Chapter Summaries

Qi Yun oversaw three years of Northern Defense Grand Formation construction while building a vast resource network, but he remained unable to comprehend the spring intent needed for his cultivation breakthrough. True Person Chiyang then summoned him back to the Wuji Sacred Sect after the delegation investigating the Four Imperials Heaven returned with devastating casualties.

• Qi Yun coordinated the formation's construction and redirected resources, sharing some with the five True Persons and sending much of the rest to the Wuji Sacred Sect and its allies.
• After three years, Qi Yun tried and failed to extract spring intent from a withered branch, continuing his stalled effort to gather the Four Seasons needed for the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.
• True Person Chiyang arrived and told Qi Yun that the acting sect master had ordered him to return to the Holy Sect at once.
• True Person Chiyang reported that Qianxin and the others had returned with two dead, five gravely injured, and one missing from the delegation of eight.
• Qi Yun and True Person Chiyang set out for the Wuji Sacred Sect.

At the Wuji Sacred Sect, True Person Southern Dipper rebuilt True Person Qianxin’s body and awakened him while Qi Yun returned to the sect. Qianxin warned that the crisis in the south was a diversion and that the sects themselves had always been the target, leaving the gathered True Persons facing a hidden conspiracy.

• True Person Southern Dipper used the peach grove’s vitality to reconstruct True Person Qianxin’s body as the Holy Sect’s True Persons watched.
• Qi Yun returned and injured True Person Fushan with a single glance after Fushan mocked him.
• Qi Yun and Black Mountain True Person silently tested each other’s resolve before Black Mountain True Person withdrew his gaze.
• True Person Southern Dipper awakened True Person Qianxin after completing his body, but Qianxin immediately fell back into a coma.
• True Person Qianxin warned that the commotion in the south was a diversion and that the sects had always been the target.

After learning that Great Yin and its righteous-path allies had fabricated the Four Imperials Heaven threat to target the Northwest, the four sect leaders agreed to unite and defend their territory. The chapter ends with their counterespionage trap exposing five Southern Yin spies just as Great Yin’s army gathered at the border.

• True Person Southern Dipper, True Person Sansi, Lady Jiuli, and True Person Lunzhuan agreed to unite the four sects, accelerate the Northern Defense Grand Formation, and harass Southern Yin.
• True Person Southern Dipper secretly ordered Qi Yun to make the formation appear likely to be completed within six months, despite Qi Yun explaining that the work would take at least two years.
• After three months, Great Yin and its allies stationed an army at the northwestern border, apparently reacting to intelligence about the formation deadline.
• The four Great True Persons revealed that they had used the deadline as bait and imprisoned five Southern Yin spies who had tried to sabotage the formation and report intelligence.
• Qi Yun realized that the border deployment had confirmed the spies’ betrayal and privately admired True Person Southern Dipper’s plan.

Li Xuanqing ordered the Southern Yin army to hold position, gather reinforcements, and prepare for a decisive assault on the northwest. As the Northern Defense Grand Formation construction accelerated under the threat, Qi Yun warned Yang Cuan that they had far less time than the years needed to finish it and insisted that the supply accounts be cleared immediately.

• Li Xuanqing consulted with Lingxuzi, Wen Zaidao, and the sect representatives after their inside agents were exposed and the Four Imperials Heaven plan was compromised.
• Li Xuanqing ordered the army to defend its camps, expand its scouting, report to His Majesty and the sects, and muster reinforcements for an all-out attack.
• Cultivators across the northwest worked with heightened urgency to build the Northern Defense Grand Formation as the Southern Yin army gathered at the border.
• Yang Cuan questioned Qi Yun's relaxed manner and complained that the formation would take years to complete while he sorted the old supply accounts.
• Qi Yun told Yang Cuan the south would not give them two or three years and ordered him to balance the accounts completely, leaving no evidence that could be used against them.

The Southern Yin Dynasty launched a devastating invasion of the northwest, using leaked intelligence to destroy key nodes of the Northern Defense Grand Formation while its army and righteous sect allies swept through the region. Qi Yun investigated the war and, after recognizing cultivators from Nine Kings Mountain besieging the Thousand Bones Sect, appeared with his Human Emperor Banner and invited them inside.

