Chapter Summaries

Li Yan secretly watched Hundred Paths Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, expecting someone to retrieve the jade slip he had marked, but days passed without any sign of it. As his deductions about Zhao Min and the black-clothed middle-aged man faltered, Li Yan wondered whether the person coming for the slip was simply far away.

• Li Yan returned to the inn, renewed his lodging, and used Divine Sense to watch the black-clothed middle-aged man at Hundred Paths Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.
• Li Yan observed the shop for three days and saw no one retrieve the jade slip, though he had marked it with a trace of poison.
• Senior Brother Min told the fish-headed cultivators to keep watching Li Yan and guard the city's gates because he suspected Li Yan might try to escape.
• The black-clothed middle-aged man wondered why Li Yan had not been monitoring the shop, then resumed reading after learning Li Yan had extended his stay.
• Li Yan watched the shop for another five days, found no sign of the marked jade slip, and questioned his deductions about Zhao Min's importance.
• Li Yan considered that the person meant to retrieve the jade slip might be far away, then abruptly stopped pacing as his bewilderment deepened.

Li Yan secretly searched Hundred Paths Heavenly Treasure Pavilion for the jade slip and evidence of the black-clothed middle-aged man's dealings. He discovered a concealed micro teleportation formation and realized the jade slip had already been sent away, leaving him one move behind.

• Li Yan used his concealment ability to enter the Pavilion and searched the black-clothed middle-aged man's cultivation chamber and courtyard without finding anything unusual.
• Li Yan used the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief to bypass the restrictions on the Pavilion's warehouse and slipped inside.
• Li Yan found a small teleportation formation hidden among the warehouse shelves and recognized that it could transmit small objects without attracting much attention.
• Li Yan confirmed that the jade slip was gone and realized the black-clothed middle-aged man had deceived him about the person who was supposed to retrieve it.

Li Yan’s departure from the city prompted the black-clad middle-aged man to report his situation to General Shangguan, who ordered him to let the matter end and keep silent. Shangguan Changge watched Zhao Min cultivate in seclusion, intending to use the Cangyu Sect’s pursuit of Li Yan while secretly preparing her disciple to rise.

• The black-clad middle-aged man found that Li Yan had left the city and sent General Shangguan a jade slip asking whether he should help him.
• General Shangguan ordered the man to let Li Yan go and never mention the matter again, frightening him into resolving to deny any knowledge of it.
• Shangguan Changge decided that the Cangyu Sect’s pursuit of Li Yan could serve her purposes, while considering how to discipline sects that challenged human authority.
• Shangguan Changge watched Zhao Min cultivate in a secluded valley and reflected that Zhao Min’s future path was now beginning.
• Zhao Min sensed Shangguan Changge’s attention, glanced at the jade slip beside her, and resumed cultivating the Heavenly Devil White Jade Disc.

Zhao Min understood Li Yan’s coded message as a promise to find her and reunite, and resolved to grow stronger by cultivating the Heavenly Demon White Jade Disk. Meanwhile, Li Yan remained hidden in the Baidao Treasure Pavilion, unaware of the teleportation array’s importance as he considered what he had learned about Zhao Min’s location.

• Zhao Min interpreted Li Yan’s jade-slip message as confirmation that he knew about the Heart-Tangling Twin-Bloom Gu and intended to return to her after finding a way back to the Desolate Moon Continent.
• Zhao Min set aside her worries about the White Devil Race’s strength and decided to cultivate the Heavenly Demon White Jade Disk to become strong enough to seek her own path home.
• Cultivator Min and the Cangyu Sect searched for Li Yan, concluded that he was hiding nearby with a concealment treasure, and decided to keep watching for him rather than contact the Silver Moon Wolf Race.
• After the middle-aged man left the chamber, Li Yan emerged from concealment and deduced that the stone platform’s teleportation array connected to a powerful sect, though he underestimated its significance.
• Li Yan reflected that he had entered the Baidao Treasure Pavilion to find Zhao Min and remained hidden there to gather intelligence.

