Chapter Summaries

Li Yan asked Elder Hao and Master Blue to explain the Soul-Calming Palace before revealing more about his own lineage. Elder Hao traced the Soul Prison Clan’s origins to three sworn brothers, leaving their story at the moment they escaped an evil cultivator’s restraints.

• Li Yan reasoned that the passage facing the great maw was the likeliest exit, though the Soul-Calming Palace still needed to search the canyons for the old sect master and seal any other routes.
• Elder Hao invoked the Soul Curse, then asked Li Yan whether he belonged to the Great Ancestor’s or Second Ancestor’s lineage and what had become of their clansmen.
• Li Yan asked Elder Hao to explain the Soul-Calming Palace so he could verify their claim of shared ancestry, and Elder Hao agreed.
• Elder Hao explained that the Soul-Calming Palace belonged to the Third Ancestor’s lineage and recounted how three ministers of an ancient dynasty joined the Immortal-Seeking Lineage, found an immortal art, and began cultivating.
• After an evil cultivator captured and restrained the three brothers for soul refinement, the eldest eventually broke free and helped the other two destroy their restraints.

The chapter recounted how the three founders created the Soul Prison Clan and joined the war against the Devil Race. After the Great Ancestor was left behind in a disastrous battle, the Second Ancestor learned what had happened and headed alone into the Lost Continent.

• The three brothers found a Soul Cultivator technique, developed it into Sacred Soul Transformation, and later founded the Soul Prison Clan.
• When the Devil Race invaded the Azure Azure Continent, the Great Ancestor and Third Ancestor led the clan into battle, while the Second Ancestor stayed behind with his direct disciples.
• The Soul Prison Clan’s attacks helped turn the tide of the war, but the Devil Race eventually lured its forces into a deadly trap in the Lost Continent.
• The Great Ancestor stayed behind so the Third Ancestor could escape, and more than two hundred Soul Prison Clan disciples were left with him; the Third Ancestor fled with only a dozen or so survivors.
• The Second Ancestor questioned the Third Ancestor about his missing elder brother, then left the clan and infiltrated the Lost Continent.

Elder Hao recounted the Soul-Suppressing Palace’s origins, leading Li Yan to connect its history with the Soul Prison Clan and resolve several mysteries. Li Yan revealed that he belonged to the Great Ancestor’s lineage and said he had searched for clansmen on the ruined Qingqing Continent.

• The Second Ancestor returned wounded without finding the Great Ancestor, blamed the Third Ancestor, and eventually drove him from the Soul Prison Clan with its statues and disciples.
• The Third Ancestor searched for the Great Ancestor’s reincarnation, settled in the Northern Ice Continent, and passed down only part of the Sacred Soul Transformation art before dying with his search unfinished.
• The Third Ancestor’s disciples established the Soul-Suppressing Palace, whose later leaders hid the sect and sought a foothold in the Immortal-Spirit Realm as other powers suppressed them.
• Elder Hao explained the Soul-Suppressing Palace’s history, and Li Yan inferred how the ancestors’ statues, the concealed Soul Prison Clan, and its cross-realm corridor were connected.
• Li Yan told Elder Hao and Master Lan that he was descended from the Great Ancestor and had searched for clansmen on the Qingqing Continent, where he found only ruins.

Li Yan explained to Master Lan and Elder Hao how he obtained the Great Ancestor’s legacy on the Lost Continent and traveled to Qingqing Continent to find the Soul Prison Clan. As Elder Hao pressed him about the clan’s inheritance, Li Yan prepared to use the clay jar and his incomplete Sacred Soul Transformation technique to support his account.

• Master Lan questioned Li Yan about his origins, the Great Ancestor, and the Soul Prison Clan, and Li Yan said he had obtained the legacy himself on the Lost Continent.
• Li Yan recounted finding a Storage Pouch and a sound-recording jade slip in a blood pool, but said he found no soul-nourishing treasure or surviving soul nearby.
• Master Lan and Elder Hao concluded that the Storage Pouch had belonged to the Great Ancestor, whose soul had likely perished after he failed to find a rescuer.
• Elder Hao questioned how Li Yan had reached Qingqing Continent as a late Golden Core cultivator, and Li Yan explained that the two continents had a cross-realm teleportation formation.
• Elder Hao suggested the Storage Pouch must have contained a token that let Li Yan inherit the Great Ancestor’s techniques, and Li Yan asked whether he meant the clay jar.
• Li Yan considered how to present the clay jar and his incomplete Sacred Soul Transformation as evidence of his connection to the Soul Prison Clan.

