Recaps

Jiang Fan broke the formation sealing the valley, allowing Wei Lang and the others to enter a Blood Fiend Alliance altar. Wei Lang confronted the Gray-Robed Elder, but the elder rallied the cultists to attack as the ritual continued around the abyss and Blood-Colored Orb.

• Jiang Fan used crimson-gold runes to destroy the outer formation, and Wei Lang charged through the opening with the three Dao Realm elders.
• Jiang Fan resealed the entrance behind them, and the group found a cave where Wei Lang sensed captives and dense baleful yin energy.
• The group entered an underground palace and saw evil cultivators channeling their power through a formation into a Blood-Colored Orb above a black abyss.
• The Gray-Robed Elder attacked Wei Lang with ghost claws, but Wei Lang shattered them with his Golden Official Seal and identified himself as a Deacon of the Great Yan Immortal Dynasty's Grand Capital Prefecture.
• After Wei Lang challenged the Gray-Robed Elder and questioned him about the Blood Fiend Alliance, the elder howled and sent the surrounding evil cultivators charging at the intruders.

Wei Lang’s group defeated the Blood Fiend Alliance’s cultivators, but their leader threatened hundreds of captives with demon seeds. Jiang Fan revealed his ten Great Daos and removed the seeds, only for Luo'u Prefecture’s Tan Shaoyuan to arrive and claim authority over the stronghold.

• Wei Lang and three Dao Realm elders slaughtered the evil cultivators, and Wei Lang’s golden seal overwhelmed the gray-robed elder’s Blood Fiend Palm.
• The gray-robed elder crushed a bone flute, releasing hundreds of captives marked with demon seeds and threatening to detonate them if attacked.
• Wei Lang immobilized the gray-robed elder while Jiang Fan revealed ten Great Daos and dissolved the demon seeds in the captives.
• Jiang Fan restrained the gray-robed elder when he tried to activate another hidden power.
• Tan Shaoyuan led dozens of Luo'u Prefecture figures into the underground palace, claimed they had discovered the stronghold first, and Wei Lang demanded that they let the group finish clearing it.

Tan Shaoyuan’s men forcibly broke the Crimson Restriction, triggering a hidden Grand Formation that freed the Gray-Robed Elder and began gathering blood and vital energy from the surrounding region. Jiang Fan warned that the formation could empower the elder with the life force of countless beings, leaving Wei Lang and the others facing a grave threat.

• Tan Shaoyuan demanded half the credit from Wei Lang for defeating the Blood Fiend Alliance.
• A crash and a surge of red light revealed that Tan Shaoyuan’s men had broken the Crimson Restriction and activated a hidden formation.
• Jiang Fan explained that the restriction had been connected to the hidden formation, and Wei Lang blamed Tan Shaoyuan for triggering it.
• The Gray-Robed Elder broke free, rose into the air, and thanked Tan Shaoyuan for activating the Grand Formation.
• Jiang Fan sensed that the formation would drain blood and vital energy from hundreds of miles around, potentially raising the Gray-Robed Elder’s cultivation to an unknown level.

The gray-robed elder activated a blood-draining formation that threatened Azure Cliff City and rapidly restored his strength. With Jiang Fan too depleted to break it alone, Wei Lang offered the Dao Realm cultivators’ power to him, and Jiang Fan agreed to attack the formation’s core.

• The gray-robed elder revealed that he had woven Black Wind Valley’s earth-vein yin grotto into a formation that drained the blood and vital energy of everyone nearby to fuel his breakthrough.
• The formation killed several wounded evil cultivators and three Luo'u Prefecture cultivators, while blood-red threads spread toward Azure Cliff City.
• Wei Lang asked Jiang Fan to break the formation, but Jiang Fan warned that his depleted strength would not let him reach its core before the elder advanced to the peak of the Dao Realm.
• Wei Lang offered to have the Dao Realm cultivators from Grand Capital Prefecture transfer their cultivation to Jiang Fan, and Jiang Fan accepted.
• Jiang Fan rose into the air and revealed ten golden great paths, stunning Tan Shaoyuan.

