Chapter Summaries

Li Yan connected the broken earthen jar, the Sacred Soul Transformation, and the Soul Prison Clan, concluding that Soul-Suppressing Palace was likely a branch of the clan and choosing to keep his discoveries secret. As Soul-Suppressing Palace and the nine major forces fought to a stalemate, he resumed cultivating in the Civil and Martial Hall to strengthen his spirits before the sect’s Supreme Elders could emerge.

• Li Yan studied the statues and the jar’s vanished writing, and inferred that the Sacred Soul Transformation and the Soul Prison Clan were tied to the Immortal-Seeking Lineage.
• Li Yan concluded that Soul-Suppressing Palace was probably a branch that had received an incomplete inheritance, while the Soul Prison Clan’s true inheritors had vanished from Qingqing Continent.
• Li Yan decided not to reveal the jar or the complete cultivation art, fearing that doing so could bring fatal consequences.
• Li Yan sat before the martial general statue and began cultivating from Qi Condensation onward to restore the power of his other five spirits.
• Soul-Suppressing Palace and the nine major forces fought a fierce stalemate, while most allied Soul Cultivator sects offered little real support and both sides raced to achieve their aims.

The nine great powers’ counterattack against Soul-Suppressing Palace stalled amid hidden formations and heavy casualties, while Xue Tieyi’s strength rallied the Palace’s defenders. Seven months later, Li Yan carried out a dangerous cultivation process that consumed his seven corporeal souls and three Heaven, Earth, and Man souls before he sent a black droplet into the resulting mist.

• Soul-Suppressing Palace’s concealed formations inflicted casualties on the nine great powers and repeatedly halted their advance.
• Xue Tieyi suppressed several enemy Void Refinement cultivators and returned unharmed, boosting Soul-Suppressing Palace’s morale.
• Seven months later, Li Yan meditated in the Hall of Civil and Martial Affairs, surrounded by formations and more than a hundred Gu insects.
• Li Yan’s seven corporeal souls formed a spinning black halo that drew black qi from his seven apertures.
• Li Yan’s three Heaven, Earth, and Man souls vanished into the halo, and his seven corporeal souls dissolved into black-and-red mist.
• Li Yan formed a hand seal, produced a black droplet, and flicked it into the mist.

Li Yan completed his Soul Cultivator breakthrough, bringing the power of the stars to great perfection, then fell into a prolonged state of contemplation over the laws of the Five Elements and the Fuxi Disk. More than a year later, Master Lan sent Tang Feng to assess him, but an unexpected Nascent Soul-level Heavenly Tribulation arose in the forbidden grounds before they could act.

• Li Yan absorbed the black-and-red mist, reunited his three souls and seven spirits, and reached great perfection in the power of the stars.
• Li Yan reflected on the Yin-Yang breakthrough and began circulating his Gui Water true qi along unfamiliar meridians as he contemplated the laws of the Five Elements and the Fuxi Disk.
• Li Yan remained motionless in deep contemplation for another half year, while Master Lan worried that he had failed to report his cultivation progress after more than a year.
• Tang Feng told Master Lan he had sensed abundant soul-force near Li Yan and had avoided disturbing him, so Master Lan gave him a mirror to measure Li Yan’s power of the stars without interrupting his cultivation.
• Master Lan and Tang Feng sensed thunder from the forbidden grounds and realized that someone was undergoing a Heavenly Tribulation above the Nascent Soul stage.

Li Yan broke through to the Spirit Transformation Realm after a sudden enlightenment and survived his Heavenly Tribulation using the Gui Water True Scripture alongside Sacred Soul Transformation. Master Lan and Tang Feng recognized that he had cultivated the power of the Cold Moon and began preparing their next plan, while Li Yan reflected on how his unconventional cultivation had shaped his understanding of the laws.

