Recaps

Fu Yunshan recounted how starvation and slaughter on the northern frontier led him to acquire a strange power that fed on human flesh. A Daoist later identified it as the demonic Red Pulse Origin-Returning Method, which grew stronger through killing and cannibalism.

• Fu Yunshan enlisted in Great Shuo’s army and served through the emperor’s expansionist war until enemy forces trapped his troops in Green Gorge.
• General Ma ordered the soldiers to eat the city’s civilians, and Fu Yunshan joined the cannibals who charged out and drove the enemy cavalry back.
• After collapsing on the battlefield, Fu Yunshan encountered a giant white ape, then woke with healed wounds and a strange strand of power inside him.
• Fu Yunshan discovered that his killing intent could cow bandits and that eating human flesh strengthened his power.
• A Daoist told Fu Yunshan that he cultivated the demonic Red Pulse Origin-Returning Method, which grew through killing and feeding on human flesh.

Fu Yunshan deserted the court army, founded a cannibal bandit stronghold at Cloud-Locking Cave, and planned to raise a rebellion. As he ordered a woman boiled to strengthen his cultivation, an unknown Daoist entered the cave.

• Fu Yunshan survived the Red Turban Army’s prisoner camp by surrendering, then served under Shi Tianlu until the court granted the rebels amnesty and reassigned him to fight the Raw Barbarians.
• Fed up with his commander and the court, Fu Yunshan killed two soldiers who refused to join him and led the remaining men toward Yongchang Commandery.
• Fu Yunshan established his bandit stronghold at Cloud-Locking Cave, raided travelers, and demanded new followers kill and eat a person as their pledge of allegiance.
• Fu Yunshan planned to build an army and eventually rebel against the court, then ordered his men to boil the prettiest dancing woman.
• A bandit returned to the cave in a panic, and a Daoist walked in with the sound of a child’s light footsteps beside him.

Shen Hui sealed a bandits’ cave and burned more than forty bandits to ash, then discovered a strange golden light within Fu Yunshan’s aura. He asked whether Fu Yunshan was the emperor, and Fu Yunshan said he was not yet, but might sit on the throne one day.

• Fu Yunshan questioned Ding Gui about the missing bandits and learned that Lao Jiu and the others were dead.
• Shen Hui declared that he had come to send the bandits to their graves, sealed the cave entrance, and unleashed flames that killed more than forty men while sparing the women and Fu Yunshan.
• Shen Hui recognized one of the burning bandits as a refugee who had tried to steal his clothes on his first day in the world.
• Shen Hui examined Fu Yunshan’s muddled aura and noticed a faint thread of golden light hidden beneath his killing intent.
• Shen Hui asked Fu Yunshan if he was the current emperor, and Fu Yunshan replied that he was not yet but might sit on the throne one day.

Shen Hui killed Fu Yunshan, but strange crimson and black lights escaped the corpse and pursued him. A heroic young woman arrived, cleaved open Cloud-Locking Cave with her blade, and cautiously asked Shen Hui whether he was a bandit.

• Fu Yunshan tried to persuade Shen Hui to spare him, then drew his blade and was decapitated by a streak of fire.
• Killing Intent dissipated from Fu Yunshan's corpse while intertwined crimson and black lights passed through Shen Hui's defenses and chased him.
• Shen Hui escaped through the rock wall, but the lights entered the space between his brows as a woman's blade strike split open the mountainside.
• A tall young woman in black approached with a blade and wine gourd, checked the cave, and asked Shen Hui if he was a bandit.

Shen Hui met Nie Yun of Ten Thousand Swords Mountain after she split open the cave wall, and he learned that she was a powerful Foundation Establishment cultivator. After she left, Lu Huan emerged and revealed that she had not seen the beams of light Shen Hui dodged, before Shen Hui discovered the Dragon-Crouching Point on his interface.

• Nie Yun split open the cave wall, questioned Shen Hui about the dead bandits, and introduced herself as a disciple of Ten Thousand Swords Mountain.
• Shen Hui recognized Nie Yun as the famed younger-generation swordswoman and used the Aura Observation Art, but could not see through her cultivation.
• Nie Yun noticed Shen Hui probing her cultivation, exchanged compliments with him, and left after finding the bandits already dead.
• Lu Huan emerged from the cave and said she had not seen the beams of light Shen Hui had dodged.
• Shen Hui summoned his interface and discovered the Dragon-Crouching Point, which described a hidden dragon's fate and offered to advance one art by a level.

