Chapter Summaries

Yang Lingrui emerged from seclusion with formidable Wind Dao skill and an even stronger talent in the Killing Dao, leaving Peng Tao unsure whether the Fuyao Sect should recruit him. After Yang Lingrui narrowly lost three duels while using only Wind Dao techniques, the Fuyao Sect Senior Sister challenged him to fight without restraint.

• Yang Lingrui greeted the Yang Clan elders and the Fuyao Sect, whose members sensed the ferocity of his Killing Dao.
• Peng Tao recognized Yang Lingrui's exceptional Wind Dao talent but hesitated to recruit him because his Killing Dao potential appeared greater.
• Dongfang Zonggan proposed that Yang Lingrui discuss the Dao with the Fuyao Sect disciples, and Yang Lingrui agreed.
• Peng Tao ordered the three Fuyao Sect disciples to fight Yang Lingrui in actual combat despite their reluctance.
• Yang Lingrui fought using only Wind Dao techniques and narrowly lost all three duels, while the Fuyao Sect disciples realized he had held back.
• The Fuyao Sect Senior Sister challenged Yang Lingrui to unleash all his methods and killing moves against her.

Yang Lingrui accepted Yun Xiwu’s invitation to discuss the Dao and test their skills, hoping to improve his wind cultivation and temper his newly gained killing intent. They flew toward the Apex of the Firmament while Dongfang Zonggan and Peng Tao sealed off the sky, preventing the Fuyao Sect protectors from watching.

• Dongfang Zonggan told Yang Lingrui that he could accept or decline Yun Xiwu’s invitation without pressure.
• Yang Lingrui considered how a battle with Yun Xiwu could reveal his weaknesses, help him overcome a wind Dao bottleneck, and temper his killing intent.
• Yang Lingrui accepted Yun Xiwu’s invitation and said he wanted to witness the foremost prodigies of Azure Waves.
• Yun Xiwu and Yang Lingrui transformed into wind and flew toward the Apex of the Firmament.
• Dongfang Zonggan and Peng Tao followed and erected an isolation barrier that kept the Fuyao Sect protectors from witnessing the Dao discussion.

Yang Lingrui and Yun Xiwu began their duel inside a sealed battlefield, where he revealed his wind-and-killing Dao techniques and she easily overcame his first attack. As Yun Xiwu faced his manifested Ghost King, Yang Lingrui transformed again, leaving the outcome of the contest unresolved.

• Yang Lingrui unleashed Divine Wind Pursues Life, a technique that fused the wind and killing paths, but Yun Xiwu scattered it with a cyan wind blade.
• Yun Xiwu recognized that killing intent powered Yang Lingrui’s technique, then cut it apart with a sword of Azure Nether Divine Wind carrying Taicang Sword Intent.
• Peng Tao praised Yang Lingrui’s talent while Dongfang Zonggan suggested that cultivators need not follow the old distinction between primary and supplementary paths.
• Yang Lingrui summoned a green-faced Ghost King, which Yun Xiwu initially judged insufficient to challenge her.
• The Ghost King seized Yang Lingrui, whose body turned into Two Forms Divine Wind and condensed into a black-and-red mask in the Ghost King’s hand.

Yun Xiwu trapped Yang Lingrui’s masked Ghost King in the Azure Nether Wind Formation, where the two fought despite his overwhelming power. Peng Tao realized Yang Lingrui was using the inevitable defeat to temper his killing intent against Yun Xiwu’s wind Dao, leaving her unknowingly serving as his whetstone.

• The Ghost King donned the Life Official Mask, summoned a giant axe, and attacked Yun Xiwu with renewed strength.
• Yun Xiwu activated the Azure Nether Wind Formation and suppressed the Ghost King, forcing him to fight the winds as they wore down his form and spirit.
• Peng Tao and Dongfang Zonggan exchanged news about Dongfang Zonggan’s recent opportunity through Spatial Sorcery, keeping its details unspoken.
• As Yang Lingrui’s Ghost King began to weaken in the formation, Peng Tao noticed its killing intent had become fully condensed.
• Peng Tao concluded that Yang Lingrui was using Yun Xiwu’s wind Dao as an opportunity to temper his own killing intent.

