Recaps

Jiang Liu defeated Blade Fiend and won first place at the Yunzhou Martial Arts Tournament. After the rankings were announced, he returned to Ascension Tower humbled by the gaps he had noticed in his martial foundation.

• Jiang Liu defeated Wang Yisheng, and Ji Feng beat Xiahou Yi in the matches for seventh and sixth place.
• Jiang Liu overcame Blade Fiend with his primal-qi broadsword, but the Exotic Weapon Valley Master conceded for his disciple before Jiang Liu could strike; three Grandmasters intervened to stop another Grandmaster's pressure.
• Zheng Hanwei defeated He Wentian, and Blade Fiend later knocked Wang Yisheng off the arena to secure second place.
• Meteor announced Jiang Liu as champion, followed by Blade Fiend, Wang Yisheng, Zheng Hanwei, He Wentian, Ji Feng, Xiahou Yi, Han Kesong, Duo Yi, and Li Wenyuan.
• The Feng Family's Old Ancestor invited Jiang Liu to visit, and tournament results spread across Yunzhou; Jiang Liu returned to Ascension Tower and reflected on his weaknesses.

Jiang Liu learned that the Martial Arts Tournament's top-ranked competitors would explore a newly discovered secret realm, where he might find spirit medicine for Murong Lie. Murong Yin then took him to Ascension Tower's archive to choose secret manuals.

• Flowing Cloud Sect disciples delivered Jiang Liu a Primal Return Pill and instructions to claim his reward in Qi City before the fifteenth of the sixth month and continue the tournament in Qian Province before the fifteenth of the twelfth month.
• Jiang Liu learned that Qi City housed Exotic Beast Valley's headquarters and considered visiting to seek the complete Beast Mastery Art.
• Murong Aotian explained that the three sects had moved up the tournament to select provincial champions for a secret realm limited to thirty entrants under thirty and below the ninth rank.
• Murong Aotian warned Jiang Liu to arrive early and watch for dangers, explained that entrants kept what they found, and revealed a rumor that the realm held a secret related to becoming a Saint.
• Murong Aotian said Old Man Lie had wanted Jiang Liu to win so he could search for spirit medicine to extend Lie's lifespan, and Murong Yin embraced Jiang Liu after hearing the news.
• Murong Yin brought Jiang Liu to Ascension Tower's underground archive, where the guard verified his token and allowed him into the storehouse.

Jiang Liu visited Ascension Tower’s treasury, selected three manuals to borrow, and spent two days cultivating there. He then paid a visit to the Feng Family, where the Old Ancestor summoned him after he left the council hall.

• Murong Yin led Jiang Liu through Ascension Tower’s treasury, where his system merged the manuals’ techniques and updated his proficiency.
• Jiang Liu borrowed Control Heaven and Earth, Extreme Fist, and Heaven and Earth One Blade Chop, then cultivated in Ascension Tower’s rear courtyard for two days.
• Jiang Liu traveled to the Feng Family’s main residence and met Feng Boxing and the other family members in the council hall.
• After Jiang Liu left, Feng Yunluo asked Feng Boxing to help Qijia, while Feng Yunfei and Feng Yunqi watched him with anticipation.
• A steward told Jiang Liu that the Feng Family’s Old Ancestor wanted to see him, and Jiang Liu followed the steward.

Jiang Liu learned from the Feng Family Old Ancestor that the Three Sects were preparing to challenge Great Qian as the provinces descended into chaos. After the White Saint Society launched a rebellion in Feng Province, Murong Yin warned Jiang Liu that Ascension Tower’s local branch might be implicated.

• Jiang Liu visited the Feng Family Old Ancestor, who urged him not to break his engagement to Feng Yue and explained that the Three Sects were testing Great Qian before moving against the dynasty.
• The Feng Family Old Ancestor said his family intended to avoid taking sides and focus on surviving the upheaval.
• Jiang Liu returned to Ascension Tower and spent more than half a month cultivating before preparing to leave for Qi Province.
• Murong Yin told Jiang Liu that the White Saint Society had raised the banner of rebellion in Feng Province shortly after the Martial Arts Tournament.
• Murong Yin worried that the Chen Family, which controlled Ascension Tower in Feng Province, might have joined the rebellion and drawn Ascension Tower into the conflict.
• Jiang Liu told Murong Yin to focus on their own affairs, leaving her confused by what he meant.

