Chapter Summaries

Li Yan, Donglin Tingyue, Jia Fugui, and the Darkflame Demon Hound coordinated their attacks to capture the Great-Winged Golden Peng. Just as Donglin Tingyue secured him in the black net, a terrifying power began gathering inside it, forcing everyone nearby to flee.

• The Great-Winged Golden Peng tried to escape through his spatial ability, but the Darkflame Demon Hound’s flames disrupted it and forced him to reappear.
• Jia Fugui’s abacus and Li Yan’s bronze bell disrupted the Great-Winged Golden Peng’s focus, while Donglin Tingyue seized his golden tortoise shell and trapped him in a black net.
• The Great-Winged Golden Peng struggled against the net, but Donglin Tingyue’s supreme treasure suppressed his bloodline powers and bound him.
• A muffled bang came from the shrinking net, and a terrifying pressure began gathering around it; Jia Fugui warned everyone to flee.
• Li Yan, Donglin Tingyue, the Darkflame Demon Hound, and the woman in colorful robes escaped toward the grassland’s outskirts.

A beautiful woman emerged from the Great-Winged Golden Roc’s protective talisman and pursued Li Yan, Donglin Tingyue, and the Darkblaze Devil Hound. After her strike injured all three, Donglin Tingyue faced a second attack as Li Yan urged him to use the Roc to block it.

• The beautiful woman appeared where the Great-Winged Golden Roc had vanished and sensed that her disciple had been taken away.
• Jia Fugui fled, while Li Yan, Donglin Tingyue, and the Darkblaze Devil Hound followed after him and realized a Spirit Transformation cultivator was pursuing them.
• The beautiful woman caught up with the group and attacked Li Yan, Donglin Tingyue, and the Darkblaze Devil Hound with a golden wind blade.
• Donglin Tingyue, Li Yan, and the Darkblaze Devil Hound blocked the attack but were blasted backward and injured.
• The beautiful woman sent a jade hairpin after Donglin Tingyue and pursued him; Li Yan warned him to use the Great-Winged Golden Roc to block the next attack.
• Donglin Tingyue saw a point of light rushing toward him and conjured a mass of golden light in front of himself.

Li Yan escaped the gorgeous woman and hid, but she tracked him to his hiding place after recognizing his use of Phoenix Soars to Heaven. She discovered his concealment with the Golden Eye of the Grotto-Heavens and prepared to capture him.

• Donglin Tingyue used the Great-Winged Golden Roc and a black formation cloth to delay the gorgeous woman, then she and the others split up and fled.
• Li Yan flew more than thirty thousand li, hid in a tree, and tried to contact Donglin Tingyue, Jia Fugui, and Ye Huo.
• The gorgeous woman appeared nearby with the Great-Winged Golden Roc and demanded that Li Yan reveal himself, explaining that she had traced him to the area.
• The gorgeous woman used the Golden Eye of the Grotto-Heavens, weakening her Divine Thought, and spotted Li Yan's faint outline in the tree.
• The gorgeous woman recognized Li Yan's extraordinary concealment and Phoenix Soars to Heaven technique, then declared that he could no longer escape.

Li Yan fled the beautiful woman after she uncovered his concealment and attacked, but she pursued him using spatial laws and recognized his Phoenix Soaring technique. The woman concluded he had refined valuable Undying Underworld Phoenix blood essence and pursued him with growing delight.

• The beautiful woman used a golden eye to locate Li Yan, then struck at him with a phantom palm as he escaped with Phoenix Soaring.
• Li Yan fled more than ten thousand li, alternating his techniques to evade pursuit and conserve his strength.
• The beautiful woman caught up and identified Li Yan as a Human Race cultivator who possessed Undying Underworld Phoenix blood essence.
• Li Yan used Phoenix Soaring to escape again after sensing the woman only six hundred li behind him.
• The beautiful woman pursued Li Yan through the void, convinced that refining his blood essence could strengthen her body and advance her spatial laws.

