Chapter Summaries

The middle-aged scholar told Buluo to find the final ingredient for a Dustless Pill on his own and warned him that they would soon part, leaving Buluo to rely on himself. Li Yan arrived at Red Maple Pool, where cultivators gathered to enter the hidden palace beneath it, and drew the attention of Buluo and the scholar.

• The middle-aged scholar told Buluo that he would refine a Dustless Pill only if Buluo found the missing ingredient, and that he would leave the Lineage once the pill was completed.
• The middle-aged scholar warned Buluo to cultivate independently, avoid drawing attention while competing for entry, and beware of an approaching rival whose strength surpassed his own.
• Buluo sensed Li Yan approaching and questioned whether the young man could truly match a cultivator at the great perfection of Foundation Establishment.
• Li Yan stopped concealing his aura and flew to Red Maple Pool, where he observed the cultivators waiting to enter the palace beneath the pool.
• Li Yan chose a place on the lakeshore, noticed Buluo watching him, and saw the middle-aged scholar greet him with a faint smile.

Li Yan waited at Red Maple Pool as the palace gates began to rise, wary of a powerful middle-aged scholar who vanished and determined to secure a place among those entering. Duan Weiran and another False Core cultivator claimed two places, while the gates continued emerging and a third person suddenly rose into the air.

• Li Yan worried that the middle-aged scholar might also be seeking the Crimson Mother Essence and resolved to avoid him.
• The middle-aged scholar silently flew away, leaving the cultivators uncertain whether he had truly departed.
• The palace gates began rising beneath the lake, and Li Yan decided he had to secure one of the twelve entry spots that day.
• Duan Weiran announced he would enter first, and the other False Core cultivator, surnamed Sun, joined him above the water.
• As the gate frame emerged and the crowd fell silent, another person laughed softly and rose into the air.

Li Yan challenged the pseudo-Golden Core cultivator surnamed Sun after Sun ordered him to leave the lake’s center. Sun attacked with his Ghost Carved Black Lotus and trapped Li Yan in a spiritual power prison, leaving the onlookers convinced that Li Yan was doomed.

• The bookboy arrived at the lake’s center, and the cultivators gathered there while Li Yan and a five-man group remained on shore.
• Li Yan chose the four-man group as his target for securing a place in the palace, then flew toward the lake’s center as the golden gates rose.
• The cultivator surnamed Sun ordered Li Yan to scram, but Li Yan turned toward him and defiantly told him to take off his own head and roll it around.
• Sun attacked Li Yan with the Ghost Carved Black Lotus, aiming to tear him apart while the crowd watched.
• Li Yan tried to dodge, but Sun’s partly solidified spiritual power stopped him in place, and the onlookers thought he was finished.

Li Yan defeated Sun Jiuhe by poisoning him with a deadly toxin that melted his hand and arm, forcing him to sever the limb and flee. Duan Weiran warned Li Yan about Sun Jiuhe’s black lotus treasure, leaving Li Yan newly alert to the threat it posed.

• Li Yan avoided Sun Jiuhe’s attack, but Sun Jiuhe seized his shoulder and summoned two vicious-faced ghost condors.
• A shrill cry interrupted the attack, and Sun Jiuhe retreated as the poison on his hand began melting his flesh.
• Sun Jiuhe exhausted his antidotes without effect, while Li Yan warned that even a Golden Core cultivator could not cure the poison.
• Sun Jiuhe cut off part of his arm and fled, identifying Li Yan as a poison cultivator and vowing to meet again.
• Duan Weiran told Li Yan that Sun Jiuhe was the chief disciple of the master of Ghost Condor Manor and explained that his black lotus contained a powerful ghost condor.
• Li Yan realized the danger of Sun Jiuhe’s wind-attributed treasure after hearing Duan Weiran’s warning.

Li Yan explained how he had used his Disjointed Poison Body to defeat Sun Jiuhe, while weighing Duan Weiran’s hidden motives. As the palace gates continued to rise, Bu Luo approached Li Yan and questioned him, leaving Li Yan to suspect that the attendant was a sheltered prodigy.

• Li Yan recalled how he had lured Sun Jiuhe into close range and used poison to defeat him quickly without revealing more of his strength than necessary.
• Li Yan asked Duan Weiran why he had offered information, and Duan Weiran said Sun Jiuhe had once offended a friend of his.
• Li Yan inferred that Duan Weiran might be using him against Sun Jiuhe, then introduced himself to Duan Weiran as Jiang Hai.
• As the cultivators waited for the palace gates to rise, Bu Luo approached Li Yan and greeted him, while the others kept their distance from the poison cultivator.
• Bu Luo said his young master had recognized Li Yan’s strength and admitted he could not have defeated Sun Jiuhe; Li Yan realized Bu Luo himself could fight above his apparent cultivation level.
• Bu Luo questioned Li Yan about his reasons for entering, and Li Yan began to suspect that Bu Luo was a sect prodigy who had been sheltered from the world.