Jiang Liu and Murong Yin agreed to establish the Listening Wind Pavilion in Wind City, while the White Saint Society’s rebellion spread across several provinces. As Jiang Liu prepared to leave for Anyang County, Cuier insisted on going with him and sought Murong Yin’s permission.

• Murong Yin proposed returning to Wind City to build a base, and Jiang Liu named their faction the Listening Wind Pavilion, with intelligence gathering as its first priority.
• Jiang Liu and Murong Yin planned to leave for Anyang County the next day, and Murong Yin called Cuier to help prepare.
• The White Saint Society launched its rebellion in Mo Province and Kan Province, detained Martial Prohibition Hall officials, and gained support from factions and cities across several provinces.
• Yin Hong met with Shi Kui, A Duanpo, and Jiekong in Yun Province to coordinate their forces and set the uprising for the eighth day of the fourth month.
• Cuier confronted Jiang Liu and demanded to accompany him, then hurried to ask Murong Yin for permission.

Jiang Liu traveled to Anyang County, reunited with the women at the residence, and arranged for them to move to Wind City with Murong Yin. After saying goodbye to Murong Yin and Cuier, he set out on the Frostwing Dragon for Qi Province.

• Jiang Liu flew with Murong Yin and Cuier to Anyang County on the Frostwing Dragon and reunited with the women living at the residence.
• Jiang Liu listened to the women's account of his absence, then agreed to take them to Wind City and allowed the Hai family to relocate there as well.
• Jiang Liu asked Murong Yin to manage the women and prepare a dossier for each of them.
• Hai Renhui arranged carriages, and the women departed for Wind City with Murong Yin and Cuier.
• Jiang Liu sent Hai Renhui after the carriage convoy, then flew toward Qi Province on the Frostwing Dragon.

Jiang Liu reached Luo City in Qi Province and learned from Bai Luohe that the White Saint Society's rebellion had largely collapsed after its supporters withdrew. Bai Luohe hosted Jiang Liu, but their meal was interrupted by someone confronting him outside.

• Jiang Liu landed in Luo City, sent the Frostwing Dragon to hunt in the mountains, and headed to Ascension Tower.
• Bai Luohe told Jiang Liu that the White Saint Society's branches outside Feng Province had been wiped out after their supporters withdrew.
• Bai Luohe revealed that the White Saint Society had three Grandmasters, but Lin Chi had driven back the newly advanced Grandmaster in Yun Province.
• Bai Luohe reassured Jiang Liu that the White Saint Society's remnants in Yun Province had nearly been eliminated and Yin'er was safe.
• Bai Luohe took Jiang Liu to an elegant residence and began drinking with him.
• Someone outside shouted at Bai Luohe for drinking there again.

Jiang Liu traveled through Qi Province toward Qi City, encountering a local robbery attempt and learning how Exotic Beast Valley had once saved Starfall City. After honoring Ye Xingchen's statue, he continued on his journey.

• Bai Luohe's wife dragged him away from the restaurant, and Jiang Liu learned she was his childhood sweetheart and wife before settling his bill, which Ascension Tower covered.
• At an inn in Fallen Leaf City, Jiang Liu captured two Thieves Sect disciples who planned to rob him, stripped and tied them to a pillar, then left a note before resuming cultivation.
• The next morning, Jiang Liu summoned the Frostwing Dragon and flew toward Qi City, seeing domesticated exotic beasts doing labor across Qi Province.
• Jiang Liu reached Starfall City and learned from a passerby that Ye Xingchen and his Bloodhowl Sky Tiger had defeated three Beast Emperors and saved the city from captivity and attack.
• Jiang Liu saluted Ye Xingchen's statue and continued flying toward Qi City.