• The Southern Yin Dynasty destroyed a key formation node with a crimson-gold strike, then sent its World-Suppressing Army and righteous sect cultivators through the breach.
• The coalition rapidly overran demonic sect defenses as the Northern Defense Grand Formation’s nodes were systematically destroyed.
• Yang Cuan told Qi Yun that nearly a third of the formation had been ruined in half a month and predicted it would be paralyzed within two months; Qi Yun also questioned why the four Great True Persons had not intervened.
• Qi Yun traveled through the war-torn northwest and came upon Nine Kings Mountain cultivators attacking the Thousand Bones Sect.
• Recognizing Nine Kings Mountain from his past encounter over the Three Rivers Bitter Cold Divine King Talisman, Qi Yun appeared above the sect and invited the cultivators into his Human Emperor Banner.

Qi Yun countered True Person Xuanping’s three Divine King talismans with formations from the Human Emperor Banner, then revealed a new Talisman Sea ability and summoned the Three Rivers Bitter Cold True King Dharma Manifestation. The manifestation’s arrival shook Xuanping’s domains, leaving the battle poised to escalate.

• Qi Yun rebuked the Nine Kings Mountain disciples for their hypocrisy and tried to pull them into the Human Emperor Banner, but True Person Xuanping arrived and stopped the banner’s suction with a talisman.
• True Person Xuanping used three Divine King talismans to freeze, suppress, and bewitch Qi Yun, while Qi Yun countered them with three grand formations from the Human Emperor Banner.
• After recognizing the banner as a Law Treasure, True Person Xuanping falsely claimed it was Nine Kings Mountain’s stolen Mysterious Heaven Banner and demanded that Qi Yun return it.
• Qi Yun activated four thousand Three Rivers Bitter Cold True King Talismans, using the Talisman Sea mechanism to fuse their power into a colossal Dharma Manifestation.
• The Three Rivers Bitter Cold True King Dharma Manifestation appeared, and its pressure made True Person Xuanping’s talisman domains tremble and dim.

Qi Yun defeated and sealed True Person Xuanping, then slaughtered the Nine Kings Mountain disciples who begged for mercy. Back in his meditation chamber, he began refining Xuanping into the Human Emperor Banner’s first Main Soul.

• True Person Xuanping used his Essence Blood to combine three Divine King Talismans into a grotto-heaven and held off Qi Yun’s True King Dharma Manifestation.
• Qi Yun activated [Wield Myriad Laws], severed Xuanping’s control of his talismans, and sealed him inside a block of mystic ice.
• The surviving Nine Kings Mountain disciples begged Qi Yun to spare them, but he used the Human Emperor Banner to kill them and absorb their souls.
• Qi Yun returned to Ten Thousand Caves Mountain, secured his meditation chamber, and brought out the Human Emperor Banner and Xuanping’s icy prison.
• After discovering the banner could hold a Main Soul, Qi Yun began refining Xuanping into one.

Qi Yun refined True Person Xuanping, seized and preserved his Supreme Mystery Hunt Art Dao Foundation, and made him a controllable Main Soul within the Human Emperor Banner. He renamed him Zecheng and sent him back undercover to Nine Kings Mountain to gather intelligence as Southern Yin’s northern expedition threatened the region.

• Qi Yun used a formation, soul-suppressing talismans, and the Human Emperor Banner to attack True Person Xuanping’s Divine Soul as Xuanping tried to destroy his Dao Foundation.
• Qi Yun used Wield Myriad Laws to freeze and extract the Supreme Mystery Hunt Art Dao Foundation, then sent it into Great Luo Heaven to be suppressed and analyzed.
• Qi Yun stripped Xuanping’s remaining true spirit imprint and refined it into the Human Emperor Banner, completing the Main Soul.
• Qi Yun put the Main Soul into Xuanping’s body and gave him the new name Zecheng, while preserving his Foundation Establishment strength through the banner.
• Qi Yun ordered Zecheng to resume his identity as True Person Xuanping, infiltrate Nine Kings Mountain, and report on the Southern Yin allied army and its resources.
• After Zecheng departed, Qi Yun worried that one hidden agent might not be enough and returned to studying the Four Seasons and the newly acquired talisman True Intentions.

