Chapter Summaries

Li Yan rescued the wounded Li Si, then raced back to Green Mountain Pass and discovered Kong Xiao had seized the city. Kong Xiao showed him his wife’s jade ring and claimed the marshal’s residence had been destroyed, leaving Li Yan reeling as Kong Xiao ordered the defenders to attack.

• Li Yan recognized Li Si, knocked him unconscious, and treated his arrow wounds before leaving him secured in a tree with his saber.
• Li Yan reached Green Mountain Pass the next day and fought through a storm of crossbow bolts while demanding to know who controlled the city.
• Kong Xiao revealed himself on the walls and ordered the soldiers to keep firing as Li Yan approached the gate.
• Li Yan prepared to scale the wall, but Kong Xiao showed him the jade ring his wife wore and claimed the residence had been destroyed by fire arrows.
• Li Yan spat blood and slumped against the wall, and Kong Xiao ordered his men to drop logs, boulders, and hot oil.

A silver-armored rider rescued Li Yan from Kong Xiao at Green Mountain Pass, while Li Yan remained trapped in the Flame Palace’s black passageway. After enduring a star-filled illusion that made him believe he was dead, Li Yan awakened and could no longer tell which reality was true.

• Kong Xiao used a jade ring to distract Li Yan, but a silver-armored rider swept him onto a horse and fled with him.
• Kong Xiao ordered the heavy crossbows to attack, and the rider shot an arrow that struck Kong Xiao in the back of the head.
• The Bright Fire Qilin wondered why Li Yan had survived more than a year in the black passageway and kept trying to enter it.
• In a star-filled void, Li Yan lost his strength, wandered until he collapsed, and found the will to continue after hearing what seemed to be his mother’s voice.
• Li Yan stirred inside the black passageway, recognized where he was, and questioned whether the passageway or his life as a general was real.

After escaping the black passage, Li Yan emerged into a secret chamber inside the Flame Palace and began recovering and cultivating amid its dense fire spiritual energy. More than a month later, the Purple Divine Dragon Elephant noticed Li Yan’s spiritual power surging, though it did not realize he was balancing the five elements rather than preparing for an ordinary breakthrough.

• Li Yan confirmed that his memories of a lifetime as a marshal had been a dream, then pressed onward through the dark passage until he found a genuine opening.
• Li Yan escaped into a golden secret chamber, discovered he had been reduced to skin and bones, changed clothes, and identified the chamber as a fire-rich inner area of the Flame Palace.
• Li Yan set up the Great Dragon Elephant Array and released the Purple Divine Dragon Elephant, then explained why he had kept it inside during the passage.
• Li Yan and the Purple Divine Dragon Elephant cultivated in the chamber, where the abundant fire spiritual energy began restoring Li Yan and raised the beast to the middle stage of the second rank.
• After more than a month, the Purple Divine Dragon Elephant watched Li Yan’s rapidly circulating spiritual power and wondered why he showed no signs of an ordinary breakthrough.

Li Yan broke through from the middle Foundation Establishment stage to the False Core Realm in a single cultivation session, astonishing the Purple Divine Dragon Elephant with his strength and lotus throne true intent. He woke unaware of the breakthrough, while the Radiant Fire Qilin entered the black passage searching for his presumed corpse and Storage Pouch.

• The Purple Divine Dragon Elephant watched Li Yan advance continuously through late Foundation Establishment and Foundation Establishment great perfection.
• A black lotus throne appeared above Li Yan, and he broke through into the False Core Realm amid five-colored light.
• The Purple Divine Dragon Elephant began to submit to Li Yan, though it still awaited his future growth before offering complete submission.
• The Radiant Fire Qilin entered the black passage, reached its end, and searched in vain for Li Yan's Storage Pouch.
• Li Yan woke with immense spiritual power and learned from the Purple Divine Dragon Elephant that he had broken through, though he did not know what realm he had reached.

After breaking through to the False Core Realm, Li Yan explored the Flame Palace’s rear garden in search of Crimson Mother Essence. He discovered that the rare fire-element herbs were traps formed or guarded by vengeful souls, and the chapter ended as he sensed spiritual-power fluctuations ahead.

• Li Yan confirmed that he had reached the False Core Realm and marveled at his heightened senses and strength.
• Li Yan left the secret chamber, explored the palace hall, and entered the rear garden instead of taking the flaming door out.
• Li Yan found that the garden’s rare young herbs were protected by dark-red grass and vengeful souls capable of soul attacks.
• Li Yan avoided the herbs and continued cautiously through the vast garden, finding its pavilions unusually rich in spiritual energy.
• After wandering for hours without finding Crimson Mother Essence or another cultivator, Li Yan sensed intense spiritual-power fluctuations ahead.

