Chapter Summaries

Li Yan took command of Together to the End Ridge, learning that the position had suffered staggering losses and that its exhausted defenders feared a major Devil Race attack. As the previous squad departed, Gong Yuantai explained why the ridge was considered even deadlier than Bone-Grinding Mountain, leaving Li Yan and his new defenders facing the grim reality of their post.

• Cultivator Fang and Yang briefed Li Yan on Together to the End Ridge, its array, and the Heavy Blade Battalion Second Squad’s depleted strength after repeated reinforcements and heavy casualties.
• Cultivator Fang described the defenders’ despair and guided Li Yan through the Yin-Yang Boundary River Array’s controls and spirit stone records.
• The Heavy Blade Battalion Second Squad departed, and Cultivator Fang warned Li Yan that the Devil Race’s recent probing attacks might precede a major assault.
• Li Yan activated the array as his squad took over the defense, while the departing cultivators showed little joy at escaping the front line.
• Gong Yuantai explained that Bone-Grinding Mountain had been named for the slaughter there and that Together to the End Ridge was even more lethal, as fighters rarely returned alive.

Li Yan explained the desperate situation at Returning Together Ridge and the four great sects’ plan to use the defenders as bait to exhaust the Devil Race. He appointed Gong Yuantai deputy captain of Azure Sixteen Squad as the cultivators prepared for an attack that could come at any moment.

• Buluo asked why cultivators from Windcool Mountain’s wings could not reinforce Returning Together Ridge, and Gong Yuantai explained the terrain and the lack of available forces.
• Gong Yuantai described the continent’s collapsing defenses and the threat from the widening fissure at Demonshade Cliff, while Li Yan recalled Wei Zhongran’s secret explanation of the four great sects’ strategy.
• Li Yan remembered that Wei Zhongran had given him a Flowing Light Talisman that could return him to a receiving formation in Wei Zhongran’s cave abode.
• Li Yan warned the squad that they had to fight the Devil Race and nominated Gong Yuantai as deputy captain of Azure Sixteen Squad.
• Wang Ning and several False Core cultivators approved Gong Yuantai’s appointment, and Li Yan confirmed it.

Li Yan reorganized the defenders at Together Return Ridge, assigned formation guards and patrols, and prepared the caves for defense. Before he could meet with his commanders, a Devil Race army of about two hundred advanced on their position, leaving Li Yan and Gong Yuantai to prepare to defend from behind the formation.

• Li Yan appointed Dantai Dongyue to lead the First Unit and selected nine cultivators to maintain the Yin-Yang River Boundary Array on rotating shifts.
• Buluo refused his assignment to guard the formation, so Li Yan replaced him with another cultivator and arranged patrols, cave assignments, and a meeting with the unit leaders.
• Li Yan kept control of the formation's activation compass and planned to protect its core with the Great Dragon Elephant Array and the Little Purple Divine Dragon Elephant.
• Li Yan received an enemy-attack warning and hurried to the platform, where a patrol squad reported that the Devil Race army was approaching.
• Li Yan sensed a force of about two hundred cultivators advancing with other enemy formations nearby, and Gong Yuantai advised defending their position instead of meeting the army head-on.

Li Yan deployed Azure Sixteen Team to defend Same-End Ridge and activated the Yin-Yang River Boundary Formation as the Devil Race attacked. The formation transformed the battlefield into a maze and began trapping enemies, while its nine controllers fed it spirit stones.

• Li Yan assigned Dantai Dongyue, Wang Ning, Wuye, and Gong Yuantai to defend different sides of the formation and provide flexible support.
• As explosions shook the formation, Dantai Dongyue, Wang Ning, and Wuye led their teams to their positions while Li Yan explained how the formation could trap enemies in four areas.
• Li Yan used the compass to activate the Yin-Yang River Boundary Formation, darkening the sky and transforming the mountain into maze-like passageways.
• The nine cultivators at the formation's core poured spirit stones and spiritual power into the formation, forming a pillar of light unseen from outside.
• More than a hundred multicolored attacks struck Same-End Ridge, and the formation reflected most of them amid bursts of fire and icy mist.

