Chapter Summaries

Li Yan defeated the snow spirit lord and seized his weakened spirit essence, then pressured him for information and treasures. The snow spirit lord offered a two-thousand-year-old melting bamboo shoot to persuade Li Yan to spare him, and Li Yan recognized its value.

• Li Yan switched between fire and water spiritual energy to break through the snow spirit lord’s icy shell, forcing the lord’s spirit essence to flee in blue spectral fire.
• Li Yan used water spiritual energy to capture the spirit essence, which begged for its life and offered hidden treasures and its purple flag.
• Li Yan learned that the snow spirit lord had collected spirit plants and possessions from outside cultivators in the melting cavern, but dismissed the flag’s formation as useless to him.
• The snow spirit lord offered a two-thousand-year-old melting bamboo shoot, and Li Yan reacted with surprise at the rare treasure.
• Li Yan considered how the melting bamboo shoot could accelerate spiritual energy at the cost of severe strain, comparing it with the dangerous Five Elements Return to Primordial Chaos technique he cultivated.

Li Yan learned that the Snow Spirit Lord possessed a two-thousand-year-old Melting Bamboo Shoot that could greatly strengthen his cultivation art, and bargained for its location and the array incantations. The Snow Spirit Lord revealed the treasure was hidden beneath the cave entrance, and Li Yan began subduing him while collecting the array controls.

• Li Yan recognized the Melting Bamboo Shoot’s potential to increase his spiritual power circulation and help him use Five Elements Return to Primordial Chaos more safely.
• The Snow Spirit Lord offered the Melting Bamboo Shoot and seven Storage Pouches in exchange for being spared, but Li Yan refused to promise his release.
• The Snow Spirit Lord revealed that the Melting Bamboo Shoot lay beneath the cave entrance behind an array and that the array incantations remained intact.
• The Snow Spirit Lord explained how he had trapped and killed cultivators with the Great Dragon-Elephant Array, earning Li Yan’s admiration for his cunning.
• Li Yan wrapped the Snow Spirit Lord’s soul essence in black mist, and the Snow Spirit Lord sent out a purple flag and began reciting ancient incantations.

Li Yan collected the Snow Essence Master's hidden treasures and examined a mysterious Fusion Shoot sealed in ice. After the Snow Essence Master tried to escape, Li Yan destroyed its soul fragment and prepared to store its demon core, leaving the strange object sealed for later investigation.

• Li Yan found four Storage Pouches, a block of ice containing a bamboo-shoot-like object, and a jade slip detailing the cave's three formations.
• Li Yan identified the Great Dragon Elephant Formation and kept its control jade slip and the purple banner while returning the remaining jade slips to the Storage Pouches.
• Li Yan broke the ice apart but stopped before fully freeing the Fusion Shoot, then killed the Snow Essence Master's soul fragment when it abandoned its demon core and tried to flee.
• The object inside the ice briefly twitched and cried out for help, so Li Yan restored the ice around it and sealed the block with talismans.
• Li Yan revealed the Snow Essence Master's demon core and brought out a jade box from Su Hong to store its extreme yin fire.

Li Yan uncovered the Snow Essence Lord’s deception and defeated its attempt to escape by releasing a hidden threat from the false “Fusion Shoot.” After securing the dangerous object, he analyzed the cave’s contents and tested the blue ghostfire, finding that it could rapidly consume a spirit artifact’s power.

• Li Yan concluded that the false “Fusion Shoot” was too dangerous to keep with him and resealed the cave before sinking underground with the ice block.
• Li Yan recalled how he had detected the Snow Essence Lord’s essence soul preparing to flee and realized its apparent cooperation had been a plan to escape and strike him with the fiend sealed inside the ice.
• Li Yan buried the false “Fusion Shoot” deep underground, then returned to the cave and examined the four Storage Pouches.
• Li Yan inferred from the pouches’ contents that Snow Essences could consume medicinal pills and refine magic treasures, explaining why Cheng Wenming and the others wanted the demon core.
• Li Yan fed a jade-green spirit artifact to the blue ghostfire and watched it return in only a few breaths with one corner missing and much of its defensive power gone.

Li Yan searched the cave abode and recovered large quantities of spirit stones, pills, and magical treasures from the Storage Pouches of the dead cultivators. After claiming Cheng Wenming's iron ruler, he turned his attention to the ice seat carved with a lifelike phoenix.

