Chapter Summaries

Shi Jian gave Lu Xun Violet Firmament Golden Lightning Qi to help him break through to Golden Core, while secretly planting a parasitic Dao-seed that would bind Lu Xun’s foundation to his own. Lu Xun entered seclusion on Purple Firmament Peak, and Yun Du and Sun Chengzu discussed how his potential breakthrough could strengthen White Cloud Temple.

• Purple Firmament told Shi Jian that the lightning Qi had matured and that he had engraved his origin lightning pattern into it.
• Shi Jian summoned Lu Xun, whose cultivation had been stuck at Foundation Establishment Perfection for fifteen years.
• Shi Jian bestowed the Violet Firmament Golden Lightning Qi on Lu Xun and ordered him to enter seclusion until he reached Golden Core.
• Lu Xun accepted the Qi with profound gratitude, then sealed himself in a cave abode at the foot of Purple Firmament Peak.
• Shi Jian watched Lu Xun’s cave, intending to use him as nourishment when he formed his Nascent Soul.
• Yun Du and Sun Chengzu discussed the gift and the strength Lu Xun could bring to White Cloud Temple if he formed his core.

Lu Xun survived a dangerous Dao of Lightning Core Formation, then left the White Cloud Temple to seize control of the Azure Light Gate for the sect. Shi Jian used the takeover to expand the temple’s influence and prepare for the coming Nascent Soul storm.

• Lu Xun used a hidden violet-gold lightning mark to subdue the Violet Firmament Golden Lightning Qi and form a Golden Core.
• Lu Xun thanked Shi Jian, then agreed to leave the White Cloud Temple and take over the Azure Light Gate.
• Lu Xun arrived at the Azure Light Gate, killed an elder who resisted, and forced the remaining leaders to accept him as patriarch.
• The White Cloud Temple gained control of the Eastern Protectorate, expanding its territory and access to resources.
• Shi Jian learned that the Azure Light Gate was settled and sensed the lightning mark in Lu Xun's Golden Core growing stronger.
• Shi Jian anticipated White Crane's impending Nascent Soul tribulation and returned to the lightning pool to strengthen his forces.

Shi Jian used stored Enlightenment chances to create a generation of gifted Demon Beasts, strengthening the tribes’ prospects for the future. Bi Luo returned to Purple Firmament Peak and set out to attempt Core Formation in the Mushroom Wood Forest, leaving his success uncertain.

• Shu Changfeng named the gifted golden-furred rat Shu Baoshan and recognized his promise as the future young master of the Treasure-Seeking Line.
• Shi Mo found unusually intelligent cubs among the five bear lines, while other Demon Race tribes also reported the birth of gifted youngsters.
• Shi Jian revealed that he had used fifty or sixty Enlightenment chances to awaken the young Demon Beasts and build the Demon Race’s future strength.
• Shi Pan told Shi Jian that Bi Luo had returned, and Bi Luo asked permission to pursue Core Formation using the Mushroom Wood Forest.
• Shi Jian approved Bi Luo’s attempt and said he had a fifty-fifty chance, though his deep fixation on Golden Core could either drive or hinder him.

Bi Luo successfully formed a Golden Core of the Dao of Wood, strengthening the Green Ape lineage. After stabilizing his cultivation, he received Shi Jian’s permission to return to the Liang Kingdom and rebuild the Sacred Blood Sect amid the turmoil.

• Bi Luo entered Mushroom Wood Forest and passed the Spiritual Power Trial, forming a Core Embryo.
• Bi Luo swallowed and refined the Azure Wood Longevity Qi, resisting its power as it began transforming his body into wood.
• Bi Luo shattered and recast his Demon Core with the Heaven and Earth Qi, forming a Golden Core of the Dao of Wood.
• Shi Jian learned of Bi Luo’s breakthrough and told Shi Pan to have him stabilize his cultivation before returning to Purple Firmament Peak.
• Bi Luo told Shi Jian he planned to return to the Liang Kingdom and rebuild the Sacred Blood Sect, and Shi Jian approved while warning him to protect himself and keep their secrets hidden.

Bi Luo sparked a rebellion in Liang Kingdom by giving oppressed cultivators Foundation Establishment methods and Holy Blood, founding the Sacred Blood Sect. Three months later, its growing forces and the surviving Azure Edge Sect remnants were attacking the three major sects across the kingdom.

