Recaps

The Liuyun Sect expanded through plunder under Li Xuanxiao’s command, provoking the Jiangshan Alliance to unite and halt its advance. After a year of stalemate, Shi Yan led a devastating attack on a Liuyun Sect force and targeted its commander, Nangong Wan.

• Li Xuanxiao used plundered resources and captured territory to build the Liuyun Sect into a ruthless war machine, while Cao Changjing listened to his justification for the conquest.
• The Jiangshan Alliance formed from ancient tribes, seven sects, and more than thirty smaller groups and factions, then ambushed Liuyun Sect convoys and attacked its forces until expansion stalled for a year.
• Shi Yan killed the Liuyun Sect spearhead force’s vanguard with his ebony longbow.
• Shi Yan shot down fleeing cultivators and aimed a blood-wreathed arrow at Nangong Wan as she tried to escape.
• Nangong Wan raised her longsword to block Shi Yan’s arrow, and the two weapons collided in a burst of sparks.

Shi Yan celebrated the Jiangshan Alliance’s victory over Nangong Wan, but poisoned wine and a surprise demon tide devastated the banquet and forced him to flee. As he hid in the silent forest, a gigantic claw of withered bones tore open the sky above him.

• Shi Yan severely wounded Nangong Wan, who escaped with a Smoke Escape Talisman, and the alliance celebrated its victory.
• At the victory banquet, Shi Yan and the alliance warriors drank poisoned wine, leaving many of them incapacitated.
• Demon beasts erupted from tunnels around the valley and overwhelmed the alliance’s core forces.
• Shi Yan fought through the demon tide and escaped into the primeval forest after the demon generals targeted him.
• A gigantic claw made of ghastly white bones tore open the night sky above Shi Yan.

After Shi Yan was killed and the Jiangshan Alliance collapsed, Li Xuanxiao’s Liuyun Sect established control over the southern outskirts of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains while maintaining a tense pact with five Demon Kings. Years later, the Demon Kings attacked at Luofeng Valley, where the nearly defeated Liuyun Sect’s fallen fighters rose as an Undead Army.

• The Demon Kings trapped Shi Yan, rejected his offer to serve them, and killed him, while blaming him for threatening their rule.
• The Jiangshan Alliance collapsed, and Liuyun Sect took control of the region through submission, conquest, and forced relocation.
• Li Xuanxiao’s health deteriorated as Nangong Wan reported that the Demon Kings were testing the boundaries of their nonaggression pact.
• Five Demon Kings allied and attacked Liuyun Sect forces at Luofeng Valley, where the A-Team held back and the main army was nearly destroyed.
• Black water spread through the battlefield and raised the dead Liuyun Sect cultivators into an Undead Army, shocking the Demon Kings.

Li Xuanxiao’s undead turned the battle at Luofeng Valley into a war of attrition, forcing the five Demon Kings to attack alongside the beleaguered A-Team. When the Withered Bone Demon King seized Nangong Wan, Li Xuanxiao finally revealed his power, rescued her, and challenged all five Demon Kings to a fight to the death.

• The demon tide slaughtered the undead, but the dead rose again as black water infected fallen demons and turned the battlefield into an endless cycle of resurrection.
• The five Demon Kings unleashed indiscriminate attacks to destroy the undead, and Liuyun Sect’s A-Team charged into battle but suffered devastating losses.
• The Withered Bone Demon King captured the badly wounded Nangong Wan and prepared to turn her into a spirit-bone puppet.
• Li Xuanxiao emerged amid a vast wave of black deathly aura and pierced the Withered Bone Demon King’s skeletal projection, forcing it to abandon Nangong Wan.
• Li Xuanxiao sent Nangong Wan away and declared that either the five Demon Kings would leave Luofeng Valley alive or he would walk out over their corpses.

Ling Xuanxiao defeated the five Great Demon Kings at Luofeng Valley, but the victory left him gravely weakened as the Myriad Souls Banner devoured the battlefield’s souls. With the Demon Kings’ power broken, Liuyun Sect began a ruthless conquest of the southern region.

