Chapter Summaries

Li Yan violently defeated Jiao Wuxing after the Ghost Flood Dragon Clan cultivator mocked him and challenged him in Master Wanxiang’s shop. As Demon Guard Army members arrived to restore order, Li Yan faced the trouble his attack had caused.

• Jiao Wuxing mistook Li Yan for Falling Star Valley’s sect master Xing Ming and mocked him, while Master Wanxiang warned that fighting in the city could be settled with spirit stones.
• Li Yan ignored Master Wanxiang’s attempt to mediate and kicked Jiao Wuxing, shattering his knee and sending him flying out of the shop.
• Li Yan pursued Jiao Wuxing and struck him in the face, leaving him bloodied and badly injured on the stone street.
• Master Wanxiang, Su Yuan, Xie Tongyi, and the gathered onlookers were stunned by Li Yan’s strength as Jiao Wuxing struggled to his feet.
• Master Wanxiang identified the approaching figures as the Demon Guard Army, which enforced order in the city.

Li Yan, disguised as Zhang Ming, fought Jiao Wuxing after the Ghost Flood Dragon Clan cultivator attacked the shop, and both men were fined by the Devil Guard. Jiao Wuxing proposed a duel to settle their dispute over a client, and Li Yan accepted for the next day despite warnings that the Ghost Flood Dragon Clan might bring powerful reinforcements.

• Li Yan introduced himself to Jiao Wuxing as Zhang Ming of Falling Star Valley after their clash, and the Devil Guard fined both sides five thousand spirit stones for fighting in the city.
• Jiao Wuxing accused Zhang Ming's sect of backing Su Yuan, but Li Yan insisted that clients could choose whom to do business with.
• Jiao Wuxing challenged Li Yan to a duel, with the loser withdrawing from the business dispute; Master Wanxiang explained that duels were held on the Holy Devil Palace's subsidiary peaks.
• Li Yan accepted Jiao Wuxing's challenge for the next day, ignoring Su Yuan's and Xie Tongyi's alarm that the Ghost Flood Dragon Clan could bring reinforcements.
• Master Wanxiang asked whether Sect Master Xingming was also in Saint Demon City.

Li Yan arranged a witnessed duel with Jiao Wuxing at Chain Pearl Peak after insisting that Master Wanxiang and other cultivators observe the outcome. The next day, Li Yan arrived with Su Yuan and Xie Tongyi to face Jiao Wuxing and his powerful allies, as the contest was about to begin.

• Li Yan agreed to meet Jiao Wuxing at Chain Pearl Peak at the hour of the Rabbit, on the condition that Master Wanxiang witness the duel.
• Master Wanxiang accepted after Li Yan explained the conflict between Falling Star Valley and the Ghost Flood Dragon Clan, and promised to bring trusted cultivators as witnesses.
• Li Yan told Su Yuan and the other managers to stop discussing the matter, then set out the next morning with Su Yuan and Xie Tongyi.
• At Chain Pearl Peak, Su Yuan identified Jiao Wuxing's allies, including the Ghost Flood Dragon Clan's Great Elder, Old Man Dragon Flood, and its elder Xi Ye.
• Old Man Dragon Flood questioned Jiao Wuxing's injury, and Xi Ye openly mocked him for being hurt by Li Yan.

Elder Dragon Wyrm interrupted the agreed fight between Li Yan and Jiao Wuxing and proposed a poison contest instead, hoping to secure the Ghost Wyrm Clan’s interests and torment Li Yan. The chapter ended with the Holy Devil Palace soldiers watching as Li Yan faced the choice of accepting or refusing the challenge.

• Li Yan waited with Su Yuan and Xie Tongyi while Elder Dragon Wyrm’s group assessed him and the two sides prepared to fight.
• Master Wanxiang arrived with Master Wanzang and Xie Fengkai to support Li Yan, and the group exchanged introductions.
• Jiao Wuxing and Li Yan agreed to begin their fight, but Elder Dragon Wyrm stopped Jiao Wuxing before he could take the platform.
• Elder Dragon Wyrm proposed settling the dispute through a contest related to pills, arguing that both sides should compete in their area of expertise.
• Elder Dragon Wyrm specified a poison contest in which each side would make the other consume a toxin and then attempt to neutralize it.