Li Yan entered the palace beneath Red Maple Pool after poisoning its entrance to deter anyone waiting to ambush him. He found himself in a vast ruined underground world and knew he would need to locate a side room marked with three red maple leaves to leave at the hour of the Rooster.

• Li Yan questioned Bu Luo about the palace, and Bu Luo explained that its two dangerous areas could help cultivators break through bottlenecks.
• The golden gate opened, and Duan Weiran entered first, followed by Bu Luo and the other cultivators.
• Li Yan noticed that Bu Luo had angered others by rushing in ahead of them and worried that Bu Luo’s behavior might attract danger inside.
• Before entering, Li Yan released a dark-red poison into the gate’s heated vapor, forcing five people near the shore to retreat.
• Li Yan entered the palace and found a ruined underground world, where he recalled that a room marked with three red maple leaves would teleport him out at the hour of the Rooster.

Li Yan entered the palace beneath Red Maple Pool, while Sun Jiuhe arrived too late and gathered allies to pursue him. After leaving the palace, Li Yan tried to avoid a fight, but two figures followed him across the dark red sky.

• Li Yan entered the golden gates beneath Red Maple Pool as Yiming and the middle-aged man in white arrived with three companions.
• Sun Jiuhe flew in with two men, learned that Li Yan had already entered the palace, and described how Li Yan’s poison had forced him to sever his right forearm.
• Sun Jiuhe joined Yiming and the middle-aged man in white while waiting for the palace to open again.
• Li Yan flew out into the dark red sky, reflected on the missing middle-aged scholar in blue, and changed course to avoid a distant fight.
• Two figures pursuing one another turned toward Li Yan and continued following him after he tried to flee.

Li Yan was pursued by a fat monk and a square-faced cultivator who tried to drag him into their conflict. He tricked the monk into helping corner the cultivator, then left as the man was caught in his flame.

• The square-faced cultivator called Li Yan Brother Wang and claimed they had seized a treasure together, trying to make the fat monk wary of him.
• Li Yan attacked both pursuers with the Li Fire Mysterious Yellow Fan and wind blades after the square-faced cultivator kept trying to involve him.
• Li Yan secretly told the fat monk that he did not know the cultivator and that his flame would block the man's right side, then flew away on the Cloud-Piercing Willow.
• The fat monk used a prayer bead to bind the square-faced cultivator's ankle, making him collide with Li Yan's flame and catch fire.

Li Yan avoided the battles across the palace ruins while Sun Jiuhe and his companions searched for him, then chose to seek him near places rich in resources. Elsewhere, Buluo stole a silver page and fled a pursuing crowd as another page remained amid a fierce battle.

• Li Yan avoided six battles during his flight and continued cautiously through the ruins as more cultivators appeared.
• Sun Jiuhe killed a black-robed cultivator while searching for Li Yan, and Qiu captured the victim’s soul in a jade bottle.
• Sun Jiuhe, Zhu, and Qiu decided Li Yan was likely seeking poison materials and planned to search resource-rich areas and question the other entrants.
• Buluo concealed himself in a damaged hall and watched six groups try to break through a wall’s restriction until two silver pages escaped.
• Buluo snatched one silver page and fled, drawing more than twenty cultivators into pursuit while the other page remained near six battling Pseudo-Core cultivators.

Buro stole a sheet of silver paper and fled, only to become the target of a widening hunt for the treasures he was rumored to carry. Li Yan reached the Flame Palace seeking Crimson Mother Essence, where he witnessed mysterious creatures consume its erupting lava.

• Buro exploited the standoff among the cultivators, stole the silver paper, and escaped the great hall on his flying artifact.
• The enraged cultivators pursued Buro and spread rumors about his concealed treasures, drawing more people into a hunt for him.
• Li Yan arrived at the Flame Palace and examined its fire eyes and barren surroundings while searching for Crimson Mother Essence.
• The Flame Palace erupted, sending golden lava streaming toward Li Yan's hill.
• Large-headed, small-tailed creatures appeared and devoured the lava, leaving Li Yan astonished by their ability to consume it unharmed.

Li Yan watched the monsters beneath the Flame Palace and grew suspicious when Chan Monk Yiming arrived, then secretly sent a message. Yiming warned the white-robed cultivator Xu about Li Yan, and Xu considered joining him to kill Li Yan for his treasures and Sun Jiuhe’s reward.

