Chapter Summaries

Li Yan reviewed what he knew about the Northern Underworld Demon-Suppressing Tower and disguised his appearance before traveling there to refine his bonded magical treasure. He reached the tower and saw its Pure Land Sect guards and several other cultivators waiting to enter.

• Li Yan read Huchen Wuding’s jade slip about the tower’s history, dangers, treasures, and rules for cultivators entering its forbidden grounds.
• Li Yan considered the unspoken consequences of killing elite disciples, then made a subtle illusion to alter his appearance.
• Li Yan rode the Cloud-Piercing Willow to the mountaintop where the Northern Underworld Demon-Suppressing Tower stood.
• Li Yan surveyed the monks guarding the entrance and recognized that they inspected entrants and checked returning cultivators for possession.
• Li Yan noticed two women, a Confucian scholar with his book attendant, and another woman waiting near the entrance.

Li Yan arrived at the Northern Underworld Demon-Suppressing Tower and learned that entry required a Mystic Nether Token, with lower-ranked tokens also requiring spirit stones. A gaunt Buddha recognized Li Yan’s Gold Star token as belonging to the Hu Chen Lineage, gave him a single-use map of the first three floors, and sent him into the tower.

• Li Yan observed several cultivators enter the tower after presenting Mystic Nether Tokens and paying the required spirit stones.
• Li Yan noticed the tiny star marking on his token and suspected its faint golden edge indicated a higher rank than the woman’s Bronze Star token.
• A gaunt Buddha identified Li Yan’s token as a Gold Star Mystic Nether Token and recognized him as a member of the Hu Chen Lineage.
• Li Yan said he was a disciple of the Hu Chen Lineage and corrected the Buddha, explaining that the next inheriting son was Hu Chen Wuding, not Hu Chen Wanli.
• The Buddha gave Li Yan a jade slip containing a one-time map of the tower’s first three floors and warned him against attempting the third floor.
• Li Yan accepted the jade slip and was told to enter, where his life and gains would depend on fate.

Li Yan entered the Northern Underworld Demon-Suppressing Tower and learned that he had been transported to the dangerous Snow Marsh, far from the southern entrance to the second floor. As he flew south across the silent snowfield, a vast swarm of snow mosquitoes attacked him.

• Li Yan entered the tower and found himself alone in an ice-sculpted stone chamber surrounded by a vast snowfield.
• Li Yan read the jade slip, learned the tower’s dangers, and discovered that snow mosquitoes inhabited the area outside his chamber.
• Li Yan learned he had to cross the Snow Marsh, Melt Caves, and Scorching Winds to reach the glacier region and the entrance to the second floor.
• Li Yan left the chamber and flew south through the Snow Marsh, protected by his spiritual power barrier and Vajra Talismans.
• Li Yan sensed faint traces of cold and was attacked by a massive swarm of nearly invisible snow mosquitoes.

Li Yan fought his way through a vast Snow Mosquito swarm, discovering that fire disrupted their crystal-sword formations but consumed his spiritual energy rapidly. He escaped the swarm’s territory and began recovering on the Cloud-Piercing Willow, still considering whether he could capture some mosquitoes with Tuban.

• Li Yan used Vajra Talismans and the Cloud-Piercing Willow to evade the Snow Mosquitoes, whose formations struck like crystal swords and shattered his defenses.
• Li Yan dodged the crystal swords and learned that his attacks could knock them aside but struggled to break them apart.
• Li Yan used a Fire Wall Technique and fireballs to scatter the formations and kill the Snow Mosquitoes, but their desperate attacks quickly drained his spiritual energy.
• Li Yan considered capturing Snow Mosquitoes inside Tuban, reasoning that they could serve as an ambush force despite their vulnerability to fire.
• Li Yan pressed through the swarm until the Snow Mosquitoes thinned at the edge of their territory, then used Pills and spirit stones to recover while the Cloud-Piercing Willow flew onward.