Li Yan found Monk Yiming fighting Duan Weiran in the Flame Palace and killed Yiming with his Disjointed Poison Body. After revealing his greatly increased strength, Li Yan greeted the shaken Duan Weiran, who questioned whether he was really Brother Jiang.

• Li Yan recognized Monk Yiming and Duan Weiran fighting and decided to take revenge on Yiming.
• Monk Yiming revealed that he had poisoned Duan Weiran to weaken him and planned to take the two silver sheets in his Storage Pouch.
• Li Yan appeared behind Monk Yiming and dissolved him with his Disjointed Poison Body, destroying his Storage Pouch as well.
• Duan Weiran recognized Li Yan as Brother Jiang and hesitantly asked about his cultivation.

Li Yan accepted two silver sheets from Duan Weiran after saving him and learned that he had escaped the Fire Flame Palace’s Darkness passage. Duan Weiran explained the deadly Light passage, leaving Li Yan with a clearer picture of the palace’s two routes.

• Duan Weiran recovered enough to stabilize his injuries while Li Yan waited nearby.
• Duan Weiran offered Li Yan two silver sheets as repayment, and Li Yan recognized them as identical to the sheet Buluo had given him.
• Duan Weiran explained that he had encountered three cultivators and sought a distant pavilion to cultivate safely.
• Li Yan confirmed he had emerged from the black passage, and Duan Weiran identified it as the Darkness passage beneath the Fire Flame Palace.
• Duan Weiran described the Light passage as a months-long trial of escalating battles against vengeful souls, where a single mistake could prove fatal.

Duan Weiran explained the dangers of the Darkness passage and told Li Yan that Stone Transformation Forest might contain Red Mother Essence. After Duan Weiran chose to remain in the garden to pursue a breakthrough, Li Yan offered him formation flags.

• Duan Weiran described how the Darkness passage tormented cultivators with illusions and said Zen Master Zhichu was the last known person to pass through it.
• Li Yan reflected on Zhichu's advancement and his own experience in the passage, then learned that Duan Weiran had been cultivating in the pavilion before Yiming broke his protective formation.
• Li Yan guarded Duan Weiran while he recovered and tested two silver sheets, finding that they had been refined by the same person as the sheet he had obtained from Buluo.
• After Duan Weiran recovered enough to speak, Li Yan asked him where Red Mother Essence might be found, and Duan Weiran pointed him toward Stone Transformation Forest.
• Duan Weiran resolved to remain in the garden and pursue a breakthrough, and Li Yan handed him several formation flags.

Li Yan obtained a sufficient piece of Crimson Mother Essence in the Stone Transformation Forest and captured fierce souls to store in his Tuban space. After leaving the forest, he traveled back through the rear garden and reached the exit of the first level.

• Li Yan gave Duan Weiran a set of array flags for protection because Duan resembled his friend Zhuo Lingfeng.
• Li Yan used the Great Dragon Elephant Array to survive the Stone Transformation Forest, where the Purple Divine Dragon Elephant recovered soul power and advanced by devouring fierce souls.
• Li Yan found enough Crimson Mother Essence to refine a magic treasure and decided to capture fierce souls for later use.
• Li Yan sealed large numbers of fierce souls into his Tuban space, while the Purple Divine Dragon Elephant discovered that the Storage Pouch could not explain where they had gone.
• Li Yan left the Stone Transformation Forest, passed through the rear garden, and reached the ice house at the exit of the first level.

Li Yan entered the Northern Dark Demon-Suppressing Tower’s ice house and endured the tower’s overwhelming scrutiny, which probed his body and Storage Pouch before allowing him to leave. He emerged outside the tower safely, where a withered Buddha statue recognized his improved cultivation and sent him on his way.

• Li Yan let the tower’s invisible force examine him, and it opened his Storage Pouch and sensed the aura of the Fierce Soul.
• A giant eye formed from the force and scrutinized Li Yan until his spiritual power nearly froze; the Purple Divine Dragon Elephant warned him that the presence far surpassed Nascent Soul power.
• The giant eye vanished, and Li Yan found himself outside the tower after fewer than ten breaths had passed.
• The withered Buddha statue recognized Li Yan from the Huchen family and remarked on his improved cultivation.
• Li Yan bowed to the two Buddha statues, thanked the withered one, and headed toward the plaza.

