Chapter Summaries

Li Yan completed the first two stages of his cultivation plan, advancing his Qiongqi Purgatory Art and mastering the minor accomplishment of Parting Flowers, Brushing Willows before beginning Sacred Soul Transformation. During nearly seventy years of seclusion, Mu Guyue cultivated her soul method, Feng Hongyue remained stalled by his troubled state of mind, and Tinglan gradually overcame her fear of Li Yan and began cultivating.

• Li Yan advanced the Qiongqi Purgatory Art to Spirit Transformation and, after two more years of practice, stabilized it at the seventh level, where he learned of the difficult Prison Breaker technique.
• Li Yan spent twelve years cultivating Parting Flowers, Brushing Willows and produced three incarnations that could cast powerful, single-attribute spells.
• After testing the incarnations, Li Yan considered the second stage of his plan complete and began cultivating Sacred Soul Transformation to gain sixty percent of the cold moon power.
• During nearly seventy years of seclusion, Mu Guyue cultivated her soul method to the nascent soul early stage, while Feng Hongyue made little progress toward Void Refinement because the soul seal unsettled him.
• Tinglan watched Li Yan and Mu Guyue, grew convinced Li Yan had no immediate designs on her, and eventually began cultivating after more than a year of unease.

After leaving seclusion, Li Yan worried about the fate of Zhao Min and Gong Chenying and the dangers facing the Tianli Clan. Gong Chenying learned that Su Hong was still investigating reports of Li Yan in the North Pasture Realm, and she planned to search for him with Zhao Min after handling matters at home.

• Li Yan ended decades of secluded cultivation, having reached sixty percent of his Sacred Soul Transformation and improved his strength, then worried about his loved ones and the Tianli Clan.
• Gong Chenying and Zhao Min received Su Hong's report that someone in the North Pasture Realm had asked about Returning Home and ways to contact the lower realm, leading them to suspect Li Yan was alive.
• Wei Zhongran asked Zhao Min to urge Su Hong to continue the search, while Zi Kun carried the news to Qianji.
• Gong Chenying left the Phantom Sect for the Tianli Clan and learned at the Northern Abyss Demon Suppression Tower that Hongyin remained inside it.
• Su Hong later told Gong Chenying that she had found leads involving several sects and shops but had not located the person seeking Returning Home.
• Gong Chenying resolved to search for Li Yan with Zhao Min after settling her affairs, while the Tianli Clan's elders prepared to strengthen the clan before ascending.

Gong Chenying remembered Li Yan’s disappearance while Dong Fuyi searched the turbulent space and nearby realms for him. Su Hong received a report suggesting Li Yan had reached the Immortal-Spirit Realm and considered returning there to investigate.

• Gong Chenying recalled how Li Yan sacrificed himself to sweep away a Spirit Transformation sword cultivator and vowed to find him with Zhao Min.
• Dong Fuyi retraced how he and True Lord Qianzhong found traces of Li Yan’s battle and a vanished spatial node, then searched nearby realms without success.
• Dong Fuyi continued investigating spatial fragments and planned to hunt down the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect members he suspected were following him.
• Su Hong visited Shopkeeper Ni at a Return Home trading house and received an upper-realm report suggesting the person she sought was in the far west.
• Su Hong reasoned that Li Yan had entered an ascension node and reached the Immortal-Spirit Realm, then considered returning there to search for him herself.

Zhao Min grieved for Zhao Zhi and waited for news of Li Yan, while Li Zhaoyan became Bai Rou’s disciple and advanced in puppet arts. Qianji and Zi Kun learned that foreign cultivators were searching for established miscellaneous spirit root cultivators and hurried back to the Desolate Moon Continent, suspecting the search concerned Li Yan.

