Chapter Summaries

Shi Jian attacked the Venomous Flood Dragon King at the Dragon-Binding Abyss and revealed power far beyond an ordinary Golden Core cultivator. After badly wounding the flood dragon, he faced a golden reverse scale that carried the pressure of a Nascent Soul-level flood dragon from the Boundless Sea.

• Shi Jian led Shi Yin, Golden Crocodile, and Sun Chengzu to the Dragon-Binding Abyss, where they surrounded the Venomous Flood Dragon King.
• Shi Jian and the Venomous Flood Dragon King exchanged powerful lightning and poison-water attacks before closing in for a brutal fight.
• Shi Jian used his Nascent Soul-level Divine Sense to interrupt the Venomous Flood Dragon King's Black Water Death Ray, then snapped off one horn and stabbed out his left eye.
• The injured Venomous Flood Dragon King summoned a golden reverse scale, whose immense pressure revealed it as a token from a Nascent Soul-level flood dragon of the Boundless Sea.

Shi Jian defeated the Venomous Flood Dragon King by drawing on Purple Firmament's power, then led the forces at the Evil Water Marsh to eliminate the rival flood dragons and their followers. He claimed the marsh for his rule and prepared for the threat from the Boundless Sea.

• The Venomous Flood Dragon King used a golden reverse scale to unleash Nascent Soul pressure, but Shi Jian called on Purple Firmament and shattered the scale's dragon phantom.
• Shi Jian tore the Venomous Flood Dragon King in two, seized his seventh-level Demon Core, and destroyed his remaining soul.
• Sun Chengzu and Golden Crocodile killed the Jade Wave Flood Dragon, while Shi Yin froze the Red-Scaled Flood Dragon and Shi Jian finished it with lightning.
• The White Cloud Temple cultivators and Demon Beast forces hunted down the fleeing demons, securing the Evil Water Marsh for Shi Jian.
• Shi Jian kept the damaged reverse scale, considered the danger from the Boundless Sea, and declared that all four regions of the Evil Water Marsh would fall under his rule.

After White Cloud Temple pacified Evil Water Marsh, the Supreme Purity Sect arrived to claim the richest parts of the newly established Abundant Prefecture. Shi Jian accepted the division while warning the sect’s representatives, and Sun Chengzu agreed to preserve White Cloud Temple’s foothold and wait for a better opportunity.

• Bai Xiuyuan and Li Chongyue arrived in Abundant Water City and announced that the Supreme Purity Sect would rename Evil Water Marsh Abundant Water Marsh and establish Abundant Prefecture.
• Bai Xiuyuan assigned White Cloud Temple the barren northern territory while the Supreme Purity Sect took the resource-rich southern territory, including the eastern Zhuyin Stone vein, and maintained White Cloud Temple’s four-tenths tribute.
• Sun Chengzu offered to help clear the remaining Demon Beasts, but Li Chongyue refused and warned White Cloud Temple not to reach beyond its territory.
• Shi Jian accepted the arrangement but warned Li Chongyue and Bai Xiuyuan to beware of drowning, demon insects, and strange poison.
• After the Supreme Purity Sect representatives left, Shi Jian advised Sun Chengzu to avoid conflict and wait for the Bai and Li Households to struggle with their new territory.
• Sun Chengzu agreed to establish a White Cloud Temple branch in northern Abundant Prefecture and protect the sect’s remaining interests.

Shi Jian secured the north of Abundant Water Marsh through his allies, then returned to White Cloud Temple’s Purple Firmament Peak to refine a seventh-level Demon Core in secluded cultivation. As the storm over the peak intensified, Old Daoist Yun Du wondered whether he would live to see Shi Jian reach Nascent Soul.

• The Bai and Li Households expanded their influence across the south, while Sun Chengzu fortified Abundant Water City and quietly gathered strength in the north.
• Shi Jian instructed Golden Crocodile and Wanxiang to develop their clans, absorb or eliminate other Demon Race groups, and guard Abundant Water Lake during his absence.
• Shi Jian told Shi Yin to return to the Supreme Purity Sect, remain the Zhou Household’s sect-guarding spirit beast, and avoid factional struggles.
• Shi Jian returned to Purple Firmament Peak and began refining the seventh-level Demon Core with Purple Firmament Divine Lightning.
• Old Daoist Yun Du watched the intensifying thunderstorm and hoped he would live to see a Nascent Soul emerge.

