Recaps

Ye Lin searched the central hall of Ten Thousand Beast City for the Stone Stele and prepared to use his Jade Talisman, but Toutian revealed that another similar stele stood at Dragon Tiger Mountain. Ye Lin agreed to swear secrecy after Toutian offered to disclose his identity and locate the other steles, leaving the two poised to make a deal about the Nine Swords.

• Ye Lin entered the hall, found the Stone Stele, and took out his Jade Talisman before Toutian revealed himself from behind it.
• Toutian said Dragon Tiger Mountain had a similar Stone Stele and offered to take Ye Lin there in exchange for learning what the stele contained.
• Toutian identified Ye Lin as Taichu's new disciple and offered the Dragon Tiger Mountain stele if Ye Lin helped him retrieve something from the Dark Forest.
• Ye Lin demanded to know Toutian's identity and refused to rely on his promises, noting that Taichu could claim the other stele himself.
• Toutian offered to reveal his identity and locate the other Stone Steles if Ye Lin swore not to tell anyone, and Ye Lin swore an oath to the Heavenly Dao.

Toutian told Ye Lin that the Central Continent had been devastated by a million years of invasion from the Demon World and warned that a new war could threaten all living beings. He offered to locate the other Stone Steles, but refused to swear an oath to the Heavenly Dao because it would expose him to its notice.

• Toutian explained that he was the ancient Heavenly Secret Pavilion’s sole successor and had come to the Eastern Continent to retrieve a treasured relic from the Dark Forest.
• Toutian revealed that the Central Continent had been overrun by Outer Realm Heavenly Demons, with fewer than one in ten Human Race forces remaining.
• Toutian told Ye Lin that the Demon World was preparing another invasion and that the Heavenly Dao had awakened to help cultivators prepare for the coming war.
• Ye Lin asked Toutian to swear an oath that he could locate the other Stone Steles, but Toutian refused, explaining that the Heavenly Dao would notice him and kill him.

Toutian persuaded Ye Lin to accompany him into the Dark Forest in exchange for revealing the locations of the remaining Stone Steles. After Ye Lin agreed and demanded the Dragon Tiger Mountain Stone Stele first, Toutian hoped he might be the mysterious figure from a vision of the future.

• Ye Lin asked why Toutian wanted him to enter the Dark Forest, and Toutian explained its dangers and why their cultivation levels might let them reach it safely.
• Toutian said he had a treasure that could hide them from powerful remnant souls but needed Ye Lin’s strength against Nascent Soul souls.
• Ye Lin weighed the risks of entering Demon Race territory and accepted Toutian’s offer, provided he received the Dragon Tiger Mountain Stone Stele first.
• Toutian agreed to sneak Ye Lin past Dragon Tiger Mountain’s Sect Protection Array.
• Toutian privately recalled a costly vision of a swordsman facing the Demon World and wondered whether Ye Lin was the figure he had seen.

Ye Lin learned the third sword technique from the Stone Stele and named it Sword Extinguishes All Life. He went outside to find hundreds of Nascent Soul cultivators locked in a stalemate over the Sun True Fire, where they began proposing negotiations.

• Ye Lin refused to tell Toutian what was inside the Stone Stele, and Toutian left after saying the Sun True Fire would emerge in an hour.
• Ye Lin placed the Jade Talisman on the Stone Stele and absorbed the knowledge of a silent sword strike that attacked the soul, naming it Sword Extinguishes All Life.
• Ye Lin discovered that using different swords in sequence doubled the power of each successive sword, and the Nine Swords could be combined into a final strike.
• After hearing fighting outside, Ye Lin went to investigate and saw hundreds of peak Nascent Soul Realm cultivators fighting over the Sun True Fire.
• The cultivators argued over who should claim the Sun True Fire, and one suggested they negotiate to end the stalemate.

Ye Lin seized the Sun True Fire and used Evil Slayer to subdue the cultivators who demanded it. He left Ten Thousand Beast City with the fire, intending to go to Dragon Tiger Mountain for the Stone Stele and another sword technique.

• Ye Lin snatched the Sun True Fire from the sky and suppressed it with his Phoenix Fire.
• Ye Lin summoned Evil Slayer and used the first turn of Sword Extinguishes All Life to wound and immobilize the cultivators who challenged him.
• Ye Lin spared the cultivators, judging that they could help repel other races amid the growing turmoil.
• Ye Lin headed for the exit of Ten Thousand Beast City and set out to seek the Stone Stele at Dragon Tiger Mountain.

