Recaps

The Beast Realm and Nether River forces crushed Returning to Stillness Dao Venerable and invaded the Black Sha Wasteland, slaughtering the Death Giant Lizard clan. Shi Jian identified hidden clan secret realms, then joined Cang Wuji in breaking into them to seize their accumulated treasures.

• Ten Dao Venerables overwhelmed Returning to Stillness Dao Venerable, and the Ultimate Force Giant Ape tore off his arm, killing him.
• Beast Realm and Nether Realm armies descended on the Black Sha Wasteland and destroyed the Death Giant Lizard clan’s defenses.
• A giant lizard ancestor tried to stop the invasion but was killed by Nether Realm cultivators, who captured its soul.
• Shi Jian warned Cang Wuji that the clan’s true inheritance was hidden in secret realms and located at least seven of them.
• Shi Jian and Cang Wuji tore open a void rift and entered the hidden realms to reach the clan’s hoards.

Shi Jian and Cang Wuji raided the Death Giant Lizard Clan’s hidden realms, killing their defenders and taking their treasures before attacking the clan’s ancestral Mystic Sha Dead Sea Secret Realm. As Cang Wuji fought the Late Spirit Transformation elder, Shi Jian discovered Nether Lightning and resolved to capture it.

• Shi Jian found the concealed entrance to a Giant Lizard secret realm, and Cang Wuji broke it open and killed its two Early Spirit Transformation defenders.
• Shi Jian and Cang Wuji seized the realm’s treasures and raided five more hidden secret realms within half a day.
• At the seventh secret realm, Shi Jian sensed danger and opened the entrance with a lightning-charged sword strike.
• A Late Spirit Transformation elder activated the Dead Sea’s grand formation and attacked, while Cang Wuji met him in battle.
• Shi Jian discovered Nether Lightning at the heart of the Dead Sea and recognized its potential to strengthen his Dao of Lightning.

Shi Jian subdued the giant lizard clan’s Nether Lightning while Cang Wuji killed the clan elder. As they prepared to leave the secret realm, they sensed Returning to Stillness Dao Venerable’s death and the Nether River Imperial Clan moving to claim his Death Dao position.

• The giant lizard elder unleashed Nether Lightning at Shi Jian, who countered with his lightning powers and sealed its seed inside his right arm.
• Cang Wuji killed the elder with the Bone-Splitting Axe, destroying his body and Nascent Soul.
• Shi Jian examined the captured Nether Lightning and considered forging it into a Dao Artifact with help from Ancestor Egu.
• A Great Dao thunderclap shook the secret realm as Returning to Stillness Dao Venerable fell and blood rained across the heavens.
• The Nether River Imperial Clan’s Imperial Lord presence swept across the Dao Realm as the fourth Death Dao fruition began to return to its place.

The Beast and Nether Realms won the war in the Dao Realm, dividing its spoils and reshaping the balance of power across the Nine Realms. As the Beast Realm settled its new territories, the Giant Bear Clan discussed how to hold its holdings, and Shi Jian urged it to maintain a firm presence in both realms.

• The Nether River Imperial Clan destroyed Returning to Stillness and took his Death Dao foundations and Great Dao source, while the Peak and Mountain Imperial Clan secured the Treasured Earth Dao Fruit.
• The Nether River Emperor and Peak Mountain Emperor Lord gained four Death Dao and four Earth Dao authorities respectively, and the Nether and Beast Realms rose to become major powers through their alliance.
• The Nether Realm lifted its ban on the Beast Realm cultivating the Dao of Eternal Darkness as the two sides settled their pact.
• The Peak Mountain Emperor Lord ordered a great migration, sending hundreds of millions of weaker Beast Realm clans into the newly occupied Dao Realm territories while the imperial and royal clans absorbed the lands they vacated.
• Ancestor Shanyue reported that the Giant Bear Clan had greatly expanded its territories in both realms and asked whether Shi Jian's Lightning Bear Line wanted the Li Bear Plains enclave.
• Shi Jian thanked Ancestor Shanyue and said the clan needed to maintain a firm grip on both sides to secure its future.

Shi Jian secured a hereditary fief for the Lightning Bear Line on the Li Bear Plains and returned to the Divine Firmament Plain to strengthen his cultivation. As he nurtured a fourth lightning foundation, he began planning a personal Dao of Lightning weapon to face the Hidden Sword Dao Palace’s sword cultivator.