Li Yan explained the broken clay jar as part of the Great Ancestor’s inheritance, then learned that it was the wine-urn token described in the sect records. Elder Hao tested it with a soul-forged spear, awakening its images and leaving Li Yan struggling to suppress a surge of killing intent.

• Li Yan decided he had to keep his story about obtaining the inheritance consistent and protect his true body in case his lies were exposed.
• Elder Hao told Li Yan that the Great Ancestor’s token had been recorded as a wine urn, and Li Yan realized his broken clay jar matched that description.
• Li Yan produced the jar, and Elder Hao and Master Lan examined it without finding anything unusual.
• Elder Hao pinned the jar in midair and struck it with a three-inch black spear made of soul force.
• The jar’s three images connected and revealed a battle scene that stirred Li Yan’s Holy Soul Transformation and filled him with killing intent.
• Li Yan suppressed the urge to attack, while he noticed that Elder Hao and Master Lan had also been affected by the images.

Li Yan convinced Elder Hao and Master Lan that he had inherited the Soul Prison Clan’s cultivation art and explained why he had left the Second Ancestor’s statue behind. After they accepted his account and discussed his role in saving the Soul-Suppressing Palace, Li Yan asked about the clay jar, and Elder Hao began to explain its significance.

• Li Yan used the clay jar to prove his connection to the Great Ancestor, and Elder Hao and Master Lan accepted it as the Great Ancestor’s token.
• Li Yan claimed the jar had teleported him from the Second Ancestor’s statue into Master Lan’s long-alley formation, where he cultivated the Sacred Soul Transformation art.
• Li Yan said he had cleared the formation’s trials before a spatial-breaking formation sent him far from Qingqing Continent, explaining why he could not take the statue.
• Master Lan believed Li Yan’s account and excitedly recognized the formation as the Second Ancestor’s spatial-breaking formation.
• Elder Hao connected Li Yan’s inheritance and rescue of the Soul-Suppressing Palace to the Soul Prison Clan’s karmic ties, while Li Yan confirmed he had comprehended yin-yang power.
• Li Yan asked about the jar’s patterns and the image of the troops, and Elder Hao began explaining why the jar was the Great Ancestor’s token.

Elder Hao explained the origins and powers of the wine urn and the iron scroll of cinnabar writing, revealing how the three ancestors created them as tokens containing incomplete versions of "Sacred Soul Transformation." Li Yan learned that the urn’s battlefield imagery was tied to an ancient clan whose descendants the Soul Prison Clan had been instructed to treat well.

• Elder Hao told Li Yan that the three ancestors had forged a brotherhood in a mortal dynasty and that the Great Ancestor made the tokens to commemorate their bond and record their cultivation technique.
• The Second Ancestor argued that the tokens should contain complementary, incomplete techniques, and the three ancestors agreed before he reforged the wine urn and iron scroll.
• After the Great Ancestor fell and the Third Ancestor left the Soul Prison Clan, the iron scroll disappeared, while the Third Ancestor’s disciples preserved an incomplete copy of "Sacred Soul Transformation" and were told to seek the Great Ancestor or his token.
• Elder Hao explained that the wine urn’s battlefield imagery could strengthen combat but might consume the souls and spirits of those who watched it too long.
• Elder Hao revealed that the urn’s three images recorded an ancient clan’s symbols, and that the iron scroll’s words could become war drums that coordinated Soul Cultivators in battle.

Li Yan learned the history and hidden uses of the wine-jar token, then discussed Elder Hao’s hope that he would help Soul-Suppressing Palace fulfill the Third Ancestor’s final wish. Li Yan had not agreed to stay, but he considered whether the sect could help him find a route to the lower realm.

