Chapter Summaries

Shi Jian defeated Bi Luo at Jade Abyss Pass, forcing the Spirit Race forces to retreat and securing the right wing for the Giant Bear Clan. He then headed toward the central battlefield, where Shan Yue was holding the line at Jade Cloud Pass.

• Bi Luo consumed a Life Pill and empowered his ancient vine, but Shi Jian used his Dao Artifacts and Righteous Yang Lightning to withstand the attack.
• As the Life Pill's power faded, Bi Luo withdrew and fled south, and Shi Jian chose not to pursue him.
• The five Spirit Race Spirit Transformation cultivators retreated, and Shi Jian's allies killed two Early Spirit Transformation cultivators.
• The Giant Bear Clan's army broke Jade Abyss Pass's shield and stormed the city, winning the right-wing battle.
• Shi Jian hurried to the central battlefield, where Shan Yue and ten Spirit Transformation cultivators faced the Spirit Race's main army at Jade Cloud Pass.

Shi Jian avoided the main battle at Jade Cloud Pass and infiltrated deep behind the Spirit Race lines to find a richer target. After learning the location of a hidden military storehouse, he arrived above it and prepared to seize its resources from the two Spirit Transformation experts guarding it.

• Shi Jian watched the allied forces fight the Spirit Race at Jade Cloud Pass, then decided not to join the battle and slipped south through the void.
• He discovered the Spirit Race's enormous supply network and continued deep behind its defensive line to avoid drawing powerful reinforcements.
• Shi Jian ambushed Qing Teng, a Nascent Soul Late Stage Wood Spirit cultivator escorting a supply convoy, and killed him and his Golden Core subordinates.
• Shi Jian searched Qing Teng's memories and learned that the Xuan-Designation Third Military Storehouse contained Spirit Marrow Crystals and Tribulation-Transcending Life Pills, guarded by only two Spirit Transformation experts.
• Shi Jian traveled southwest to the concealed mountain hiding the storehouse and observed its two Spirit Race guardians.

Shi Jian ambushed two Spirit Transformation experts of the Spirit Race in a sealed mountain cavern and killed them before they could call for help. He collected their bodies and possessions, then reflected that their privileged status had kept them away from the front lines.

• Two Spirit Race experts discussed pressure on the main battlefield and dismissed the chance that the fighting could reach their mountain stronghold.
• Shi Jian sealed off the cavern with the Spaceless Space Dao and struck both cultivators with Soul Lightning, leaving the formation master near death and the metal man badly injured.
• Shi Jian revealed his three perfected lightning foundations and pierced the metal man’s armor and body with a lightning spear.
• Shi Jian killed the metal man with another strike of Soul Lightning, then sealed and collected his corpse and Dao Artifact.
• Shi Jian finished off the formation master, collected his body, and noted that both enemies had been wealthy descendants of Spirit Race Dao Venerables.

Shi Jian raided the Spirit Race’s Xuan-Designation Number Three Military Storehouse, taking its vast supplies and three ancient treasures before destroying the mountain and slipping into the void. He then sensed Bailu Lingyuan begin an early attempt to attain the Dao, and stopped to watch the upheaval from afar.

• Shi Jian used the dead formation master’s Essence Blood to open the storehouse’s jade doors without triggering its safeguards.
• He collected the storehouse’s spirit medicines, Spirit Marrow Crystals, and ninety-nine Tribulation-Transcending Life Pills.
• Shi Jian found and seized a lightning-struck wood fragment, a Treasured Earth Dao guide fragment, and a damaged Space Dao treasure.
• He emptied the storehouse, destroyed the mountain with lightning, and escaped into the void toward the battlefield’s flank.
• Shi Jian sensed a vast Earth Dao eruption and realized Bailu Lingyuan had begun an early attempt to attain the Dao.

Bailu Lingyuan began his ascension to the Dao under the protection of the Spirit Race’s forces and two Dao Venerables, while Shi Jian watched from hiding. His Vast and Broad Earth foundation revealed a corrupting flaw, and the Gate of the Nine Netherworlds appeared to claim the Spirit Race’s life force.