• Master Lan and Tang Feng entered the rear area after detecting a Heavenly Tribulation and confirmed that Li Yan was the one breaking through.
• Li Yan left the Hall of Civil and Martial Arts, moved to a wasteland, and successfully endured the Spirit Transformation Heavenly Tribulation.
• Master Lan and Tang Feng visited Li Yan, saw him demonstrate the power of the Cold Moon, and decided to proceed with their plan after he recovered and stabilized his realm.
• Master Lan and Tang Feng left to inform the Sect Master, while Master Lan warned Tang Feng that their plan still depended on uncertain conjectures.
• Li Yan recalled how his Five Elements and Yin-Yang insights, combined with the Gui Water True Scripture and Sacred Soul Transformation, had helped him survive the tribulation.
• Li Yan continued examining the limits of the Five Elements and other Dao lineages as he considered how his unorthodox cultivation had influenced his path.

Li Yan integrated his insights into the laws of yin and yang and the five elements, then tested Soul-Guiding Death after reaching Spirit Transformation. He discovered that his soul body could draw out all three souls, while his physical body could now reach the earth soul, and reflected on the risks and implications of using the technique.

• Li Yan’s reflections on immortality led him to unite his three souls and seven spirits into a soul body and inscribe a Black Water Rune.
• Li Yan struck the rune and created a black-hole vortex filled with trapped ghosts, then sensed its contents and closed it with his Soul-Guiding Talisman Brushes.
• Li Yan repeated Soul-Guiding Death using his physical body and found that it drew out human and earth souls but no heaven souls.
• Li Yan concluded that his soul body could draw out all three souls, but decided against using it casually because it would expose his own souls and spirits.
• Li Yan examined his expanded Gui Water spiritual power and recognized that Spirit Transformation depended increasingly on drawing upon the laws and power of heaven and earth.

After reaching the Spirit Transformation Realm, Li Yan examined how his Nascent Soul, body, Fragmented Poison Body, and techniques had changed, then took pills from Master Lan to stabilize his cultivation. Meanwhile, the war in the Dizhen Domain continued as Soul Suppression Palace’s defenses kept the nine great powers from breaking through, at great cost to both sides.

• Li Yan observed that the Undying Nether Phoenix essence blood had further merged with his Nascent Soul and wondered whether it might eventually reproduce within him.
• Li Yan found that his Qiongqi Purgatory Art bottleneck had loosened, while his Fragmented Poison Body had produced a new, weak toxin and strengthened its existing toxins.
• Li Yan reviewed the enlarged sea of consciousness and the Spirit Transformation Realm methods for his Gui Water True Scripture and other techniques.
• Li Yan considered how his improved understanding of heaven-and-earth laws might help the Tide Falls technique reach major accomplishment, then swallowed pills from Master Lan to stabilize his realm.
• The nine great powers remained unable to break through Soul Suppression Palace’s defenses, and both sides continued to suffer casualties as the war dragged on.

The Soul-Subduing Palace faced growing defections and worsening losses as the nine great powers spread rumors that its Supreme Elders were dead. Master Lan announced a false timeline for awakening them, then revealed to Xue Tieyi that she intended to seek the Supreme Elders that very day.

• The nine great powers intensified their attacks and rumors, while doubts and unrest spread within the Soul-Subduing Palace.
• Void Refinement elders argued over whether to retreat behind the sect-protecting grand formation or continue fighting outside it.
• Master Lan told the gathered elders that reaching the final stage of the Supreme Elders' awakening would take another year and a half, followed by up to three months to finish.
• After the others left, Xue Tieyi warned Master Lan that waiting could let the situation collapse and proposed retreating or assassinating old Daoist Shenyi.
• Master Lan told Xue Tieyi that her timeline was a lie and said they would seek the Supreme Elders immediately, resorting to the other plan if they failed.

Xue Tieyi, Master Lan, Tang Feng, and Li Yan crossed a lethal red-sand desert on Xue Tieyi’s sword as part of a secret plan concerning two Supreme Elders. After Tang Feng explained that the apparently quiet sand was attacking them, the group descended toward their destination.

• Master Lan confirmed that Li Yan’s cultivation had stabilized, secretly took him from the Hall of Literature and Martial Arts, and brought him to Xue Tieyi and Tang Feng.
• Xue Tieyi activated a restricted teleportation array and transported the group to a vast red desert.
• Xue Tieyi warned Li Yan to remain on his sword because the desert was deadly even to Void Refinement cultivators.
• Tang Feng explained that invisible attacks from the red grains of sand could kill them, and Li Yan realized the desert served as a natural barrier protecting their destination.
• The sword carried the four deeper into the desert, then descended as Tang Feng announced they had arrived.