• Ling Xuanxiao won the half-month battle at Luofeng Valley, where three Great Demon Kings died and the Withered Bone Demon King and Azure Scale Demon King were left shattered.
• The Myriad Souls Banner broke free of Ling Xuanxiao’s control and devoured the battlefield’s lingering souls, death qi, and resentment, including the Withered Bone Demon King.
• Liuyun Sect resumed its campaign after the Demon Kings’ defeat, ordering the remaining forces to submit or die.
• Liuyun Sect rapidly expanded across the southern outskirts, bringing territories under its command or destroying them.

Li Xuanxiao forcibly absorbed countless living beings’ power to break into the Integration Realm, but his new strength remained unstable. Meanwhile, a demon princess arrived to inspect the Liuyun Sect’s influence and ordered a curious Cang Tribe youth punished for looking at her.

• Li Xuanxiao used the Myriad Souls Banner to absorb magical power, essence blood, and soul origins, barely reaching the Integration Realm before collapsing and coughing black blood.
• The demon princess traveled through the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains with Old Demon, who explained that her father wanted her to see the human force challenging the region’s demon kings.
• Old Demon warned that Burial Soldier City prevented the demons from exterminating humanity and that human pressure could help unite the mountain powers.
• The demon princess’s party reached the Cang Tribe, where its people knelt before the demon visitors.
• A Cang Tribe youth raised his head to look at the princess, and she ordered Old Demon to punish him; the goshawk attacked as the crowd heard his screams.

Mingyu, King Ming’s fifteenth princess, demanded tribute from the Shang Tribe and then summoned Ling Xuanxiao to warn the Liuyun Sect to prepare an even greater offering for her father’s birthday. Ling Xuanxiao agreed to do his best, and Mingyu decided to stay at the stronghold and keep him at her side.

• Mingyu dismissed the Shang Tribe’s tribute list as inadequate and demanded that the tribe at least double its offering for King Ming’s birthday.
• After learning that Ling Xuanxiao led the Liuyun Sect, Mingyu ordered the Shang Tribe’s chieftain to summon him.
• Ling Xuanxiao met Mingyu at the Liuyun Sect stronghold, where he agreed to prepare a birthday gift after she threatened the sect.
• Mingyu told Ling Xuanxiao to follow the Shang Tribe’s gift list but provide an even more precious tribute, especially boys and girls for King Ming.
• Mingyu chose to stay at the stronghold, and Ling Xuanxiao sent Cao Changjing away to avoid conflict while Mingyu kept him as her guide and attendant.

Li Xuanxiao finally broke his restraint when Ming Yu ordered him to sacrifice Nangong Wan, killing the Demon Race princess and defeating Old Demon. Months later, Old Demon reached King Ming’s domain and reported Ming Yu’s death, stirring fury among the watching demons.

• Ming Yu declared that Nangong Wan would make ideal nourishment for her lotus pond and ordered Li Xuanxiao to throw her in.
• Nangong Wan knelt and began reversing her spiritual power to kill herself, but Li Xuanxiao knocked her into the pond and seized Ming Yu by the head.
• Li Xuanxiao devoured Ming Yu’s life essence and soul as Old Demon attacked him and threatened him with King Ming’s revenge.
• Li Xuanxiao defeated the giant Bull Demon, who retreated wounded and maimed after warning that King Ming would take vengeance.
• Several months later, Old Demon reached King Ming’s dark mountain domain and reported that Ming Yu had been killed, prompting shocked and furious reactions from the demons there.

After learning that Ming Yu had died, King Ming ordered the extermination of the Southern Human Race and Old Demon was killed for failing to protect his daughter. As the demons ravaged the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, a figure arrived at the scorched remains of the Shang Tribe and used the Myriad Souls Banner to harvest the dead.

• King Ming ordered the Southern Human Race wiped out and commanded that its blood and souls mourn Ming Yu.
• King Ming crushed Old Demon with a giant hand of darkness, leaving no trace of him behind.
• A tribe celebrating the birth of its chieftain's son was annihilated by meteors, while a giant bird and a colossal white ape continued destroying settlements.
• The Shang Tribe's chieftain learned the Toad Tribe had been destroyed and insisted King Ming would spare his loyal people.
• King Ming's forces attacked the Shang Tribe, and a fiery giant bird dismissed the chieftain's pleas before the tribe was destroyed.
• A figure arrived at the Shang Tribe's scorched ruins, where the Myriad Souls Banner harvested the dead.