Li Yan accepted Elder Dragon Jiao’s proposed poison contest but demanded that all three Ghost Jiao Clan cultivators face him together, with an additional twenty percent of their Holy Devil Palace trade share at stake. Elder Dragon Jiao agreed, confident that his rare Pill-Obliterating Powder would kill Li Yan.

• Su Yuan and Wanzang warned Li Yan that Elder Dragon Jiao and the Ghost Jiao Clan were skilled at refining deadly poisons.
• Li Yan objected to changing the agreed contest, then offered to accept a poison contest if all three Ghost Jiao Clan members faced him and risked their remaining trade share.
• Xi Ye protested Li Yan’s terms, but Li Yan challenged the Ghost Jiao Clan’s confidence and urged them to keep the original agreement if they refused.
• Xie Fengkai and the monks recognized that Li Yan’s proposal could weaken or kill the Ghost Jiao Clan’s strongest fighters, while Elder Dragon Jiao realized Li Yan was making a calculated counterstroke.
• Elder Dragon Jiao accepted the three-on-one poison contest and prepared to use one of his two remaining Pill-Obliterating Powder pills.

Li Yan and the three members of the Ghost Floodwyrm Clan swore a heart-demon oath and began their poison duel. Li Yan poisoned them through Spirit-Recovery Pills, while the Old Dragon Floodwyrm and his companions unleashed a coordinated attack on Li Yan; the chapter ended as they swallowed his pills.

• Li Yan recorded the poison duel's rules in a rune, and the Old Dragon Floodwyrm, Jiao Wuxing, and Xi Ye sealed the wager with their blood.
• The Old Dragon Floodwyrm prepared Dan Annihilation Powder while Jiao Wuxing and Xi Ye readied their own poisons.
• Li Yan tossed three identical Spirit-Recovery Pills to his opponents, concealing several deadly poisons inside each one.
• The Old Dragon Floodwyrm sent Dan Annihilation Powder into Li Yan's mouth, Xi Ye splashed poison onto his neck, and Jiao Wuxing made him inhale a poison that attacked his sea of consciousness.
• After Li Yan staggered from the combined attack, the Old Dragon Floodwyrm, Jiao Wuxing, and Xi Ye inspected his pills and swallowed one each.

Li Yan was struck by three deadly poisons, but his Disjointed Poison Body and the Undying Underworld Phoenix’s blood essence fought them off. He hid his recovery from the onlookers, leaving them to believe he was still locked in a desperate struggle against the poison.

• Old Dragon Wyrm and his companions poisoned Li Yan with attacks aimed at his body, sea of consciousness, and golden core.
• Li Yan’s Disjointed Poison Body surrounded and devoured the Core-Annihilating Powder in his dantian.
• The blue-and-red cord in Li Yan’s sea of consciousness destroyed the ghost-faced wyrm-serpent and absorbed the gray mist.
• The poison in Li Yan’s neck stopped spreading, and the wound began healing under the Undying Underworld Phoenix’s blood essence.
• Li Yan took pills and sat motionless, deliberately making his recovery appear slow while the onlookers believed the poison and antidote were at a stalemate.

Li Yan endured the Ghost Flood Dragon Clan’s three poisons while Old Man Long Jiao, Xi Ye, and Jiao Wuxing suffered the effects of the poison pills he had given them. The wager remained unresolved as the spectators watched to see who would last longer.

• Li Yan used his Fragmented Poison Body to absorb the toxins, then pretended to take pills and meditate while the three Ghost Flood Dragon Clan members watched.
• Old Man Long Jiao, Xi Ye, and Jiao Wuxing realized that Li Yan had survived their poisons, but each began suffering a different poisoning effect from the pills he had given them.
• Jiao Wuxing’s skin broke out in red patches and his spiritual power faltered, so he swallowed several more pills to ease the pain.
• Xi Ye struggled to breathe while Old Man Long Jiao fought the poison by striking points on his body and spraying green mist from his mouth.
• Old Man Long Jiao identified his poison as one that attacked the three souls and seven spirits, while the Azure Water Crocodile Clan patriarch asked how long Zhang Ming could endure.