Ye Lin swallowed the Sun True Fire and relied on Phoenix Fire to subdue and refine it. After Li Miaoyin exchanged an Earth Grade Low Tier spiritual martial technique for Li Miaoling’s location, Ye Lin revealed that Li Miaoling was the Sect Master of the Azure Cloud Sect.

• Ye Lin swallowed the Sun True Fire, and Phoenix Fire subdued it before beginning to refine it in his dantian.
• Li Miaoyin arrived and gave Ye Lin the Yin Yang Demon Sect’s guardian technique in exchange for Li Miaoling’s location.
• Ye Lin checked the technique’s contents, confirmed they were genuine, and asked Li Miaoyin for a map of Tianhe Prefecture.
• Li Miaoyin showed Ye Lin the map, and he pointed out the region where Li Miaoling was located.
• Ye Lin told Li Miaoyin that Li Miaoling was the Sect Master of the Azure Cloud Sect, and Li Miaoyin quickly left.

Li Miaoyin revealed that she intended to kill Li Miaoling and absorb the Yang energy in her body to perfect her cultivation, then target Ye Lin. Meanwhile, Toutian rejoined Ye Lin and urged him to hurry to Dragon Tiger Mountain before war made it impossible to enter Demon Race territory.

• Ye Lin reflected that Li Miaoyin's eagerness to find Li Miaoling must have a hidden purpose, though he had already achieved his own goal.
• Li Miaoyin revealed that she planned to devour Li Miaoling and reclaim the Yang energy in her body to perfect her Yin-Yang constitution.
• Li Miaoyin decided that after killing Li Miaoling, she would target Ye Lin.
• Toutian returned to Ye Lin dusty and disheveled after visiting a fascinating place.
• Toutian urged Ye Lin to go to Dragon Tiger Mountain and then the Dark Forest quickly, before war blocked access to Demon Race territory.

Ye Lin and Toutian traveled to Dragon Tiger Mountain to steal its Stone Stele without alerting its experts. They arrived under cover of night, and Toutian began erasing their traces before they entered the mountain’s Sect Protection Array.

• Ye Lin agreed to follow Toutian north and took him aboard the Flying Boat toward Dragon Tiger Mountain.
• Toutian explained that they would approach on foot and avoid attracting the attention of Dragon Tiger Mountain’s experts.
• After five hours, Ye Lin put away the Flying Boat, and the pair secretly made their way toward the mountain.
• Toutian showed Ye Lin Dragon Tiger Mountain and warned him that its Sect Protection Array would attack intruders with increasingly powerful Spirit Transformation Realm strikes.
• Toutian took out a Compass and formed hand seals to erase their traces from the heavenly secrets while Ye Lin kept watch.

Toutian concealed his and Ye Lin’s auras and heavenly secrets, then led Ye Lin past Dragon Tiger Mountain’s defenses and patrols. They reached a crowded mountain where the Stone Stele stood at the summit, but Toutian spotted a problem.

• Toutian used the Compass to conceal both their heavenly secrets and auras for half an hour.
• Toutian and Ye Lin slipped into Dragon Tiger Mountain without triggering its Sect Protection Array.
• Toutian guided Ye Lin past the disciples’ patrols and deep into the mountain.
• Toutian stopped at a small peak and pointed out that the Stone Stele stood atop a nearby mountain crowded with disciples.

Ye Lin and Toutian reached the Stone Stele beside a Dao Integration True Lord, whose Dao resonance nearly trapped Ye Lin in a trance. Toutian used his remaining essence to protect Ye Lin, who stole the Stone Stele and escaped, while the True Lord opened his eyes and watched him go.

• Toutian warned Ye Lin not to look at the middle-aged cultivator, explaining that he was a Dao Integration True Lord whose Dao resonance could make Ye Lin lose himself.
• With little time left, Toutian smeared golden blood on Ye Lin's forehead and formed sigils to shield him from the True Lord's detection.
• Toutian left first to get beyond Dragon Tiger Mountain while Ye Lin rushed to the summit.
• Ye Lin closed his eyes, stored the Stone Stele in his Spatial Ring, and flew away at full speed.
• After Ye Lin had escaped, the middle-aged cultivator opened his eyes and smiled as he looked into the distance.

