Recaps

After Li Zai'en uncovered Yi Gu’s torture in Li Yuanzong’s dungeon, the Grand Elder proposed sending Lin Bai to the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm to gather herbs as punishment for killing sect disciples. Li Zai'en had yet to accept the proposal.

• The Grand Elder saved Li Yuanzong and confronted Lin Bai over trespassing on Water Heart Island and killing sect disciples, but Li Zai'en intervened.
• Lin Bai explained that he had come to rescue Yi Gu after Li Yuanzong’s followers attacked him, while Li Yuanzong denied sending anyone to capture Yi Gu.
• Li Zai'en searched Water Heart Island and found the gravely wounded Yi Gu in a dungeon inside Li Yuanzong’s residence.
• Qiao Mo and Qin Yao stabilized Yi Gu, and Li Zai'en pressed the Grand Elder to punish Li Yuanzong for torturing a fellow disciple.
• The Grand Elder agreed to hand Li Yuanzong over for punishment, then proposed that Lin Bai gather herbs in the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm to make up for his killings.

The Grand Elder forced Lin Bai to enter the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm, where Lin Bai vowed to kill Li Yuanzong. After reprimanding Li Yuanzong for his arrogance and praising Lin Bai’s strength, the Grand Elder arranged protection for the trip; elsewhere, a beautiful woman watched events unfold and expressed interest in Lin Bai.

• The Grand Elder gave Lin Bai the choice of gathering herbs in the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm or facing punishment, and Lin Bai agreed to go.
• Lin Bai threatened to take Li Yuanzong’s head in the secret realm, then left Water Heart Island with Yi Gu, Qin Yao, and Qiao Mo.
• Li Yuanzong pleaded with the Grand Elder over losing his place atop the Tianshui Dao God Rankings, but the Grand Elder said Lin Bai was worthy of becoming Saint Son and warned Li Yuanzong to stop provoking him.
• The Grand Elder ordered Li Yuanzong to cultivate his character and said his third senior brother would accompany him to the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm for protection.
• A beautiful woman on a vermilion pleasure boat declined to punish the Tianshui Sect and said Lin Bai interested her.

The Sect Master and Li Zai'en discussed the Grand Elder’s decision to send Lin Bai into the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm, where he would face a trial and encounter Heaven and Earth Gate’s forces. The Grand Elder promised to protect Li Yuanzong while preventing him from targeting Lin Bai, then warned that a major battle on the Water Mirror Sea was approaching.

• Li Zai'en told the Sect Master that the Grand Elder had persuaded Lin Bai to enter the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm, and she judged the trip to be a trial rather than an attempt to kill him.
• The Sect Master met with the Grand Elder, who assured her that he would not secretly harm Lin Bai and would put the sect’s interests first.
• The Grand Elder said he had ordered Mu Huaqing to accompany Li Yuanzong, protect him, and stop him from troubling Lin Bai.
• The Sect Master and Grand Elder agreed that Lin Bai and Li Yuanzong were not yet suitable choices for the Saint position, so the decision could wait.
• The Grand Elder reported that Heaven and Earth Gate had gained the Flood Dragon Clan and other Water Mirror Sea factions as allies, and predicted a major battle within ten to a hundred years.

Lin Bai prepared for the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm after Yi Gu was badly injured, receiving five million Contribution Points and a Sky Peak Divine Radiance Pill from Li Zai'en. He then entered the Sword Formation Tower to test whether he could reach its fourth level.

• Qin Yao stabilized Yi Gu's injuries with healing pills, and Lin Bai asked Qin Yao and Qiao Mo to watch over him while he prepared for the secret realm.
• Li Zai'en brought more healing pills, warned Lin Bai about the danger of the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm, and revealed that he had nominated Lin Bai as a Saint Disciple candidate.
• Lin Bai asked about his promised Contribution Points, and Li Zai'en transferred five million to him and gave him a Sky Peak Divine Radiance Pill he had refined years earlier.
• Li Zai'en left Lin Bai several texts about the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm before departing.
• Lin Bai entered the Sword Formation Tower, intending to reach its fourth level.

