Recaps

Zhu Yi and four Black-Robed Men attacked East Shuang City, where Li Feng and the Immortal Cave Mountain Seventy-Two Sword Cultivators fought them. Lin Bai arrived in time to save Li Feng and confronted Zhu Yi, but focused his attention on the four concealed men, suspecting they came from Ten Thousand Demons Valley.

• Zhu Yi led four Black-Robed Men into East Shuang City, where Purple Robe Disciples ambushed them with sword rays.
• Li Feng challenged Zhu Yi and led the Immortal Cave Mountain Seventy-Two Sword Cultivators in an attack, wounding the Yang God Realm expert.
• Zhu Yi struck Li Feng down and moved to kill him, but a sword ray from Lin Bai stopped his punch.
• Lin Bai arrived with Nie Xiong and the others, told Li Feng to recover, and confronted Zhu Yi.
• Lin Bai dismissed Zhu Yi's introduction and turned his attention to the four Black-Robed Men, suspecting they were experts from Ten Thousand Demons Valley.

Lin Bai faced Zhu Yi and four Demon Saints from Ten Thousand Demons Valley, who had come to kill him at Zhu Shang’s request. After Zhu Yi sent him flying, Lin Bai unleashed a far stronger sword intent and prepared to counterattack with Azure Wood Divine Lightning.

• Dragon Scorpion, Yellow Immortal, Night Wolf, and White Crane revealed themselves as four Demon Saints from Ten Thousand Demons Valley.
• The Demon Saints and Zhu Yi attacked Lin Bai together, while the Immortal Cave Mountain Seventy-Two Sword Cultivators prepared to fight if he fell.
• Lin Bai thrust the Demon Sword at Zhu Yi, but Zhu Yi blocked the attack with a punch and sent him flying a thousand meters.
• Lin Bai rose and released a sword intent that alarmed the four Demon Saints with its power approaching the Yang God Realm.
• Zhu Yi charged Lin Bai with another punch, and Lin Bai called out Azure Wood Divine Lightning.

Lin Bai used the Azure Wood Divine Lightning and the Reaching Heaven Sword Art to fight Zhu Yi and the four Demon Saints. He pierced Night Wolf’s throat, leaving the battle with the remaining enemies unresolved.

• Lin Bai wounded Zhu Yi with his lightning-charged sword, forcing Zhu Yi to call on the four Demon Saints for help.
• Night Wolf, White Crane, Dragon Scorpion, Yellow Immortal, and Zhu Yi attacked Lin Bai together, driving him to reveal the Reaching Heaven Sword Art.
• Lin Bai’s Azure Wood Divine Lightning repelled Night Wolf’s claw and scorched both of his hands.
• Lin Bai struck back and pierced Night Wolf’s throat, sending destructive lightning through his body.

Lin Bai killed Night Wolf, Dragon Scorpion, Yellow Immortal, and White Crane Demon Saints while fighting off their combined assault with Zhu Yi. Zhu Yi fled East Shuang City, and Lin Bai vowed to face the Ten Thousand Demons Valley if it sought revenge.

• Lin Bai killed Night Wolf Demon Saint and secretly refined the demon blood in his body with Devouring Sword Soul.
• The three surviving Demon Saints and Zhu Yi attacked Lin Bai together, but his Azure Wood Divine Lightning and swordsmanship let him withstand their assault.
• Lin Bai severed Dragon Scorpion Demon Saint’s pincers and stinger, then killed him with a lightning-infused sword strike.
• Lin Bai caught Yellow Immortal Demon Saint off guard and beheaded him before White Crane and Zhu Yi regrouped.
• White Crane and Zhu Yi tried to flee, but Lin Bai pursued and killed White Crane after declaring he would face the Ten Thousand Demons Valley.
• Zhu Yi escaped East Shuang City while Lin Bai said he would seek out the Ten Thousand Demons Valley’s hidden location.

