Chapter Summaries

Li Yan lured the masked red-robed cultivator into a trap and killed him after escaping the ambush. Hu Changqi pursued Li Yan, unaware that the same attack had already severed his head, and the chapter ended with him realizing his own death.

• Donglin Tingyue used her clone illusion technique to split into two identical figures and draw her pursuers in opposite directions, while Li Yan escaped the old man's interception.
• Shangguan Tianque recognized Liu Huaigu as one of the attackers as they began fighting with full strength.
• The masked red-robed cultivator caught up to Li Yan and struck at him with lightning, but Li Yan's golden threads trapped the attacker and disrupted his access to spiritual energy.
• Li Yan revealed himself after the masked cultivator's lightning split the bald old man in two, then killed the immobilized attacker.
• The chapter recounted how Hu Changqi had accepted Liu Huaigu's offer to join the ambush, believing the promised reward outweighed the risks.
• Hu Changqi realized that his own headless body was still flying ahead as his severed head floated upward.

Li Yan killed Hu Changqi and ambushed the masked cultivator in red, but the man self-destructed before Li Yan could search his soul, hinting at a powerful figure behind the attack. Li Yan then turned toward Shangguan Tianque, who was badly wounded and fighting Liu Huaigu, another masked cultivator, and a Blood Jade Serpent Spider.

• Li Yan used Phoenix Soaring and Five Elements Chaotic Cloak to disable the masked man in red, then killed Hu Changqi and seized his storage ring.
• Li Yan tried to search the masked man's soul, but a hidden restriction triggered an explosion that destroyed the cultivator and his nascent soul.
• Li Yan suspected someone more powerful than the Green Ram Temple's late-stage cultivators was behind the attack, then hurried to help elsewhere.
• Shangguan Tianque fought and retreated against Liu Huaigu, a masked spirit beast master, and the Blood Jade Serpent Spider while badly injured and running low on magical power.
• Shangguan Tianque knocked the Blood Jade Serpent Spider away with his spear and dodged Liu Huaigu's Immortal-Striking Stone.

Li Yan arrived as Shangguan Tianque struggled against Liu Huaigu and the masked red-robed man, then used spell-disrupting attacks and repeated blows to overwhelm Liu Huaigu. The chapter ended with Liu Huaigu severely wounded and airborne, while Li Yan remained frustrated that the jade ring had kept his target alive.

• Shangguan Tianque blocked the Immortal-Smashing Stone with his shield while the Blood Jade Snake Spider used transparent silk to entangle his spear.
• Li Yan teleported behind the masked red-robed man and disrupted his spell, then struck him with Five Elements Wild Cloak and Demon-Sealing Nails.
• Li Yan rushed Liu Huaigu and struck him, but Liu Huaigu's jade ring shielded him from much of the force.
• Li Yan repeatedly disrupted Liu Huaigu's spells and punched him, sending him flying and injuring him despite the jade ring.
• Liu Huaigu's own unstable spell exploded and shattered the jade ring's defense, leaving him severely wounded as he saw Li Yan nearby.

Li Yan defeated Liu Huaigu, captured him and the masked red-robed man, and helped Shangguan Tianque survive the ambush. After Shangguan Tianque searched Liu Huaigu’s memories, they learned the attack stemmed from Liu Huaigu’s grudge over a Dragon-Capturing Sect cultivator’s death, while signs pointed to a broader threat against the Broken Army Sect.

• Li Yan used the Five Elements Chaotic Cloak to disrupt Liu Huaigu’s powers, then shattered his protective golden light with a fourth punch and captured him.
• Shangguan Tianque pursued and killed the fleeing Blood Jade Snake Spider while Li Yan sealed Liu Huaigu’s Nascent Soul and searched his memories.
• Shangguan Tianque tried to search the masked red-robed man, but the restriction in the man’s sea of consciousness self-destructed and killed him.
• Shangguan Tianque searched Liu Huaigu’s soul, and Liu Huaigu’s body eventually burst apart; the search revealed his affair with a Dragon-Capturing Sect cultivator and his hatred of Shangguan Tianque over her death.
• Aboard the White Jade Boat, Shangguan Tianque and Li Yan discussed the information, which suggested that someone was targeting the Broken Army Sect.

Liu Huaigu plotted with three allies and two mysterious masked cultivators to kill Shangguan Tianque and Li Yan, but the ambush failed and Liu Huaigu died. Shangguan Tianque, Li Yan, and Donglin Tingyue reached Pojun Sect safely after a long detour, while the masked men’s backers remained unidentified.