Li Yan tested whether Tuban could sustain the Snow Mosquitoes by creating a cold, snowy environment, then crossed the snowfield toward the Melt Caverns. He encountered three Foundation Establishment cultivators who had followed him, and confronted their leader, Cheng Wenming, about their intentions.

• Li Yan found the Snow Mosquitoes weakening inside Tuban, chilled part of the space, and watched them recover in the snowfall.
• Li Yan crossed the snowfield, surviving four Snow Mosquito swarms and dealing easily with other Demon Beasts while collecting herbs.
• As Li Yan neared the Melt Caverns, he sensed three Foundation Establishment cultivators approaching from behind.
• Cheng Wenming introduced himself as a member of the Ancient Pool Sect, while his two companions watched Li Yan.
• Li Yan asked Cheng Wenming why the three had followed him, and the two scholar-dressed cultivators reacted with displeasure.

Li Yan met Cheng Wenming and two Clear Heart Sect cultivators, who explained why the Fusion Caves blocked the route to the second level and invited him to join them. The chapter left Li Yan considering the danger and the requirement that three cultivators combine their souls to open a cave entrance.

• Cheng Wenming explained that he and his companions had crossed the snowy plains after being teleported far from the southern glacier.
• Li Yan rejected Cheng Wenming’s invitation to travel together and started to leave.
• Cheng Wenming persuaded Li Yan to listen by explaining that the Fusion Caves were the necessary, dangerous passage to the southern glacier and second level.
• Cheng Wenming revealed that opening a Fusion Cave required a combined soul attack from three cultivators at or above early Foundation Establishment, not merely their combined cultivation.
• Cheng Wenming said the three had invited Li Yan to join them because he could not open a cave entrance alone unless his soul rivaled a Golden Core cultivator’s.

Li Yan, posing as Jiang Hai, distrusted Cheng Wenming and the two Clear Heart Sect cultivators who approached him near the thaw caverns. Cheng Wenming proposed a mutually beneficial deal involving snow spirits, but Li Yan demanded that he explain the real purpose.

• Li Yan decided he might need allies to enter the thaw caverns and introduced himself to Cheng Wenming's group as Jiang Hai, claiming to be a rogue cultivator.
• Cheng Wenming inferred that Jiang Hai had a fire spiritual root from his safe crossing of the snowfield, and explained why he and his companions had stopped him.
• Li Yan questioned why the group needed his help when three cultivators could already open a passage into the thaw caverns.
• The tall Clear Heart Sect cultivator, Ye, urged Cheng Wenming to leave Jiang Hai alone, while the shorter companion showed brief killing intent.
• Cheng Wenming said he wanted to discuss a mutually beneficial matter and asked whether Jiang Hai knew about snow spirits.
• After Cheng Wenming began describing the value of snow spirit beast cores, Li Yan cut him off and demanded that he get to the point.

Li Yan learned about snow spirit lords and joined Cheng Wenming, Ye Xiuwen, and Tan Zeshan in a hunt, agreeing to share a lord’s demon core according to their contributions. After traveling south together, the four reached an immense wall of ice and snow at the edge of the plains.

• Cheng Wenming explained that powerful snow spirits could become second-rank snow spirit lords and invited Li Yan to help hunt one for its valuable demon core.
• Cheng Wenming described the snow spirit lords’ Netherflame Devouring and explained that genuine fire abilities could counter the freezing flame.
• Li Yan agreed to join the group after Cheng Wenming proposed that he and Li Yan each receive forty percent of a snow spirit lord’s demon core, with Ye Xiuwen and Tan Zeshan sharing the remaining twenty percent.
• Li Yan traveled south with Cheng Wenming, Ye Xiuwen, and Tan Zeshan, and they learned more about one another while fighting snow mosquitoes and other demon beasts.
• The four emerged from the snowy plains around midnight and found an immense wall of ice and snow before them.

Li Yan and Cheng Wenming’s group reached the great wall of ice and snow, where cultivators gathered to enter the melt caves. After choosing a cave and clearing the surrounding area, Cheng Wenming and his companions began breaking its restrictions.