After killing a bandit chief with Hidden Dragon Fate, Shen Hui saw that a killing tribulation was approaching but refused to regret his actions. He calmed the rescued women with talisman water, then sent them to search the cave and descend the mountain, leaving their futures to them.

• Shen Hui discovered that the bandit chief had Hidden Dragon Fate and that his status now read Killing Tribulation Approaching.
• Shen Hui accepted the prospect of heavenly retribution and said he did not regret killing the bandits.
• The abducted women emerged from the cave and broke down in tears, so Shen Hui made talisman water to calm and steady them.
• Shen Hui told the women to search the cave for valuables and head down the mountain, advising those with families to hide their valuables for a year.
• When a woman asked what those without families should do, Shen Hui said that surviving was already a stroke of luck and that their choices were their own.

Shen Hui helped Lu Huan understand that the troupe had wronged her by taking her flesh without consent, while the bandits had acted as evil and demons. Lu Huan asked to learn magic so she could protect herself, and she and Shen Hui set off back to the temple to await her master.

• Shen Hui found Lu Huan watching ants and explained that beings had equal worth regardless of whether they were human or monster.
• Lu Huan realized the troupe members had taken her flesh by force, while the bandits deserved to die for kidnapping people and eating human flesh.
• Shen Hui told Lu Huan that the troupe members who ate her flesh would die within three years because it had damaged their foundations.
• Lu Huan asked to learn magic to protect herself, and Shen Hui said she could study after formally taking her returning master as her master.
• Lu Huan smiled and suggested that they return to the temple.

Shen Hui brought Lu Huan back to the temple, where Master intended to take her as his final disciple, Jing Huan. There, they encountered the governor’s daughter, a regular lay follower whose sense of status clashed with Shen Hui’s insistence that worshippers held equal standing at the temple.

• Shen Hui and Lu Huan arrived at the temple and learned that Master had gone to the Sword Viewing Assembly at Green City Mountain.
• Qing Shi welcomed Lu Huan, learned she was a former deer who had been named Jing Huan, and reassured her that she would be safe at the temple.
• Qing Shi told Shen Hui that the governor’s daughter had come to the temple to copy scriptures and receive talismans in exchange for offerings.
• The governor’s daughter questioned Lu Huan’s identity, and Shen Hui called her a lay follower just like herself.
• Shen Hui led Lu Huan away, then explained to Qing Shi that worshippers had equal standing at the temple regardless of rank.

Shen Hui returned to the Temple, reunited with his fellow disciples, and shared gifts and a meal with them. Just as he was about to toast everyone, Nie Yun arrived uninvited, and Shen Hui asked if she had climbed over the wall.

• Shen Hui found his room cleaned and realized Fifth Senior Brother had taken care of it.
• Shen Hui gave Qing Shi recipes and seasonings, and the two worked together to prepare dinner.
• Shen Hui joined his fellow disciples and Lu Huan in the Dining Hall, where they asked about his trip down the mountain.
• Shen Hui opened a jar of wine and poured bowls for everyone, including Lu Huan.
• Nie Yun appeared at the Dining Hall after smelling the wine, and Shen Hui asked whether she had climbed over the wall.

Shen Hui shared a meal with his fellow disciples after Nie Yun of Ten Thousand Swords Mountain barged in to ask for wine. The next morning, he found Chengxin Studio empty, retrieved three manuals from the Old Daoist’s quiet room, and began studying the Snake Form Art on the back mountain.

• Nie Yun begged Shen Hui for wine, received a jar, and left the Dining Hall.
• Shen Hui told the disciples that Nie Yun was a Foundation Establishment cultivator from Ten Thousand Swords Mountain.
• The disciples relaxed over food and wine while the Old Daoist was away, and Qingyi explained that the incense-offering patron ate separately with his own cook and provisions.
• Shen Hui arrived at Chengxin Studio for morning lessons, but no other disciples came.
• Shen Hui retrieved the Snake Form, Crane Form, and Sword-Wielding Method manuals and went to the back mountain.
• Shen Hui read the Snake Form Art and felt stirred by its principles of relaxation, suppleness, slipperiness, and change.

Shen Hui studied the Snake Form and Crane Form movement arts, then practiced the Snake Form and discovered that its spine-driven lunge was far faster than his usual movement. He continued up Deer Rest Mountain after passing the sleeping Nie Yun, who remained beneath a pine with her saber and empty wine jar.