• Liu Huaigu planned to kill Shangguan Tianque and Li Yan, then met two red-robed masked cultivators who offered to cooperate against Shangguan Tianque.
• Shangguan Tianque and Li Yan examined the masked men’s sparse belongings and concluded their enemies might fear the Blood Lamp Sect, but they could not identify the men’s origins.
• Shangguan Tianque and Li Yan found Donglin Tingyue hiding in a forest and brought him aboard the White Jade Boat after he escaped two pursuing cultivators.
• Shangguan Tianque, Li Yan, and Donglin Tingyue took a wide detour and reached Pojun Sect’s protective formation after more than twenty days.
• Ren Yanyu wanted to confront the Green Goat Temple over Liu Huaigu’s ambush, but Shangguan Tianque persuaded her to wait and keep their role in the deaths secret.
• Li Yan returned to his cave abode to inspect the gains from the journey.

Shangguan Tianque and Ren Yanyu discussed Li Yan’s strength and agreed to treat him sincerely while he helped guard Shangguan Tianque’s next attempt to reach Spirit Transformation. In his cave abode, Li Yan examined the spoils from the masked men and tested several formations, discovering a powerful illusion formation but finding a defensive one weaker than expected.

• Ren Yanyu proposed that Li Yan was either an exceptional ascended cultivator or a Spirit Transformation cultivator hiding his realm, and Shangguan Tianque agreed to treat him sincerely without special rewards.
• Shangguan Tianque decided to refine a Spirit Communion Pill and attempt Spirit Transformation with Ren Yanyu and Li Yan guarding him.
• Ren Yanyu recalled that someone had sabotaged Shangguan Tianque’s previous breakthrough by sending a law-infused third-tier Demon Beast into his tribulation, and the pair suspected a possible connection to the masked men in red robes.
• Li Yan examined the spoils from Liu Huaigu and the other cultivator, kept the Immortal-Striking Stone, and set aside unfamiliar materials for Shangguan Tianque to identify.
• Li Yan tested six formations and found that the illusion formation could even deceive his powerful divine sense, while the defensive formation collapsed under one punch at sixty percent of his strength.

Li Yan discovered that Liu Huaigu's green ram's horn was a powerful defensive formation that required five high-grade spirit stones, then traveled with Donglin Tingyue to the Donglin Lineage. They arrived at the island stronghold, where Tingyue brought Li Yan inside as the patrolling cultivators watched.

• Li Yan activated the green ram's horn with five high-grade spirit stones and found it could withstand three attacks from an early-stage Spirit Transformation cultivator.
• Li Yan named the illusion formation Mirror Flowers and the ram's horn Do Not Open, then set out to obtain ice sand and send word to the Mortal Realm that he was alive.
• Donglin Tingyue and Li Yan flew to the Donglin Lineage, and she questioned him about how he and Shangguan Tianque escaped four Nascent Soul cultivators, but Li Yan deflected her questions.
• Donglin Tingyue told Li Yan she would take him to his residence before discussing his visit with her younger brother, and he agreed.
• Donglin Tingyue and Li Yan descended toward the lineage's island, where the patrolling cultivators recognized her and greeted her.

Li Yan waited four days before Donglin Tingyue came to ask him to treat her cousin, requiring a heart demon oath to keep the Donglin Lineage’s secrets. After they exchanged oaths and Li Yan received a map to the silver sand’s source, Donglin Tingyue led him into a remote forest to visit her cousin.

• Li Yan inferred that Donglin Tingyue’s cousin had been injured and waited in his courtyard for four days, growing increasingly vigilant.
• Donglin Tingyue asked Li Yan to swear by his heart demon that he would not reveal what he saw inside the Donglin Lineage, and offered him the remaining silver sand.
• Li Yan agreed, but asked to trade for any other silver sand and requested proof that the jade slip map and her claim that she had none left were genuine.
• Li Yan and Donglin Tingyue each swore the agreed heart demon oaths, and she gave him the jade slip map to the silver sand’s source.
• Donglin Tingyue led Li Yan through the secluded grounds of the Donglin Lineage and into a dark forest toward her cousin.

Li Yan entered the Donglin Lineage’s hidden cottage and discovered that the poisoned patient was the unconscious First Supreme Elder, not Donglin Tingyue’s younger cousin. After examining him, Li Yan warned that treatment might reduce his cultivation, but Yuan Shuiyun accepted the risk and asked him to proceed.

