Chapter Summaries

The devil cultivators in Zhouyang Town discussed the escaped enemy squad and the mysterious Yu Yuan Jun before Tie Dong arrived and ordered an immediate attack on Windcool Mountain. As the army departed in formation, Tie Dong revealed that Teng Wuji had likely fallen and demanded an account of the squad's intelligence.

• The middle-aged devil cultivator surnamed Wu explained that the enemy had escaped with Jiao Hua's subordinate Yu Yuan Jun and two restriction tokens, though their reasons remained unclear.
• Tie Dong arrived above Zhouyang Town and ordered the forces to depart for Windcool Mountain.
• The devil cultivators organized the mixed army into a disciplined formation, while the South Sea cultivators feared their soul-binding restrictions would force them to fight.
• Wu told Tie Dong that Teng Wuji had not returned, and Tie Dong said he might have been killed or captured by a powerful enemy cultivator.
• Tie Dong silenced the three devil cultivators with an icy glare, ordered the army onward, and demanded a report on the squad they had investigated.

Li Yan recovered from his near-fatal injuries at Fengliang Mountain, then refined more Undying Nether Phoenix essence blood while the battle against the Devil Race raged outside. He emerged from a prolonged meditation much stronger and was summoned by Wei Zhongran, though he still did not know how long he had been cultivating or what awaited him.

• Tie Dong learned that Fengliang Mountain’s scouting squad had secretly gathered intelligence and questioned the motives behind its risky mission.
• Li Yan woke from his injuries, carefully restored his spiritual power, and recovered over five days using nearly one hundred spirit stones.
• After sensing that the war had begun, Li Yan chose to refine another thread of Undying Nether Phoenix essence blood before leaving his cave dwelling.
• Li Yan entered a prolonged half-meditative state and refined enough essence blood to advance the Qiongqi Purgatory Art to the middle stage of its second layer and his cultivation to minor accomplishment of False Core.
• Wei Zhongran summoned Li Yan through his Fengliang Mountain token, and Li Yan realized that his brief planned refinement had lasted far longer than expected.

Li Yan left seclusion and found Windcool Mountain’s defenses strengthened and its cultivator population greatly reduced. Summoned by Wei Zhongran, he disclosed that he had reached the False Core realm and claimed his powerful body came from refining a thread of the Undying Nether Phoenix’s essence blood, leaving Wei Zhongran convinced enough to plan the sect’s next steps.

• Li Yan noticed Windcool Mountain’s formation had grown stronger and its cultivator population had dwindled as patrols stopped him to confirm his identity.
• Li Yan learned only a month had passed during his seclusion and told Wei Zhongran that his injuries had healed.
• Wei Zhongran asked about Li Yan’s cultivation, and Li Yan said he had recently reached the False Core realm.
• When Wei Zhongran questioned his unusual physical strength, Li Yan attributed it to refining a thread of essence blood that might have belonged to the Undying Nether Phoenix.
• Li Yan demonstrated his strength with a punch that shook the cave residence, and Wei Zhongran accepted his explanation while remaining somewhat doubtful.

After recovering, Li Yan learned that the war against the devil cultivators had brought heavy casualties, and Wei Zhongran assigned him to command a squad at the front. Far from Fengliang Mountain, six devil generals discussed their stalled offensive.

• Wei Zhongran accepted Li Yan’s explanation for his restored body and warned him to keep the matter secret.
• Wei Zhongran described the severe losses on both sides and explained that South Sea cultivators had suffered especially badly under the devil cultivators’ restriction arts.
• Wei Zhongran told Li Yan to stop concealing his cultivation and assigned him as captain of the Azure Bat Camp’s Sixteenth Squad after its previous captain died in battle.
• Li Yan accepted the assignment and resolved to use the wider war to protect his family and the Desolate Moon Continent.
• Six devil generals gathered south of Fengliang Mountain, where Tiedong complained that their month-long attack had made no progress and a female devil general challenged their earlier confidence.

Devil generals argued over the stalled assault on Windcool Mountain before Tie Dong ordered the deployment of the Heaven-Shaking Thunder for a decisive attack. Li Yan reached the Azure Bat Camp and learned that Chu Weixiong had died in battle.

• Venerable Wan rebuked Mu and the other Devil Realm cultivators for belittling the devil cultivators stranded on the Desolate Moon Continent.
• Mu argued that the South Sea cultivators had recovered their resolve and that the Devil Race had made little progress toward Windcool Mountain.
• Tie Dong relayed Lord Tutuai’s order to capture Windcool Mountain within five days and proposed using the Heaven-Shaking Thunder.
• Mu agreed to arrange the weapon’s deployment, and Tie Dong assigned her fifty devil soldiers while Venerable Wan promised trustworthy human cultivators.
• Li Yan flew to the Azure Bat Camp and learned that Chu Weixiong had died after two South Sea cultivators detonated themselves beside him.