Lin Bai killed Zhu Yi and the four Demon Saints, then headed to Zhu Xian City with evidence of their alliance with Zhu Shang. As Zhu Shang’s birthday banquet began, the guests gathered while Zhu Shang worried that his brother and the Demon Saints had not returned.

• Lin Bai caught up with Zhu Yi and killed him, completing the defeat of all five Yang God Realm attackers.
• Lin Bai ordered Zhuo Lian to collect the bodies and had Nie Xiong make copies of the Image Recording Pearl documenting Zhu Yi’s alliance with the Demon Saints.
• Lin Bai directed Nie Xiong to send copies of the recording to the Reaching Heaven Sword Sect, the Litian Dynasty emperor, and the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, then led the sword cultivators toward Zhu Xian City.
• Lin Bai and the seventy-two sword cultivators arrived in Zhu Xian City the evening before Zhu Shang’s birthday banquet.
• Zhu Shang welcomed the birthday guests while privately wondering why Zhu Yi and the four Demon Saints had not returned.
• Yang Qing, the Heaven Splitting Marquis of the Litian Dynasty, approached Zhu Shang and asked whether anything was troubling him.

At Zhu Shang’s birthday banquet, Nie Xiong led more than seventy Reaching Heaven Sword Sect disciples into the Zhu Family residence and presented five coffins, turning the celebration into a confrontation. Zhu Shang refused to open them and warned the visitors that the Heaven Splitting Marquis and his army would not let them cause trouble.

• The Heaven Splitting Marquis assured Zhu Shang that he had come to protect the Zhu Family on behalf of the Imperial Concubine.
• Zhu Shang welcomed the guests and began his birthday banquet with the Heaven Splitting Marquis.
• More than seventy Purple-Robed Inner Disciples of the Reaching Heaven Sword Sect arrived, led by Nie Xiong, while Lin Bai was absent.
• Nie Xiong offered Zhu Shang a birthday gift, and Zhuo Lian brought out five coffins.
• Zhu Shang refused to open the coffins and warned the disciples against causing trouble, citing the Heaven Splitting Marquis and the Heaven Splitting Army.
• Nie Xiong challenged Zhu Shang to open the coffins, asking whether he was unwilling or afraid.

Nie Xiong exposed Zhu Shang’s connection to Ten Thousand Demons Valley by opening the coffins and revealing Zhu Yi and four Demon Saints. An Image Recording Pearl then played evidence of Zhu Yi and the Demon Saints attacking Dongfang Bai in East Shuang City, leaving the guests stunned by the apparent conspiracy.

• Nie Xiong pressed Zhu Shang to open the coffins, while Zhu Shang summoned nearly a thousand armed Zhu Family warriors and Heaven Splitting Marquis sent commandants to mobilize the Heaven Splitting Army.
• Nie Xiong moved to open the coffins, and Li Chou struck Zhu Shang aside when he tried to stop him.
• Nie Xiong opened all four coffins, revealing Zhu Yi and the four Demon Saints from Ten Thousand Demons Valley; Zhu Shang denied knowing them.
• Nie Xiong explained Zhu Yi’s supposed death fifty years earlier and identified the four Demon Saints as Yellow Immortal Demon Saint, Dragon Scorpion Demon Saint, Night Wolf Demon Saint, and White Crane Demon Saint.
• Nie Xiong played an Image Recording Pearl showing Zhu Yi and the four Demon Saints attacking Dongfang Bai in East Shuang City, exposing their apparent ties to Zhu Shang.

Nie Xiong exposed Zhu Shang’s ties to the Ten Thousand Demons Valley with a recording and a ledger, while Lin Bai retrieved further evidence from Zhu Shang’s ninth concubine. The ledger confirmed the Zhu Family’s dealings had begun more than a hundred and twenty years earlier, leaving Zhu Shang publicly exposed.