• Bailu Lingyuan began merging his four Immortal Foundations into Vast and Broad Earth as the Heavenly Dao chains descended.
• The Fate-Wielding Dao Venerable and Reverse Life Dao Venerable guarded the ascension while Spirit Race armies sealed the forbidden land.
• Shi Jian observed from the void and suspected the Beast Realm’s assault concealed a larger scheme.
• Fertile and Moist Governance and High Ramparts and Peace merged successfully into Vast and Broad Earth, but a dark, discordant power emerged within the foundation.
• The Heavenly Dao chains turned into deadly punishment, and the two Dao Venerables realized the ascension was in danger.
• The Gate of the Nine Netherworlds appeared in the eastern void, and a voice announced it would take the Spirit Race’s great Life Dao medicine.

Bailu Lingyuan’s Immortal Foundations collapsed under the dark yellow resonance, and the Spirit Race Dao Venerables were blocked from saving him. The Nether River Dao Venerables devoured his soul and body, empowering their Soul Dao and Death Dao as the two Spirit Race elders watched in fury.

• Bailu Lingyuan’s five Immortal Foundations shattered as the Heavenly Dao’s blood-red lightning stripped away his life force.
• The Fate-Wielding Dao Venerable tried to restore Bailu Lingyuan while the Reverse Life Dao Venerable shielded him, but the Eternal Darkness Dao Venerable and Death Fate Dao Venerable stopped them.
• The Profound Soul Dao Venerable tore Bailu Lingyuan’s divine soul from his body and swallowed it, strengthening his Soul Dao.
• The Nether Domain Dao Venerable seized and devoured Bailu Lingyuan’s ruined body, transforming its life force into death Qi and increasing his power.
• The Nether Domain Dao Venerable challenged the Fate-Wielding Dao Venerable and Reverse Life Dao Venerable to let him devour them too.

The Nether River Clan attacked the Spirit Race’s forbidden ground, slaughtered its army, and trapped Fate-Wielding Dao Venerable and Reverse Life Dao Venerable. Shi Jian escaped with the armory’s resources but was stopped in the void by a gray-clad swordsman from the Human Realm’s Hidden Sword Dao Palace.

• Nether Domain Dao Venerable ordered the Nether River Clan to kill the Spirit Race as five Nether River Dao Venerables trapped Fate-Wielding Dao Venerable and Reverse Life Dao Venerable in an array.
• Nether River cultivators destroyed the Myriad Longevity Azure Emperor Array and overwhelmed the Spirit Race army, harvesting its vitality and souls.
• Shi Jian watched the massacre from the void, concluded the Spirit Race’s power in the southern Dao Realm was finished, and decided to retreat north with the resources he had taken.
• A faint Sword Dao edge cracked the Xu Yan Ring’s barrier and stopped Shi Jian as a gray-clad man blocked his path.
• The gray-clad man accused Shi Jian of taking something he should not have and identified himself as a member of the Human Realm’s Hidden Sword Dao Palace.

Shi Jian was hunted by a Five-Foundation Extreme Realm sword cultivator seeking to reclaim a sword and kill him as a threat. He escaped by detonating a damaged Space Dao treasure and plunging into a black hole, while his pursuer returned to report that Shi Jian might still be alive.

• The gray-robed man revealed that Shi Jian’s sword had belonged to his junior and declared that he would kill Shi Jian because of his potential.
• Shi Jian tried to flee, but the gray-robed man’s Immortal Slayer Sword Qi severed his right arm and wounded him as he pursued him into the deep void.
• Shi Jian swallowed a Tribulation-Transcending Life Pill, used its vitality to regrow his arm, and accelerated away from the gray-robed man.
• When the gray-robed man trapped him in a sword domain, Shi Jian detonated a damaged Space Dao cauldron with the Xu Yan Ring, creating a black hole that shattered the domain.
• Shi Jian hurled himself into the black hole, breaking the gray-robed man’s sword-intent lock, and the gray-robed man decided to report him to the palace master and place him on the Heavenly Slaughter List.

