seal would leave them facing its full strength.
• Yan San asked how the clans could monitor the seal and then requested the method for activating the formation around it.

Li Yan and the others returned after sealing the fifth-tier Wind Beast, though the Grand Elder gave an unclear answer about the result. The Tianli Clan and Wind Beast leaders began withdrawing their forces and preparing to discuss what had happened.

• Yan San accepted that Li Yan would not reveal the sealing incantations and agreed that the Grand Elder should accompany him on future visits.
• While the Grand Elder and Li Yan were away, Gong Chenying asked Gong Shanhe to let her wait near the swamp, but he explained that it was too dangerous and would not help.
• The Second Elder’s signal announced the return of the Grand Elder and Li Yan, and both sides gathered their forces at the front line in case fighting resumed.
• The Grand Elder announced that the seal had succeeded, but Yan San stopped the Wind Beasts from questioning him and ordered them to return to their territories.
• The Grand Elder called the Tianli Clan elders and Hongyin to a meeting and ordered most forces to withdraw, leaving the sealing result uncertain.

Li Yan returned with Shadow Matriarch after sealing the wind beast, but the Tianli Clan elders disputed whether the seal and the beast’s identity were truly confirmed before granting him the final three layers of the Qiongqi Purgatory Art. Gong Shanhe proposed that Hongyin inspect the swamp, leaving the elders’ decision unresolved.

• Li Yan told Qianji, Zi Kun, and Shadow Matriarch that the wind beast appeared to be completely sealed but would need years of monitoring to confirm.
• Qianji and Zi Kun left to cultivate, while Li Yan and Shadow Matriarch headed to the Tianli Hall.
• A-Yuan watched Li Yan leave with A-Ying and hinted at possible trouble, despite his companions warning him not to provoke Li Yan.
• The First Elder briefed the gathered elders on the expedition, and the Fifth Elder argued that Li Yan should not receive the final three layers of the cultivation art until the seal had lasted three hundred years.
• The Second Elder questioned whether Li Yan had truly sealed a fifth-tier Yinshan Beast, and Gong Shanhe proposed that Hongyin inspect the swamp to verify it.