White Cloud Temple expanded its forces and commercial operations while strengthening defenses under Yun Du's leadership. Chang He failed to form a Golden Core and died, leaving the sect shaken by the brutal cost of attempting the breakthrough without Heaven and Earth Qi.

• Yun Du shifted White Cloud Temple toward defense and recruited far more disciples, growing the sect to nearly ten thousand members.
• Sun Qiming inspected the Cloud Piercer and ordered stronger escorts for trading vessels and caution for their guards.
• Chang He attempted Core Formation at Cold Pool Cave without Heaven and Earth Qi as Yun Du and Sun Chengzu watched.
• Chang He died when his body burst apart, and Yun Du ordered a lavish burial and support for his descendants for three generations.
• Sun Chengzu left to oversee the northern branch, while White Cloud Temple's cultivators were left fearful of attempting Core Formation.

After True Person Qingshan’s death, the Azure Light Gate faced losing its protectorate status and sought the White Cloud Temple’s protection, agreeing to surrender its alchemy inheritance. Meanwhile, the bear lines prospered unevenly, and Shi Mo accepted that his Dark Gold Line might decline unless he risked everything to pursue Core Formation.

• True Person Qingshan died, and the Supreme Purity Sect gave the Azure Light Gate thirty years to produce a Golden Core cultivator or lose its Eastern Protectorate position.
• The Azure Light Gate’s sect master appealed to Yun Du, who agreed to protect the sect in exchange for its Dao of Alchemy inheritance.
• Yun Du mourned Qingshan and reflected on the loneliness of outliving old acquaintances.
• The Sun and Zhao clans continued growing peacefully, while the Lightning Bear, Boulder, and Frost and Snow lines gained resources and Foundation Establishment bear demons.
• Shi Mo rebuked a young bear demon for complaining about unequal resources, then resolved to attempt Core Formation despite expecting failure could be his fate.

Lord Rat died peacefully after entrusting the Wind Rat Line to his son Shu Changfeng, who succeeded him as clan leader. Shu Changfeng vowed to pursue the Golden Core path and lead the Wind Rat Line under Shi Jian, while the world awaited the awakening of the sleeping giant bear.

• Lord Rat told Shu Changfeng that he was nearing death and urged him to rely on Shi Jian and maintain ties with White Cloud Temple.
• Lord Rat died, remembering how he had first met Shi Jian and declared him a king.
• Shu Changfeng buried Lord Rat in the Blessed Land and kowtowed three times before Shi Jian's place of seclusion at Purple Firmament Peak.
• Shu Changfeng took over as clan leader without conflict and vowed to help the Wind Rat Line produce a Golden Core great demon.

Rat Second asked Shi Pan to refine his body and merge his bloodline into a mountain so the Rat Race’s treasure-seeking lineage could grow stronger. After Shi Pan granted his wish, Shu Changfeng established Ten Thousand Treasures Mountain as the lineage’s new home.

• Months after Lord Rat’s death, Rat Second refused Shu Changfeng’s spirit ginseng and asked to be carried to Boulder Peak.
• Rat Second begged Shi Pan to refine his bones and blood into a nearby mountain’s Spirit Vein, but Shi Pan initially refused.
• Rat Second argued that his death should benefit the clan, then kowtowed and asked Shi Pan to grant his wish.
• Shi Pan struck open the mountain and refined Rat Second in an earthen cauldron, scattering his bloodline essence over the mountain.
• Shu Changfeng named the mountain Ten Thousand Treasures Mountain and moved the treasure-seeking rat demons there, establishing their lineage’s foothold.

In Yin Wind Valley, Shu Laosan sacrificed himself so his grandson Shu Jiuyin could consume his origin Yin Qi and break through to Foundation Establishment. Shu Jiuyin survived the breakthrough and claimed leadership of the Yin Spirit Rat Line.