Zhang Ming’s poison overwhelmed Jiao Wuxing, destroying his body and demon core despite Old Dragon Floodwyrm’s attempt to save him. Old Dragon Floodwyrm moved Xi Ye away from the spreading blood mist, then saw Jiao Wuxing’s remains and cried out in grief.

• The observers debated the poison duel as Jiao Wuxing’s condition worsened and Old Dragon Floodwyrm appeared to be purging the poison.
• Old Dragon Floodwyrm shouted for Jiao Wuxing to open his mouth and flicked him a pill, but Jiao Wuxing’s head burst before he could take it.
• Jiao Wuxing’s body rapidly rotted away, and his demon core fled from the remains.
• The bloody mist corroded Jiao Wuxing’s demon core, which fell onto the platform and dissolved into green fluid.
• Old Dragon Floodwyrm carried Xi Ye away from the spreading mist, then turned back and cried out when he saw Jiao Wuxing’s remains.

Old Dragon Flood used the nameless pill to survive Li Yan’s poison and save Xi Ye, but he exhausted the pill’s remaining half in doing so. As both sides remained weakened, Li Yan began testing whether Zhang Ming had recovered enough to act.

• Old Dragon Flood swallowed half of his nameless pill, neutralizing the poison attacking his soul.
• When Xi Ye began to petrify and suffocate, Old Dragon Flood demanded an antidote from Zhang Ming, but Li Yan warned him that attacking would forfeit the spell duel.
• Old Dragon Flood gave Xi Ye the last half of the nameless pill, and her petrification quickly receded.
• Li Yan realized the pill had blunted his Fragmented Poison Body’s poison, then judged that its supply was likely exhausted while Old Dragon Flood and Xi Ye remained weak.
• Li Yan stood up, prompting Su Yuan and Xie Tongyi to wonder whether Elder Zhang had detoxified himself as the onlookers watched for what would happen.

Li Yan revealed that he had recovered from the poison and challenged the Elder Dragon Jiao to continue, forcing him to concede and retreat with the gravely injured Xiye. After the other visitors departed, Xie Fengkai asked Li Yan whether the Elder Dragon Jiao still had poison in his body, and Li Yan confirmed that suppressing it would consume much of his power.

• Li Yan showed the Elder Dragon Jiao two Spirit Recovery Pills and demanded that they continue the contest, while Xiye struggled to react from the ground.
• The Elder Dragon Jiao realized Li Yan had been testing him and that his own nameless pills were gone, then admitted that he and Xiye were no match for Zhang Ming.
• The Elder Dragon Jiao carried Xiye away from the platform, leaving the four visiting cultivators to exchange farewells and depart.
• Xie Fengkai decided to investigate the weakened Ghost Jiao Clan, while Wanxiang declined to join him.
• Xie Fengkai asked Li Yan whether the Elder Dragon Jiao remained poisoned, and Li Yan said suppressing the remaining poison would require thirty to forty percent of his power.

After pretending the poison contest had left him weakened, Li Yan secretly pursued Elder Longjiao, hoping to kill him and the female cultivator while others provided cover. He reached the Ghost Flood Dragon Clan too late, and later learned that Elder Longjiao’s careful precautions had thwarted his plans.

• Xie Fengkai left after Wanxiang and Wancang protected Li Yan from his suspected plan to ambush Elder Longjiao.
• Li Yan returned to his shop, let Su Yuan and Xie Tongyi believe he was purging poison, then secretly vanished to pursue Elder Longjiao.
• Li Yan searched for Elder Longjiao and the other cultivators, intending to strike if their pursuers failed to kill them.
• Li Yan reached the Ghost Flood Dragon Clan and found its Sect Protection Array already activated, with no trace of Elder Longjiao or the others.
• Li Yan later learned from Xie Fengkai at Longhua Temple that Elder Longjiao had prepared a fallback plan against the expected ambush.