Feng Yue trained relentlessly to become worthy of Jiang Liu, but Feng Yi persuaded her to seek Feng Boyun's guidance. On his way to Qi City, Jiang Liu stopped at a mountain village whose powerful residents mysteriously appeared after he had found it deserted, then continued on his journey.

• Feng Yue trained day and night after hearing that Jiang Liu had won the Cloud Province Martial Arts Tournament, and Xiao He told her that Murong Yin had returned without him.
• Feng Yi urged Feng Yue to balance training with rest and ask Feng Boyun for guidance, and she headed to her grandfather's courtyard.
• Jiang Liu found a mountain village apparently empty, followed a mass of footprints to a wall, and left after finding no hidden mechanism.
• The villagers suddenly appeared, and the village chief welcomed Jiang Liu and invited him to rest and eat.
• Jiang Liu left money for the meal and departed on the Frostwing Dragon, wondering what hidden power made the villagers vanish and reappear.

Jiang Liu met Han Tong, an elder of Exotic Beast Valley, who invited him to travel to the valley. While resting at the valley’s Moonfall City branch, Han Tong learned of disappearances and missing corpses in nearby Chuyun County and suspected Corpse Valley was responsible.

• Jiang Liu stopped the Frostwing Dragon from attacking Han Tong, who was pursuing an Ironbeak Roc on a Three-Eyed Flying Tiger, and told him he had bought the Beast Mastery Art in Wind City.
• Han Tong learned Jiang Liu had obtained the art only a little over two years earlier, laughed, and invited him to visit Exotic Beast Valley; Jiang Liu accepted.
• Han Tong and Jiang Liu flew toward Qi City, stopped to rest in Moonfall City, and left their mounts at the Exotic Beast Plaza.
• At Exotic Beast Valley’s Moonfall branch, Han Tong arranged guest rooms for himself and Jiang Liu.
• The branch steward told Han Tong that martial practitioners had disappeared and corpses had gone missing in Chuyun County, prompting Han Tong to suspect people from Corpse Valley were responsible.

Han Tong investigated the appearance of Corpse Valley in Qi Province while Jiang Liu traveled toward Exotic Beast Valley. Jiang Liu reached the valley, but Han Tong was left surrounded by three Corpse Valley Minor Grandmasters.

• Han Tong learned that Corpse Valley might have appeared in Qi Province and went to investigate, telling the steward not to disturb Jiang Liu.
• Jiang Liu left Moonfall City with Guan Dayong, and the Frostwing Dragon’s Beast King aura frightened the beasts at Exotic Beast Plaza.
• Han Tong followed clues to a mountain valley, where three Corpse Valley Minor Grandmasters revealed that they had lured him into a trap.
• Jiang Liu flew for five days to Qi City and continued on to Exotic Beast Valley with Guan Dayong.
• The guards stopped Jiang Liu at the valley entrance until Guan Dayong explained their arrival, then allowed them inside.

Jiang Liu arrived at Exotic Beast Valley and astonished its leaders by mastering the Beast Mastery Art and imprinting a Beast King. He agreed to join as a True Inheritor Disciple and Valley Lord candidate, then settled in to cultivate while waiting for the secret realm to open.

• Guan Dayong brought Jiang Liu and the Frostwing Dragon to Exotic Beast Valley, where Valley Lord Mo Han and two Grand Elders came to investigate.
• After learning Jiang Liu had mastered the Beast Mastery Art in just over two years and imprinted the Frostwing Dragon, Elder Bai hurried him to the council hall.
• Elder Bai explained that Exotic Beast Valley had auctioned the basic Beast Mastery Art to find new disciples and was facing a succession crisis.
• Mo Han offered Jiang Liu the complete art, cultivation resources, influence in Qi Province, and eligibility to become Valley Lord in exchange for joining and passing down the art.
• Jiang Liu accepted, and Mo Han named him a True Inheritor Disciple and one of three Valley Lord candidates.
• Jiang Liu received the complete Beast Mastery Art, an identity token, and disciple robes, then settled in Exotic Beast Valley to cultivate until the secret realm opened.

