Chapter Summaries

Li Yan revealed that he had reached the Nascent Soul Late Stage, and the Tianli Clan agreed to pass him the three remaining levels of the Qiongqi Purgatory Art. The Great Elder then took Li Yan into the clan’s ancestral grounds and explained the sacrifices commemorated by its statues.

• Gong Chenying discovered that Li Yan had become a Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivator, and the two spent several days together after his return.
• Li Yan tested his new abilities, finding that his Divine Sense reached over eleven thousand li, his teleportation range had increased, and his Stealth Night Concealment had grown more effective.
• The Tianli Clan’s elders congratulated Li Yan, and the Great Elder announced that the clan would pass him all three remaining levels of the Qiongqi Purgatory Art.
• Li Yan accepted the offer, and the Great Elder brought him into the ancestral grounds.
• The Great Elder described how the statues honored those who had shaped the clan’s history, including a Radiant Eagle that died defending its comrades.

The Great Elder led Li Yan through the Tianli Clan’s ancestral plaza and explained the history of its Qiongqi statue and the first-generation High Priest. Li Yan survived the statue’s overwhelming pressure, understood the Great Elder’s warning against complacency, and followed him through a hidden gate into the inner ancestral land to inherit a cultivation technique.

• The Great Elder showed Li Yan the plaza of ancestral statues and explained that clansmen gathered there during important ceremonies.
• The Great Elder described how the first-generation High Priest carved the Qiongqi statue after reaching attainments beyond ordinary creation.
• Li Yan stared at the statue and was trapped in an illusion of Qiongqi’s claw striking him, but his five-colored radiance restored his clarity.
• The Great Elder revealed that the statue’s power could overwhelm even late Nascent Soul cultivators and warned Li Yan not to look at it again.
• Li Yan thanked the Great Elder for using the experience to remind him that greater realms still existed beyond his own.
• The Great Elder opened a red gate beneath the statue, and Li Yan followed him into the inner ancestral land.

Li Yan received instructions and jade rings for inheriting the final three layers of the Qiongqi Purgatory Art in the Tianli Clan’s ancestral land, then entered seclusion after returning. Four years later, Zhao Min broke through to great completion of the Nascent Soul stage and told Li Zhaoyan to leave the sect for training and pursue cultivation more seriously.

• The Grand Elder led Li Yan through the ancestral land’s visible power of faith and warned him not to absorb it.
• The Grand Elder explained how to inherit the seventh, eighth, and ninth layers, gave Li Yan four jade rings, and sent him into the palace alone.
• After nine days, Li Yan returned to King Qing’a’s residence, spoke briefly with Gong Chenying, and entered seclusion; Gong Chenying later entered seclusion as well.
• Four years later, Zhao Min survived her Nascent Soul Heavenly Tribulation and reached great completion of the Nascent Soul stage, delighting the Phantom Sect.
• Zhao Min reunited with Li Zhaoyan, learned she had remained in the sect and reached the peak of Foundation Establishment, and told her to train in the Hundred Thousand Mountains and attend the secret realm gathering.

Zhao Min reunited with Li Zhaoyan, then disciplined her by cutting off her extra spirit stones and taking her into seclusion. At the Muliu Sect, Bai Rou tested her powerful Thousand-Net Ancient Ape puppet and reflected on Li Yan, who had been gone for many years.

• Zhao Min learned how much trouble Li Zhaoyan’s experiments had caused and corrected her exaggerated account of Li Yan’s exploits.
• Zhao Min investigated Li Zhaoyan’s behavior, ordered her to live on a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s allowance, and took her into seclusion.
• Wei Chituo sighed with relief after Zhao Min left, while Miao Wangqing criticized Li Wuyi for letting Li Zhaoyan’s behavior worsen.
• Bai Rou’s Thousand-Net Ancient Ape endured attacks from ten Golden Core Realm puppets, then destroyed them with a single gesture.
• Bai Rou studied Shuang Qingqing’s notebook and considered improving the puppet’s formation, then sat beside it and thought of Li Yan’s long absence.