• Zhu Shang tried to stop Nie Xiong from showing a recording, but Nie Xiong revealed that he had sent copies to the Reaching Heaven Sword Sect, the Litian Dynasty’s emperor, and the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.
• Nie Xiong produced a ledger recording the Zhu Family’s transactions with the Ten Thousand Demons Valley and accused Zhu Shang of selling humans to the Han Hai Demon Kingdom.
• Zhu Shang blurted out that the ledger was kept on his ninth concubine, Yu Zhu, revealing where the evidence was hidden.
• Nie Xiong alerted Lin Bai, who arrived carrying Yu Zhu; Zhu Shang killed her and demanded her Storage Bag.
• Lin Bai searched Yu Zhu’s Storage Bag, found the transaction ledger, and accused Zhu Shang of trading with the Ten Thousand Demons Valley for more than a hundred and twenty years.

Lin Bai exposed ledger records showing that Zhu Shang and the Zhu Family had spent decades selling captured martial artists to the Han Hai Demon Kingdom for enormous profits. Zhu Shang admitted his crimes, then trapped the birthday guests and the Immortal Cave Mountain Seventy-Two Sword Cultivators inside the Heaven Sealing Grand Formation.

• Lin Bai read aloud ledger entries documenting the Zhu Family's sales of martial artists through Ten Thousand Demons Valley and ordered Nie Xiong to copy the ledger for the Sword Paragon, the Litian Dynasty's Emperor, and the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.
• The guests confronted Zhu Shang, who laughed, defended his actions as survival of the fittest, and boasted that he had sold 1.5 million martial artists.
• Zhu Shang revealed that the White Snake clan had offered ten billion spirit stones for Dongfang Bai and threatened to sell the sword cultivators of the seven great sects.
• Zhu Shang ordered the Zhu Family martial artists to surround the guests and declared that no one could leave the residence.
• Zhu Shang called for the Heaven Sealing Grand Formation, and a transparent barrier enclosed the Zhu Family grounds across ten thousand miles.

Lin Bai confronted the Zhu Family after Zhu Shang sealed the estate and ordered its guests attacked. Lin Bai opened an escape route through the Heaven Sealing Grand Formation and gave everyone half an hour to leave before the fighting resumed.

• Zhu Shang activated the Heaven Sealing Grand Formation, trapped the guests, and ordered his thirty thousand death warriors to attack them.
• Lin Bai told Nie Xiong to direct the guests toward the southeast corner, where he would open a gap in the formation.
• Lin Bai killed more than a dozen death warriors who attacked him and cleaved a gap in the formation with his Devouring Sword Soul.
• The guests fled through the opening as Lin Bai warned everyone to leave within half an hour or become enemies of the Immortal Cave Mountain Seventy-Two Sword Cultivators.

The Heaven Splitting Marquis sent the Heaven Splitting Army to aid the Zhu Family and prevent the guests from escaping alive. Lin Bai and the Immortal Cave Mountain Seventy-Two Sword Cultivators remained inside the Heaven Sealing Grand Formation as the Marquis ordered troops outside it to slaughter the escaped guests.

• Zhu Shang urged the Heaven Splitting Marquis to deploy the Heaven Splitting Army after the Zhu Family's death soldiers failed to break through the Immortal Cave Mountain Seventy-Two Sword Cultivators.
• The Heaven Splitting Marquis donned his Heaven Splitting Armor, summoned his troops, and ordered them to kill everyone except the Zhu Family martial artists.
• Lin Bai accused the Heaven Splitting Marquis of helping Zhu Bi and Zhu Lei rise to power, then told Nie Xiong to keep the disciples from getting entangled with the Heaven Splitting Army.
• The guests escaped through Lin Bai's gap in the Heaven Sealing Grand Formation before it closed, leaving only the Immortal Cave Mountain Seventy-Two Sword Cultivators inside.
• The Heaven Splitting Marquis ordered Commandant Zhang to lead fifty thousand troops into Zhu Xian City and kill the escaped guests, and their screams rang out beyond the formation.