Li Yan learned that the Devil Race was attacking multiple fronts and joined Azure Bat Camp’s Team Sixteen, a unit devastated by heavy casualties. He arrived at the team’s courtyard and found Buluo arguing that the team should choose its own captain.

• Wei Zhongran told Li Yan that the Devil Race was attacking Devouring Devil Ridge, Sword-Subduing Abyss, and the Yin Devil Cliff Rift, while Small Bamboo Peak’s cultivators were all wounded but none had fallen.
• Li Yan asked a Phantom Sect steward how to reach Team Sixteen and learned that nearly half its members had been killed or wounded in under half a month.
• The steward explained that furious, fearless devil cultivators and the threat of South Sea cultivators self-destructing had left the defenders short-handed.
• Li Yan confirmed that Wei Zhongran had assigned him to Azure Bat Camp’s Team Sixteen, then went to its courtyard.
• Li Yan heard Buluo argue that Team Sixteen should choose its own captain and entered the courtyard, where nearly a hundred cultivators had gathered in two groups.

Li Yan watched rival cultivators from the former Sixteenth Squad challenge one another over his appointment as captain, realizing the Wangliang Sect had placed him there to keep the replacement forces in check. A gaunt Wangliang Sect cultivator stepped in to face Tang Minglong, and the chapter ended as Tang launched a powerful water spell.

• Li Yan observed Gong Yuantai and the Wangliang Sect cultivators confront Bu Luo’s much larger group of replacements from the Pure Land Sect and the Ten-Step Academy.
• Li Yan inferred that his master and other powerful cultivators were watching the dispute, and that the sect had assigned him to Azure Sixteenth Squad to control the divided forces.
• Tang Minglong challenged Gong Yuantai, but a gaunt Wangliang Sect cultivator stepped forward to fight in Gong’s place.
• The gaunt cultivator admitted he was only at the peak of Foundation Establishment and declined to give his name, angering Tang Minglong and the other replacements.
• Tang Minglong conjured a towering emerald-green column of water as both sides cleared a wide space for the duel.

A sharp-featured Phantom Sect cultivator defeated Tang Minglong by using gu insects hidden in his apparent spiritual attack, forcing Tang to concede. After the insects were recalled, Wang Ning of the Wishing Water Sect challenged him, but he declined and returned to the rear.

• Tang Minglong shattered the Phantom Sect cultivator’s green beam and drove him back with an emerald water pillar.
• The Phantom Sect cultivator warned Tang not to move, and nearby cultivators revealed that he was a disciple of Spirit Insect Peak.
• The green motes around Tang proved to be venomous gu insects that had formed a trap, leaving him surrounded and unable to move.
• Tang conceded, and the Phantom Sect cultivator recalled the insects into his shield before Tang returned to his group.
• Wang Ning of the Wishing Water Sect stepped forward to challenge the cultivator, who refused and withdrew to the rear.

Wang Ning and the newly conscripted cultivators agreed to settle the dispute over Team Sixteen through a series of selected duels, while Li Yan watched from the sidelines. At a nearby mountain residence, Wei Zhongran and other Golden Core cultivators discussed the fighting as they awaited an important order from He Shan.

• The lean-faced Phantom Sect cultivator withdrew after defeating Tang Minglong, leaving Tang Minglong furious at being called one of the sect’s weaker members.
• Gong Yuantai proposed selecting three more fighters from each side to decide the dispute, and Wang Ning insisted on taking part before the sides agreed to choose their candidates.
• Li Yan watched as nearby cultivators debated the rivalry between the four great sects and the newly conscripted cultivators.
• Wei Zhongran told the gathered Golden Core cultivators that he had summoned them after receiving a secret order from He Shan, while they waited for the Pure Altar Convent cultivators to arrive.
• The cultivators discussed Wang Ning’s strength and the contest for Team Sixteen, while Wei Zhongran privately expected Li Yan to surpass the other candidates.

The cultivators debated who would compete for the captaincy as Qiao Baiye confronted Bu Luo over an earlier humiliating defeat. After Wang Ning revealed Bu Luo’s ties to the Zuo Clan, Qiao Baiye hesitated to challenge him, while Gong Yuantai proposed a four-on-four contest.

• Gong Yuantai’s group selected three competitors, while several of the opposing false core cultivators withdrew and left Qiao Baiye and Bu Luo among those still standing.
• Bu Luo taunted Qiao Baiye about the scar he had inflicted in their earlier fight, and Qiao Baiye prepared to challenge him.
• Wang Ning warned Qiao Baiye that Bu Luo was Zuo Qiudan’s personal book attendant, making Qiao Baiye reconsider risking a feud with the Zuo Clan.
• Wei Zhongran told Gong Yuantai to add another competitor, and Gong Yuantai proposed keeping all four opponents and making the contest four-on-four.

