Recaps

Li Xuanxiao and Di Nüfeng took shelter in a mountain temple, where Li Xuanxiao treated a poisoned disciple of the Nine Palaces Mausoleum and Di Nüfeng instantly killed the Nascent Soul old demon pursuing them. After learning of a four-year-old Foundation Establishment genius in the Kingdom of Rong, Li Xuanxiao became keenly interested.

• Li Xuanxiao and Di Nüfeng entered an abandoned mountain god temple during a storm after failing to find what they sought.
• A group of Nine Palaces Mausoleum disciples arrived with a poisoned young woman, and Li Xuanxiao treated her until she regained consciousness.
• The Second Prince of the Kingdom of Rong revealed his identity and explained that a Nascent Soul old demon had nearly killed the group.
• Di Nüfeng left the temple and killed the pursuing old demon after Li Xuanxiao promised to tell her a story.
• The Second Prince told the group about a four-year-old Foundation Establishment genius who had slain a demon, and Li Xuanxiao listened with interest.

Cheng Tianyou advanced his cultivation while trying to live differently from his previous lives and grow strong enough to reunite with Lin Wanqing. In the city, he helped the poor and rescued two sisters from Cheng Family bullies, drawing the attention of Li Xuanxiao.

• Cheng Tianyou reached the Foundation Establishment Late Stage at four years old, and Father Cheng prayed that his dead wife would protect him.
• Cheng Tianyou cultivated on a hillside, recalled that Fanyue had been reborn and that Wanqing had given him another chance, and resolved to delay visiting her until he was stronger.
• Cheng Tianyou visited Aunt Liu, then ordered the Cheng Family to serve meat to the disaster-stricken commoners at its porridge shed.
• Cheng Tianyou intervened when Cheng Family youths terrorized two sisters, beat one youth badly, and sent the others fleeing.
• Li Xuanxiao watched Cheng Tianyou from a roadside tea stall and wondered how he had become so upstanding.

Li Xuanxiao confirmed that Cheng Tianyou was Fanyue reincarnated and tried several times to kill him, but unseen forces thwarted his plans. When Li Xuanxiao finally attacked Cheng Tianyou openly, heavenly lightning and a protective phantom intervened, leaving him facing a gathering lightning tribulation.

• After months of investigation, Li Xuanxiao confirmed that Cheng Tianyou was Fanyue reincarnated and retained his former memories.
• Li Xuanxiao failed to kill Cheng Tianyou through staged accidents and poison, then decided to attack him directly.
• Cheng Tianyou and his two Nascent Soul guards entered Li Xuanxiao's layered formation, which separated one guard and trapped Cheng Tianyou.
• As Cheng Tianyou escaped the formation, Li Xuanxiao kicked him and attacked, but heavenly lightning forced Li Xuanxiao back.
• Li Xuanxiao's Crane-Top Silver Needles were repelled by a phantom protecting Cheng Tianyou as the lightning tribulation gathered overhead.

Ling Xuanxiao tried to kill Fanyue, but Heaven’s protection and a crowd of civilians repeatedly obstructed him. After escaping a lightning tribulation, Ling Xuanxiao used his Nascent Soul to behead Fanyue, leaving the crowd behind as Fanyue died.

• Fanyue’s phantom froze Ling Xuanxiao and shifted them into a market, where townspeople gathered to protect Cheng Tianyou.
• Fanyue confessed to his past-life atrocities and appealed for another chance, while the crowd condemned Ling Xuanxiao for trying to kill him.
• Ling Xuanxiao attacked through the crowd, but Heaven’s lightning struck him to protect Fanyue under Lin Wanqing’s oath.
• As the lightning threatened the market, Ling Xuanxiao flew away from the district and was engulfed by the tribulation.
• Fanyue celebrated his survival until Ling Xuanxiao’s distant Nascent Soul controlled a flying sword that beheaded him.

A wave of crazed monks infiltrated Central Continent as Li Xuanxiao destroyed Fanyue’s soul and endured heavenly punishment by taking cover behind Big Fool Feng. Back at Shu Mountain, he found Lin Wanqing unaware of Fanyue’s death and worried that an unknown force was behind her sudden power and might target Shu Mountain.