Jiang Fan broke the first two layers of the Grand Formation in the Underground Palace, but the effort drained most of his spiritual power. As the Gray-Robed Elder’s strength rose through the third layer, Wei Lang supplied power that Jiang Fan could barely use.

• Jiang Fan studied the Grand Formation and used the Blood-Fiend True Scripture to turn its patterns against one another, destroying the first layer.
• The formation produced a bloody curtain filled with resentful fiendish qi, and Jiang Fan purified it until he tore open a passage and broke the second layer.
• Jiang Fan staggered after expending most of his spiritual power, while the Gray-Robed Elder drew more blood qi from the abyss.
• Eight blood-colored chains formed between the earth vein’s yin grotto and the Gray-Robed Elder, raising the elder’s cultivation from the mid Dao Realm to the late Dao Realm.
• Wei Lang sent his golden spiritual power into Jiang Fan, but Jiang Fan found he could use less than a tenth of it because their powers were incompatible.

Jiang Fan broke the formation’s core by reversing its blood-fiend flow, but the Gray-Robed Elder remained powerful and attacked him. Wei Lang gave Jiang Fan a second Great Dao to help him fight, and the chapter ended with the Gray-Robed Elder gathering the Underground Palace’s blood-fiend aura to replenish himself.

• Wei Lang and three Dao Realm elders transferred their spiritual power to Jiang Fan, allowing him to break the third layer of restrictions.
• Jiang Fan warned that breaking the final restriction would leave them too weak to fight the Gray-Robed Elder, so Wei Lang extracted one of his Great Daos and gave it to him.
• Jiang Fan used the Blood-Fiend True Scripture to reverse the formation’s flow, shatter the blood-colored vortex, and sever the Gray-Robed Elder’s connection to the formation core.
• The Gray-Robed Elder attacked Jiang Fan with Blood Fiend Palm shadows, and Wei Lang gave Jiang Fan a second Great Dao to help him repel the attack.
• The Gray-Robed Elder declared that Jiang Fan’s replenishment was limited and began drawing in the Underground Palace’s blood-fiend aura.

Jiang Fan used fourteen Great Daos, including two transferred by Tan Shaoyuan, to stop the Gray-Robed Elder from drawing power from the yin grotto and destroy his hidden Grand Formation. The Gray-Robed Elder then summoned the Blood Fiend Alliance Leader's avatar, leaving Jiang Fan's victory uncertain.

• As the Gray-Robed Elder grew stronger, Wei Lang prepared to transfer another Great Dao, but Tan Shaoyuan stopped him and chose to sacrifice two of his own instead.
• Tan Shaoyuan transferred both Great Daos to Jiang Fan, empowering him with fourteen Great Daos and tearing apart the Gray-Robed Elder's blood-fiend aura.
• Jiang Fan severed the Gray-Robed Elder's connection to the yin grotto, struck him into the stone platform, and caused the hidden Grand Formation to collapse.
• The injured Gray-Robed Elder challenged Jiang Fan's belief that he had won and burned his vital blood essence to summon the Blood Fiend Alliance Leader's avatar.

Jiang Fan and Wei Lang questioned the Gray-Robed Elder after the Blood Fiend Alliance failed to answer his summoning seal, learning about the Alliance’s secrecy and its suspected female strategist. After the group decided to report their findings, Jiang Fan killed the Gray-Robed Elder, who had expected to be spared.

• The Gray-Robed Elder failed to summon the Alliance Leader’s avatar, and Wei Lang told him to answer their questions.
• The Gray-Robed Elder revealed that he did not know the Blood Fiend Alliance’s headquarters, its number of branch altars, or the Alliance Leader’s identity.
• The Gray-Robed Elder explained that he joined the Alliance for rapid cultivation gains after a blood-colored figure saved him and taught him the Blood Fiend Techniques.
• The Gray-Robed Elder said he suspected the blood-colored figure was the Alliance’s strategist, a woman who directed its operations through spoken orders.
• Wei Lang, Tan Shaoyuan, and Jiang Fan agreed they had learned all they could and would report the incident to the imperial court.
• Jiang Fan killed the Gray-Robed Elder, who protested that they had promised to spare him.

