Chapter Summaries

Bi Luo used the Spirit Race’s grand formation to reach Perfected Spirit Transformation and nearly killed Shi Jian, but Cang Wuji intervened and struck back. Bi Luo lost the formation’s power and fled, while Cang Wuji returned to help Shi Jian suppress the corrosive wound.

• Bi Luo drained the Spirit Marsh Plains through a grand formation, raising his cultivation to Perfected Spirit Transformation and badly injuring Shi Jian with a palm strike.
• Cang Wuji rescued Shi Jian, then killed the Late Spirit Transformation Spirit Race cultivator with one blow from the Bone-Splitting Axe.
• Cang Wuji wounded Bi Luo and disrupted his control as the grand formation’s power failed, forcing Bi Luo back to three perfected Immortal Foundations.
• Bi Luo used a jade talisman to flee into an underwater river, and Cang Wuji stopped pursuing him because the river’s lingering formation resonance made entry dangerous.
• Cang Wuji returned to Shi Jian and used Barbarian Bone Dao resonance to suppress the saprophytic power in his wounds.

After Bi Luo and the other Spirit Transformation cultivators fled, Shi Jian’s forces crushed the remaining Spirit Race troops and secured a decisive victory in the Spirit Marsh Plains. Shi Jian then inspected the captured core fortress and realized the Spirit Race had been building a lasting foothold in the Dao Realm.

• Bi Luo and two Middle Spirit Transformation cultivators escaped, and Shi Jian ordered the Beast Realm forces to pursue the fleeing Spirit Race troops.
• The Beast Realm forces hunted down the Spirit Race across the marshes, killing more than a hundred Golden Core cultivators and thirty-seven Nascent Soul cultivators while capturing four.
• Cang Wuji explained that Bi Luo’s vitality-draining formation could not be sustained, and Shi Jian said his injuries would require half a year to heal.
• After several days of pursuit, Shi Jian reviewed the casualties and judged the battle a great victory, with the Spirit Race losing a Late Spirit Transformation cultivator and the Beast Realm gaining the Spirit Marsh Plains.
• Shi Jian ordered his forces to clear the remaining strongholds and dismantle the Spirit Race’s formations and mapped underwater passages.
• Shi Jian and Cang Wuji entered the enormous core fortress, where Shi Jian saw that the Spirit Race had prepared to establish a lasting enclave in the Dao Realm.

Shi Jian completed the defenses of the Spirit Marsh Plains after driving out the Spirit Race, and reinforcements from the Sha Tiger and Black Eagle Imperial Clans arrived to strengthen the garrison. The Beast Realm secured the Plains as a forward foothold, but Bailu Lingyuan remained missing and the war was far from over.

• Shi Jian established three restrictions across the Spirit Marsh Plains and stationed cultivators to guard its Spirit Veins and perimeter.
• Six Spirit Transformation experts arrived: Hu Rong and two Sha Tiger Imperial Clan members, along with Diao Heng and two Black Eagle Imperial Clan members.
• Shi Jian welcomed Hu Rong and Diao Heng, who took command of the eastern and western flanks while his forces held the center.
• The garrison grew to eleven Spirit Transformation experts, backed by over a hundred Nascent Soul cultivators and several thousand Golden Core cultivators.
• Shi Jian reflected that the battle had strengthened his Righteous Yang Lightning and could help him advance to Late Spirit Transformation.
• Shi Jian recognized that Bailu Lingyuan, a Perfected Spirit Transformation expert with four Treasured Earth Immortal Foundations, was still unaccounted for and resolved that the Beast Realm must keep pressuring the Spirit Race.

Three Spirit Race Dao Venerables and more than seventy Spirit Transformation cultivators arrived in the Dao Realm, where the Immortality Dao Venerable outlined a plan to expand around the Spirit Marsh Plains rather than attack the Beast Realm directly. The Spirit Race prepared to seize territory from nearby clans and eventually encircle the Marsh Plains, setting the stage for a full-scale war.

• The Immortality, Decay, and Dharma Breaking Dao Venerables emerged from the realm passage at the Spirit Race stronghold, followed by more than seventy Spirit Transformation cultivators.
• The Immortality Dao Venerable questioned Bi Luo about losing the Spirit Marsh Plains, and he accepted responsibility for the defeat.
• The Immortality Dao Venerable surveyed the Beast Realm's defenses in the Marsh Plains, while the Decay Dao Venerable noted that Feng Yue intended to block the Spirit Race's northward advance.
• The Decay Dao Venerable proposed that Spirit Race divisions expand east, west, and south by annexing nearby clans and taking their Spirit Veins.
• Bi Luo understood that the Spirit Race planned to surround the Marsh Plains over time, bringing the Spirit Race and Beast Realm toward a full-scale war in the Dao Realm.