Li Yan confirmed that the stone platform in the Hundred Paths Heavenly Treasure Pavilion was a teleportation array and memorized the jade plaque used to activate it, which might help him trace Zhao Min. After escaping Tiandu City and retrieving the Snow Mosquito King, he lured the Cangyu Sect cultivators into pursuing him, leaving his next move poised for an attack.

• Li Yan saw the jade plaque marked with "Saint" activate the teleportation array and worried that the Saint Devil Palace was connected to the pavilion.
• Li Yan used the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief to leave the pavilion, then flew out of Tiandu City and recovered the Snow Mosquito King in the mountain forest.
• Li Yan explained that the Snow Mosquito King had impersonated him and fled with the Great Dragon Elephant Array, drawing the Cangyu Sect cultivators away while Li Yan hid in the pavilion.
• The Snow Mosquito King used the array to evade pursuit briefly, then disguised itself as a weak devil beast by concealing a devil core inside its body.
• Li Yan decided to draw the Cangyu Sect cultivators after him, revealed his aura, and fled; Cultivator Min and five others pursued him.

Li Yan lured six Cangyu Sect cultivators away from Mingdu City before revealing that he intended to kill them. He knocked out the cultivator surnamed Min and watched the Snow Mosquito King overwhelm another attacker with poison.

• Li Yan led the six Cangyu Sect cultivators into a remote area, then stopped and let them surround him.
• The cultivator surnamed Min demanded compensation and mistook Li Yan's calmness for a bluff.
• Li Yan ordered the Snow Mosquito King to fight the other five while he dealt with the pseudo-core cultivator.
• The Snow Mosquito King vanished, and Li Yan struck the cultivator surnamed Min unconscious with a single punch.
• The Snow Mosquito King corroded a Cangyu Sect cultivator's three-pronged fork with poison, pierced his forehead, and sent him plummeting from the sky.

Li Yan and the Snow Mosquito King defeated a group of Cangyu Sect cultivators, and Li Yan learned that the Holy Devil Palace was involved. Two months later, Li Yan left Saint Demon City without seeing Zhao Min, after White Devil Race guards barred him from approaching the palace.

• The Snow Mosquito King pursued the fleeing Cangyu Sect cultivators while Li Yan examined the Shatter Spirit Talisman taken from the Min-surnamed cultivator.
• Li Yan tortured the surviving Min-surnamed cultivator for information, then killed him and confirmed his suspicion that the Holy Devil Palace was involved.
• Two months later, Li Yan left Saint Demon City after spending five days there without seeing Zhao Min.
• White Devil Race guards had turned Li Yan away more than ten li from the Holy Devil Palace, and he sensed great danger near it.

After failing to reach Zhao Min in Saint Demon City, Li Yan resolved to grow stronger and find a way off the Lost Continent. A year and a half later, disguised as Zhang Ming, he arrived at Falling Star Valley with a group of youths.

• Li Yan left Saint Demon City after concluding that pursuing Zhao Min there would draw the attention of powerful White Devil Race cultivators.
• He planned to forge the Guiyi Water-Parting Spike, refine the Undying Underworld Phoenix's blood essence, and investigate ways to leave the Lost Continent.
• Li Yan vowed to return for Zhao Min, who he believed would not want to remain among the White Devil Race.
• The chapter described Falling Star Valley as a second-tier human sect known for pill refining and artifact forging, surrounded by cultivator-descended mortals.
• Disguised as Zhang Ming, Li Yan traveled toward Falling Star Valley with five young people, while one boy questioned him about Saint Demon City.

Li Yan spent over a year arranging to enter Falling Star Valley so he could access its earthly fire vein and refine his natal magical treasure. Disguised as Zhang Ming, he arrived at the sect’s mountain gate with five other candidates and began its entry tests.