After the Underground Palace battle, Jiang Fan kept the four Great Daos Wei Lang and Tan Shaoyuan had lent him and used the Dao-Nurturing Chapter to integrate them with his own. Two days later, he stabilized at the peak of the early Dao Realm, stronger through his own cultivation.

• Jiang Fan killed the Gray-Robed Elder, and Wei Lang and Tan Shaoyuan agreed the evil cultivator had no useful secrets to reveal.
• Wei Lang arranged a joint search of the Underground Palace and promised to report Jiang Fan's contribution to the court.
• Jiang Fan offered to return the four Great Daos, but Wei Lang and Tan Shaoyuan told him to keep them because removing them could damage them.
• Jiang Fan thanked the two seniors and vowed to repay their kindness by serving the Great Yan Immortal Dynasty.
• Jiang Fan meditated in Azure Cliff City and used the Dao-Nurturing Chapter to integrate the four Great Daos with his own ten.
• Two days later, Jiang Fan stabilized at the peak of the early Dao Realm and recognized that his strength now came entirely from himself.

Jiang Fan received rewards for helping defeat the Blood Fiend Alliance and was appointed Special Envoy of the newly established Demon-Cleansing Bureau. He accepted the post and remained in Azure Cliff City to await deployment orders.

• A court eunuch delivered an imperial decree rewarding Wei Lang and Tan Shaoyuan for destroying the Blood Fiend Alliance's Branch Altar and naming Jiang Fan the operation's foremost contributor.
• Jiang Fan was awarded ten Great Dao Fragments and three days to contemplate in the National Treasury Dao Repository Pavilion.
• A second edict established the Demon-Cleansing Bureau under Lu Xuanling, with Wei Lang and Tan Shaoyuan commanding their prefectural detachments.
• The court appointed Jiang Fan Special Envoy of the Demon-Cleansing Bureau, tasking him with breaking formations against the Blood Fiend Alliance.
• Wei Lang and Tan Shaoyuan praised Jiang Fan's new prospects, then admitted they had each given up two Great Daos partly to build a connection with him.

Tan Shaoyuan and Wei Lang discussed their investments in Jiang Fan, while Jiang Fan refined ten imperial Great Dao Fragments and discovered their power would not merge with his existing Great Daos. The chapter left him puzzled by the fragments’ independent, repelling threads.

• Wei Lang praised Tan Shaoyuan for transferring two Great Daos to Jiang Fan, then explained that his own long history of helping Jiang Fan carried greater weight.
• Jiang Fan returned to his courtyard and examined the ten Great Dao Fragments from the imperial court.
• Jiang Fan refined the fragments with the Dao-Nurturing Chapter for a day and a night, easing the sluggishness among his fourteen Great Daos.
• Jiang Fan saw a pale golden outline appear around his fourteen Great Daos and found that the fragments’ power formed ten separate threads above his Dao Foundation.
• Jiang Fan tried to bring two threads together, but they repelled each other and returned to their original positions.

Jiang Fan set aside his attempts to merge the ten complete Great Dao Fragments and was summoned by the Demon-Cleansing Bureau to the capital. After receiving warnings and a jade token from Wei Lang and Tan Shaoyuan, he reached the capital, where an official woman recognized him at the gate.

• Jiang Fan found that the ten Great Dao Fragments resisted merging and decided to revisit them after advancing his Dao-Nurturing Chapter.
• The Demon-Cleansing Bureau ordered Jiang Fan to depart for the capital immediately.
• Tan Shaoyuan warned Jiang Fan to keep a low profile in the capital and avoid forming connections, while Wei Lang gave him a jade token to use if he faced serious trouble.
• Jiang Fan said farewell to Wei Lang and Tan Shaoyuan and traveled from Azure Cliff City to the capital in two days.
• Jiang Fan arrived at the enormous capital and was approached by a woman in pale purple official robes who asked if he was the Demon-Cleansing Bureau's Special Envoy.