Li Yan left the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Tower with a copper passage token and crossed the Pure Land Sect’s increasingly tense territory. As he continued north toward the Northern Abyss Sea to seek the Youwuqiong Tree, he found sects closing their gates and teleportation points becoming scarce.

• The gaunt Buddha gave Li Yan a copper token to protect him from scrutiny in Pure Land Sect territory, then told his fellow Buddha that demonic beasts, enemy nests, and human traitors threatened the Four Great Sects.
• Li Yan used the token to pass Pure Land Sect patrols and checked that the Snow Mosquitoes and sealed vengeful souls in Tuban remained safe.
• Li Yan continued north seeking the Youwuqiong Tree, while noting that he still lacked the Jade-Horned Snake and Icecloud Plume for the Guiyi Water-Parting Spike.
• Li Yan found that sects were closing their gates and refusing him access to teleportation arrays, even when he showed the copper token.
• After another half month of searching for teleportation points, Li Yan drew close to his destination without encountering any unexpected trouble.

Li Yan encountered three cultivators from the remote Mountain Manor of Sorrowful Spirits, whose concealed hostility made him wary. After the manor’s Golden Core pair tried to gauge his strength and stop him from leaving, Li Yan assessed the manor and its defenses before deciding how to respond.

• Li Yan discovered a mountain manor and was intercepted by two Golden Core cultivators and a False Core cultivator.
• The manor’s young master, Mo'er, insulted Li Yan for trespassing, and Li Yan apologized without showing fear.
• Li Yan sensed the trio’s hidden killing intent and recognized that the rough-featured man was testing him to learn his true strength.
• Li Yan said he had urgent business and tried to leave, but the young married woman in pink blocked his path and invited him to the manor.
• Li Yan secretly searched the manor with his Divine Sense and found no cultivators stronger than the two Golden Core cultivators, though one building had powerful array restrictions.

Li Yan killed Mo'er with a surprise attack, then fought the rugged-looking man and his wife as the manor disciples joined the battle. After taking a heavy blow, Li Yan flew toward the rugged-looking man, who sent his black net to capture him.

• Li Yan refused the rugged-looking man's invitation to enter the manor, and Mo'er attacked him with a golden hoop.
• Li Yan used Night Concealment and a Fireball Art empowered by the Li Fire Profound Yellow Fan to kill Mo'er and destroy his soul.
• The rugged-looking man attacked Li Yan with a black net, but Li Yan evaded it and counterattacked with ice spikes and a pitch-black club.
• The rugged-looking man struck Li Yan with the club, but Li Yan blocked it with his arms and was sent flying while spitting blood.
• The pink-robed young woman realized Mo'er's soul was gone, and the rugged-looking man sent his black net after the approaching Li Yan.

Li Yan used his concealed poison to wound the Golden Core manor lord and escape the black net, but the man’s wife intercepted his Li Fire and the lord transformed into a monstrous true form to suppress the poison. The transformed man vowed to kill Li Yan, leaving the battle poised to continue.

• Li Yan sent black water spiritual power through the manor lord’s net, hiding his poison in the attack and feigning weakness to get close.
• The poison began rotting the manor lord’s face and disrupted his control of the net, allowing Li Yan to escape and attack with the Li Fire Mysterious Yellow Fan.
• The young married woman in pink palace robes blocked the Li Fire with her flower treasure, which swallowed the flame but appeared damaged.
• The manor lord revealed his monstrous true form and regenerated his flesh to suppress Li Yan’s Three Thousand Threads of Worry.
• The transformed manor lord accused Li Yan of belonging to a major poison-cultivation sect and threatened to kill him.

Li Yan fled after the giant, monstrous man and the young married woman in pink palace robes proved far stronger than he expected. The pursuit ended abruptly when the woman began suffering a severe, mysterious affliction and fell from her flying sword.

• The giant, monstrous man struck Li Yan with his black staff, sending him crashing into a mountain, but Li Yan survived and realized he could not win the fight.
• The young married woman in pink palace robes attacked Li Yan with her flower’s toothed maw, but he escaped by leaving an afterimage and fled with the Cloud-Piercing Willow.
• The giant, monstrous man and the young married woman pursued Li Yan, while the four Foundation Establishment cultivators watched and discussed his apparent False Core cultivation.
• Li Yan and his pursuers raced for several hundred li as each considered the other’s abilities and motives.
• The young married woman developed intense pain and white matter spread through her eyes, then she fell from her flying sword as the giant, monstrous man stopped to help her.