The Eight Clans of the Dao Realm agreed to withdraw from the coming conflict between the Beast Realm and the Spirit Race, abandoning central territory to preserve their clans. Meanwhile, the Spirit Race rapidly expanded through the south by forcing small clans to surrender or destroying them.

• Cloud Transformation Dao Venerable described the forces gathering in the Dao Realm and warned that the eight clans faced the Beast Realm in the north and the Spirit Race in the south.
• Cloud Transformation Dao Venerable urged the eight clans to retreat east and west from the Spirit Marsh Plains, and the Dao Venerables agreed to avoid the conflict.
• Immortality Dao Venerable's Dao might helped the Spirit Race intimidate the southern clans as its forces began expanding from their stronghold.
• The Spirit Race forced a small savage beast clan to surrender its inheritance, spiritual items, and most of its Spirit Stones, while absorbing its Golden Core cultivators into auxiliary ranks.
• Over the next few months, the Spirit Race subdued or destroyed most small and midsized clans south of the Marsh Plains, and blocked fleeing clans from escaping north.

The Beast Realm and Spirit Race mobilized for war over the Treasured Earth Dao Fruit, building opposing lines of fortified passes as their Dao Venerables met in Heaven Beyond Heaven. With the higher powers occupied keeping one another in check, Shan Yue put Barbarian Bone Pass on alert as the Spirit Race prepared to probe its defenses.

• The six imperial clans opened spatial passages and sent their forces toward the Marsh Plains, where Shan Yue revealed he had reached Perfected Spirit Transformation.
• The Beast Realm built seven fortified passes, and Shan Yue took command of Barbarian Bone Pass with Shi Jian and Cang Wuji coordinating its defenses.
• Shan Yue told the assembled cultivators that Barbarian Bone Pass must hold and ordered the Giant Bear Clan to fight until the end.
• Earth Virtue Dao Venerable, Ancestor Egu, and Ultimate Dao of Strength Venerable faced the Spirit Race's three Dao Venerables before withdrawing to Heaven Beyond Heaven to keep each other occupied.
• Shan Yue ordered Barbarian Bone Pass to full alert, while Shi Jian felt the battlefield accelerating the formation of his Righteous Yang Lightning.

The Spirit Race attacked Barbarian Bone Pass, sending minor-race cultivators into a deadly vanguard before Bi Luo led twenty-three Spirit Transformation cultivators against the fortress. Shan Yue repelled their combined assault while Shi Jian killed one of their cultivators, but Bi Luo summoned five reinforcements as the battle continued.

• Shan Yue activated Barbarian Bone Pass’s defenses and ordered its warships and cultivators to attack the minor-race vanguard, which the Spirit Race drove forward despite heavy losses.
• Bi Luo led twenty-three Spirit Transformation cultivators out of the emerald clouds and attacked Barbarian Bone Pass.
• Shan Yue stopped the combined assault with a single strike, while Shi Jian wounded Bi Luo and Cang Wuji knocked back two Late Spirit Transformation cultivators.
• Shi Jian used lightning and the Xu Yan Ring’s Space Dao essence to kill a Middle Spirit Transformation Spirit Race cultivator.
• Bi Luo summoned another five Spirit Transformation cultivators as reinforcements arrived from the southern horizon.

The Spirit Race reinforcements arrived at Barbarian Bone Pass, and Shan Yue, Shi Jian, and Cang Wuji met their assault. The battle spread into separate fights, with Shi Jian facing two Late Spirit Transformation cultivators and Cang Wuji drawing five Middle Spirit Transformation cultivators.

• Five Spirit Race reinforcements led by a Late Spirit Transformation cultivator arrived, bringing the enemy force to twenty-seven cultivators.
• Shan Yue unleashed his perfected Earth Dao might and struck down the Spirit Race’s combined attack, forcing Bi Luo and the others back.
• Bi Luo ordered the Spirit Race cultivators to scatter around Barbarian Bone Pass and attack from every direction.
• Shi Jian charged Bi Luo with a lightning spear, then trapped him with the Xu Yan Ring before a newly arrived Late Spirit Transformation cultivator deflected the attack.
• Bi Luo and the new Late Spirit Transformation cultivator joined forces against Shi Jian as his third Immortal Foundation solidified under pressure.
• Cang Wuji shattered the vine shield of three Middle Spirit Transformation cultivators, then prepared to fight five after two more arrived.