Li Yan joined the courtyard duel as the Phantom Sect’s fourth participant and was revealed as the newly appointed captain of Sixteenth Squad. His old acquaintance Buluo recognized him, while the appointment stirred suspicion and resentment among the gathered cultivators.

• Buluo backed down from fighting Qiao Baiye, and Wang Ning called for the opposing group to begin the four-on-four duel.
• Li Yan entered the courtyard after Wei Zhongran ordered him to deal with the opponents, and the gathered cultivators recognized him as a Phantom Sect disciple who had recently reached the False Core realm.
• Buluo recognized Li Yan as the man he had known as Jiang Hai, greeted him warmly, and learned that Li Yan had advanced to the False Core realm.
• Gong Yuantai announced that Li Yan was the fourth participant and the appointed captain of Sixteenth Squad, as Wei Zhongran had instructed him.
• The cultivators questioned Li Yan’s appointment, while Gong Yuantai suspected that Wei Zhongran intended to help Li Yan establish authority and gain the captain’s rewards.

Li Yan faced Wang Ning in a courtyard duel after his appointment as captain drew resentment from Phantom Sect cultivators. He matched her fierce sword attacks with powerful Sandflow Technique spells, leaving the onlookers surprised by his strength as the battle continued.

• Gong Yuantai and the other Phantom Sect cultivators let Li Yan take the first turn, hoping he would lose and weaken his claim to captain.
• Li Yan accepted the challenge, and Wang Ning opened with a vicious sword strike that he countered with the Sandflow Technique.
• Li Yan recognized Wang Ning's outer-sword style and realized her sword qi was unusually powerful, while she was shocked by his abundant mana.
• Wang Ning unleashed a relentless storm of sword radiance, but Li Yan remained in place and trapped the attacks in successive yellow-sand strangling dragons.
• The force of their duel shook the courtyard and drove the spectators farther back, while an onlooker remarked that Li Yan's control and spiritual power seemed exceptional for someone newly in the False Core Realm.

Li Yan used his unusually powerful Quicksand Art to overwhelm Wang Ning and reveal that her sword case contained a set of mother-and-child swords. He poisoned and defeated her before she could unleash her technique, then stood still as her fellow cultivators demanded that he detoxify her.

• Observers noticed Li Yan cast Quicksand Art far faster and more powerfully than other Foundation Establishment cultivators, while Gong Yuantai and his companions grew uneasy.
• Wang Ning prepared to unleash Fish-Gliding Azure Lotus with more than a hundred small swords, and Li Yan recognized her mother-and-child sword set.
• Li Yan exploded the yellow sand into poisonous mist, disrupting Wang Ning’s sword technique and forcing nearby cultivators to flee into the air.
• A hidden gust struck Wang Ning’s shoulder, the poison slowed her spiritual power, and her swords fell as she collapsed and conceded.
• Li Yan collected the mist and accepted Wang Ning’s concession, but he refused to move when her companions urgently asked him to neutralize the poison.

Li Yan defeated Wang Ning by using his extreme speed to slip through her spiritual barrier and expose her to the hallucinatory poison in his Quicksand Art. After the onlookers and Wei Zhongran recognized how remarkable Li Yan’s movement art was, Wuye stepped forward to challenge him.

• Li Yan explained that Wang Ning could recover by circulating her spiritual power and taking calming pills, while the crowd questioned how she had lost so quickly.
• Li Yan reflected that he had used Night Concealment and Phoenix Soars to Heaven to approach Wang Ning unseen, puncture her barrier, and let the yellow mist poison her.
• Golden Core Realm cultivators praised Li Yan, and Wei Zhongran realized that his movement art might be connected to the Undying Nether Phoenix blood essence.
• Wang Ning recovered, remained unable to understand Li Yan’s technique, and felt dejected after her defeat.
• Li Yan invited Qiao Baiye and the others to take the next match, and Wuye introduced himself as a Rogue Cultivator before stepping forward to fight.

Wang Ning learned of Wu Ye’s formidable reputation as he fought Li Yan in a spell duel. Wu Ye’s close-range assault faltered when Li Yan’s Sandflow Spells concealed a poison that left Wu Ye falling from the air.