• Shu Laosan learned that his elder brothers had died and accepted that he could not reach Core Formation without pure Yin-attribute Qi.
• Shu Laosan ordered Shu Jiuyin to eat him so he could inherit Laosan’s cultivation and become the next leader of the Yin Spirit Rat Line.
• Shu Jiuyin reluctantly agreed, and Shu Laosan reversed his true essence and killed himself before his bone throne.
• Shu Jiuyin devoured Shu Laosan’s body and endured the violent Yin Qi as it forced open his meridians.
• Shu Jiuyin broke through to Foundation Establishment, took the throne, and declared himself master of the Yin Spirit Rat Line.

The Sacred Blood Sect expanded its control across Liang Kingdom by destroying the Chen Household and overwhelming local powers. At the Lin Household, Cang Ya attempted to break through to the Golden Core realm but failed and died, leaving the rear mountain transformed into a vast forest.

• Kuang Xiong shattered the Chen Household's protective formation, killed Chen Yuan, and led the Sacred Blood Sect's forces in slaughtering the clan.
• The Sacred Blood Sect grew into a major power with forty-two Foundation Establishment cultivators, while its outer branch ravaged the region and its inner branch fought off campaigns by the Four Righteous Dao Sects.
• Cang Ya, secretly posing as the Lin Household's ancestor, prepared to attempt a breakthrough despite his age and the absence of Heaven and Earth Qi.
• Cang Ya compressed his true essence, but the uncontrolled wood-attribute energy caused his body to turn into wood and his meridians to break.
• Cang Ya underwent Dao Dissolution and died, unleashing spiritual light that transformed the Lin Household's rear mountain into a vast forest.

After Patriarch Cang Ya's death, Bi Luo ordered the Sacred Blood Sect to destroy the Lin Household and erase evidence of the Dao Dissolution. He vowed to lead the Green Ape Clan to glory, then sent a report north asking the patriarch for instructions.

• Bi Luo crushed the news of Cang Ya's death and ordered the Lin Household exterminated to conceal the sect's tracks.
• Bi Luo sent Kuang Xiong to kill the Lin Household and burn the new forest where traces of Spiritual Qi remained.
• Bi Luo mourned Cang Ya's relics, vowed to shoulder the Green Ape Clan's future, and resolved to seek Heaven and Earth Qi so he could attempt Golden Core.
• Kuang Xiong killed all more than three hundred members of the Lin Household and burned the forest until only ash remained.
• Bi Luo received confirmation that the operation was complete and sent an eagle demon north with a secret letter reporting Cang Ya's death and asking the patriarch what to do next.

After the Azure Edge True Lord died, the Vast Righteousness School and Heavenly Sword School moved to seize the weakened Azure Edge Sect. The great white crane demon escaped, looted the sect’s treasure pavilion, and left as the sect descended into chaos and its rivals began carving it up.

• The Azure Edge True Lord died, leaving True Lord Tongming as the Azure Edge Sect’s only Nascent Soul True Lord.
• The Vast Righteousness School and Heavenly Sword School brought their forces to the sect, and True Lord Tongming activated the protective formation and prepared to fight.
• The great white crane demon’s enslavement restriction vanished, and he waited until True Lord Tongming was fighting the invading Nascent Soul True Lords.
• The white crane killed the two elders guarding the treasure pavilion, looted its treasures and the spirit medicine garden, then escaped through the weakened formation.
• True Lord Tongming discovered the theft but could not pursue the crane, while the Nether Passage School joined the other sects in a full-scale attack on the Azure Edge Sect.

With the Mysterious Water Sect and Gang Yuan Sect weakened by the war elsewhere, Bi Luo launched a surprise assault to seize their Heaven and Earth Qi and expand the Sacred Blood Sect’s power in Taizhen Commandery. He destroyed the Mysterious Water Sect’s defenses and killed its grand elder, then found Mysterious Water Level Clear Qi in its forbidden grounds.

• Bi Luo learned that the Mysterious Water Sect and Gang Yuan Sect had sent most of their elites north, and he sent a letter to Ancestor Cang Ya announcing his plan to attack them.
• Bi Luo ordered Kuang Xiong to raid the Gang Yuan Sect while he led the remaining forces against the Mysterious Water Sect.
• Bi Luo and the Sacred Blood Sect attacked Canglan Mountain, shattered the Mysterious Water Heavenly Formation, and began slaughtering the sect’s defenders.
• Bi Luo killed the Mysterious Water Sect’s grand elder and sent his followers to loot the sect while he entered its forbidden grounds.
• Bi Luo discovered Mysterious Water Level Clear Qi in the Cold Water Pool and considered offering it to Ancestor Cang Ya in exchange for a Dao of Wood Qi Dynamic.