Lin Bai entered the fourth level of the Sword Formation Tower and learned the Heaven's Will Four Symbols Sword Formation, but the tower was close to collapsing. He began searching for materials to forge three more flying swords, while the Flying Sword Devil Sect was introduced in the Devil Realm.

• Lin Bai climbed to the fourth level despite the Sword Formation Tower's violent shaking and discovered the Heaven's Will Four Symbols Sword Formation.
• A vision showed a sword cultivator using four swords transformed into the Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise to kill a powerful demon.
• Lin Bai learned the formation's cultivation method and escaped as the Sword Formation Tower cracked and neared collapse.
• Lin Bai memorized the formation over several days, then went to the Water Mirror World to seek Destiny Stone, Eternal Sand, and Soaring Sky Divine Iron for three additional flying swords.
• The Flying Sword Devil Sect was introduced as a powerful sect occupying a sword-like mountain range in the Devil Realm.

The Flying Sword Devil Sect learned that its supreme treasure, the Floating Pagoda Sword, had appeared in the Devil Realm Eastern Region and sent martial artists to retrieve it. Meanwhile, Lin Bai spent more than a million Contribution Points on materials for new flying swords and prepared to refine them in seclusion.

• A mysterious ancestor of the Flying Sword Devil Sect sensed the Floating Pagoda Sword and ordered the Sect Master to retrieve it from the Devil Realm Eastern Region.
• Several hundred martial artists left the Flying Sword Devil Sect for the Eastern Region.
• Lin Bai used his status as a Three Wonders Disciple to select flying-sword materials on the sixth floor of the Tianshui Sect's Treasure Pavilion.
• Lin Bai returned to Bright Moon Island, asked Qiao Mo and Qin Yao to watch over the unconscious Yi Gu, and arranged for them to protect him during his seclusion.
• Lin Bai unpacked the materials he had bought, including the Tyrant Tiger Soul Divine Iron, which he had chosen for the Bai Hu Flying Sword despite its price of five hundred thousand Contribution Points.

Lin Bai began forging the flying swords he would need for the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm while Tianshui Sect organized its expedition teams. Tang Wei notified Lin Bai’s companions that the ninth team would depart in ten days, leaving Qin Yao furious after Tang Wei teased her and Qiao Mo about living with Lin Bai.

• Lin Bai reviewed the Phoenix Feather and Hundred Wastelands Beast Metal, then began forging his flying swords in Tianshui Sect’s weapon-refining chamber.
• Tianshui Sect selected nine teams of ten disciples to gather spiritual medicines in the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm, assigning Lin Bai to Tang Wei’s ninth team.
• Tang Wei visited Bright Moon Island and told Qin Yao and Qiao Mo that the ninth team planned to depart in ten days, with at most a two-day wait for Lin Bai.
• Tang Wei teased Qin Yao and Qiao Mo about living under Lin Bai’s roof, and Qin Yao angrily threatened to humiliate Tang Wei after she left.

Lin Bai completed three flying swords by splitting off pieces of his soul, leaving him severely weakened. As the team’s departure for the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm approached, he went to visit the newly awakened Yi Gu, while the crow recognized that Lin Bai’s four swords might suit a forgotten sword formation.

• Qiao Mo told Lin Bai that he had been assigned to Senior Sister Tang Wei’s group, which would depart for the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm in ten days.
• Lin Bai split off three fragments of his soul and fused them with the flying swords as he completed their refinement.
• The three swords burst from Lin Bai’s shattered palace and released a powerful sword intent across the Tianhe Archipelago; Li Zai'en praised Lin Bai’s strength.
• Lin Bai emerged pale and weak, and Qin Yao and Qiao Mo realized that his soul had been severely damaged; he confirmed he had not missed the team’s departure.
• Lin Bai visited the newly awakened Yi Gu, while the crow identified his swords as suited to a forgotten formation that seemed to require four flying swords.

