Chapter Summaries

Zhao Yanshan sought Shi Jian’s support after failing to secure help from Yun Tianfan and Sun Mao. Shi Jian agreed to hear him out, leaving the Zhao Clan’s bid to regain influence unresolved.

• Lord Rat reported that Yun Tianfan had warned the Sun Clan, while Sun Lin’s plans to place people in the array and talisman halls had strained relations between the clans.
• Lord Rat told Shi Jian that Zhao Yanshan had unsuccessfully approached Yun Tianfan and Sun Mao before setting out for Purple Firmament Peak.
• Shi Jian decided to receive Zhao Yanshan, seeing the Zhao Clan as a second faction that could balance the Sun Clan’s loyalty to him.
• Zhao Yanshan met Shi Jian and explained why he had approached Yun Tianfan and Sun Mao first.
• Zhao Yanshan plainly asked Shi Jian to back him and give the Zhao Clan a chance to rise again.

Shi Jian accepted Zhao Yanshan's allegiance and tasked the Zhao Clan with negotiating the mountain-range merger and uncovering Azure Light Gate's plans. He also ordered Lord Rat to scout the Clear Wind Mountain Range for hidden valuables, while Sun Mao remained unaware that Shi Jian had begun recruiting the Zhao Clan.

• Shi Jian asked Zhao Yanshan about the Zhao Clan's decline and said he wanted to support a faction to challenge the Sun Clan.
• Shi Jian accepted Zhao Yanshan's allegiance and ordered him to negotiate the merger of the Great Maple Mountain Range and the Clear Wind Mountain Range with Azure Light Gate, while uncovering its hidden schemes.
• Shi Jian offered the Zhao Clan rewards based on the benefits it secured, and Zhao Yanshan accepted the task.
• Shi Jian told Lord Rat not to inform Sun Mao about Zhao Yanshan's allegiance and ordered two rats to investigate the Clear Wind Mountain Range's rogue cultivators and hidden valuables.
• Zhao Yanshan left with steadier steps, while Sun Mao continued teaching Sun Chengzu swordsmanship, unaware that Shi Jian had recruited the Zhao Clan.

Shi Jian uprooted Lei Huan’s lightning-gathering stone forest and merged it into Purple Firmament Peak to strengthen the Thunder Pool Blessed Land. With Sun Lin’s formation and a new body-tempering method, he established a training ground for lightning-attribute bear demons.

• Shi Jian learned from Lord Rat that the North Sea war was worsening and that Yun Du could not return from the front lines.
• Shi Jian traveled to the Clear Wind Mountain Range and used his power to uproot Lei Huan’s stone forest and its earth-vein foundation.
• Shi Jian brought the stone forest to Purple Firmament Peak and ordered Sun Lin to locate the earth-vein nodes and design a lightning-guiding formation.
• Sun Lin spent three days directing Shi Jian as they embedded the 108 main stone pillars into Purple Firmament Peak, creating a formation that gathered regular thunderstorms.
• Shi Jian invited Lei Huan and the lightning-attribute bear demons into the formation and taught them the Lightning-Guiding Instruction to temper their bodies with heavenly lightning.

Shi Jian established a foundation for the bear demons by creating three cultivation methods and giving them to the Rock, Dark Gold, and Primal lineages. He rejected both immediate war and blind trust in humans, setting a cautious strategy for the four lineages to grow under his leadership.

• Shi Jian studied human cultivation methods and adapted their principles into three methods suited to bear demons.
• Shi Jian gave Shi Pan the Thick Earth Rock Instruction, Shi Mo the Geng Metal Heaven-Rending Record, and Xiong Shan the Blood Sha Tyrant Body Instruction.
• Shi Jian asked the assembled demons for their views; Shi Mo called for war against humans, while Shi Pan advocated patiently growing stronger.
• Lord Rat argued that humans should be used for their skills and resources, with White Cloud Temple serving as cover until the demons became powerful enough.
• Shi Jian ordered the demons not to attack humans recklessly, told Shi Mo to control his hatred, and directed the four lineages to claim territory and develop their people.