• A crazed monk crippled himself to evade Shu Mountain’s surveillance and enter Central Continent, while similar monks crossed the borders in batches.
• After cutting off Fanyue’s head, the tiny Nascent Soul pinned down his soul and destroyed it with Soul-Suppressing Nails, a Soul Annihilation Pearl, and True Fire.
• Li Xuanxiao faced heavenly punishment, then hid behind Big Fool Feng and let the Supreme Emperor Weapon take the lightning strikes.
• Lingxu taught his disciples a sleeping cultivation method, and Li Xuanxiao dismissed the lesson as nonsense.
• Li Xuanxiao observed that Lin Wanqing showed no sign of sensing Fanyue’s death and suspected an unknown force was guiding her and preparing to strike Shu Mountain.

Li Xuanxiao and Di Nüfeng waited for Heavenly Fiend Hall to recruit followers, hoping to learn more about the Deputy Cult Master. Li Xuanxiao infiltrated the cult’s forest camp and, after tricking Zhang Tianxin into posing as the boss, watched her get exposed as a spy.

• Li Xuanxiao explained that he wanted to use Great Sui and Great Xia to strengthen his position, then disguised Di Nüfeng so they could investigate Poison Bodhisattva and Heavenly Fiend Hall.
• Li Xuanxiao questioned a Heavenly Fiend Hall scout and learned the cult planned to recruit followers nearby and had set up a temporary branch in a dense forest.
• Di Nüfeng read a storybook, asked Li Xuanxiao whether he would lie to her, and went to sleep trusting him, leaving him feeling guilty.
• Li Xuanxiao changed his appearance and infiltrated the forest camp, where Zhang Tianxin challenged him for the password.
• Li Xuanxiao slapped Zhang Tianxin and told her the boss needed no password; Zhang Tianxin repeated the trick to a patrol, which identified her as a spy, and Li Xuanxiao recognized her.

Li Xuanxiao rescued Zhang Tianxin, who revealed that the Deputy Cult Master had taken control of Heavenly Fiend Hall and was purging dissenters. As Li Xuanxiao planned their response, the Deputy Cult Master spoke with a mysterious contact before disappearing and appearing at Shu Mountain.

• Li Xuanxiao rescued Zhang Tianxin from an attack and brought her to Di Nüfeng at the inn.
• Zhang Tianxin told Di Nüfeng that the Deputy Cult Master had seized control of Heavenly Fiend Hall, killed dissenters, and overturned Di Nüfeng's rules.
• Li Xuanxiao warned Di Nüfeng and Zhang Tianxin that the Deputy Cult Master controlled much of the hall and urged them to follow his plan to take her down.
• The Deputy Cult Master told a person in a mirror that Di Nüfeng was still alive and suspected someone was advising her.
• The Deputy Cult Master vanished from Heavenly Fiend Hall and appeared before Shu Mountain, where the gatekeeping disciples greeted her as Martial Uncle.

Li Xuanxiao prepared Zhang Tianxin for her infiltration of Heavenly Fiend Hall, but the Shu Mountain Peak Masters’ expedition failed to find the Deputy Cult Master. As Zhang Tianxin waited for her next contact with Li Xuanxiao, the Deputy Cult Master gathered Heavenly Fiend Hall’s prospects and announced that one of them had betrayed her.

• Zhang Tianxin agreed to use her standing with the Deputy Cult Master to gather intelligence, and Li Xuanxiao gave her an infiltration manual and countermeasures.
• Six months later, Wushangzi and Lingxu informed the Seven Peaks’ masters that Heavenly Fiend Hall’s Deputy Cult Master had seized power and that they had learned her whereabouts.
• At Lingxu’s request, six Peak Masters secretly left Shu Mountain to pursue the Deputy Cult Master, but they returned empty-handed.
• Li Xuanxiao worried that Zhang Tianxin might have been discovered when the expected monthly report was nearly due.
• The Deputy Cult Master formed from scattered bones in a secluded valley, appeared before seventy-eight Heavenly Fiend Hall prospects, and declared that one of them had betrayed her.
• Zhang Tianxin controlled her nervous reactions using the composure techniques Li Xuanxiao had taught her.