Jiang Fan followed Liu Qingyi to his temporary residence in the capital, then learned that the silver tower was the Daoist Canon Pavilion and went there to use his imperial reward. After a keeper verified his authorization, Jiang Fan received a token granting him access to the Pavilion’s first seven floors for three days and entered the tower.

• Liu Qingyi escorted Jiang Fan to a modest courtyard in the north of the city and told him to await the commander’s summons.
• Jiang Fan asked Liu Qingyi where the Daoist Canon Pavilion was, and she identified it as the silver tower he had seen upon entering the capital.
• Liu Qingyi privately envied Jiang Fan’s permission to study in the Pavilion, while Jiang Fan grew curious about its significance.
• Jiang Fan changed into a clean blue robe and walked through the capital to the Daoist Canon Pavilion.
• The Pavilion’s guards checked Jiang Fan’s authorization, and a keeper gave him a token allowing access to the first seven floors for three days.
• Jiang Fan entered the Daoist Canon Pavilion.

Jiang Fan discovered a second portion of the Dao-Nurturing Chapter in the Daoist Canon Pavilion and realized it completed the text Wu Ji had taught him. After learning that Dao Seeds could grow from fragments of Dao intent into complete Great Daos, he understood how to use the ten Great Dao Fragments he had set aside.

• Jiang Fan searched the Daoist Canon Pavilion’s floors for useful texts but found little that suited his needs.
• Jiang Fan found a dusty ancient book titled the Dao-Nurturing Chapter on the seventh floor.
• Jiang Fan read the book for a day and night and confirmed that its formulas continued the incomplete portion Wu Ji had taught him.
• Jiang Fan learned that Dao Seeds could be nurtured from even damaged fragments of Great Dao intent until they grew into complete Great Daos.
• Jiang Fan realized that the ten Great Dao Fragments he had kept could become ten new Great Daos if he planted and nurtured their Dao intent within his Dao Foundation.

Jiang Fan met a young woman in the Daoist Canon Pavilion who shared her unusual ideas about incomplete texts and offered a strikingly accurate interpretation of the Dao-Nurturing Chapter. Her thoughts on nurturing Dao meridians matched much of the missing portion Jiang Fan had learned from Wu Ji, leaving him astonished by her talent.

• A young woman approached Jiang Fan as he studied the incomplete Dao-Nurturing Chapter and explained why she valued gaps in ancient texts.
• The young woman said that incomplete cultivation methods and formation diagrams forced readers to think independently and find their own way.
• Jiang Fan learned that she visited the Daoist Canon Pavilion every day and had read nearly all its incomplete texts.
• The young woman explained that Dao Seeds should be planted and nurtured rather than forcibly refined or swallowed.
• When Jiang Fan asked her to guess the missing portion, the young woman proposed nurturing the Dao meridians and described methods that closely matched the other half Wu Ji had taught him.

Jiang Fan learned how to nurture the pale golden threads in his Dao Foundation and successfully began forming ten Nascent Daos. After wondering why the Demon-Cleansing Bureau had not contacted him, he went for a stroll and ran into He Xiyan.

• He Xiyan introduced herself to Jiang Fan and asked whether he would return to the Daoist Canon Pavilion the next day.
• Jiang Fan confirmed with the middle-aged Canon Officer that his unused study time remained available as long as he kept his silver token.
• Jiang Fan used the Dao-Nurturing Chapter to plant ten threads of Great Dao light in his Dao Foundation, where they began to sprout buds.
• Jiang Fan noticed the Demon-Cleansing Bureau had not contacted him and decided to explore the capital instead of seeking out its headquarters.
• He Xiyan greeted Jiang Fan beneath a willow tree while holding an old book.