• Shen Hui memorized the Snake Form’s three applications and worked out how relaxation, yielding, and sudden strikes fit together.
• Shen Hui practiced loosening his joints and moving with his waist and spine, then lunged forward at more than three times his usual speed and instinctively summoned the White Skeleton.
• Shen Hui read the Crane Form Art and considered the value of the movement manuals he carried.
• Shen Hui found Nie Yun asleep beneath an old pine beside the mountain path, left her undisturbed, and continued up the mountain.

Shen Hui cultivated at a secluded hot spring and mastered the Snake Form Art and Crane Form Art by studying their scrolls. He practiced the Sword Wielding Art but could not tell what was missing from his sword forms, so he planned to ask his fellow disciples or master before heading back down the mountain.

• Shen Hui gathered spiritual energy in the hot spring until he reached his cultivation limit, then studied the Snake Form and Crane Form scrolls.
• Shen Hui understood how the two movement arts complemented each other, and the interface marked both as mastered.
• Shen Hui read the Sword Wielding Art manual and learned its instructions for gripping a sword, practicing basic forms, and infusing the blade with qi.
• Shen Hui stood on the water and practiced with White Skeleton, but found his sword forms lacked something he could not identify.
• Shen Hui decided to seek guidance from his fellow disciples or master, got dressed, and left the hot spring to descend the mountain.

Shen Hui met Nie Yun at Clear Wind Temple, where she had come hoping to exchange swordsmanship with his master, only to learn he was away. Nie Yun explained the world’s three great sword lineages and ended by teasing Shen Hui when he asked her to explain her own method.

• Shen Hui found Lu Huan talking with Nie Yun on the mountain path and asked why Nie Yun had come to Clear Wind Temple.
• Nie Yun explained that Green City Mountain had invited her to a ceremony, but she had slipped away to study Clear Wind Temple’s Flying Sword Art; Shen Hui told her his master, the only one there who knew it, was attending the ceremony.
• Nie Yun described the sword arts of Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, Green City Mountain, and Penglai Island, and recounted how the Penglai cultivator Jiang Heng had traveled Great Shuo without losing before vanishing.
• Nie Yun said she had sought a swordsmanship exchange at Green City Mountain but could not meaningfully challenge its older generation, so she had come hoping to learn from Shen Hui’s master.
• Shen Hui asked Nie Yun to explain Ten Thousand Swords Mountain’s Sword-Wielding Method, and Nie Yun accused him of trying to steal her techniques before hinting that she wanted a drink.

Nie Yun taught Shen Hui the nine foundational stances of Ten Thousand Swords Mountain’s sword method, then explained that she preferred a saber because it was the first weapon she learned. Shen Hui continued cultivating and practicing, and the chapter ended when Third Senior Brother Qingyi asked when Shen Hui had figured something out.

• Nie Yun demonstrated the nine sword stances to Shen Hui and asked for another jar of wine in exchange for explaining why she used a saber.
• Nie Yun told Shen Hui that she preferred the saber because she had learned it first and found the sword too fussy.
• Shen Hui returned gifts to Second Senior Sister and Third Senior Brother, then continued cultivating and practicing sword forms with White Skeleton.
• Shen Hui repeatedly encountered Nie Yun on the mountain and noticed she seemed bored without wine.
• Qingyi joined Shen Hui at the hot spring and offered him wine; Shen Hui joked that he feared it was poisoned, prompting Qingyi to ask when he had figured it out.

Nie Yun searched Clear Wind Temple for the Old Taoist but found no one, while You Shu reunited with her military commander brother. After a soldier seized Lu Huan and the Commander mocked her as a monster, she bit his hand, provoking his anger.

• Nie Yun explored Clear Wind Temple and decided to leave when she could find neither the Old Taoist nor the other disciples.
• You Shu greeted her brother, a Commander who had ridden to the temple with five soldiers, and told him their father was recovering from a cough.
• A soldier found Lu Huan by the water vat, grabbed her, and showed the Commander the antlers on her head.
• You Shu denied knowing whether Lu Huan belonged to the temple, and her maid stayed silent.
• The Commander called Lu Huan a little monster and reached to lift her chin, but she bit his thumb.
• The enraged Commander pulled back his bleeding hand and backhanded Lu Huan.