Li Yan fled from a beautiful woman who had recognized his Phoenix Soars to Heaven technique and pursued him for the Undying Nether Phoenix blood essence and his spatial cultivation. With his escape options running out, he entered turbulent space, and the woman followed him inside.

• Li Yan realized the beautiful woman had recognized Phoenix Soars to Heaven and feared she would capture him to claim his blood essence or hand him to the Undying Nether Phoenix clan.
• Li Yan used Shaking Heaven and Earth to flee through the void, but the woman tracked his spatial traces and steadily closed the distance.
• Li Yan considered placing a Sand Star King Stone as a marker before entering turbulent space, but the woman kept her lock on him and left him no chance.
• With only four uses of Shaking Heaven and Earth remaining, Li Yan cut open a spatial rift with the Sand Star King Stone and plunged into turbulent space.
• The beautiful woman reopened the rift and followed Li Yan into turbulent space.

Li Yan escaped the gorgeous middle-aged woman's pursuit through turbulent space and emerged in a marsh on the Heavenly Demon Grassland, where he tried to hide and recover. A concealed force seized him beneath the aquatic grass, and he found himself trapped in an apparent illusion as darkness gave way to dazzling light.

• The gorgeous middle-aged woman left her disciple behind and pursued Li Yan into turbulent space, while Li Yan repeatedly used "Shaking Heaven and Earth" to flee past deadly spatial hazards.
• Li Yan finally shook off the woman's lock, used the Sand Star King Stone to leave turbulent space, and the woman continued searching for him.
• Li Yan emerged in a misty marsh on the Heavenly Demon Grassland and flew to a dense patch of aquatic grass to set up the "Mirror Flower" illusion array and recover.
• The mist suddenly bound Li Yan and dragged him beneath the aquatic grass, where his sea of consciousness churned and his Divine Sense became chaotic.
• Li Yan realized the underwater grass was likely an illusion, then darkness fell and dazzling light appeared as the marsh vanished.

Li Yan passed through the aquatic plants into a strange sky where his Divine Sense was severely restricted and the spiritual energy felt different. After checking his body and surroundings, he suspected he had entered an unknown region of the Heavenly Demon Grassland and concealed himself with formations.

• Li Yan emerged high above a wilderness, escaped his rapid fall with spiritual power, and discovered that his Divine Sense could barely extend beyond his body.
• Li Yan descended into woodland, killed several rabbit-badger-like beasts, and confirmed they were ordinary wild animals.
• Li Yan examined his body and found no abnormality, then determined that the environment severely limited his Divine Sense and made communication with his storage ring difficult.
• Li Yan sensed thin, uncomfortable spiritual energy and suspected he had entered an unknown dangerous area within the Heavenly Demon Grassland.
• Li Yan summoned the Mo Kai and Mirror Flower formations, vanished from sight, and found that he could summon items from Tuban but could not control them with Divine Sense.

Li Yan recovered from his injuries and tested the limits of the strange place, discovering that his divine sense and magical power remained suppressed and that he could not tear open space to escape. After traveling across the seemingly uniform region, he began investigating the sky with a blow from his Heavy Water Bead.

• Li Yan surrounded himself with formations and gu insects, then spent four days restoring his magical power and divine sense.
• Li Yan flew upward but found no end to the sky and failed to open a spatial rift, even with the Sandstar King Stone.
• Li Yan traveled for seven days and found that his divine sense remained confined to his body and his magical power still circulated poorly.
• Li Yan reasoned that the suppression likely affected any other cultivators or Demon Beasts in the region as well, and decided to conserve his divine sense.
• Li Yan flew a hundred zhang into the air and struck the void with his Heavy Water Bead, shaking the sky and frightening nearby animals.