Hong Yin returned to the Tianli Clan and waited for Li Yan’s help reaching the Pure Land Sect’s secret realm. Three years later, Xue Longzi arrived with Wan Qingshe, killed two fourth-tier Wind Beasts from afar, and struck Yan San as the Tianli Clan faced his attack.

• Hong Yin returned to the Tianli Clan after failing to find records of Red Whisk Temple at the Twin Gates, and planned to ask Li Yan for help entering the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Tower.
• In the third year after Hong Yin’s return, Xue Longzi’s pressure swept over the Tianli Clan, and his shout killed thousands of its members.
• The Grand Elder, Hong Yin, Li Yan, Gong Chenying, and the other clan experts emerged as Xue Longzi and Wan Qingshe confronted them.
• Li Yan recognized Wan Qingshe and identified Xue Longzi as a Spirit Transformation cultivator, while Wan Qingshe demanded that the Tianli Clan pay respects to his master.
• Xue Longzi accused the Tianli Clan of trading resources with the Wind Beasts, then killed two fourth-tier beasts with a casual strike and wounded Yan San as he fled.

Xue Longzi attacked the Tianli Clan and the Wind Beasts, killing two fourth-tier Wind Beasts before the Great Elder, Hong Yin, and Li Yan blocked his strike. As Yan San returned and the two sides prepared to fight again, Hong Yin urged the others to hold Xue Longzi off until he was forced to retreat.

• Xue Longzi attacked Yan San and the Wind Beasts, killing two before the Great Elder, Hong Yin, and Li Yan intercepted his next strike.
• The Great Elder ordered Gong Shanhe and the others to retreat into the clan’s defensive formation while the three cultivators fought Xue Longzi.
• The Great Elder and Hong Yin deflected Xue Longzi’s sword shadow as Li Yan opened a spatial rift to divert it, and the three were badly injured but survived.
• Yan San escaped into Sky Eye Pit with the two surviving fourth-tier Wind Beasts and treated his wound while they fled deeper into the pit.
• Xue Longzi accused the Tianli Clan of betraying the Human Race, while Li Yan and Wan Qingshe gave conflicting accounts of their earlier fight.
• Yan San returned and warned the others that Xue Longzi could not stay long; Hong Yin proposed they work together to stall him until he retreated.

Hongyin, the Great Elder, Yan San, and Li Yan joined forces against the short-haired, black-robed man, whose Spirit Transformation-level abilities were weakened by a secret art and a tight deadline. Hongyin trapped his swords with karmic threads, and Li Yan’s soul attack disrupted him, leaving the battle unresolved.

• Wan Qing flew away as Hongyin stepped forward to hold off the short-haired, black-robed man, and Li Yan joined the attack.
• Hongyin summoned eighty-one flaming red lotuses whose heat formed karmic threads, entangling the man’s four flying swords.
• The Great Elder’s Qiongqi phantom and Yan San’s transformed Wind Goose Beast attacked the man from behind while he examined Hongyin’s limited use of Karmic Law.
• The short-haired, black-robed man recalled that he had come to seize the Tianli Clan’s resources and make an example of its peace negotiations with the wind beasts, but his concealment secret art left him little time.
• Li Yan struck one of the entangled swords with a Black Water Rune, making the man suffer a sudden soul-rending pain and disrupt his spiritual power.

Li Yan, the Great Elder, Yan San, and Hong Yin fought the short-haired Spirit Transformation cultivator, injuring him before he retaliated with devastating flying-sword attacks. The battle continued as Li Yan evaded a pursuing sword and suddenly closed in on the short-haired man, apparently preparing to use poison.

• Li Yan disrupted the short-haired man's soul, allowing the Great Elder, Yan San, the Qiongqi, and the Wind Goose Beast to wound him before he unleashed power that shattered the beasts and badly injured Yan San and the Great Elder.
• Li Yan suffered a painful soul backlash, while the furious short-haired man attacked again and Hong Yin struggled to hold back his flying swords.
• The short-haired man sent hidden swords after the Great Elder, Yan San, and Li Yan; Hong Yin's golden light weakened them, but the Great Elder was driven downward and Yan San lost part of his tail and a claw.
• Hong Yin's red lotuses shattered as she continued fighting, and she was wounded while maintaining her defenses.
• Li Yan used Phoenix Soaring to escape his pursuing sword, then suddenly reappeared beside the short-haired man, who suspected Li Yan intended to poison him.