Bi Luo captured the Heaven and Earth Qi from the Mysterious Water and Gang Yuan Sects, then led the Sacred Blood Sect in devastating Taizhen Commandery. As the Nether Passage School organized a campaign against them, Bi Luo and the sect’s core members escaped Liang Kingdom with their spoils, leaving the outer members behind.

• Bi Luo sealed the Mysterious Water Level Clear Qi, and Kuang Xiong reported that the Gang Yuan Sect had been wiped out and brought him the Nine Heavens Gang Wind Qi.
• Bi Luo ordered the Sacred Blood Sect to loot and destroy Taizhen Commandery, where its members spent three months slaughtering cultivators and civilians and stripping the region of its wealth.
• The Azure Edge Sect fell after True Lord Tongming escaped badly injured, and Hao Ran, the Heavenly Sword, and the Nether Passage School divided its foundation.
• After hearing of Taizhen Commandery’s devastation, the Nether Passage School’s sect master ordered Elder You Gui to hunt down the Sacred Blood Sect and seize its half-demon inheritance.
• Elder You Gui reached the Sacred Blood Sect’s abandoned main altar at Heng Ridge, where he found its members and resources gone and destroyed the mountain in anger.
• Bi Luo had already fled Liang Kingdom with the sect’s core forces and plunder, abandoning outer members to distract the returning righteous cultivators.

Bi Luo presented Heaven and Earth Qi seized by the Green Ape Clan, and Shi Pan assigned it to Shu Changfeng while arranging a trade for wood Qi to help Bi Luo advance. The chapter ended with Shi Pan and Yun Du watching the thunderclouds over Purple Firmament Peak as Shi Jian's seclusion reached a critical moment.

• Bi Luo offered Shi Pan Mysterious Water Level Clear Qi and Nine Heavens Gang Wind Qi, and Shi Pan accepted them on behalf of the ancestor in seclusion.
• Shi Pan told Bi Luo to protect the Sacred Blood Sect's foundation and promised the sect would find a way to obtain wood Qi for Bi Luo.
• Shi Pan gave Shu Changfeng the Nine Heavens Gang Wind Qi and charged him to reach Core Formation in honor of Lord Rat and Rat Second.
• Shi Pan asked Yun Du to trade the Mysterious Water Level Clear Qi for wood Qi, and Yun Du agreed to contact the Hundred Herbs Pavilion and Wood God Sect.
• Shi Pan and Yun Du saw the immense thunderclouds over Purple Firmament Peak and sensed that Shi Jian's breakthrough was nearing a critical moment.

After escaping the Azure Edge Sect, the white crane traced the Sacred Blood Sect’s demonic influence to Abundant Prefecture and learned how Shi Jian had built a refuge for demons under the Supreme Purity Sect’s protection. He entered White Cloud Temple to seek Shi Jian’s help with his own Nascent Soul breakthrough and waited as Shi Jian neared level seven.

• The white crane investigated the ruins in Taizhen Commandery, identified the Sacred Blood Sect’s Yao Qi as demon blood used to turn humans into controlled Demon Humans, and followed its traces west.
• In Abundant Water Marsh, the white crane discovered a level-five Golden Crocodile and a level-six Azure Wave Old Turtle, then learned that Shi Jian had carved out territory for demons while serving the Supreme Purity Sect.
• The white crane decided to seek Shi Jian’s help protecting him during his Nascent Soul breakthrough and traveled to White Cloud Temple.
• After entering the temple as an ordinary crane demon, the white crane observed Shi Pan, promising demon bloodlines, and the tribes of Beast Pasturing Mountain.
• Watching Purple Firmament Peak, the white crane sensed Shi Jian approaching a breakthrough to level seven and chose to wait for him to emerge from seclusion.

Shi Jian broke through to the Golden Core Late Stage amid a devastating lightning tribulation and learned what had changed during his years of cultivation. The chapter left Yun Du trapped between protecting his clan and opposing Shi Jian, so he continued pretending not to see the growing shift in power.