Jiang Liu cultivated in Exotic Beast Valley, observed the disciples training their beasts, and met the battered Mo Yi. The next day, Mo Yi took Jiang Liu to Qi City, leaving them at its exotic beast plaza.

• Jiang Liu recorded the Heaven Grade Beast Mastery Art, raising his spiritual power beyond the ordinary Minor Grandmaster limit.
• After seven days of cultivation, Jiang Liu visited the exotic beast plazas and watched the disciples train their contracted beasts.
• Mo Yi returned to the training plaza battered and bruised, drawing laughter from the disciples before he hurried away.
• The next morning, Mo Yi congratulated Jiang Liu on becoming a True Inheritor Disciple and took him out of Exotic Beast Valley.
• Mo Yi and Jiang Liu flew to Qi City on the Three-Eyed Flying Tiger and Frostwing Dragon, left their beasts with the plaza supervisor, and entered the city.

Mo Yi took Jiang Liu to Drunken Fragrance Pavilion, where he clashed with Ye Qiuzhen before explaining who the young man was. The next morning, Jiang Liu visited Bai Wusong at Ascension Tower and received information about the Martial Arts Tournament and the approaching secret realm, where leading participants from every state had already arrived.

• Mo Yi brought Jiang Liu to Drunken Fragrance Pavilion to drink, eat, and enjoy the entertainment.
• Ye Qiuzhen barged into Mo Yi's private room, but Mo Yi demanded compensation and let him leave after learning he was Ye Qiuyi's younger brother.
• Mo Yi and Jiang Liu spent the rest of the day together, then returned to separate rooms, where Jiang Liu meditated and cultivated after sobering up.
• Jiang Liu visited Bai Wusong at Ascension Tower and asked for information about the tournament, the secret realm, and its participants.
• Bai Wusong gave Jiang Liu three documents and warned him that the leading participants from every state had arrived, while the three sects had yet to come.

Jiang Liu studied the other provinces’ top martial artists and felt pressure to improve, while Exotic Beast Valley investigated Elder Han Tong’s disappearance and its conflict with Corpse Valley. Mo Han summoned Jiang Liu to announce that the secret realm would open the next day, and Elder Bai volunteered to keep watch.

• Jiang Liu read the profiles of the other provinces’ champions and recognized that Shi Tuo and Li Qi could match his strength.
• Jiang Liu and Mo Yi returned to Exotic Beast Valley, where Jiang Liu resumed cultivating for ten days.
• Mo Han, Elder Bai, and Elder He discussed Elder Han Tong’s disappearance, evidence of a battle near Chuyun County, and the threat posed by Corpse Valley.
• Mo Han summoned Jiang Liu and told him the secret realm would open the next day.
• Elder Bai volunteered to keep watch over Jiang Liu during the secret realm opening, and Mo Han assigned him the duty.

Jiang Liu traveled with Elder Bai to the secret-realm entrance, where he met other participants and drew attention as a young Grandmaster candidate. The three sects opened the entrance, and Jiang Liu entered through a mysterious light curtain, finding recent corpses and a mist-covered path.

• Jiang Liu and Elder Bai flew to the secret-realm plaza, where Elder Bai introduced him to Li Moran and Li Qiaoyun of the Vast Righteous Sect.
• Elder Bai introduced Jiang Liu to Ye Guhe and Ye Qiuzhen, who challenged Jiang Liu to a future exchange.
• Tianming and elders from the other two sects opened the cavern entrance with jade pendants and primordial energy, then warned participants above ninth grade not to enter.
• Thirty participants entered the secret realm, and Jiang Liu passed through the light curtain after most of the others.
• Jiang Liu found several recent corpses beyond the light curtain and cautiously advanced into the mist after the other entrants disappeared from sight.

Jiang Liu crossed the white mist, survived an illusion-casting beast, and searched the ruined Medicine Courtyard before finding an unfinished but exceptionally sharp broadsword in the Weapon Courtyard. As he prepared to explore the Pill Courtyard, Ye Qiuzhen appeared at the gate.

