Recaps

Heavenly Blade Sage explained that the two sealed letters could help Ye Lin gain the support of powerful, righteous experts, and sent him back to Meteor Island. There, Ye Lin wondered who the letters were for and where to find them before his sudden appearance startled his junior sister.

• Heavenly Blade Sage told Ye Lin that persuading the two people named in his letters could earn him their loyal help in the future.
• Ye Lin understood that his master was helping him build a foundation and tucked the letters into his robes.
• Heavenly Blade Sage said he had taken Ye Lin as a disciple because he was extraordinary and wished him well on his own path.
• Heavenly Blade Sage sent Ye Lin back to Meteor Island, then watched Luo Yao play and reflected on why powerful experts took disciples.
• Ye Lin examined the sealed envelopes and worried that opening them might make him seem insincere to their recipients.
• Ye Lin's junior sister asked why he had suddenly appeared and said he had scared her.

Ye Lin traveled to Hanging Sword Commandery to recruit Sword Demon for the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm after Yun Qiyue identified the letters from their Master. He began asking around about Sword Demon, but the waiter's expression changed when Ye Lin mentioned the name.

• Yun Qiyue opened the letters and told Ye Lin that they were for Sword Demon and Strength Fool, then gave him their locations.
• Ye Lin traveled through the Holy Palace's teleportation array to Hanging Sword Commandery, a region dominated by sword cultivators.
• Ye Lin went to an inn and gave the waiter a Spatial Ring in exchange for information about Sword Demon.
• The waiter reacted uneasily when Ye Lin asked about Sword Demon.

Ye Lin learned that the Sword Demon collected the swords of everyone he defeated and went to the Great Luo Sword Graveyard to meet him. The Sword Demon admitted his identity after drawing Ye Lin into a field, where he appeared as an ordinary old farmer.

• A waiter explained that the Sword Demon, also known as the Sword Fanatic, had defeated countless sword cultivators and filled the Great Luo Sword Graveyard with their surrendered swords.
• Ye Lin left the tavern and traveled to the graveyard beneath Soul Severing Cliff, where he sensed the Sword Demon watching him.
• Ye Lin introduced himself as the fourth personal disciple of the Heavenly Blade Sage, and the Sword Demon invited him inside along a path of Sword Qi.
• Ye Lin reached the graveyard's center and found himself in a field, where a straw-hatted farmer confirmed that he was the Sword Demon.

Ye Lin asked Sword Demon to join him as his Dao Protector and accompany him into the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm. Sword Demon agreed to go but demanded Ye Lin prove himself by making the sword grass sprout within a hundred years, and Ye Lin accepted the test.

• Ye Lin delivered Master’s letter to Sword Demon and explained that the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm would soon open.
• Sword Demon read the letter and said he would follow Ye Lin because Master had ordered it.
• Ye Lin read the letter and learned Master wanted Sword Demon to become his Dao Protector, binding their fates together.
• Sword Demon said Ye Lin had to make the sword grass in his field sprout within a hundred years to earn his full allegiance.
• Sword Demon said that if Ye Lin failed, he would only accompany him into the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm and owe him one karmic debt afterward.
• Ye Lin understood Sword Demon’s test and agreed to it.

Ye Lin learned that the sword grass needed both Sword Intent and An Ning, and that the chaotic Sword Intents in the farmland prevented it from growing. He tried to probe the iron ground with his spiritual sense, but the hostile wills beneath it attacked him.

• Ye Lin entered the Sword Demon's iron farmland and found only a few fragile sword grass buds among the cracked soil.
• The Sword Demon explained that sword grass fed on Sword Intent and An Ning, then set Ye Lin a hundred-year challenge to grow it three inches.
• Ye Lin realized he would need to suppress the countless Sword Intents with his own sword dao to let the buds grow.
• Ye Lin sat at the field's edge and sent out his spiritual sense, triggering an assault from the violent wills buried beneath the ground.

