Recaps

Shen Hui and Lu Huan looted the Plague Emperor Sect's old stronghold, and Shen Hui calculated that he had amassed over 690,000 Dao Xing points. After Lu Huan noticed a cold spot in the hot spring, Shen Hui discovered a hidden space beneath it and prepared to investigate.

• Shen Hui removed eight Purple Sandalwood Yinwood pillars and collected valuable stones, including Warm Jade Marrow, while Lu Huan followed and asked what they should take.
• Shen Hui inspected the medicine bottles, identified Scarlet Radiance Returning Essence Pills, and gave one to Lu Huan before collecting usable pills and even empty cinnabar bottles.
• Shen Hui found insect eggs and Ascension Registers, then crushed intact Gu eggs to gain Dao Xing points.
• Shen Hui tallied the raid's gains and found his Dao Xing points had risen to over 690,000, more than halfway toward the one million needed for Golden Core completion.
• After Lu Huan noticed a chilly spot in the hot spring, Shen Hui examined the water vein and discovered another world beneath the pool, then invited her to explore it.

Shen Hui taught Lu Huan the Water-Avoiding Formula and led her into a hidden cave mansion filled with strange pools and venomous creatures. After Shen Hui burned the bodies of four Plague Emperor Sect cultivators, the cave’s pools erupted into alternating heat and cold, and Lu Huan sensed something beneath the ground.

• Shen Hui taught Lu Huan the Water-Avoiding Formula and used it to protect them as they descended through the pool.
• Shen Hui led Lu Huan into a man-made cave where hot and cold water veins met and several unusual pools held dangerous Gu creatures.
• Shen Hui recognized the creatures as beasts raised with secret arts and warned Lu Huan not to touch the pools.
• Shen Hui found four recently dead Plague Emperor Sect cultivators and burned their bodies away.
• The cave’s pools boiled as the Gu creatures became restless, then a surge of underground cold suppressed the heat and the creatures settled.
• Lu Huan hid behind Shen Hui and whispered that something seemed to be underground.

Shen Hui discovered two Sha spirits beneath the cave and refined Frost Chi and Crimson Luan into himself. After Crimson Luan swallowed his Fire Ghost, he tested the spirits’ powers and accidentally breached an underground water cavern, sealing the hole before the flooding worsened.

• Shen Hui and Lu Huan found a hidden staircase leading to a cavern where Frost Chi trapped a Fire Sparrow in an ice cage.
• Shen Hui sent Lu Huan into his sleeve, then refined Frost Chi, which displaced Ink Abyss within him.
• The freed Fire Sparrow became Crimson Luan and attacked the Heart Lamp, swallowing Shen Hui’s Fire Ghost.
• Shen Hui tested Frost Chi’s ice attack and Crimson Luan’s fiery strike, which bored through the cavern wall and released underground water.
• Shen Hui sealed the breach with the Earth-Molding Method and considered whether Crimson Luan could serve as a mount.

Shen Hui collected the Gu insects from the cave and discussed establishing a mountain gate with Patriarch Baoxue. The next morning, he discovered that an ancient locust tree had trapped several people on the mountainside and went to investigate.

• Shen Hui used the Nine-Orifice Yin Gourd to collect the Gu insects, with Patriarch Baoxue identifying several valuable medicinal creatures.
• Shen Hui released Lu Huan, who chatted with Baoxue about the gifts and techniques Shen Hui had given her.
• Shen Hui learned that Baoxue might attempt Core Formation within three to five months and proposed finding a spirit mountain to reestablish a mountain gate, which Baoxue approved.
• The next morning, Shen Hui sensed people trapped by an awakened ancient locust tree and flew to the mountainside after gathering Lu Huan and Baoxue into his sleeve.
• The ragged people bound by the tree called for help when Shen Hui arrived, then fell silent in fear after seeing him.

Shen Hui learned from a fleeing family that the Blood Banner Army had surrounded Floating Cloud County, then found its soldiers plundering the city and brutalizing civilians. When he confronted them, a masked officer identified him as no army Attendant and ordered the soldiers to continue.

• Shen Hui freed a family trapped by an old locust tree and learned they had fled to Severed Connection Mountain after the Blood Banner Army surrounded Floating Cloud County.
• Shen Hui enchanted the tree to shelter the family and told them how to seek its protection before flying to Floating Cloud County.
• Shen Hui saw Blood Banner Army soldiers looting homes and attacking civilians on a city street sealed off by armed sentries.
• Shen Hui landed in the street and ordered the soldiers to stop.
• A masked officer questioned Shen Hui, realized he was not an army Attendant, and commanded the soldiers to resume their plunder.