Li Yan used the Five Elements Chaotic Cloak to disrupt the short-haired, dark-robed man's control of spiritual energy and laws, giving Hongyin an opening to damage four flying swords. As the man began to regain control, Li Yan unleashed a hidden suction force that pulled half of him into empty space, while Scattered Poison gathered in Li Yan's palm.

• Li Yan dodged the short-haired, dark-robed man's three swords and closed in despite a sword-qi counterattack.
• Li Yan cast the Five Elements Chaotic Cloak, disrupting the man's control of his nine flying swords and the surrounding laws of heaven and earth.
• Hongyin struck four of the man's flying swords with the red spear, cracking them and draining their spiritual energy.
• The First Elder escaped the damaged thousand-legged centipede, while Yan San used his purple bead to knock away the pursuing flying sword.
• The short-haired, dark-robed man began stabilizing the surrounding laws, but a suction force appeared beside him and pulled half his body into empty space as Li Yan formed Scattered Poison.

Li Yan’s attempt to pull the burly man in the black robe with short hair into Tuban failed, but it frightened the Spirit Transformation cultivator and left Li Yan badly hurt. The enemy launched another devastating sword attack, forcing the Great Elder to activate True Spirit Armor while Li Yan and Hong Yin struggled to defend themselves.

• Li Yan used Five Elements Chaotic Cloak and Tuban to try to trap the burly man in the black robe with short hair, but the man resisted and escaped as Li Yan suffered severe backlash.
• The burly man in the black robe with short hair recognized that Li Yan and Hong Yin were weakening and unleashed another attack with four enormous flying swords.
• Wan Qingshe realized how badly he had underestimated the Tianli Clan after seeing his master’s difficulties and the destruction of his flying swords.
• The Great Elder kicked the injured Yan San out of danger, then activated True Spirit Armor at the cost of burning his Nascent Soul.
• Li Yan tried to evade the giant sword but was trapped by the surrounding force, while Hong Yin summoned countless Maitreya Buddhas to blunt its strike and retreated under the impact.

The short-haired man in the black robe overwhelmed Li Yan, Hong Yin, and the Great Elder, then turned his flying swords against the Tianli Clan’s grand formation. As the clan struggled to withstand a second assault, Gong Chenying silently urged Li Yan to run.

• Hong Yin survived a Spirit Transformation sword strike with her Buddhist arts, while the Great Elder punched the enormous sword away and charged the short-haired man in the black robe.
• Li Yan deflected a sword with a Blackwater Talisman, and a soul attack left the short-haired man briefly vulnerable, allowing the Great Elder to break his barrier and wound his forehead.
• The short-haired man in the black robe sent more than a thousand flying swords against his opponents and the Tianli Clan, causing widespread destruction and casualties despite the clan’s defensive formation.
• Gong Shanhe and the elders strained to maintain the formation as Qianji and Zi Kun watched helplessly, while Li Yan and Hong Yin fought off pursuing swords.
• As the short-haired man gathered his swords for another assault, Gong Chenying rose with the other cultivators, looked at Li Yan, and mouthed, “Run!”

Li Yan used his speed, the Five Elements laws, and repeated multi-person teleportation talismans to drag the short-haired man in the black robe into the chaotic spatial currents, while Gong Chenying and the Tianli Clan survived the attack. Gong Chenying entered the void to search for Li Yan, as the injured Li Yan continued teleporting with his consciousness failing.

• Li Yan rushed the short-haired man in the black robe and used the Five Elements laws and a spatial rift to teleport them both away from the Tianli Clan.
• The short-haired man's flying swords and attacks weakened after he vanished, and the Tianli Clan halted its counterattack as the danger passed.
• Wan Qingshe fled, but the First Elder, Gong Shanhe, and the Third Elder pursued him while Gong Chenying entered the void to look for Li Yan.
• The short-haired man tried to attack during teleportation, but Li Yan activated another talisman and dragged him farther through the chaotic spatial currents.
• Li Yan's repeated use of Five Elements Chaotic Cloak severely damaged his sea of consciousness, but he continued teleporting because he could no longer use the technique.