• Shi Jian refined the level-seven venomous flood dragon's Demon Core and survived the lightning tribulation, reaching the Golden Core Late Stage with Nascent Soul-level Divine Sense.
• Shi Pan, Yun Du, the sect's disciples, and the Demon Beasts congratulated Shi Jian on his breakthrough.
• Yun Du told Shi Jian that the Azure Light Gate had submitted to White Cloud Temple, he had traded Mysterious Water Level Clear Qi for Azure Wood Longevity Spiritual Qi, and the Azure Edge Sect had fallen amid infighting.
• Shi Jian ordered Yun Du to keep managing the sect and strengthen defenses in northern Abundant Prefecture and Ming Province while avoiding the Liang Kingdom's turmoil.
• Yun Du considered either reporting Shi Jian to the Supreme Purity Sect or remaining his ally, but feared retaliation against the Yun Clan and continued feigning blindness and deafness.

Shi Jian learned of losses and succession among the Demon Race’s branches, then confronted White Crane, the escaped guardian beast of the Azure Edge Sect, who sought shelter for his Nascent Soul tribulation. Shi Jian agreed to ally with him after requiring a Dao Heart Oath.

• Shi Pan reported that Cang Ya and Lord Rat had died, Bi Luo was preparing for Core Formation, and Shu Changfeng and Shu Jiuyin had taken over leadership roles.
• Shi Jian ordered Shi Pan to reward and support Cang Ya and Lord Rat’s descendants, then entrusted him with the Demon Race’s daily affairs while he focused on stabilizing his realm and pursuing the Nascent Soul Great Dao.
• Shi Jian exposed White Crane, who had concealed himself on Purple Firmament Peak, and identified him as the Azure Edge Sect’s guardian spirit beast who had looted its treasure pavilion and defected.
• White Crane asked Shi Jian to shelter him while he underwent his Nascent Soul tribulation, offering his resources and an alliance in return for Shi Jian’s protection and future help.
• Shi Jian agreed to the alliance on the condition that they swear a Dao Heart Oath, and White Crane accepted.

Shi Jian learned from Bai how Nascent Soul cultivators forge immortal foundations and use the Pill-Taking Method to consume cultivators who follow the same Dao. After Bai left to prepare for his own breakthrough, Shi Jian discovered that Purple Firmament had known nothing about these trials and would not be able to guide him further.

• Shi Jian and Bai swore Dao heart blood oaths and became allies.
• Bai explained the three Nascent Soul trials: facing the Great Dao’s origin, shattering the Golden Core, and fusing the Nascent Soul with that origin to forge an immortal foundation.
• Bai revealed that Nascent Soul cultivators advanced by refining Golden Core cultivators of the same Dao into Dao Pills, and said Tongming had kept him as a potential ingredient.
• Bai left Purple Firmament Peak to prepare for forming his Nascent Soul, while Shi Jian offered him a place to stay and directed him to Shi Pan for help.
• Shi Jian confronted Purple Firmament about withholding what Bai had explained, and Purple Firmament admitted he had not known about the trials or the Pill-Taking Method.
• Shi Jian severed his Divine Sense connection with Purple Firmament and reflected on the difficulty of cultivating the Great Dao.

Twenty years of shifting power saw White Cloud Temple prosper while the Profound Purity Sect declined and the Supreme Purity Sect rose. The chapter leaves the Demon Race lines flourishing, but three Great Demons dead after failed Core Formation attempts, their deaths creating a new embryonic blessed land.

• The Supreme Purity Sect gained True Lord Purple Smoke and reached thirteen Nascent Soul True Lords, while the Profound Purity Sect dwindled to six.
• White Cloud Temple expanded its trade and raised the Cloud Sword Mountain Range’s northern and southern main veins to top-grade third-tier Spirit Veins.
• Shu Changfeng nurtured Wind Gap Valley into a low-grade blessed land, while Shi Pan and Kuang Dou developed Boulder Peak and Frenzied Battle Peak into embryonic or completed blessed lands.
• Moon-Gazing Rhinoceros, Jade Water Buffalo, and Yin Python each attempted Core Formation and died during the trial of taking in Heaven and Earth Qi.
• The three Great Demons’ deaths gave rise to Mushroom Wood Forest, an embryonic Dao of Wood blessed land.