After stealing the Stone Stele from Dragon Tiger Mountain, Ye Lin and Toutian set out for the Dark Forest in Demon Race territory. They concealed their Flying Boat and continued toward Black Mountain Prefecture, though Toutian urged Ye Lin to hurry.

• The middle-aged cultivator recognized Ye Lin and Toutian, suspected their theft, and decided to demand Immortal Brew from Taichu in exchange for the stolen treasure.
• Ye Lin left Dragon Tiger Mountain and met Toutian outside, confirming that he had obtained the Stone Stele.
• Toutian asked Ye Lin to accompany him to the Dark Forest, and Ye Lin agreed on condition that Toutian later reveal the locations of the remaining steles.
• Ye Lin piloted the Flying Boat toward the Demon Race's territory while Toutian placed strange objects around it and made it invisible.
• Toutian claimed even a Spirit Transformation Demon Venerable would not detect them, then urged Ye Lin to fly faster.

Ye Lin and Toutian traveled by Flying Boat into the Demon Race's territory, heading for the Dark Forest. After three days, they reached the Demon Race heartland and turned left toward their destination, wary of being discovered.

• Toutian urged Ye Lin to speed up, then paid five thousand High-Tier Spirit Stones to run the Flying Boat at full speed.
• Ye Lin declined to use the Flying Boat's much faster spatial-barrier mode because it would cost three hundred and sixty thousand High-Tier Spirit Stones.
• The Flying Boat entered Demon Race territory, where Ye Lin saw Demon Beasts roaming and Human Race tribes kept as livestock.
• Toutian remained silent and nurtured his origin as they traveled.
• After three days, Ye Lin asked where the Dark Forest was, then steered left into the Demon Race heartland.

Ye Lin and Toutian entered the Dark Forest to recover a Heavenly Secret Pavilion treasure that Toutian believed had created the forest. Toutian sensed the treasure nearby and hurried ahead, while Ye Lin remained wary of the unseen ghosts.

• Toutian examined the Compass before he and Ye Lin reached the Dark Forest by Flying Boat.
• Toutian said his Heavenly Secret Pavilion's treasure lay at the forest's center and that it had caused the Dark Forest to form.
• Toutian and Ye Lin landed after the treasure sealed the skies above the forest, then continued on foot.
• Ye Lin wondered whether taking the treasure would anger the ghosts, and Toutian warned him not to say it aloud.
• Toutian sensed the treasure nearby and sprinted toward it as Ye Lin drew Evil Slayer and watched for ghosts.

Ye Lin and Toutian were surrounded by ghosts in the Dark Forest, where they discovered a Demon True Person who had somehow retained his sanity despite the Demons’ efforts to keep Spirit Transformation Realm souls out. The Demon ordered the ghosts to capture them, but Ye Lin destroyed the surrounding horde with a single sword strike.

• Toutian noticed that countless ghosts from various races had surrounded him and Ye Lin.
• A Demon True Person demanded to know how the humans had entered Demon territory and threatened to torture them.
• Toutian questioned how the Spirit Transformation Realm ghost had remained sane, since the Demons had prevented such souls from entering the Dark Forest for a thousand years.
• The Demon True Person ordered the ghosts to seize Ye Lin and Toutian for questioning.
• Ye Lin used Sword One, Sword Slashes the Firmament, to scatter the surrounding ghosts completely.

Toutian used the Heavenly Secret Pavilion’s treasure to restrain the Spirit Transformation Demon Cultivator, allowing him and Ye Lin to continue through the Dark Forest. As the demon sent swarms of souls after them, Ye Lin struggled to keep fighting, and Toutian warned that their survival depended on him holding out.

• The Spirit Transformation Demon Beast tried to grab Ye Lin and Toutian, but Toutian used the Heavenly Secret Pavilion’s treasure to stop him.
• Toutian explained that the treasure restricted powerful souls living in the Dark Forest, then led the way as Ye Lin cut down the ghosts blocking them.
• The Spirit Transformation Demon Cultivator sent the drifting souls surging toward Ye Lin and Toutian.
• Ye Lin and Toutian found themselves surrounded by an ever-growing sea of ghosts, and Ye Lin’s sword arm began to ache.
• Toutian urged Ye Lin to hold on and regretted not bringing more Nascent Soul cultivators.