• At Black Stone Mine, Bi Luo killed the Vast Righteousness School overseers, healed an injured Rogue Cultivator, and distributed Jade Slips containing Foundation Establishment Cultivation Methods.
• Bi Luo urged the miners to resist and offered his Golden Core demon blood, recruiting them into the Sacred Blood Sect as it transformed them into powerful half-human, half-demon fighters.
• Over three months, Bi Luo spread methods and Holy Blood through Liang Kingdom, drawing in Rogue Cultivators, ruined Lineage scions, and bullied outer disciples.
• The Sacred Blood Sect launched attacks on the three major sects’ mines, herb gardens, and market towns, while Azure Edge Sect remnants assassinated elders and attacked strongholds.
• Fighting spread across Liang Kingdom as Aristocratic Clans were wiped out and the three major sects’ strongholds fell.

Bi Luo’s Sacred Blood Sect fueled a revolt across the Liang Kingdom, and the three great schools responded with indiscriminate massacres. As Rogue Cultivators joined the rebellion and Bi Luo widened his plans, the kingdom descended further into chaos.

• True Lord Hao Ran, True Lord Heavenly Sword, and True Lord Nether Passage declared the Rogue Cultivators enemies and ordered their extermination and the seizure of disobedient clans’ lands.
• The three great schools’ forces massacred Rogue Cultivators at Azure Ox Town and across the Liang Kingdom, including people who had not joined the rebellion.
• The massacres drove ordinary Rogue Cultivators to join the Sacred Blood Sect, drink Holy Blood, become Demon Humans, and fight back.
• Bi Luo told Kuang Xiong to keep distributing Holy Blood and recruit minor Foundation Establishment clans against the three great schools.
• Bi Luo sent word to the remnants of the Azure Edge Sect that the schools’ forces were away and their sects were vulnerable.

The Sacred Blood Sect's influence drove the Liang Kingdom's Foundation Establishment clans into revolt, while rival powers moved to exploit the chaos. Shi Jian ordered the White Cloud Temple to withdraw from the kingdom as White Crane prepared for Nascent Soul Formation, and observers warned that the conflict had become a contest among great powers.

• Patriarch Chen, Patriarch Li, and Patriarch Wang drank Sacred Blood Sect potions, transformed into Demon Humans, and led their clans against the Vast Righteousness School's enforcement team.
• Shi Pan reported that the Liang Kingdom's upheaval had spread beyond Bi Luo's control and that Azure Edge Sect remnants had sabotaged Nether Passage School mines and killed an elder.
• Shi Jian warned Bi Luo not to provoke the three great schools into direct intervention and ordered White Cloud Temple merchant ships to pull back from the Liang Kingdom.
• Shi Jian observed that White Crane was nearing Nascent Soul Formation and noted that the kingdom's chaos made the breakthrough safer.
• Two Golden Core True Persons from the Clear Blue Kingdom received orders to supply the Sacred Blood Sect and rebel Rogue Cultivators as the Wei Kingdom's Grand Purity Sect also entered the conflict.

Ao Qin used the death of the Poison Flood Dragon as a pretext to rally the sea Yao against the Human Race. The Yao kings agreed to launch a coordinated beast tide against the Wei, Liang, and Clear Blue kingdoms, and sea beasts began gathering in the Boundless Sea.

• A cyan flood dragon found the Poison Flood Dragon's golden scale and brought it to Ao Qin in the dragon palace.
• Ao Qin confirmed the Poison Flood Dragon was dead and summoned the Flood Dragon, Sea Ape Beast, and Eight-Tentacled clans to a council.
• Ao Qin proposed a beast tide against Xuanling, assigning the Flood Dragon Clan to attack the Clear Blue Kingdom, the Eight-Tentacled Clan to raid the Liang Kingdom, and the Sea Ape Beast Clan to invade the Wei Kingdom.
• The gathered Yao kings agreed to plunder the Human Race's resources and began preparing for the attack.
• Countless low-level sea beasts gathered in the Boundless Sea, forming a vast black torrent.

A coordinated sea beast invasion struck the Profound Spirit Continent, and Supreme Purity Sect chose to sacrifice much of Abundant Prefecture while preparing to exploit Liang Kingdom’s troubles. Shi Jian and Old Daoist Yun Du learned that the invading army was approaching the lands controlled by White Cloud Temple.