As Zhu Shang’s attempt to silence the guests at her birthday celebration turned into a massacre, the survivors summoned allies across the Litian Dynasty and set the stage for full-scale war against the Zhu Family. The Reaching Heaven Sword Sect dispatched Ling Luo to retrieve Dongfang Bai’s account book and destroy the Zhu Family, while the Sword Reverent hoped Dongfang Bai could survive until she arrived.

• The Heaven Splitting Army slaughtered fleeing guests, prompting Lin Changtian and other survivors to summon family reinforcements and declare war on the Zhu Family.
• Families from more than 130 principal cities and countless sects mobilized their fighters and sent them toward Zhu Xian City.
• Gui Jing told the Sword Reverent that Dongfang Bai had exposed the Zhu Family’s account book, leading Zhu Shang to attack the banquet guests.
• The Sword Reverent ordered Ling Luo to lead 500 Purple Robe Disciples and 30,000 Red Robe Disciples to Zhu Xian City, recover the account book, and destroy the Zhu Family.
• The Sword Reverent hoped Dongfang Bai would hold out until Ling Luo arrived and said the Reaching Heaven Sword Sect would avenge him if he did not.

Lin Bai and the Immortal Cave Mountain Seventy-Two Sword Cultivators fought their way through the Heaven Sealing Grand Formation to kill Zhu Shang and escape. Lin Bai held off the Heaven Splitting Marquis, but the battle between them intensified as the others pressed toward Zhu Shang.

• Lin Bai ordered the seventy-two Sword Cultivators to avoid the larger forces, target Zhu Shang, and use their Forbidden-Breaking Sword Qi to escape once he was dead.
• The Immortal Cave Mountain Seventy-Two Sword Cultivators charged through the enemy ranks toward Zhu Shang, while Lin Bai attacked him directly.
• The Heaven Splitting Marquis intercepted Lin Bai with a powerful spear strike, and Lin Bai was knocked back and wounded despite using the Azure Wood Divine Lightning and Reaching Heaven Sword Art.
• Lin Bai told the Sword Cultivators to continue after Zhu Shang and engaged the Heaven Splitting Marquis to keep him away from them.
• Lin Bai forced the Heaven Splitting Marquis back and marked his armor with a sword strike, provoking the marquis to attack again with his mid-stage Earth Intent.

Lin Bai and the Purple Robe Disciples fought Heaven Splitting Marquis and the Zhu Family’s forces, but a mysterious black-robed swordsman intervened and nearly killed Zhuo Lian. A young man in multicolored robes arrived to save Zhuo Lian, and the black-robed swordsman identified him as Lin Anyang, the Sword Paragon of the Reaching Heaven Sword Sect.

• Lin Bai clashed with Heaven Splitting Marquis while Nie Xiong, Zhuo Lian, Jing Shu, and the others advanced on Zhu Shang through the Zhu Family’s thirty thousand death warriors.
• Li Chou charged through the soldiers, and Nie Xiong nearly struck down Zhu Shang before Zhu Shang called for help.
• A masked black-robed swordsman appeared and sent Nie Xiong flying with a single sword strike.
• The black-robed swordsman attacked Zhuo Lian, while Lin Bai recognized a familiar quality in his sword technique but could not break free of Heaven Splitting Marquis.
• A sword ray forced the black-robed man away from Zhuo Lian, and a young man in multicolored robes descended from the clouds.
• The black-robed swordsman recognized the newcomer as Lin Anyang, the Sword Paragon of the Reaching Heaven Sword Sect.

Lin Anyang revealed himself as the Litian Dynasty’s Crown Prince and condemned the Heaven Splitting Marquis for colluding with the Ten Thousand Demons Valley. As Lin Anyang fought the mysterious man in black, Lin Bai attacked the Heaven Splitting Marquis.