• Donglin Tingyue led Li Yan through a formation into a cottage guarded by a powerful black dog.
• Yuan Shuiyun explained that the Donglin Lineage had debated whether to let Li Yan treat the patient, then asked him to administer the treatment himself.
• After the bed’s barrier was removed, Li Yan recognized the patient as the Donglin Lineage’s First Supreme Elder and questioned why they had concealed his identity.
• Li Yan examined the First Supreme Elder and found that the poison had reached his nascent soul, leaving it unconscious.
• Li Yan warned that treatment could lower the First Supreme Elder’s cultivation, and Yuan Shuiyun accepted the risk.

Li Yan cured Donglin Qinglei of the poison that had left him comatose, then learned that Qinglei had been attacked by two masked men in red robes. After Li Yan described the techniques used by the attackers, Qinglei warned him to tell Shangguan Tianque to beware the Blood Lamp Sect.

• Li Yan used his Fragmented Poison Body to devour the poison in Donglin Qinglei, who awakened with his Nascent Soul's residual poison largely cleared.
• Donglin Tingyue returned the silver sand to Li Yan, and he stayed at the Donglin Lineage's residence while Donglin Qinglei stabilized his cultivation.
• Donglin Qinglei summoned Li Yan and revealed that he was Donglin Tingyue's grandfather and the husband of the old woman outside.
• Donglin Qinglei explained that two masked men in red robes had ambushed him, and a Dark Blazing Demon Hound helped him escape before the poison left him comatose.
• Li Yan described the techniques used by the red-robed attackers who had confronted him, and Donglin Qinglei concluded they belonged to a different group from his own attackers.
• Donglin Qinglei secretly warned Li Yan to tell Shangguan Tianque to beware the Blood Lamp Sect.

Li Yan learned from Ren Yanyu that the Blood Lamp Sect might be obstructing subordinate sect cultivators from reaching Spirit Transformation, and he considered whether to leave. Meanwhile, the Phantom Sect learned that Li Yan had vanished after confronting a Spirit Transformation cultivator, while Gong Chenying stayed with Zhao Min and the others as they awaited his return.

• Li Yan returned to the Broken Army Sect and learned that Shangguan Tianque had entered seclusion to refine pills, so he told Ren Yanyu what Donglin Qinglei had said about being ambushed while seeking a bonded spirit beast.
• Ren Yanyu explained that Donglin Qinglei needed a new bonded beast to pursue Spirit Transformation and revealed that Shangguan Tianque had also been sabotaged during a past breakthrough attempt; Li Yan suspected the Blood Lamp Sect was suppressing potential rivals.
• At the Phantom Sect, Mo Qing, Wei Zhongran, Li Yuyin, Zhao Min, Gong Chenying, Baili Yuan, and Li Wuyi inspected Li Yan's soul lamp after hearing that he had disappeared in turbulent space while fighting a Spirit Transformation cultivator.
• Gong Chenying announced that she and Li Yan had become Dao companions, and Yun Chunqu left the Phantom Sect several days later; Gong Chenying then stayed to spend time with Li Zhaoyan.
• Zhao Min helped Hongyin gain entry to the Northern Underworld Suppression Tower, while Qianji departed and Zi Kun settled on Small Bamboo Peak; the two demons secretly agreed to reach fourth-rank and search turbulent space for Li Yan.

The Wangliang Sect and the other three sects discovered that their shared secret realm had vanished, but even their Spirit Transformation cultivators could not explain why. Zhao Min suspected the yellow-robed Daoist was connected to the disappearance, and he left to search for Li Yan after learning that Li Yan had vanished into the void.

• The Heavenly Stele reported that the secret realm had disappeared, and Mo Qing entered the passage to confirm that its teleportation node was gone.
• Wei Zhongran traveled to the Ten-Step Academy, whose Nascent Soul cultivators accused the Wangliang Sect of destroying the passage, but none of the four sects or their Spirit Transformation cultivators discovered the cause.
• Zhao Min recalled that the yellow-robed Daoist had secretly visited her shortly before the secret realm disappeared and asked her where Li Yan was.
• Zhao Min told the yellow-robed Daoist that Li Yan had left the Desolate Moon Continent and disappeared into the void in the Tianli Clan's territory.
• The yellow-robed Daoist warned Zhao Min to keep his visit secret and said he would search for Li Yan and bring him back if he was alive.