• Shi Jian proposed that Shan Li lead the Lightning Bear Line’s settlement on the Li Bear Plains while he returned to the Divine Firmament Plain to cultivate and restore the line’s ancestral territory.
• Ancestor Egu granted the Lightning Bear Line a hereditary fief on the Li Bear Plains and placed the surrounding territories under its governance, with Shan Yue helping manage the clan’s interests there.
• Months later, Shi Jian meditated at Divine Firmament Peak and nurtured the fourth Divine Firmament Foundation, Radiant Yang Lightning, toward Perfected Spirit Transformation.
• Shi Jian examined the sealed Life-Extinguishing Nether Lightning and gathered rare materials to forge a powerful lightning Dao treasure capable of opposing the Hidden Sword Dao Palace’s Immortal Slayer sword cultivator.
• Shi Jian decided to ask Ancestor Egu, a renowned artifact refiner, to help forge the treasure and flew toward the Giant Bear Ancestral Court.
• A seed of life force and nether lightning remained buried in the Divine Firmament Lightning Sea, awaiting its chance to emerge.

Shi Jian asked Ancestor Egu to forge a natal slaughter Dao Artifact from his lightning powers and rare materials. Ancestor Egu agreed to spend decades refining it, gave Shi Jian a defensive Dao Artifact, and sent him to guard the Lightning Mountain Sacred Mountain while he waited.

• Shi Jian climbed Barbarian Bone Sacred Mountain and paid his respects to Ancestor Egu.
• Shi Jian asked Ancestor Egu to forge a natal Dao Artifact, presenting his gray sword, rare materials, and Life-Extinguishing Nether Lightning.
• Ancestor Egu recognized that the nether lightning could be fused with Shi Jian's Divine Firmament Righteous Yang Lightning to create a powerful weapon that could sever an opponent's vitality.
• Ancestor Egu took the materials and said the refining would take decades, telling Shi Jian to recuperate in seclusion at the ancestral court.
• Ancestor Egu gave Shi Jian the Wanxiang Barbarian Bone Pearl, a defensive Dao Artifact, and instructed him to guard the Lightning Mountain Sacred Mountain until the weapon was complete.

Shi Jian reunited with his second son, Shi Lei, at Lightning Mountain Sacred Mountain and assessed his cultivation in the dangerous path of frenzied lightning. He supplied Shi Lei with rare resources, powerful treasures, and a protective imprint, leaving him to strengthen the Lightning Bear Line.

• Shi Jian arrived at the Lightning Bear Line's residence, where Shi Lei greeted him after two hundred years apart.
• Shi Lei reported that he managed Lightning Mountain Sacred Mountain and had advanced to the Nascent Soul Middle Stage.
• Shi Jian examined Shi Lei's Azure Profound Lightning and warned him about the accumulated Lightning Sha Qi and the dangers of frenzied lightning.
• Shi Jian gave Shi Lei Spirit Race remains, Death Dao treasures, and instructions for nourishing his body and developing his lightning path.
• Shi Jian also gave Shi Lei protective armor, a giant spear, a storage ring of cultivation resources, and a nascent-soul imprint that could protect his life.
• Shi Lei vowed to defend Lightning Mountain Sacred Mountain and withdrew to a secret chamber with the treasures.

Shi Jian comprehended Radiant Yang lightning, formed his fourth Immortal Foundation, and wrote the fourth volume of his Divine Firmament teachings. While he continued cultivating in seclusion, Lightning Mountain Sacred Mountain became a thriving center for lightning cultivators from across the Giant Bear Clan.

• Shi Jian understood Radiant Yang as lightning that nurtured life within destruction and began writing scriptures about the Divine Firmament lightning paths.
• Lightning-struck ancient wood and refined Spirit Race essence helped Shi Jian form his fourth Dao platform and complete the initial formation of his Radiant Yang Immortal Foundation.
• Shi Jian inscribed the fourth volume, the "Radiant Yang Creation and Destruction Volume," then continued deducing the Great Dao in seclusion.
• News of Shi Jian's strength, fief, and treasures drew lightning-talented descendants and minor branches of the Giant Bear Clan to Lightning Mountain Sacred Mountain.
• Over thirty years, hundreds of thousands of bear demons settled at the mountain, and the Lightning Bear Line's fortune flourished.

Shi Lei continued building the Lightning Bear Line through his teachings and strict enforcement of his father’s rules. A wounded Thunder Leopard named Zi Tong arrived from the Profound Spirit Continent claiming her father had served Shi Jian, and she presented a token as proof.