• Li Yan chose Falling Star Valley because its earthly fire vein was suitable, while avoiding the first-rate sects and other dangerous options.
• He had the Snow Mosquito King pose as a Foundation Establishment cultivator and arrange for him to enter a small lineage as its collateral descendant, Zhang Ming.
• After a year of observation, the lineage sent Li Yan and five other candidates to Falling Star Valley for its annual selection.
• Feng Qiyuan checked the candidates’ identity tokens and used his aura to test their composure.
• Feng Qiyuan told the candidates to take turns placing their palms on a testing item and stimulating their spiritual power.

Li Yan entered the Falling Star Valley with five other youths and passed Feng Qiyuan’s test, which checked their spirit roots and confirmed they were human. The chapter left Li Yan inside the valley as two senior cultivators discussed their suspicions about his unclear background and whether he had sensed their hidden observation.

• Feng Qiyuan tested the first five youths with a divine-sense orb, revealing a Heaven Spirit Root among them and warning one Earth Spirit Root youth that the valley offered fewer resources to those unsuited for pill refining or artifact crafting.
• Li Yan placed his hand on the orb, which showed strong wood and fire spirit roots, and Feng Qiyuan kept him there longer while probing his background.
• Feng Qiyuan questioned whether Li Yan was local, then accepted him because the Zhang family vouched for him and advised him to choose either pill refining or artifact crafting.
• Feng Qiyuan led Li Yan and the other five youths into the valley while explaining its rules and leaving them apprehensive.
• A green-robed middle-aged cultivator and a white-robed elder reviewed the test, confirmed they had found no problems, and discussed the green-robed cultivator’s feeling that Zhang Ming had noticed them watching.

Falling Star Valley’s sect master and a hidden elder discussed the threat from four foreign sects and the danger of relying on the Holy Devil Palace for protection. As Li Yan and the other new disciples traveled deeper into the valley, they remained unaware that the sect’s leaders planned to use recruits as expendable pawns.

• The white-robed elder warned the blue-robed sect master that Falling Star Valley could not confront the four allied foreign sects, and urged him to investigate cautiously while their enemies hesitated over the Holy Devil Palace’s position.
• The white-robed elder revealed that he had heard their master link the Black Devil Race’s appearance to the White Devil Race protecting humans, though he did not know the reason.
• The sect master and the white-robed elder agreed to recruit more disciples, investigate newcomers, restrict access to core techniques, and prepare to use suspicious recruits as puppets if war began.
• Li Yan and five others followed Feng Yuanqi along wooded paths and a stream into the valley, unaware that the leaders had marked new disciples as disposable pawns.
• After walking roughly fifteen or sixteen li, Feng Yuanqi stopped on a flower-covered hillside.

Feng Qiyuan brought the recruits through Falling Star Valley’s concealed entrance and reported their aptitudes to his master and two Martial Uncles. The elders competed to recruit Feng Tao, whose Heavenly Spiritual Roots should have required the sect master’s decision, leaving Feng Qiyuan puzzled as he went to fetch the group.

• Feng Qiyuan revealed Falling Star Valley’s hidden formation entrance and led the six youths inside.
• Three Foundation Establishment cultivators secretly examined the newcomers with Divine Sense as Feng Qiyuan led them through the valley.
• Feng Qiyuan left the youths at a courtyard and reported their spiritual roots, highlighting Tian Denghu and Feng Tao.
• Zhang and Shen argued over whether Feng Tao should join the artifact-refining or alchemy branch, while Zhu suggested letting the recruits choose.
• Feng Qiyuan reminded the elders that Feng Tao had Heavenly Spiritual Roots, but Shen ordered him to bring the recruits in, leaving him wondering whether the sect’s rules had changed.

Li Yan entered Falling Star Valley as a new disciple and examined the sect’s rules, his assigned courtyard, and the Shattered Star Icefire Art. He planned to study the sect carefully while preparing to pass the required assessment without drawing attention to himself.