• Li Yan admired the ice-and-snow wall and reflected on the freedom and companionship he wanted from cultivation.
• Cheng Wenming explained that cultivators generally avoided fighting on the tower’s first level unless a worthwhile prize was at stake.
• Li Yan sensed more than twenty cultivators near the wall as the group approached its melt caves.
• Cheng Wenming led the group east until they found a cave with no nearby cultivators.
• Cheng Wenming, Ye Xiuwen, and Tan Zeshan flew toward the chosen melt cave to break its restrictions while Li Yan waited.

Li Yan watched Cheng Wenming, Ye Xiuwen, and Tan Zeshan use a costly golden talisman to break the Fusion Cave’s restriction, while their concealed leaks of yin wind tested him. After the entrance opened, Li Yan and the others flew into the vast, icy cave, where mournful winds came from deeper within.

• Cheng Wenming explained that the golden talisman would help the group break the Fusion Cave’s restriction without exhausting their spiritual power.
• Cheng Wenming, Ye Xiuwen, and Tan Zeshan channeled their power through their magic treasures and the talisman, forming a golden net that pressed against the cave entrance.
• Li Yan endured leaking yin winds that chilled his body and sent fierce-soul illusions into his mind, which he dispelled with his Divine Sense.
• The golden net shattered the restriction, and Cheng Wenming told Li Yan that the entrance was open.
• Li Yan and the other four flew into the broad cave, whose ice-covered walls glowed blue as chilling, mournful winds blew from within.

Li Yan and the others encountered a second-tier ice mandarin duck in a melt cave, where its soul-targeting attacks caught Tan Zeshan off guard. As Cheng Wenming moved to defend him, Li Yan recognized that the bird’s white hook-shaped attack could tear out Tan Zeshan’s soul.

• Cheng Wenming explained the dangers of melt caves and the territories of Snow Spirit Lords as the group flew through the cave.
• Li Yan detected a camouflaged ice mandarin duck before the others and watched it charge at Tan Zeshan.
• The ice mandarin duck unleashed a sonic attack that dazed all four cultivators and injured Tan Zeshan.
• The bird sent a hook-shaped streak of white light at the dazed Tan Zeshan, and Cheng Wenming cast a fire spell to intervene.
• Li Yan recognized that the white light targeted Tan Zeshan’s soul and could leave him a soulless walking corpse.

Li Yan and his companions fought through the cavern’s snow spirits as Cheng Wenming explained the danger and value of a snow spirit lord. They encountered an upper-stage second-rank lord leading over a hundred snow spirits, and prepared to attack it while Ye Xiuwen and Tan Zeshan held off the horde.

• Cheng Wenming and Tan Zeshan destroyed an ice mandarin duck after it attacked the group.
• Li Yan concealed his water and metal spiritual powers while fighting snow spirit packs and collected more than ten demon cores.
• Cheng Wenming told Li Yan that he hoped to exchange spirit stones for a lone snow spirit lord’s core and warned him about its powerful suction and blue-flame attacks.
• The group traveled through the cavern and encountered a snow spirit lord leading over a hundred snow spirits.
• Cheng Wenming identified the lord as an upper-stage second-rank beast and proposed that he and Li Yan attack it while Ye Xiuwen and Tan Zeshan held back the horde.
• The snow spirit lord declared the cultivators trespassers and threatened to kill them.

Li Yan and Cheng Wenming fought a snow spirit lord while Ye Xiuwen and Tan Zeshan lured the horde away and sealed them behind shields. The snow spirit lord seized control of Li Yan’s fire spell, and Cheng Wenming revealed his betrayal, but the lord’s confidence faltered as it noticed Li Yan still struggling against its control.