Ye Lin tried to use a gentle strand of Sword Intent to enter the sword field, but the conflicting remnants destroyed it. After realizing he could not blend in quietly, he decided to fight his way through the Sword Intents by overpowering them.

• Ye Lin observed the different Sword Intents battling across the field and noticed the sword grass surviving in its cracks.
• Ye Lin sent a strand of his own Sword Intent into the ground, but the surrounding remnants attacked and erased it.
• Ye Lin concluded that forceful suppression would unite the Sword Intents against him, so he considered how to approach them differently.
• Ye Lin decided to fight instead of blend in and unleashed powerful sword Dao laws.

Ye Lin sent his condensed Sword Qi into the Sword Field and targeted its most violent crimson remnant of intent. As the other remnants attacked, his Sword Qi began to weaken, but he pressed on in a dangerous struggle with the crimson remnant.

• Ye Lin fused his essence, qi, and spirit, then sent his Sword Qi into the Sword Field.
• The Sword Field’s remnants of intent swarmed Ye Lin’s Sword Qi in response.
• Ye Lin focused his attack on the crimson remnant of intent, hoping to subdue the others by defeating it.
• Ye Lin endured the remnants’ attacks and forced his Sword Qi to keep fighting as the crimson remnant grew fatigued and struck back more fiercely.

Ye Lin used focused attacks to shatter the crimson remnant intent, making the other Sword Intents wary of his Sword Qi. He continued targeting and destroying the most aggressive remnant intents, but his Sword Qi was rapidly weakening.

• Ye Lin spotted a weakness in the crimson remnant intent and destroyed it with a concentrated assault.
• The remaining Sword Intents retreated and watched Ye Lin's Sword Qi without daring to attack.
• Ye Lin targeted an assassination remnant intent and pursued it until he shattered it.
• Ye Lin continued destroying aggressive remnant intents, while his Sword Qi grew dimmer and he struggled to endure.

Ye Lin used his Sword Qi to defeat eight residual Sword Intents, weakening the chaos in the iron ground and helping nearby sword grass shoots unfurl. After exhausting himself, he began recovering, planning to continue clearing the Sword Field bit by bit.

• Ye Lin's Sword Qi frightened the residual intents and loosened the chaotic structure in parts of the iron ground.
• Ye Lin cleaved apart an eighth residual intent, then his Sword Qi dispersed as he ran out of strength.
• Ye Lin noticed the iron ground had grown calmer and nearby sword grass shoots had begun to unfurl.
• Ye Lin swallowed several pills and sat down to recover before continuing his effort to uproot the residual intents.

Over eighty years, Ye Lin methodically cleared and subdued the Sword Field’s chaotic remnant intents, allowing silvery sword grass to grow and establish a new order. As the hundred-year deadline approached, he used his swordsmanship domain to calm the last pockets of chaos and completed Sword Demon's trial.

• Ye Lin repeatedly forged refined Sword Qi, entered the Sword Field, and risked his life to eliminate its most dangerous remnant intents.
• As decades passed, the Sword Field grew calmer, and silvery sword grass spread across the cleared areas.
• By the eightieth year, Ye Lin had brought order to more than seventy percent of the Sword Field, and the grass had begun transforming peaceful remnant intents into nourishment.
• Near the hundred-year deadline, Ye Lin entered the center of the Sword Field and spread his swordsmanship domain across it.
• Ye Lin's domain calmed the remaining chaos, and the sword grass resonated with it to form a harmonious ecosystem.
• Ye Lin admired the transformed Sword Field and completed Sword Demon's trial.

Ye Lin explained how he subdued the Sword Field by targeting its ringleaders and gradually winning the other remnants of intent’s obedience. Sword Demon praised him for completing the trial and giving the sword grasses a lasting world to grow in.