Shen Hui killed Officer Chen after discovering the Blood Banner Army was using a supposed Corpse Plague outbreak to justify plundering Floating Cloud County, then agreed to uphold justice for the survivors. At the army’s camp, the commander learned that Officer Chen and more than a hundred soldiers had died and asked the Attendants to face the powerful opponent in the city.

• Shen Hui slaughtered the soldiers plundering the street and confronted Officer Chen about the Blood Banner Army’s orders.
• Officer Chen admitted the army had entered Floating Cloud County to purge people believed to be infected with Corpse Plague, but could not explain why the survivors were treated as walking corpses.
• Shen Hui killed Officer Chen and promised the kneeling commoners that he would uphold justice for them.
• Daoist Feng examined a cracked jade tablet and told Sun Lu that Officer Chen and the entire Formation-Breaking Battalion had perished.
• Sun Lu reported the deaths to Shi Wenbin, and the camp’s Attendants speculated about who had killed the soldiers.
• Shi Wenbin called for an Attendant willing to confront the opponent in the city.

Shi Wenbin’s officers and cultivators volunteered to challenge the white-haired swordsman on Floating Cloud County’s wall, but each was swiftly beheaded. Shi Wenbin ordered the tent torn down to confront the lone figure himself, whose identity remained unknown.

• Master Jingshu volunteered to investigate the city, but the white-haired swordsman killed him with one stroke before he could stand on the wall.
• Mister Gongshu went next and was also beheaded, leaving the camp’s gathered cultivators shaken.
• The Azure-Gauze Fiends set out together, but a soldier soon reported that two more heads had fallen.
• Shi Wenbin ordered the great tent torn down, and the assembled men saw the black-clad, white-haired figure sitting cross-legged atop Floating Cloud County’s wall.

A host of cultivators charged the white-haired man on the city wall, confident they would overwhelm him, but he killed them all with a single sweep of red light. Shi Wenbin watched in shock as blood clouds gathered overhead and began to understand his father's warning not to provoke those beyond the secular world.

• The cultivators argued over how to divide the spoils before agreeing to attack the white-haired man together.
• Daoist Feng claimed his divination showed the group was certain to succeed, then quietly slipped away as the cultivators flew toward the city wall.
• The white-haired man sent a streak of red light through the charging cultivators, killing them before they reached him.
• Shi Wenbin watched the red sword light rise and turn the clouds into a vast sea of blood.
• Shi Wenbin recalled Shi Tianlu's warning never to provoke those beyond the secular world.

Shen Hui destroyed the Blood Banner Army’s camp and burned its dead, then faced the surviving people of Floating Cloud County and wrestled with the grief and futility of his path. He left the crowd a healing well and asked Lu Huan to ring the Worry-Forgotten Bell for everyone who drank from it.

• Shi Wenbin woke to find the military camp in ruins and collapsed after realizing that the soldiers and Attendants had been killed.
• Shen Hui sent Crimson Luan to burn the camp and its corpses, then descended from the city tower to meet the surviving commoners.
• The commoners knelt in silence as Shen Hui reflected on the devastation and questioned whether his journey could change the world.
• Shen Hui recognized the injured storyteller from Cloud-Coming Residence Inn and raised a well in the street.
• Shen Hui enchanted the well water with a talisman, formed stone tables and benches, released Lu Huan, and told her to ring the Worry-Forgotten Bell whenever someone drank.

Shen Hui demonstrated that the well’s talisman water could restore lost teeth as the crowd lined up to drink. Daoist Feng fled the massacre, then decided to profit from the deaths by visiting his former companions’ cave abodes, beginning with Gongshu Huan’s in Profound Wind Valley.

• Shen Hui ordered the crowd to drink the well water one by one, and the storyteller’s missing teeth grew back after he drank.
• Daoist Feng fled far from the camp and inspected his cracked jade tablet.
• Daoist Feng recalled seeing Blood Sha Qi above Floating Cloud County and realized the omen had warned him of the massacre.
• Daoist Feng decided to tell Shi Wenbin’s father’s old subordinates about Shi Wenbin’s death, hoping to benefit from the aftermath.
• Daoist Feng planned to loot the cave abodes of the dead cultivators and left the main road for Profound Wind Valley to search Gongshu Huan’s abode.

A storyteller recounted how a white-haired immortal saved Floating Cloud County from the Blood Banner Army and left behind Floating Cloud Tower and Thunder Pool to protect it. He explained that disguised intruders with wicked intentions died when they entered the shallow river.