• Shi Lei taught thousands of young Bear Race Demon Cultivators to master lightning without letting it rule their hearts.
• Shi Lei ordered Lei Ku to punish Thunder Method practitioners who oppressed other races and learned that a visitor from Boundless Lake had come seeking him.
• Shi Lei recognized the Profound Spirit Continent as his family’s distant homeland and ordered the guards to bring the visitor in.
• Zi Tong introduced herself as a descendant of the Thunder Leopard Clan and said her father had received guidance from Ancestor Shi Jian.
• Shi Lei asked Zi Tong for proof, and she produced a cracked purple-copper token bearing a black mountain and a Divine Firmament lightning pattern.

Zi Tong pleaded with Shi Lei to shelter the battered Thunder Leopard Clan, and Shi Yin confirmed their old connection before advising Shi Lei to take them in as scouts. Shi Lei accepted them as vassals, and months later Zi Tong entered his inner courtyard as his secondary wife.

• Zi Tong begged Shi Lei to take in the three hundred surviving members of the Thunder Leopard Clan and offered their service in return.
• Shi Lei summoned Shi Yin, who recognized the token as proof of the clan’s former ties to the Giant Bear Clan and assessed their value as scouts.
• Shi Lei accepted the Thunder Leopard Clan as vassals, granted them a fief, and required them to swear a death contract and pay tribute.
• Zi Tong presented her soul imprint to Shi Lei, binding the clan to the Lightning Bears.
• Months later, Zi Tong entered Shi Lei’s inner courtyard as his secondary wife to secure protection for her clan.

Shi Yin told Shi Pan that he planned to leave the Lightning Bear Lineage and return to the Snow Bear main lineage, which had chosen him as its successor. He revealed that Ancestor Shi Jian already knew and had accepted his decision.

• Shi Yin and Shi Pan surveyed the thriving Divine Firmament Plain and discussed the Giant Bear Clan's growth and the Lightning Bear Line's internal challenges.
• Shi Yin said he was leaving, startling Shi Pan, who argued that the clan needed him and that he could soon establish his Immortal Foundation.
• Shi Yin explained that he was returning to the Snow Bear Lineage, which cultivated the Ice Dao and lacked a Spirit Transformation successor.
• Shi Yin revealed that the Snow Bear Lineage had selected him to inherit its cultivation resources and become its next head after reaching Spirit Transformation.
• Shi Yin told Shi Pan that Ancestor Shi Jian had known of the arrangement and had told him to walk the Great Dao alone.

Shi Pan grieved over how fate had divided the three brothers’ paths, while Shi Yin reassured him that guarding the Lightning Bear Lineage was a vital role. Shi Yin prepared to leave for Northern River, leaving Shi Pan responsible for the clan’s home and future.

• Shi Pan accepted that Shi Yin had to go to Northern River, where the Snow Bear Lineage’s resources could help him advance in the Ice Dao.
• Shi Pan recalled how the patriarch had raised him, Shi Yin, and Shi Mo, then mourned Shi Mo’s death and his own ruined Dao Path.
• Shi Pan wept over the brothers’ different fates, while Shi Yin eased the pain of his chest scar with his Extreme Cold Law Power.
• Shi Yin told Shi Pan that guarding Divine Firmament Plain and protecting the Lightning Bear Lineage made him its indispensable cornerstone.

Shi Pan called the Lightning Bear Line’s thirty-seven Nascent Soul Cultivators to Divine Firmament Peak as rival factions clashed over mines and clan resources. He confronted the disputing bear kings, but they challenged his authority and demanded a fairer plan.

• After Shi Yin left and Shi Mo died, Shi Pan resolved to lead the Lightning Bear Line while Shi Jian was secluded and the clan’s other leaders were away.
• Shi Pan ordered every Nascent Soul Cultivator of the Lightning Bear Line to return to Divine Firmament Peak within three days or face punishment.
• At the Profound Lightning Grand Hall, Xuanlei Min accused Lei Ya’s Frenzied Thunder Line of seizing mines, and Lei Ya defended its claim.
• Lei Li and younger Nascent Souls escalated the argument until Shi Pan entered, silenced the hall, and rebuked them for fighting over resources.
• Lei Ya explained the dispute as a problem of resource allocation, while Xuanlei Min challenged Shi Pan to present a fairer plan.

Shi Pan used Shi Jian’s decree to force the Lightning Bear Demon Kings to accept his authority, then began reorganizing the ancestral lands into four lines and twenty-four tribes. He established the Divine Firmament Line and named Shi Lei to lead the Frenzied Thunder Line, leaving the remaining reforms unfinished.