• Sword Demon arrived and admired the Sword Field Ye Lin had brought under control.
• Ye Lin explained that he treated the Sword Field as a martial world and avoided attacking ordinary remnants of intent.
• Ye Lin described repeatedly capturing and beating the ringleaders until the others stopped resisting him.
• Sword Demon approved of Ye Lin’s method and said he had exceeded the trial’s requirements.

Ye Lin left the Great Luo Sword Graveyard with Sword Demon’s approval and traveled to Holy Blade City to find Blade Fanatic. After learning that Blade Fanatic was above the city, at the blade’s hilt, Ye Lin headed there.

• Sword Demon gave Ye Lin a Sword Talisman and allowed him to leave.
• Ye Lin decided to seek Blade Fanatic as another potential Dao Protector.
• Ye Lin used a teleportation array to travel to Divine Province Commandery and arrived at Holy Blade City.
• Ye Lin saw that Holy Blade City was built across a giant blade and found it filled with blade cultivators.
• A cultivator pointed Ye Lin toward the blade’s hilt, where Blade Fanatic was, and Ye Lin set off to look.

Ye Lin met Blade Fanatic atop the hilt above Blade City and delivered a letter from his master, asking him to guard Ye Lin's Dao. Blade Fanatic refused to accept the request on the letter alone, then discussed the city’s dormant blade soul with Ye Lin.

• Ye Lin reached the summit and paid his respects to Blade Fanatic, who recognized the aura of Sword Demon on him.
• Ye Lin presented his master's letter, and Blade Fanatic read it before turning it to dust.
• Blade Fanatic said Sword Demon's recommendation was not enough and asked Ye Lin what he thought of Blade City.
• Ye Lin observed that the city’s saber intent lacked a soul, and Blade Fanatic explained it came from the remains of an innate sacred saber whose blade soul no one had awakened.

Ye Lin accepted Blade Fanatic’s hundred-year trial to leave a trace of sword Dao that resonated with Holy Blade City’s blade souls and cultivators. He settled in the city and began observing its blade cultivators as he considered how to meet the challenge.

• Blade Fanatic told Ye Lin to use his Sword Heart to touch the shared essence of blade and sword and leave a trace that stirred Holy Blade City.
• Blade Fanatic gave Ye Lin one hundred years to complete the trial and offered to keep him safe if he chose to leave.
• Ye Lin decided not to give up and left to consider how he could approach the challenge.
• Ye Lin settled in Holy Blade City, kept a low profile, and watched its cultivators practice, seek enlightenment, and fight over treasured blades.

Ye Lin studied Holy Blade City’s Blade Dao and concluded that it lacked a true spirit of its own. He began searching for a way to awaken that spirit, leaving the chapter focused on his quiet practice in a small courtyard.

• Ye Lin observed the Holy Blade Remains and found its immense Blade Intent drowned out the blade’s inner call for many cultivators.
• Ye Lin rented a secluded stone house and spent months recalling his encounters with Sword Demon's Sword Intent and distilling the core of his own Dao.
• Ye Lin realized that Holy Blade City lacked a soul and that his Sword Dao centered on finding life in desperate circumstances and forging a new path.
• Ye Lin paved a winding stone path in his courtyard and began walking it barefoot each morning with complete focus.
• The chapter ended with Ye Lin continuing his search for his true self through his daily practice.

For five years, Ye Lin walked the path in his courtyard, quietly affecting nearby blade cultivators. After a crushing defeat, a violent-tempered blade cultivator watched him and began rediscovering his Dao Heart, leaving its cracks to heal stronger than before.

• Blade cultivators who passed Ye Lin's courtyard felt inexplicably calm and focused.
• After losing a sparring match, a young blade cultivator entered Ye Lin's courtyard and watched him walk for an afternoon.
• The young man left quietly, then sat through the night with his blade instead of cultivating as usual.
• The next day, the young man returned briefly before beginning simple chops and paying attention to the purity of his thoughts.
• The young man realized he had betrayed his original aspiration and Dao Heart, and began seeking his true heart again.