• The storyteller told the audience that the Blood Banner Army had surrounded Floating Cloud County under the pretense of purging the Corpse Plague, then looted and killed its people.
• He said the immortal arrived and executed the thirty thousand soldiers, then gave the townspeople talisman water and raised Floating Cloud Tower to shield them from the court.
• The storyteller explained that the immortal placed a sword in the tower that would destroy armed forces approaching within a hundred li of the city.
• When a guest asked how disguised soldiers could enter, the storyteller identified the river and inscribed stele outside the city as Thunder Pool, a magical restriction.
• The storyteller said spies, fleeing soldiers, and crooked-path cultivators with wicked intentions died upon entering Thunder Pool, and the water erased their bodies.

Shen Hui questioned Daoist Feng about fate, divination, and the Killing Tribulation that appeared after Shen Hui slaughtered the Blood Banner Army. Daoist Feng denied knowing its source and ruled out anyone with a Hidden Dragon Fate among the soldiers.

• Daoist Feng explained that his sect forbade using divination to amass wealth because meddling with Heaven's Secrets could bring calamity.
• Daoist Feng said he had survived the Blood Banner Army's misfortune by staying uninvolved and offering only harmless predictions.
• Shen Hui asked whether Daoist Feng knew where his Killing Tribulation came from, but Daoist Feng insisted he could not calculate it.
• Shen Hui asked if someone among the thirty thousand soldiers had a Hidden Dragon Fate, and Daoist Feng said no one in the army had one.
• Daoist Feng described Shi Wenbin as destined for a violent death and said Shi Tianlu had looked better by comparison.
• Shen Hui wondered whether killing so many imperial soldiers had incurred Heaven's condemnation, but Daoist Feng could not answer.

Shen Hui persuaded Daoist Feng to travel with him and the others toward Jingzhou, then kept the group comfortable on their journey with his cooking and effortless skill against monsters. As snow blanketed the wilderness, Shen Hui made a shelter beneath an old pine and began roasting a chicken while Lu Huan and Daoist Feng waited eagerly.

• Daoist Feng tried to avoid traveling with Shen Hui, but joined him after his excuse to visit a deceased friend fell apart.
• Shen Hui, Daoist Feng, Lu Huan, and Patriarch Baoxue headed south toward Jingzhou as the weather grew colder.
• Daoist Feng came to enjoy traveling with Shen Hui, especially his hot meals, and watched as Shen Hui dispatched several monsters with ease.
• Snow began falling across the wilderness, and Lu Huan caught flakes while Patriarch Baoxue watched from Shen Hui's shoulder.
• Shen Hui formed a shelter from an old pine's branches and started roasting a wild chicken as Daoist Feng and Lu Huan waited for it to cook.

Shen Hui shared roast chicken and Pineside Glow with Daoist Feng, Lu Huan, and Patriarch Baoxue as they sheltered from the snow. Daoist Feng boasted about his travels and connections, but he denied knowing any Nascent Soul Cultivators when Shen Hui asked.

• Shen Hui warmed a jar of Pineside Glow and shared the wine and roast chicken with Daoist Feng, Lu Huan, and Patriarch Baoxue.
• Lu Huan asked Daoist Feng about Lingzhou, and he described the wine and dishes he had encountered across several regions.
• Daoist Feng bragged that his fortune-telling had earned him food, lodging, and honors from wealthy patrons and officials.
• Shen Hui asked Daoist Feng whether he had heard of any Nascent Soul Cultivators, and Daoist Feng said he had never seen one or understood their affairs.

Daoist Feng described several rumored Nascent Soul True Lords and revealed that Green City Mountain had been sealed since the Sword Viewing Assembly, after which Corpse Baleful Force spread across the regions. Pressed by Shen Hui about Lost Ferry Ridge, Daoist Feng warned that demons with extraordinary bloodlines could observe and listen from thousands of li away.

• Shen Hui and Lu Huan took Daoist Feng’s chicken and wine until he agreed to share what he had heard about Nascent Soul True Lords.
• Daoist Feng recounted rumors about True Lord Xuanyuan, Zen Master Jingkong, and Yuyang True Lord.
• Daoist Feng said Green City Mountain had activated its protective formation during the Sword Viewing Assembly, and sects were now demanding answers outside it.
• Patriarch Baoxue asked whether Yuyang True Lord was still alive, but Daoist Feng said he only knew rumors.
• Shen Hui challenged Daoist Feng about his claims of foresight and asked whether he knew of Lost Ferry Ridge.
• Daoist Feng admitted some demons with extraordinary bloodlines could watch and listen from thousands of li away.