• Jiang Liu resisted a strange beast’s illusion of Murong Yin, killed the beast, and took its colorless beast core.
• Jiang Liu followed a strange fragrance out of the white mist and found the Medicine Courtyard stripped of useful herbs.
• Jiang Liu searched the drying pharmacies and learned that the complex also contained the Weapon Courtyard and Pill Courtyard.
• Jiang Liu found an unfinished black broadsword in the last forge and snapped his own sword against it.
• Jiang Liu left the Weapon Courtyard and saw Ye Qiuzhen enter through the distant courtyard gate.

Jiang Liu searched the Pill Courtyard for life-saving pills and found three jade bottles hidden behind a trapped wall. After escaping Ye Qiuzhen and his allies, he reached a large training ground.

• Jiang Liu raced Ye Qiuzhen into the Pill Courtyard, where their punches collided before they entered separate alchemy rooms.
• Jiang Liu found the first two alchemy rooms empty and broke Ye Qiuzhen’s saber when Ye Qiuzhen attacked him.
• Jiang Liu uncovered hidden compartments in the third alchemy room and took three jade bottles while dodging traps and escaping an explosion.
• Ye Qiuzhen returned with Ji Hao and Liu Yunhe, but Jiang Liu fled over the courtyard wall and lost them.
• Jiang Liu passed through the ordinary disciples’ residences and descended at a vast training ground.

Jiang Liu fought Ye Qiuzhen, Liu Yunhe, and Ji Hao after they demanded the pills he had taken from the alchemy chamber. He killed Ye Qiuzhen and unleashed a powerful saber attack on the remaining two, leaving their fate unresolved.

• Jiang Liu searched an empty training room, found unfamiliar calligraphy signed with the character Qin, and left after discovering nothing else useful.
• Ye Qiuzhen, Liu Yunhe, and Ji Hao surrounded Jiang Liu and attacked him, but Jiang Liu used his mental power and techniques to fend them off.
• Ye Qiuzhen demanded that Jiang Liu hand over the pills from the alchemy chamber, and Liu Yunhe confirmed that the other two agreed.
• Jiang Liu used Annihilation by Thought to distract the three men and struck Ye Qiuzhen with an Ice Blade, leaving him falling toward the ground.
• Jiang Liu gathered his strength and unleashed Heaven and Earth One Blade Chop at all three men, filling the plaza with a thunderous boom.

Jiang Liu killed Liu Yunhe and Ji Hao after their repeated attacks, then hid evidence of their identities and searched the ancient compound for treasure. He continued toward the central area, puzzled by the residence’s unfamiliar origins.

• Jiang Liu struck Liu Yunhe and Ji Hao with Annihilation by Thought and follow-up attacks, killing both.
• Jiang Liu searched the bodies, gathered their valuables and identifying items, and burned the bodies to ash with Ice Palms.
• Jiang Liu buried the identifying items, sorted the spoils, and found a bottle of pills that seemed to unleash latent strength.
• Jiang Liu searched deeper into the compound, passed a Flowing Cloud Sect member, and entered a residence for a high-ranking figure.
• Jiang Liu found the residence ransacked and continued flying toward the central area.

Jiang Liu searched the Technique Repository and discovered a hidden Saint Grade cultivation art written on its door. After destroying the door to keep others from finding it, he left to investigate a nearby storehouse.

• Jiang Liu reached the Technique Repository and found its lower floors ransacked by disciples searching empty wooden boxes and dismantled racks.
• Jiang Liu spotted tiny, unfamiliar characters on the fifth-floor door and used the Data Panel to record them as the Saint Grade Saintly Sky Art.
• Jiang Liu learned that the art included Saintly Sky Strike, which could erase a person's spiritual imprint but risked backlash against someone with greater spiritual power.
• Jiang Liu froze the door and reduced it to ash, then pretended to search the Repository before leaving as the others continued dismantling it.
• Jiang Liu used his Divine Sense to find six people gathered at a nearby storehouse and flew over to investigate.

Jiang Liu left the emptied storehouse and joined the martial artists at a plaza revealed when the white mist vanished. They learned they had to fight for ten stone-pillar spots, and Jiang Liu claimed the first by defeating a Flowing Cloud Sect disciple.