• Shi Pan revealed Shi Jian’s decree, and its Spirit Transformation pressure forced Xuanlei Min, Lei Ya, and the Nascent Soul Lightning Bears to bow.
• Shi Pan announced that he would control military and administrative affairs in the ancestral lands and warned that defiance, private fighting, or collusion with outsiders would bring severe punishment.
• Shi Pan abolished the tribes’ scattered territorial system and declared that the Lightning Bear Line would be reorganized into four lines and twenty-four tribes, with resources allocated by merit.
• Shi Pan established the six tribes of the Divine Firmament Line as the direct ancestral branch, placing them under the leadership of Shi Xiao’s and Shan Li’s bloodline branches.
• Shi Pan declared that Shi Lei would head the Frenzied Thunder Line and listed its six tribes.

Shi Pan reorganized the Lightning Bear Line into four lines and twenty-four tribes, assigning leaders and territories while leaving eight positions open to lightning cultivators from across the Nine Realms. The thirty-seven Nascent Soul lightning cultivators accepted his decree, and Shi Pan pledged to guard the Divine Firmament Plain as his younger brother pursued his path.

• Shi Pan appointed Lei Ya head of the Azure Profound Tribe and granted it the Falling Lightning Great Plain, then named Xuanlei Min head of the Life-Extinguishing Tribe and assigned other Frenzied Thunder tribes their leaders and territories.
• Shi Pan established the Profound Lightning and Primal Lightning lines, leaving eight tribe-head positions vacant for qualified lightning cultivators from the Nine Realms who joined the Divine Firmament Plain and swore a divine-soul death pact.
• Shi Pan set three ranks beneath the tribe heads and ordered tribes to compete every thirty years, rewarding merit and removing leaders who neglected their duties or caused trouble.
• Lei Ya, Xuanlei Min, and other lightning cultivators declared their acceptance of Shi Pan's decree, and all thirty-seven Nascent Soul cultivators knelt as their lightning formed a giant bear manifestation above the plain.
• Shi Pan vowed to protect the Divine Firmament Plain for his younger brother, Patriarch Shi Jian, and Shi Mo while urging his brother to become the sharpest sword above the nine heavens.

Over sixty years, the Divine Firmament Plain’s tribes grew stronger through cultivation, recruitment, and expansion, but their lack of skilled workers remained a serious weakness. Shi Xiao’s return of the Dao Spirit Human Race began to fill that gap, though the people arrived as heavily controlled dependents forced into labor and the Giant Bear Race’s Thunder Method.

• Lei Ya advanced to the Nascent Soul Late Stage and expanded the Azure Profound Tribe’s Frenzied Thunder forces with resources earned through clan competitions.
• Xuanlei Min transformed the Black Water Death Swamp into the Life-Extinguishing Lei Yuan, attracting Lightning Beasts seeking to temper themselves.
• Chi Xu recruited lightning demons and Demon Beasts from across the Beast Realm to fill vacant tribal positions, while elders of the Awakening of Insects Tribe returned with a fragment of the Winter Thunder Sha-Shaking Instruction.
• The tribes’ growth exposed a shortage of workers skilled in spirit medicines, formations, and refining, as bear demons repeatedly damaged resources through rough handling.
• Shi Xiao sent Dao Spirit Human dependents from the Dao Realm to the Divine Firmament Plain aboard three warships, and a Frenzied Thunder commander drove them to mine azure lightning jade marrow in Slave Sin Abyss.
• The Dao Spirit Human Race had been conditioned to serve the Giant Bear Race, marked with its emblem, and taught a fragmentary Thunder Method.

Shi Fangting ruled the Divine Firmament Plain’s Slave Sin Abyss, where two million Dao Spirit humans were brutally exploited. Caught between his human and demon heritage, he resolved to use his people’s value to secure their future and his own place among the Lightning Bear Line.

• Lightning Gang struck a Dao Spirit cultivator dead as the surviving human slaves labored under brutal conditions in the Slave Sin Abyss.
• Shi Fangting, a Golden Core Lightning Bear Half-Demon, reviewed the abyss’s affairs from his pavilion as its master.
• The chapter recounted how Shi Fangting had endured rejection from both the Dao Spirit humans and the Giant Bear Clan while developing his talent for lightning cultivation.
• Shi Fangting concluded that the Dao Spirit humans needed to strengthen their Thunder Methods and prove their worth to the Lightning Bear Line.
• Shi Fangting planned for his people to join the Lightning Bear Line’s twenty-four divisions, hoping their bloodline would let him control his own fate.