Shi Jian survived the destruction of the Space Dao cauldron and hid in an ancient ruin to recover from his grave injuries. The Spirit Race’s defeat left the Beast Realm and Nether River Imperial Clan poised for their next move: a trap to kill the Returning to Stillness Dao Venerable.

• Shi Jian woke in a pool of black water with his limbs destroyed and his Immortal Foundations near extinguished.
• Shi Jian confirmed he was still in the Dao Realm, checked that his treasures had survived, and resolved to recover and comprehend Radiant Yang Lightning.
• Shi Jian sank to the pool’s bottom, concealed his presence, and fell asleep to heal.
• Fate Wielding and Reverse Life escaped to the Spirit Realm with a few followers as the Nether River army wiped out the remaining Spirit Race cultivators and withdrew.
• The Spirit Race’s Treasured Earth Dao Fruit scheme collapsed, while the Beast Realm secured its northern defenses and prepared to take control of the south.
• The Beast Realm prepared to help the Nether River Imperial Clan lay a trap for the Returning to Stillness Dao Venerable while waiting for its emperor to attain a fourth Dao Fruit.

The Beast Realm’s three Dao Venerables revealed that Bailu Lingyuan’s attempt to seize Treasured Earth had been a trap, and the Nether River Venerables had joined their alliance. With Lingyuan dead and the Spirit Race’s plans in ruins, the Spirit Race Venerables retreated from Heaven Beyond Heaven, abandoning most of their armies as the Beast Realm began a sweeping slaughter.

• Immortality Dao Venerable learned from Bailu Lingyuan’s shattered life-soul jade pendant that he had died, while five Nether River Dao Venerables arrived in Heaven Beyond Heaven.
• Earth Virtue Dao Venerable revealed that Feng Yue had used the Vast and Broad Earth Immortal Foundation to poison Lingyuan’s ascension, and Barbarian Bone Dao Venerable warned that Fate Wielding and Reverse Life were also under attack.
• Immortality Dao Venerable attacked Earth Virtue Dao Venerable, but the three Beast Realm Venerables trapped the Spirit Race Venerables and forced them to retreat.
• Immortality Dao Venerable opened a path back to Heaven Beyond Heaven and summoned the Spirit Race’s core bloodlines, leaving most of its forces behind on the Dao Realm battlefields.
• Shan Yue and Cang Wuji led the Beast Realm forces against the abandoned Spirit Race troops, and Shan Yue ordered the armies to kill every Spirit Race member in the Dao Realm.

After the Beast Realm annihilated the Spirit Race in the Dao Realm’s south, the Nine Realms declared the Treasured Earth Dao forbidden and the Beast Realm and Nether Realm began plotting to hunt Returning to Stillness Dao Venerable. In the eastern ruins, Shi Jian’s charred body showed its first signs of renewed lightning, leaving his fate poised for a possible rebirth.

• The Beast Realm spent three months destroying the Spirit Race’s forces and taking control of the Dao Realm’s southern half.
• After Bailu Lingyuan’s Dao seat collapsed, the Nine Realms’ ruling clans forbade their cultivators from pursuing the Treasured Earth Dao Fruit.
• Returning Earth Dao Venerable and Nether Domain Dao Venerable agreed to hunt the isolated Returning to Stillness Dao Venerable as their next step.
• A spark of Righteous Yang Lightning appeared inside Shi Jian’s charred body, while Radiant Yang Lightning stirred within a piece of lightning-struck wood above his shattered Dantian.

Shi Jian recovered in the Black Water Abyss and awakened Radiant Yang Lightning, forming the embryonic fourth Immortal Foundation. After signaling the Giant Bear Clan, he was found by its search party and taken back to Barbarian Bone Pass.