Zhang Tianxin resisted confessing during the Cult Master’s crackdown on suspected traitors, while the Cult Master’s staged accusations drew out three real spies. After learning that the Deputy Cult Master knew of Shu Mountain’s planned ambush, Li Xuanxiao tried to work out how the secret had leaked.

• The Cult Master tortured several disciples and used fabricated accusations to pressure the gathered Heavenly Fiend Hall members into confessing.
• Three undercover agents came forward and were forgiven and rewarded, while Zhang Tianxin stayed silent despite believing her identity had been exposed.
• The Cult Master revealed that she had killed four unlucky initiates to flush out traitors and planned to interrogate the three who confessed about Shu Mountain’s ambush.
• Zhang Tianxin exchanged information with a waiter through a note, and Li Xuanxiao learned that the Deputy Cult Master had received advance warning of the ambush.
• Li Xuanxiao reasoned that the leak had to come from someone at Shu Mountain who knew about the plan, though he believed only Lingxu and the Seven Peaks’ Peak Masters had that information.

Li Xuanxiao suspected that Great Bamboo Peak Master Wang Yushu was Heavenly Fiend Hall’s Deputy Cult Master after learning about the woman’s false face and shared past with Di Nüfeng. Meanwhile, Liu Yidao went to rescue Wang Yushu after receiving a danger signal, only to encounter Di Nüfeng at the valley.

• Di Nüfeng told Li Xuanxiao that the Deputy Cult Master had disappeared for a long time, returned with an irreparably injured face, and often wore a false face.
• Li Xuanxiao deduced that Wang Yushu was the only Seven Peaks Peak Master who matched the Deputy Cult Master’s age, gender, and history.
• Liu Yidao and Wang Yushu paused their Go game, and Su Wan encouraged her master to openly pursue Wang Yushu.
• Liu Yidao remembered meeting Wang Yushu when they were young Shu Mountain disciples and how her kindness had stayed with him.
• Liu Yidao went to Great Bamboo Peak to see Wang Yushu but learned that she had gone down the mountain on a Sect Master’s task.
• After receiving a danger signal from Wang Yushu’s paired life transmission talisman, Liu Yidao hurried to a valley and encountered Di Nüfeng, who addressed him as Deputy Cult Master.

Di Nüfeng confronted Liu Yi with Li Xuanxiao’s accusation that he was Heavenly Fiend Hall’s Deputy Cult Master, and Liu Yi denied there was proof. Liu Yi’s memories revealed that he had been the Deputy Cult Master and had taken over Heavenly Fiend Hall, but the chapter ended with the hall’s followers naming Di Nüfeng their new Cult Master.

• Di Nüfeng played a Sound Recording Stone as Li Xuanxiao’s reasoning identified Liu Yi as Heavenly Fiend Hall’s Deputy Cult Master.
• Liu Yi challenged the accusation and demanded evidence, dismissing Li Xuanxiao’s case as speculation.
• Liu Yi remembered his master training him to conceal his identity and become anyone, then recalled rising to Peak Master of Shu Mountain.
• Liu Yi remembered betraying Heavenly Fiend Hall’s Cult Master and planning to take over the hall while keeping his place at Shu Mountain.
• Heavenly Fiend Hall’s followers declared that the dying Cult Master had given Di Nüfeng the Jade Order of Succession, and they greeted her as their new Cult Master.

Liu Yi rejected the demand that he kill himself, confident that his identity as Heavenly Fiend Hall’s Cult Master could not be exposed. Li Xuanxiao threatened to frame Wang Yushu and revealed extensive knowledge of Shu Mountain’s secrets, leaving Liu Yi shaken and her safety uncertain.

• Liu Yi claimed Di Nüfeng could not stop him from fleeing and explained that his bone-changing technique concealed his identity.
• A voice through Di Nüfeng’s transmission tube offered Liu Yi a deal: kill himself and leave Shu Mountain with dignity.
• Liu Yi recalled destroying the records of his past in Heavenly Fiend Hall’s treasure vault after becoming Cult Master.
• Li Xuanxiao threatened to forge evidence implicating Wang Yushu as Heavenly Fiend Hall’s Deputy Cult Master and described how she could be blamed for meeting Blood Prison Vajra.
• Li Xuanxiao listed possible attacks on Shu Mountain and revealed secret knowledge of its formations, frightening Liu Yi.
• Li Xuanxiao warned that even if Wang Yushu escaped suspicion this time, she might be lured into danger on a later journey.