Li Xuanxiao harvested the resentment of the dead across King Ming’s scorched battlefields and used it to force a breakthrough into the Body Integration Realm. His ascent shocked the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains and disrupted the heavenly secrets, leaving Gou Shengzi and Heaven's Secrets Old Man unable to read his fate.

• Li Xuanxiao gathered the wronged souls from the devastated battlefield with the Myriad Souls Banner while survivors mourned and King Ming’s forces continued their destruction.
• King Ming’s forces searched and slaughtered Liuyun Sect followers, but Li Xuanxiao, Cao Changjing, Nangong Wan, and their companions had vanished.
• Li Xuanxiao drove the banner into the scorched earth and used the souls’ power to shatter the barrier between God Transformation Peak and the Body Integration Realm.
• Powerful beings throughout the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains sensed Li Xuanxiao’s breakthrough and its immense pressure.
• Gou Shengzi and Heaven's Secrets Old Man deduced that Li Xuanxiao had reached the Body Integration Realm, then found the heavenly secrets obscured by chaotic fog.

After advancing to the Body Integration Realm, Li Xuanxiao killed a flaming ancient demon and unleashed a torrent of Lost Souls against King Ming’s army. The four demon kings confronted him, and their offers to recruit him turned hostile when King Ming revealed he was a Shushan Disciple.

• Li Xuanxiao restrained the flaming bird with Space Imprisonment, devoured its power and divine soul, and left its body as a dried corpse.
• Li Xuanxiao sent a vast torrent of Lost Souls against the demon army while he walked toward the deeper Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.
• King Ming, King Yuan, King Li, and King Huang projected their wills and locked onto Li Xuanxiao after sensing his breakthrough.
• King Yuan, King Li, and King Huang offered to recruit Li Xuanxiao, while King Ming insisted that his grudge over his slain bloodline was irreconcilable.
• King Ming revealed that Li Xuanxiao was a Shushan Disciple, causing King Li to withdraw his offer and King Yuan to question whether Shu Mountain’s destruction left Li Xuanxiao with any hope.

Li Xuanxiao revealed himself as a Shushan Disciple and defied the Demon Kings, who badly wounded him and fought over who would claim him. Gou Shengzi, Wen Yuan, and Heaven's Secrets Old Man arrived, surrounding the battlefield as Gou Shengzi declared he had finally seen Li Xuanxiao in person.

• King Yuan offered Li Xuanxiao protection and status if he became his disciple, but Li Xuanxiao insulted the Demon Kings and refused.
• King Yuan struck Li Xuanxiao with destructive lightning, and King Ming crushed his demonic Dharma Idol with a giant palm; Li Xuanxiao survived by hiding his blood essence and divine soul inside the Idol.
• King Yuan and King Ming argued over taking the wounded Li Xuanxiao, while Li Xuanxiao watched the horizon in silence.
• Gou Shengzi arrived with Heaven's Secrets Pavilion cultivators, and Wen Yuan appeared from the west, forcing the Demon Kings to face two powerful human forces.
• Heaven's Secrets Old Man arrived and questioned Gou Shengzi's earlier divination that Li Xuanxiao posed no threat; Gou Shengzi replied that killing Li Xuanxiao would make the prediction true.

Heaven's Secrets Old Man and Gou Shengzi hesitated to kill Li Xuanxiao's Self Corpse because his anomalous rise defied their predictions and made the consequences uncertain. The Self Corpse unleashed a final attack, was destroyed, and left behind words that the Li Xuanxiao at Divine Grass Mountain answered with a claim of victory.

• Heaven's Secrets Old Man recognized Li Xuanxiao's Self Corpse as an unpredictable anomaly and could not foresee what killing him would do to the main body.
• Heaven's Secrets Old Man and Gou Shengzi hesitated to kill Li Xuanxiao, while the four Demon Kings hid their presence in fear.
• Li Xuanxiao taunted Heaven's Secrets Old Man and Gou Shengzi for not daring to kill him, then forced himself to unleash his Dharma Form Avatar.
• Li Xuanxiao forged a thousand-zhang demonic body from resentful souls and sent it charging at Heaven's Secrets Old Man and Gou Shengzi.
• Heaven's Secrets Old Man flicked a finger and destroyed the demonic body, and Li Xuanxiao's Self Corpse died after saying, "I won..."
• At Divine Grass Mountain, the Li Xuanxiao tending flowers and plants replied, "No, we won!"