Shen Hui questioned Daoist Feng about powerful demons and learned of an uninhabited mountain range in southwestern Jingzhou. He continued through the snow with Lu Huan, then drew her into his sleeve so she could meditate as he traveled alone.

• Shen Hui asked whether great demons could watch and hear people from afar, and Daoist Feng admitted he did not know their cultivation levels.
• Shen Hui recalled the Mountain Spirit in Luanzhou and considered whether a great demon had learned about him and sent the spirit to stop him.
• Daoist Feng told Shen Hui about a vast, uninhabited mountain range in southwestern Jingzhou, and Shen Hui thanked him over wine.
• After Daoist Feng fell asleep, Shen Hui stored him in his sleeve, extinguished the fire, and set off through the snow with Lu Huan.
• Lu Huan asked how to overcome her restless mind while meditating, and Shen Hui reassured her that she was young and already formidable.
• Shen Hui checked that his Dao Xing had reached seven hundred and fifty thousand while “Killing Tribulation Approaching” remained on his status, then put Lu Huan in his sleeve to cultivate as he continued alone.

Shen Hui encountered and dispelled a Snow Demon disguised as an abandoned infant before reaching a frightened mountain village. After hearing that several villagers had died mysteriously, he learned a little girl had seen the ghost, and asked her to describe it.

• Shen Hui recognized an infant in the snow as a Snow Demon and destroyed it with a flick of firelight.
• Shen Hui reached a village where every household had shut its doors and walked through one home's door to meet its armed residents.
• Shen Hui introduced himself as a priest from Clear Wind Temple and asked why the villagers were afraid.
• The old man told Shen Hui that five members of Old Liu's family and two women from the Zhao family had died with stiff bodies and bulging eyes.
• The little girl said she had seen the ghost, and Shen Hui gently asked her to explain what she saw.

Shen Hui exposed a household as ghosts and used talismans to reveal their true forms. The young man learned that the little girl he believed was his daughter was not his child, and Shen Hui explained that the ghosts had clouded his mind.

• A little girl transformed her face into a monstrous shape and asked Shen Hui why he was not afraid.
• Shen Hui attached a talisman to the girl, forcing black qi out of her and leaving her motionless.
• Shen Hui placed a talisman on the young woman, who convulsed as black qi poured from her.
• Shen Hui restrained the old couple with spiritual-qi ropes, revealing their corpse-like forms beneath their human skin.
• The young man said he had no daughter, and Shen Hui explained that the ghosts had made him believe he had one.

Shen Hui revealed that the young man's family had become Corpse Demons and that the man himself was near death after years of having his life drained. After Shen Hui buried the bodies, the young man asked him to dig another grave and began dismembering the little girl's corpse.

• The young man learned that his parents and wife had become Corpse Demons, while Shen Hui told him he did not have long to live.
• The young man recalled that his wife had brought the little girl home, and Shen Hui suggested she had secretly protected him after becoming a Corpse Demon.
• The young man asked Shen Hui to let his family rest in peace, and Shen Hui subdued the Corpse Demons and buried them with the girl's corpse.
• The young man declined a grave marker, then asked Shen Hui to dig another pit for him.
• The young man took a kitchen knife and began cutting apart the little girl's corpse.

Shen Hui found an entire village dead and recruited its sole surviving man as bait to hunt a Corpse Demon that had escaped. They reached a nearby town at dawn, where Shen Hui suspected the demon was hiding, and sat down to eat while the anxious man watched the townspeople.

• Shen Hui searched the village and found its households filled with corpses, then discovered the surviving man curled up in a pit beside the missing girl's grave.
• Shen Hui told the man that a Corpse Demon had escaped and asked him to serve as bait; the man agreed, and Shen Hui helped him out of the pit.
• Shen Hui led the man through the snowy mountains, gave him a pill to restore his strength, and said the village had contained perhaps thirty to fifty Corpse Demons.
• At dawn, Shen Hui and the man entered a small town where people were beginning their day, and Shen Hui said the escaped Corpse Demon was there.
• Shen Hui ordered wontons and pushed a bowl toward the man, who grew wary of the townspeople and questioned why they were simply eating.

After a transparent Mingling burrowed into Shen Hui’s forehead, he used it to learn the Swallowing Sea Sword Qi and saw fragments of Xu Ye’s memories from the great desert. He remained in meditation at a ruined temple outside town, while the young man stayed there with him.