Lin Bai prepared to leave for the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm after arranging for Yi Gu to recover on Bright Moon Island. Despite his soul injuries, he joined the gathering of herb-gathering teams and departed aboard the spirit vessel.

• Lin Bai assured Yi Gu that he would stay on Bright Moon Island under Elder Li Zai'en, Qin Yao, and Qiao Mo's protection, and vowed to deal with Li Yuanzong in the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm.
• Yi Gu explained that Lin Bai's weakened soul came from refining three flying swords with the Flying Sword Devil Sect's Sword Control Art.
• Qiao Mo gave Lin Bai ten Soul Nourishing Pills, and Lin Bai accepted them as a debt to repay after his return.
• Lin Bai set out with the Crow and met Tang Wei and the other teams at the island gathering point, arriving with his soul still visibly injured.
• The purple-robed Elder Zheng Yuan allowed Tang Wei's group to wait for Lin Bai, and the spirit vessel departed the Water Mirror Sea with all the martial artists aboard.

Lin Bai boarded the spirit boat bound for the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm, where he met Mu Huaqing, a former top-ranked disciple and Li Yuanzong’s senior brother. As Lin Bai began treating his injuries, Li Yuanzong learned how badly hurt he was and started plotting to exploit the opportunity.

• Lin Bai boarded the spirit boat, and Tang Wei took him to rest while other martial artists watched and discussed his reputation.
• Lin Bai noticed Mu Huaqing, whom Tang Wei identified as the Grand Elder’s third direct disciple and a former peak Dao God who had once topped the Tianshui Dao God Rankings.
• Tang Wei led the ninth group to their rooms, warned them to rest during the journey, and gave Lin Bai healing pills for his injuries.
• Lin Bai set aside Tang Wei’s pills and began refining a Soul Nourishing Pill from Qiao Mo to heal the damage to his soul.
• Pan Hun told Li Yuanzong that Lin Bai had boarded the ship seriously injured, and Li Yuanzong began devising a sinister scheme.

Li Yuanzong and his allies plotted to ambush Lin Bai in the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm while Lin Bai recovered from his soul injuries. Mu Huaqing approached Lin Bai and described how rival geniuses were eliminated after Chen Yule became the Chen Family’s Holy Son, leaving Lin Bai wondering why he had shared the story.

• Li Yuanzong persuaded Pan Hun, Wu Di, Zhao En, Qi Liang, and Li Lu to help him trap and kill Lin Bai after they entered the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm.
• Lin Bai swallowed ten Soul Nourishing Pills, but his soul injuries remained unhealed.
• Lin Bai met Mu Huaqing on the spirit boat’s deck and asked whether he had come to help Li Yuanzong deal with him.
• Mu Huaqing said the world could hold only one genius or powerhouse and recounted how the Chen Family’s other six geniuses died or were exiled after Chen Yule became Holy Son.
• Lin Bai asked Mu Huaqing why he had told him the story.

Lin Bai remained wary of Mu Huaqing after they discussed the fair contest for the Sacred Son position. The Heaven and Earth Gate arrived at the ruins of the Ancient Desolate Sect, where its disciples heard that the sect had been destroyed for allegedly allying with the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace, though no solid evidence had ever been produced.

• Mu Huaqing warned Lin Bai not to scheme against Li Yuanzong, and Lin Bai asked what would happen if Li Yuanzong played dirty first.
• Lin Bai and the Heaven and Earth Gate disciples traveled by spirit vessel to the ruined mountain range that had once been the Ancient Desolate Sect's headquarters.
• The Old Daoist identified the range as the Soaring Cloud Profound Heaven Mountains, one of Haizhou's seven great spirit veins, and explained that it lay within the Tianshui Sect's sphere of influence.
• Yu Lianqin said the Ancient Desolate Sect had been destroyed because it allied with the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace, and the Old Daoist confirmed that this was the accusation behind its downfall.
• The Old Daoist revealed that the Tianshui Sect had never produced solid evidence of the Ancient Desolate Sect's alleged alliance.