Li Xuanxiao forced Liu Yi to sacrifice himself by threatening Wang Yushu, then swore not to harm her. Liu Yi vanished, Wang Yushu continued onward without looking back, and Li Xuanxiao discovered that his Nascent Soul and cultivation had grown again.

• Li Xuanxiao threatened to target Wang Yushu, and Liu Yi attacked him and Di Nüfeng in a fight that lasted three days and nights.
• Li Xuanxiao agreed to swear a Great Dao oath to spare Wang Yushu, and Liu Yi asked him to tell her that he loved her.
• Liu Yi dispersed his cultivation, destroyed his Purple Mansion, and vanished as his spiritual power became a wisp of Qingfeng.
• Wang Yushu sensed Liu Yi's death and started to turn back, but an inner voice told her to keep walking forward.
• Li Xuanxiao noticed that his Nascent Soul had grown stronger, while Happy Old Man sensed that someone had claimed his avatar Nascent Soul and vowed to destroy Shu Mountain.

Li Xuanxiao questioned whether good and evil truly received their due, then vowed to punish evil himself. After Chu Feng slaughtered a Li Yu Bird family, Li Xuanxiao met Di Nüfeng, who said she would soon suppress the factions that had formed after the Deputy Cult Master’s death.

• Li Xuanxiao meditated by the lake as a Li Yu Bird asked when its good deeds would let it cultivate a human form, and he reflected that the Heavenly Dao did not always reward good or punish evil.
• Li Xuanxiao vowed to punish evil himself, watched a Li Yu Bird family together, and left after receiving a message from Di Nüfeng.
• Chu Feng killed two young Li Yu Birds and one adult with his slingshot, then Zhao Ying stopped him from killing the surviving bird and knocked it into the lake.
• Chu Feng and Zhao Ying left together, and Di Nüfeng told Li Xuanxiao that the Four Heavenly Kings had formed separate factions but she would soon pacify them.

Ling Xuanxiao helped Di Nüfeng prepare to reclaim Heavenly Fiend Hall, while her growing suspicion left him wondering whether she was becoming harder to deceive. Three years later, he accepted a mission involving a demonic bird linked to an encounter from his past, just as a powerful presence called out to him.

• Di Nüfeng grew wary of Ling Xuanxiao after he drove Liu Yi to his death, and she silently considered whether he was plotting against her.
• Ling Xuanxiao told Di Nüfeng to follow the plan in his pouch, and she left to reclaim Heavenly Fiend Hall after Liu Yi's death.
• Ling Xuanxiao returned to Silver Sword Peak and inspected the candy Di Nüfeng had given him, confirming it was ordinary as he recalled her asking whether he would lie to her.
• Three years later, Ling Xuanxiao sensed a connection between a Sword Holding Pavilion mission called the Demonic Bird Murder Case and the Li Yu Bird he had met years earlier, so he accepted it.
• A voice called out to Ling Xuanxiao as he left to handle the mission, and he sensed pressure comparable to a Tribulation Crossing Stage mighty expert.

Ling Xuanxiao accompanied Su Wan to Shunping Township to hunt a demon bird that had abducted villagers and slaughtered everyone in Honggu Village. Su Wan tracked the creature with a talisman-infused sword, which struck into its mountain cave as it threatened a kidnapped child.

• Su Wan confronted Ling Xuanxiao about his mission, and he nervously admitted nothing was wrong.
• Ling Xuanxiao and Su Wan arrived in Shunping Township and learned that a demon bird had abducted villagers, killed more than two hundred people in Honggu Village, and taken a child the day before.
• Su Wan refused the township chief's banquet and explained that Shushan rules forbade accepting food or gifts while on a demon-hunting mission.
• Su Wan sensed the demon's concealed aura and launched a talisman-infused sword toward it in the mountains.
• In a cave, the demon bird prepared to attack its bound child captive, but Su Wan's sword pierced into the cave and a scream followed.