• Shi Jian used the Tribulation-Transcending Life Pill's remaining power to awaken Radiant Yang Lightning and drive Immortal Slayer's Sword Qi from his body.
• Shi Jian's shattered body healed, his severed arm regrew, and his fourth Immortal Foundation began to form.
• Shi Jian sensed the Giant Bear Clan's bloodline call and sent a faint signal through the Barbarian Bone Dao while remaining in the abyss to stabilize his foundation.
• Months later, Ancestor Shanyue, Cang Wuji, and eight other Spirit Transformation giant bears arrived with the will of Barbarian Bone Dao Venerable and found Shi Jian.
• Shi Jian told the clan leaders that a Spirit Transformation Extreme Stage expert from the Hidden Sword Dao Palace had pursued him and that he had hidden to recover.
• The E Gu Bear Emperor's will swept Shi Jian and the ten demon immortals away toward Barbarian Bone Pass.

Shi Jian gave fifty Tribulation-Transcending Life Pills to the Giant Bear Race elders, winning their support before joining the Beast Realm’s imperial council. The Dao Venerables ordered an expedition to destroy the Death Giant Lizard Clan and claim its Returning to Stillness Dao Fruit for the Nether Emperor.

• Shi Jian presented fifty Tribulation-Transcending Life Pills to Shan Yue for the Giant Bear Race’s elders to distribute.
• Shan Yue and Cang Wuji praised Shi Jian, and the other elders accepted his gift and pledged their support.
• An imperial clan summons called Shan Yue and Shi Jian to a council at Peak and Mountain Pass.
• Earth Virtue Dao Venerable announced that the Beast Realm had to help the Nether Emperor obtain the Returning to Stillness Dao Fruit.
• The E Gu Bear Emperor ordered eighty elite Spirit Transformation experts and a million vassals to attack the western Dao Realm, destroy the Death Giant Lizard Clan, and raze the Black Sha Wasteland.

Returning to Stillness Dao Venerable realized that the Nether River Emperor had sealed the Dao Realm and that its native Dao Venerables would not help him. The Beast Realm’s five Dao Venerables then descended on the Black Sha Wasteland to suppress him and his clan.

• Returning to Stillness Dao Venerable discovered that the Nether River Emperor’s Great Dao Heaven-Shrouding Seal had closed off the Dao Realm and even blocked the route to the starry sea.
• Returning to Stillness Dao Venerable tried to contact the other native Dao Venerables, but they stayed silent, while Youpo Dao Venerable’s Soul Dao imprint lingered near the West Sea.
• Returning to Stillness Dao Venerable learned that the Nether River and Beast Realm had threatened the native clans into submission and lamented that his allies had abandoned him.
• The Beast Realm’s five Dao Venerables broke the sky above the Black Sha Wasteland, crushing countless Death Giant Lizard cultivators under their pressure.
• Earth Virtue, Barbarian Bone, Ultimate Force, Sha Qi, and Conjoined Fire Dao Venerables deployed their powers to suppress the wasteland.

Ten Dao Venerables surrounded Returning to Stillness Dao Venerable in the Black Sha Wasteland and demanded his Great Dao attainment, intending to consume his body and soul. He unleashed the full power of his six Immortal Foundations in a final counterattack, and all ten enemies struck back at once as the wasteland was engulfed in destruction.

• Ten Dao Venerables sealed the Black Sha Wasteland and called Returning to Stillness Dao Venerable out of hiding.
• Earth Virtue Dao Venerable offered to spare Returning to Stillness's clan if he surrendered his Great Dao source and Immortal Foundations, but Nether Domain Dao Venerable revealed the Nether River planned to consume him.
• Returning to Stillness rejected surrender and unleashed his six Immortal Foundations, declaring that his Dao would never kneel.
• Returning to Stillness's extinction ripples weakened the other Venerables' attacks, but Nether Domain ordered everyone to strike before he could destroy his attainment.
• All ten Dao Venerables attacked Returning to Stillness at once, and their clashing powers engulfed the Black Sha Wasteland in destruction.

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.