Zhao Yanshan secured the Azure Light Gate’s cooperation and oversaw the forced clearing and development of the Clear Wind Mountain Range as an eight-hundred-li Beast Pasturing Mountain. Alarmed by the Zhao Clan’s rising influence, Sun Mao ordered the Sun Clan to invest heavily in Chengzu so he could reach Foundation Establishment and restore their standing.

• After a Golden Core Demon Beast uprooted the lightning-struck stone forest, news of its power spread and silenced resistance to White Cloud Temple’s expansion.
• Zhao Yanshan persuaded Qingxuan to cooperate with the mountain-range merger, and True Person Qingshan ordered the Azure Light Gate to follow Zhao’s plan.
• White Cloud Temple and the Azure Light Gate drove Rogue Cultivators and clan cultivators from the Clear Wind Mountain Range, killing three Foundation Establishment troublemakers as a warning.
• Formation masters began linking the mountain ranges’ earth veins, while Zhao Yanshan coordinated the spoils and secured White Cloud Temple the largest share.
• Sun Mao learned that Zhao Yanshan had gained the ancestor’s favor and feared the Sun Clan would be sidelined.
• Sun Mao ordered the Sun Clan to divert another twenty percent of its resources to Chengzu so he could reach Foundation Establishment within three years.

As the Zhao Clan advanced the merger of the Great Maple and Clear Wind Mountain Ranges, Sun Mao sought another way to win the Ancestor’s favor by acquiring rare treasures. He and Zhao Yanshan exchanged veiled threats at White Cloud Temple, and Zhao Yanshan resolved to accelerate the work at Beast Pasturing Mountain.

• Under Zhao Yanshan's coordination, the Great Maple and Clear Wind Mountain Ranges were set to merge within three years, giving the Zhao Clan a chance to rise again.
• Sun Lin told Sun Mao that the Sun Clan had spent thirty percent of its available Spirit Stones, and Sun Mao ordered a search for rare Demon Beasts, spirit fruits, and precious medicines to please the Ancestor.
• Sun Mao and his clansmen delivered a costly shipment of Purple Cloud Lingzhi to White Cloud Temple's general affairs hall.
• Zhao Yanshan questioned whether the cold-natured herbs would appeal to the Ancestor, and Sun Mao defended the Sun Clan's value as the Ancestor's kin and a weapon kept ready for crucial moments.
• After Sun Mao departed, Zhao Yanshan told a clansman that Sun Mao was calculating rather than foolish and ordered the Zhao Clan to speed up its work at Beast Pasturing Mountain.

Shi Jian reassured Sun Mao of his bond with the Sun Clan and gave him the Blood Sha Sect’s hidden contacts to gather resources and secretly disrupt Fenghe Commandery. He planned to balance the Sun Clan’s covert work against the Zhao Clan’s public influence.

• Shi Jian accepted the rare beasts and other gifts Sun Mao brought, then asked him how he viewed the Zhao Clan’s recent prominence.
• Sun Mao admitted his resentment but said the Sun Clan would hold back rather than interfere with Shi Jian’s plans.
• Shi Jian recalled his old ties to the Sun Clan and gave Sun Mao a Jade Slip containing the Blood Sha Sect’s hidden contacts and codes.
• Shi Jian ordered Sun Mao to use the contacts to gather Demon Beast specimens near the Wei-Jin border and sabotage Fenghe Commandery in secret.
• After Sun Mao left, Shi Jian told Lord Rat he intended to keep the Zhao and Sun Clans in check by letting one work openly and the other in the shadows.

Sun Mao recruited remnants of the Blood Sha Sect and ordered them to raid Fenghe Commandery, keeping the Fenghe Sect under constant pressure. The chapter ended with Yan Qiu unable to catch the raiders as they repeatedly vanished and returned.

• Sun Mao paid Blood Sha Sect operatives to gather their scattered members and infiltrate Fenghe Commandery, targeting markets, herb gardens, and isolated disciples.
• Sun Mao also ordered the operatives to seek out live bears, rats, and dogs with rare bloodlines.
• Devil-path bandits infiltrated Changfeng Market and killed a Fenghe Sect inner disciple, then carried out raids across Fenghe Commandery.
• Yan Qiu ordered the Fenghe Sect to lock down markets, guard resource sites, and capture the raiders alive.
• Sun Mao's operatives evaded the enforcement teams by hiding, then resumed their raids whenever the sect withdrew its forces.