Li Yan tested how spiritual power, soul power, and the power of the Cold Moon behaved beyond the membrane between two mountains, confirming that only the Cold Moon power could travel through and remain under his control. Master Lan then revealed that the Dizhen Domain lay inside a fallen Heavenly Demon and that the passage ahead might lead to an exit; she began explaining Soul Suppression Palace’s search for one.

• Master Lan instructed Li Yan to probe the gap between the mountains with three kinds of power, and he found that spiritual power was scattered, soul power became uncontrollable, and Cold Moon power remained intact but was consumed and difficult to locate.
• Li Yan reported his findings, and Master Lan and Xue Tieyi confirmed that they matched their deductions.
• Master Lan told Li Yan that the space beyond the mountains might contain a way out of the Dizhen Domain, shocking him.
• Master Lan explained that the Dizhen Domain had formed from the Dreamreturn Ant, a fallen Heavenly Demon, and that the mountains might mark its throat, beyond which its seven apertures could provide a way out.
• Master Lan revealed that the first-generation old sect master had searched for an exit after discovering that the Heavenly Demon’s laws capped cultivation at the Body Integration Realm, and that he eventually focused his search on the deadly land beyond his sect.

The Soul Suppression Palace recounted how its old sect master and later two Supreme Elders vanished in the mist behind the two peaks. After Master Lan and Xue Tieyi sensed Elder Tang’s cold moon power there, they concluded that using the same power might guide the lost elders back to the exit.

• The old sect master and five Void Refinement cultivators entered the mist behind the two peaks and never returned, and the old sect master’s soul lamp eventually went out.
• Two Body Integration Realm Supreme Elders later entered the region to search for the old sect master and seek breakthroughs, but they disappeared while their soul lamps stayed lit.
• After the barrier was breached, Xue Tieyi entered the mist and barely escaped after nearly losing his way.
• Master Lan sensed a faint force in the mist, and Xue Tieyi identified it as the cold moon power of Elder Tang’s Sacred Soul Transformation technique.
• Xue Tieyi and Master Lan waited for decades before Xue Tieyi sensed the cold moon power again, but he could not communicate with it through the mist.
• Xue Tieyi and the trusted elders reasoned that sending matching soul power into the mist might let Elder Tang sense the exit and follow it back.

Master Lan and Xue Tieyi explained how the Soul Suppression Palace had tried to reach the trapped Supreme Elders and asked Li Yan to search for them using the power of the cold moon. Li Yan accepted ten bottles of rare soul-restoring pills and prepared to begin the search.

• Xue Tieyi’s attempts to control star power beyond the barrier failed, and he and the elders could not advance beyond the power of stars despite cultivating the Sacred Soul Transformation.
• Master Lan revealed that the two Supreme Elders were lost in a strange space, and Li Yan realized the secret could provoke the forces of the Dizhen Domain if exposed.
• Tang Feng revealed that Supreme Elder Tang was his great-grandfather and that he had been entrusted with bringing him home; Xue Tieyi said Tang Feng was the rear hall’s most gifted disciple and the sect master’s likely successor.
• Master Lan told Li Yan to sweep the power of the cold moon from outside inward so that it might meet Elder Tang’s power and guide him toward the exit.
• Master Lan gave Li Yan ten bottles of pills that restored soul power, warning him to save the final two bottles as emergency reserves.

Li Yan used Master Lan’s Pills to sustain his cold-moon power while probing through the mountain cleft for Elder Tang, but the search consumed the supplies without finding him. As the last Pills ran low, Li Yan realized that their shared cultivation of the technique might let him use their Soul Fate Stars to locate one another.

• Li Yan began probing through the mountain cleft with his cold-moon power while Xue Tieyi and Master Lan guarded him.
• Li Yan needed three Pills to replenish his power, and the rate of consumption increased as he continued searching.
• Xue Tieyi left after confirming that Li Yan could send his power into the cleft, while Master Lan and Tang Feng remained on guard.
• Li Yan’s probing repeatedly changed direction unpredictably, and he worried that the search would fail before the Pills ran out.
• With the final Pills being used and no sign of Elder Tang, Li Yan thought that their similar Soul Fate Stars might help him find the other cultivator.