The Tianshui Sect and the Heaven and Earth Gate met at the mountain peak and joined their halves of the key to open the secret realm. Their disciples entered with orders to gather spirit medicines and deal with any rival sect members they encountered.

• The Tianshui Sect's spirit vessel arrived at the peak, where Zheng Yuan led its disciples in facing the Heaven and Earth Gate's imposing force.
• Zheng Yuan and the Old Daoist exchanged greetings while the disciples of both sects sized each other up.
• The Old Daoist and Zheng Yuan joined their rune-inscribed keys, activating the mountain's runes and opening a radiant gate to the secret realm.
• Lin Bai realized the peak drew in spiritual energy to nourish the secret realm and could not be moved without the surrounding land.
• Zheng Yuan ordered the Tianshui Sect disciples to collect the required spirit medicines and kill Heaven and Earth Gate disciples if possible, while the Old Daoist gave the Heaven and Earth Gate similar collection orders.
• The disciples of both sects entered the radiant gate.

Lin Bai and the Tianshui Sect disciples entered the Ancient Desolate Sect’s secret realm to gather rare spiritual herbs, but the Heaven and Earth Gate confronted them at Spirit Field No. 81. The chapter leaves Tang Wei facing the rival disciples while Lin Bai remains inside the formation, still recovering from his injuries.

• Yu Lianqin warned Lin Bai that they might fight in the secret realm, and Tang Wei cautioned him that the Heaven and Earth Gate might target him.
• Lin Bai and the others entered the secret realm and saw its vast lands and abandoned Spirit Fields.
• Tang Wei used a map to lead Lin Bai and the Tianshui Sect disciples toward Spirit Field No. 81 to gather Four Seasons Spirit Mushrooms.
• Tang Wei opened the formation, and the group found twelve mature Four Seasons Spirit Mushrooms they were allowed to harvest.
• More than a dozen Heaven and Earth Gate disciples arrived and demanded the herbs, so Tang Wei went out to confront them while Lin Bai stayed behind due to his injuries.

Tang Wei held off the Heaven and Earth Gate disciples while Lin Bai and the others gathered spirit medicines and fled. The Gate’s pursuers targeted Lin Bai, who killed seven of them and learned an elder had ordered his death, then asked if the order came from the Old Daoist with the bull’s nose.

• Tang Wei attacked the Heaven and Earth Gate disciples after they threatened to abduct and sell her, then told Lin Bai’s group to flee south once they had gathered the spirit medicines.
• Lin Bai’s companions escaped, but seven or eight disciples broke away from Tang Wei and caught up with Lin Bai.
• The pursuers recognized Lin Bai and revealed that the Heaven and Earth Gate had ordered them to kill him in the mystic realm.
• Lin Bai killed seven pursuers and gravely wounded the last one.
• The survivor said an elder ordered Lin Bai’s death because he was a rising star of the Tianshui Sect, and Lin Bai asked whether the elder was the Old Daoist with the bull’s nose.

Lin Bai learned that the Heaven and Earth Gate planned to move against the Tianshui Sect, but a mysterious force had sealed the details in its disciple’s memories. When Tang Wei was overwhelmed by three Heaven and Earth Gate disciples, a powerful Azure Dragon sword attack arrived, leaving her fate unresolved.

• Lin Bai searched a subdued Heaven and Earth Gate disciple’s memories, confirmed the sect planned to attack the Tianshui Sect, and found the specific plan mysteriously sealed.
• Lin Bai sent the crow to gather spirit medicines and told it to return within seven days.
• Lin Bai returned to Spirit Field No. 81 and found Tang Wei badly wounded while fighting three Heaven and Earth Gate disciples.
• The three disciples brought Tang Wei down, and one approached her while his companions stood watch.
• A sword attack shaped like an Azure Dragon struck the approaching disciple and slashed him into a bloody mess, startling the other two.

Lin Bai arrived to rescue Tang Wei, killing the Heaven and Earth Gate disciples who had overwhelmed her. After Tang Wei admitted she had underestimated the dangers beyond the sect, they set out to regroup with the rest of the team.

