Chapter Summaries

Shi Jian emerged from more than ten years of seclusion at Golden Core Perfection, and White Crane brought him a pill to help with Nascent Soul Formation. With the Kunyuan Secret Realm soon to draw the Human Race’s attention, Shi Jian prepared to begin his breakthrough under favorable conditions.

• Shi Jian broke through to Golden Core Perfection, and his powerful presence caused the Demon Generals across the Myriad Demon Domain to bow.
• Shi Jian considered the dangers of Nascent Soul Formation, especially the Great Dao’s erosion of the soul.
• White Crane visited Shi Jian and gave him a Spirit-Calming Dao-Melding Pill to improve his chance of forming a Nascent Soul.
• White Crane explained that the Kunyuan Secret Realm would soon open and draw the Human Race’s Nascent Soul cultivators away from the Myriad Demon Domain.
• Shi Jian recognized that the timing, his sanctuary, and White Crane’s support were all in place, and resolved to begin his breakthrough.

The Kunyuan Secret Realm opened as the weakened sects of the four kingdoms gathered to compete for its resources. As their disciples entered, a cataclysmic breakthrough began in the Myriad Demon Domain, drawing every Nascent Soul True Lord’s attention.

• True Lord Purple Yang arrived with Supreme Purity Sect disciples and exchanged threats with True Lord Qingxuan and the Grand Purity Sect.
• True Lord Wenxuan, True Lord Qingxiao, and the Righteous Qi Gate True Lords intervened to stop the gathered Nascent Soul True Lords from fighting.
• True Lord Purple Yang learned from True Lord Tongming that the Demon Race’s domains showed no unusual activity.
• True Lord Qingxuan and True Lord Purple Yang ordered their disciples into the Kunyuan Secret Realm as its gateway opened.
• A Dao resonance silenced the region, and the True Lords turned toward the Myriad Demon Domain.
• A vast will rose into a sea of purple-gold lightning as a giant bear phantom appeared and a voice declared it would forge an Immortal Foundation.

Shi Jian overcame the Heart Demon Trial, formed his Nascent Soul, and forged the Purple Pivot Lightning Immortal Foundation. After the Demon Race celebrated his breakthrough, he and White Crane set out toward the Kunyuan Secret Realm to confront the Human Race’s Nascent Soul cultivators.

• Shi Jian swallowed White Crane’s Spirit-Calming Dao-Melding Pill and resisted the Great Dao of Lightning’s attempt to assimilate him, restoring his body from lightning.
• Shi Jian shattered his Demon Core and condensed its power into a miniature Lightning Bear Nascent Soul.
• Shi Jian absorbed the lightning origin and endured a lightning cocoon that transformed his body and forged his Purple Pivot Lightning Immortal Foundation.
• Shi Jian emerged as a Shapeshifting Demon King, and the Demon Race members and Golden Core Demon Generals welcomed him out of seclusion.
• White Crane congratulated Shi Jian, who declared his intention to test his new power against the Human Race’s Nascent Soul cultivators gathered at the Kunyuan Secret Realm.
• Shi Jian and White Crane stepped into the void and headed for the Kunyuan Secret Realm.

Shi Jian arrived at Kunyuan Mountain with allied Demon Kings and confronted True Lord Jianling over the deaths of Lei Huan and Lei Nu. After severely injuring Jianling with one strike, Shi Jian declared that he would kill him.

• Shi Jian and Demon Lord White Crane arrived at Kunyuan Mountain as Shi Jian revealed his Nascent Soul power.
• Four Demon Kings from the Heavenly Ape Domain and Flood Dragon Domain joined them, surrounding the Human Race's True Lords.
• Shi Jian accused True Lord Jianling of killing Lei Huan and Lei Nu a hundred years earlier and said he had come to settle the debt.
• Shi Jian struck True Lord Jianling with Purple Pivot Lightning, shattering his bonded flying sword and grievously injuring him.
• White Crane and the other Demon Kings held the Human Race's True Lords back while True Lord Jianling struggled to recover among the ruins.
• Shi Jian rejected Jianling's challenge and said he intended to kill him.