The Fenghe Sect suffered a third caravan massacre as the Azure Light Gate and White Cloud Temple cut off trade, forcing it to abandon outposts and seal its mountain. Sun Mao then ordered the Devil Cultivators to destabilize Fenghe Commandery and continued sending rare Demon Beasts and materials to Shi Jian to secure favor for Sun Chengzu.

• Devil Cultivators ambushed a Fenghe Sect caravan in Hundred-Li Valley, killed its elder and disciples, and stole the red copper ore.
• Yan Qiu withdrew into seclusion, while Fenghe Sect elders learned that attacks and rumors had spread through the commandery and that the Azure Light Gate and White Cloud Temple had severed trade.
• The Fenghe Sect elders ordered everyone outside the sect to return, abandoned its outlying markets and resources, and sealed the mountain.
• Sun Mao told Sun Lin to disperse the Devil Cultivators among Fenghe Commandery's cities and Rogue Cultivator gathering places to undermine the Fenghe Sect's support and future recruits.
• Sun Mao ordered Sun Lin to deliver two mutated Rock Armor Bears and Lightning Martens to Purple Firmament Peak, continuing the Sun Clan's offerings to Shi Jian for Sun Chengzu's benefit.

Twelve-year-old Sun Chengzu practiced his swordsmanship at Cold Water Pool before Sun Mao arranged for him to kill a captured Fenghe Sect spy. Afterward, Sun Mao ordered Sun Lin to dispose of the body and intensify attacks on the Fenghe Sect's holdings outside its sealed mountain gate.

• Sun Chengzu practiced sword techniques without spiritual power and helped an Icefield Bear cub learn to strike with its strength.
• Sun Mao praised Sun Chengzu's talent and gave him a captured Fenghe Sect spy so he could experience killing.
• Sun Chengzu killed the spy with a single sword strike and then calmly returned to feeding the Icefield Bear cub.
• Sun Mao ordered Sun Lin to dispose of the corpse and direct their covert contacts to destroy the Fenghe Sect's spiritual fields and lakes.

Shi Jian strengthened the Cloud Sword Mountain Range while Lord Rat reported on the demons’ progress and a devastating battle in the North Sea. With the human-demon war poised to worsen, Shi Jian planned to exploit the coming chaos to gather resources and pursue the Nascent Soul realm.

• Shi Jian learned that the bear demons were training on Purple Firmament Peak, while Shi Pan and Shi Mo led cultivation efforts on Boulder Peak and Ringing Metal Peak.
• Lord Rat reported that his clan had established an intelligence network across White Cloud Temple’s territory and beyond.
• Lord Rat told Shi Jian that seven Nascent Soul True Lords had battled the sea ape Demon King and four other Demon Kings, leaving a Grand Purity True Lord dead and Sea-Suppressing Immortal City’s outer defenses destroyed.
• Shi Jian learned that Yun Du and White Cloud Temple’s party had avoided the direct fighting, though several elders were injured or killed, and he ordered them to stay alert and retreat if the front collapsed.
• Shi Jian surveyed the growing strength of White Cloud Temple’s branches and resolved to use the coming chaos to seize resources and advance toward Nascent Soul.

Five years after White Cloud Temple’s rise, Sun Chengzu led its expanded disciple recruitment ceremony and intervened when elders fought over talented twins. He sent the siblings to await the temple master’s or grand elder’s decision, and the testing continued.

• White Cloud Temple grew prosperous as its mountain ranges and resources expanded, while the Zhao Clan gained two Foundation Establishment cultivators and the Fenghe Sect remained sealed off.
• Sun Chengzu opened the mountain gate for the recruitment ceremony and oversaw tens of thousands of hopefuls climbing the steps and taking Spirit Root tests.
• Seven children from the Sun Clan’s mortal branch were admitted, including two with Three Spirit Roots and five with Four Spirit Roots.
• A pair of twins tested as having Dual Spirit Roots, prompting Foundation Establishment elders from the Yun and Zhao Clans to argue over where they should train.
• Sun Chengzu cited sect rules and ordered the twins housed on the main peak until the grand elder emerged, then resumed the testing.