Zhao Min awoke with the yellow-robed Daoist’s pills and a Nine Yang Mysterious Bird egg, and learned that he intended to search for Li Yan. Three days before the Wangliang Sect discovered the secret realm’s disappearance, True Lord Qianzhong returned with Ping Tu and began slaughtering the Demon Beasts that had attacked him.

• The yellow-robed Daoist left Zhao Min two pills and a Nine Yang Mysterious Bird egg, then put her to sleep before departing.
• Zhao Min awoke, remembered the Daoist’s promise to look for Li Yan, and resolved to wait for her husband’s safe return.
• A few days later, the Wangliang Sect’s secret realm disappeared, and Zhao Min kept the Daoist’s visit secret while considering how to give Gong Chenying a pill.
• True Lord Qianzhong, Dong Fuyi, and Pei Buchong reunited with Ping Tu in the secret realm, where Qianzhong healed him.
• After Ping Tu recounted what had happened, True Lord Qianzhong attacked the Demon Beasts and killed the races that had helped the Human cultivators target Ping Tu.

True Lord Qianzhong crushed the secret realm’s rebellious demon beast clans and forced the survivors to accept slave seals, then the group went to seek Li Yan. Dong Fuyi learned that Li Yan had vanished into turbulent space after fighting a Spirit Transformation cultivator and resolved to search for him.

• True Lord Qianzhong annihilated demon beast clans that Ping Tu identified as rebels, then gathered the remaining beasts and demonstrated his power through a prolonged massacre.
• True Lord Qianzhong offered the demon beasts extermination or eternal servitude; they accepted slave seals, and the fifth-tier old wolf hoped service might help him advance and survive.
• After sealing the secret realm’s passage, True Lord Qianzhong asked Dong Fuyi whether to destroy or punish the four great sects for stealing its resources, and Dong Fuyi proposed finding Li Yan first.
• Dong Fuyi and the others found no trace of Li Yan at the Wangliang Sect, so True Lord Qianzhong brought them to Zhao Min for answers.
• Dong Fuyi learned that Li Yan had been forced into turbulent space by a Spirit Transformation cultivator and had disappeared after using Shaking Heaven and Earth.
• Dong Fuyi grieved over Li Yan’s hardships and resolved to do everything he could to find him.

Dong Fuyi and True Lord Qianzhong failed to locate Li Yan through the fake soul lamp, so they set out for Wind God Continent to search for him. Meanwhile, Li Yan studied silver ice sand and discovered that its cloud-like vapor could gradually numb and freeze his Divine Sense.

• Dong Fuyi secretly gave Zhao Min a Nine Yang Mystical Bird egg, and he and True Lord Qianzhong decided to seek Li Yan through the Phantom Sect's soul lamp.
• Ping Tu revealed that Li Yan's soul lamp was fake, cutting off their only direct means of finding out whether Li Yan was alive.
• At Ping Tu's urging, Dong Fuyi and True Lord Qianzhong spared the Phantom Sect and the other three sects, then resolved to search for Li Yan on Wind God Continent.
• Dong Fuyi, True Lord Qianzhong, Pei Buchong, and Ping Tu left the Desolate Moon Continent, while Dong Fuyi first found Li Yan's soul lamp on Small Bamboo Peak.
• Li Yan drew out silver ice sand in the Heaven-Breaking Sect and tested its bluish-white clouds, discovering that prolonged exposure gradually numbed and froze his Divine Sense.

Li Yan tested the silver sand and discovered that combining it with the blood river created a silent, devastating taiji yin-yang attack. After confirming its power against a demon beast, he realized the two substances offered him a chance to understand transformations between elemental forces and began preparing for secluded cultivation.

• Li Yan found that neither his physical strength nor nascent-soul flame could break or refine the silver sand, but its cold gradually recovered after contact with the blood river.
• When the silver sand entered the blood river, a taiji yin-yang pattern formed; Li Yan's divine sense was shredded inside it, and his nascent soul supplied magical power that dispersed the pattern.
• Li Yan combined a larger amount of silver sand and blood-river water, then launched the resulting pattern into a cliff, where it silently bored a washbasin-sized passage more than four hundred zhang deep.
• Li Yan returned to his cave abode after testing the attack on a fourth-tier Demon-Eyed Illusion Wolf, whose defenses and body the pattern tore apart.
• Li Yan concluded that more silver sand could make the attack powerful enough to threaten Spirit Transformation cultivators, and that experiencing its yin-yang power had given him insight into elemental transformations.
• Li Yan decided to enter secluded cultivation to pursue those insights, then remarked that the strange formation deserved a name.