Shi Jian defeated True Lord Jianling and forced True Lord Zhengyi to retreat, then vowed to blockade the Kunyuan Secret Realm and kill Righteous Qi Gate disciples who emerged. The Human Race factions accepted his threat, leaving Shi Jian and White Crane to guard the entrance as the secret realm’s opening approached.

• True Lord Jianling used the Blood Sword Instruction, but Shi Jian shattered his sword, destroyed his body with Purple Pivot Lightning, and failed to stop his Nascent Soul from escaping.
• Shi Jian challenged True Lord Zhengyi, then let him flee after Zhengyi abandoned the fight and retreated southeast.
• Shi Jian dispersed the thunderclouds and declared that he would kill and eat every Righteous Qi Gate disciple who left the Kunyuan Secret Realm in three months.
• True Lord Qingxuan objected, but True Lord Purple Yang and True Lord Wenxuan refused to intervene, and Qingxuan returned to the Grand Purity Sect’s flying boat.
• Shi Jian sat at the secret realm entrance to stabilize his Purple Pivot Immortal Foundation while White Crane stood beside him.

After the secret realm opened, Shi Jian trapped the returning Righteous Qi Gate disciples and hosted a feast for the Demon Kings, while the Human Race True Lords watched without intervening. The Human factions retreated in disgrace, and Shi Jian returned to the Myriad Demon Domain as the Demon Race rose to power.

• Shi Jian waited outside the secret realm for three months until it opened, and the Human Race factions collected their surviving disciples.
• More than a hundred Righteous Qi Gate disciples emerged with a jade box containing the Dao of Lightning Qi signature, but found the area sealed by Shi Jian's lightning net.
• Shi Jian crippled the young leader and captured the Righteous Qi Gate disciples, then invited Yuan Shan, Ao Hai, and Ao Lie to feast on them while the Human Race True Lords did nothing.
• After the feast, Shi Jian dismissed the Human factions, and Qingxuan, Purple Yang, and Wenxuan fled with their disciples.
• Shi Jian and White Crane returned to the Myriad Demon Domain as the Purple Pivot Demon Lord's name spread and the Righteous Qi Gate fell into decline.

Shi Jian distributed treasures taken from Righteous Qi Gate disciples across the Myriad Demon Domain, rewarding the demons who could seize them through brutal competition. He gave White Crane Clear Sky Heavenly Clarity Qi for the Feather Race, while keeping Azure Lightning Fierce Profound Qi to spur the Bear divisions and seek a successor.

• Shi Jian and White Crane returned to the Myriad Demon Domain with the disciples’ plunder, and Shi Jian found two valuable wisps of Heaven and Earth Qi among it.
• Shi Jian scattered the remaining treasures across the domain, prompting demons to fight for them and grow stronger.
• Shi Jian defended the harsh competition as a way to forge powerful fighters, and White Crane accepted his reasoning.
• Shi Jian gave White Crane Clear Sky Heavenly Clarity Qi, which White Crane passed to Yu Tian with orders to enter seclusion and form a Golden Core.
• Shi Jian decided to use Azure Lightning Fierce Profound Qi to pressure the Bear divisions and find a successor among the Lightning Bear Line.

Shi Jian ordered the bear tribes to invade the four human kingdoms, offering rewards to spur them into fighting and secretly arranging protection against powerful human cultivators. He revealed that the campaign was both a genuine attack and a test designed to bait the Supreme Purity Sect, leaving the Demon Race poised to exploit the humans’ response.

• Shi Jian summoned the five bear lines and rebuked them for growing complacent instead of risking their lives to advance.
• Shi Jian issued the Hunter Decree, ordering every second- to fourth-level bear demon to kill a human cultivator of the same realm within a year for rewards.
• Shi Jian promised the Lightning Bear who brought back the most heads the Azure Lightning Fierce Profound Qi and succession to the tribe.
• Shi Jian ordered Shi Pan and Shi Yin to escort the bear demons secretly and kill any human Golden Core or Nascent Soul cultivators who attacked them.
• Shi Jian sent the bear demons into human territory and directed Shi Pan to invite other demon tribes to join the campaign.
• Shi Jian told Shi Yin that the invasion would test whether the Supreme Purity Sect would take the bait, while the demon domains prepared to divide the human lands.