The Giant Bear Race and the Spirit Race fought fiercely at Barbarian Bone Pass as Shan Yue and Shi Jian battled the Spirit Race’s strongest experts. After Bi Luo called upon the Immortality Dao Venerable’s projected might, Shi Jian’s lightning attack gravely wounded him, and the Spirit Race’s morale collapsed as the battle continued.

• Cang Wuji, Shan Yue, Shi Jian, and the other Giant Bear Race experts engaged the Spirit Race forces across the battlefield.
• Shan Yue used his four perfected foundations to slow eight Spirit Race experts, injure them with Earth Dao attacks, and pierce a Late Spirit Transformation expert with a stone spear.
• Shi Jian fought Bi Luo and another Late Spirit Transformation expert, using the Xu Yan Ring to evade attacks and lightning spears to wound Bi Luo.
• Bi Luo healed himself with the great formation’s power, then crushed a talisman that brought forth a projection of the Immortality Dao Venerable’s might.
• Under the pressure of the projected might, Shi Jian’s embryonic Righteous Yang Lightning foundation solidified, and his lightning attack pierced Bi Luo and destroyed his internal organs.
• After the Dao Venerable’s might withdrew, the Spirit Race’s morale faltered, while Shan Yue urged his allies onward and the bone warships fired on the enemy.

After Bi Luo fell, the Spirit Race army began to retreat, but its Spirit Transformation cultivators turned back with Dao Venerable contingencies and caught the pursuing Giant Bear cultivators in a dangerous counterattack. Shan Yue, Cang Wuji, and Shi Jian fought to stabilize the battlefield as the Spirit Race renewed its strength with a blood-red talisman.

• Bi Luo fell into the marsh with grievous injuries, and Shan Yue ordered the Giant Bear army to pursue the retreating Spirit Race forces.
• Cang Wuji and Shi Jian chased the fleeing Spirit Transformation cultivators while the Giant Bear fighters inflicted heavy losses on them.
• A Late Spirit Transformation cultivator crushed an emerald jade talisman, and three others revealed powerful treasures as the Spirit Race turned to fight.
• The Spirit Race's treasures healed and strengthened its cultivators and slowed the Giant Bear pursuers, while Shi Jian wounded the wielder of the corrosive saber with Righteous Yang Lightning.
• Shan Yue manifested his mountain bear form and struck the Spirit Race attackers with a mountain phantom, allowing Cang Wuji and Shi Jian to counterattack.
• The Spirit Race leader crushed a blood-red jade talisman, healing the wounded Spirit Race cultivators and filling them with battle madness.

The Spirit Race burned its cultivators’ life force to overpower the Giant Bear Clan, forcing Shan Yue and his allies to retreat behind Barbarian Bone Pass. Reinforcements from both sides then arrived, escalating the battle into an all-out Spirit Transformation war.

• More than twenty Spirit Race Spirit Transformation cultivators used the Life-Burning Technique to increase their combat power and attack the Giant Bear Clan.
• Shan Yue helped his wounded allies retreat to Barbarian Bone Pass, where the bone warships’ volleys killed one Spirit Race cultivator and drove the pursuers back.
• The Giant Bear Clan used the pass’s restrictions and warships to repel the Spirit Race’s attacks, while Shi Jian’s Righteous Yang Lightning foundation continued to solidify.
• Eight Spirit Race reinforcements led by a Perfected Spirit Transformation cultivator arrived from the south, and six Giant Bear Clan reinforcements arrived from the north.
• The two forces gathered more than thirty Spirit Race cultivators and more than twenty Giant Bear Clan cultivators, turning the clash into an all-out battle.

The Spirit Race abruptly withdrew from every front, allowing Barbarian Bone Pass to regroup while Shi Jian recovered from battle. The Spirit Race then began draining vitality and resources from conquered clans, apparently to prepare Bailu Lingyuan for a breakthrough.

• A Spirit Race Perfected Spirit Transformation expert received a jade talisman and withdrew from his fight with Shan Yue, prompting Bi Luo and the other Spirit Race forces to retreat as well.
• Shan Yue stopped Cang Wuji from pursuing and explained that the Spirit Race was withdrawing across the entire front; he ordered the defenders to regroup, recover, and hold their passes.
• Shi Jian rested and found that his Righteous Yang Lightning foundation was about eighty percent formed; Cang Wuji warned that the next assault could bring more than thirty Spirit Transformation experts.
• The Spirit Race plundered conquered clans, seized their resources and fighters, and deployed Spirit Siphoning arrays to drain vitality from vast territories.
• The Beast Realm factions suspected the Spirit Race was gathering vitality to help Bailu Lingyuan, a missing genius with four Treasured Earth Immortal Foundations, attain the Dao.