Nie Yun saved Lu Huan from a military officer who had struck her, killing him and driving off his guards. After learning Shen Hui was near the hot springs, Nie Yun left the temple without getting the wine she wanted.

• A military officer slapped Lu Huan, and Nie Yun severed his hand with a saber strike.
• Nie Yun killed the officer with a single slash and revealed that her father was Nie Chengxuan, Vice Chancellor of the State.
• The mounted guards fled, and Nie Yun ordered the finely dressed woman and her maid to clean up the corpse.
• Nie Yun asked Lu Huan where the temple residents were and learned that Shen Hui had gone near the hot springs.
• Nie Yun asked Lu Huan for wine as payment, then left when Lu Huan had none.

Shen Hui confronted Qingyi with the clues that convinced him his senior brother had arranged attempts on his life. Qingyi admitted he had acted to stop Shen Hui from reaching Foundation Establishment, while confirming the other disciples were still alive.

• Shen Hui explained that Qingyi had deliberately delayed hiding the first Spirit Nourishing Grass and arrived late when the Tiger Demon attacked, then burned its corpse.
• Shen Hui described how people from White Bone Hall sought him out after his visit to Fragrant Snow Book Studio, where the owner had arranged a suspicious delay that could conceal messages in books.
• Shen Hui connected Qingyi to the book studio’s coded messages and questioned whether Bai Yulian and Master Bai of Moon-Gazing Tower were linked.
• Qingyi asked whether Shen Hui had figured everything out himself, and Shen Hui said his suspicions had grown as he examined the clues.
• Qingyi assured Shen Hui that their fellow disciples were alive and said he had acted because Shen Hui might soon reach Foundation Establishment.
• Shen Hui recognized that Qingyi had learned the Aura Observation Art, making their hidden conflict explicit.

Shen Hui confronted Qingyi at a hot spring and learned why his senior brother had decided to kill him. Qingyi declared himself a disciple of Clear Wind Temple, leaving their conflict unresolved.

• Shen Hui reminded Qingyi that he had killed Deputy Hall Master Bai without relying on Master’s Sword Box, but Qingyi dismissed the feat as the Sword Box’s work.
• Qingyi said the Hall feared Shen Hui’s talent and that he had to kill him to save the Zhou Family from White Bone Hall.
• Qingyi explained that he intended to claim Master’s Sword Box after Master died, while Shen Hui challenged his plans and offered to destroy White Bone Hall after reaching Foundation Establishment.
• Shen Hui asked whether Qingyi was a disciple of Clear Wind Temple or White Bone Hall, and Qingyi answered that he was a disciple of Clear Wind Temple.

Shen Hui confronted Qingyi at the hot spring and easily subdued his senior brother despite Qingyi unleashing his Civil and Martial Fire. The chapter ended with Shen Hui declaring Qingyi defeated and promising to leave his corpse intact for the sake of their brotherhood.

• Shen Hui challenged Qingyi, claiming he could defeat even a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
• Shen Hui bound Qingyi with water strands and trapped him in stone, but Qingyi broke free by unleashing flames.
• Qingyi recited his Civil and Martial Fire incantation and sent a firebird rushing at Shen Hui.
• Shen Hui shrank the firebird into his palm and drew in the surrounding flames, leaving Qingyi powerless.
• Shen Hui called Qingyi a minor Qi Refining cultivator and said he would leave his corpse intact for their brotherhood.

Shen Hui spared Qingyi temporarily and brought him back to Clear Wind Temple after Old Taoist Ji Chen returned in a display of sword flight that suggested he had reached Golden Core. Ji Chen arrived at Chengxin Studio, startling the four people who had been asleep inside.

• Qingyi knelt before Shen Hui and pleaded for the Zhou Family, and Shen Hui promised to settle the matter after reaching Foundation Establishment.
• Old Taoist Ji Chen flew toward Clear Wind Temple on a brilliant sword light, leading Shen Hui to suspect he had become a Golden Core True Person.
• Shen Hui bound Qingyi, placed a dormant flame in his Dantian, and had a stone man carry him down the mountain.
• Shen Hui returned to Clear Wind Temple with Qingyi and wondered what Ji Chen would decide about his former disciple.
• Ji Chen landed at Chengxin Studio and burst open the door, waking Jinghui, Qing Shi, Jingming, and Senior Brother.

Ji Chen arrived at his disciples in a violent, divided state and wept bloody tears when he could not reach a peach branch. Shen Hui found Jinghui dying in the well, and she warned him to run from Master before asking him to recite the caterpillar incantation; the chapter ended with him promising to explain Zhuang Sheng after she became a butterfly.