True Lord Purple Yang ordered the Supreme Purity Sect to avoid confronting Shi Jian’s bear demons as the Human and Demon races fought bloody battles among Foundation Establishment cultivators. At the Grand Purity Sect’s border, a mysterious young swordsman attacked Jin Kuang and began to overwhelm him with deadly sword strikes.

• True Lord Purple Yang ordered his sect and subordinate powers to stay behind closed doors and avoid the bear demons, while the Nascent Soul cultivators accepted the loss of lower-level fighters.
• Lei Qiong destroyed a spirit boat carrying Human cultivators and slaughtered those who fled, collecting their heads for his Azure Lightning Fierce Profound Qi.
• Human cultivators killed three Frost Snow Giant Bears at a spirit mine, though seven of their own died in the battle.
• Shi Pan devoured a Golden Core cultivator’s Primordial Spirit and Golden Core as he and Shi Yin discussed the bear cubs’ casualties and the Grand Purity Sect’s refusal to respond.
• A gray-robed young man wounded Jin Kuang with a silent sword strike, then met his charge with a precise thrust and surrounded him with sword shadows.

Jin Kuang killed Grand Purity Sect disciple Ji'an and took his treasures, while the sects and kingdoms withdrew their powerful cultivators and abandoned ordinary people to the bear demons. At Falling Goose City, a Primordial Giant Bear slaughtered the city’s inhabitants as its defenders made a desperate stand.

• Jin Kuang endured Ji'an’s sword attack, killed him, and looted his Storage Bag for pills, Spirit Stones, and a sword talisman.
• True Lord Qingxuan ordered the Grand Purity Sect to seal itself inside its mountain, abandoning its subordinate Lineages and mortals.
• The leaders of the other major sects and four kingdoms likewise withdrew, leaving bear demons free to rampage across Human territory.
• A Primordial Giant Bear broke into Falling Goose City and devoured hundreds of fleeing people before killing the City Lord.
• The cultivators and mortal defenders of Falling Goose City fought back despite overwhelming losses, and a wounded young Rogue Cultivator urged them to keep attacking.

Lei Zhen, Lei Bao, and Lei Kuang gave up the chance to seize the Heaven and Earth Qi Dynamic for themselves and chose to force their way to Golden Core without it. Three months later, they began their perilous breakthroughs, leaving their clan’s future in the balance.

• As younger Lightning Bears rushed toward the Human Race to compete for the Heaven and Earth Qi Dynamic, Lei Zhen, Lei Bao, and Lei Kuang stayed beneath Purple Firmament Peak.
• Lei Zhen, Lei Bao, and Lei Kuang told Shi Jian that the younger bears needed the Heaven and Earth Qi Dynamic, then asked to follow Shi Mo’s example and attempt Golden Core formation without it.
• Shi Jian granted their request, and the three bears went to separate subsidiary peaks to undertake their breakthroughs.
• Three months later, vast Spiritual Qi vortices and three Core Formation phenomena formed above the peaks, while Shi Jian watched in silence.
• Lei Zhen, Lei Bao, and Lei Kuang faced the surging Spiritual Qi and lightning, declaring that they willingly went to their deaths for the Lightning Bear Line.

Lei Zhen, Lei Bao, and Lei Kuang died through Dao Dissolution while enduring the Spiritual Qi Trial, transforming three peaks into foundations for the Lightning Bear Line. Their deaths drove Lei Qiong and the other bear demons to intensify their attacks on human settlements.

• Lei Zhen, Lei Bao, and Lei Kuang endured the heavenly lightning as they gathered Qi, but Lei Kuang and Lei Bao perished through Dao Dissolution, infusing their peaks with lightning.
• Lei Zhen watched his brothers die, then also perished, and his cultivation transformed the last peak into a lightning-attribute foundation.
• Shi Jian honored the three bears by naming the peaks Zhen Lightning Peak, Bao Lightning Peak, and Kuang Lightning Peak, and charged the Lightning Bear Line to guard them for generations.
• Lei Qiong sensed the elders' deaths, mourned them, and charged toward a human stronghold under the Supreme Purity Sect.
• The bear demons across the four kingdoms sensed the elders' sacrifice and began gathering to attack major human cities and sect encampments while Nascent Soul True Lords chose not to intervene.