• Lin Bai's Azure Dragon sword image killed two Heaven and Earth Gate disciples who were attacking Tang Wei.
• Lin Bai revealed himself as the top-ranked Tianshui Dao God Rankings disciple and killed the last Heaven and Earth Gate attacker with the Dragon Eye Flying Sword.
• Tang Wei took pills to treat her injuries and admitted she had been defeated because she had grown overconfident after being sheltered by her sect.
• Lin Bai explained the weakness of cultivating secluded geniuses and urged Tang Wei to learn from her defeat.
• Lin Bai and Tang Wei set off to find the rest of their team.

Lin Bai and Tang Wei found the eight other members of Tang Wei’s group dead and discovered that they had apparently been manipulated into killing themselves by an illusionist. Lin Bai saw through a false Tang Wei and killed the illusionist’s phantom, but the real illusionist’s spell continued, ending with a Giant God Race powerhouse appearing before him.

• Lin Bai and Tang Wei followed their team’s signals to a mountain range and found all eight other members dead.
• Lin Bai determined that the team members had shattered their own heart meridians, and he suspected an illusion had made them kill themselves.
• A frightened Tang Wei approached Lin Bai, but he recognized her as an illusion and strangled the disguised young man, who turned out to be a false body.
• Lin Bai sensed that the real Tang Wei was attacking a forest ten thousand miles away, then realized the illusionist was still manipulating the realm when the false body vanished.
• The illusion transformed into a collapsing world, where a giant of the Giant God Race appeared and addressed Lin Bai as a member of the Heaven Swallowing Race.

Lin Bai recognized the Giant God as an illusion and used the Asura Dharma Eyes to battle him with an illusory Devouring Sword Soul and duplicate. Outside the illusion, he defeated Feng Yi, who had been tormenting Lin Bai and Tang Wei, and opened his eyes to confront the Heaven and Earth Gate disciples.

• Lin Bai realized his flying swords could not harm the Giant God and recognized that he was trapped in an illusion.
• Lin Bai used the Asura Dharma Eyes to create an illusory Devouring Sword Soul and duplicate, then fought the Giant God until its healing slowed.
• Outside the illusion, Feng Yi controlled the tormenting visions while Tang Wei struggled and Lin Bai sat calmly with his eyes closed.
• Feng Yi spat blood and collapsed, admitting that Lin Bai's illusory arts surpassed his own.
• Lin Bai opened his eyes and fixed a cold gaze on the Heaven and Earth Gate disciples, and Feng Yi warned them not to look into his eyes.

Lin Bai defeated the giant god’s illusion and used the Asura Dharma Eyes to trap Feng Yi and the Heaven and Earth Gate disciples in a reality-distorting illusion. After freeing Tang Wei, he learned about the Heaven and Earth Gate’s illusion arts and set off to confront the trapped disciples.

• Lin Bai won the clash of illusion arts and saw the Heaven and Earth Gate disciples watching him from the mountain.
• Lin Bai trapped Feng Yi and the disciples in an illusion of a collapsing world and attacking Flame Giants, while their treasures vanished inside it.
• Lin Bai freed Tang Wei from her illusion, and she clung to him in relief.
• Tang Wei explained that illusion arts were one of the Heaven and Earth Gate’s three signature paths, alongside swordsmanship and alchemy.
• Lin Bai told Tang Wei to wait somewhere safe and walked toward the mountaintop while the trapped disciples fled from the Flame Giants.

Lin Bai trapped Feng Yi and the Heaven and Earth Gate disciples in a painful illusion, killed the other disciples, and questioned Feng Yi about the sect’s plans and secrets. Feng Yi revealed the Divine Stele of Heaven and Earth before asking Lin Bai to spare his life, which Lin Bai refused.