Over fifty years, Ye Lin’s quiet practice in Holy Blade City’s Meticulous Courtyard helped blade cultivators regain calm and softened the oppressive blade intent around it. A group who believed the blade path was only about slaughter confronted him, demanding to know why his Dao was changing the city.

• Over the first ten years, blade cultivators came to Ye Lin’s courtyard to observe him walking, and many left calmer or with new insight into the blade path.
• During the next ten years, Ye Lin’s faint divine sense blended into the courtyard and reflected visitors’ obsessions, encouraging them to seek their true selves.
• By the twentieth year, the blade intent around the courtyard had softened, and local plants and blade cultivators seemed more vital and grounded.
• Quasi-Saint powerhouses investigated the changes, learned Ye Lin’s identity, and chose not to interfere.
• In the fiftieth year, blade cultivators who opposed Ye Lin’s influence surrounded his courtyard and challenged him, with their leader asking whether he intended to change Holy Blade City.

Ye Lin defended his sword Dao against a blade cultivator who blamed it for disturbing Holy Blade City, leaving the man unable to argue. By the eightieth year, Ye Lin's courtyard had become a Dao landmark where cultivators, including quasi-saints, came to sense its stillness and resilience.

• Ye Lin challenged the middle-aged blade cultivator's accusations, arguing that his own fragile Dao Heart—not Ye Lin's sword Dao—was to blame if it could be influenced.
• The middle-aged man saluted Ye Lin, admitted he had learned much, and left; the other blade cultivators also departed, unsettled by Ye Lin's presence.
• By the eightieth year, Ye Lin's courtyard had become a place where blade cultivators gathered to seek enlightenment.
• Several quasi-saints stood at the gate and praised Ye Lin's heart cultivation and progress as the Blade Saint's direct disciple.

In his ninety-fifth year in Holy Blade City, Ye Lin’s step resonated with the Holy Blade Remains and completed Blade Fanatic’s trial ahead of schedule. Blade Fanatic declared that he would escort and protect Ye Lin in the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm, then lend him his blade after they emerged.

• Ye Lin’s step brought his mind, the path, and the blade cultivators’ auras into harmony, making the Holy Blade Remains tremble and blades across the city resonate.
• Blade Fanatic realized Ye Lin had left a profound spiritual imprint on Holy Blade City and had completed the trial before the hundred-year term ended.
• Ye Lin quietly looked along the path, then left after completing his task.
• Several days later, Ye Lin received a communication talisman from Blade Fanatic confirming he had passed and promising protection in the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm and his blade afterward.

Ye Lin passed Blade Fanatic’s test and returned to Heavenly Blade Sage, who assigned him to warn eight factions ahead of the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm’s opening. Yun Qiyue recognized the factions as part of an old tradition, but had not yet explained its history.

• Ye Lin returned to Meteor Island after passing Blade Fanatic’s test, while his fate and destiny panel remained unchanged.
• Heavenly Blade Sage told Ye Lin that strange developments were stirring in the Eastern Region as people tried to influence events surrounding the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm.
• Heavenly Blade Sage gave Ye Lin a booklet listing eight factions and ordered him to visit them with Blade Fanatic and Sword Demon to warn them.
• Yun Qiyue took the booklet from Ye Lin and recognized the eight factions as part of an old tradition.

Yun Qiyue explained that the Eastern Region Top Hundred challenges were a staged way for powerful factions to defend their Cloud Heaven Secret Realm quotas. She warned Ye Lin that he could die and lose his quota, then advised him to act arrogantly when challenging the halls.