After a century of cultivation, Shi Jian had formed about forty percent of his fourth Divine Firmament foundation before running out of resources. Ancestor Egu summoned him to Barbarian Bone Sacred Mountain, where he revealed the completed life-bound Dao Artifact forged for Shi Jian.

• Shi Jian reflected that completing his Radiant Yang Lightning foundation would require several hundred more years and that he had exhausted nearly all his cultivation resources.
• Ancestor Egu contacted Shi Jian and told him the lightning embryo was complete, so Shi Jian hurried to Barbarian Bone Sacred Mountain.
• Shi Jian met Ancestor Egu in the sealed bone hall and learned how difficult it had been to forge a spear from the sword intent, Dead Sea Sha marrow, Life-Extinguishing Nether Lightning, and Dao Venerable remains.
• Ancestor Egu revealed a twelve-foot black spear whose destructive power resonated with Shi Jian’s Dao of Lightning.
• Ancestor Egu explained that the spear had reached the pinnacle of Dao Artifacts and could become a Half-Step Dao Weapon if Shi Jian later attained the Spirit Transformation Extreme Realm.

Shi Jian named his newly mastered weapon the Immortal-Slaying Spear, and Ancestor Egu explained that the Giant Bear Clan needed him to advance toward Dao Venerable. Ancestor Egu arranged for Shi Jian to cultivate at the Profound Lightning Imperial Clan’s ancestral grounds, and Shi Jian vowed not to return until he reached the Extreme Realm.

• Shi Jian infused the black spear with his Righteous Yang Lightning and Essence Blood, mastered it, and named it the Immortal-Slaying Spear.
• Shi Jian told Ancestor Egu that he had exhausted his cultivation resources and needed a way to advance.
• Ancestor Egu explained that Shi Jian was the Giant Bear Clan’s only younger-generation hope of reaching Dao Venerable, while the clan’s other promising paths were blocked.
• Ancestor Egu proposed that Shi Jian cultivate at the Profound Lightning Imperial Clan’s ancestral grounds, which had opened to talented lightning cultivators because its Beast Emperor was nearing death and lacked a successor.
• Ancestor Egu revealed that he had secured Shi Jian permission to enter the ancestral grounds as a Dao Venerable seed.
• Shi Jian accepted the arrangement and swore he would not return to the clan before breaking through to the Extreme Realm.

After a century away, Shi Jian returned to the Divine Firmament Plain and found Shi Pan had built an orderly realm for the Lightning Bear Line. He healed Shi Pan’s lingering injury and asked to meet his Half-Demon descendant, Shi Fangting.

• Shi Jian surveyed the Divine Firmament Plain and approved of the order Shi Pan had established across its four lines and twenty-four tribes.
• Shi Jian appeared in the Profound Lightning Grand Hall, where Shi Pan and a Nascent Soul deacon greeted him as the Old Ancestor.
• Shi Jian praised Shi Pan’s work and gave him a Myriad Longevity Life-Transformation Crystal to restore his vitality and heal his heart injury.
• Shi Pan swallowed the crystal, recovering his health and lifespan, though his damaged foundation still limited his path forward.
• Shi Jian told Shi Pan to summon Shi Fangting so he could meet his Half-Demon descendant.

Shi Jian recognized Shi Fangting’s ambition and granted him the Divine Firmament Line’s cultivation inheritance and authority over the Slave Sin Abyss, while warning him against disloyalty. Shi Jian then left Giant Bear territory and traveled east into the Beast Realm’s wind-and-lightning domain.

• Shi Fangting prostrated himself before Shi Jian, who questioned him about his harsh rule over the Dao Spirit humans and suspicions about his loyalty.
• Shi Fangting declared that he cared only about strength and serving the Lightning Bear Line, and Shi Jian accepted his answer and named him a legitimate descendant.
• Shi Jian passed Shi Fangting the first two volumes of the 'True Explanation of the Four Divine Firmament Lightnings' and gave him authority over the Slave Sin Abyss and its production, with permission to punish division heads who slighted him.
• Shi Fangting swore loyalty, then left the hall convinced that he had become one of the successors entrusted with the six divisions of the Divine Firmament Line.
• Shi Jian entrusted the rear to Shi Pan, sent instructions concerning Shan Li and the Li Bear Plains, and departed alone for the east.
• Shi Jian reached the eastern lands, where violent divine winds, cascading lightning, and dangerous mountain formations filled the domain.

