Chapter Summaries

Zhao Haiyang’s cover was exposed, and he fought his way out of Shengping Inn before racing for Ghost Sound City’s eastern gate with Kong Qianqiu. With the blue-robed Void Refinement cultivator in pursuit and stronger enemies possibly waiting, Zhao Haiyang reached the gate passage but remained unsure he could escape.

• Zhao Haiyang and the blue-robed cultivator simultaneously attacked each other, and their clash destroyed Shengping Inn and killed many people.
• Zhao Haiyang recognized that the blue-robed cultivator was an early-stage Void Refinement expert, then destroyed the inn and nearby buildings as he fled.
• The blue-robed cultivator raised the alarm and ordered the city gates closed, while Zhao Haiyang concluded Kong Qianqiu had probably not betrayed him.
• Zhao Haiyang killed the patrolling cultivators surrounding Kong Qianqiu, grabbed him, and rushed toward the eastern gate.
• Zhao Haiyang passed the guards and entered the gate passage as the blue-robed cultivator pursued him, leaving him uncertain whether he could escape Ghost Sound City.

Zhao Haiyang nearly escaped Ghostsound City, but a decoy Kong Qianqiu detonated in his hand and delayed him until the city gates sealed. Four thousand li away, Mu Guyue and Li Yan confirmed their plot had trapped him, though Li Yan was injured controlling his avatar.

• Zhao Haiyang fought through the closing gate passage as the blue-robed cultivator and three other Void Refinement cultivators pursued him.
• Zhao Haiyang used the blue-robed cultivator’s attack to propel himself toward the gate, accepting injuries as he broke through the formation’s approach.
• The Kong Qianqiu in Zhao Haiyang’s hand detonated his body and repeated Mu Guyue’s message, forcing Zhao Haiyang to divert his power and collide with the sealed gate.
• Zhao Haiyang realized Kong Qianqiu had been a decoy and roared in fury as the cultivators closed in around him.
• Four thousand li south of Ghostsound City, Mu Guyue and Li Yan discussed their escape plan, and Li Yan revealed that Zhao Haiyang had nearly escaped before his avatar kept him inside the city.

Li Yan and Mu Guyue returned to Ghost Sound City after searching for clues about Red Luo Dao and confirmed that its Return, O Return shop matched the trading house Li Yan had known in the lower realm. Li Yan asked a senior steward about Su Hong, who said he did not know where she was, leaving Li Yan without confirmation that she had returned to the upper realm.

• Li Yan told Mu Guyue that Zhao Haiyang had destroyed himself and his treasures after four Void Refinement cultivators trapped him, collapsing the city gate passage.
• After searching nearby for Red Luo Dao clues for three months, Li Yan and Mu Guyue entered Ghost Sound City and found its streets under heavy patrol.
• Li Yan recognized the familiar Return, O Return shop and took Mu Guyue inside to ask about Su Hong.
• Li Yan persuaded the black-robed appraisal steward to hear his questions and asked whether Su Hong was in the upper realm.
• The steward questioned whether Li Yan and Mu Guyue were ascended cultivators, then said he did not know where Su Hong was and privately suspected she was still traveling in the lower realm.

Li Yan arranged for messages to be sent to Su Hong and the lower realm, then continued saving for a cross-realm journey with Mu Guyue. More than a year after returning to Po Jun Sect, Su Hong received his jade slip and recognized the phrase identifying its sender as an old friend of wind and snow.

• Li Yan persuaded the black-robed steward at Guiqulaixi to send one jade slip to Su Hong and another to the Phantom Sect, though the messages would take decades to reach their destinations.
• Li Yan and Mu Guyue learned that Guiqulaixi could escort them to a cross-realm formation but could not send them directly to the lower realm, so they postponed their journey until they had more top-grade spirit stones.
• After more than seven years of rotating duty, Li Yan revisited the steward, learned that the jade slips were still traveling through North Pasture Realm, and obtained a token and map for contacting Guiqulaixi at a market town.
• Li Yan and Mu Guyue returned to Po Jun Sect, received their accumulated profits from Shangguan Tianque, and continued waiting while they gathered funds.
• Su Hong investigated Jia Fugui and the Abacus Sect, then Uncle Lian delivered a jade slip from Ghost Sound City bearing the message that it came from an old friend of wind and snow.
• Su Hong froze when she heard the sender's identifying phrase.