• Jiang Liu searched the storehouse, found it empty, and left after memorizing the unreadable characters on its gate.
• The white mist dispersed to reveal a plaza where Li Qiaoyun had been trapped, and a stone pillar rose with an inscription that a Star Moon Sect disciple translated as a call to seize the top spot.
• A strange spiritual figure appeared and summoned an arena and ten smaller pillars; two Haotian Sect disciples entered the arena without fighting and were eliminated.
• Jiang Liu counted twenty-two remaining contenders and flew onto the arena, where he faced a Flowing Cloud Sect disciple.
• Jiang Liu broke his opponent's sword, knocked him from the arena, and was moved onto the first smaller pillar.

Jiang Liu and the other martial artists fought to claim the ten stone pillars, revealing a brocade box atop the central pillar as the Mystic Treasure. After the contestants began fighting again, Jiang Liu defeated a Star Moon Sect disciple, leaving him, Li Qiaoyun, and two others on the arena.

• Wang Bochuan lost to a Flowing Cloud Sect disciple, and disciples from several sects fought over the first stone pillars as Li Qiaoyun claimed the fourth.
• Buddha claimed the seventh pillar with one punch, while Li Qi, Chen Yuke, and a Flowing Cloud Sect disciple won the eighth, ninth, and tenth pillars.
• When the barriers merged and the brocade box appeared, the pillar holders attacked one another; Jiang Liu used the Eight Steps of Trampling to knock a Flowing Cloud Sect disciple off the arena.
• Buddha defeated a Haotian Sect disciple, then joined the fight between a Flowing Cloud Sect disciple and a Star Moon Sect disciple; Li Qiaoyun defeated Chen Yuke, and a Star Moon Sect disciple defeated Li Qi.
• Jiang Liu punched that Star Moon Sect disciple off the arena, while the Flowing Cloud Sect and Star Moon Sect disciples forced Buddha off; Jiang Liu, Li Qiaoyun, and the two disciples remained.

Jiang Liu defeated the Star Moon Sect disciple, the Flowing Cloud Sect disciple, and Li Qiaoyun to claim the arena, only to find the brocade box empty. After splitting it open, he secretly took its changing halves and led the martial artists to an exit as the secret realm collapsed.

• Jiang Liu defeated the Star Moon Sect disciple, cutting off his right arm and knocking him off the arena.
• Jiang Liu helped Li Qiaoyun defeat the Flowing Cloud Sect disciple, then used Annihilation by Thought to knock Li Qiaoyun off the arena when she asked for the Mystic Treasure.
• Jiang Liu opened the brocade box and found it empty, then split it apart with his greatsword as powerful light filled the secret realm.
• Jiang Liu secretly collected the changing halves of the box and discovered the figure atop the stone pillar had disappeared as the realm began to collapse.
• Jiang Liu realized the entrance was gone, found another exit near the courtyards, and led the others through its light barrier before the secret realm collapsed.
• The people outside watched the mountain wall cave inward and leave a huge pit.

Jiang Liu and eleven others escaped the collapsed secret realm, but their survival sparked a confrontation among the Grandmasters. Ye Guhe demanded that the survivors undergo soul searching, and both sides prepared to fight.

• The Grandmasters searched the collapsed Pit until Jiang Liu and eleven others returned to the plaza, where Ye Guhe pressured them with his aura.
• Zheng Fei and the other Grandmasters who found their juniors forced Ye Guhe to stop, and Elder Bai and Li Moran arrived to check on Jiang Liu.
• The survivors explained that the secret realm had been emptied before the arena matches, leaving the Grandmasters stunned by the losses.
• Ye Guhe, joined by the Old Ancestors of the Ji and Liu Families, demanded an explanation for their missing grandsons, but the survivors said they had not seen them.
• Ye Guhe demanded to search the survivors' souls, and Tianming, Elder Bai, Li Moran, Zheng Fei, and Chen Bo opposed him as the Grandmasters faced off.