Devil cultivators launched a coordinated assault on Convergence Ridge, but Li Yan’s illusions made the defenses appear breached and drew scouts toward the formation’s death gates. The attackers abruptly withdrew on orders from above, leaving Li Yan uneasy about the unexplained retreat.

• Wu and the short-haired devil cultivator recognized the formation’s slower response after a guard change and ordered a full assault, then told their forces to retreat and report when they suspected an illusion.
• The short, burly devil cultivator ordered two South Sea cultivators to investigate the apparent destruction, and the senior brother went first to protect his junior.
• The attackers suddenly ordered the two South Sea cultivators back, sparing them from entering the formation’s death gate.
• Wuye warned the defenders that Li Yan had made the area look breached and prepared them to attack the incoming enemies.
• Li Yan manipulated the formation’s illusions and opened death gates where the assault was fiercest, but several hundred devil cultivators abruptly retreated south after one wave of attacks.

Devil cultivators unleashed the Heaven-Shaking Thunder against Returning Ridge, and Li Yan struggled to keep the Yin-Yang River Boundary Formation intact from its core. The attack continued to intensify, widening cracks in the formation’s central pillar and leaving Li Yan close to collapse.

• The devil cultivators attacking Returning Ridge withdrew three hundred li, then reacted excitedly when the Heaven-Shaking Thunder sounded across the battlefield.
• Li Yan sensed a deadly threat, rushed to the formation core, and warned the cultivators to activate the defenses against a powerful Devil Race treasure.
• The Heaven-Shaking Thunder struck the formation, injuring many defenders and throwing four of the nine cultivators at the core against the cave walls.
• Li Yan used the Great Dragon Elephant Formation to protect the core, then poured metal-attributed spiritual energy into the compass to restore the white pillar.
• A second, more violent strike shook the mountain, injured Li Yan through the backlash, and widened the cracks in the pillar as the purple radiance in the cave turned black.

Li Yan stabilized the Yin-Yin River Boundary Formation after three Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolts devastated Same-Death Ridge, though the mountain and its defenders suffered heavy losses. The female demonic cultivator surnamed Mu, who had launched the attack, awaited further orders from Tie Dong.

• Li Yan used the red copper compass to stabilize the formation and ordered the five nearby cultivators to reinforce it with spiritual power and spirit stones.
• The formation’s protective barrier weakened the Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolts, but Same-Death Ridge suffered massive collapses and many cultivators died.
• Buluo and the surviving members of Wang Ning’s squad endured the blast and deployed their remaining defensive treasures and talismans.
• The formation’s white light began dispelling the destructive force and slowly repairing the cracked golden barrier around Same-Death Ridge.
• The female demonic cultivator surnamed Mu revealed that she had fired three Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolts on Tie Dong’s orders and waited for her next command.

A female Devil general surnamed Mu used the Heaven-Blasting Thunder to strike Windcool Mountain, while Li Yan sensed an attack coming toward Together Return Ridge. The attack shattered the ridge and its formation, leaving Li Yan buried beneath the rubble and the fate of the cultivators unknown.

• The female Devil general surnamed Mu completed the bombardment and ordered Fairy Red Candle to reinforce the valley’s defenses.
• Li Yan sensed an imminent attack and warned the five cultivators helping him stabilize the white pillar of light.
• The white pillar expanded with a violent backlash, killing one cultivator and hurling another into a wall as Li Yan withdrew and endured the force.
• The Heaven-Blasting Thunder lifted Together Return Ridge into the air, then shattered the mountain and the Yin-Yang Boundary River Formation.
• South Sea cultivators three hundred li away watched the destruction and dodged the falling stones.
• Li Yan’s vision went black as rocks closed in around him.