Li Yan failed to break through the strange space and traveled across Autumn Creek Plain, where he discovered that the five-element spiritual energy behaved unnaturally. After searching Demon Beasts’ memories for information, he headed southwest toward human settlements and reached a vast river separating the plain from distant mountains.

• Li Yan’s strongest punch and the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief failed to reveal a way out, so he left markers and set off to search for clues.
• After flying for five days, Li Yan sensed that the rich five-element spiritual energy was strangely stiff and could weaken rapidly cast spells, though he found no harm within his body.
• A first-rank Demon Beast attacked Li Yan, who captured it and used Tuban to search its memories, learning that he was in Autumn Creek Plain and that human cultivators lived there.
• Li Yan captured two more Demon Beasts and learned that the plain’s edge lay nearby, with humans living southwest of it, so he restored his divine sense and headed that way.
• After another day of flight, Li Yan reached a hundred-li-wide river separating Autumn Creek Plain from a vast mountain range.

Li Yan discovered a mortal village using spirit-stone-powered defenses as its villagers fought a powerful boar Demon Beast. The beast shattered their wall with its innate ability and charged the helpless survivors.

• Li Yan found a village where mortals used formations, spirit weapons, and talismans to defend themselves against a first-tier boar Demon Beast.
• The village chief directed the villagers as they struggled to damage the beast and keep the defensive wall intact.
• The Demon Beast unleashed its blood-red tusks, shattering the wall and killing or injuring several villagers.
• The village chief ordered the survivors to defend themselves as the beast charged and the villagers hurled talismans at it.

Li Yan rescued Wu Lei’s village from a powerful boar Demon Beast and questioned the creature, learning little about the strange region beyond the name of a nearby river. After Wu Lei explained that the village’s able-bodied adults were growing “soul crystal sprouts” and begged for medicine for the dying, Li Yan paused his plans to question the villagers and decided to help them first.

• The boar Demon Beast broke through the villagers’ defenses, badly wounded Wu Lei, and charged to kill him.
• A young man in black seized the Demon Beast in midair, and Li Yan later killed it after questioning it with a spell.
• Li Yan learned that the Demon Beast had awakened near a breakthrough after swallowing a clam pearl, but its answers offered little useful information.
• Li Yan noticed that no children or elderly people were present and asked Wu Lei why the village had no contact with outsiders.
• Wu Lei explained that the adults were staying there to grow “soul crystal sprouts,” then begged Li Yan for medicine to save the gravely wounded villagers.
• Li Yan paused his planned questioning and decided to give the villagers pills before proceeding.

Li Yan saved Wu Lei and the villagers from a demon beast, then discovered they had secretly crushed an object and killed them after questioning them about the Dizhen Domain. After an unexplained passage of time, Wu Lei and surviving villagers faced a different black-robed cultivator investigating a bounty talisman, and Wu Lei claimed it had been activated by accident during the fight.

• Li Yan gave Wu Lei pills that revived the wounded villagers, while Wu Lei secretly crushed an object inside his robe.
• Li Yan confronted Wu Lei about the object, killed the villagers, and questioned Wu Lei, learning that the place was called the Dizhen Domain.
• After what seemed to be a passage of time, Wu Lei called on the villagers to check for survivors among the dead.
• A black-robed cultivator appeared and asked Wu Lei whether he had sent out a bounty talisman.
• Wu Lei showed the cultivator four talismans and claimed one had been activated accidentally while the villagers fought the demon beast.

Li Yan ambushed and killed the black-robed Golden Core Realm cultivator who had come to collect the village's soul crystal shoots, but failed to capture him alive for a soul search. After destroying the village and concealing the evidence, Li Yan flew on, while two Nascent Soul Realm cultivators arrived to investigate.