• Yun Qiyue told Ye Lin that the Eastern Region's major powers used the Top Hundred to disguise their control of the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm entry quotas.
• Yun Qiyue warned Ye Lin that past challengers had failed and that dying would cost him his quota, while the Heavenly Blade Sage could not avenge him.
• Ye Lin said he could accept failure but was certain he would not die, then asked Yun Qiyue which halls she planned to challenge.
• Yun Qiyue said she intended to challenge thirteen halls and asked Ye Lin to help, but Ye Lin refused.
• Yun Qiyue advised Ye Lin to be arrogant toward the people defending their halls because they wanted his quota and would show him no courtesy.

Blade Fanatic and Sword Demon arrived on Meteor Island after Ye Lin passed their trial and offered to serve as his Dao Protectors. They promised to protect his path without interfering in his choices, leaving Ye Lin to recognize that his trial had brought real benefits.

• Two explosions tore open the sky above Meteor Island, and Blade Fanatic and Sword Demon stepped through the rifts.
• The powerful figures on Meteor Island recognized the pair and marveled at their presence and formidable auras.
• Blade Fanatic and Sword Demon greeted Ye Lin and Yun Qiyue, then presented Yun Qiyue with gifts.
• Yun Qiyue accepted the gifts and left, giving Ye Lin a chance to speak with the two men.
• Sword Demon stopped Ye Lin from bowing and explained that, as Ye Lin's Dao Protectors, they were no longer bound by senior and junior formalities.
• Blade Fanatic and Sword Demon told Ye Lin they would protect his path, respect his choices, and carry out any orders he gave.

Ye Lin chose the White Tiger Clan as the first faction to visit and traveled there with Sword Demon and Blade Fanatic. Third Elder Bai Feng welcomed them and led them through the clan’s mountain gate.

• Ye Lin consulted a booklet listing eight factions and used an ancient ritual to choose the White Tiger Clan.
• Ye Lin, Sword Demon, and Blade Fanatic crossed thirty million li and arrived at the White Tiger Clan’s Hundred Thousand Sword Mountains.
• Ye Lin announced his visit to the clan, and Bai Feng appeared with several dozen White Tiger Clan members.
• Bai Feng greeted Ye Lin, Sword Demon, and Blade Fanatic, then invited them inside.
• The group passed through the mountain gate, and the scene abruptly changed.

Ye Lin entered the White Tiger clan’s White Tiger Baleful Palace, where Bai Feng treated him with conspicuous deference and proposed that he meet the clan’s young talents. Ye Lin suspected Bai Feng was trying to provoke hostility, but tasted the clan’s unusual drink and found it filled him with powerful energy.

• Bai Feng led Ye Lin, Sword Demon, and Blade Fanatic through the White Tiger clan’s settlement to White Tiger Baleful Palace.
• Bai Feng seated Ye Lin in the palace’s main seat while Sword Demon and Blade Fanatic sat beside him.
• Bai Feng offered to bring in promising White Tiger clan youngsters so they could talk and exchange pointers with Ye Lin.
• Ye Lin suspected Bai Feng’s excessive courtesy was meant to draw hatred onto him, but he accepted the hospitality without saying so.
• Ye Lin drank the sharp-tasting liquid, which turned into a surge of energy in his body, and praised it as good stuff.

Ye Lin met the White Tiger Clan’s seven strongest young members, but after they whispered about him, he invoked the Heavenly Blade Sage’s suspicions that the clan was restless. Bai Feng hurriedly denied the rumors, leaving the gathering tense before the promised exchange of pointers began.

• Bai Feng introduced Ye Lin to the seven strongest members of the White Tiger Clan’s younger generation and invited them to exchange pointers with him.
• Bai Huang greeted Ye Lin, who treated the gathering like a host and did not return the salute.
• The White Tiger youths whispered that Ye Lin seemed ordinary and was merely a chess piece among the Eastern Region Top Hundred.
• Ye Lin said the Heavenly Blade Sage had sent him to investigate rumors of the White Tiger Clan’s restlessness and warned the clan might have no need to remain in the Eastern Region.
• Bai Feng stiffened and denied that the White Tiger Clan was restless, pleading with Ye Lin not to believe the rumors.