• Li Yan observed the monsters absorb golden magma every six hours before burrowing underground, but found no treasures during three days of waiting.
• Chan Monk Yiming arrived at the Flame Palace, and Li Yan recognized him as one of the cultivators who had watched his fight with the Rhinoceros-Horned Green Python.
• Li Yan suspected Yiming had paused to send a warning, and his divine sense detected Yiming secretly breaking a voice transmission bead inside the cave.
• A thousand miles away, Xu received Yiming’s message that Li Yan was near the Flame Palace and that they could claim Sun Jiuhe’s reward for finding him.
• Xu realized Yiming wanted to kill Li Yan, divide his treasures, and then claim the Black Lotus Seed and spirit stones from Sun Jiuhe; Xu weighed whether to join him or alert Sun Jiuhe.

Cultivator Xu learned that a treasure-laden book attendant was fleeing toward the Flame Palace and decided to use the pursuit as cover to ambush the young man Sun Jiuhe sought. The two Blue Sea Sect women grew increasingly uneasy as Xu prepared to leave with his plans undisclosed.

• Cultivator Xu let his junior brother claim the Flying Locust Beast’s materials, prompting the two Blue Sea Sect women to decide they wanted to leave.
• A messenger told Cultivator Xu that a book attendant carrying a bamboo basket and valuable treasures was fleeing toward the Flame Palace, and Xu replied while concealing his true location.
• Cultivator Xu realized the book attendant’s route could give him a chance to ambush the young man he and Yiming had seen near the Flame Palace.
• Xu contacted Sun Jiuhe and learned that Sun and two companions were near the Sand Borer Hall, too far away to interfere soon.
• Cultivator Xu decided to head for the Flame Palace, join forces with Yiming against the young man, and pursue the book attendant’s treasures as well.

Xu dismissed the two Blue Sea Sect women, then told his Eleventh Junior Brother that they knew too much and must be killed after the pair finished their business. Bu Luo fled west while pursued, and Li Yan spotted two of the white-robed cultivators approaching the Flame Palace, leaving him wary of their arrival.

• Fairy Wu asked Xu to let her and Junior Sister Tao leave, and Xu agreed to part ways with the two Blue Sea Sect women.
• Xu told his Eleventh Junior Brother that he planned to kill the women because they knew the pair's true nature, then promised to take him to have some fun.
• Bu Luo evaded the cultivators chasing him and fled west on his oilcloth, unaware that the route led toward a perilous place.
• Li Yan waited near the Flame Palace, watched the magma eruptions and large-headed creatures, and repeatedly searched the mountain with his Divine Sense.
• Li Yan detected two white-robed cultivators he had seen before flying toward him, and he locked onto them with his Divine Sense.

Li Yan discovered a Pure Land Sect monk and two white-robed cultivators concealed near the Flame Palace, but their plans became unclear when a large group arrived pursuing Buluo. Buluo raced past the mountain while Li Yan and the white-robed men watched without attacking, leaving Li Yan wary of the strange ambush.

• Li Yan noticed two white-robed cultivators masking their auras as they approached the Flame Palace and suspected they had learned his whereabouts from the Pure Land Sect monk.
• Li Yan found that the monk had set up restrictions in a remote Fire Eye cave and detected someone resisting the heat inside.
• The white-robed middle-aged man and youth stopped when they sensed a crowd approaching and said that someone had arrived.
• Li Yan recognized Buluo flying ahead of fifty or sixty pursuers and watched as Buluo fled toward the Flame Palace.
• Buluo passed within one hundred li of the Flame Palace without noticing Li Yan or the two white-robed men watching him, and neither pair attacked.

Buluo fled toward the Flame Palace and was ambushed by the white-robed middle-aged man, whose powerful attacks failed to kill him because of his exceptional magic treasures. Li Yan watched the fight and considered how he might face the False Core cultivator as Buluo escaped the latest strike with a dagger lodged near his neck.

• Li Yan watched Buluo fly past the concealed white-robed cultivators and wondered why they had let him approach.
• The white-robed middle-aged man and the white-robed youth pursued Buluo, and the middle-aged man launched a sneak attack.
• Buluo narrowly evaded the first strike, but the attack injured him and triggered the bamboo basket's golden protection.
• The white-robed middle-aged man attacked again while Li Yan assessed the man's strength and considered how to defeat him.
• Buluo summoned a jade-green bamboo branch to protect himself, but the middle-aged man's willow-leaf dagger pierced the defenses and lodged near Buluo's neck.
• Buluo survived and continued fleeing, leaving the white-robed middle-aged man astonished by his magic treasures.