Li Yan failed to find the Old Dragon-Floodwyrm or the Ghost Floodwyrm Clan's hidden cultivation grounds, but he resolved to target the clan's Golden Core cultivators. After Xing Ming learned of Zhang Ming's role in the battle, he prepared to go to Sacred Devil City, while Li Yan tested how much his Fragmented Poison Body had advanced.

• The Third Elder of the Four-Eared Ape Clan and another cultivator held off their allies to cover the Old Dragon-Floodwyrm's escape, and the pursuers lost his trail.
• Li Yan learned what had happened from Xie Fengkai and decided to find a way to kill the Ghost Floodwyrm Clan's two Golden Core cultivators.
• Li Yan searched the Ghost Floodwyrm Clan's grounds but could not locate the Old Dragon-Floodwyrm or the female Golden Core cultivator's secluded cultivation sites.
• Xing Ming read a report about Zhang Ming's accomplishments and ordered Zhu Luomu to strengthen contact with the Sacred Devil Palace and send back details of the battle.
• Xing Ming decided to travel to Sacred Devil City himself, entrusting Zhu Luomu with sect responsibilities and a token for emergencies.
• Li Yan released a small amount of Fragmented Poison Body toxin, which drained the spirituality from two pots of Purifying Brahma Bamboo, and wondered whether his poison could now threaten Nascent Soul Realm cultivators.

Li Yan told Xing Ming that he was a poison cultivator whose body and spiritual power could poison his opponents, and warned that he could not reliably provide antidotes for the sect’s planned poisonous pills. They agreed the Ghost Flood Dragon Clan posed an ongoing threat, and Xing Ming insisted Old Dragon Flood Dragon had to be killed.

• Li Yan anticipated the need to grow stronger so he could find Zhao Min and return home across worlds.
• Xing Ming arrived in Saint Demon City and met Li Yan privately, praising his victory over the Ghost Flood Dragon Clan.
• Li Yan revealed that his cultivation followed a crude poison-cultivation method and explained that he had poisoned the Spirit Restoration Pills with his own spiritual power.
• Li Yan advised the sect to make its own poisonous pills for the Holy Devil Palace because most poisons he made would have no antidote.
• Li Yan told Xing Ming he had secretly visited the Ghost Flood Dragon Clan but found no chance to attack because its defenses were strict.
• Xing Ming recounted Old Dragon Flood Dragon’s decades-long pursuit and eventual murder of a former rival, then agreed that he had to be eliminated.

Li Yan cultivated his dealings with the Holy Devil Palace while investigating the Ghost Wyrm Clan’s hidden lairs and sharing knowledge with Xing Ming. After testing Li Yan’s poison pills and growing closer to him, the palace’s Chu began discussing body cultivation, giving Li Yan an opening to pursue his plan.

• Li Yan asked Xing Ming for cultivation guidance, and their discussions gave both cultivators new insights into each other’s knowledge.
• Li Yan investigated the Ghost Wyrm Clan while Xing Ming reported that Elder Dragon Wyrm and Xi Ye remained hidden in one of several heavily guarded locations.
• Su Yuan completed Falling Star Valley’s arrangements with the Holy Devil Palace after the Ghost Wyrm Clan delivered two overdue batches of pills.
• Li Yan gave Chu poison pills, and Chu secretly tested one on a condemned Black Devil Race cultivator, who died within fifteen minutes and dissolved into foul water.
• Chu grew closer to Li Yan through discussions of cultivation, and Li Yan began talking about the Devil Race’s innate advantages in body refinement as he prepared to test his plan.

Li Yan used a fabricated tale about the Ice Soul Blue Jade Body to learn that Zhao Min was probably in the Holy Devil Palace. He left with his identity and location still unknown to her, and wondered how to make contact.

• Li Yan described a supposed encounter with an Ice Soul Blue Jade Body to the Chu-surnamed cultivator, who revealed that his master sought someone with that constitution.
• The Chu-surnamed cultivator questioned Li Yan about the encounter and promised favors in exchange for secrecy, then went to report the news to his master.
• After the Chu-surnamed cultivator left, Li Yan concluded that Zhao Min was almost certainly in the Holy Devil Palace and returned to his shop.
• Li Yan reviewed how he had carefully provoked the Chu-surnamed cultivator's reaction to confirm his suspicion about Zhao Min.
• Li Yan realized he could not find Zhao Min directly and would have to wait for her to use the Heart-Tangling Twin-Bloom Gu to sense him.