Li Yan repeatedly used Shaking Heaven and Earth to drag the short-haired man in the black robe through turbulent space, but they became trapped in a dangerous region where chaotic forces overwhelmed their defenses. As both men struggled against a blood-red mist and failing talismans, Li Yan began to break free through his superior physical strength.

• Li Yan used the Five Elements Chaotic Cloak and repeatedly cast Shaking Heaven and Earth, spending Melted Bamboo Shoot to sustain his spiritual power as he carried the short-haired man in the black robe through turbulent space.
• Li Yan's next teleportation failed, and he realized that they had entered a dangerous gray region beneath a pitch-black rift.
• The short-haired man in the black robe attacked Li Yan while trying to escape through the rift, and Li Yan struck toward the rift in an attempt to cut off his route.
• Pale yellow lights erupted and disrupted their spells, drained their spiritual power, and pulled both men toward a deadly patch of blood-red mist.
• Both men used talismans to resist the pull, but Li Yan began slowly freeing himself through his physical strength while the short-haired man in the black robe remained trapped.

Li Yan vanished after the short-haired man unleashed his Spirit Transformation power, and the man was killed by a sea of blood when he tried to escape through the black fissure. In a grassland realm ruled by Demon Beasts, a demon-eyed phantom wolf returned to its cave and revealed a bound, emaciated human lying beneath its green light.

• The short-haired man unleashed his Spirit Transformation cultivation and struck Li Yan with an enormous phantom finger, sending him into the blood mist.
• The short-haired man entered the black fissure, where pale yellow motes turned its darkness into a sea of blood that dissolved him.
• A demon-eyed phantom wolf crossed the grassland cautiously and returned to its hidden cave dwelling after sensing danger.
• The demon-eyed phantom wolf entered a concealed inner chamber and swallowed the green light suspended there.
• The green light revealed a naked, emaciated man bound in red chains inscribed with a powerful restriction.

Li Yan woke in an old man’s pavilion after the Demonic-Eyed Phantom Wolf had captured him on the grasslands, and he gradually pieced together how he had escaped the blood mist. Unable to use his spiritual power or Divine Sense, he remained in the old man’s care while uncertain of his situation.

• The Demonic-Eyed Phantom Wolf found Li Yan unconscious, failed to injure or poison him, and sealed him inside its cave.
• An unidentified figure entered the cave, and Li Yan later woke in a pavilion with an old man in yellow watching over him.
• Li Yan struggled to use his spiritual power and Divine Sense, and he and the old man discovered that they spoke different languages.
• Li Yan recalled that Xue Longzi had attacked him in a dangerous space before Li Yan was blasted into the blood mist.
• Li Yan reasoned that Xue Longzi had probably left the Wind God Continent and remembered using his Water-Avoiding Golden-Eyed Beast armor to slow the blood mist’s dissolution of his body.

Li Yan survived the blood mist by stepping into an ascension node and awoke in the Immortal Spirit Realm, where Yu Banjiang of the Pojun Sect rescued him. After learning about his new surroundings and Yu Banjiang’s circumstances, Li Yan asked how he could obtain Immortalization Liquid.

• Li Yan’s defenses failed in the blood mist, but he reached a patch of white light and was carried into the Immortal Spirit Realm.
• A Demon-Eyed Illusion Wolf brought the unconscious Li Yan to its cave, where Yu Banjiang found and rescued him while searching for an Illusory Spirit Herb.
• Li Yan learned that he had ascended to the Immortal Spirit Realm and that Yu Banjiang belonged to the Pojun Sect.
• Li Yan worried about the loved ones he had left behind in the lower realm as he considered his sudden separation from them.
• Yu Banjiang visited Li Yan and asked what he planned to do while recovering from his injuries.
• Li Yan thanked Yu Banjiang and asked how he could obtain Immortalization Liquid.

Li Yan learned that he had accidentally ascended to the Immortal-Spirit Realm, where his injuries and damaged Divine Sense left him vulnerable. Banjiang explained that Li Yan had to obtain expensive Immortalization Liquid within a year, then offered a way to receive it by joining the Po Jun Sect.