• Zhao Zhi perished beneath her Nascent Soul Heavenly Tribulation after ordering Wei Zhongran and Zhao Min to retreat, leaving Zhao Min devastated and Wei Zhongran distraught.
• Wei Zhongran instructed Li Wuyi and Li Zhaoyan, then left the sect with Mo Qing as Zhao Min resolved to leave once Senior Sister Ying returned.
• Zhao Min asked Bai Rou to accept Li Zhaoyan as her disciple, and Bai Rou taught Li Zhaoyan to improve a puppet designed to fight early Nascent Soul cultivators.
• Bai Rou hoped to ascend after Yuniang reached the Nascent Soul stage and considered visiting Grandmaster Shuang in case she encountered Li Yan.
• Qianji and Zi Kun discovered that foreign Nascent Soul cultivators were offering rewards for information about established miscellaneous spirit root cultivators, so they suspected the search targeted Li Yan and decided to return to the Desolate Moon Continent.

Qianji and Zi Kun continued watching the northern barrier for foreign cultivators and learned that Li Yan was among those suspected of having mixed spirit roots. Li Yan prepared Mu Guyue, Tinglan, and Feng Hongyue for a possible escape beyond the Heavenly Demon Grassland, then confirmed to Tang Feng that his Cold Moon power had exceeded fifty percent.

• Qianji and Zi Kun ambushed three Nascent Soul cultivators who had mentioned Li Yan, killed them, and learned that outsiders were investigating cultivators with mixed spirit roots rather than targeting Li Yan specifically.
• Gong Chenying had earlier urged Qianji and Zi Kun to investigate the outsiders and inform Zhao Min, then left for the Wind God Continent without finding further clues.
• Li Yan gave Mu Guyue a Void Shadow Ring and told her he might take part in a mission to find a way beyond the Heavenly Demon Grassland.
• Li Yan gathered Mu Guyue, Tinglan, and Feng Hongyue, concealed them inside Tuban, and prepared his cave abode and supplies for the mission.
• Li Yan told Tang Feng that his Cold Moon power had reached slightly more than fifty percent, and Tang Feng decided he could report the result to his great-grandfather for testing.

Li Yan demonstrated that he had cultivated more than half of the power of Cold Moon, giving Soul-Suppressing Palace hope of proceeding with its long-prepared plan. The elders revealed that the plan aimed to open a passage through the Dreamback Ant’s throat to the outside world, and explained how their first sect master had devised a formation to overcome the chaotic powers there.

• Elder Tang tested Li Yan’s power of Cold Moon and confirmed that he had cultivated more than fifty percent of it in less than a hundred years.
• Master Lan, Elder Hao, and the other elders celebrated Li Yan’s progress and agreed to begin the next stage of the plan.
• Sect Master Xue Tieyi told Li Yan that Soul-Suppressing Palace had been searching for an exit from the Dizhen Domain since its first sect master discovered the limits of cultivating there.
• Xue Tieyi explained that the first sect master had found outside power seeping through a cave behind the mountain, which he believed was the Dreamback Ant’s throat.
• Xue Tieyi described how the first sect master planned to use a formation powered by spirit stones and spiritual energy to advance through the throat and open a passage to the outside world.

Xue Tieyi recounted how the old sect master’s grand formation was damaged, leaving the mountain cleft shrouded in deadly yellow mist, and explained Soul-Suppressing Palace’s plan to investigate the cave again. Li Yan agreed to enter with Master Lan and Elder Hao, while Elder Tang would remain outside to guide his return.

• Xue Tieyi explained that the old sect master and five Void Refinement elders had vanished after an accident damaged their formation in the space beyond the mountain cleft.
• Xue Tieyi said the two Supreme Elders had explored the grand formation but gone missing, and that the old sect master’s party had likely died in the cave’s chaotic forces.
• Xue Tieyi told Li Yan that he would accompany Master Lan and Elder Hao into the space and release Cold Moon power monthly, while Elder Tang remained outside as a lifeline.
• Li Yan realized the mission was dangerous but agreed to take part because it might reveal an exit to the outside world.
• The two Supreme Elders left the hall, and Tang Feng urged Li Yan to give the mission everything he had.

Li Yan, Master Lan, and Elder Hao entered the mountain cleft and traveled through disorienting yellow mist, with Li Yan repeatedly releasing the power of Cold Moon to keep contact with Elder Tang. After finding the vast formation built by the old Sect Master, they followed Master Lan’s search across a blue sea and reached a reef island that stirred Elder Hao’s memories.