Shan Yue’s council discussed the Spirit Race’s defensive line and its effort to nourish Bailu Lingyuan toward the Treasured Earth Dao Fruit, while the Beast Realm remained unwilling to risk an all-out war. Shi Jian continued recovering and cultivating Righteous Yang Lightning, finding a new way to coordinate his three Immortal Foundations but not yet mastering them.

• Shan Yue shared intelligence showing that the Spirit Race had built a vast defensive line and Spirit-Draining Grand Arrays to support Bailu Lingyuan’s secluded cultivation.
• Shi Jian warned that attacking would exhaust the Beast Realm, while doing nothing could let the Spirit Race claim the Treasured Earth Dao Fruit; Shan Yue explained that neither realm could risk escalating to all-out war.
• Shan Yue ordered the Beast Realm’s forces to hold their pass cities and recover, and told Shi Jian to refine his third Immortal Foundation while healing.
• The front remained largely quiet for months and years as both sides guarded their positions and limited their clashes to minor reconnaissance skirmishes.
• Shi Jian struggled to unite Righteous Yang Lightning with Purple Pivot Lightning and Purple Firmament Lightning, then tried using Purple Pivot Lightning to command the other two and found a promising direction.

The Peak Mountain Emperor Lord secretly eroded the Vast and Broad Earth Immortal Foundation, undermining the Spirit Race’s chance to attain the Treasured Earth Dao Fruit. He sent a jade talisman toward the Dao Realm, leaving the next move to the Earth Virtue Dao Venerable.

• Barbarian Bone Pass remained fortified by Giant Bear Clan warriors and their vassals as the two realms continued their standoff.
• The Peak Mountain Emperor Lord used the authority of his three Dao Fruits to stain the Vast and Broad Earth Immortal Foundation with his Dao rhythms.
• The Peak Mountain Emperor Lord concluded that Bailu Lingyuan could no longer fully attain the Treasured Earth Dao Fruit unless the Spirit Race found a way to undo his mark.
• The Peak Mountain Emperor Lord sent an earthy-yellow jade talisman toward the Dao Realm for the Earth Virtue Dao Venerable.

Returning Earth Dao Venerable visited the Nether Realm to propose that the Beast Realm and Nether River Imperial Clan join forces against the Spirit Race and seize the Returning to Stillness Dao Fruit. Nether Domain Dao Venerable agreed to seek the Nether Emperor’s instructions, leaving the alliance undecided.

• Returning Earth Dao Venerable told Nether Domain Dao Venerable that the Spirit Race’s expansion threatened the Nether Realm as well as the Beast Realm.
• Returning Earth Dao Venerable proposed that the Beast Realm and Nether Realm cooperate against the Spirit Race and take the Returning to Stillness Dao Fruit for the Nether River Imperial Clan.
• Nether Domain Dao Venerable considered the proposal and said he needed the Nether Emperor’s instructions.
• Returning Earth Dao Venerable waited for the Nether Emperor’s reply, confident that the Nether River Imperial Clan was tempted by the Dao Fruit.

Returning Earth Dao Venerable and the other Dao Venerables arranged a staged offensive to lure the Spirit Race into sending reinforcements before the Nether Realm joined the battle. As Cang Wuji led the attack from Barbarian Bone Pass, Shi Jian stayed behind to cultivate his third Immortal Foundation, which was nearly complete.

• Returning Earth Dao Venerable told Earth Virtue Dao Venerable, Barbarian Bone Dao Venerable, and Ultimate Dao of Strength Venerable that the Nether River Imperial Clan had agreed to join the war and that they would bait the Spirit Race with coordinated attacks.
• The Dao Venerables planned limited assaults on Spirit Race strongholds to draw its reinforcements into the Dao Realm, where the Nether Realm could help trap them.
• Shan Yue ordered Cang Wuji to attack Jade Abyss Pass with Spirit Transformation cultivators and warships, while warning him not to risk his forces or capture the pass.
• Shan Yue kept Shi Jian at Barbarian Bone Pass because his third Immortal Foundation was still taking shape and he should avoid needless fighting.
• Shi Jian continued refining the balance among his three lightning Immortal Foundations, then watched Cang Wuji's warships depart as he remained in seclusion.