On Divine Grass Mountain, Li Xuanxiao’s dying body was jolted into action when his Self Corpse contacted him after being defeated by Heaven's Secrets Old Man. The two confronted their shared past and the Heavenly Dao’s plot, and the Self Corpse revealed that he had left a hidden connection so they could face the threat together.

• The Sword Spirit urged Li Xuanxiao to reclaim his power and settle his old grievances, but he remained content to enjoy his peaceful life despite nearing death.
• After Heaven's Secrets Old Man destroyed the Self Corpse’s demonic body, the Self Corpse’s final words stirred Li Xuanxiao from his stupor.
• Self Corpse Li Xuanxiao reopened their concealed connection and met Li Xuanxiao in his sea of consciousness, where they saw a frozen vision of Shu Mountain.
• Li Xuanxiao explained that the Self Corpse’s premature birth, Shu Mountain’s downfall, and the Heavenly Dao’s suppression were parts of a killing game aimed at Li Xuanxiao.
• Li Xuanxiao offered the Self Corpse his remaining foundation and asked him to carry their shared obsession forward after his death.
• The Self Corpse rejected the idea that Li Xuanxiao had outmaneuvered him and revealed that he had severed their connection while secretly leaving a back door.

Li Xuanxiao and his Self Corpse joined forces to defy the Heavenly Dao, and the Self Corpse sacrificed itself to break Li Xuanxiao’s lifespan shackles and deliver its power to him. Li Xuanxiao reached the Body Integration Realm, while Heaven's Secrets Old Man and Gou Shengzi realized their attack had enabled his breakthrough; the Sword Spirit then concealed his newly risen aura.

• Li Xuanxiao and Self Corpse Li Xuanxiao allied in the sea of consciousness and vowed to destroy the Heavenly Dao.
• Self Corpse Li Xuanxiao drew Li Xuanxiao’s sealed life origin toward himself as Heaven's Secrets Old Man and Gou Shengzi attacked him and severed the connection.
• Nangong Wan pleaded with the heavens to save her Master, but Self Corpse Li Xuanxiao’s life went out as he used the enemies’ attacks and the Myriad Souls Banner to create a surge of power.
• The Self Corpse’s sacrifice poured life origin, Body Integration Realm cultivation, and refined essence into Li Xuanxiao, freeing him from the Heavenly Dao’s lifespan restraints and raising him into the Body Integration Realm.
• Heaven's Secrets Old Man and Gou Shengzi realized the Self Corpse had used them to enable Li Xuanxiao’s breakthrough, while the dying Self Corpse entrusted what came next to him.
• The Sword Spirit struck down Li Xuanxiao’s newly rising aura to keep it from leaking.

Li Xuanxiao stabilized his heaven-defying breakthrough to the Body Integration Realm with the Sword Spirit’s help, then set out for the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains. At the ruined Liuyun Sect, Nangong Wan suppressed deserters while guarding the Myriad Souls Banner, a treasure sought by the surrounding Demon Kings.

• The Sword Spirit concealed the real Divine Grass Mountain beneath the earth and created an illusory mountain to hide Li Xuanxiao’s breakthrough.
• Li Xuanxiao’s newly fused powers clashed inside his Dao Body, but the Sword Spirit guided them into harmony over three days and nights.
• Li Xuanxiao told the Sword Spirit he was going to the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains and assigned her a more important task.
• At the devastated Liuyun Sect, Nangong Wan killed a disciple who urged others to flee and ordered the Law Enforcement disciples to execute the deserters.
• Nangong Wan returned to her chamber, where she watched over the Myriad Souls Banner as the Demon Kings and other factions searched for it.

Nangong Wan was cornered by Zhang Feng and the remaining Liuyun Sect disciples, but Li Xuanxiao appeared, stopped her self-destruction, and rescued Cao Changjing. He revealed that he was not the master Nangong Wan knew and offered her a choice between joining him or returning to her homeland.