Su Hong followed Li Yan’s message to the Po Jun Sect and finally reunited with him after years of searching. She asked how he had reached the Immortal-Spirit Realm, while Li Yan was eager to learn what had happened to his family in the lower realm.

• Su Hong learned that Li Yan’s jade slip directed her to the Po Jun Sect and discovered the sect was part of the Moji Dao Sect.
• After more than twelve years of travel, Su Hong arrived at the Po Jun Sect with Protectors Lian and Ning and asked its guards to summon Li Yan.
• Li Yan appeared at the mountain gate when he learned Su Hong had come, and the two greeted each other after their long separation.
• Li Yan welcomed Su Hong and her attendants into his cave abode, where he recognized the attendants as powerful true bodies and revealed his middle Spirit Transformation Realm cultivation.
• Li Yan asked how Su Hong received his message and reached the upper realm, but she redirected the conversation and asked him to explain how he had arrived there.

Li Yan told Su Hong how he and Xue Longzi were swept into the chaotic void, leaving Xue Longzi’s fate unknown while Li Yan eventually ascended to the Immortal-Spirit Realm. As Su Hong listened, she reflected on her history with Li Yan and the unusual closeness that had grown between them.

• Li Yan explained that he used a teleportation treasure to drag himself and Xue Longzi into the chaotic void, where they fell into a spatial fragment and became separated.
• Li Yan recounted waking in the Heavenly Demon Grassland after passing through a spatial node, where Po Jun Sect cultivators rescued him.
• Su Hong recalled how she left her sheltered life to experience the Mortal Realm, met Li Yan, and gradually came to value his company and wonder whether he had survived.
• Su Hong said that even Void Refinement and Body Integration experts could not be sure of escaping the chaotic void’s spatial fragments alive.

Li Yan learned from Su Hong that his loved ones in the lower realm had searched for him for years, but Zhao Zhi had died during her Nascent Soul Formation Heavenly Tribulation. As he struggled with the news, Su Hong revealed that Zhao Min had borne him a daughter, Li Zhaoyan, who had already reached the Golden Core Realm.

• Li Yan explained how he had sought a way to contact the lower realm and found Guiqulaixi, while Su Hong described how she learned of his connection to the Abacus Sect and Pojun Sect.
• Su Hong told Li Yan that Gong Chenying, Zhao Min, Wei Zhongran, and the others had never stopped searching for him, believing he was trapped because his soul lamp remained lit.
• Su Hong revealed that Zhao Zhi had died during her Nascent Soul Formation Heavenly Tribulation, and Li Yan grieved that he had not seen her again.
• Su Hong changed the subject by telling Li Yan that Zhao Min had given birth to their daughter, Li Zhaoyan, who was now in the Golden Core Realm.
• Li Yan stared at Su Hong in shock as he repeated that his daughter had reached the Golden Core Realm.

Li Yan asked Su Hong for help returning to the Mortal Realm or crossing to the Jieyou Realm, and explained that he planned to escort Mu Guyue, a Black Devil Race cultivator who had once saved him. Su Hong recognized Mu Guyue from Guiqulaixi’s records and confirmed that Li Yan’s account was plausible, though she remained surprised by the connection.

• Su Hong told Li Yan that his son and daughter were well and shared news about Small Bamboo Peak and the Phantom Sect’s Nascent Soul cultivators.
• Li Yan asked Su Hong for a way to return to the Mortal Realm and requested that she pass his location to Zhao Min and the others if he could not return.
• Li Yan explained that he planned to accompany a female friend to the Jieyou Realm because she had saved his life in a dangerous secret realm.
• Su Hong learned that the woman was Mu Guyue of the Black Devil Race and recalled her name from records about the Broken Army Sect.
• Su Hong checked Guiqulaixi’s records and found that Mu Guyue had borne a son in the lower realm, leaving her astonished but more convinced of Li Yan’s explanation.

Li Yan and Mu Guyue arranged with Su Hong to cross to the Jieyou Realm and send news to the lower realm. Su Hong then revealed she knew the location of a spatial node leading toward the lower realm, but warned that using it was extraordinarily dangerous.