• Li Yan found two hundred thousand spirit stones, including six mid-grade stones, in four Storage Pouches and stored them in Tuban.
• Li Yan recovered another one hundred and thirty thousand low-grade spirit stones, twelve bottles of pills, and several magical treasures from Cheng Wenming and the other two cultivators' Storage Pouches.
• Li Yan discovered that the iron-scroll pill scriptures had lost their vast righteous qi and could not help him study it.
• Li Yan removed Cheng Wenming's remaining blood essence from the iron ruler and used fire spiritual energy to activate its flames.
• Li Yan examined the carved ice phoenix on the ice seat and wondered whether it came from the Snow Essence Lord's inherited memories.

Li Yan discovered a true Fusion Bamboo Shoot concealed in the ice seat and tested its effects on Snow Mosquitoes before consuming a trace himself. The substance rapidly drove his cultivation upward, leaving him on the verge of a breakthrough.

• Li Yan moved the ice seat into Tuban, where swarms of Snow Mosquitoes covered it and clustered around the ice phoenix’s claws.
• Li Yan noticed that the Snow Mosquitoes’ orderly layers made a phoenix-tree branch resemble a Fusion Bamboo Shoot, so he retrieved the ice seat and dug out the hidden object.
• Li Yan tested a trace of the milky-white substance on two Snow Mosquitoes, which grew roughly three times stronger and remained vigorous.
• Li Yan swallowed a thin thread of the substance, and its cold current spread through his meridians as his cultivation surged from mid Foundation Establishment toward a breakthrough.

Li Yan tested the real Melting Bamboo Shoot and reasoned out how it had been hidden in the ice seat and how the seat nourished it. He returned the shoot and ice seat to Tuban, then prepared to study a jade slip.

• Li Yan used a sliver of the Melting Bamboo Shoot to reach peak Foundation Establishment briefly without damaging his meridians.
• Li Yan considered how the real and false Melting Bamboo Shoots came to be in the Melting Cavern and concluded that the ice seat had lost its vitality when he removed the real one.
• Li Yan tested the ice seat with rain and his blood, then saw a wisp of vapor pass from the seat into the Melting Bamboo Shoot.
• Li Yan returned the Melting Bamboo Shoot to the ice seat and sent the seat and two snow mosquitoes back into Tuban.
• Li Yan sat down in his cave, summoned a small purple flag, and took a jade slip into his hand.

Li Yan left the cavern, crossed the first level’s Scorching Wind route, and reached the entrance to the Northern Underworld Demon-Suppressing Tower’s second level. After being transported into a dense forest, he traveled beneath the canopy, where the familiar terrain suited him better than the first level.

• Li Yan finished basic refinement of the Great Dragon-Elephant Array, collected the other arrays’ flags, and left the cavern.
• Li Yan traveled stealthily for five days, passed the cavern’s Snow Spirit Lords without attracting them, and emerged into the outside world.
• Li Yan crossed the Scorching Wind route, briefly tested its wind against his bare hands, and decided not to use it to temper his body.
• Li Yan found the entrance to the second level on a southern glacial peak and entered the black cave, which transported him to a small separate space.
• Li Yan entered the second level and traveled through its dense forest beneath the canopy.

Li Yan traveled through Green Python Forest toward Red Maple Pool and discovered two cultivators using a Silver Vein Flower to lure victims into an ambush. When a cautious sword cultivator arrived and the hunters attacked, the newcomer suddenly unleashed his sword.

• Li Yan crossed Green Python Forest, gathered a few herbs, and avoided most Demon Beasts as he headed for Red Maple Pool.
• Li Yan spotted two Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivators hiding near a Silver Vein Flower and realized they planned to ambush whoever tried to take it.
• Li Yan prepared to strike the hunters, then sensed another cultivator approaching and returned to concealment.
• A Foundation Establishment Middle Stage sword cultivator found the flower, searched warily, and began retreating without approaching it.
• The two hunters launched a coordinated attack, and the sword cultivator drew his longsword in a sudden, powerful slash.

Li Yan watched Ren of the Emerald Blood Sect clash with Hu Hai and Ning Xiong of Beast Refining Mountain over the Silver Soul Flower. The three cultivators launched a fierce battle, and Ren was still fighting both opponents when the chapter ended.

• Ren used his sword to strike at the Silver Soul Flower, forcing Hu Hai and Ning Xiong to reveal their ambush.
• Ren dodged their opening attacks, recognized the two Beast Refining Mountain cultivators, and confronted them over the flower.
• Li Yan watched from hiding and considered the sects’ methods and the three cultivators’ combat skill.
• Ren rejected Hu Hai’s claim that the men had arrived first and attacked them both with his sword.
• Hu Hai and Ning Xiong unleashed beast-shaped attacks from their magical treasures, while Ren met them without yielding.