After the Yin-Yang River Realm Formation collapsed, Li Yan survived the destruction of Together to the End Ridge and gathered the surviving cultivators. He revealed that their defenses were gone just as demonic forces prepared to attack again, leaving the survivors shocked and exposed.

• Demonic soldiers received orders to kill the remaining cultivators at Together to the End Ridge, while fighting resumed at the nearby defensive points.
• Li Yan survived beneath the mountain after Little Purple Divine Dragon Elephant redirected the Great Dragon Elephant Formation to protect him, though the spirit’s cultivation fell to the first-grade demon-beast level.
• Li Yan emerged from the rubble, found that the formation-core cultivators had died, and met three injured cultivators who asked what had happened.
• Li Yan gathered 141 survivors, including Gong Yuantai, Wuye, Dantai Dongyue, Wang Ning, and Buluo, and asked Wuye to organize a search for anyone still trapped underground.
• Li Yan told the gathered cultivators that the grand formation had completely collapsed, prompting shocked and angry reactions from the survivors.

After the grand formation at Tonggui Ridge was destroyed, Li Yan organized the survivors and tried to decide whether to defend or retreat. The Devil Race army returned before they could prepare, forcing Li Yan and the others to lead a desperate counterattack.

• Li Yan persuaded the cultivators to search for survivors and ordered the wounded sheltered while the others guarded the area.
• Li Yan, Gong Yuantai, Wuye, Dantai Dongyue, and Wang Ning suspected the Devil Race had learned of their rotation and debated whether to defend Tonggui Ridge or retreat.
• The Devil Race army charged back, leaving the cultivators too close to flee safely, so Li Yan ordered everyone to gather and fight until reinforcements arrived.
• Li Yan and Wuye led the charge, followed by Gong Yuantai and many cultivators, while more than twenty hesitant fighters lagged behind.
• Buluo warned the lagging cultivators that retreating toward Windcool Mountain would bring them into the path of their own reinforcements, and an elderly cultivator led the others forward.
• Li Yan checked the enemy ranks and found no Golden Core Realm or higher cultivators among the vanguard before pressing into battle.

Li Yan and the Fengliang Mountain cultivators charged the South Sea cultivators, who were driven mad by the Devil Race’s restrictions, hoping to kill them quickly. Li Yan killed an opponent with a sudden elbow strike, but Wuye became locked in a difficult fight as the battle turned into a series of deadlocks.

• Li Yan accelerated toward the enemy, with Wuye following close behind, and the Fengliang Mountain forces clashed head-on with the South Sea cultivators.
• Li Yan killed a South Sea body cultivator by striking his head from above, then rushed toward another opponent without taking the man’s Storage Pouch.
• Wuye intercepted a female cultivator and blocked her flute attacks with his bamboo staff.
• Wuye released his Green Scale Snake and pressed the female cultivator, but she dodged his attacks and her filthy jar’s stench drove the snake back.
• The Fengliang Mountain cultivators struggled to end the battle quickly as many were trapped in deadlocks against the enhanced South Sea cultivators.

Wuye killed a South Sea cultivator with a wind pillar while the battle between Fengliang Mountain and the South Sea cultivators grew deadlier after a Devil Race restriction detonated. Buluo remained trapped between two opponents as he fought to escape their pincer attack.

• Buluo killed a South Sea cultivator, then was surrounded by two more as other fighters blocked reinforcements.
• Wuye drew the female cultivator into a spinning wind pillar, killed her, and took her transverse flute and black earthen jar.
• A South Sea cultivator detonated his restriction, killing nearby Fengliang Mountain and South Sea cultivators and forcing fighters to spread across the battlefield.
• Li Yan assessed the casualties and recognized how experienced fighters such as Gong Yuantai avoided the blasts by pulling enemies away from others.
• South Sea cultivators began overwhelming Fengliang Mountain fighters, while Buluo fought two opponents and hurled a golden brick at one of them.