Li Yan used his soul-host moon to search for Elder Tang’s moon and traced its light into the yellow mist beyond the mountain crevice. He left his heavenly and earthly souls in his body and sent cold moon power into the mist, with his human soul connecting the two sides.

• Li Yan withdrew most of his cold moon power and entered the hidden space where his three souls could search among the crescent moons.
• He examined eleven crescent moons and found that only the brightest one radiated moonlight he could sense, which he believed belonged to Elder Tang.
• Li Yan followed the moonlight down through the night sky to a dense yellow mist resembling the mist beyond the mountain crevice.
• He sent his human soul into the mist while his heavenly and earthly souls held it by an illusory rope, then pulled it back after it lost its direction inside.
• Li Yan concluded the moonlight could guide cold moon power through the mist, then sent a strand of it downward while his heavenly and earthly souls returned to his physical body.

Li Yan used his cold moon power to find Elder Tang and Elder Hao trapped behind an array restriction, then guided them out with the help of Master Lan’s pills. Their return set the Soul Suppressing Palace in motion against the rebels, and Li Yan went to speak with Mu Guyue.

• Li Yan followed a trace of cold moon power through the fog until an array restriction blocked his way, while Elder Tang sensed his approach from the island.
• Elder Tang opened the restriction for Li Yan’s cold moon power, understood his intent, and responded as Li Yan prepared to withdraw.
• With Master Lan’s remaining pills, Li Yan guided Elder Tang and Elder Hao through the barriers, and the two supreme elders emerged from the mountain crevice.
• Elder Tang and Elder Hao led Void Refinement elders out of the Soul Suppressing Palace, declaring, “Death to the rebels!”
• Li Yan returned to his courtyard, then went to Mu Guyue’s room and told her he needed to speak with her.

Li Yan gave Mu Guyue Soul Cultivator techniques and learned that the Soul-Quelling Palace’s two Supreme Elders had returned from seclusion. The elders prepared to destroy the Nine Great Powers, while Xue Tieyi made Li Yan a formal disciple of the Soul Palace Rear Hall.

• Li Yan told Mu Guyue that the war was nearing its end and offered her Soul Cultivator techniques and spells from the Spirit-Slaying Sect.
• Mu Guyue accepted the jade slip, realizing Li Yan had spent much of his Divine Sense preparing it for her.
• The two Supreme Elders recognized Li Yan’s role in their return, then learned from Master Lan that the sect faced a crisis and ordered everyone back to the sect.
• The Supreme Elders summoned the sect’s Void Refinement elders and ordered them to kill the Nine Great Powers, while Xue Tieyi and Lan Feng stayed behind to guard the sect.
• Xue Tieyi formally made Li Yan a disciple of the Soul Palace Rear Hall and told Tang Feng to arrange an excellent residence for him.

Li Yan prepared for the uncertainties surrounding the mountain mass as Soul Suppression Palace announced its victory over the nine great powers. After joining the rear hall as a core disciple, he entered one of its most prestigious cave abodes, while the mystery of the mountain mass remained unresolved.

• Li Yan considered the fate of the old Sect Master and the Void Refinement elders beyond the mountain mass, and resolved to investigate if an opportunity arose.
• The two Supreme Elders returned and announced that the nine great powers and their affiliated forces had been uprooted, with the remaining fugitives still being hunted.
• Tang Feng came to escort Li Yan to the rear hall, where Li Yan's entry was confirmed after Tang Feng revealed that the Sect Master had personally arranged it.
• Li Yan received a purple token and learned that the rear hall held only three hundred and sixteen cultivators, including three hidden Void Refinement elders.
• Tang Feng showed Li Yan the rear hall's residential peaks and led him to one of the nine cave abodes atop the middle peak.
• Li Yan used his token to open the cave abode's powerful formation and entered with Mu Guyue and Feng Hongyue.