Li Yan secretly stole the Silvervein Flower during a battle between Hu Hai, Ning Xiong, and Sword Cultivator Ren, then continued through the forest toward Red Maple Pool. He avoided a plea for help from a pursued woman after recognizing that her attacker was a powerful Rhinoceros-Horned Green Python.

• Cultivator Ren used sword qi to fend off Hu Hai and Ning Xiong's demon beasts while Li Yan approached the Silvervein Flower under concealment.
• Li Yan plucked the Silvervein Flower and stored it in Tuban, but Ning Xiong's azure snake sensed his presence and alerted the others to the flower's disappearance.
• Sword Cultivator Ren mocked Hu Hai and Ning Xiong before leaving, and the two departed soon afterward, fearing a Gold Core expert had taken the flower.
• Li Yan emerged after the others left, realized the azure snake could expose a flaw in his concealment art, and traveled cautiously while avoiding other cultivators.
• Li Yan sensed a woman being pursued by a peak second-tier Rhinoceros-Horned Green Python, recognized both as powerful false-core cultivators, and ignored her plea for help as he fled in another direction.

Li Yan refused to help a fleeing beautiful woman and tried to escape the rhinoceros-horned green python, but the python sent a green shadow after him. Li Yan confronted the shadow beside a pool and used the Li Fire Mysterious Yellow Fan's Flying Scythe Blood Mantis to block its attack, revealing the mantis's blood-scab armor.

• The rhinoceros-horned green python ordered Li Yan to intercept the beautiful woman, but Li Yan accelerated away instead.
• The python sent a green shadow after Li Yan while continuing to chase the poisoned beautiful woman.
• Li Yan lured the green shadow to a pool and stopped to face it.
• The green shadow attacked Li Yan with an elongated claw, and Li Yan summoned the Flying Scythe Blood Mantis from the Li Fire Mysterious Yellow Fan.
• The mantis blocked the claw with its blood-coated blades and was knocked back without being cut apart.
• The green shadow attacked again, extending two claws toward Li Yan's forehead.

Li Yan wounded the Rhinoceros-Horned Green Python’s Jade Pillow Bone Division with a surprise attack from the Li Fire Mysterious Yellow Fan, but the python’s true body arrived and rescued it. The python revealed its strength and attacked Li Yan, beginning a direct fight.

• Li Yan used the Flying Scythe Blood Mantis to distract the green shadow, then struck it with the Li Fire Mysterious Yellow Fan’s mysterious yellow Li fire.
• The green shadow lost both hands and suffered severe burns, but it shielded itself with green mist as Li Yan tried to pierce its defense with poison.
• The Rhinoceros-Horned Green Python appeared with the unconscious woman, extinguished the flames, and threatened to kill Li Yan.
• Li Yan realized the green shadow was the python’s Jade Pillow Bone Division and judged that escaping the python’s true body would be difficult.
• The Rhinoceros-Horned Green Python blurred forward and punched Li Yan’s raised fan, while an afterimage remained behind.

Li Yan fought the Rhinoceros-Horned Green Python, using his magic treasures and Blood River Art but suffering a spiritual backlash from the demon’s pellet. He fled deeper into the forest, but the Rhinoceros-Horned Green Python caught up and swept his enormous tail toward Li Yan’s waist.

• The Rhinoceros-Horned Green Python attacked Li Yan at close range, and Li Yan used the Blood River Art to trap his claws and strike from behind with a flaming iron ruler.
• The Rhinoceros-Horned Green Python shattered the blood river with his green pellet, injuring Li Yan’s mind and spirit, while his tail struck at Li Yan’s iron ruler.
• The iron ruler transformed into a crimson crow that wounded the Rhinoceros-Horned Green Python’s tail before the Rhinoceros-Horned Green Python drove it off.
• Li Yan abandoned the Flying Sickle Blood Mantis, blood river, and iron ruler as he fled deeper into the forest, but the Rhinoceros-Horned Green Python quickly pursued him.
• Li Yan’s Li Fire Mysterious Yellow Fan produced only a few flames, and the Rhinoceros-Horned Green Python accelerated and swept his lengthened tail toward Li Yan’s waist.

Li Yan defeated the Horned Green Python in a close-quarters battle and drove him into the forest, then took the immobilized woman with him. A group of cultivators arrived afterward and wondered about Li Yan’s strength and body-tempering technique.

• Li Yan wounded the Horned Green Python’s tail and horn with his bare hands, then met his attacks in a direct clash of fists.
• Li Yan overpowered the Horned Green Python, who spat blood and fled into the forest after accusing Li Yan of hiding his true abilities.
• Li Yan stopped pursuing the injured Horned Green Python and carried away the immobilized woman with a sweep of his sleeve.
• Two women and three men appeared after Li Yan left, and a False Core Realm man asked Senior Brother Yiming to identify Li Yan’s body-tempering technique.