• Sea beasts attacked merchant ships and offshore settlements in the South Sea, while their forces advanced against Wei and Liang Kingdoms.
• True Lord Purple Yang and the other Supreme Purity Sect Nascent Soul cultivators decided to abandon most of Abundant Prefecture, defend only key cities and Spirit Veins, and prepare an invasion of Liang Kingdom.
• True Lord Purple Yang sent True Lord Yuanshang to recruit True Lord Tongming and ordered the sect to muster troops on Liang Kingdom’s eastern frontier.
• As Supreme Purity Sect’s defenses withdrew, mortals fled north and the sea beast army swept inland through Abundant Prefecture.
• Old Daoist Yun Du told Shi Jian that the sea demon army was nearing White Cloud Temple’s properties, and Shi Pan condemned the sect’s abandonment of the mortals.

As sea demons ravaged Abundant Prefecture, Shi Jian prepared the Demon Race to exploit the chaos and advance its position. He sent Yun Du and most of White Cloud Temple’s human cultivators to the eastern front, leaving the Cloud Sword Mountain Range under his control.

• Shi Jian ordered White Cloud Temple to abandon its holdings in northern Abundant Prefecture, strengthen its defenses, and prepare for war as Yun Du reluctantly accepted the retreat.
• Shi Jian mobilized the demon hordes, scouts, hidden operatives, and Beast Pasturing Mountain’s tribes to prepare for a counterattack and seize the Ming Province Northern Protectorate.
• Sea beasts flooded Abundant Prefecture, destroying towns and killing mortals and cultivators as the human-demon conflict spread.
• Yun Du received the Supreme Purity Sect’s order to send seventy percent of the Clear Blue Kingdom protectorates’ elite disciples to the eastern front, and Lu Xun recognized it as an attempt to seize the Liang Kingdom.
• Shi Jian ordered Yun Du to lead White Cloud Temple’s human elites east, and the ten spirit-powered flying boats departed three days later.
• After the human cultivators left, Shi Jian ordered Shi Pan to seal the Cloud Sword Mountain Range, now a Demon Race stronghold.

Sea beast armies devastated the Wei and Liang Kingdoms while their sects struggled to defend themselves amid internal unrest and political rivalries. In the South Sea, Ao Qin and Supreme Purity remained locked in a standoff as the war’s outcome hinged on events in the Liang Kingdom.

• The Sea Ape Beast clan invaded the Wei Kingdom’s northern frontier, and the Profound Purity Sect’s grand elder forced its leader to halt before entering the heartland, leaving coastal towns to be plundered.
• The eight-tentacled sea beast clan attacked the Liang Kingdom while the Sacred Blood Sect’s rebellion spread, and the three major schools sent their Golden Core cultivators to the eastern front.
• True Lords Hao Ran, Heavenly Sword, and Nether Passage agreed to confront the East Sea Demon King while their remaining Nascent Soul cultivators suppressed unrest and watched the rival sects to the west.
• Ao Qin demanded that Supreme Purity surrender the killer of the venomous flood dragon and withdraw from Abundant Prefecture, while True Lord Purple Smoke refused and both sides held their positions.
• Sea beasts slaughtered people outside Abundant Prefecture City as Supreme Purity’s disciples watched from behind the formation, while the leaders waited for news from the Liang Kingdom.

The three Nascent Soul cultivators of Liang Kingdom’s sects fought three Eight-Tentacled Demon Kings as the East Sea invasion devastated the shoreline. True Lord Yuanshang watched from a hidden flying boat while True Lord Zhaohuo arrived from the west, bringing another major force into the conflict.

• True Lord Hao Ran used [Vast and Broad Earth] to raise enormous peaks from the sea, crushing sea beasts and cultivators before the Eight-Tentacled Demon King melted the peaks with [Monster in the Water].
• True Lord Heavenly Sword summoned ten thousand swords with [Sword Under Heaven] and severed three of the bald Demon King's tentacles, but a second Demon King’s [Vast Sun Sea] melted his Sword Qi and wounded him.
• True Lord Nether Passage attacked a third Demon King with [Nether Passage Road], but the Demon King used [Fish in the Abyss] to pass through the Yellow Springs road and break Nether Passage’s protective light.
• Hao Ran, Heavenly Sword, and Nether Passage formed a triangular array to seal the battlefield, while the invading demons taunted them about the Devil Cultivators rising within Liang Kingdom.
• True Lord Yuanshang and the wounded True Lord Tongming watched from a hidden Supreme Purity Sect flying boat, waiting for the Grand Purity Sect to arrive before making their move.
• Purple qi swept in from the west as True Lord Zhaohuo arrived, and Yuanshang remarked that Liang Kingdom was about to become a table of fine dishes.