After a year of attacks on Human Race territory, Shi Jian welcomed the surviving bear demons back and rewarded the three most successful young fighters. He sent Lei Qiong to Kuang Lightning Peak to pursue Golden Core, while the Human Race’s response remained uncertain.

• Shi Jian ended the year-long ambush, and more than seventy surviving bear demons returned with 327 Human Race Foundation Establishment heads.
• Shi Pan announced that Jin Kuang, Xiong Man, and Lei Qiong had distinguished themselves by killing the most opponents and inflicting heavy losses on Human factions.
• Shi Jian appointed Jin Kuang and Xiong Man as heads of the Dark Gold and Primordial Lines and gave each a powerful spirit object.
• Shi Jian gave Lei Qiong Azure Lightning Fierce Profound Qi and ordered him to reach Golden Core at Kuang Lightning Peak; Lei Qiong entered seclusion there.
• Shi Jian ordered the domain sealed so its demons could recuperate, while White Crane warned that Qingxuan and Purple Yang might be preparing a response.

True Lord Purple Yang died after warning True Lord Fang Yi and True Lord Yuanshang to preserve the Supreme Purity Sect and distrust the Grand Purity Sect. Fang Yi and Yuanshang sealed the death omen and decided to hide his death while they managed the sect.

• True Lord Purple Yang told Fang Yi and Yuanshang that Shi Jian and the Demon Race threatened the Human Race, and urged them to endure, protect the sect, and nurture its younger generation.
• True Lord Purple Yang died, triggering a blood-red heavenly phenomenon that could reveal the Supreme Purity Sect had lost its strongest fighter.
• True Lord Yuanshang used the Realm Void Stone to seal the phenomenon around Purple Yang Peak, worsening his own injuries.
• True Lord Yuanshang and True Lord Fang Yi agreed to conceal Purple Yang's death by claiming he had secluded himself to heal, while they handled the sect's affairs.
• True Lord Fang Yi sealed Purple Yang's remains and said they would keep the death secret from Tongming and the others.

Fifty years after the Hunter Decree, the Myriad Demon Domain had grown stronger as its resources and brutal clan rules reshaped the land. White Crane and Shi Jian oversaw the breakthroughs of two new Golden Core generals, leaving the Feather Crane and Lightning Bear lines with new leaders.

• Over fifty years, the Human Race recovered while the Myriad Demon Domain integrated stolen Spirit Veins and resources, and its tribes fought under Shi Jian’s raising-gu rules.
• Yu Tian emerged from the Yunxiao Secret Realm after refining clear Qi and reaching Early Golden Core.
• White Crane named Yu Tian Yu Hui, made him leader of the Feather Crane Line, and sent him to claim territory in the north.
• Lei Qiong emerged from Kuang Lightning Peak after refining Azure Lightning Fierce Profound Qi and reaching Golden Core.
• Shi Jian appointed Lei Qiong head of the Lightning Bear Line and stabilized his foundation with Purple Pivot Lightning.

Over fifty years, two Heaven and Earth Qi Dynamics produced new Demon Generals: the Six-Winged Golden Cicada claimed Heavenly One True Water Qi, and Old Gray swallowed Fire Cloud Earth Core Qi and became a Golden Core bear. Shi Jian named him Flame Brown Bear and established the sixth bear branch, while the Myriad Demon Domain’s power grew; Shi Jian then turned his attention toward the human nations and the missing Purple Yang.

• The Six-Winged Golden Cicada fought through rival aquatic demons, claimed Heavenly One True Water Qi, and emerged three months later as an Early Golden Core Demon General.
• Old Gray fought through the fire-element demons, swallowed Fire Cloud Earth Core Qi, and survived a year of burning flames to break through to Early Golden Core.
• Shi Jian named Old Gray Flame Brown Bear and allowed him to establish the sixth branch of the bear tribes.
• Over the next fifty years, Demon Generals including Cloud Radiance, Yu Hui, Shi Pan, Shi Yin, Lei Qiong, Flame Brown Bear, and the Six-Winged Golden Cicada strengthened the Myriad Demon Domain.
• Shi Jian wondered whether the four human nations had recovered and whether Purple Yang of the Supreme Purity Sect had truly died, and decided to investigate further.