• Li Yan asked Su Hong to meet Mu Guyue, and Su Hong agreed to arrange their crossing to the Jieyou Realm.
• Li Yan brought Mu Guyue to meet Su Hong, and the two women greeted each other before discussing the journey.
• Su Hong explained the route and fees, granted Li Yan and Mu Guyue concessions, and settled the crossing arrangements with them.
• Mu Guyue left to prepare, while Li Yan asked Su Hong to stay so they could arrange matters with the sect.
• Su Hong hinted that a way to reach the lower realm existed, then said she knew the location of a spatial node whose dangers could be as perilous as ascension.

Su Hong explained to Li Yan how travel between the Immortal Spirit Realm and the Mortal Realm worked and why descending through a spatial node had become dangerous. She revealed that most routes had collapsed or grown unstable, leaving only a few scattered nodes in the hands of powerful factions.

• Su Hong hesitated to help Li Yan because the trading company's secret passages were restricted, while Lian and Ning privately discussed her concern for him.
• Li Yan asked Su Hong to reveal the location of a spatial node leading to the lower realm, and he insisted he was willing to risk the dangers of traveling through it.
• Su Hong challenged Li Yan's understanding of how the laws of the upper and lower realms affected cultivators who traveled between them.
• Li Yan explained that the laws of the Immortal Spirit Realm encompassed those of the Mortal Realm, allowing descending cultivators to travel safely if they suppressed their cultivation.
• Su Hong explained that widespread use, careless cultivators, and battles near spatial nodes had destroyed most routes to the lower realm.
• Su Hong said that disturbances between the laws of heaven and earth had made the remaining spatial passages exceptionally unstable.

Su Hong explained the dangers and constraints of traveling through spatial node passages between realms, while Li Yan asked how ascension and transporting others worked. Despite learning the risks, Li Yan agreed to pay for a passage to the Mortal Realm, and Su Hong prepared to guide him to a dangerous node in the North Pasture Realm.

• Su Hong explained that descending through a spatial node required carefully suppressing one's cultivation, since a surge of power could collapse the passage and kill the traveler.
• Li Yan asked whether someone who had ascended before could return more easily and whether family members could be carried in a spirit-storage space; Su Hong answered that both were possible but carrying others increased the danger.
• Li Yan offered compensation for access to a spatial node, and Su Hong named a price of one hundred supreme-grade spirit stones, which he accepted without hesitation.
• Su Hong recalled that Guiqulaixi had identified two likely lower-realm nodes in the North Pasture Realm, based on information gathered over four hundred years earlier, and chose a relatively stable but dangerous passage.
• Li Yan insisted that the danger did not matter if the passage could take him to the Mortal Realm.

After learning that Su Hong had searched for him for centuries, Li Yan resolved to keep his distance from her but told Mu Guyue that he planned to descend to the lower realm to find Mu Sha. Mu Guyue chose to accompany him, and the group left the Broken Army Sect to search for a spatial node.

• Uncle Lian told Li Yan that Su Hong had spent several hundred years searching for him, including in the lower realm.
• Li Yan decided not to seek Su Hong's help again and went to speak with Mu Guyue about their plans.
• Li Yan explained that Su Hong could trade for a spatial node leading to the lower realm and laid out the dangers and choices facing Mu Guyue.
• Mu Guyue chose to descend with Li Yan, and he said the node should emerge near Qingqing Continent.
• Shangguan Tianque agreed to their departure, and two days later Li Yan, Mu Guyue, Su Hong, and the other two left the Broken Army Sect.
• Su Hong led the group east through remote teleportation arrays and chaotic space, circling north around the Heavenly Demon Grassland.

Li Yan and Mu Guyue reached a dangerous spatial node and chose to enter it despite Su Hong's uncertainty. Meanwhile, Gong Chenying reunited with Qianji and Zi Kun and planned to return with them to the Phantom Sect to decide how they would search for Li Yan.