• Lin Anyang appeared in the Heaven Sealing Grand Formation, and the Heaven Splitting Marquis recognized him as the Crown Prince.
• Lin Anyang accused the Heaven Splitting Marquis of treason and challenged the man in black to reveal which Reaching Heaven Sword Sect peak lord he was.
• Lin Anyang donned his golden dragon robe and ordered the Heaven Splitting Army to capture the Heaven Splitting Marquis, but the soldiers hesitated and then followed the Marquis’s command.
• Lin Anyang engaged the man in black with the Reaching Heaven Sword Art while Lin Bai confronted the Heaven Splitting Marquis.
• Lin Bai changed from Hundred-Step Kill to Thousand-Step Kill and unleashed a sword strike carrying Aurora, Slaughter, and Rainstorm intents.

Lin Bai used the Slaughter Intent to kill the Heaven Splitting Marquis before his spiritual power ran out. Lin Anyang displayed the Marquis’s head and ordered his soldiers to surrender, threatening those who refused.

• Lin Bai wounded the Heaven Splitting Marquis repeatedly with the Ten-Step Sword and broke through his Earth Intent, but the Marquis survived.
• The Heaven Splitting Marquis considered Lin Bai’s strange swordsmanship and saw that Lin Anyang and the black-clothed man remained evenly matched while Zhu Shang’s forces attacked the Immortal Cave Mountain Seventy-Two Sword Cultivators.
• Lin Bai realized the Five Elements Divine Pill’s spiritual power was nearly exhausted, gathered his Slaughter Intent, and unleashed Certain Death in Ten Thousand Steps.
• Lin Bai’s swift sword severed the Heaven Splitting Spear and killed the Heaven Splitting Marquis, then he tore off the Marquis’s head.
• Lin Bai announced the Marquis’s death and tossed his head to Lin Anyang, who urged the Heaven Splitting Army to obey him and threatened those who continued fighting.

Lin Bai killed Zhu Shang after defeating the Heaven Splitting Marquis, but Zhu Shang revealed Ten Thousand Demons Valley’s ties to the Reaching Heaven Sword Sect before a black-robed peak master killed him and escaped. Lin Bai and Lin Anyang prepared to part ways, with Lin Anyang taking the Heaven Splitting Army to the imperial capital and Lin Bai returning to the sect.

• Lin Anyang ordered the Heaven Splitting Army to kill Zhu Family’s thirty thousand death warriors, and Lin Bai confronted Zhu Shang.
• Zhu Shang warned Lin Bai that Ten Thousand Demons Valley had many allies and recounted how it had killed former Sword Paragon Chen Pan.
• Zhu Shang began to expose the black-robed man as a member of the Reaching Heaven Sword Sect, but the man killed Zhu Shang and escaped through a breach in the Heaven Sealing Grand Formation.
• Lin Bai told Lin Anyang that the fugitive was likely a peak master with ties to Ten Thousand Demons Valley, and Lin Anyang urged him to inform a Sword Reverent.
• Lin Anyang chose to take the Heaven Splitting Army to the imperial capital, while Lin Bai left with the Immortal Cave Mountain Seventy-Two Sword Cultivators after slicing apart the Heaven Sealing Grand Formation.

After Lin Bai and Lin Anyang recovered the account book, Ling Luo arrived with orders to kill every member of the Zhu Family, but Lin Bai helped Lin Anyang persuade her to spare those who were innocent. Lin Anyang took the Zhu Family’s remaining martial artists to the imperial capital for interrogation, and the truth about the family’s collusion with Ten Thousand Demons Valley was later made public.