• Elder Hao explained that the Second Ancestor had reforged the tokens, and Li Yan deduced that the wine jar contained a hidden passage linked to the underground long corridor.
• Elder Hao asked Li Yan whether he planned to remain in Soul-Suppressing Palace, and Li Yan said he would return to the sect he had joined after ascending.
• Elder Hao asked Li Yan to stay or, if he left, to bring the token and help Soul-Suppressing Palace return to the Soul Prison Clan’s ancestral land.
• Li Yan asked whether Elder Hao knew a route to the lower realm, and Elder Hao said the sect would search for one after its disciples became familiar with the outside world.
• Li Yan considered that Soul-Suppressing Palace’s strength might help him find a route to the lower realm faster than the Po Jun Sect could.

Li Yan agreed to help the Soul Suppression Palace while Elder Hao declared him a secret disciple of the Soul Prison Clan and the Great Ancestor’s lineage. After the group discussed the valley’s restrictions and plans to secure the Dizhen Domain, Elder Tang arrived and asked whether they had opened a passage to the outside world.

• Elder Hao told Li Yan he would be a secret disciple of the Soul Prison Clan, and Li Yan offered to record the Sacred Soul Transformation technique for the sect.
• Elder Hao asked Li Yan to help deal with the chaotic forces and explore the valley, and Li Yan agreed to assist with the preliminary work before leaving.
• Li Yan, Elder Hao, and Master Lan found that clearing the chaotic forces had not changed the valley’s laws or lifted its suppression of Divine Sense.
• Elder Hao rejected Li Yan’s suggestion to open more outward passages, explaining that the sect would preserve the valley’s restrictions as a defense and send cultivators who needed to advance outside.
• Elder Hao sensed Elder Tang near the throat cave and warned him about the silver sand; Elder Tang asked whether they had opened a passage to the outside world and arrived before Li Yan and Master Lan.

Elder Tang found Elder Hao, Li Yan, and the youthful boy after using the Soul Lodging Moon to navigate the yellow mist, and learned they had opened a passage to the outside world. Five years later, Li Yan and Tang Feng emerged from the gorge, ready to travel beyond the mountain.

• Elder Tang explained that the power of Cold Moon and the Soul Lodging Moon had guided him through the mist to the grand formation.
• Elder Hao showed Elder Tang the opened passage, and Elder Tang hurried through it to experience the outside world.
• Elder Tang confronted Li Yan about concealing his identity, while Elder Hao sent him back to monitor the yellow mist and told Li Yan to wait for a later conversation.
• Five years later, Li Yan and Tang Feng emerged from the mountainside as the unusual signs behind them vanished.
• Li Yan warned Tang Feng that his combat experience was limited and urged him to be careful as they began exploring the outside world.

After four years exploring the Dream-Returning Ant’s head, Li Yan helped Soul-Suppressing Palace establish defenses and then left the Dizhen Domain with Tang Feng. They cautiously crossed the Heavenly Demon Grassland and emerged five years later, leaving Li Yan to reflect on the vast and dangerous territory still ahead.

• Elder Hao, Li Yan, and their companion finished surveying the reachable parts of the Dream-Returning Ant’s head, finding no trace of the former sect master and confirming that only one passage led outside.
• Li Yan helped Master Lan and the others construct formation foundations before bidding farewell to Xue Tieyi and Elder Tang at the gorge leading out of the Dizhen Domain.
• Elder Tang asked Li Yan to protect Tang Feng and help Soul-Suppressing Palace disciples he might encounter; Li Yan and Tang Feng then left the Dizhen Domain together.
• In the forest, Li Yan taught Tang Feng to conceal his aura and soul force and warned him against casually scanning other cultivators with Divine Sense.
• After five cautious years crossing the Heavenly Demon Grassland, Li Yan and Tang Feng reached its outer edge, where Li Yan considered how much larger and more dangerous its inner regions were.

After five years of dangerous travel and combat, Tang Feng had grown more experienced and changed his fighting style. Near the Po Jun Sect, he chose to part from Li Yan and continue traveling alone in search of opportunities to advance.