• Nangong Wan failed to control the Myriad Souls Banner, then fought Zhang Feng and the traitors until they overpowered and injured her.
• As Zhang Feng reached for the banner, Li Xuanxiao appeared, stopped Nangong Wan's self-destruction, and took control of the Myriad Souls Banner.
• Li Xuanxiao swept the banner at the fleeing traitors, devouring them, then asked Nangong Wan where Cao Changjing was.
• Li Xuanxiao found Cao Changjing near death in the dungeon and stabilized his injuries by channeling power into him and feeding him energy from captured souls.
• Li Xuanxiao returned to Nangong Wan, explained that he was not the Li Xuanxiao she knew, and offered her a new mission or freedom and a return to the Central Continent.

Li Xuanxiao sent Nangong Wan and the surviving Liuyun Sect disciples to the Central Continent while his original body remained in hiding and crafted a demon-disguised clone. After arriving at Divine Grass Mountain, he learned that a message had come from Di Nüfeng.

• Nangong Wan attacked Li Xuanxiao after he told her that her master was dead, but he disarmed her and offered her the choice to leave or follow him.
• Li Xuanxiao restored the Liuyun Sect’s surviving forces, and Cao Changjing recovered and broke through after receiving the Myriad Souls Banner’s soul energy and Li Xuanxiao’s guidance.
• Nangong Wan chose to follow Li Xuanxiao, who directed her and the remaining disciples to travel to the Central Continent aboard a Flying Ship with his external incarnation.
• Li Xuanxiao revealed to Cao Changjing that he had reached the Body Integration Realm and used his original body to create a convincing demon clone from a Nine-Orifice Exquisite Lotus Root.
• The group arrived at Divine Grass Mountain, where the Sword Spirit welcomed them and told Li Xuanxiao that a message had arrived from Di Nüfeng.

Li Xuanxiao used a carefully cultivated fleshly vessel to place his divided soul in the Teng Tribe, hoping to establish a foothold in the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains. After he saved the newborn from heavenly tribulation, a mysterious blaze destroyed the tribe, leaving him shocked and preparing another attempt.

• Di Nüfeng invited Li Xuanxiao to become Deputy Hall Master of Heavenly Fiend Hall, but he decided to focus first on the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains while keeping an eye on Central Continent.
• Li Xuanxiao sent his fleshly vessel along a karmic thread to the Teng Tribe, where the chieftain's son was born with a rare human-like Dao Body.
• Heavenly tribulation struck the Teng Tribe, and the chieftain transformed into a giant black ox to shield the infant from nine waves of Purple Heaven Divine Lightning.
• When an overwhelming final bolt threatened the chieftain and child, Li Xuanxiao secretly erased it and concealed his intervention.
• A destructive blaze then swallowed the infant, the chieftain, the Teng Tribe, and the surrounding land, shocking Li Xuanxiao.
• Li Xuanxiao continued preparing another Demon Race avatar, resolving to make his next attempt succeed without drawing attention.

Li Xuanxiao used a jade lotus root and a concealed fragment of his soul to create a reincarnated life that could evade the Heavenly Dao, placing it in a weak wolf cub born in the Gray Claw Tribe. The cub survived hardship, earned the name Gu, and left with a royal envoy after the Enlightenment Rite revealed his extraordinary potential.

• After the Heavenly Dao destroyed his previous attempt, Li Xuanxiao fashioned a flawed lotus-root vessel, hid a fragment of his soul inside it, and gently guided it toward the southern Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.
• The fragment entered a frail gray wolf cub born during a raid on the Gray Claw Tribe, while Li Xuanxiao sensed that the Heavenly Dao had noticed something unusual.
• Over several years, the cub endured bullying and scarcity, then killed a larger challenger during a clan conflict and gained the tribe's respect.
• At the Enlightenment Rite, the bone stone blazed with golden light when the cub touched it, astonishing the royal envoy and the Gray Claw Tribe.
• The tribe named the wolf Gu, and he left with the envoy for Tianshu Demon Academy after bidding farewell to his mother and betrothed.

Li Xuanxiao watched a young demon from a remote tribe survive the journey to Tianshu Demon Academy and earn a place there. He then reached the Heavenly Fiend Hall’s new underwater palace, where Di Nüfeng welcomed him at her birthday banquet and discovered he had reached the Body Integration Realm.