• Wu Lei pleaded for his life by offering the black-robed cultivator the village's mature soul crystal shoots, then led him to the underground field.
• The black-robed cultivator harvested every soul crystal shoot, but Zhili Poison weakened him as he left, and he noticed Li Yan's soul attack before collapsing.
• Li Yan tried to stop the black-robed cultivator from killing himself, but arrived too late; he searched the body and found a black jade bracelet he could not open with divine sense.
• Li Yan burned Wu Lei and the black-robed cultivator, killed the remaining villagers, and used his concealment ability to leave the area.
• Two Nascent Soul Realm cultivators arrived at the village, stayed briefly, then split up and flew in different directions.

Li Yan evaded a broad search for foreign cultivators across Dizhen Domain, where Soul Cultivators used magical treasures to detect intruders. After a gray-haired Nascent Soul cultivator from the Yellow Springs Path exposed him and attacked, Li Yan struck at close range, captured him, and fled.

• Two Nascent Soul stewards found no trace of Li Yan or the vanished villagers, and the sect alerted neighboring factions to search for foreign evil spirit cultivators.
• Li Yan escaped the most heavily searched area, then hid from groups of cultivators whose magical treasures disturbed his soul and weakened his concealment.
• After traveling farther into Dizhen Domain, Li Yan's soul reacted violently near a forest, and a gray-haired old man revealed himself and identified him as a suspected intruder.
• The old man launched silent soul-based attacks, but Li Yan dodged them and the old man recognized him as a Soul Cultivator rather than an evil spirit cultivator.
• Li Yan used the Phoenix Soars to Heaven movement technique to close the distance and struck the old man's neck with his poisoned palm, incapacitating him.
• Li Yan seized the unconscious old man and fled at high speed.

Li Yan searched a late Nascent Soul Soul Cultivator’s memories and learned that Dizhen Domain was a sealed world formed from the corpse of the ancient heavenly demon Dreamreturn Ant. He discovered that no one who entered had ever escaped and that the domain’s laws prevented cultivation beyond the Integration stage, leaving his path home uncertain.

• Li Yan’s Soul Search triggered a forbidden memory seal, and the gray-haired elder’s soul collapsed and died after Li Yan shattered its defensive blade.
• Li Yan learned that Soul Cultivators detected nearby beings through soul-power fluctuations and obtained several basic techniques, though he failed to find the detection arts he wanted.
• The elder’s memories revealed that Dizhen Domain lay within the Immortal-Spirit Realm’s Heavenly Demon Grassland and had formed from the remains of the Dreamreturn Ant.
• Li Yan learned that the domain’s laws suppressed Divine Sense, prevented cultivators above Spirit Transformation from entering, and limited its strongest cultivators to the Integration stage.
• Li Yan discovered that even Integration-stage cultivators had never escaped Dizhen Domain and that no one could reach the Tribulation Transcendence Realm there.

Li Yan learned from the gray-haired old man’s memories how the Soul-Quelling Palace had been swept into the secret realm and established Dizhen Domain, and why its cultivators hunted newcomers. The chapter ended with the Soul-Quelling Palace capturing more than a dozen foreign cultivators who had entered the domain.

• Li Yan uncovered the Soul-Quelling Palace’s history in the gray-haired old man’s memories.
• The Soul-Quelling Palace fled its enemies, crossed the Heavenly Demon Grassland, and was swept into the secret realm.
• After failing to find an exit, the surviving cultivators explored the realm and rebuilt their sect in its richest spiritual-energy region, naming it Dizhen Domain.
• The Soul-Quelling Palace discovered that Demon Beasts were also being swept into the realm and hunted many of them while searching for the passage they had entered through.
• The Soul-Quelling Palace later found more than a dozen foreign cultivators and quickly captured them.

The chapter recounted how the Soul-Quelling Palace conquered and developed the Dizhen Domain, discovering Soul Crystal Sprouts and Crystal Mist Ground that fueled its cultivation and prosperity. The palace eventually ruled the domain and found jade slips and magical treasure fragments that hinted at further secrets.