During White Cloud Temple’s recruitment ceremony, Lu Xun revealed a Lightning Spirit Root and became Sun Lin’s disciple. The ceremony ended with the sect welcoming an unprecedented flourishing of new talent and strength.

• Lu Xun’s Spirit Root test produced purple-gold light and lightning, revealing his Lightning Spirit Root.
• The clan elders refrained from claiming Lu Xun, wary of the authority and expertise of the cultivator on Purple Firmament Peak.
• Sun Lin arrived, offered to take Lu Xun as his disciple, and brought him away after Lu Xun accepted.
• Sun Chengzu resumed the testing, and White Cloud Temple’s recruitment ceremony ended with thirty-five inner disciples, more than two hundred outer disciples, and over five hundred menial disciples recruited.
• White Cloud Temple celebrated as its Golden Core cultivators, lineages, Foundation Establishment forces, and newly recruited disciples marked an era of unprecedented prosperity.

Lord Rat and Lei Huan subdued the Gale Wolves and organized Beast Pasturing Mountain’s demons under Shi Jian’s rules, while Lord Rat’s rat army secretly mined the mountain’s rich ore veins. The chapter left the new demon territories under Lei Huan’s command and the underground mining operation already well underway.

• Lord Rat and Lei Huan killed the Gale Wolf King after it attacked them, and the surviving wolves fled.
• Lord Rat ordered the wolf king’s corpse and Demon Core collected, then explained that the demons would be assigned territories and trade their dead for resources from the Human Race.
• The cyan ape clan and the other Demon Beast leaders swore allegiance to the Ancestor, and Lord Rat left Lei Huan in charge of dividing the territories.
• Lord Rat inspected the underground mine, where tens of thousands of rats had already extracted much of the rich black iron and red gold veins.

Lord Rat gathered Shi Jian’s seven Foundation Establishment demon confidants to divide resources and review their growing lineages. He reported that Fenghe Sect’s Yan Qiu planned to bring the Blood Bone Devil Sect into the Wei Kingdom to attack White Cloud Temple, and relayed Shi Jian’s intent to make the conflict even more chaotic.

• Lord Rat returned from Beast Pasturing Mountain and distributed resources among Shi Mo, Shi Pan, Xiong Shan, Kuang Dou, Lei Nu, and Lei Zhen according to their lineages’ needs.
• The demons praised Shi Jian’s strategy of using human factions to gather resources and strengthen the Demon Race without committing their own forces.
• The lineage leaders reported thousands of demons across their ranks, including more than two thousand black dogs, while Lord Rat noted their forces had grown into the foundation of a Golden Core power.
• Lord Rat warned that the North Sea front was worsening and Yun Du might soon lead a breakout if the Human Race’s defenses collapsed.
• Lord Rat revealed that Yan Qiu had secretly contacted the Blood Bone Devil Sect to invade the Wei Kingdom and target White Cloud Temple.
• Lord Rat said Shi Jian wanted the demons to inflame the conflict so they could profit from the ensuing chaos.

Yan Qiu invited the Jin and Liang Kingdoms to invade the Wei Kingdom while its great sects were occupied in the North Sea, and their Nascent Soul leaders agreed to divide its territory. Shi Jian ordered the Demon Race to withdraw, preserve its strength, and follow the armies to scavenge the coming war.

• Yan Qiu sent the Blood Bone Devil Sect a letter offering to guide its forces through the Fenghe Sect’s pass into the Wei Kingdom.
• Qiu Xiao consulted the Blood Bone Ancestor, who ordered him to rally the other Jin Kingdom devil sects for an invasion.
• The Jin and Liang Kingdoms’ Nascent Soul leaders agreed to attack the Wei Kingdom and divide its territory between their sects.
• Shi Jian told Lord Rat that Yan Qiu would likely be killed and that the Wei Kingdom’s three great sects could still resist the invaders.
• Shi Jian ordered the Demon Race to retreat into the mountains and instructed Lord Rat to trail the Jin Kingdom army, gathering corpses and resources from the fighting.

As the Jin and Liang Kingdoms invaded, Wei's three great sects revealed their strength and organized defenses across the North Sea and the southwestern frontier. White Cloud Temple and its subordinate clans received a forced mobilization order to march to Heavenly Void Pass, leaving Sun Chengzu to safeguard the Sun Clan.