Ye Lin and Toutian fought through the Dark Forest toward its main hall while a Spirit Transformation Realm ghost realized what they were approaching. The ghost summoned thousands of allies to stop them before they disturbed the powerful beings inside.

• Ye Lin conserved his strength while asking Toutian how far they had to go, and Toutian said they were three kilometers from their destination.
• Ye Lin engulfed himself in fiery red energy, carried Toutian, and charged ahead, causing nearby ghosts—including Nascent Soul Realm ghosts—to vanish while draining his spiritual energy faster.
• The Spirit Transformation Realm ghost realized the two Humans were heading for the main hall, where powerful beings and the Dark Forest's precious treasures were kept.
• The ghost summoned at least ten thousand Spirit Transformation Realm ghosts and warned them that the beings in the hall might awaken if disturbed.
• The ghosts agreed to attack Ye Lin and Toutian together and stop them.

Ye Lin and Toutian struggled through a growing horde of ghosts in the Dark Forest as they approached a palace containing the Heavenly Secret Pavilion’s Half-Immortal Artifact. With Ye Lin nearly out of spiritual energy, Toutian urged him to reach the treasure before the ghosts stopped them.

• The ghosts could not move or harm Ye Lin and Toutian, while more Spirit Transformation ghosts gathered around them.
• The Demon Race sent a great army to guard the Dark Forest’s perimeter after the commotion alarmed them.
• Toutian urged Ye Lin to unleash his full power, saying he could activate the treasure once they got close enough.
• Ye Lin burned through most of his spiritual energy as ghosts packed the road and surged toward them.
• Toutian spotted the palace a thousand meters away and told Ye Lin to hurry toward the Half-Immortal Artifact.

Ye Lin used a Blood Explosion Pill to escape the ghosts with Toutian and reach the palace holding the Heavenly Secret Pavilion’s treasure. Inside, they found the golden compass guarded by three Dao Integration Realm True Lords, leaving Toutian stunned.

• Ye Lin swallowed a Blood Explosion Pill, boosting his power to the half-step Spirit Transformation Realm and wiping out the ghosts around him.
• Ye Lin rushed to the palace with Toutian, and the pursuing ghosts stopped outside its threshold.
• Toutian told Ye Lin that the palace held the Heavenly Secret Pavilion’s most prized treasure, and they entered together.
• Toutian spotted a golden compass on a table and moved toward it, but Ye Lin stopped him.
• Ye Lin pointed out three Dao Integration Realm True Lords sitting beside the compass, and Toutian froze under their gaze.

Ye Lin and Toutian sought the Heavenly Secret Pavilion’s Compass from three Human Race True Lords, but the guardians refused until Ye Lin revealed that Taichu was his master. When Ye Lin contacted Taichu, Taichu scolded him for stealing a True Lord’s mountain-guarding treasure and getting caught.

• Ye Lin asked the three True Lords for the treasure beside them, and they ordered him and Toutian to leave.
• Toutian offered to nurture the True Lords’ souls and give them new bodies in exchange for the Compass, but the True Lords refused.
• Ye Lin told the True Lords that his master was Taichu, prompting the central True Lord to ask for proof.
• Ye Lin used his Identity Token to contact Taichu, who appeared and scolded him for stealing the Dragon Tiger Mountain True Lord’s mountain-guarding treasure.
• Taichu berated Ye Lin for getting caught and said he should have asked for help stealing it.

Ye Lin discovered that the True Lord in the Dark Forest was Taichu’s long-lost master, making him Ye Lin’s grandmaster. Taichu began catching up with his master while Ye Lin and Toutian watched, still confused by the reunion.

• Taichu complained that someone had taken his Immortal Brew, then tried to get Ye Lin to show him treasures from the Jade Emperor’s seclusion chamber as compensation.
• Ye Lin showed Taichu the Identity Token, and the True Lord recognized Taichu as his disciple.
• Taichu learned that his master was alive and asked where he was so he could come meet him.
• The True Lord warned Taichu not to come because he was in the Dark Forest, then recognized Ye Lin as his grand-disciple.
• Taichu explained recent events to his master while Ye Lin, Toutian, and the other two True Lords watched.

Ye Lin received True Lord Taichu’s Identity Token and agreed to take his grandmaster’s soul out of the Dark Forest before joining Nameless Mountain. Taiyu persuaded the two other Dao Integration Realm True Lords to follow him back to Human Race territory, then asked Ye Lin and Toutian for a treasure that could conceal souls.