Chan Master Yiming and the others discussed Li Yan’s mysterious body-refining technique after witnessing his battle, then left as more cultivators and demons approached. Li Yan hid in a mountain formation and began recovering, reflecting on how he had tricked the Rhinoceros-Horned Green Python into retreating while preserving his strength.

• Chan Master Yiming and Cultivator Xu speculated that Li Yan’s unfamiliar body-refining technique came from beyond their region and discussed how his faint aura could conceal his true cultivation.
• The taller woman said she and her sister had seen Li Yan arrive at the tower ten-odd days earlier, apparently at the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.
• Chan Master Yiming sensed approaching cultivators and Demon Beasts, so he and the others left to talk elsewhere.
• Li Yan flew to a rocky mountain, used a small purple flag to conceal himself and the injured woman, then swallowed pills and began recovering.
• Li Yan recalled that the Rhinoceros-Horned Green Python surpassed him in spiritual power but was physically weaker, and that he had feigned exhaustion to lure it into close combat.

Li Yan drove off the Rhino-Horned Green Python and treated a woman poisoned by its aphrodisiac venom, narrowly resisting her while giving her an antidote. After he released her seal, he noticed something seemed different about her appearance but did not examine her closely.

• Li Yan wounded the Rhino-Horned Green Python, let it escape, and avoided revealing his injuries to five people watching from the forest.
• After recovering enough to act, Li Yan approached the immobilized woman and recognized that the python's aphrodisiac poison was close to killing her.
• Li Yan released the woman's seal before giving her antidote pills, and she threw herself into his arms; he restrained her again and fed her the pills.
• Li Yan covered the woman with a robe and waited until she asked him to release her seal, then turned to see her standing in his robe.
• Li Yan noticed that the woman looked different but, unsettled by what had happened, did not inspect her carefully.

Li Yan declined Mei Hongyu’s reward after saving her from the Rhino-Horned Green Python and learned she had come to the tower to find a medicinal catalyst for her gravely ill son. As Mei Hongyu warned him that the python might seek revenge, she realized her Bitterless Powder could have attracted it, and Li Yan urgently questioned her about the substance.

• Mei Hongyu offered Li Yan three thousand spirit stones, but he returned them and prepared to leave without revealing his real name.
• Mei Hongyu asked to remember her rescuer and explained that her son’s injured soul required a medicinal catalyst.
• Li Yan introduced himself as Jiang and learned that Mei Hongyu had obtained Heaven-Awn Skullcap after killing Heaven-Awn Butterflies near the python’s lair.
• Mei Hongyu warned Li Yan that the Rhino-Horned Green Python might return and reasoned that her Bitterless Powder could have drawn it to her.
• Li Yan interrupted Mei Hongyu and asked what she had said about Bitterless Powder.

Li Yan received Mei Hongyu’s Wuku Powder, which he needed to refine the Guiyi Water-Parting Spikes, and left the Green Python Forest behind. Mei Hongyu revealed her intentions to cure her son and avenge her husband, while Li Yan reached a red maple forest and reflected on the bloody struggles within the tower.

• Mei Hongyu gave Li Yan her remaining Wuku Powder as repayment for saving her and her son, and Li Yan accepted it before withdrawing his formation.
• Mei Hongyu left, then revealed that the python’s poison had broken her illusion technique and that she planned to avenge her husband after Fei'er recovered.
• Mei Hongyu vowed to kill the horned green python and take control of the Green Python Forest.
• Li Yan traveled for two days and reached a forest of red maple leaves, where he paused beside a stream.
• Li Yan recalled the bloody battles he had witnessed in the tower and felt dispirited as he considered the nature of the world of cultivators.

Li Yan reached Red Maple Pool seeking the palace beneath it, where he discovered a formidable blue-robed scholar and his servant Buluo among the cultivators waiting to enter. The scholar warned Buluo about the dangers ahead and his unstable cultivation, while preparing to help him seek a rare ingredient for a pill that might aid his eventual core formation.

• Li Yan flew toward the center of Red Maple Pool and sensed seventeen cultivators gathered beside the pool, so he stopped a hundred li away to observe.
• The blue-robed scholar detected Li Yan despite his concealment technique, and both men privately assessed each other's abilities and origins.
• Buluo complained that his young master's presence had frightened the other cultivators and spoiled his chance to compete for entry to the palace.
• The scholar explained that the palace was perilous, described the limited daily entry spots, and warned Buluo that his cultivation foundation was unstable.
• Buluo revealed that he sought a medicinal herb to help form a core, and the scholar explained that even with it he could likely make only one Dustless Pill.