• Feng Tao chose alchemy and became the pale-faced young man’s disciple, while Tian Denghu joined the burly man’s artifact-refining branch.
• Feng Qiyuan took Li Yan and three other unclaimed recruits to the Affairs Hall, where they received courtyards, supplies, and a one-month test to complete the first level of their assigned cultivation art.
• Li Yan assessed his sparse courtyard and reasoned that he needed to investigate Falling Star Valley before pursuing his plan to reach the earthfire spiritual vein.
• Li Yan read the Shattered Star Icefire Art and concluded that it supported alchemy, artifact refining, and wood- and fire-element techniques, with its unusual meridian routes preparing for later levels.
• Li Yan decided to practice the entry-level art enough to recognize its effects and pass the assessment, despite not intending to cultivate it seriously.

Li Yan hid his cultivation of the Undying Nether Phoenix blood essence inside Tuban while posing as an ordinary new disciple of Falling Star Valley. After half a year, he learned that the sect’s earthfire was concentrated in the Starshatter Cavern, but its chambers were poisoned by increasingly fierce fire poison.

• Li Yan settled into his courtyard, assigned the Snow Mosquito King to watch for visitors, and entered Tuban to refine the Undying Nether Phoenix blood essence.
• The Snow Mosquito King realized Li Yan had taken his physical body into the mysterious space and searched for Tuban, which Li Yan had concealed on the purple flag.
• Li Yan passed Falling Star Valley’s assessment with mediocre results and kept a low profile, collecting his monthly spirit stones while cultivating in secret.
• After half a year, Li Yan’s body and Qiongqi Purgatory Art had grown stronger, though he had refined only a small portion of the blood essence.
• Li Yan reviewed what he had learned about the earthfire spirit vein beneath Starshatter Cavern, including its twelve Starshatter Chambers, thirty-six Lesser Starshatter Chambers, and the fire poison in their flames.

Li Yan learned that Falling Star Valley had restricted access to its Shattered Star Chambers, frustrating his plans to obtain the stronger earthfire needed to craft the Guiyi Water-Parting Spike. As he considered using Feng Tao and Tian Denghu to find an opportunity, a convoy was annihilated and more disciples went missing, leaving the sect shaken.

• Li Yan learned that only long-serving disciples could currently rent Small Shattered Star Chambers and that underground chambers were reserved for limited sect work because the earthfire veins were depleted.
• Li Yan secretly sensed the earthfire in a Small Shattered Star Chamber and judged that only the stronger underground fire would meet the Guiyi Water-Parting Spike's requirements.
• Li Yan considered using Feng Tao and Tian Denghu's growing influence to gain access to a chamber, but decided to wait and watch other elite disciples rather than risk infiltrating it.
• More than half a month later, a Falling Star Valley convoy was ambushed six thousand li from the valley, killing its Foundation Establishment Middle Stage escort and six Qi Condensation disciples and costing the sect a magical treasure and seven high-grade spiritual artifacts.
• Sect Master Lin Xinghe went out to investigate the attack, while nine more Falling Star Valley disciples traveling or on missions went missing.

After learning that Falling Star Valley’s disciples were being ambushed and the sect’s experts had been sent out, Li Yan considered exploiting the weakened defenses to enter the Shattered Star Chamber. Feng Tao then came to Zhang Ming seeking help with an urgent crisis in her family lineage, but Li Yan questioned her motives and refused to agree without answers.

• Li Yan learned that Falling Star Valley’s disciples had been repeatedly ambushed, prompting the sect to send out most of its Foundation Establishment cultivators and tighten restrictions on disciples leaving.
• Li Yan considered sneaking into the Shattered Star Chamber but hesitated because a powerful cultivator was said to guard it.
• Feng Tao came to Li Yan’s courtyard and asked to speak privately, worrying that she might need to offer her flying spirit artifact in exchange for his help.
• Feng Tao explained that her family lineage faced an urgent crisis and asked Li Yan to accompany her, offering compensation.
• Li Yan challenged Feng Tao’s request, questioning why she had approached him and warning that leaving the valley amid the ambushes could be dangerous.

Feng Tao explained that her clan was besieged by powerful underworld ghosts and asked Li Yan to help escort a magical artifact and join the rescue. Li Yan learned why she had chosen him and grew suspicious that she had investigated him.