Jiang Fan encountered He Xiyan on the street, but her childhood friend Qin Shaoyang’s probing questions led to a tense exchange. Jiang Fan left, while He Xiyan scolded Qin Shaoyang for driving away someone she enjoyed talking with.

• Jiang Fan met He Xiyan beneath a willow tree and explained that he had stayed away from the Daoist Canon Pavilion to stabilize his newly formed Dao Intent.
• He Xiyan asked about Jiang Fan’s work, then apologized for prying into his background before he could answer.
• Qin Shaoyang arrived, questioned Jiang Fan about his origins and occupation, and drew a sharp reply when Jiang Fan challenged his right to ask.
• He Xiyan tried to defuse the confrontation, and Jiang Fan took his leave without waiting for her response.
• After Jiang Fan disappeared around the corner, He Xiyan accused Qin Shaoyang of driving away her friend, and he said he had been protecting her from men with ill intentions.

Qin Shaoyang ordered an investigation into Jiang Fan after seeing him speak with He Xiyan, while Jiang Fan explored Yan Capital until the Demon-Cleansing Bureau summoned him. He reached the Bureau’s northern station and waited in its hall for the grand commander.

• He Xiyan rebuffed Qin Shaoyang and walked to the Daoist Canon Pavilion, while Qin Shaoyang secretly ordered his servant to uncover everything about Jiang Fan within one day.
• Jiang Fan dismissed Qin Shaoyang and He Xiyan’s connection and explored Yan Capital’s bustling streets and marketplace.
• Liu Qingyi summoned Jiang Fan to the Demon-Cleansing Bureau’s northern station through a Communication Jade Talisman.
• Jiang Fan presented his credentials at the guarded station, and a clerk escorted him to the hall to wait for the grand commander.

Jiang Fan waited for Lu Xuanling at the Demon-Cleansing Bureau and studied a map that he recognized as marking Blood Fiend Alliance Branch Altars. Lu Xuanling arrived, praised Jiang Fan’s insight, and welcomed him as a subordinate.

• Jiang Fan waited two hours for Lu Xuanling, grew impatient, and examined a detailed map in the hall.
• Jiang Fan inferred that the map’s cinnabar marks showed discovered Blood Fiend Alliance Branch Altars suited to ambushes or hidden troops.
• Lu Xuanling entered unnoticed and asked Jiang Fan what he thought of the map.
• Jiang Fan identified the map as a military map, and Lu Xuanling praised his observation and introduced himself as the Grand Commander.
• Lu Xuanling welcomed Jiang Fan as his subordinate and asked about his first days in the capital.
• Jiang Fan described stabilizing his cultivation and studying at the Daoist Canon Pavilion, and Lu Xuanling praised his patience and restraint.

Lu Xuanling explained that capital factions had shaped the Demon-Cleansing Bureau’s personnel and warned Jiang Fan to keep a low profile despite his achievements. The next morning, Jiang Fan entered the Bureau’s assembly hall for formal deliberations and found it filled with colleagues, including Liu Qingyi.

• Lu Xuanling told Jiang Fan that he had delayed the Blood Fiend Alliance campaign while settling political disputes over appointments to the Demon-Cleansing Bureau.
• Lu Xuanling praised Jiang Fan’s handling of the Azure Cliff City case but warned him that some officials would resent his lack of backing and advised him to conceal his edge.
• Jiang Fan thanked Lu Xuanling and resolved to keep a low profile; Lu Xuanling said he would introduce him to the Bureau at formal deliberations the next day.
• Jiang Fan left the headquarters and wondered whether his appointment by the emperor would protect him from the powerful families’ scions.
• The next morning, a guard checked Jiang Fan’s credentials and led him to the assembly hall, where he saw Liu Qingyi among the gathered colleagues.