• Li Xuanxiao observed the young demon travel with King Ming’s envoy to the royal court and pass Tianshu Demon Academy’s entrance examination.
• Li Xuanxiao found the Heavenly Fiend Hall’s new location beneath the sea and was greeted by its Protectors as Deputy Cult Master.
• The Protectors led Li Xuanxiao through a vortex passage to the underwater palace, where he learned Di Nüfeng was celebrating her three-thousandth birthday.
• Di Nüfeng spotted Li Xuanxiao at the banquet and hurried to welcome him, while Zhang Tianxin reminded her to maintain her public image.
• Di Nüfeng inspected Li Xuanxiao, exclaimed that he had reached the Body Integration Realm, and Li Xuanxiao suggested they drink first.

Li Xuanxiao attended Di Nüfeng’s birthday banquet at Heavenly Fiend Hall and asked her to secretly search for Shu Mountain survivors. Zi Shan tried to carry evidence of Li Xuanxiao’s identity to the Dragon Palace, but Li Xuanxiao captured him and returned to the Water Manor.

• Li Xuanxiao observed the diverse guests at Di Nüfeng’s banquet while Zhang Tianxin deflected Zi Shan’s questions about him.
• Li Xuanxiao asked Di Nüfeng to have Heavenly Fiend Hall secretly locate the Shu Mountain disciples scattered after the calamity, and she entrusted the task to Zhang Tianxin.
• Zi Shan suspected Li Xuanxiao was connected to Shu Mountain, secretly recorded him, and fled the Water Manor to report his suspicions to the Purple Chen Dragon King.
• Li Xuanxiao intercepted Zi Shan at sea, bound him with chains, took his Image Stone, and had his clone imprison him.
• Li Xuanxiao gave Zhang Tianxin detailed instructions for the search, then toured Di Nüfeng’s treasure vault and received repeated deliveries of food at night.

Li Xuanxiao bound Zi Shan with a Heart-Locking Sword Talisman and urged him to seize an opportunity for power. A month later, Zi Shan mobilized the Qinghe Water Tribe as a feint that helped expose the Wind Moon Sect’s failed ambush on Fengcheng, while Li Xuanxiao wondered whether anyone would trace the scheme back to him.

• Li Xuanxiao forced Zi Shan to give up a drop of natal essence blood, refined it with a golden rune, and bound Zi Shan’s heart and soul to a lethal Heart-Locking Sword Talisman.
• Li Xuanxiao appealed to Zi Shan’s ambition and resentment, then ordered him to return to his water mansion and wait for further instructions.
• Zhang Tianxin told Li Xuanxiao that his search had found no definite news about the vanished Shushan Disciples.
• An envoy from the Wind Moon Sect asked Zi Shan to mobilize the Qinghe Water Tribe to draw Fengcheng’s elite guards to the river, and Zi Shan ordered his forces to gather at Black Stone Gorge.
• Fengcheng and Feng City lured the Wind Moon Sect’s forces into a trap, where Fengcheng’s defenses and returning troops helped the Qinghe Water Tribe rout them.
• Li Xuanxiao smiled at Di Nüfeng and wondered whether anyone could trace the failed attack back to him.

Zi Shan entered the Myriad Dragon Hall fearing his secret alliance with Li Xuanxiao would be exposed, but Li Xuanxiao erased his memories long enough for the Purple Zenith Dragon King to praise him. Li Xuanxiao later confirmed that his karmic traces had been concealed, then sensed someone speaking his name through the Threads of Karma.

• The Mysterious Turtle Commander summoned Zi Shan to meet the Purple Zenith Dragon King, and Zi Shan nearly confessed his dealings with Li Xuanxiao.
• As Zi Shan was about to reveal Li Xuanxiao, a mysterious force erased his memories of him, and the Dragon King praised Zi Shan’s handling of the Qinghe Water Mansion.
• Zi Shan recovered his memories after leaving the palace and realized Li Xuanxiao had hidden their connection from the Dragon King.
• Zi Shan returned to find the Qinghe Water Mansion expanding as nearby powers offered agreements, sought refuge, or maintained peace with it.
• Li Xuanxiao used karmic deduction to test whether the Dragon King or others could trace his role, and found his connection remained concealed.
• Li Xuanxiao sensed a voice calling his name through the Threads of Karma and turned toward its source.