True Lord Zhaohuo betrayed True Lord Heavenly Sword and joined the sea demons, but True Lord Tongming and True Lord Yuanshang then ambushed the battlefield on behalf of the Supreme Purity Sect. As the four forces descended into a chaotic slaughter, Shi Jian watched from Purple Firmament Peak and prepared for White Crane’s breakthrough.

• True Lord Zhaohuo attacked True Lord Heavenly Sword from behind, and the three octopus demon kings joined in to kill him and shatter his Immortal Foundation [Sword Under Heaven].
• True Lord Hao Ran and True Lord Nether Passage prepared to fight to the death against Zhaohuo and the demon kings.
• True Lord Tongming appeared and attacked everyone with his Immortal Foundation [Lord Amid the Clouds], while True Lord Yuanshang severed Zhaohuo’s arm and took away the eight-trigram Pill Furnace.
• Yuanshang sealed the battlefield with spatial rifts as the Grand Purity Sect, Supreme Purity Sect, Liang Kingdom sects, and Sea Race erupted into a battle.
• At Purple Firmament Peak, Shi Jian sensed the fighting and welcomed the chaos, then looked toward White Crane’s cave as its Spiritual Qi vortex grew.

The Supreme Purity and Grand Purity Sects invaded the Liang Kingdom, triggering a battle among fourteen Nascent Soul cultivators while Bi Luo abandoned the Sacred Blood Sect. With the continent’s powerful cultivators occupied and unable to interfere, Shi Jian urged White Crane to attempt his Nascent Soul breakthrough.

• True Lord Purple Yang ordered six Supreme Purity Nascent Soul cultivators and the Clear Blue Kingdom army to invade the Liang Kingdom.
• The Grand Purity sect master sent four Nascent Soul cultivators and forces into the Liang Kingdom, aiming to seize territory and help Zhaohuo retreat.
• Fourteen Nascent Soul cultivators clashed above the Liang Kingdom, and Bi Luo withdrew, leaving the Sacred Blood Sect behind.
• Shi Jian calculated that the continent’s Nascent Soul cultivators were all restrained by one another.
• Shi Jian urged White Crane to form his Nascent Soul, and White Crane emerged from his cave abode to stake everything on the attempt.

White Crane underwent the Three Trials of Nascent Soul at Purple Firmament Peak and forged the Immortal Foundation [Lord Amid the Clouds], with Shi Jian protecting him. After learning that fourteen Nascent Soul cultivators were fighting across the Liang Kingdom and East Sea, the two decided to wait until their enemies were weakened before joining the battle.

• White Crane faced the Heart Demon Trial, resisted dissolution into the Great Dao of Clouds, and seized a wisp of its origin.
• White Crane shattered his Golden Core and consumed vast resources to form a Nascent Soul.
• White Crane used the Great Dao origin to forge the Immortal Foundation [Lord Amid the Clouds] and emerged as a Nascent Soul Realm Shapeshifting Demon King.
• White Crane thanked Shi Jian for protecting his breakthrough and pledged that their clans would support one another.
• White Crane told Shi Jian that Nascent Soul cultivators were fighting across the Liang Kingdom and East Sea, and proposed attacking them.
• Shi Jian persuaded White Crane to wait until the fighters had exhausted themselves before entering the battle and reaping the spoils.

White Crane formed a Nascent Soul on Purple Firmament Peak, prompting True Lord Purple Yang and True Lord Heavenly Void to rush to kill him. Shi Jian’s plans and Ao Qin’s intervention kept the Supreme Purity Sect cultivators at bay, leaving White Crane safe as he began stabilizing his cultivation.

• White Crane formed a Nascent Soul on Purple Firmament Peak, and Shi Jian urged him to restrain the presence announcing it.
• True Lord Purple Yang discovered that a Demon Race member was forming a Nascent Soul and joined True Lord Heavenly Void in heading to the Cloud Sword Mountain Range to stop him.
• Ao Qin sensed the formation and ordered the Flood Dragons to hold off True Lord Purple Smoke and the other cultivators while he pursued True Lord Purple Yang with two companions.
• Ao Qin intercepted True Lord Purple Yang and True Lord Heavenly Void in a spatial passage, and the Flood Dragons fought them as White Crane’s Nascent Soul presence grew steadier.
• White Crane realized Shi Jian had anticipated the sea demons’ intervention and thanked him for arranging protection; Shi Jian told him to stabilize his cultivation and prepare for the chaos ahead.