• Cheng Wenming and Li Yan attacked the snow spirit lord while Ye Xiuwen and Tan Zeshan drew more than a hundred snow spirits away with red powder.
• Ye Xiuwen and Tan Zeshan blocked the cavern passage with the Iron Scroll and Cinnabar Book, trapping the horde away from the snow spirit lord.
• Li Yan dodged the lord’s close-range strike and retaliated with a palm, then cast Beacon Fires Fill the Sky.
• The snow spirit lord sent blue flames into Li Yan’s spell, took control of it, and began draining his spiritual power as Cheng Wenming stopped attacking.
• Cheng Wenming admitted he was a fire cultivator and told Li Yan he had been sold out, while the snow spirit lord explained its strength and threatened them.
• The snow spirit lord noticed that Li Yan was still trying to sever their connection, and bewilderment spread across its face.

Li Yan vanished after escaping the snow spirit lord’s ghostly blue flames, leaving Cheng Wenming, Ye Xiuwen, and Tan Zeshan to face the enraged demon alone. As the snow spirit lord attacked, Cheng Wenming coordinated a desperate defense and struck back with his Green Dragon Crescent Blade.

• Li Yan disappeared without a trace, and Cheng Wenming, Ye Xiuwen, and Tan Zeshan realized he had truly escaped the snow spirit lord.
• The three men feared Li Yan was a powerful Golden Core cultivator and pleaded with the empty air to spare them.
• The snow spirit lord searched for Li Yan, then gave in to its greed for fire cultivators and charged at Cheng Wenming.
• Cheng Wenming sent Ye Xiuwen and Tan Zeshan instructions to divide their defense and prepare to escape together.
• Cheng Wenming retreated from the snow spirit lord’s grasp and slashed at its neck with his Green Dragon Crescent Blade.

Cheng Wenming, Tan Zeshan, and Ye Xiuwen fought the Snow Essence Lord while trying to escape the ice cave. Cheng Wenming finally used his fire-element artifact to break free, but the Snow Essence Lord attacked all three as they moved to break through.

• The Snow Essence Lord blocked Cheng Wenming’s Green Dragon Crescent Blade with his forearm, while Tan Zeshan struck him with a chain hammer and inflicted wounds that his blue flames soon healed.
• Tan Zeshan’s spiritual power waned as he and Cheng Wenming fought the Snow Essence Lord, while Ye Xiuwen defended against the surrounding Snow Essences.
• The Snow Essences self-destructed their demon cores, and Ye Xiuwen warned that he could hold the defenses for only a short time before they would have to break out.
• Cheng Wenming brought out his crimson iron ruler and used its fire against the Snow Essence Lord, whose ghostly flames began to drain his spiritual power.
• A crimson crow emerged from Cheng Wenming’s ruler and cut it free from the blue flames before the flames swallowed the crow; Cheng Wenming then slipped beneath the Snow Essence Lord.
• Ye Xiuwen and Tan Zeshan moved in from opposite sides as the Snow Essence Lord sent a blue-flame net after Cheng Wenming and formed flaming claws to attack the other two.

Ye Xiuwen and Tan Zeshan escaped the Snow Spirit Lord with Cheng Wenming, but Li Yan’s ice-spike barrier slowed their flight and the pursuing snow spirits caught up. The three were forced back into battle, with Cheng Wenming unable to use his strongest fire techniques effectively against the Snow Spirit Lord.

• Ye Xiuwen spent forty percent of the noble righteousness stored in his Iron Scroll Vermilion Book to pull Tan Zeshan out of the Snow Spirit Lord’s attack, while Cheng Wenming escaped using his fire ability and sacrificed part of his artifact spirit’s soul.
• Ye Xiuwen accused Cheng Wenming of using them as cover, but Cheng Wenming argued that he had created their chance to escape and paid a heavy price himself.
• The three cultivators fled nearly thirty li through the melt cave while searching for the vanished Jiang Hai with their divine sense.
• Ice spikes erupted from the cave floor and blocked the three’s path; Ye Xiuwen and Tan Zeshan feared Jiang Hai had attacked, while Cheng Wenming recognized the spikes’ pure water spiritual power.
• Li Yan watched as the Snow Spirit Lord and its snow spirits caught the three cultivators and forced them to turn and fight.
• Cheng Wenming struggled against the Snow Spirit Lord because it devoured his fire techniques, leaving him dependent on the costly Red Crow artifact spirit for a temporary opening.