Yang Lingrui endured Yun Xiwu’s Azure Nether Wind Formation to adapt to her orthodox Wind Dao, while Peng Tao and Dongfang Zonggan discussed a dangerous alternative path for him to access Fuyao Sect’s wind arts. They settled on the Unreturning Wind Cave, whose next opening would come during the Wind Chasing Ceremony in three years.

• Yun Xiwu’s Azure Nether Divine Wind destroyed Yang Lingrui’s Ghost King form, leaving only his mask drifting inside the formation.
• Yun Xiwu sensed that Yang Lingrui was adapting to her wind and realized he had entered the battle to comprehend her orthodox Wind Dao inheritance.
• Yun Xiwu put away her sword and allowed Yang Lingrui to continue comprehending the wind’s circulation.
• Peng Tao told Dongfang Zonggan that Yang Lingrui could pursue another route to Fuyao Sect’s wind arts because changing the sect’s disciple rules required wider approval.
• Peng Tao proposed that Yang Lingrui seek an Unreturning Wind Breath in the Unreturning Wind Cave during the Wind Chasing Ceremony in three years.

The chapter explained the Unreturning Wind Cave, the Fuyao Sect’s inherited treasure, and why the sect opened the cave to Wind Dao cultivators every twelve years. It revealed that Yun Xiwu had refused to inherit the Fuyao ancestor’s orthodoxy, choosing instead to pursue her own Wind Dao.

• The Fuyao ancestor left the Unreturning Divine Wind with the Fuyao Sect, where it served as the key to entering the dangerous Unreturning Wind Cave.
• The Fuyao Sect established the Wind Chasing Ceremony so cultivators could explore the cave during its twelve-year period of stability and seek Unreturning Wind Breath.
• The Fuyao Sect used the ceremony to obtain Unreturning Wind Breath and mend flaws in its inherited Divine Wind.
• Yun Xiwu entered the cave nine years earlier and obtained five strands of Unreturning Wind Breath, demonstrating exceptional Wind Dao talent and fortune.
• Yun Xiwu returned the five strands and refused the Fuyao orthodoxy, telling the elders she would follow her own path of seeking and comprehending the Dao.

Yang Lingrui endured Yun Xiwu’s Azure Nether Divine Wind and gained insight into his Dao before the Fuyao Sect departed, while Jia Huarai returned to Tiger Chasing after achieving True Intent. Huo Yuan concluded that the strange aura in the Eastern Wilderness might be a Sign of Fetal Movement.

• Yun Xiwu put Yang Lingrui through a powerful wind formation, and he endured it long enough to gain complete insight into her wind technique.
• Yun Xiwu infused a wisp of Azure Nether Wind Breath into Yang Lingrui’s Two Forms Divine Wind, leaving him a token of their debt before he collapsed from exhaustion.
• Peng Tao offered Yang Lingrui an early-entry slot for the Wind Chasing Ceremony, and the Fuyao Sect party departed after Yang Lingqing accepted.
• The Fuyao Sect’s True Intent Cultivators sensed a sharp presence in the Hundred Thousand Mountains and suspected it belonged to the Northwest Sword Immortal Jia Huarai.
• Jia Huarai returned to Tiger Chasing, reported his experiences to Murong Zhenlin and Huo Yuan, and described a strange aura in the Eastern Wilderness.
• Huo Yuan said the aura he had sensed might be the Sign of Fetal Movement.

Murong Zhenlin, Jia Huarai, and Huo Yuan investigated an abnormal nine-year pregnancy in the Eastern Wilderness and suspected it was connected to the region’s military buildup. After dispatching Huo Yuan and Jia Huarai to investigate and reinforce the frontier, Murong Zhenlin used the Murong Clan’s secret art and realized that his earlier difficulties with deduction had stemmed from the Yang Clan’s rising fortune.