Shi Jian traveled through the prosperous territory of the Profound Lightning Imperial Clan and compared its deep foundations with the Giant Bear Clan’s recent rise. He reached Wind and Lightning Heaven-Severing Gorge, where lightning cultivators from across the Nine Realms gathered to seek the Profound Lightning Beast Emperor’s favor and study the Dao.

• Shi Jian crossed the Eastern Lands in disguise and saw the cities, subordinate clans, and Spirit Transformation experts that demonstrated the Profound Lightning Imperial Clan’s power.
• Shi Jian reflected on the Giant Bear Clan’s weaker traditions and resolved to gain the fortune of the Dao of Lightning and eventually surpass the imperial clans.
• Shi Jian headed for the Ten-Thousand-Zhang Lightning Abyss and, three days later, arrived at Wind and Lightning Heaven-Severing Gorge, the gateway to the Profound Lightning Imperial Clan’s inner territory.
• Lightning cultivators from powerful clans and distant realms gathered before the gorge, hoping to win the Profound Lightning Beast Emperor’s favor and study the Dao.

Shi Jian arrived at the Profound Lightning Ancestral Court as a guest of the Beast Emperor and spent months observing lightning cultivators from across the Nine Realms. When a dispute flared between Beast Realm demons and a Human Realm sect, Shi Jian stepped forward to challenge their methods.

• Shi Jian presented Ancestor Egu’s token and was welcomed into the Profound Lightning Ancestral Court as an honored guest.
• The eagle-headed elder assigned Shi Jian Purple Clearing Peak, where he settled in to cultivate while awaiting the Beast Emperor’s gathering.
• Shi Jian watched lightning cultivators arrive and identified three rival factions among the assembled practitioners.
• A young Nascent Soul cultivator from the Supreme Void Lightning Sect defeated a Beast Realm Demon King and disparaged the demons’ methods.
• Shi Jian stopped an angry tiger-headed Demon King from attacking and challenged the young Daoist’s sect to test its techniques.
• A white-haired Middle Spirit Transformation Daoist from the Supreme Void Lightning Sect accepted Shi Jian’s challenge with a salute.

Shi Jian subdued a Supreme Void Lightning Sect elder with a single strike, winning the native demons’ admiration while foreign cultivators marked him as a future rival. After a year of waiting, the Profound Lightning Beast Emperor summoned the realm’s geniuses and Spirit Transformation cultivators to the Ten-Thousand-Ren Divine Hall.

• Shi Jian pierced the Supreme Void Lightning Sect elder’s defenses with a lightning spear and stopped it inches from his brow, revealing that he had begun forming his fourth Immortal Foundation.
• Native Demon Kings hailed Shi Jian as Mighty Divine Firmament, while foreign cultivators quietly recorded his appearance and considered him a threat in the future struggle for the Dao of Lightning’s Dao Fruit.
• Shi Jian recalled Ancestor Egu’s explanation that the Beast Emperor had opened the Ancestral Court Lightning Pool to select an heir and break the Profound Lightning Imperial Clan’s predicament.
• After a year of sparring and cultivation exchanges, the Profound Lightning Beast Emperor summoned the visiting cultivators to the Ten-Thousand-Ren Divine Hall.
• Shi Jian joined the Beast Realm cultivators at the hall, where they saw the ancient, near-death Profound Lightning Beast Emperor seated above them.

The Beast Emperor opened the Lightless Dead Realm and set a ten-year trial for lightning cultivators, promising rare rewards for slaying its Night Beasts. Shi Jian agreed to help Lei Jin claim a treasure in the Polar Night Abyss in exchange for divine lightning wood, then entered the realm as its beasts prepared to break free.

• The Beast Emperor explained that cultivators could earn lightning-pool cultivation and treasures by hunting Night Beasts, with a perfected Immortal Foundation promised for a supreme-grade Dao of Darkness crystal essence.
• The Beast Emperor sent eight Profound Lightning Imperial Clan descendants, led by Lei Jin, into the trial alongside the gathered cultivators.
• Lei Jin told Shi Jian about the Five-Foundation Night Beast emperor in the Polar Night Abyss and offered him Nine Heavens Great Sun Divine Lightning Wood for holding it off.
• Shi Jian accepted the deal and plunged into the Lightless Dead Realm as the ten-year trial began.
• Shi Jian felt the darkness strip away the light and stir his Divine Firmament Dao platforms and Immortal-Slaying Spear, while Night Beasts declared they would break out of their cage.