• After seven years of travel, Li Yan's group reached the spatial node, where Su Hong warned that its passage might have changed.
• Li Yan thanked Su Hong, then entered the black opening with Mu Guyue, leaving Su Hong and her escorts behind.
• Uncle Lian and Uncle Ning reassured Su Hong that Li Yan was powerful enough to survive the passage, and she wondered whether he had truly reached the late Spirit Transformation stage.
• In the far north of the Desolate Moon Continent, Qianji and Zi Kun discussed suspicious cultivators searching for mixed spiritual roots and planned to keep watching before seeking their master elsewhere.
• Qianji received word that the Shadow Matriarch had returned, and Gong Chenying arrived at their icy cave.
• Gong Chenying told Qianji and Zi Kun to return with her to the Phantom Sect, where they could decide whether to ascend and search for Li Yan or remain in the lower realm.

Gong Chenying reunited with Zhao Min at the Phantom Sect, and they prepared to ascend using a stable node found by Wei Zhongran and Mo Qing while saying farewell to their remaining family and disciples. The chapter ended as a sinister old man and six powerful companions appeared above the Southern Sea.

• Gong Chenying left the far north with Qianji and Zi Kun, leaving most of the Snow Mosquito Clan behind under the protection of Qianji's three disciples.
• Gong Chenying learned that Hongyin had left the Northern Sea Demon-Suppressing Tower more than twenty years earlier, then returned to the Phantom Sect and reunited with Wei Zhongran and Mo Qing.
• Gong Chenying and Zhao Min learned that Wei Zhongran and Mo Qing had found a stable ascension node near the Wind God Continent, and Zhao Min chose to use it with them.
• Wei Zhongran, Zhao Min, Gong Chenying, and their companions spent time together before their likely final farewell, while Li Zhaoyan returned to Small Bamboo Peak to accompany her family.
• A sinister old man emerged above the Southern Sea with six powerful companions whose auras were concealed.

A gray-robed elder brought six subdued cultivators into the Desolate Moon Continent and ordered them to find Li Yan at the Phantom Sect while he concealed his role. Meanwhile, Li Yan and Mu Guyue survived a perilous journey through turbulent space and emerged safely, though their destination remained unclear.

• The gray-robed elder concealed the spatial barrier’s monitoring formations and instructed his six followers to find Li Yan at the Phantom Sect.
• The six followers suspected the gray-robed elder came from the Immortal-Spirit Realm, while he planned to hide his involvement and use them as cover.
• Li Yan and Mu Guyue emerged from a ball of white light into turbulent space and realized their cultivation had been suppressed by the laws of heaven and earth.
• Li Yan recalled how his Five Elements Chaotic Cloak had helped him sense danger and avoid invisible black holes during their journey.
• Li Yan and Mu Guyue surveyed their surroundings after the light vanished, battered but alive after surviving repeated dangers in space.

Li Yan and Mu Guyue survived a deadly Starfall Beast attack in the spatial passage and descended into the lower realm, where their power was suppressed. After reaching Qingqing Continent, they parted ways, with Mu Guyue heading to the Lost Continent and Li Yan setting out for the Soul Prison Clan.

• Li Yan and Mu Guyue wounded a mid-Void Refinement Realm Starfall Beast with Soul Arts attacks and escaped after Li Yan self-destructed an incarnation, though both suffered severe injuries.
• Li Yan hid from the pursuing beast until the pair reached the lower realm, where the laws suppressed their cultivation and Mu Guyue warned him not to store her away without her consent again.
• Li Yan and Mu Guyue searched Nascent Soul cultivators in a nearby small realm, learned the route to Qingqing Continent, and traveled there while avoiding its guardian cultivators.
• Li Yan told Mu Guyue to inform Mu Sha about him and promised to find her within ten years so they could ascend together; Mu Guyue then departed for the Lost Continent.
• Li Yan flew toward the Soul Prison Clan, hoping to find the Second Ancestor's statue and protect it with formation restrictions.

Phantom Sect’s cultivators gathered to see Zhao Min and Gong Chenying off as Wei Zhongran prepared to escort them toward an ascension node near the Wind God Continent. The gathering ended with Chi Tuo and Wang Tian arguing over Chi Tuo’s conduct at Spirit Insect Peak.