• A transparent insect landed on Shen Hui’s forehead and burrowed into his skin, and Shen Hui told the hungry man to find a place to stay.
• Shen Hui and the man found no lodging in town and settled in a ruined temple, where the man mistook two beggars for Corpse Demons until Shen Hui stopped him.
• Shen Hui sank his consciousness into his sea of awareness and used 100 Dao Xing points to comprehend the Swallowing Sea Sword Qi.
• Shen Hui learned the sword art and tested it by forming faint threads of Sword Qi around his fingers.
• The Mingling showed Shen Hui fragmented memories of Xu Ye traveling through the desert, including a ruined city, a mirage, a sandstorm, and a hidden oasis.

Shen Hui accepted Hu Cheng as a registered disciple of Clear Wind Temple and began teaching him basic cultivation. As Hu Cheng tried to sense qi, Shen Hui made a magical sect token, leaving their journey poised to continue after a night's rest.

• Shen Hui raised Swallowing Sea Sword Qi to minor mastery, tested its power by slicing through the ruined temple, and told Hu Cheng that the Corpse Demon had escaped again.
• Shen Hui offered to teach Hu Cheng simple techniques, and Hu Cheng agreed after Shen Hui promised to save his life.
• Shen Hui accepted Hu Cheng as a registered disciple, taught him Clear Wind Temple's three precepts, and explained the temple's lineage.
• Shen Hui and Hu Cheng crossed a stream to rest at an abandoned residence, where Shen Hui instructed Hu Cheng to begin sensing qi.
• While Hu Cheng meditated, Shen Hui carved Warm Jade Marrow into plaques and inscribed one with a thunder talisman to create a Clear Wind Token.

Shen Hui gave Hu Cheng a sect token and food, then reunited with Nie Yun and the old man in the abandoned residence. After they exchanged news about their years apart, Shen Hui summoned the two figures who had been with him before.

• Shen Hui told Hu Cheng that his first meditation showed his sense of qi was nearly forming, then gave him a sect token and a smoked chicken.
• The old man and Nie Yun arrived, recognized Shen Hui, and Nie Yun asked about his white hair and ate some of Hu Cheng's chicken.
• The old man said his search for old friends had failed, while Nie Yun recounted being imprisoned at Ten Thousand Swords Mountain before escaping.
• Shen Hui described his travels and strange encounters to Nie Yun and the old man.
• The old man asked where the little girl who had accompanied Shen Hui was, and Shen Hui summoned two figures into the hall.

Shen Hui reunited Lu Huan with Nie Yun and introduced Daoist Feng to Lu Xuansong over a meal at Clear Wind Temple. He demonstrated Universe in the Sleeve, astonishing Daoist Feng and leaving Lu Xuansong questioning where the divine ability came from.

• Lu Huan arrived with Daoist Feng, recognized Nie Yun, and proudly told her that she had grown taller and lost her horns.
• Shen Hui introduced Hu Cheng as Lu Huan’s martial nephew, and their conflicting forms of address amused everyone.
• Shen Hui introduced Lu Xuansong and Nie Yun from Ten Thousand Swords Mountain to Feng Zhiming of Grand Void Temple.
• Lu Xuansong explained that he had met Nie Yun while she was fighting bandits, recognized traces of Ten Thousand Swords Mountain in her saber techniques, and reclaimed his wine gourd.
• Hu Cheng and Feng Zhiming asked Shen Hui about the spell that had brought them there, so Shen Hui demonstrated Universe in the Sleeve by making the table vanish and reappear.
• Feng Zhiming admired the spell’s potential in magical battles, while Lu Xuansong asked whether Shen Hui had created it and Shen Hui denied doing so.

Shen Hui and his companions shared wine and stories, and he revealed that he had reached the Golden Core Realm. As the gathering ended, Nie Yun planned to visit a remarkable peach tree in Zhaoyang Commandery City, and Shen Hui gave her a Thunder Talisman to deliver to Sun Chengying.

• Shen Hui asked whether anyone knew of Great Immortal Zhenyuan and invented a connection between Clear Wind Temple and Patriarch Clear Wind.
• Shen Hui revealed that he had reached the Golden Core Realm, astonishing Nie Yun and Daoist Feng when Nie Yun said he had been at Qi Refining three years earlier.
• Nie Yun recounted how her father confined her, arranged her marriage, and drove her to flee on her wedding day before she joined Ten Thousand Swords Mountain.
• Daoist Feng told the group that infighting over Grand Void Temple's inheritance had ended with the temple scattering.
• Shen Hui planned to seek mountains and ancient ruins, while Nie Yun planned to visit the extraordinary peach tree in Zhaoyang Commandery City and seek Peach Blossom Brew.
• Shen Hui drew a Thunder Talisman and asked Nie Yun to give it to a young man named Sun Chengying if she met him beneath the peach tree.