Qi Yun refined Xuan Ping’s Dao Foundation, transforming his Talisman Art into the Divine Ability Art Supreme Mystery Register, which let him form talismans without materials or Law Power. He disguised himself as an orthodox talisman cultivator and set out to infiltrate the Southern Yin camp to investigate its hidden schemes.

• Qi Yun absorbed the talisman True Intentions in Xuan Ping’s Dao Foundation into Great Luo Heaven and gained insight into the natural principles behind talismans.
• The Law Technique Panel replaced Foundation Establishment Realm Talisman Art with Supreme Mystery Register, greatly improving Qi Yun’s Talisman Art aptitude and removing its medium restrictions.
• Qi Yun formed a Three Rivers Bitter Cold True King Talisman barehanded, then dispersed it back into heaven and earth.
• Qi Yun altered his appearance and Law Power to resemble a righteous-path talisman cultivator, choosing a guise suited to infiltrating Southern Yin.
• Qi Yun left the temporary palace and headed toward the Southern Yin camp to investigate the campaign’s hidden undercurrents.

Qi Yun intervened when Self-Sacrifice Cult elders cornered Yuhengzi and other righteous cultivators at Long Ridge Cave, then fought the cult’s vice master, True Person Broken Bone. Unable to defeat him quickly on his territory, Qi Yun rescued the group and fled, introducing himself as Yun Zhongzi.

• Yuhengzi and the wounded righteous cultivators were overwhelmed by the Self-Sacrifice Cult elders’ attacks.
• Qi Yun appeared and dispelled the one-armed elder’s soul attack with a Spirit-Purifying and Spirit-Calming Talisman.
• Qi Yun formed five elemental talismans to suppress the elders, but True Person Broken Bone emerged from Long Ridge Cave and stopped them.
• Qi Yun and True Person Broken Bone exchanged attacks, and Broken Bone unleashed the Heaven-Maiming Hand.
• Qi Yun judged that he could not defeat Broken Bone quickly and carried Yuhengzi and the others away on a cloud of talisman light.
• Yuhengzi asked his rescuer’s name, and Qi Yun identified himself as the mountain rogue cultivator Yun Zhongzi.

Qi Yun gained the righteous cultivators’ trust after True Person Xuanping vouched for him, then strengthened his reputation by supplying talismans and helping defeat demonic forces. As the others warmly praised him, Qi Yun privately reflected that he had not encountered such naïve Foundation Establishment True Persons in a long time.

• True Person Huchan welcomed Qi Yun to the righteous cultivators’ base, but True Persons Qingzhi, Lingfeng, and Moshou questioned his unknown origins.
• True Person Xuanping arrived and claimed he had known Qi Yun for nearly a hundred years, staking Nine Kings Mountain’s reputation on his guarantee.
• The cultivators accepted Qi Yun, and he began distributing effective talismans, aiding them in battles, and wiping out a small demonic sect.
• Qi Yun’s repeated contributions won the righteous cultivators’ admiration and friendship, even from those who had initially doubted him.
• After the group praised his work, Qi Yun reflected that the Foundation Establishment True Persons were remarkably naïve.

Qi Yun learned that Southern Yin’s northern expedition was driven by a search for one of the Great Tang’s lost Nation-Suppressing Imperial Weapons. After Zecheng revealed the four northwestern sects’ likely scheme to use Southern Yin’s army to uncover it, Qi Yun ordered continued surveillance and prepared to exploit the larger game.

• True Person Huchan told Qi Yun that the Great Tang had forged twenty-four Nation-Suppressing Imperial Weapons and that Southern Yin had found a clue pointing to one in the northwest.
• True Person Huchan explained that Southern Yin’s northern expedition was really a search for the Imperial Weapon, with the campaign against demons serving as a public pretext.
• Zecheng confirmed that Southern Yin had infiltrated the northwest for four hundred years and that its previous emperor had persuaded the True Lords of several holy lands to support the expedition.
• Qi Yun deduced that the four northwestern sects were letting Southern Yin and the demonic factions fight while using the army to search for the Imperial Weapon.
• Qi Yun ordered Zecheng to monitor the allied army’s leaders and the four northwestern sects for signs of secret searches or elite movements.

Li Xuanqing challenged Celestial Master Chen over the army’s slow search for the Imperial Weapon and the northern campaign’s strategy, then left to make his own arrangements. Qi Yun learned that the Southern Yin World-Suppressing Army had abruptly redirected toward Lifeless Valley and received an urgent order from the Holy Sect to go there as well, so he decided to question his righteous-path allies before setting out.