• True Lord Taichu gave Ye Lin the Identity Token and told him to bring his grandmaster out of the Dark Forest, meet him at the Human Race border, and join Nameless Mountain.
• Toutian accepted the situation after his identity was exposed, and Taiyu introduced himself to Ye Lin as his grandmaster.
• Taiyu offered the two other True Lords a chance to return to Human Race territory and live again, and they agreed to follow his orders.
• Taiyu asked whether Ye Lin or Toutian had a treasure that could conceal souls, and Toutian awkwardly admitted he owned a treasure that could nurture souls.

Ye Lin revealed the Jade Purification Bottle, giving Taiyu and the others a place to hide while Toutian claimed the Heaven-Peering Compass. The Compass accepted Toutian as its master, though its artifact spirit had not fully awakened.

• Ye Lin took the Jade Purification Bottle from his Spatial Ring, and Taiyu and Toutian recognized it as the Queen Mother's soul-nourishing treasure.
• Taiyu and the other two Dao Integration True Lords entered the bottle, and Ye Lin tucked it into his robes.
• Toutian approached the Heaven-Peering Compass and used the Heavenly Secret Pavilion's hand seals to awaken it.
• Toutian placed a pearl at the Compass's center and asked it to help him restore the Heavenly Secret Pavilion.
• The Heaven-Peering Compass accepted Toutian as its master and drifted into his hand, though its artifact spirit remained only partly awakened.

Toutian and Ye Lin escaped the Dark Forest aboard the Heaven-Peering Compass, which concealed their departure. The Heavenly Dao’s punishment drove the forest’s ghosts into a rampage against the Demon Race as the pair quietly headed toward Human Territory.

• Toutian claimed the Heaven-Peering Compass, and he and Ye Lin left the palace aboard its Flying Boat.
• After the pair escaped, ghosts discovered they could leave the Dark Forest without being struck by lightning.
• The Dark Forest’s protective energy vanished, and sunlight destroyed ghosts at the Qi Refining stage while unsettling those at the Foundation Establishment stage.
• The Heavenly Dao gathered storm clouds and threatened the Dark Forest with immense pressure and lightning.
• Spirit Transformation ghosts fled, and countless ghosts attacked Demon Beasts, starting a war with the Demon Race.
• The Demon Race mobilized to suppress the ghosts while Toutian and Ye Lin quietly flew toward Human Territory.

Ye Lin and Toutian fled the Dark Forest aboard a slow Flying Boat, fearing the Demon Race’s Dao Integration True Lords would pursue them. As they struggled to escape, the Myriad Demon Palace sent a Dao Integration True Lord to flatten the Dark Forest.

• Ye Lin relaxed after confirming no one was following them, then accelerated the Flying Boat with his remaining Spirit Stones.
• Ye Lin demanded that Toutian repay him with a favor and ten thousand High-Tier Spirit Stones, blaming him for the damage to his Nascent Soul.
• Toutian warned Ye Lin that the Demon Race’s Dao Integration True Lords might notice their Flying Boat after the Dark Forest’s rampage.
• Ye Lin said his reserves could not power the Flying Boat at full speed, leaving Toutian to hope the Dark Forest would hold out.
• The Myriad Demon Palace Master summoned a Demon Race Dao Integration True Lord, who swept the Dark Forest flat with a wave of his hand.

Ye Lin and Toutian evaded the Dao Integration Realm Demon Race True Lord and headed through a forest to retrieve another Stone Stele. The chapter leaves them approaching a Human Race village where an old man was teaching children about the stele that protected their home and helped produce its Sword Gods.

• After the Demon Race True Lord destroyed the ghosts, Ye Lin and Toutian concealed themselves with the Heaven-Peering Compass and escaped his attention.
• Toutian divined that another Stone Stele lay ahead, and Ye Lin agreed to retrieve it on foot while the compass recovered.
• Ye Lin warned Toutian that the Blood Explosion Pill had left him with less than a tenth of his strength, but Toutian promised to protect them from beasts.
• The pair traveled through the forest and encountered only weak Demon Beasts.
• In a small Human Race settlement, an old man told children that the Stone Stele protected their village and had helped its Ten Great Sword Gods comprehend the sword.