• Lin Bai and Lin Anyang saw martial artists from across the Litian Dynasty converge on Zhu Xian City as Ling Luo arrived and took the account book from Nie Xiong.
• Ling Luo said the Sword Paragon had ordered the Zhu Family exterminated, but Lin Anyang argued that innocent family members should be taken to the imperial capital for judgment.
• Lin Bai supported Lin Anyang, who promised to interrogate the captured Zhu Family martial artists and punish anyone who knew of the family’s dealings with Ten Thousand Demons Valley.
• Ling Luo agreed to leave the Zhu Family’s fate to Lin Anyang and returned to the Reaching Heaven Sword Sect with Lin Bai and the Seventy-Two Sword Cultivators of Immortal Cave Mountain.
• The Heaven Splitting Army captured the Zhu Family’s surviving members, and Zhu Xian City was left in ruins.
• Half a month later, the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion revealed the Zhu Family’s collusion with Ten Thousand Demons Valley and released a recording of a Reaching Heaven Sword Sect Sword Paragon killing five Yang God Realm experts.

Lin Bai learned that Zhu Bi had escaped and ordered the Seventy-Two Sword Cultivators of Immortal Cave Mountain to search for Ten Thousand Demons Valley and the Crushing Mountain Demon Saint. The Sword Reverent forbade Lin Bai from leaving the sect for a year, warning that Ten Thousand Demons Valley might target him as it had Chen Pan.

• Nie Xiong told Lin Bai that the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion had exposed the Zhu Family’s collaboration with Ten Thousand Demons Valley and reported Lin Bai’s victories against the Zhu Family.
• Nie Xiong revealed that Zhu Bi had secretly escaped the imperial capital before Lin Anyang returned with the Zhu Family’s survivors.
• Lin Bai sent Nie Xiong and the Seventy-Two Sword Cultivators of Immortal Cave Mountain to search for Ten Thousand Demons Valley while he went to meet the Sword Reverent.
• Lin Bai defended his decision to spare the Zhu Family’s surviving martial artists, and the Sword Reverent recounted how Chen Pan had been killed after showing mercy to another family’s survivors.
• The Sword Reverent forbade Lin Bai from leaving the Reaching Heaven Sword Sect for a year and ordered Gui Jing to locate Ten Thousand Demons Valley.

Lin Bai cultivated Rainstorm Intent at Enlightenment Mountain while waiting for news of Ten Thousand Demons Valley, then learned that Chai Xu was in Haijie City for the Divine Weapon Banquet. Suspecting Ye Fenghuo had the Dragon Eye Flying Sword, Lin Bai set out to confront him and settle his blood feud with the Six Fiends of Lingnan.

• Lin Bai entered Enlightenment Mountain to cultivate Rainstorm Intent and, after five months, raised it to the mid-stage, though he could find no cave for cultivating Slaughter Intent.
• The Wine Immortal sent Lin Bai news that Chai Xu was in Haijie City, where Lin Hai Dynasty and the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion were holding the Divine Weapon Banquet.
• The Wine Immortal explained that the banquet included an auction of rare divine irons and an appraisal ranking of Lingnan’s Supreme Martial Spirit Tools, and that Ye Fenghuo would present a flying sword.
• Lin Bai suspected Ye Fenghuo possessed the Dragon Eye Flying Sword and that Ye Jianjun had the Demon Sword.
• Lin Bai prepared to leave Reaching Heaven Sword Sect for Haijie City to confront Ye Fenghuo and settle his feud with the Six Fiends of Lingnan.

Lin Bai visited the Purple Robe Pavilion to find sword arts suited to Rainstorm Intent and Slaughter Intent. He chose Sun-Swallowing Sword Art and learned that creating his own sword art might be the only way to wield Slaughter Intent.

• Lin Bai decided to search the Purple Robe Pavilion for sword arts suited to Rainstorm Intent and Slaughter Intent.
• The white-robed old man recognized Lin Bai’s progress with Azure Wood Divine Lightning and showed him sword arts suited to Rainstorm Intent.
• Lin Bai chose Sun-Swallowing Sword Art, a difficult art that cost a hundred million Contribution Points.
• The white-robed old man told Lin Bai that Lin Duo had created Dragon Slaying, the only sword art in Lingnan suited to Slaughter Intent, and that the Azure Dragon Empire possessed it.
• The white-robed old man urged Lin Bai to create his own sword art, and Lin Bai thanked him for the guidance.