• Baili Yuan and Li Wuyi discussed Li Yan’s unexpected ascension and joked about making him return to guard Phantom Sect.
• Wei Zhongran reflected on Li Yuyin’s feelings and decided to ascend with Zhao Min and Gong Chenying, keeping his dangerous reasons for excluding Li Yuyin to himself.
• Bai Rou questioned two demons about the Wind God Continent, hoping to learn about places where Li Yan had fought.
• Chi Tuo complained that Small Bamboo Peak would be nearly empty after the others left, and Li Wuyi challenged his claim that no one talked to him.
• Wang Tian accused Chi Tuo of intimidating Spirit Insect Peak’s demonic beasts while visiting a Golden Core cultivator, then recounted how the two had fought.

Six outsiders sealed Phantom Sect and attacked its Nascent Soul cultivators while a hidden upper-realm expert used a gravity technique to suppress them. Just as the enemy closed in, the seal and gravity suddenly vanished, leaving the battle unresolved.

• Yan Longzi stopped Wang Tian and Wei Chi Tuo from fighting and reprimanded Wei Chi Tuo.
• Six unfamiliar cultivators, including three Spirit Transformation experts, sealed Phantom Sect and probed the sect with their Divine Senses.
• Wei Zhongran, Mo Qing, and the other Phantom Sect Nascent Soul cultivators gathered at the mountain gate and challenged the intruders.
• A hidden gray-robed elder ordered the six attackers to capture Phantom Sect's cultivators and search their souls for information about Li Yan and the Five Immortal Gates.
• Gu Jiuqi revealed himself and ordered Phantom Sect to fight, but a fourth, upper-realm Spirit Transformation cultivator used a gravity technique to slow the defenders as the attackers struck.
• The seal and gravity technique abruptly melted away before the attackers could finish their assault.

Dong Fuyi pursued the gray-robed elder away from the Phantom Sect while the sect’s cultivators fought off six mysterious attackers. Li Yan returned to the ruined valley near Green Mountain Pass, concealed the Second Ancestor’s statue, and headed back toward Zhao Min and Gong Chenying.

• Dong Fuyi appeared at the Phantom Sect, broke the gray-robed elder’s seal, and chased him into the turbulent-flow space while ordering the six mysterious cultivators to capture the sect’s Nascent Soul and Spirit Transformation cultivators.
• A second powerful newcomer told Gu Jiuqi to hold off the six attackers, and Yan Longzi ordered the disciples to retreat behind the sect-protecting grand formation.
• Dong Fuyi pursued the gray-robed elder, resolved to kill him before he could exploit what Zhao Min and Gong Chenying knew about Li Yan, and considered the rival’s likely plans to claim credit.
• Li Yan emerged from the pool near Green Mountain Pass, found the valley in ruins, and concealed the damaged statue of the Second Ancestor behind an illusion formation, restrictions, and poison.
• Li Yan decided to return to Zhao Min and then seek Gong Chenying on the Wind God Continent.
• Gu Jiuqi attacked three Spirit Transformation opponents while Wei Zhongran and Mo Qing moved to hold back another, giving him a chance to stabilize the Phantom Sect’s defense.

Gong Chenying organized the Phantom Sect’s fighters to hold off the enemy while Gu Jiuqi engaged two Spirit Transformation cultivators. Gong Chenying, Zhao Min, Mo Qing, and Wei Zhongran managed to withstand a strike from an early Spirit Transformation cultivator, while Li Wuyi and Li Yuyin struggled to contain a late Nascent Soul opponent.

• Gong Chenying ordered Zhao Min to help Wei Zhongran and Mo Qing, while the others held back the three late Nascent Soul enemies and focused on killing one.
• Li Wuyi and Li Yuyin attacked one late Nascent Soul cultivator together, while Li Changting was told to help trap an opponent.
• Gong Chenying and Zhao Min revealed strength comparable to late Nascent Soul cultivators and charged the early Spirit Transformation enemy alongside Mo Qing and Wei Zhongran.
• The early Spirit Transformation cultivator struck the four, but Wei Zhongran absorbed much of the force and the group knocked his golden axe away.
• The early Spirit Transformation cultivator grew envious of their techniques and prepared another attack as the battlefield spread across the Phantom Sect’s gate.
• Li Wuyi and Li Yuyin were suppressed by their opponent, but their golden gu insects helped block his attacks.