Jiang Fan attended Lu Xuanling’s briefing as the Demon-Cleansing Bureau prepared to destroy the Blood Fiend Alliance’s branch altars. Lu Xuanling assigned forces to three targets and gave the noble scions logistical duties.

• Jiang Fan observed the battle-hardened officers and the young noble scions gathered in the hall.
• Lu Xuanling reported that the bureau had identified at least twenty-six branch altars but had not found the alliance headquarters or its strategist.
• Lu Xuanling proposed destroying the discovered branch altars to gather clues and force the enemy leadership into the open.
• The bureau settled on attacking Eastern Lan Marsh, Blackwind Hollow, and Luoyan Mountain first.
• Lu Xuanling assigned commanders to the attacks and entrusted the noble scions with supply coordination, official correspondence, and message delivery.

Lu Xuanling introduced Jiang Fan as a special envoy tasked with breaking the Blood Fiend Alliance’s formations and granted him absolute authority over that work on the battlefield. After Cui Shaoying and other brocade-robed disciples challenged Jiang Fan’s role, Lu Xuanling silenced them and turned to Jiang Fan to greet everyone.

• Lu Xuanling introduced Jiang Fan and described his achievements in Azure Cliff City and his role in the campaign.
• Several brocade-robed disciples doubted Jiang Fan’s appointment, and Lu Xuanling said the emperor had personally appointed him and his merits had been verified.
• Cui Shaoying argued that Jiang Fan should not have absolute battlefield authority because formations were only a supporting part of combat.
• Lu Xuanling defended Jiang Fan’s authority, warned the assembly against further challenges, and reprimanded Cui Shaoying.
• Lu Xuanling told Jiang Fan to say hello to everyone.

Jiang Fan remained at the Demon-Cleansing Bureau as three detachments advanced against the Blood Fiend Alliance, until Li Chengfeng’s force became trapped in a deadly formation at Eastern Lan Marsh. Jiang Fan seized control of the formation, turning it against the Blood Fiend Alliance and freeing the Demon Seeds as Li Chengfeng recognized him.

• Lu Xuanling sent Li Chengfeng, Huang Yanshao, and Chen Cong with three detachments while the noble scions stayed behind under the pretense of handling logistics.
• Jiang Fan monitored the Communication Jade Talisman and cultivated as the detachments advanced and reported early victories.
• Jiang Fan received an urgent message that Li Chengfeng’s force was trapped beneath a Blood Fiend Grand Formation and rushed to Eastern Lan Marsh.
• Jiang Fan analyzed the altered formation, penetrated its patterns, and took control of its Formation Core.
• The formation turned its bloody light against the Blood Fiend Alliance’s Evil Cultivators, and the Demon Seeds regained their senses as Li Chengfeng saw Jiang Fan in the air.

The Demon-Cleansing Bureau destroyed twenty-four Blood Fiend Alliance Branch Altars in half a month and traced the alliance’s headquarters to one of two possible strongholds. As Lu Xuanling prepared to lead an assault, Cui Shaoying revealed that Daoist Xuanji might be connected to Jiang Fan.

• With Jiang Fan’s help, the Demon-Cleansing Bureau destroyed the Blood Fiend Alliance’s Branch Altars at Eastern Lan Marsh, Blackwind Hollow, and Luoyan Mountain, then continued its campaigns against other targets.
• Over the next half month, the Bureau captured or destroyed twenty-four Branch Altars, rescued more than ten thousand captives, and gathered intelligence pointing to the Far Western Mountains and Pingding Pass as possible locations of the General Alliance.
• At a council meeting, Lu Xuanling announced that the Blood Fiend Alliance’s strategist might be Ji Wuyue and that Daoist Xuanji may have helped design its core formations.
• Jiang Fan realized that Ji Wuyue seemed to be the woman connected to his master, Daoist Xuanji, and grew troubled as Lu Xuanling ordered an assault on both suspected strongholds.
• Cui Shaoying interrupted the meeting and told Lu Xuanling that Daoist Xuanji might also have a connection to Jiang Fan.