Lin Bai secretly left the Reaching Heaven Sword Sect for Haijie City, resolved to create a sword art suited to his Slaughter Intent. Meanwhile, Shui Zhong told the Demon Lord that Dongfang Bai had left the sect, and Demon Saint Hantian was sent to kill him as Ten Thousand Demons Valley chose a new proxy.

• Lin Bai left Small Spirit Creek and secretly departed for Haijie City without telling Sword Reverent.
• Shui Zhong reported to the Demon Lord and the Thirty-Six Demon Saints that Dongfang Bai had left the Reaching Heaven Sword Sect for the Lin Hai Dynasty.
• The Demon Lord ordered Demon Saint Hantian to go to Haijie City and kill Dongfang Bai.
• Shui Zhong suggested a new Lineage to replace the Zhu Family as Ten Thousand Demons Valley's proxy, and the Demon Lord made his choice.
• Shui Zhong left the Underground Palace and reflected that Demon Saint Hantian might succeed where he had failed to kill Dongfang Bai.

Lin Bai left the Reaching Heaven Sword Sect and traveled toward the Lin Hai Dynasty, learning that Mangshan Ridge was plagued by bandits. After meeting the wounded survivor Fang Jin, Lin Bai agreed to return with him to Mangshan Town and seek a trade guild caravan to Haijie City.

• Lin Bai traveled from the Litian Dynasty’s border into Mangshan Ridge on his way to the Lin Hai Dynasty.
• Lin Bai encountered wounded martial artists fleeing bandits and learned their leader was in the Yang God Realm.
• Fang Jin explained that Mangshan Ridge was ungoverned and advised Lin Bai to travel with a trade guild caravan.
• Lin Bai introduced himself as Dongfang and agreed to accompany Fang Jin to Mangshan Town to find a caravan bound for Haijie City.

Lin Bai and Fang Jin arrived in Mangshan Town and sought passage to Haijie City by joining a merchant convoy. They found the Silver Moon Merchant Guild recruiting guards, where Gao Rui was set to test applicants with a single sword strike.

• Fang Jin explained that merchant guilds recruited guards to protect their convoys from bandits in Mangshan Ridge.
• Lin Bai and Fang Jin went to the Silver Moon Merchant Guild's recruitment site after learning it was offering three million spirit stones for the escort to Haijie City.
• Steward Zhuo Yi said the guild had lost more than seventy experts to bandits and would accept anyone who could withstand Gao Rui's sword strike.
• Gao Rui identified himself as a Core Disciple of the True Martial Sword Sect, frightening Fang Jin and the other applicants while Lin Bai remained calm.

Gao Rui tested martial artists seeking to join the guard squad, defeating them with a single sword and insulting the Reaching Heaven Sword Sect. Lin Bai advised Fang Jin how to counter Gao Rui’s attack, and Fang Jin passed the test, leaving Lin Bai displeased with Gao Rui’s arrogance.

• A soldier from the Litian Dynasty’s Imperial City Patrol Battalion challenged Gao Rui and lost when Gao Rui pierced his axe and stopped his sword at the man’s throat.
• Lin Bai told Fang Jin that he could pass by attacking Gao Rui’s abdomen as Gao Rui struck, forcing him to withdraw his sword and defend.
• After defeating more martial artists, Gao Rui insulted the crowd and claimed the Reaching Heaven Sword Sect’s disciples were inferior, angering Lin Bai.
• Fang Jin followed Lin Bai’s advice and forced Gao Rui to knock aside his sword; Butler Zhuo Yi stopped Gao Rui from attacking again and admitted Fang Jin to the guard squad.
• Lin Bai condemned Gao Rui’s conduct and thought the arrogant disciples of the True Martial Sword Sect deserved a lesson.