• Li Xuanqing asked Celestial Master Chen whether he had found the Imperial Weapon, and Chen said the army needed to advance farther before its concealment might be disrupted.
• Li Xuanqing accused the four true demonic peaks of remaining untouched and questioned the campaign’s strategy, but Celestial Master Chen said the plan belonged to the True Lords and His Majesty.
• Li Xuanqing ended the discussion and left the tent, saying he had his own arrangements.
• True Person Xuanping told Qi Yun that Li Xuanqing had ordered the World-Suppressing Army toward Lifeless Valley while the allied sects were ordered to hold their positions.
• Qi Yun received an urgent Holy Sect order directing him to Lifeless Valley and concluded that the valley was drawing the attention of both Southern Yin and the Holy Sect.
• Qi Yun told True Person Xuanping to monitor the coalition and decided to seek information from True Person Huchan and the other righteous-path cultivators before going to Lifeless Valley.

Righteous sect cultivators entered Lifeless Valley to investigate its hidden power, but the valley expanded mysteriously as they searched. When the Yin and Yang Chessboard opened and marked righteous and demonic cultivators in white light and black vapor, True Person Moshou discovered that his trusted partner, “Yun Zhongzi,” was surrounded by black vapor.

• True Person Huchan, True Person Qingzhi, True Person Lingfeng, and other righteous cultivators arrived at Lifeless Valley and decided to search in pairs.
• Qi Yun avoided pairing with True Person Huchan by teaming up with True Person Moshou, and the righteous cultivators slipped into the valley.
• The cultivators searched for months without finding anything, while Lifeless Valley seemed to expand and reveal new areas.
• The Yin and Yang Chessboard opened and declared that righteous and demonic cultivators would be marked as opposing sides.
• White light rose from righteous cultivators as black vapor poured from demonic cultivators, and True Person Moshou saw black vapor billowing from Qi Yun, whom he knew as “Yun Zhongzi.”

Qi Yun revealed himself to True Person Moshou as the Northwest Demon and fought to escape Moshou’s formation-based assault. Moshou sealed the region and unleashed the Thousand Spirits Great Fire, unaware Qi Yun had slipped outside the formation, where a mysterious hand touched his shoulder.

• Qi Yun dropped his Yun Zhongzi disguise and introduced himself as Qi Yun, a Great Luo True Person and third-generation disciple of the Wuji Sacred Sect.
• True Person Moshou recognized Qi Yun as the Northwest Demon and decided he had to kill him to protect the secrets Qi Yun had learned.
• Moshou used his Thousand Spirits Hidden Subjugation Dao Foundation to trap Qi Yun, but Qi Yun’s Southern Ming Li Fire Sword broke the Quicksand Dragon-Trapping Formation.
• Moshou spent his Essence Blood to activate a vast sealing formation and prepare to refine Qi Yun with the Thousand Spirits Great Fire.
• Qi Yun used the Tribulation-Avoiding Incantation to slip out as Moshou’s formation closed, then a slender hand emerged from the shadows and rested on Moshou’s shoulder.

Qi Yun and True Person Xuanping revealed their demonic allegiance and overcame True Person Moshou’s defenses. Qi Yun killed Moshou, absorbed his Dao Foundation, and sent his Divine Soul into the Human Emperor Banner, then began refining the Dao Foundation.

• True Person Xuanping arrived and revealed his demonic Qi, confirming True Person Moshou’s fears that Nine Kings Mountain had secretly served the demonic path.
• True Person Xuanping used the Human Emperor Banner to seal the area with three grand formations while True Person Moshou prepared to activate an escape treasure.
• Qi Yun took control of True Person Moshou’s formation with Wield Myriad Laws, trapping him beneath four formations.
• Qi Yun manifested Great Luo Heaven and burned True Person Moshou to nothing with Southern Ming Li Fire, then seized his Dao Foundation and sent his Divine Soul into the Human Emperor Banner.
• Qi Yun ordered True Person Xuanping to guard and conceal the area, then meditated as Great Luo Heaven refined the Dao Foundation.