True Lord Purple Yang and True Lord Heavenly Void fought Ao Qin and two other flood dragons in the heartland of the Clear Blue Kingdom, where their Nascent Soul battle devastated the land and killed countless people. Ao Qin revealed that the Supreme Purity Sect’s main force was already fighting the Grand Purity Sect in Liang Kingdom, leaving Purple Yang to realize that his plan of annexation had gone disastrously wrong.

• True Lord Purple Yang attacked Ao Qin with his [Flame True Lord] immortal foundation, and Ao Qin countered with [Boundless Sea].
• True Lord Heavenly Void intervened against a flood dragon, but the dragons used their sea-based immortal foundations to trap Purple Yang and Heavenly Void.
• True Lord Purple Yang brought out the Heaven and Earth Purple Gold Cauldron, while Ao Qin used the Sea-Calming Immortal Pearl to suppress its flames.
• The battle’s shock waves devastated the Clear Blue Kingdom’s heartland, destroying cities, spirit veins, and the lives of mortals and cultivators.
• Ao Qin told Purple Yang that the Supreme Purity Sect’s main force was fighting the Grand Purity Sect in Liang Kingdom, and Purple Yang realized he had misjudged the sea demons and the Grand Purity Sect.

The Sea Ape clan launched an all-out invasion of the Wei Kingdom’s northern frontier while the Profound Purity Sect fought to defend its territory. As the wider continent’s Nascent Souls were drawn into battles, Shi Jian and White Crane prepared to attack the Liang Kingdom and expand their demon domain.

• Yuan Shan sensed that Nascent Soul battles had erupted across the continent and ordered the Sea Ape clan to invade the Wei Kingdom’s northern frontier.
• True Lord Kumu fought Yuan Shan while the Profound Purity Sect’s four other Nascent Soul True Lords battled the Sea Ape Demon Kings and the armies clashed below.
• Yuan Shan tore True Lord Kumu’s body apart, but Kumu’s Nascent Soul self-destructed and left Yuan Shan gravely wounded.
• The Profound Purity Sect’s remaining True Lords burned their Essence Blood and continued fighting the Sea Ape Demon Kings.
• Shi Jian and White Crane judged that the other factions had exhausted themselves and decided to attack the Liang Kingdom, beginning with Clear Azure.

As Demon forces launched coordinated offensives across Liang Kingdom and Ming Province, Shi Jian ordered the destruction of White Cloud Temple and claimed its mountain as the Demon Race’s stronghold. White Cloud Temple fell, while the Sun and Zhao clans were spared and White Crane claimed the Yun Clan as future Dao Pill materials.

• Bi Luo abandoned the Sacred Blood Sect and fled toward Ming Province, while Golden Crocodile and Wanxiang withdrew their forces inland from the Sea Race’s battlefield.
• The thirty-six tribes at Beast Pasturing Mountain surged out and cut off the Ming Province Northern Protectorate from the outside world.
• Shi Pan announced the order to spare only the Sun, Zhao, and Yun clans’ spirit mountains, and the Demon Beasts slaughtered White Cloud Temple’s remaining disciples while disabling its formations.
• Shi Mo’s bears surrounded the three protected spirit mountains, and Sun Qiming recognized that the Sun clan would serve the Demon Race; the Zhao and Yun clans also remained confined.
• White Crane asked Shi Jian for the Yun Clan so he could raise its members as Dao Pills, and Shi Jian granted his request while keeping the Sun and Zhao clans for himself.
• Shi Jian ordered the demons to leave the mountain and exterminate humanity, declaring White Cloud Temple destroyed and naming its former domain Myriad Demon Mountain.

Shi Pan led the thirty-six tribes of Beast Pasturing Mountain in an invasion of Ming Province, where the demon horde slaughtered mortals and cultivators across its protectorates. The chapter ended with White Crane and Shi Jian overseeing the attack as Azure Yang City fell.

• Shi Pan announced the ancestor's order to plunder Ming Province and sent the five original lines and all thirty-six tribes into battle.
• A beast tide destroyed a city in the Western Protectorate, killing its inhabitants and devouring a Foundation Establishment clan ancestor.
• Demon Beasts flooded the protectorates in every direction, destroying villages, towns, farmland, and dikes.
• Shi Pan broke Azure Yang City's defensive array, and the demon horde began killing and looting inside the city.
• The old Golden Core city lord charged Shi Pan, but White Crane killed him with a giant hand of cloud while Shi Jian and White Crane watched over the invasion.