• Wang Ning recalled how Wu Ye had killed a scout with a single precise thrust and heard the story of his long feud with the Five Tigers of "Nine-Bar Mountain".
• Gong Yuantai and a Phantom Sect cultivator discussed Wu Ye’s reputation, and Gong Yuantai hoped to test him after Li Yan’s defeat.
• Wu Ye pressed Li Yan with rapid bamboo-staff attacks, while Li Yan used his superior Divine Sense to predict Wu Ye’s movements and conceal his advantage.
• Wu Ye sensed something was wrong and tried to retreat, but Li Yan filled the air and courtyard with Sandflow Spells that blocked his escape.
• Wu Ye shattered the Sandflow Spells and withdrew, but the yellow mist poisoned him; after two stabbing pains in his mind, he lost consciousness and fell.

Li Yan defeated Wuye by disguising Divine Sense attacks as poison and Quicksand Technique, then secured the other cultivators’ acceptance of his captaincy. Gong Yuantai nevertheless stepped forward to test Li Yan’s abilities, leaving their contest about to begin.

• Li Yan struck Wuye with three concealed Divine Sense attacks, and Wuye finally admitted defeat after sinking into the Quicksand Technique.
• Li Yan refused to explain how he had affected Wuye, while the onlookers and Golden Core Realm cultivators credited the victory to his poison techniques.
• Buluo praised Li Yan and accepted him as captain, and Qiao Baiye declined to fight after judging his chances too poor.
• None of the remaining false Golden Core Realm cultivators challenged Li Yan, and Li Yan chose not to expose Gong Yuantai’s earlier actions.
• Gong Yuantai asked Li Yan to demonstrate more of his methods and walked toward the field to challenge him.

Li Yan and Gong Yuantai agreed to settle their dispute with a poison duel under rules limiting its range and giving each fighter three breaths to neutralize poison. Gong Yuantai opened with a potent green mist, and Li Yan let it engulf him, leaving the onlookers stunned.

• Gong Yuantai challenged Li Yan’s authority, and Li Yan answered by proposing a poison duel.
• Gong Yuantai set a three-breath limit for neutralizing poison and a ten-zhang boundary for the duel, and Li Yan accepted.
• The Wangliang Sect cultivators assumed Li Yan would rely on poison techniques he had practiced, unaware of the secrets of his unusual constitution.
• Gong Yuantai released ghastly green mist as a test poison and swallowed an antidote pill in case Li Yan attacked.
• Li Yan remained still as the mist swept through his faint black vapor and enveloped him, astonishing the spectators.

Li Yan endured Gong Yuantai’s deadly Ethereal Jade Mist, which his Disjointed Poison Body absorbed without harming him. As Gong Yuantai struggled to explain his opponent’s immunity, Li Yan opened his eyes and approached him, leaving their next exchange imminent.

• Gong Yuantai unleashed Ethereal Jade Mist, expecting its lethal venom to kill Li Yan within a few breaths.
• Li Yan sensed no harmful effect at first, then felt his Disjointed Poison Body draw in and consume the mist that entered him.
• Gong Yuantai suspected Li Yan had used a hidden antidote or magical treasure, but saw no sign of either.
• Cultivators from both sects marveled that Li Yan had countered a poison even Laojun Peak disciples struggled to withstand.
• Li Yan opened his eyes and walked toward Gong Yuantai, who prepared to strike if his opponent came within range.

Li Yan defeated Gong Yuantai in a poison duel by resisting his illusions and countering his attack. After Gong Yuantai conceded, the cultivators abandoned further challenges, and Li Yan left to attend to his team.

• Gong Yuantai trapped Li Yan in the Black City of Heaven Palace, but Li Yan broke the hallucinogenic poison and appeared behind him with a counterattack ready.
• Gong Yuantai admitted defeat, explaining that Li Yan had resisted both his poisons and restrained him when he tried to capture him.
• Li Yan warned the Azure Sixteen Team that he would not hold back if anyone continued to challenge him.
• Bu Luo and Gong Yuantai discouraged further duels, and no one stepped forward to fight Li Yan.
• Li Yan excused himself to return to team matters as the watching cultivators departed.

Li Yan led Azure Sixteen Squad to Together-to-Death Ridge to take over its defense, where the devastation and the exhausted, wounded defenders revealed a grim situation. After a cautious handover, the lean cultivator began explaining the ridge’s defensive objectives and range.

• Li Yan brought a hundred cultivators to the ruined mountain, and Gong Yuantai questioned whether it was truly their assigned defensive post.
• Li Yan showed Gong Yuantai the order jade slip, and two battle-worn cultivators came up to verify the handover.
• The lean male cultivator inspected Li Yan’s jade slip and revealed an offensive and defensive grand formation protecting the mountain.
• Li Yan’s group entered the formation and saw patrols, wounded defenders, and an air of exhaustion throughout the mountain’s platform and cave.
• The lean male cultivator led Li Yan’s group through the cave and began explaining the defensive objective and range of Together-to-Death Ridge.