Qi Yun used the updated Formation Art to make himself the core of a formation, briefly manifesting the vast Northern Defense Grand Formation across Lifeless Valley. He then compressed it to a smaller scale he could control, discovering a powerful new way to wield formations.

• Qi Yun realized Formation Art 3.0 allowed formation cores to be placed anywhere and considered using his own body as the core.
• Qi Yun manifested the Northern Defense Grand Formation around himself, spreading its pressure across Lifeless Valley and suppressing the valley’s deathly mist.
• Qi Yun found that maintaining the full formation overwhelmed his mind and drained his Law Power.
• Qi Yun contracted the formation to about one-tenth its original size, making it far denser and easier to control.
• Qi Yun regained his composure and decided the reduced formation’s scale suited him.

Qi Yun realized that the turmoil in Lifeless Valley could reveal the Origin of Beginnings, a key to advancing his cultivation, and decided to enter the conflict directly. He intervened to protect a wounded Five Decays Cult elder from three righteous True Persons and unveiled his Northern Defense Grand Formation as Qiaoshanke attacked with a heart sword.

• Qi Yun sent True Person Xuanping back into the Human Emperor Banner and observed that the board showed three devil-path True Persons had been killed by Southern Yin’s Imperial Apex Pagoda Army Formation.
• Qi Yun sensed the Origin of Beginnings amid the region’s immense cause and effect, abandoned his passive role, and flew toward the heart of Lifeless Valley.
• Qi Yun arrived in the Bewildering Dust Barrier as Xuanhengzi, Fairy Shuyu, and Qiaoshanke pursued an injured Five Decays Cult elder, then ordered them to leave him alone.
• Fairy Shuyu attacked Qi Yun with her Soul-Intoxicating Flower, but he shattered it with the Supreme Mystery Register-Severing Ties and Scattering Blossoms Talisman.
• Qiaoshanke struck at Qi Yun’s causal connections with his Green Cliff Heart Sword, and Qi Yun answered by manifesting the Northern Defense Grand Formation.

Qi Yun used the Northern Defense Grand Formation to suppress three righteous-path True Persons, but Xuanhengzi sacrificed himself to send Qiaoshanke and Fairy Shuyu out of the formation. After Qi Yun bound Xuanhengzi’s soul to the Human Emperor Banner, he questioned him about the Heavenly Star Sect’s techniques and stopped him at a Law Technique he wanted to study.

• Qi Yun activated the Northern Defense Grand Formation, trapping Xuanhengzi, Qiaoshanke, and Fairy Shuyu beneath the crushing force of its domain.
• Xuanhengzi burned his life-bound star and used the Fallen Star Void Escape to create a brief opening, sending Qiaoshanke and Fairy Shuyu through the formation’s boundary.
• Xuanhengzi fell, and Qi Yun drew him into the Human Emperor Banner after asking whether his sacrifice had been worth it.
• Qi Yun refined Xuanhengzi’s Divine Soul into an obedient servant, then had him recount the Heavenly Star Sect’s stellar techniques and insights.
• Qi Yun stopped Xuanhengzi at a rarely used True Person Realm technique and asked him to repeat its complete scripture and insights.

Qi Yun used the Heavenly Star Sect secret method Ominous Star Shines High to unleash a massive star pillar on Qiaoshanke and Fairy Shuyu. The attack left Qiaoshanke gravely wounded and Fairy Shuyu unconscious as Qi Yun’s Law Technique Panel showed repeated improvements to the method.

• Qiaoshanke and Fairy Shuyu escaped the Bewildering Dust Barrier and mourned Xuanhengzi, while Qiaoshanke warned that the young devil was an extraordinary threat.
• As the two prepared to seek out other righteous cultivators, they sensed imminent danger and raised their strongest defenses.
• Half an hour earlier, Qi Yun condensed an Ominous Star with Great Luo Heaven’s Law Power and used it to locate Qiaoshanke and Fairy Shuyu.
• Qi Yun brought down a hundred-meter pillar of starlight, which broke through Qiaoshanke’s sword domain and Fairy Shuyu’s spirit web.
• Qiaoshanke survived on one knee with his wooden sword badly damaged, while Fairy Shuyu lay unconscious and barely breathing.
• Qi Yun’s Law Technique Panel displayed successive upgrades to Ominous Star Shines High, increasing its power and range.