Li Yan used the poison Affection Conveyed Through the Eyes to weaken a monstrous giant and his wife, then fled when both demon beasts revealed their true forms and resisted its effects. After more than half a day of pursuit, Li Yan was still escaping on his flying treasure, while the couple remained unable to catch him despite their immense power.

• Li Yan realized his poison had begun affecting the young woman after she touched her husband’s charred remains, and he used the opening to flee.
• The monstrous giant recognized Li Yan as a Wangliang Sect poison cultivator and accused him of spying on the couple for the sect.
• The young woman briefly suppressed the poison, then revealed her demon-beast form and joined her husband in pursuing Li Yan.
• Li Yan escaped on the Cloud-Piercing Willow, while the couple ordered that he be captured alive for a soul search.
• Li Yan fled for more than half a day and spent three drops of Melting Bamboo Shoot restoring his magical power, but his pursuers still could not catch him.

Li Yan fled from the monstrous giant and his wife while they struggled with the poison suppressing their power. The wife’s poison struck as the giant returned to help her, and she unexpectedly stabbed him in the abdomen, leaving their pursuit in chaos.

• The monstrous giant increased his speed by easing the poison’s suppression, while his wife followed and suffered a surge of pain after weakening her own suppression.
• Li Yan saw the giant closing in and planned to use the Great Dragon-Elephant Array and his full strength to trap and attack him near a rugged mountain.
• The poison overwhelmed the young woman, forcing the monstrous giant to abandon his chase and rush back to catch her.
• Li Yan continued toward the mountain, relieved that the poison had stopped the couple from pursuing him together.
• As the monstrous giant sent spiritual power into his wife, she drove her black hands into his lower abdomen, and he stared at her in disbelief.

The young woman killed the monstrous giant and destroyed his soul, then unleashed her fury across the surrounding landscape before collapsing. Li Yan emerged, killed her, and claimed her demon core, whose unfamiliar power stirred his killing intent and led him to examine her pink flower.

• The young woman repeatedly stabbed the monstrous giant, struck his demon core, and crushed it, destroying his soul as his body fell and burst apart.
• The young woman rampaged through the nearby mountains and forest before collapsing in a pit and whispering about her husband and Mo'er.
• Li Yan appeared and sliced the motionless young woman's body apart, then took her demon core after confirming her soul had perished.
• Li Yan found that the demon core contained strange purplish-black spiritual power that roused killing intent and agitation in him.
• Li Yan noticed the young woman's pink flower, drew it to himself, and found that it did not respond to his spells or spiritual power.

Li Yan confirmed that the dead couple’s magic treasures could not be controlled, identified one of them as a cultivator from the Northern Abyss Demon Suppression Tower, and returned to Sorrow Spirit Manor. He entered the manor undetected and found its remaining cultivators besieging a protective formation, unaware that he had arrived.

• Li Yan found the young woman’s and monstrous giant’s Storage Pouches, collected their treasures and spirit stones, and recognized the young woman as one of the cultivators he had encountered at Red Maple Pool Lake.
• Li Yan concluded that the manor held no Golden Core Realm experts and flew back to Sorrow Spirit Manor, using spirit stones to power the Cloud-Piercing Willow.
• Li Yan scanned the manor and found twenty-four cultivators, including six Foundation Establishment cultivators and a false core formation expert attacking a failing protective formation.
• The manor’s cultivators recalled how Li Yan had killed the young manor master, poisoned the manor master, and escaped the married couple’s attack.
• Li Yan concealed his presence and entered the manor as the cultivators discussed whether he could have been a Golden Core Realm expert and worried about Mi Heng’s possessiveness toward Fairy Miao.

Ding Yushan and the trapped cultivators faced the imminent collapse of their formation while Mi Heng prepared a powerful strike from outside. Ding Yushan feared that reinforcements had not arrived, and the chapter ended as Mi Heng unleashed his attack.

• The Foundation Establishment cultivators feared the manor lord’s punishment over the young manor lord’s death and resolved to capture some intruders alive for Soul Search.
• Mi Heng continued breaking the formation and began forming a blazing sphere of lightning.
• Inside the formation, the wounded formation master used a bronze formation disk and runes to stabilize the barrier.
• Ding Yushan regretted leading his group into danger and wondered why their long-range sound transmission had brought no reinforcements.
• The chapter revealed that Ding Yushan and Bao Wuxin were promising senior disciples of the Wind Snow Sect.