• Elder Tang instructed Li Yan to release the power of Cold Moon inside the mountain cleft, while Elder Hao took Li Yan and Master Lan in and Elder Tang stayed behind to guard the entrance.
• Li Yan traveled through the yellow mist with Elder Hao and Master Lan, periodically releasing the power of Cold Moon and struggling to judge the passage of time.
• After Li Yan had released the power of Cold Moon three hundred and fifteen times, Elder Hao found the grand formation built outside the cave by the old Sect Master.
• Master Lan led Li Yan and Elder Hao across the blue sea, stopping repeatedly to search for parts of the formation.
• The three arrived at a large reef island, where Elder Hao recalled the many years he and the Third Elder had spent there.

Li Yan accompanied Elder Hao and Master Lan to a mountain cave whose chaotic powers seemed to connect the island to the sea and draw outsiders into the Dizhen Domain. After Elder Hao warned him not to enter the cave, Li Yan tested its defenses and found his soul power shattered by the lights.

• Elder Hao explained that power leaking from the cave dispersed through the sea and could attract outsiders, and warned Li Yan not to dive too deep or enter the cave.
• Master Lan searched the area with a green compass while Elder Hao prepared to help her construct a formation.
• Li Yan stayed well back from the cave but sensed its deadly danger and used Cold Moon soul power to probe the entrance.
• The cave’s lights instantly shredded Li Yan’s soul power, jolting him and stirring turmoil in his soul.
• Li Yan summoned a black ring saber and sent it toward the cave’s edge.

Li Yan studied the dangerous powers surrounding the cave while Master Lan spent more than six years preparing a formation to strike its entrance. The formation’s single attack erupted with tremendous force, and the chapter ended as chaotic light battered Elder Hao’s defensive barrier.

• Li Yan tested the cave’s light barrier with his black ringed saber and judged that entering the cave would be deadly without strong protection.
• Li Yan explored the area and secretly conducted repeated tests near the cave while Master Lan investigated the formation and Elder Hao watched over them.
• For six years, Master Lan prepared to activate the formation, while Li Yan continued his research and checked for Elder Tang the Third’s Cold Moon power each month.
• Master Lan summoned Li Yan to a defensive barrier a hundred miles away before she and Elder Hao began the formation’s single strike.
• Master Lan’s formation launched a giant spiked sphere into the cave entrance, unleashing chaotic light that slammed into Elder Hao’s barrier.

Master Lan and Elder Hao used a powerful formation to break through the cave’s restrictions, but the chaotic energies began regenerating before they could reach the far entrance. After their efforts to contain or destroy the passage failed, Li Yan arrived and offered to try, sending out two magic treasures.

• Master Lan and Elder Hao drove a crimson spiked sphere through more than a hundred miles of cave, but their triangular formation exhausted its power before opening the passage completely.
• Master Lan explained that the restrictions regenerated because the cave had not been fully opened, then tried formations to stop the advancing chaotic energies.
• Elder Hao charged through the curtain of light but returned scorched, reporting that the chaotic energies continued for dozens of miles without a break.
• Master Lan’s formations and Elder Hao’s powerful spells failed to stop the energies, and his strongest strike could not destroy the cave.
• Elder Hao decided they had to retreat, but Li Yan arrived and offered to try, sending two magic treasures forward.

Li Yan used his twin brushes to transform the chaotic powers blocking the tunnel into water-element law power, allowing Elder Hao to extract it and merge it into the surrounding normal five-element energy. The trio began clearing a path forward, while Master Lan and Elder Hao were astonished by Li Yan’s technique.

• Li Yan entered the tunnel after seeing Elder Hao and Master Lan retreating from the advancing chaotic powers.
• Li Yan used his twin brushes to draw yin-yang-like circles that transformed the chaotic powers into pure water-element law power.
• Li Yan asked Elder Hao to extract the transformed power before it reverted to its chaotic state.
• Elder Hao pulled the water-element law power away, where it merged into the normal five-element energy surrounding them.
• Elder Hao extracted more transformed power, opening a small patch of space, and praised Li Yan’s technique.