• The Soul-Quelling Palace enslaved captured foreign cultivators, exploiting men for labor and women as Furnace Cauldrons, while Soul Cultivators who entered had to join the sect and share their techniques.
• The sect master advanced to the middle stage of the Void Refinement Realm and led an expedition through deadly Miasma to a vast mountain range, where the palace established its true sect.
• The cultivators discovered Soul Crystal Sprouts, developed Soul Crystal Pills from them, and learned the plants could also help create storage-space magical treasures.
• An elder found Crystal Mist Ground where transplanted Soul Crystal Sprouts could thrive, and the palace began sealing and cultivating these plots.
• The Soul-Quelling Palace recruited mortal descendants to find Crystal Mist Ground and grow Soul Crystal Sprouts, while the domain's towns, villages, clans, and smaller sects expanded.
• The palace explored more dangerous regions and found jade slips and fragments of magical treasures, then examined the slips for clues.

Li Yan learned that the Dizhen Domain lay inside a dead heavenly demon and that even Fusion Realm cultivators had been unable to leave. He began studying Soul Cultivator techniques to disguise himself and survive, but his first attempt to pass as one was interrupted when three cultivators blocked his path.

• Li Yan learned how Soul-Suppressing Palace had explored the heavenly demon’s corpse and established its sect after discovering a sacred ground that enabled a breakthrough to the Fusion Realm.
• Li Yan accepted that finding an exit was beyond his immediate reach and focused on staying alive among the Soul Cultivators.
• Li Yan realized that the Guiyi Water-Parting Spike had trained him to affect souls, giving him the potential to disguise himself as a Soul Cultivator.
• Li Yan failed to open the two dead cultivators’ Void Shadow bracelets and decided to study the gray-haired old man’s basic Soul Cultivator techniques.
• After five days of practice, Li Yan loosened the bracelets’ soul imprints and set out to test his disguise, but three cultivators stopped him and asked where he had come from.

Li Yan passed Yellow Springs Path inspections by posing as a Soul Cultivator while traveling through Dizhen Domain. After learning that the Soul Suppression Palace’s Integration Realm elders might know how to escape the domain, he decided to improve his Soul Cultivator techniques before trying to join the palace.

• A Yellow Springs Path steward questioned Li Yan and tested him with a soul-detection treasure, then let him pass after he demonstrated control of soul and po power.
• Li Yan learned that Yellow Springs Path believed several powerful evil spirit cultivators had entered the region and were killing cultivators, and he passed more inspections while flying east.
• Li Yan declined an invitation to join a sect because his Soul Cultivator abilities could not withstand close scrutiny, and he reached a marketplace.
• Li Yan bought soul slips and learned about the Soul Suppression Palace’s Integration Realm elders, the domain’s perilous places, and the possibility that the elders were seeking a way out.
• Li Yan concluded that joining the Soul Suppression Palace could help him obtain escape-related information, but he needed Soul Cultivator techniques to make his strong soul power seem credible.
• Li Yan decided to buy better Soul Cultivator cultivation techniques before seeking entry to the Soul Suppression Palace, then put away the soul slips and left the inn.

Li Yan rented a secluded cave residence in Soulbreaker City and began cultivating the Soul Condensation Art and basic soul arts. Eight years later, Ren Yanyu had reached Spirit Transformation and questioned why Li Yan had vanished while the others who fled with him returned.

• Li Yan searched for cultivation methods and soul arts, then chose a remote, inexpensive cave residence near Soulbreaker City.
• Li Yan inspected and secured the cave residence, spending nearly a hundred thousand mid-grade spirit stones to rent it for ten years.
• Li Yan studied the Soul Condensation Art and basic soul arts, then entered cultivation.
• Eight years passed, and Ren Yanyu reached Spirit Transformation and recovered from her injuries.
• Ren Yanyu told Shangguan Tianque she suspected the Donglin Lineage's account of Li Yan's disappearance and worried he had been captured by the Great-Winged Golden Roc clan.