Li Yan brought Mu Guyue and Feng Hongyue to his new cave residence, where they unexpectedly found Tinglan, whose cultivation remained sealed after her soul brand was removed. Mu Guyue reunited with Tinglan, and Li Yan began considering what to do about her.

• Li Yan led Mu Guyue and Feng Hongyue through the lavish cave residence and encountered Tinglan confined in a corridor.
• Mu Guyue recognized Tinglan, broke the weak spell restricting her, and learned that Tinglan's cultivation was sealed despite her soul brand being removed.
• Li Yan recalled that he had asked Master Lan for Tinglan as a reward for Mu Guyue and told the others to choose rooms and use the residence's facilities.
• Feng Hongyue left to choose a room while Mu Guyue stayed with the frightened Tinglan, who feared Li Yan intended to use her as a Furnace Cauldron.
• Mu Guyue asked Li Yan what should be done about Tinglan's sealed cultivation and removed soul brand, reminding him that he had forgotten the matter.

Li Yan planted a soul seal in Tinglan and arranged for her to receive cultivation resources and occasional tasks, while Mu Guyue concealed the truth about their past from her. Later, the sect master summoned Li Yan to recognize his contribution and present his rewards.

• Mu Guyue vouched for Tinglan, but Li Yan sealed her in a barrier and planted a soul seal in her, explaining that he could not trust her as he trusted Mu Guyue.
• Tinglan woke in a room with her cultivation restored and memories of the soul-seal ritual, then accused Mu Guyue of allowing her to be made into a furnace cauldron.
• Mu Guyue denied that Li Yan had violated her and told Tinglan that he would provide cultivation resources, then left her with a storage ring and a room.
• A steward disciple brought Li Yan to a secluded courtyard, where Sect Master Xue Tieyi, Grand Elder Tang San, and Master Lan were waiting.
• Xue Tieyi told Li Yan that his rear-hall position exempted him from his former century-long assignment and awarded him one thousand thousand-year soul crystal sprouts and Master Lan's eighth-grade Soul-Restoring Pill.

Li Yan received lavish rewards from Soul Suppression Palace and learned that the elders wanted him to focus on cultivating the Sacred Soul Transformation so he could help with a future task. Elder Tang revealed that the sect might have found hope of opening a passage out of the Dizhen Domain, leaving Li Yan stunned.

• Xue Tieyi gave Li Yan a thousand millennium soul crystal buds and explained the rarity and power of the Soul-Returning Pill, warning him to keep its existence secret.
• Li Yan realized the rewards were tied to another request, and Elder Tang the Third confirmed they were compensation for a task whether or not he succeeded.
• Elder Tang the Third asked Li Yan to devote himself to the Sacred Soul Transformation until his cold moon power exceeded fifty percent, explaining the benefits and the cost to his cultivation progress.
• Li Yan agreed to hear the task and suspected that it might lead him to the space behind the mountain.
• Elder Tang told Li Yan that the sect might have hope of finding a passage out of the Dizhen Domain, and Li Yan froze in shock.

Elder Tang told Li Yan that Soul-Suppressing Palace had found a possible passage to the outside and ordered him to cultivate the power of the Cold Moon in secrecy. Li Yan planned how to prepare for the task, then told Mu Guyue he might enter seclusion for more than a decade, leaving his plans uncertain.

• Elder Tang told Li Yan to cultivate the power of the Cold Moon beyond fifty percent and keep the passage secret.
• After Li Yan left, Xue Tieyi and Master Lan briefed Elder Tang on their formation research and search for missing materials.
• Elder Tang ordered Master Lan to continue her research and Xue Tieyi to search for the remaining materials and encourage other cultivators to develop the power of the Cold Moon.
• Elder Tang explained that he and the Second Elder had failed to investigate the dangerous space behind the forbidden mountain, and they discussed what might have happened to the old sect master.
• Li Yan reviewed his meeting with Elder Tang, weighed how quickly to cultivate the power of the Cold Moon, and settled on a plan.
• Li Yan gave Mu Guyue a storage ring for her and Tinglan's cultivation and said he might remain in seclusion for over a decade; Mu Guyue asked if he planned to attempt Spirit Transformation.