Li Xuanxiao and Su Wan rescued a boy from the Li Yu Bird, who had become a demon after losing his family and killing innocent people. Before facing execution, the bird explained how powerful clans escaped justice for murdering his wife and children, leaving him resolved to seek revenge through strength.

• Li Xuanxiao wounded the Li Yu Bird and stopped it from escaping with the boy, then sent it crashing away with a talisman.
• Su Wan found a cave filled with bones and brought the rescued boy outside before demanding that Li Xuanxiao kill the bird.
• Li Xuanxiao stopped Su Wan and asked the Li Yu Bird why it had turned to murder.
• The Li Yu Bird recounted how Chu Feng and Zhao Ying killed his wife and children, while the Government Office refused to punish them because they belonged to powerful clans.
• The Li Yu Bird said he began cultivating through human blood to avenge his family, gradually abandoning his old restraint as he pursued greater strength.

Li Xuanxiao taught Li Yu Bird that good and evil would be repaid, but Li Yu Bird learned that Chu Feng and Zhao Ying had killed his family and took revenge on them. After Li Yu Bird died, Li Xuanxiao wondered whether the Heavenly Dao was mocking his teachings.

• Li Yu Bird questioned Li Xuanxiao about why his family’s killers had escaped punishment despite his good deeds.
• Li Xuanxiao explained the purpose of the Path of Ruthlessness, and Li Xuanxiao listened in silence.
• Chu Feng became an inner disciple of the Xuantian Sword Sect and left the mountain on a mission.
• Li Yu Bird confronted Chu Feng and Zhao Ying, then killed them after they failed to recognize him.
• Li Yu Bird thanked the young Daoist for avenging him, but understood from the Daoist’s silence that he had to die and cut his own throat.
• Li Xuanxiao burned the cave clean and wondered whether the Heavenly Dao was opposing or mocking him.

Li Xuanxiao developed Divine Grass Mountain’s Spiritual Rice farming and cultivated with the Sword Spirit, who helped him refine a trace of sword intent into his body. He left the session feeling safer and more content, then slapped himself to shake off thoughts of comfort and idleness.

• Li Xuanxiao designed terraced Spiritual Rice fields with drip irrigation, arrays, and nearby Sword Grass to improve cultivation and pest control.
• Li Xuanxiao planned to sell his Spiritual Rice through Great Sui’s merchant guilds with a connection provided by Jia Sidao.
• The Sword Spirit examined the strange flying sword in Li Xuanxiao’s Purple Mansion and helped him refine it for half a month.
• Li Xuanxiao refused to reveal the flying sword’s true name, joking that it was called Have You Eaten when its real name was One of Us.
• Li Xuanxiao refined a trace of sword intent into his body, then slapped himself for indulging thoughts of a comfortable life.

Li Xuanxiao reviewed the Central Continent’s powers and marked the Mysterious Yin Cult as a threat, while Shu Mountain Sect Leader Lingxu sought Gou Shengzi’s divination about a brewing danger. Gou Shengzi recognized that the danger had already arrived and warned himself to proceed carefully.

• Li Xuanxiao studied the Central Continent’s powers, noting Shu Mountain’s overwhelming strength and the shifting balance among the demonic cults.
• Li Xuanxiao marked the Mysterious Yin Cult as a likely future enemy of the Heavenly Fiend Hall.
• Gou Shengzi received Lingxu, who voiced his unease that someone was plotting against Shu Mountain and asked him to calculate the danger.
• After Lingxu left, Gou Shengzi concluded that danger had already reached them and resolved that they must act cautiously.

Xiao Ran mastered a technique and set out for Shu Mountain to fulfill his old promise to Su Wan, prompting Li Xuanxiao to turn his attention to their impending reunion. Meanwhile, Fox Face arrived in the Central Continent on his master's orders and chose the Golden Thunder Sect as his first destination, where a dispute over a marriage and succession was brewing.

• Xiao Ran mastered his technique, reflected on his past resentment toward Su Wan and Shu Mountain, and headed for Shu Mountain to fulfill his promise.
• Li Xuanxiao examined the glowing chess pieces representing people connected to him and wondered about the missing black pieces and Di Nüfeng’s unusual piece.
• Happy Old Man sent Fox Face to the Central Continent to train, and Fox Face told Gou Shengzi that he planned to begin at the Golden Thunder Sect.
• The Golden Thunder Sect leader decided to marry Ayao to Wuming and pass him the sect leadership, leaving Wuxiu jealous.
• Wuxiu confronted Ayao in a grove and asked why she had chosen Wuming.