• Ji Chen appeared at the doorway with a twisted, blood-eyed expression and asked his disciples to bring him a peach branch.
• Jingming brought the branch, but Ji Chen could not touch it and began to shed bloody tears.
• Shen Hui entered the Temple, followed a trail of blood through the courtyards, and found Jinghui gravely wounded in the well.
• Jinghui warned Shen Hui to be careful of Master and run, then asked him to tell her the incantation for becoming a caterpillar.
• Shen Hui recited the incantation to Jinghui and promised to tell her who Zhuang Sheng was when she became a butterfly.

Jinghui turned into a monster and attacked Shen Hui, who killed her, then chased the red light that escaped her corpse to Chengxin Studio. There he found Old Taoist Ji Chen devouring Li Changxing and barely survived Ji Chen’s sword before Jingming arrived.

• Jinghui lunged at Shen Hui, and he killed her with Sharp Gold Qi before a red light escaped her corpse.
• Shen Hui chased the red light to Chengxin Studio, where it entered the gourd at Old Taoist Ji Chen’s waist.
• Shen Hui saw Ji Chen beside Li Changxing’s mangled corpse, and Ji Chen attacked him with a black-misted sword beam.
• Shen Hui dodged the sword beam, then blocked it with the White Skeleton and was thrown into the Temple wall.
• The sword beam pursued Shen Hui underground and across the hillside until he summoned a crimson streak of fire that struck it and forced it back toward the Temple.
• Jingming arrived on a flying sword carrying a gourd, a sword, Silk Scrolls, and a Sword Box.

Jingming fled with Shen Hui after being corrupted by a spreading black wound, then revealed that she had killed Fifth Junior Brother and entrusted him with Clear Wind Temple’s inheritance. She took her own life to prevent the evil force from possessing her, and a red glow from her brow entered the Soul-Searching Gourd.

• Jingming carried Shen Hui away on her flying sword, but her wound worsened and they crashed in the forest.
• Jingming collapsed and told Shen Hui that she had killed Fifth Junior Brother; Shen Hui said he had killed Jinghui.
• Jingming gave Shen Hui the temple’s inheritance and named him Clear Wind Temple’s next abbot, warning him not to trust Qingyi.
• Jingming told Shen Hui about her family and asked him to help her sister’s descendants if he ever found them.
• Jingming declared that she would rather die than be defiled, then used her flying sword to cut her own throat.
• A red glow shot from Jingming’s brow into the Soul-Searching Gourd in Shen Hui’s hand.

Shen Hui burned away his emotions after Jingming died, but his Heart Lamp triggered Heart Madness Self-Immolation while a Corpse Fiend infection spread through his wounds. After reaching Foundation Establishment and inviting thunderfire to burn his body, his red soul split between the Soul-Searching Gourd and his corpse, whose fingers began to twitch.

• Shen Hui closed Jingming's eyes, killed her reanimated body with White Skeleton, and burned her remains to ashes.
• Shen Hui discovered that his wounds were blackening with Corpse Fiend influence as the Heart Lamp continued to consume his emotions.
• Shen Hui invested his Dao Xing in his realm, advanced to Foundation Establishment, and raised the Control Fire Chapter to Great Achievement.
• Shen Hui beckoned down thunderfire, which burned his body to a charred corpse.
• Shen Hui's red soul emerged and struggled against the Soul-Searching Gourd until it split, with one half entering the gourd and the other returning to his corpse.
• Shen Hui's charred corpse twitched its fingers after the denser half of his soul entered its chest.

Deacon Can and a young disciple found a charred corpse and two unharmed gourds where a fiery streak had fallen. As Deacon Can investigated the strange red gourd, the corpse suddenly grabbed his ankle.

• Deacon Can told the young disciple that they were visiting Clear Wind Temple to claim its arts as repayment for an old debt.
• The two men found a burned corpse and the sword Frostfire; Deacon Can inspected the sword and let the young disciple keep it.
• The young disciple found a Jadeite Gourd and a red-skinned gourd beside the corpse, and Deacon Can discovered the Jadeite Gourd was a storage Magic Treasure.
• Deacon Can poured spiritual energy into the red gourd, revealing tiny figures moving across its surface.
• The charred corpse opened its red-lit eyes and seized Deacon Can's ankle.