• Li Yan guided Tang Feng through the Heavenly Demon Grassland, where Tang Feng fought Demon Beasts and hostile cultivators while Li Yan protected him and tested Soul Cultivator attacks.
• Tang Feng became skilled at stealthy, underhanded attacks and maintained the appearance of a middle Nascent Soul cultivator as they left the grassland.
• Li Yan led Tang Feng through marketplaces, where Tang Feng sold some Soul Crystal Sprouts and bought high-grade spirit stones and other goods.
• After entering Po Jun Sect territory, Tang Feng told Li Yan he would not join the sect and wanted to travel alone while his insights continued to develop.
• Li Yan accepted Tang Feng's decision and gave him a detailed map jade slip of the nearby regions, cities, and marketplaces.

Tang Feng and Li Yan parted ways, and Li Yan brought Mu Guyue out of the Dizhen Domain into the Immortal-Spirit Realm. After explaining that she was free to leave and warning her about the dangers ahead, Li Yan learned that her son was named Mu Sha.

• Tang Feng accepted Li Yan’s map jade slip, thanked him, and flew south while Li Yan watched him leave.
• Li Yan summoned Mu Guyue from the spirit storage space and revealed that they were in the Immortal-Spirit Realm near the Heavenly Demon Grassland.
• Mu Guyue confirmed that she could use her Divine Sense freely, then asked how Li Yan had brought her out of the Dizhen Domain.
• Li Yan assured Mu Guyue that the Soul-Suppressing Palace was far away, promised to remove Tinglan’s soul mark and alter her memories, and advised Mu Guyue to avoid dangerous regions and places where old creditors might find her.
• Mu Guyue said she needed to raise her cultivation, then revealed that her son’s name was Mu Sha, leaving Li Yan confused.

Mu Guyue told Li Yan that Mu Sha, her son with him, belonged to the Black Devil Race and warned him not to kill him. Li Yan learned that Mu Sha was in the Jieyou Realm and proposed helping Mu Guyue reach Spirit Transformation before they traveled toward the cross-realm grand formation, though she doubted he could do so.

• Mu Guyue clarified that Mu Sha was her son with Li Yan and urged Li Yan never to kill him.
• Mu Guyue briefly described Mu Sha’s life and answered Li Yan’s questions about his cultivation and place in the Black Devil army.
• Li Yan asked where Mu Guyue’s clan was, and she told him it was in the Jieyou Realm.
• Li Yan offered to take Mu Guyue back to the Po Jun Sect, help her reach Spirit Transformation, and travel with her toward the cross-realm grand formation.
• Mu Guyue questioned how Li Yan could help her break through, since he was still in the Nascent Soul Realm.

Li Yan revealed that he had reached Spirit Transformation and offered to help Mu Guyue break through while traveling with her across the Heavenly Demon Grassland. Mu Guyue agreed to join him at the Pojun Sect, and Li Yan wondered why their son Mu Sha had been given such a murderous name.

• Li Yan showed Mu Guyue his Spirit Transformation aura and promised he could help her reach the same realm.
• Li Yan explained that he needed to travel to the cross-domain grand formation and proposed that they cross the Heavenly Demon Grassland together.
• Li Yan decided he would use a Great Wuguo Fruit to help Mu Guyue and believed she would make a trustworthy companion.
• Mu Guyue asked about the Pojun Sect, and Li Yan said she could join as an elder focused on cultivation.
• Mu Guyue agreed to go with Li Yan, who wondered whether she had named their son Mu Sha to target him.

Li Yan freed Tinglan from captivity, erased and rewrote nearly two hundred years of her memories, and brought her out of the Dizhen Domain with Mu Guyue. Tinglan believed they had escaped a secret realm on the Heavenly Demon Grassland and asked Mu Guyue what she planned to do next.

• Tinglan worried when Mu Guyue disappeared, then Li Yan knocked her unconscious and brought her to the mountain where Mu Guyue waited.
• Li Yan removed Tinglan's soul seal and erased and altered her memories of the Dizhen Domain and their years together.
• Tinglan awoke with pain in her soul and sea of consciousness, and Mu Guyue told her they had escaped a secret realm after demon beasts attacked.
• Tinglan recovered her ability to use her divine sense freely, thanked Li Yan for saving her, and asked Mu Guyue what she planned to do next.