Li Yan used Five Elements Return to Primordial Chaos to turn the cavern’s chaotic forces into singular powers, concealing the technique behind yin-yang laws from the Sacred Soul Transformation. Elder Hao and Master Lan helped clear the path, though Li Yan knew they might grow suspicious as they advanced.

• Li Yan explained to Elder Hao that he had comprehended yin-yang laws from the Sacred Soul Transformation while continuing to control his brush-like weapons.
• Li Yan recalled how he had discovered that Five Elements Return to Primordial Chaos could transform chaotic forces into singular powers, and decided to risk revealing a disguised version of the technique.
• Elder Hao and Master Lan considered Li Yan’s explanation, exchanged a glance, and set aside their suspicions to focus on clearing the cavern.
• Li Yan merged patches of chaotic power across the light screen, while Elder Hao and Master Lan extracted the converted power.
• The three advanced faster than the chaotic forces could spread, and an eerie calm settled over the cavern.

Li Yan, Elder Hao, and Master Lan pushed through the chaotic forces as Li Yan used Flying Spirit Pills to restore his spiritual power. After seven days, Li Yan stopped advancing to question how Elder Hao and Master Lan planned to deal with him, while the newly orderly area began filling with chaotic force again.

• Li Yan asked to retreat and recover, but Elder Hao gave him Flying Spirit Pills and warned him to divide each pill into five doses.
• Li Yan swallowed one portion of a Flying Spirit Pill, restored most of his spiritual power, and resumed breaking through the restrictions.
• Over the next seven days, Li Yan advanced with Elder Hao and Master Lan, who coordinated their efforts around his progress.
• After Master Lan swept away a patch of force, the group noticed that the chaotic forces ahead had become more orderly and less solid.
• Li Yan stopped his brushes, and Elder Hao angrily demanded to know what he was doing as chaotic force rushed back into the cleared area.
• Li Yan asked Elder Hao and Master Lan how they intended to deal with him afterward.

Li Yan admitted that he was an outsider cultivator and used his role in clearing the chaos to bargain with Elder Hao and Master Lan before they escaped the passage. He revealed that the Li Yan before them was only a soulless avatar, leaving the two elders wary of his intentions.

• Li Yan stopped clearing the chaotic forces and threatened to withhold his help until Elder Hao and Master Lan negotiated with him.
• Elder Hao and Master Lan repeatedly cleared the chaos Li Yan had fused as he explained that his value to them would diminish once they escaped.
• Li Yan admitted he was an outsider cultivator but said he had never betrayed the Soul Suppression Palace and had helped the sect.
• Li Yan warned that the elders could use a soul imprint to control him after escaping, prompting Elder Hao to threaten to plant one immediately.
• Li Yan revealed that he was only an avatar formed by a spell and that it had no soul.

Li Yan revealed that his body before Elder Hao and Master Lan was an incarnation, while his true body remained hidden inside Tuban, and he risked everything to seek a way out. After surviving Elder Hao’s test and drawing the elders’ attention with a question about the Immortal-Seeking Lineage, Li Yan faced Elder Hao’s demand to explain how he knew of it.

• Li Yan weighed the risks of keeping Tuban with his incarnation and decided that gambling with his life was his only chance to escape the Dizhen Domain.
• Elder Hao bound Li Yan and probed for his soul, but found no soul to mark; Elder Hao and Master Lan then searched for Li Yan’s hidden true body without success.
• Li Yan asked Elder Hao and Master Lan what promise they would offer in exchange for his help escaping, while they continued searching and deliberated.
• Li Yan asked whether the elders knew of the Immortal-Seeking Lineage, and Elder Hao’s aura blasted him away before he regained control.
• Li Yan swallowed a Flying Spirit Pill, returned to stop the chaotic power from spreading, and repeated the lineage’s name; Elder Hao demanded to know how he had learned of it.