Shi Jian warned White Crane that the Human Race would outgrow the demons if left in peace, so he visited the human clans living in the Myriad Demon Domain and gave their leaders a method that bound them to demonic control. The clans accepted the transformation, and Shi Jian prepared to use humans to strengthen the Demon Race’s hold over humans.

• Shi Jian told White Crane that human reproduction and resource use would eventually let the Human Race overwhelm the Demon Race, while another Hunter Decree would be too costly.
• Shi Jian and White Crane visited the five human clans, whose population had grown to a million and whose people worshipped the Demon Race as sacred ancestors.
• Shi Jian praised Sun Chengzu, Lu Xun, and the clan elders for expanding the population and maintaining the spirit fields.
• Shi Jian gave the clan leaders the Heavenly Demon Sainthood Transformation Instruction, which promised greater strength, longer lives, and a path to Golden Core cultivation.
• Shi Jian explained that the method placed practitioners’ lives, deaths, and souls under demon control, and the clan leaders agreed to practice it.

After Shi Jian departed, Sun Chengzu and the five great clans embraced the Heavenly Demon Sainthood Transformation Instruction, turning deathsworn into powerful half-demons and forming the Heavenly Demon Guard. Acting on orders from Purple Firmament Peak, the guards infiltrated human territory and raided a Supreme Purity Sect iron mine, where one killed the Foundation Establishment cultivator Chen Yan.

• Shi Jian left the five clan leaders with the Heavenly Demon Sainthood Transformation Instruction, and Yun Qi accepted demonization as the price of power and longevity.
• Sun Chengzu used demon Essence Blood to transform ten Qi Refining deathsworn into half-demons, who broke through to Foundation Establishment.
• The five great clans transformed more than two hundred cultivators into the Heavenly Demon Guard, including over fifty Foundation Establishment cultivators.
• The Heavenly Demon Guard received orders to raid the Clear Blue Kingdom and the Profound Truth Kingdom, then infiltrated human territory under cover of night.
• At the Cold Mountain Iron Mine, the guards killed more than a dozen disciples and revealed themselves to Chen Yan.
• A Zhao Clan guard killed Chen Yan in one exchange and ordered the remaining guards to kill everyone else and seize the cold iron.

Sun Xingtian led the Heavenly Demon Guards in an assault on Fallen Star City, killing the Lin Household patriarch and elders before looting the clan’s vault. In the vault, he discovered a cracked black bone fragment that revealed the terrifying presence of an ancient beast.

• Sun Xingtian ordered the Heavenly Demon Guards to enter Fallen Star City and kill anyone who resisted while plundering its resources.
• The guards stormed the Lin Household, and a bear-transformed guard killed a Foundation Establishment elder.
• Sun Xingtian used his Six-Winged Golden Cicada bloodline and Heavy Water Piercing to kill Lin Xiaotian, then slew the four fleeing elders.
• Sun Xingtian ordered the guards to kill the remaining cultivators and empty the treasury while he entered the Lin Household’s secret vault.
• Sun Xingtian broke through an isolation formation, opened an ancient bronze box, and found a cracked black bone fragment covered in strange symbols.
• Sun Xingtian sent his Divine Sense into the fragment and sensed an ancient giant beast’s immense Yao Qi, suspecting the fragment held an inheritance from a High Antiquity Demon Cultivator.

Sun Xingtian discovered a High Antiquity half-demon cultivation method and overcame the temptation to keep it for himself, then presented it to Shi Jian. Shi Jian rewarded him and planned to use the Heavenly Demon Guard to weaken the Human Race further.

• Sun Xingtian learned that the Greater Yin Star Refining Instruction could lead to the Nascent Soul realm and increase the chance of forming a core without Qi by ten percent.
• Sun Xingtian resisted his greed under the Heavenly Demon Sainthood Transformation Instruction’s imprint, returned the bone fragment to its box, and left the burning Lin Household estate after the Heavenly Demon Guard slaughtered everyone there.
• Sun Xingtian presented the High Antiquity method to Shi Jian at Purple Firmament Peak, and Shi Jian and White Crane recognized its value to the Heavenly Demon Guard.
• Shi Jian allowed Sun Xingtian to copy the method and rewarded him with third-tier lightning marrow to temper his wings and learn lightning escape.
• Shi Jian declared that he would use the half-demons to hollow out the Human Race’s foundations.