Bu Luo used a bamboo leaf from his life-saving branch to free himself from the white-robed middle-aged man's dagger, damaging both the weapon and his own treasure. He continued fleeing with two weakened leaves remaining, while Li Yan watched warily and the hidden Monk Yiming still did not act.

• Li Yan watched the white-robed middle-aged man pursue Bu Luo and suspected that the man and the hidden Monk Yiming had a plan beyond capturing Bu Luo.
• The white-robed middle-aged man used his flying dagger to pin Bu Luo's neck and began rotating the blade to kill or capture him.
• Bu Luo released a bamboo leaf from his basket, and it wrapped around the dagger, stripping away its Nightfall refinement and forcing the man to pull it free.
• The white-robed middle-aged man retrieved his damaged dagger and became enraged as Bu Luo escaped farther ahead.
• Bu Luo swallowed medicinal pills, saw that his bamboo branch had lost one leaf and much of its vitality, and glared back at his pursuer.

Bu Luo fled Xu Yehua’s ambush while Li Yan watched, but Monk Yiming struck Bu Luo down and Xu Yehua’s white crane suddenly turned against him. The chapter left Li Yan’s fate unclear as the ambushes unfolded almost at once.

• Bu Luo recognized Xu Yehua, accused him of attacking from ambush, and fled toward the Flame Palace’s mountain while Xu Yehua pursued.
• Xu Yehua’s white-robed junior rose into the air to prepare an attack that would slow Bu Luo, while Li Yan stayed still as Bu Luo passed.
• As Bu Luo tried to strike back, a sudden gust stopped him, and Monk Yiming appeared and blasted him into a crater with a shoulder strike.
• Xu Yehua’s white crane attacked him in a frenzy, leaving him unable to fight back ruthlessly because they shared a life-and-death contract.
• Yiming realized the crane was bewitched rather than poisoned, while he and Xu Yehua recalled dismissing Sun Jiuhe’s claim that Li Yan was a poison cultivator.

Li Yan exposed the ambush by Yiming, Xu Yehua, and their companions, then confronted Yiming after poisoning Xu Yehua’s crane and questioning why they wanted him dead. The chapter ended with Li Yan and Yiming testing their strength in a direct fist clash, neither gaining ground.

• Li Yan deduced that Yiming had hidden in the cave and suspected that Bu Luo had been used as bait for the ambush.
• Li Yan revealed that he had poisoned Xu Yehua’s crane with Flirtatious Glances, leaving it to attack its master.
• Xu Yehua urged Yiming to kill Li Yan and ordered the dazed white-robed young man to attack Bu Luo, who struggled to defend himself.
• Yiming stepped forward and challenged Li Yan, while the white-robed young man flew toward Bu Luo.
• Li Yan met Yiming’s punch with one of his own, and their opposing fist forces collided without either man moving.

Li Yan and Monk Yiming exchanged close-range attacks while Yiming misjudged Li Yan’s true strength. As Bu Luo neared collapse and pursuers arrived in the distance, Li Yan realized he had to defeat Yiming quickly.

• Monk Yiming repeatedly charged and struck at Li Yan, who concealed his strength while countering each attack.
• Yiming concluded that Li Yan was weaker than he had been in an earlier battle and believed his own side would soon overwhelm him.
• The white-robed young man attacked the badly wounded Bu Luo from a distance and coveted the treasures and pills Bu Luo used to stay alive.
• Bu Luo struggled to keep directing the Moonlight Silver Disc as his strength faded and pill toxins threatened his meridians.
• Li Yan spotted Bu Luo’s pursuers approaching and saw that Xu Yehua was still trying to capture the white cranes.
• Li Yan decided he needed to finish Monk Yiming quickly, but Yiming’s cautious fighting style made it difficult to create an opening for poison.

Li Yan fought Monk Yiming at close quarters while reinforcements approached, then struck him with a powerful shoulder crash. Elsewhere, an unknown attacker killed the white-robed youth and saved Buluo; when Yiming awoke, he learned Xu Yehua had died after capturing his own white crane.

• Li Yan steadily gained the advantage over Yiming, but grew anxious as three yellow-robed monks closed in.
• Li Yan used a sudden Mountain-Shoulder Crash to send Yiming flying as the monks shouted from nearby.
• The white-robed youth destroyed Buluo's silver jade rabbit and Moonlight Silver Disc, but an unseen attacker tore him apart and smashed his black spear.
• The attacker seized the unconscious Buluo, while Yiming was left badly injured.
• Yiming awoke on a barren hill among three monks and asked where Xu Yehua was.
• The stout monk told Yiming that Xu Yehua had died just after capturing his own white crane.