Li Yan revealed that he had inherited the Martial General lineage, prompting Elder Hao and Master Lan to recognize his connection to the Soul Prison Clan. After Li Yan proved his claim with the complete Condensation Qi Realm method for Sacred Soul Transformation, Elder Hao asked which ancestral lineage he belonged to.

• Elder Hao pressed Li Yan to explain his identity after Li Yan returned safely.
• Li Yan said he had inherited the Martial General lineage and asked why the Soul-Suppressing Palace possessed the Hall of Civil and Martial.
• Master Lan connected Li Yan's rapid cultivation of Sacred Soul Transformation to his having obtained the complete technique.
• Li Yan described the long-alley formation and asked why the sect possessed the Martial General statue.
• Master Lan asked Li Yan to show the Condensation Qi Realm method for the additional five corporeal souls, and he sent her a soul jade slip.
• After verifying the technique, Elder Hao asked Li Yan whether he came from the Great Ancestor's lineage or the Second Ancestor's lineage.

Li Yan, Elder Hao, and Master Lan agreed to cooperate after Elder Hao swore a soul curse confirming the Soul-Suppressing Palace’s connection to Li Yan’s clan. They cleared the cave’s chaotic power and reached a silver desert, but Elder Hao discovered that crossing it led to gorges filled with even stronger chaotic power.

• Li Yan recalled Su Hong’s account that three Immortal-Seeking Lineage members founded the Soul Prison Clan, then pressed Elder Hao and Master Lan to explain their connection to him.
• Elder Hao swore a soul curse not to harm Li Yan and revealed that the Soul-Suppressing Palace came from the same clan and had been searching for its clansmen.
• Li Yan, Elder Hao, and Master Lan continued clearing the chaotic power until the cave opened onto a silver desert, where the Five Elements rules began to feel normal again.
• Elder Hao investigated the desert and returned, warning that its silver light could turn a Nascent Soul to silver in fewer than a hundred breaths.
• Elder Hao reported that the desert ended at mountain ranges and gorges filled with chaotic power more than twice as strong as what they had cleared, leaving the trio facing another dangerous obstacle.

Li Yan, Master Lan, and Elder Hao crossed the silver desert and slowly opened a canyon through the Dreamback Ant’s teeth, finally reaching a vast forest beyond it. Li Yan and his companions emerged from the deadly region, while Elder Tang San had spent months outside fearing they had perished.

• Elder Hao revealed that the canyon ahead likely led out through the Dreamback Ant’s mouth, and he carried Li Yan and Master Lan across the silver desert to it.
• Li Yan, Master Lan, and Elder Hao began clearing the canyon’s chaotic forces, advancing inch by inch over four months as their pills dwindled.
• Master Lan sensed that the canyon was nearly open, and eight days later Li Yan detected the outside world but continued clearing the remaining chaotic forces.
• Li Yan, Master Lan, and Elder Hao burst out of the canyon into a vast forest, where Li Yan found wild beasts but no demonic beasts within ten thousand li.
• Elder Tang San continued searching for the group and considered notifying Xue Tieyi after another two months without contact.

Li Yan, Elder Hao, and Master Lan emerged from the Dizhen Domain into what they believed was the Heavenly Demon Grassland and cautiously surveyed their surroundings. They secured the passage entrance and planned to return to the Soul Suppressing Palace to organize its use and search for the old sect master and the missing elders.

• Master Lan and Elder Hao marveled at their restored Divine Sense, while Li Yan warned them that the area might be dangerous and urged them to conceal the passage.
• Master Lan laid concealment and defensive formations at the canyon entrance as Li Yan and Elder Hao investigated the surrounding area.
• Li Yan and Elder Hao judged that they were probably on the outskirts of the Heavenly Demon Grassland, though they considered that the area could be a Demon Beast clan's heartland or a region avoided because of the Dream-Returning Ant's strange phenomena.
• Elder Hao reassured Master Lan that the outside world offered new resources and opportunities, and she resolved to learn about it while planning the next steps.
• Master Lan proposed reinforcing the exit, returning to inform the Soul Suppressing Palace's core members, controlling who could use the passage, and searching for the old sect master and the missing elders.