Recaps

Zhang Qingyuan broke through to the seventh Spirit Essence level, completed a dangerous mission, and strengthened his cultivation and equipment. After defeating Yao Ping in a challenge, he received personal guidance from Headmaster Liu as the Outer Sect Grand Competition approached.

• Zhang Qingyuan broke through to Spirit Essence Realm Seventh Level, learned the Manifestation Tracing Technique, and took the twentieth seat from Yao Ping.
• Zhang Qingyuan accepted a mission to deal with a Spirit Devouring Rat at the Hu Family’s Spirit Fields and followed its trail into the forest.
• Zhang Qingyuan survived an ambush by a Crimson Fiend Yao Python, advanced the Water Essence Art to its fourth layer, and killed the python before finding the rat’s hidden hoard.
• Hu Yong'an gave Zhang Qingyuan a Storage Talisman and asked him to take Hu Junshan as a servant, and Zhang Qingyuan later sold the creatures’ remains and bought the Silver Shadow Magic Tool.
• Zhang Qingyuan trained with Silver Shadow and advanced his sword skills while Hu Junshan managed his residence and planted Spirit Grain.
• Yao Ping challenged Zhang Qingyuan after reaching the Late Spirit Essence Realm, but Zhang’s steady defense and abundant Spirit Essence wore him down.
• Zhang Qingyuan fused the Water Essence Art with the Nine Refinements Bone Forging Fist and knocked Yao Ping out of the arena with Collapsing Mountain.
• Headmaster Liu praised Zhang Qingyuan’s progress, explained the fourth layer of the Water Essence Art, and gave him personal cultivation guidance.

Zhang Qingyuan defeated the demon monkey horde and its king, gaining resources and insight that advanced his cultivation and swordsmanship. His storm-bound sword practice saved two martial siblings and orphaned children, whose descendants later founded a family that inherited an art based on his sword.

• Zhang Qingyuan absorbed Headmaster Liu’s instruction, discovered the power of Collapsing Mountain Modified, and used his techniques to help Hu Junshan tend the Spirit Grain fields.
• After accepting a mission in River Pond Town, Zhang Qingyuan fought off the demon monkeys and refined his swordsmanship as he drove the pack away, but the wounded Monkey King escaped.
• Zhang Qingyuan joined the town’s families and hunters in pursuing the monkeys, defeated the Seventh Level Yao Monkey King, and received Monkey King Wine and Mystic Moon Fruit seeds.
• Zhang Qingyuan refined the Monkey King Wine and broke through to the Spirit Essence Realm Seventh Level Late Stage.
• During a storm, Zhang Qingyuan practiced his swordsmanship on the river and brought the Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles to 999 proficiency through a new resonance with the Water Essence Art.
• A Jianghu senior brother and junior sister rescued two children from a river sacrifice, but a Giant Python attacked them until Zhang Qingyuan split it with a sword strike from across the river.
• The siblings used the python’s remains to help the children sense qi and later founded an Immortal Sect Family, whose signature sword art was based on Zhang Qingyuan’s strike.
• Zhang Qingyuan’s enlightenment ended before he reached a complete breakthrough, and he realized his cultivation accumulation was still insufficient to perfect the Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles.

Zhang Qingyuan rose through the Seventeenth Branch rankings and proved himself at the Ten Branch Competition, where a defeat by Fu Hongtian triggered his breakthrough to the Eighth Level. As the Outer Sect Grand Competition approached, he strengthened his skills and began considering Zhao Yuanyang’s shortcut to comprehending Sword Intent.

• Zhang Qingyuan reached Seventh Level perfection, challenged Shen Hongzhou, and won tenth place in the Seventeenth Branch rankings.
• Headmaster Liu gave Zhang Qingyuan the Water Control Technique, which he learned before the Ten Branch Competition.
• Zhang Qingyuan defeated the higher-level Liu at the Ten Branch Competition, but Fu Hongtian soon defeated him and prompted his breakthrough to the Eighth Level.
• After recovering, Zhang Qingyuan searched the Hidden Skills Pavilion and learned the Sword Drawing Technique as a finishing attack.
• Zhang Qingyuan practiced until he reached minor accomplishment in Sword Drawing Technique, then joined Zhao Yuanyang’s gathering to exchange cultivation insights.
• Zhang Qingyuan overcame Shen Hongzhou in their rematch and won Zhao Yuanyang’s Windwalk Pill wager.
• Zhang Qingyuan refined the Windwalk Pill and improved Cloud Smoke Steps, then considered Zhao Yuanyang’s proposed shortcut to Sword Intent.

Zhang Qingyuan sought the Jiang Family’s Sword Intent Post, won their arena contest, and survived an ambush by Yuan Wenjun by awakening a powerful sword Artistic Conception. He returned to the Seventeenth Branch with valuable spoils and began applying Water Intent to his techniques.

• Headmaster Liu gave Zhang Qingyuan a jade talisman for the Jiang Family, and Zhang traveled to Luoshui County while mastering the Cloud Smoke Steps.
• Zhang Qingyuan killed the Scarred Man with his Sword Drawing Technique, then joined Jiang Haisheng on the journey to meet Jiang Yuan.
• The Jiang Family offered Zhang Qingyuan access to the Sword Intent Post if he won its final arena match, and he defeated Zhu Xiangyu with the Heavenly Eagle Hand and Qi Breaking Needle.
• Zhang Qingyuan chose the Profound Origin Bodyguard Armor from the family treasury and viewed the Sword Intent Post, which drew him into a vision of a vast river of sword intent.
• Yuan Wenjun and two accomplices ambushed Zhang Qingyuan on his return, but Zhang killed the two companions and led Yuan Wenjun to the Dragon Severing Waterfall.
• Falling through the waterfall, Zhang Qingyuan entered a new state of perception and struck Yuan Wenjun with Sword Intent Flowing Light, defeating him despite his use of a Fate-Reversing Pill.
• Zhang Qingyuan escaped the collapsing waterfall, collected the attackers’ valuables, and broke through to the Spirit Essence Realm Eighth Level middle stage.
• Zhang Qingyuan returned safely to the Seventeenth Branch and found that using Water Intent improved his Spring Breeze Fine Rain Technique and revealed progress in his other techniques.