Li Yan studied the Fuxi Disk and gained a breakthrough in his understanding of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, greatly strengthening his arts. Ren Yanyu then asked him to guard the Po Jun Sect while she answered a summons from the Blood Lantern Sect, whose hierarchy she began explaining.

• Li Yan resumed studying the Fuxi Disk, and half a month later Yu Banjiang began another Nascent Soul tribulation at the Po Jun Sect.
• Yu Banjiang endured a day and a half of heart demon trials and succeeded in forming his Nascent Soul, then entered seclusion to stabilize his realm.
• Over the next half year, Li Yan’s study of the Fuxi Disk advanced his Five Elements understanding, strengthened his spells, and improved Shaking Heaven and Earth with brief foresight.
• Ren Yanyu visited Li Yan and told him the Blood Lantern Sect had summoned her away for about a year, asking him to protect the Po Jun Sect while Shangguan Tianque refined pills and Yu Banjiang recovered.
• Ren Yanyu explained that the Po Jun Sect served the Blood Lantern Sect, which in turn was attached to the Pure Yang Hall and stronger sects above it.

Ren Yanyu explained how the Pure Yang Hall’s subordinate sects competed for Great Wu Fruits in a secret realm and what rewards small sects could earn. Li Yan learned that the contest offered a chance to obtain a treasure that could aid his cultivation, but the Blood Lamp Sect’s dependence on the Pure Yang Hall made its independence unlikely.

• Ren Yanyu told Li Yan that the Pure Yang Hall had assigned the Blood Lamp Sect and three other powers to explore a secret realm containing a Great Wu Fruit tree.
• Ren Yanyu explained that the Pure Yang Hall took nine of the thirteen fruits, while the four subordinate powers competed for the rest through teams led by Spirit Transformation cultivators.
• Ren Yanyu said the Breakthrough Army Sect had to send a Nascent Soul cultivator to assist the Blood Lamp Sect, with rewards depending on the contest’s outcome and their contributions.
• Li Yan asked about the Great Wu Fruit’s uses and whether a cultivator could secretly take one; Ren Yanyu explained its benefits and the inspections that prevented theft.
• Li Yan asked why the Pure Yang Hall allowed the Blood Lamp Sect to obtain Great Wu Fruits, and Ren Yanyu explained that the Pure Yang Hall controlled its subordinate powers and that the Blood Lamp Sect was too entrenched to leave easily.

Li Yan agreed to travel to the Blood Lamp Sect in Ren Yanyu’s place, hoping to learn about the Immortal-Spirit Realm and find a way to send a message to the lower realm. After reaching the sect’s imposing mountain gate, he identified himself to a Blood Lamp Sect guard and presented the sect’s jade slip.

• Ren Yanyu warned Li Yan about the dangers and likely futility of pursuing the Great Nothing Fruit, then gave him instructions and a map for the journey.
• Li Yan explained that he wanted to learn about other sects and agreed to take Ren Yanyu’s place on the trip.
• Li Yan prepared his belongings and reforged sonic magic treasures, then set out northwest toward the Blood Lamp Sect.
• During nearly two months of travel, Li Yan avoided dangerous regions and fought three demon beasts and one Nascent Soul cultivator.
• Li Yan reached the Blood Lamp Sect’s blood-red mountain gate and felt the oppressive force of its formation.
• A concealed early Nascent Soul guard challenged Li Yan, who identified himself as a member of the Shattered Army Sect and offered the jade slip.

Li Yan entered the heavily guarded Blood Lamp Sect and was escorted to a great hall where subordinate-sect elders were gathering. He found Donglin Tingyue among them and quietly told the Golden Core cultivator leading him that she could leave.

• The red-robed cultivator checked Li Yan's identity and escorted him through the Blood Lamp Sect's guarded mountain gate.
• Li Yan sensed another Nascent Soul cultivator guarding the gate and recognized that the sect's black-red clouds concealed a deadly formation.
• The red-robed cultivator brought Li Yan to a floating great hall and told him to wait there for the group to depart that night.
• A woman leading Li Yan explained that four elders had arrived and one was still expected; Li Yan entered the hall and recognized Donglin Tingyue among the gathered guests.
• Li Yan passed the woman and sent her a voice transmission saying she could leave, though her reception duty was not yet finished.