• Lin Bai appeared above the burning illusion and asked whether Feng Yi and the Heaven and Earth Gate disciples had killed the Tianshui Sect disciples.
• The disciples blamed Feng Yi and begged for mercy, but Lin Bai killed them while keeping Feng Yi alive.
• Lin Bai and Feng Yi exchanged questions, and Feng Yi admitted the Heaven and Earth Gate planned to secretly destroy the Tianshui Sect.
• Feng Yi questioned Lin Bai about his illusion arts, and Lin Bai said he had learned them on his own.
• Feng Yi explained that the Divine Stele of Heaven and Earth protected the Heaven and Earth Gate’s secrets and tracked its disciples.
• Feng Yi asked Lin Bai to spare his life, and Lin Bai refused.

Lin Bai defeated Feng Yi’s group but Feng Yi escaped using a costly substitute technique. After regrouping with the wounded Tang Wei, Lin Bai left her to recover and went to seek Li Yuanzong, while Li Yuanzong’s team clashed with Yu Lianqin’s Heaven and Earth Gate team.

• Feng Yi used a rose-shaped substitute to escape Lin Bai’s illusion, and Lin Bai killed the other Heaven and Earth Gate disciples before searching their Storage Bags.
• Lin Bai found Tang Wei and the Four Seasons Spirit Mushrooms in the captured Storage Bags, confirming that the Heaven and Earth Gate disciples had killed their teammates.
• Tang Wei said her injuries would take several days to heal and urged Lin Bai to go on without her.
• Lin Bai settled Tang Wei in a small canyon and set off to find Li Yuanzong, despite Tang Wei’s warning about Mu Huaqing.
• Li Yuanzong’s first team fought Yu Lianqin’s first team of the Heaven and Earth Gate, and Yu Lianqin asked Mu Huaqing who he was.

Lin Bai searched for Li Yuanzong but followed Raven’s signal to a hidden formation beneath a vast river in the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm. Meanwhile, Li Yuanzong’s group abandoned their pursuit of the Heaven and Earth Gate disciples to hunt the injured Lin Bai, leaving Mu Huaqing unable to catch up.

• Mu Huaqing held Yu Lianqin to a standstill, and Yu Lianqin ordered the Heaven and Earth Gate disciples to retreat.
• Li Yuanzong’s group pursued the retreating disciples as a pretext to shake off Mu Huaqing and find the injured Lin Bai.
• Lin Bai contacted Raven, learned he had found a hidden secret realm, and used a positioning compass to locate him after Raven refused help.
• Lin Bai reached the river, dived to its bed, and found glowing runes carved into huge stones that appeared to form a teleportation formation.

Lin Bai discovered that the river stones formed a teleportation array leading to the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm’s second level, where he found a colossal World Tree. A Heaven and Earth Gate disciple also arrived and raced toward it, leaving Lin Bai to consider killing him and taking the treasure.

• Lin Bai activated a dim rune stone with his blood and spiritual power, allowing it to teleport him into the secret realm’s second level.
• Lin Bai followed the compass toward the crow and found the second level had immense spiritual energy, towering trees, and no spiritual medicines.
• Lin Bai reached the center of the secret realm and spotted a World Tree towering above the forest.
• A Heaven and Earth Gate disciple recognized the World Tree, laughed excitedly, and flew toward it.
• Lin Bai concealed himself and considered killing the Heaven and Earth Gate disciple to claim the World Tree.

Lin Bai discovered that the supposed World Tree was actually a World-Annihilation Tree that trapped and drained a Heaven and Earth Gate disciple. As the tree’s resurrecting vines surrounded him, Lin Bai contacted the Crow, who recognized the danger.

• Lin Bai decided to race toward the World Tree and kill the Heaven and Earth Gate disciple before he could break through to the Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm.
• The Heaven Swallowing Dao Fruit activated on its own, releasing Devouring Power that exposed the World Tree’s true, monstrous form and destroyed a vine attacking Lin Bai.
• Lin Bai saw the World-Annihilation Tree draining the Heaven and Earth Gate disciple’s life force while the disciple remained unaware.
• Lin Bai fought off the tree’s vines with the Demonic Sword, but the severed vines revived and surrounded the area around him.
• Lin Bai contacted the Crow, who identified the tree as a World-Annihilation Tree and told Lin Bai he was in danger.