• Li Yan examined his injuries and found his spiritual power nearly depleted, his sea of consciousness badly damaged, and his Nascent Soul barely detectable.
• Li Yan questioned Banjiang and learned that he had been rescued from a cave dwelling after a third-tier Demonic Eye Illusion Wolf dragged him there.
• Banjiang explained that Li Yan’s divine soul was being repelled by the Immortal-Spirit Realm and that he had to soak in Immortalization Liquid within a year or his soul would wither irreversibly.
• Li Yan learned that a bottle of Immortalization Liquid cost about four hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones.
• Banjiang told Li Yan that joining a sect was another way to receive Immortalization Liquid, then explained why Immortal-Spirit Realm sects sought cultivators who had ascended from the lower realms.

Li Yan learned about the Immortal Spirit Realm’s four regions, the costly routes between them, and the dangerous ways to obtain Immortal Transformation Liquid. After Li Yan explained that his injuries would prevent him from helping the Pojun Sect, Yu Banjiang’s master, Shangguan Tianque, arrived to meet him.

• Yu Banjiang told Li Yan that the Immortal Spirit Realm had four realms and that reaching an inter-realm teleportation array from the Pojun Sect could take nearly two hundred years by internal teleportation.
• Li Yan realized the Five Immortals Sect was in the distant Cangxuan Realm and worried that his damaged sea of consciousness would prevent him from opening Tuban and retrieving spirit stones.
• Yu Banjiang described hunting fourth-tier demon beasts in the Heavenly Demon Grassland as a dangerous alternative to joining a sect and buying Immortal Transformation Liquid.
• Li Yan told Yu Banjiang that his injuries were severe and that, even if he joined the Pojun Sect, he would need to enter seclusion and could not assist it for an uncertain time.
• Shangguan Tianque, Yu Banjiang’s master, arrived and introduced himself to Li Yan.

Li Yan met Shangguan Tianque and learned how vast the Immortal Spirit Realm was while waiting for the Pojun Sect’s decision about the Immortal Transformation Liquid. Shangguan Tianque and his Junior Sister discussed whether Li Yan might aid their struggling sect, and his offer to repay the liquid’s cost made the woman in red regard him more favorably.

• Yu Banjiang reported Li Yan to Shangguan Tianque, who questioned Li Yan about his origins and confirmed he was an ascended cultivator from the Wind God Continent.
• Shangguan Tianque told Li Yan that ascended cultivators were exceptionally rare in the vast Immortal Spirit Realm and promised an answer about the Immortal Transformation Liquid within three days.
• Li Yan watched Yu Banjiang sweep the pavilion and reflected on his separation from the people he had left behind.
• Shangguan Tianque told his Junior Sister that Li Yan was likely a Nascent Soul middle stage cultivator, and they discussed observing him and inviting him to serve as an honorary elder.
• Shangguan Tianque suggested his Junior Sister disband the sect if he failed, but she angrily refused to abandon it.
• Shangguan Tianque explained that Li Yan had offered to repay the Immortal Transformation Liquid if he failed to recover within sixty years, and his Junior Sister praised his refusal to take advantage of others.

Li Yan settled into the Po Jun Sect to recover and learned about the Immortal-Spirit Realm, including the danger of remaining there without using the Immortalization Liquid. After he entered seclusion, the story shifted to a strange space in the Northern Ice Continent where light and darkness rapidly exchanged places.

• Shangguan Tianque arranged for Li Yan to rest for half a year before using the Immortalization Liquid, and Banjiang moved him to a secluded cave residence.
• Li Yan asked Banjiang for books and jade slips about the Immortal-Spirit Realm, but his damaged sea of consciousness left him unable to examine the jade slips.
• Li Yan learned that the Po Jun Sect was a small sect under the Blood Lamp Sect and that the Immortal-Spirit Realm's laws would eventually reject his lower-realm soul without assimilation by the Immortalization Liquid.
• Li Yan realized that returning to the Mortal Realm was currently impossible and entered cultivation seclusion to recover.
• In a strange space in the Northern Ice Continent, the sky and ground repeatedly switched between light and darkness as two opposing forces shifted.