Bu Luo survived a coordinated attack by two mindless Southern Sea cultivators after uncovering their white-eyed corpse crow’s ambush. As the demonic cultivators claimed targets and the wider battle began, the chapter turned to Tao Yishan, a false core cultivator whose obscure sect hoped he would reach the golden core realm.

• Bu Luo used his silver disc and Dragon-Felling Brick against two coordinated Southern Sea cultivators, then dodged a talisman charged with fire poison.
• A white-eyed corpse crow disguised as part of a pestle attacked Bu Luo, but his bamboo branch and damaged oilcloth helped him escape with a serious wound to his cheek.
• Bu Luo recognized the corpse crow and realized its owner had fused it with the pestle; the two cultivators immediately attacked him again.
• A demonic cultivator several li away coveted Bu Luo’s treasures and claimed him as a target, while the other demonic cultivators respected their agreement not to interfere.
• The wider battle began, and the narration introduced Tao Yishan, an obscure sect master whose sect hoped he could advance to the golden core realm.

Tao Yishan struggled through the battle against the South Sea cultivators, driven by his fear of dying before he could see the conscription envoy perish. After escaping a deadly attack by a female cultivator and her Demon Beast, he struck her down, and she fell with a strangely peaceful smile.

• Tao Yishan recalled how the conscription envoy had taken his sect's resources to spare its supreme elder, leaving Tao Yishan resentful and feeling like a puppet in the war.
• Tao Yishan fled from four South Sea cultivators, drawing them away until other fighters intercepted three of them.
• Tao Yishan turned to face the last pursuer, a female cultivator riding a snow-white jade whale and wielding an ink-black whip.
• The female cultivator and her Demon Beast trapped Tao Yishan in a tightening cloud of white vapor filled with sharp red-and-white teeth.
• Tao Yishan used a beast horn to break through the vapor and sent a hidden attack into the female cultivator's chest.
• The wounded female cultivator smiled faintly at Tao Yishan, then fell toward the ground.

Tao Yishan killed a South Sea cultivator with his mysterious beast-horn fragment, while Windcool Mountain’s outnumbered forces suffered heavy losses in a chaotic battle. As fewer than fifty Windcool Mountain cultivators remained, Gong Yuantai and the others realized Li Yan was missing and the defense was close to collapse.

• Tao Yishan retrieved the dead cultivator’s Storage Pouch and recovered his beast-horn fragment, whose use consumed two of its spirals, before turning to face two approaching South Sea cultivators.
• Ouyang Yi drew a wounded South Sea cultivator into another fight, then self-detonated to break an encirclement and help a Windcool Mountain cultivator escape.
• Windcool Mountain cultivators fled or fought desperately as their numbers fell from seventy-seven to fewer than fifty.
• Some Windcool Mountain cultivators blamed Li Yan for the lack of organization and defensive measures, while others noticed he had disappeared from the battlefield.
• Gong Yuantai received anxious messages asking where Li Yan was and whether they should join forces to retreat, but he did not know what had happened to him.

Gong Yuantai gathered the surviving Fengliang Mountain cultivators and led an organized breakout as the demonic cultivators prepared to finish them off. Meanwhile, Li Yan concealed himself and moved to carry out his plan to attack the demon pawns in the rear.

• Gong Yuantai decided the battle was lost and sent voice transmissions to the other False Core cultivators, who agreed to gather and escape.
• Li Yan killed a South Sea cultivator, hid from the demonic cultivators, and continued toward the demon pawns while keeping his plan secret from Gong Yuantai and the others.
• A demonic cultivator urged the others to wipe out the Fengliang Mountain survivors before their lord arrived.
• After losing nine more people, Gong Yuantai divided the survivors into forces and led them north, assigning Wuye and Wang Ning to guard the flanks and Tantai Dongyue to watch for pursuers.
• Buluo and Qiao Baiye regrouped with Gong Yuantai after killing one of their three opponents, while Wang Ning escaped her attackers after exhausting her spiritual power.