Li Yan discovered that Cheng Wenming and his companions had planned to use him as bait for the Snow Spirit Lord, then concealed himself when the beast tried to devour his spiritual energy. He left the three men surrounded by the pursuing beasts, and the chapter ended as they were forced into another desperate battle.

• Li Yan tested the blue flame in a snow spirit core and learned that mixing water spiritual energy with fire spiritual energy stopped it from devouring him.
• Li Yan deduced Cheng Wenming, Ye Xiuwen, and Tan Zeshan planned to weaken the Snow Spirit Lord by feeding it his fire spiritual energy, so he decided to let their scheme unfold and profit from the fight.
• When the Snow Spirit Lord began devouring his spiritual energy, Li Yan mixed in water spiritual energy and used Stealth Night Concealment to disappear.
• After observing the three men's escape techniques, Li Yan created deadly ice spikes in their path, allowing the Snow Spirit Lord and other Demon Beasts to catch up.
• Cheng Wenming, Ye Xiuwen, and Tan Zeshan cursed toward the depths of the cavern before clashing with the surrounding Demon Beasts.

After Cheng Wenming was captured and Ye Xiuwen and Tan Zeshan died, Li Yan followed the snow spirit lord to its concealed dwelling. He discovered that the entrance was protected by an unusually subtle formation and considered using the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief to get inside.

• Tan Zeshan detonated himself, killing snow spirits and an ice scorpion, while Ye Xiuwen was exhausted and devoured by Demon Beasts.
• Cheng Wenming begged the hidden Li Yan for mercy, but the snow spirit lord overwhelmed him and took him captive.
• The snow spirit lord collected two Storage Pouches and carried Cheng Wenming deeper into the cavern, believing Li Yan had fled.
• Li Yan emerged after the snow spirit lord left and silently followed its trail for seventy li.
• The snow spirit lord disappeared into a tiny fissure hidden among countless cracks in the snow, and Li Yan detected formation restrictions guarding it.
• Li Yan realized the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief might let him enter the concealed dwelling without triggering its formation.

The Snow Spirit Lord strengthened his cave defenses with the Great Dragon-Elephant Array before attempting to devour Cheng Wenming and advance his cultivation. Cheng Wenming woke in agony during the process and was left a distorted, corpse-like husk.

• The Snow Spirit Lord activated the Great Dragon-Elephant Array and recalled how he had obtained it from a dead array master’s Storage Pouch.
• He planned to reach the upper second tier by devouring Cheng Wenming, then later consume two other Snow Spirit Lords to become a Snow Spirit King.
• The Snow Spirit Lord added the Great Dragon-Elephant Array to the defenses of his cave before beginning to drain Cheng Wenming’s cultivation.
• Blue flames erupted around the Snow Spirit Lord’s arms as he pressed them over Cheng Wenming’s dantian, and Cheng Wenming awoke, silently writhing in pain.
• After an hour, the Snow Spirit Lord withdrew his arms, leaving Cheng Wenming’s body emaciated and horribly distorted.

Li Yan used the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief to infiltrate the Snow Essence Lord’s cave and struck while it was unstable from devouring Cheng Wenming. He killed the Snow Essence Lord, but its protected demon core remained intact, leaving Li Yan struggling to break through the ice around it.

• Li Yan entered the Snow Essence Lord’s cave unseen with the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief and observed it preparing to devour Cheng Wenming behind the Great Dragon Elephant Formation.
• Li Yan waited until the Snow Essence Lord had devoured Cheng Wenming and was struggling to refine the resulting spiritual power.
• Li Yan distracted the Snow Essence Lord, appeared behind it, and sent a force into its body that left it unable to fight.
• Li Yan cut off the Snow Essence Lord’s head and limbs and split its body, but his spiritual saber struck a block of ice protecting its demon core.
• Li Yan poured more power into his spiritual saber, but he only managed to deepen the mark in the ice.