• Feng Tao told Li Yan that three Foundation Establishment Realm ghosts and dozens of lesser ghosts were attacking her clan’s formation, while Falling Star Valley had sent Fang Guangjun to help.
• Feng Tao explained that the clan’s yin-based cultivation method had stunted her progress because she possessed an extreme yang constitution and fire spiritual root.
• Li Yan questioned whether Fang Guangjun and a group of Qi Condensation disciples could safely reach the Feng Lineage and turn the battle around.
• Feng Tao revealed that she carried a powerful magical artifact that could restrain wicked yin entities and said Tang Tian, Wu Yizhen, and Tian Denghu had also agreed to help.
• Feng Tao said she had chosen Li Yan because his spiritual power seemed unusually solid and he had experience outside the sect, prompting him to ask whether she had been investigating him.

Feng Tao asked Zhang Ming to help escort her to the Feng Lineage, whose defensive formation was failing under a ghost-creature attack. Zhang Ming agreed to negotiate the mission, and Feng Tao offered thirty spirit stones, leaving their final agreement unresolved.

• Feng Tao explained that she had learned of Zhang Ming's combat strength by overhearing her master and martial uncles, and pleaded for his help.
• Zhang Ming initially said he might not be as formidable as Feng Tao believed, then agreed to discuss the mission under conditions limiting when he would fight.
• Zhang Ming said he would only hold off a powerful ambush if it was within his capabilities and could refuse to fight certain powerful ghost creatures at the Feng Lineage.
• Feng Tao proposed paying half the reward in advance, and Zhang Ming accepted her preliminary terms.
• Feng Tao offered twenty low-grade spirit stones, explained her Lineage's financial hardship, then raised the offer to thirty and promised fifteen in advance.

Li Yan persuaded Feng Tao to swear that she would help him gain access to the Shattered Star Chamber so he could melt down a damaged magical artifact, concealing his true purpose behind a fabricated explanation. Feng Tao then left Falling Star Valley with Li Yan and four others to return to her family, while Tang Tian remained wary of Li Yan and Feng Tao kept some of what she knew about him secret.

• Li Yan asked Feng Tao to help him rent the Shattered Star Chamber in the future, claiming he needed its earth fire to extract a rune from a damaged magical artifact.
• Feng Tao accepted his explanation and swore an oath to honor their agreement, and they arranged to meet at the Affairs Hall before leaving.
• After Feng Tao departed, Li Yan reviewed the exchange and revealed that he had broken a high-grade magical artifact in half to support his fabricated story.
• An hour later, Feng Tao, Li Yan, Tian Denghu, Tang Tian, Wu Yizhen, and an elderly man left Falling Star Valley on a black shield.
• Wu Yizhen comforted the anxious Feng Tao as Tang Tian watched Li Yan with little interest and Feng Tao kept some details about Li Yan to herself.

Fang Guangjun led the group safely to the Feng family's territory, while Li Yan assessed his companions and worried that Falling Star Valley’s conflict with alien races could disrupt his plans to find Zhao Min and leave the Lost Continent. The group learned that Falling Star Valley had repelled an attack, but the larger situation remained uncertain to Li Yan.

• Tang Tian privately looked down on Zhang Ming and Tian Denghu, while Fang Guangjun reflected on the difficult path that had brought him to Foundation Establishment.
• Li Yan used his Divine Sense to assess Fang Guangjun, Tang Tian, and Wu Yizhen, then considered whether Falling Star Valley’s troubles might force him to change his plans.
• Fang Guangjun’s group reached the Feng family’s sphere of influence before dawn without encountering an ambush and met a Falling Star Valley patrol.
• The patrol reported that Lin Xinghe had attacked a force of alien cultivators, but an enemy expert had intervened and allowed many of them to escape.
• Fang Guangjun reassured the group that the alien races were testing Falling Star Valley’s limits, while Li Yan remained silent and did not understand the significance of his words.