As Fengliang Mountain’s survivors fought to break through the South Sea cultivators, Dantai Dongyue noticed that the devil cultivators were delayed. She discovered Li Yan had ambushed their rear ranks, and he revealed himself when he saw the remaining devils heading to the battle.

• Wang Ning took Qi-Recovering Pills beside Gong Yuantai while Fengliang Mountain’s remaining cultivators regrouped and charged north.
• Gong Yuantai’s group fought through South Sea cultivators as devil cultivators approached, but no South Sea cultivators self-destructed and the devils did not arrive.
• Dantai Dongyue investigated the fading demonic qi and found that Li Yan was being pursued by six devil cultivators amid four corpses and fifteen injured devils.
• Li Yan had used Hidden Night Concealment and passing clouds to ambush the devil cultivators guarding the rear, killing four and injuring fifteen.
• When the six remaining devils prepared to join the battle, Li Yan revealed himself and attacked nineteen of the twenty-five devil cultivators, who laughed at his seemingly weak strikes.

Li Yan poisoned a group of demonic cultivators with Branches of the Same Breath and used their confusion to kill several of them. As six unpoisoned cultivators and three magic beasts closed in, Li Yan kept evading them and striking poisoned targets, while the poison claimed another victim.

• Li Yan's Branches of the Same Breath seeped into the demonic cultivators and disrupted their breathing and energy circulation.
• Li Yan ambushed two poisoned demonic cultivators, killing them with blows to the head.
• Six unpoisoned demonic cultivators and three magic beasts attacked Li Yan, but he escaped their encirclement with his movement technique.
• Li Yan immediately attacked another poisoned cultivator, Liba, and killed him before the group could intervene.
• The demonic cultivators ordered their poisoned companions to descend, but one succumbed to the poison and crashed into the rocks, bringing the deaths to four.

Li Yan used poison and deception to kill Devil Race cultivators while the South Sea cultivators under their control began to awaken. When a powerful Devil Race force arrived, Wei Zhongran led a massive counterforce from the north and the battlefield erupted into a larger clash.

• The six unpoisoned Devil Race cultivators pursued Li Yan, while Tantai Dongyue and Gong Yuantai sensed the battle and saw that Li Yan was holding off twenty-five Devil Race cultivators.
• Li Yan feigned severe injuries and poison while luring the pursuers into position, then killed two more Devil Race cultivators who were healing.
• The Devil Race cultivators recognized Li Yan’s trap and returned to guard their wounded companions, forcing Li Yan to abandon his ambush plan and stop pretending to be poisoned.
• As the Devil Race cultivators lost control of their restrictions, South Sea cultivators regained consciousness and weakened, allowing Gong Yuantai’s group to gain the advantage.
• More than a dozen Golden Core Realm Devil Race cultivators arrived and threatened Gong Yuantai’s group, so Li Yan prepared to use the Flowing Light Talisman to rescue Bu Luo and others.
• Wei Zhongran arrived from the north with nearly twenty powerful auras and a force of more than a hundred Golden Core Realm cultivators, and a large-scale battle began.

Li Yan launched a sudden assault on the Devil Race forces, killing three poisoned devil cultivators while Golden Core Realm fighters clashed above him. As the devils turned on him in fury, he pursued Wu Lü despite a barrage of attacks closing in.

• Li Yan struck Wu Lü with an elbow, but a late Golden Core Realm devil’s attack was intercepted by Wei Zhongran.
• Li Yan killed a devil cultivator who was purging poison, then raced after two poisoned devils and killed them both.
• Wei Zhongran fought off the devils trying to reach Li Yan while Li Yan went after the wounded Wu Lü.
• Five devil cultivators attacked Li Yan together as he prepared to kick Wu Lü, and Gong Yuantai’s group watched in disbelief.