Mu Guyue and Tinglan parted ways after surviving the Heavenly Demon Grassland, while Li Yan and Mu Guyue revealed their connection to the Po Jun Sect. Tinglan then recognized Li Yan as an acquaintance of her uncle Chongyangzi, leaving Li Yan shaken by the unexpected link and his altered memories of both relatives.

• Mu Guyue said she planned to enter seclusion, and Tinglan invited her to visit Lanyue Manor after returning home.
• Mu Guyue told Tinglan that she and Li Yan were ascended cultivators from the lower realm and that she planned to cultivate at the Po Jun Sect.
• Tinglan learned that Li Yan was an elder of the Po Jun Sect and asked whether he knew Chongyangzi.
• Li Yan said he had met Chongyangzi during the battle for the Great Wu Fruit, and Tinglan revealed that Chongyangzi was her uncle.
• Li Yan realized he had altered the memories of both Chongyangzi and Tinglan and wondered whether karmic ties had connected them.

Li Yan and Mu Guyue returned to the Po Jun Sect, where Banjiang recognized Li Yan and welcomed him after nearly two centuries away. Banjiang asked about Li Yan’s disappearance, but Li Yan first asked how the sect was doing and said they would meet with Shangguan and the others.

• Li Yan and Mu Guyue arrived at the Po Jun Sect, and the guards challenged them for landing before the deliberation hall.
• Li Yan presented his elder token and said he wanted to speak with Sect Master Yu, but the two Golden Core cultivators could not identify him.
• Banjiang recognized Li Yan, rebuked the guards for obstructing him, and Li Yan told him not to punish them.
• After Li Yan and Banjiang entered the hall, the guards discussed Li Yan’s former cave residence and his long absence from the sect.
• Banjiang asked where Li Yan had been, and Li Yan suggested they first discuss the sect’s current state before meeting Shangguan and the others.

Li Yan returned to the Pojun Sect with Mu Guyue and reunited with Shangguan Tianque and Ren Yanyu. After learning that Mu Guyue planned to join the sect, they welcomed her as a trusted new member, while Li Yan and Mu Guyue’s unspoken feelings remained between them.

• Banjiang told Li Yan that the Pojun Sect had grown powerful under Ren Yanyu but remained cautious about recruiting outsiders and stirring up trouble.
• Li Yan, Mu Guyue, and Banjiang went to the back mountain, where Shangguan Tianque and Ren Yanyu warmly welcomed Li Yan back.
• Li Yan introduced Mu Guyue as an ascended cultivator who intended to join the Pojun Sect, and Shangguan Tianque and Ren Yanyu recognized her strength and devilish qi.
• Ren Yanyu welcomed Mu Guyue as a junior sister, and Li Yan used her familiar name to show how close they were.
• Mu Guyue sensed Li Yan’s complicated feelings, while Shangguan Tianque and Ren Yanyu encouraged her to drop formalities and Ren Yanyu took her hand.

Li Yan returned to the Broken Army Sect with Mu Guyue and recounted their dangerous ordeal in the Heavenly Demon Grassland, while Shangguan Tianque and Ren Yanyu concluded that Li Yan’s true cultivation exceeded Nascent Soul. After Mu Guyue settled into her new cave abode, Li Yan gave her an azure fruit whose aura powerfully affected her.

• Li Yan told Shangguan Tianque and Ren Yanyu that he and Mu Guyue had escaped a deadly secret realm in the Heavenly Demon Grassland, and explained why the Great-Winged Golden Roc had pursued him.
• Li Yan confirmed that Donglin Tingyue and Jia Fugui had not deliberately used him as a shield, while Shangguan Tianque and Ren Yanyu inferred that Li Yan had reached Spirit Transformation.
• Mu Guyue declined a formal entry ceremony, agreeing only to a simple announcement, and Banjiang introduced Li Yan to two Nascent Soul guest elders.
• Banjiang led Li Yan and Mu Guyue to Mu Guyue’s secluded cave abode, where she inspected the premises and accepted it.
• Li Yan gave Mu Guyue an azure fruit; its runes affected her consciousness and slowed the flow of spiritual power before Li Yan sealed its aura and handed it over.