• Jia Huarai confirmed that the aura he had sensed over the Eastern Wasteland Dynasty matched the fetal movement Huo Yuan had previously detected, and the three concluded the pregnancy had lasted about nine years.
• Murong Zhenlin linked the Eastern Wilderness’s troop deployments to the abnormal pregnancy and ordered Huo Yuan to investigate the matter at the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion.
• Murong Zhenlin gave Jia Huarai deployment orders and sent him to support Consort Xi on the eastern frontier.
• Alone in the dragon vein, Murong Zhenlin used the Murong Clan’s secret deduction art and traced its former suppression to the Yang Clan’s growing fortune.

Murong Zhenlin’s deduction revealed that the Eastern Wilderness First Prince’s dragon fortune was bound by red ribbons controlled by his pregnant teacher, and he narrowly escaped an attack from the unborn Yuan'er. The teacher blamed Murong to the First Prince and urged their plans forward, while Yuchi Zhenlong vowed revenge and promised to gather blood essence for the child.

• Murong Zhenlin deduced that the Eastern Wilderness First Prince’s dragon shadow was shackled by two red ribbons and suspected his teacher was using him to secure power for her unborn child.
• Murong Zhenlin resisted the deduction’s backlash, but the red ribbons coiled around his neck as the unborn Yuan'er tried to strike him through them.
• Murong Zhenlin ended the deduction, called the unborn child an evil spawn, and the resulting killing intent vanished.
• The pregnant female cultivator soothed Yuan'er in a secluded forbidden ground, then cursed Murong Zhenlin for disrupting her plans.
• The First Prince rushed to the female cultivator, who claimed Murong had tried to harm Yuan'er and said she had driven him away.
• Yuchi Zhenlong told her that the western armies were nearly deployed and vowed to gather blood essence for Yuan'er and make the Tiger Chasing Dynasty pay.

The First Prince revealed a grotesque, artificially assembled dragon body while secretly helping his pregnant teacher nurture Yuan'er, unaware that she was using him to gather the Imperial Blood Essences and reunite Eastern Wilderness's national fortune. After a six-month lull at the Yang Family Sacred Land, Chen Yang assembled the others to examine the first Two-Dao Spirit Pill he and Chen Huaien had made.

• The First Prince showed his teacher his patchwork True Dragon Body and gave her True Dragon Breath to nourish Yuan'er, further shortening his lifespan.
• After the First Prince left, the female cultivator revealed she had obtained two of the three Imperial Blood Essences and needed the Crown Prince's Blood to reunite Eastern Wilderness's national fortune.
• Yang Lingrui returned to seclusion to refine his comprehension of the Wind Dao, while Song Heng gathered the Song clan cultivators' blood essences for Blood Sun Venerable God.
• Chen Yang summoned Blood Sun Venerable God, Liuli, Yu Xun, and Chen Huaien's spirit body to the Divine Palace.
• Chen Yang revealed the first Two-Dao Spirit Pill made with Chen Huaien and asked the assembled group to assess whether it could remake a body and exchange its bones.

Chen Yang learned that Dao Integration had altered the medicinal power in the replicated pill, making most of it difficult for mortal cultivators to absorb. Liuli traced the problem to the pill being perfected too early, and the chapter ended with her showing Chen Yang crystals of the altered medicinal power.

• Yu Xun told Chen Yang that the pill might nourish blood and vitality but would probably not renew the body because Dao Integration had changed how its medicinal power was stored.
• Liuli questioned Chen Huaien about the pill’s refining time, fire, and flaws, then identified the Immortal Path Method’s near-perfect refinement as the cause of the problem.
• Chen Yang realized the pill needed room for the later methods to take effect, rather than reaching perfection before their final step.
• Liuli opened a corner of the manifested pill and showed Chen Yang crystals of altered medicinal power that mortal cultivators could scarcely absorb.

Chen Yang and the others developed a new method for refining Dao Integration pills by analyzing their failed first attempt and combining theory with repeated practice. After months of refinement and testing Song Clan blood cores, they produced five stable pills, and Chen Yang prepared to complete the final step by adding his divine power.