The Spirit Race's Dao Venerables reinforced the defensive line while waiting for Bailu Lingyuan to prove his Dao, unaware of the Beast Realm's purpose in its repeated attacks. Bailu Lingyuan had condensed five Immortal Foundations but still needed twenty years to integrate them, while Spirit-Draining Grand Arrays drained vitality from the surrounding lands to support him.

• The Decay Dao Venerable and Dharma Breaking Dao Venerable discussed the Beast Realm's frequent attacks with the Immortality Dao Venerable, who suspected they were a delaying tactic.
• The Immortality Dao Venerable ordered thirty Spirit Race Spirit Transformation cultivators and more vassal-race cultivators sent to reinforce the defensive line.
• The three Dao Venerables planned for Bailu Lingyuan to prove his Dao using the Vast and Broad Earth Immortal Foundation, betting that Feng Yue would choose Ten Thousand Layered Peaks instead.
• Bailu Lingyuan cultivated within a vitality cocoon after condensing five Treasured Earth Immortal Foundations and determined he needed twenty more years to integrate them.
• Spirit-Draining Grand Arrays drained the vitality of countless minor races to sustain Bailu Lingyuan's cultivation.

Shi Jian formed his third Immortal Foundation and advanced to Late Spirit Transformation, while the front remained eerily quiet. Elsewhere, the Nether River Imperial Clan secretly entered the Dao Realm and prepared to ambush the Spirit Race alongside the Beast Realm.

• Shi Jian completed his Righteous Yang Lightning Immortal Foundation and advanced to Late Spirit Transformation with three perfected foundations.
• Shi Jian assessed his new command over lightning and grew uneasy about the prolonged calm at Barbarian Bone Pass.
• A Nether River Clan cultivator opened a spatial passage in the eastern Dao Realm, allowing thousands of Nascent Soul cultivators and more than a hundred Spirit Transformation cultivators to enter.
• Eternal Darkness Dao Venerable concealed the invading army, and four other Dao Venerables arrived to join the operation.
• Nether Domain Dao Venerable ordered the group to wait for a Spirit Race cultivator to attain the Dao before cooperating with the Beast Realm to encircle the Spirit Race and capture Returning to Stillness Dao Venerable.
• Profound Soul Dao Venerable asked what would happen if Bailu Lingyuan succeeded in attaining the Dao.

The Nether River Imperial Clan concealed its forces while preparing to exploit the Beast Realm’s coming assault on the Spirit Race and pursue its ambitions for the Soul and Death Daos. Six months later, the Beast Realm launched a full attack from seven passes, and Shi Jian joined the assault from Barbarian Bone Pass as the war began.

• The Nether Domain Dao Venerable outlined the Nether River Imperial Clan’s plan to attack during the Beast Realm’s assault, strengthen the Soul Dao, and seize Returning to Stillness’s Dao position.
• The Eternal Darkness Dao Venerable concealed the Nether River forces beneath a vast curtain of darkness.
• Shan Yue told Shi Jian that the seven passes would attack in half a year and that their objective was to pressure the Spirit Race and prevent Bailu Lingyuan from attaining the Dao.
• Six months later, Shan Yue ordered the forces at Barbarian Bone Pass to attack the Spirit Race’s defensive line, and Shi Jian joined the advance with his three perfected Immortal Foundations.
• Cang Wuji warned Shi Jian to stay close to him, while Shi Jian looked toward the Spirit Race’s defenses and considered the greater battle at Peak and Mountain Pass.

Shi Jian led the right wing against the Spirit Race fortress Jade Abyss Pass, where he faced his old rival Bi Luo. After Shi Jian revealed his breakthrough to Late Spirit Transformation, the two sides’ cultivators clashed, leaving Shi Jian and Bi Luo to settle their rivalry in a one-on-one fight to the death.

• Shi Jian led the right wing’s assault on Jade Abyss Pass, but its formation held against the Bone Spirit army’s attacks.
• Shi Jian and Bi Luo recognized each other, and Shi Jian revealed his increased strength as a Late Spirit Transformation cultivator.
• Bi Luo summoned a decaying ancient vine and wounded Shi Jian, who countered its corrosion with Righteous Yang Lightning.
• The other Spirit Transformation cultivators joined the battle, and both sides fought above the clouds.
• Shi Jian and Bi Luo faced each other alone and began a fight to the death.