At Ayao’s wedding to Wuming, a disciple exposed her affair with Wuxiu, triggering a deadly fight between the two senior brothers. Ayao and Wuming died, and Wuxiu went on a rampage, trapping the wedding guests inside the Golden Thunder Sect’s grand formation.

• At the wedding, a disciple showed the Golden Thunder Sect Master an Image Stone revealing Ayao and Wuxiu’s intimacy before the ceremony.
• Wuming attacked Wuxiu, and the two fought with swords while the wedding guests scattered.
• Ayao stepped between their blades and was killed; Wuming then stabbed himself, and the Golden Thunder Sect Master collapsed in grief.
• Wuxiu killed the disciple who had exposed them and began slaughtering people around the hall.
• Wuxiu activated the Golden Thunder Sect’s grand formation and declared that the wedding guests would die there with Ayao.

After slaughtering the Golden Thunder Sect, Fox Face watched the Immortal Cloud Sect fall into chaos as opportunists preyed on its disciples. Months later, he encountered Li Xuanxiao and Lu Ziyin, who questioned him about his presence near the Immortal Cloud Sect.

• Wuxiu massacred the Golden Thunder Sect and its wedding guests, then killed himself while holding Ayao’s corpse.
• Fox Face sat among the Golden Thunder Sect’s ruins, drank its wine, and hummed a song.
• Rumors of the Immortal Cloud Sect Master’s failed breakthrough and Shu Mountain’s withdrawal of support drew attackers to the sect, where they abducted and assaulted its disciples.
• Fox Face recorded the Immortal Cloud Sect’s downfall and smiled as its disciples were seized.
• Li Xuanxiao introduced himself as a Shushan Disciple, identified Lu Ziyin as Silver Sword Peak’s Peak Master, and asked Fox Face whether he had passed near the Immortal Cloud Sect.

Li Xuanxiao and Lu Ziyin investigated the destruction of the Immortal Cloud Sect with Wei Shenme and Fox Face, uncovering that thirteen sects had attacked it for its female cultivators. Lu Ziyin led the investigation to Qingcheng Sect, whose members objected to Shushan searching their grounds.

• Fox Face recognized Li Xuanxiao and Lu Ziyin as Shushan Disciples and introduced himself as Wei Shenme of the Golden Thunder Sect.
• Wei Shenme recounted how he had survived the Golden Thunder Sect massacre, and Lu Ziyin confirmed that he cultivated its techniques.
• Fox Face accompanied Li Xuanxiao and Lu Ziyin to the Immortal Cloud Sect ruins and identified traces from multiple sects and rogue cultivators.
• After several days of investigation, Li Xuanxiao and Lu Ziyin learned that thirteen nearby sects had destroyed the Immortal Cloud Sect to seize its female cultivators.
• Lu Ziyin led Li Xuanxiao to search Qingcheng Sect first, but its members challenged Shushan's right to search without evidence.

Lu Ziyin and Li Xuanxiao left the protesting sect leaders to eat while Fox Face dismissed them as too timid to act. Half a month later, several sects suffered massacres blamed on demonic forces, while rumors spread that Shu Mountain had secretly carried out the killings and its reputation for ruthless strength kept potential enemies in check.

• Xiaoyao Sect and Five Peaks Mountain cultivators accused Shu Mountain of bullying them, and Lu Ziyin left without responding.
• Lu Ziyin agreed with Li Xuanxiao to eat at the First Tower before considering how to handle the dispute.
• Fox Face rode away, diverted the ladybugs following him, and failed to notice a tiny creature hidden in his horse.
• Half a month later, Five Peaks Mountain, Qingcheng Sect, and Xiaoyao Sect suffered deadly attacks that left many disciples dead.
• People blamed Heavenly Fiend Hall or accused Shu Mountain of disguising itself as a demonic sect, while Shu Mountain denied involvement and rumors of its thunderous measures deterred potential enemies.