• Chen Yang discussed the failed pill with Liuli and gathered the others to work out a better refining method.
• After hours of analysis, Chen Yang devised a revised method, and Chen Huaien spent three months refining stable pill bases.
• Blood Sun tested different Song Clan blood-core ratios, while Song Heng arranged for the Song Clan cultivators to provide essence blood and Chen Yang compensated them with enlightenment opportunities.
• Blood Sun successfully fused Song Clan blood cores into five pills and reported that they were ready for the final step.
• Chen Yang examined a pill and realized his earlier mistake had been assuming that adding more divine power would always improve the result.

Chen Yang spent nearly a year refining Dao Integration spirit pills and successfully produced seven, with the eleventh attempt yielding the finest. He then summoned Yang Yuanxing from Sanglu Valley, where Yuanxing's advice to two younger Yang Clan children took an unexpected turn.

• Chen Yang adjusted the balance of divine and malevolent power through repeated failures, refining seven stable Dao Integration spirit pills before the twelfth pill collapsed.
• Chen Yang ordered Chen Huaien to bring Yang Yuanxing from Sanglu Valley to Shenlin Peak.
• While Yang Yuanxing guided Yang Yuancheng and Yang Yuanfei through cultivation doubts, he told them to remember the Yang Clan's history and fulfill their own roles in helping the family flourish.
• Chen Huaien arrived with Elder Yu and escorted Yang Yuanxing away, while Yang Yuancheng and Yang Yuanfei told Elder Yu they would cultivate diligently and asked whether he knew how to make babies.

Chen Yang evaluated Yang Yuanxing as the best candidate for rebirth through blood transformation because of his ordinary aptitude, early cultivation stage, and dedication to the Yang Clan. After hearing Yang Yuanxing’s resolve to shoulder greater responsibilities, Chen Yang gave him seven Blood Forging Marrow Transformation Pills.

• Elder Yu told the two children to focus on cultivation and treat it as a way to revive the Lineage.
• Chen Yang selected Yang Yuanxing for blood transformation because he was still at the Qi Gathering Realm and put the family first.
• Yang Yuanxing met Chen Yang and reported that his cultivation had reached the Third Level of Qi Gathering after two years and three months.
• Yang Yuanxing praised the Yang Clan’s stable growth and vowed to contribute through diligence and hard work.
• Chen Yang approved of Yang Yuanxing’s resolve and presented him with seven Blood Forging Marrow Transformation Pills.

Chen Yang oversaw Yang Yuanxing taking the fierce Blood Forging Marrow Transformation Pill, which caused him terrible pain but began transforming his blood and marrow. Yang Yuanxing survived the first session, and Chen Yang told Yang Lingqing that he would need about five more sessions to complete the process.

• Yang Yuanxing accepted Chen Yang's pill despite its painful effects, hoping to contribute more to the Lineage.
• Yang Yuanxing swallowed the pill and endured the Blood Forging stage as his skin split and blood soaked his robes.
• Chen Yang encouraged Yang Yuanxing through the Marrow Transformation stage, and Yang Yuanxing held on until the medicinal power entered his bone marrow.
• The next morning, Yang Lingqing caught the unconscious Yang Yuanxing as he emerged from Chen Yang's cave dwelling.
• Chen Yang told Yang Lingqing that Yang Yuanxing needed about five more sessions, then praised him as capable of great accomplishments.

A Barbarian force trapped by the Eastern Wasteland army fought on rather than abandon its wounded, even after learning that no reinforcements had arrived. As the general and strategist faced death, the Divine Guard Camp appeared and rescued them.

• The general rejected his strategist’s advice to abandon the wounded and led the force north, trusting that reinforcements would meet them.
• The force reached the rendezvous point, found no reinforcements, and discovered it was surrounded by enemy troops.
• The general led his soldiers in a desperate fight, but the larger Eastern Wasteland force repeatedly drove them back.
• The strategist fought beside the wounded general, and both were gravely injured while facing four Eastern Wasteland cultivators.
• A hidden figure killed one of the four attackers, and a young female cultivator shielded the general and strategist with an earthen technique as the Divine Guard Camp arrived.