Li Yan deliberately wounded himself to trigger the Heart-Twining Twin-Born Gu and let Zhao Min sense his location, allowing the two long-separated disciples to reunite. They learned of each other’s ordeals and concluded that escaping the Lost Continent and the Holy Devil Palace would require finding a way to use the cross-realm teleportation array.

• Li Yan reasoned that Zhao Min might be in secluded cultivation, then injured his heart to make the Heart-Twining Twin-Born Gu signal a deathly crisis.
• Zhao Min sensed Li Yan’s peril, verified that the Gu had returned to calm, and realized that he had finally come near her.
• Li Yan recovered and opened his room to Zhao Min, who entered and reunited with him under the night sky.
• Li Yan and Zhao Min exchanged accounts of their years apart and discussed their need to escape the Holy Devil Palace’s control.
• Li Yan and Zhao Min determined that the cross-realm teleportation array was their only known route off the Lost Continent, but they lacked the spirit stones and Nascent Soul protection needed to use it safely.

Li Yan and Zhao Min discussed using the Black Devil Race's Divine Road to escape the Lost Continent, and Li Yan assured her that his spatial treasure could hide her from Spirit Transformation cultivators. After Zhao Min returned to the Holy Demon Palace, Dongli Qing encountered her and suspected she had secretly met someone.

• Zhao Min told Li Yan about the Divine Road as a possible route out of the Lost Continent, and he agreed they should investigate it further.
• Li Yan assured Zhao Min that his spatial magical treasure could conceal her from Spirit Transformation cultivators, and she chose to trust him.
• Zhao Min gave Li Yan sound transmission talismans, and they agreed on coded phrases for secret communication.
• Zhao Min decided to leave the Heart-Twining Twin-Bloom Gu in place after Li Yan said it let him know whether she was safe.
• Zhao Min returned to the Holy Demon Palace, where Dongli Qing intercepted her and questioned where she had been.
• After Zhao Min left without answering him, Dongli Qing suspected she had secretly met someone.

Li Yan and Zhao Min confirmed that the Black Devil Race’s Divine Road was too heavily guarded for them to use, while the remaining interrealm teleportation array required resources they could not obtain. Li Yan urged Zhao Min not to give up and to keep investigating, as she hinted that she had another concern to discuss.

• Dongli Qing failed to find Zhao Min after she left the Holy Devil Palace, then resolved to watch her more closely and discover whom she was meeting.
• Li Yan spent another year in Holy Devil City investigating passages between realms with Zhao Min and gathering information about the Divine Road.
• Zhao Min used her connection to Shangguan Changge to confirm that even Nascent Soul cultivators could not approach the Black Devil Race’s Divine Road without being detected by its Spirit Transformation guards.
• Zhao Min told Li Yan that the interrealm teleportation array was also out of reach because they lacked top-grade and high-grade spirit stones and a suitable defensive treasure.
• Li Yan encouraged Zhao Min to continue searching for answers beyond the known routes, then asked whether her actions had been discovered.

Li Yan told Zhao Min his conjecture that ancient teleportation passages had once connected the Lost Continent and the Qingqing Continent, supporting it with an ancient damaged jade slip. Zhao Min revealed that Dongli Qing’s disciple had followed her, leaving their secret meetings at greater risk, but agreed to investigate the passage records further.

• Li Yan examined an incomplete ancient jade slip that supported his theory that multiple cross-realm teleportation arrays had existed during the ancient war.
• Zhao Min told Li Yan that Dongli Qing had sent a disciple named Dongli Qing’s disciple to follow her, and that she had confronted him and warned Dongli Qing through him.
• Zhao Min explained that Dongli Qing might personally follow her next time, making it dangerous for her to meet Li Yan, and suggested they exchange information less frequently.
• Li Yan gave Zhao Min the damaged jade slip and explained his theory about hidden passages between the realms.
• Zhao Min agreed to search broader historical records for information about the passages and why they might have been destroyed or concealed.