• The Profound Purity Sect sent eight Nascent Soul True Lords to drive back the Sea Ape Demon King's beast tide in the North Sea.
• The Supreme Purity Sect deployed seven Nascent Soul patriarchs to establish a defensive formation across the seven great passes and ordered its eighteen Golden Core powers to mobilize.
• Yun Du returned to White Cloud Temple with only five of the ten Foundation Establishment cultivators who had left, and delivered the Supreme Purity Sect's order to defend Heavenly Void Pass.
• Yun Du ordered White Cloud Temple and the nine subordinate counties to assemble cultivators for the march, while Yun Tianfan rang the summons bell.
• Sun Mao ordered the Sun Clan's Foundation Establishment cultivators and most of its elite Qi Refining disciples to fight, and told Sun Chengzu to remain behind and protect the clan's future.
• Zhao Yanshan prepared supplies and urged the Zhao Clan's fighters to prioritize survival as the subordinate lineages gathered their best cultivators for war.

Shi Jian led a small force of demons to join White Cloud Temple and Azure Light Gate at Heavenly Void Pass, where the allied cultivators prepared to defend the frontier. The pass appeared well protected, but the attackers had not yet been identified.

• Shi Jian ordered most of his demon branches to stay hidden and sent Shi Mo, Kuang Dou, and Lord Rat to Heavenly Void Pass to gather battlefield spoils while avoiding unnecessary risks.
• Yun Du assembled White Cloud Temple's forces, and Shi Jian arrived with the three demons before the army set out alongside Azure Light Gate.
• The flying boats reached Heavenly Void Pass, where a Supreme Purity Sect elder assigned White Cloud Temple and Azure Light Gate to the pass's left flank.
• Shi Jian, Yun Du, and True Person Qingshan noted that Heavenly Void Pass had six Golden Core cultivators, True Lord Fang Yi, and a fourth-rank formation, but did not know which Devil Cultivator sect would attack.

True Person Qingshan gave Shi Jian and Yun Du longevity pills and healing treasures as the defenders prepared for war at Heavenly Void Pass. The chapter ended with the arrival of a vast Jin Kingdom Devil Cultivator army led by two Nascent Soul Devil Lords, which camped outside the pass.

• True Person Qingshan identified the likely threats to Heavenly Void Pass and gave Shi Jian and Yun Du Three-Transformation Longevity Pills.
• True Person Qingshan gave Yun Du Nine Heavens Cloud Marrow and Spirit-Nurturing Wood to heal his injured foundation.
• Over three days, the defenders strengthened Heavenly Void Pass while Lord Rat's demons prepared tunnels and Shi Mo and Kuang Dou concealed themselves near the walls.
• A horn sounded at noon, and Shi Jian, Yun Du, and True Person Qingshan rushed to the walls as the enemy approached.
• The defenders identified the two enemy leaders as Heavenly Corpse Old Devil of the Yin Corpse Sect and Nine-Headed Poison Lord of the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect.
• The two Nascent Soul Devil Lords brought their army within a hundred li of Heavenly Void Pass and set up camp without immediately attacking.

The Devil Cultivators launched a full assault on Heavenly Void Pass while True Lord Fang Yi and the two enemy Nascent Soul cultivators maintained a standoff above the battlefield. The battle became a brutal war of attrition as the defenders fought to hold the pass.

• True Lord Fang Yi raised Heavenly Void Pass's fourth-tier protective formation as Heavenly Corpse Old Devil and Nine-Headed Poison Lord challenged him.
• True Lord Fang Yi, Heavenly Corpse Old Devil, and Nine-Headed Poison Lord met above the battlefield but avoided a fight to the death and traded insults instead.
• The Devil Cultivator army attacked the protective curtain with blood-red beams from its white-bone flying boats, while Golden Core cultivators from both sides clashed in the sky.
• The defenders bombarded the advancing Devil Cultivators and iron corpses with Law Techniques, while the attackers struck the formation with sinister techniques.
• Foundation Establishment cultivators flew out from Heavenly Void Pass to destroy the high-grade bronze corpses tearing at the formation.