A Divine Guard Camp cultivator in Han Wang’s force used an overwhelming set of spiritual treasures to pursue an Eastern Wilderness cultivator, who guessed that the Yang Clan was supporting the barbarians. The fugitive escaped by sacrificing an arm, but Han Wang killed him with talisman-summoned lightning.

• The Eastern Wilderness cultivators recognized the young female cultivator’s armor as resembling gear from the elite force that had annihilated their reinforcements, and one tried to flee.
• A Divine Guard Camp cultivator blocked the fleeing man, whose golden blades failed against the pursuer’s full set of defensive treasures.
• The pursuer’s hooked blade broke through the Eastern Wilderness cultivator’s defenses, so the man sacrificed his right arm in an explosive spell to escape.
• The Eastern Wilderness cultivator concluded that the Yang Clan was supplying the barbarians and headed west to report the intelligence.
• Han Wang used three talismans to summon lightning that killed the escaping cultivator.

Han Wang led Lin Qiao and the relief force out of an Eastern Wilderness encirclement, then inferred from reports of pursuing troops that the First Prince had launched a major counteroffensive. He ordered nearby units to retreat without engaging and explained to Lin Qiao how value, timing, and location revealed the danger.

• Han Wang returned to the battlefield and found Lin Qiao had subdued two Eastern Wilderness cultivators with her earth art.
• Han Wang recognized Lin Qiao’s exceptional combat record and saw that her earth art had helped wipe out the remaining Eastern Wilderness troops.
• Han Wang led the barbarian force to join the relief troops and retreat from the dangerous area.
• A scout reported Eastern Wilderness troops pursuing the retreat, and Han Wang warned that a full-scale counteroffensive might be underway.
• Han Wang ordered nearby units to retreat without engaging, then explained to Lin Qiao that the pursuit’s value, timing, and location pointed to a major move by the First Prince of the Eastern Wilderness.

Lin Qiao became a leading fighter in the Barbarian Land as Eastern Wilderness’s offensive stalled on its eastern and western fronts but succeeded against the Yunchu Dynasty. The Yunchu Emperor ordered the Crown Prince to lead a counterattack, advancing the First Prince’s plan to ignite wars across four fronts and gather blood energy for the fetus carried by a red-robed cultivator.

• Han Wang explained how Yang Lingqing’s warning helped the Barbarian Land prepare for Eastern Wilderness’s advance, and Lin Qiao thanked him for his battlefield instruction.
• The Barbarian Land’s prepared forces intercepted Eastern Wilderness, halting its advance and entering a prolonged strategic deadlock in which Lin Qiao earned the title “Wicked Wasteland Demoness.”
• Murong Zhenlin’s traps forced Eastern Wilderness troops to withdraw from Tiger Chasing territory and face the Tiger Chasing Dynasty across the combat zones.
• Eastern Wilderness’s lightning assault seized more than one-fifth of Yunchu territory and annihilated the Yunchu northern border army’s main force.
• The Yunchu Emperor ordered the Crown Prince to lead a costly counterattack against Eastern Wilderness.
• The First Prince and his teacher’s plan aimed to spark wars on four fronts so the resulting blood energy could nourish the fetus in the red-robed female cultivator’s womb.

The Eastern Wasteland Dynasty advanced north after massacring cities, and the major sects realized they might be targets and fled. At Chuyun Pavilion, Luo Yuan learned of the atrocities and worried the Dynasty could threaten them, but his Junior Brother trusted in the sect’s Ancestor and distance for protection.

• The Eastern Wasteland Dynasty continued north after conquering small nations, and three sect elders sent to investigate vanished without explanation.
• After hearing of the city massacres, the major sects abandoned their homes, dismissed low-ranking disciples, and fled farther north.
• Luo Yuan heard that more southern sects had arrived at Chuyun Pavilion seeking refuge and asked his Junior Brother to report what had happened.
• Luo Yuan read a letter describing the Eastern Wasteland’s atrocities and asked whether Chuyun Pavilion’s elders had prepared a strategy.
• Luo Yuan’s Junior Brother dismissed his fears, believing the Eastern Wasteland would not attack Chuyun Pavilion and that its Ancestor would protect it.