Recaps

Ye Lin went with Teng Yi and Tang Yu to meet the Third Princess, while the Great Blade Association’s forces waited nearby. At the princess’s residence, imperial guards blocked their way under the Emperor’s orders, leaving the group surrounded and unable to enter.

• Ye Lin agreed to meet the Third Princess and let Tang Yu accompany him into the palace.
• Hua Shuang and Teng Yi offered the Great Blade Association’s and War God Hall’s forces to Ye Lin, but Teng Yi admitted they had not rebelled because they could not defeat the Emperor.
• Teng Yi led Ye Lin and Tang Yu by carriage to the Third Princess’s residence.
• A black-clad guard barred Teng Yi from entering, citing the Emperor’s order that the Third Princess was unwell and could receive no visitors.
• Dozens of hidden figures appeared and surrounded Ye Lin, Tang Yu, and Teng Yi, creating a stalemate at the gate.

Ye Lin and Teng Yi forced their way toward the Third Princess, who had been placed under house arrest by the Emperor’s order. After Tang Yu killed the guards blocking their path, Teng Yi led them to her manor, where more attendants tried to stop them.

• Teng Yi invoked Ye Lin’s status as the Heavenly Blade Sage’s fourth personal disciple and the Fourth Young Master of the Great Blade Association, but the guards refused to let them see the Third Princess.
• Ye Lin warned the guards to move aside, then ordered Tang Yu to kill them when they stood firm.
• Ye Lin mocked Teng Yi’s lack of standing in the Sacred Heaven Dynasty and told him to lead the way inside.
• Teng Yi led Ye Lin and Tang Yu through a garden to the Third Princess’s manor, where he ordered two maids to leave and cursed the Emperor’s order.

Teng Yi discovered that the Third Princess had disappeared, and Ye Lin ordered the Imperial Capital sealed while he went to confront the Sacred Heaven Dynasty's Emperor. The city was locked down as Ye Lin and Tang Yu advanced toward the Emperor's residence.

• Teng Yi struck down two maidservants and searched the Third Princess's room, but could not find her.
• Teng Yi told Ye Lin that the Third Princess was gone, and Ye Lin ordered the Imperial Capital sealed.
• Ye Lin asked Tang Yu to accompany him to meet the Emperor and threatened to destroy the dynasty's upper ranks if the Third Princess had been harmed.
• Teng Yi mobilized War God Hall and the city defense army, while Tang Yu alerted the Great Blade Association and reclusive experts gathered in the city.
• Ye Lin and Tang Yu proceeded toward the Emperor's residence, followed by armored soldiers who did not dare stop them.

Ye Lin met the ailing Emperor Fang Jing to demand the Third Princess, whom his Master had named. Fang Jing tried to win Ye Lin’s support for his eldest son, Fang Yuan, but Ye Lin insisted that the princess be handed over and warned Fang Jing to consider his descendants.

• Tang Yu introduced Ye Lin as the Fourth Young Master of the Great Blade Association and brought him before Emperor Fang Jing.
• Ye Lin noticed Fang Jing’s grave illness and demanded the Third Princess, while Fang Jing assured him that she was safe.
• Fang Jing introduced his eldest son, Fang Yuan, and asked Ye Lin what he thought of him.
• Fang Jing offered Ye Lin a generous gift and the Sacred Heaven Dynasty’s allegiance if he would acknowledge Fang Yuan.
• Ye Lin refused to be diverted from his request, explaining that his Master had personally named the Third Princess, and urged Fang Jing to consider his descendants.

Ye Lin demanded that Fang Jing release Fang Li and let the Third Princess take the throne, threatening to destroy the Sacred Heaven Dynasty's imperial family if he refused. Fang Jing accepted that he could no longer resist the Blade Saint's decision, leaving Fang Yuan frightened about what would happen after his father's death.

• Ye Lin told Fang Yuan that he would not ask the Blade Saint for help unless Fang Jing gave him a greater benefit.
• Ye Lin demanded to see the Third Princess by the next day and threatened the imperial family, while promising to spare Fang Yuan's eldest son after she took the throne.
• Tang Yu warned Fang Jing that Yun Qiyue would have been even less merciful, then left with Ye Lin.
• Fang Jing told Fang Yuan to release Fang Li and said no one could defy the Blade Saint's decision.
• Fang Jing said he had held the Blade Saint's realm for over a hundred thousand years and that it was time to return it.

Fang Yuan defied Fang Jing’s order to release Fang Li and decided to kill her so the Fourth Young Master would have to support his claim to the throne. He began to act on that plan in the secret room where Fang Li remained imprisoned.

• Fang Jing ordered Fang Yuan to release Fang Li and promised to ask the Fourth Young Master for a life-preserving talisman for him.
• After leaving the great hall, Fang Yuan resolved to kill Fang Li and send her corpse to the Fourth Young Master, forcing him to support Fang Yuan’s bid for the throne.
• Fang Yuan ordered his guards to stop anyone from entering his sleeping quarters, then went into a secret room where Fang Li was chained.
• Fang Yuan told Fang Li that the Fourth Young Master had come to ask for her and that Fang Jing had ordered her release.
• Fang Yuan told Fang Li he planned to kill her so that he would be the Fourth Young Master’s only choice for emperor.

Fang Yuan tried to kill the bound Fang Li so he could claim the Sacred Heaven Dynasty's throne, refusing to believe her warnings about the Great Blade Association. The Emperor's personal guard stopped him and ordered Fang Li released, leaving Fang Yuan to depart in defeat.

• Fang Li warned Fang Yuan that killing her would bring ruin upon him, his family, and the Sacred Heaven Dynasty.
• Fang Yuan rejected her warnings and said he would kill her to secure his claim to the Emperor's throne.
• Fang Yuan pressed his Long Sword to Fang Li's neck and cut her skin as she lay bound and unable to resist.
• The Emperor's personal guard seized the Long Sword and ordered Fang Yuan to release Miss Fang Li.
• Fang Yuan realized his father had anticipated his plan, sneered at Fang Li, and left in defeat.

Ye Lin backed Fang Li’s bid for the throne and ordered her to ascend as Emperor the next day. Fang Li left to prepare for the coronation, while Ye Lin and his companions made plans to attend.

• Fang Li pledged that the Sacred Heaven Dynasty would follow Ye Lin and asked him to help her take the Emperor’s throne.
• Fang Li vowed to purge the court, restore her grandfather’s former subordinates, and reclaim the dynasty he founded.
• Ye Lin gave Fang Li a communication Jade Talisman and told her to prepare to ascend the throne tomorrow.
• Fang Li accepted Ye Lin’s decision and left to make preparations for her coronation.
• Tang Yu questioned whether the plan was too fast, but Ye Lin said the reigning Emperor would have to retire and ordered preparations for the coronation ceremony.

Fang Li’s enthronement ceremony began as old veterans celebrated the Sacred Heaven Dynasty’s return to its rightful ruler while current officials feared her arrival. At the ceremony’s start, Fang Yuan urged his father to act against the enthronement.

• Powerful figures gathered in the Imperial Capital for Fang Li’s enthronement, while officials who had suppressed the old veterans worried they could neither flee nor escape punishment.
• Old veterans watched Fang Li on the high platform and celebrated the return of the dynasty to its rightful owner.
• Fang Yuan complained to his father that the ceremony was proceeding while the reigning Emperor was still alive and had not abdicated.
• Fang Yuan asked his father whether they should do something about the enthronement.

Fang Jing urged Fang Yuan to leave the Sacred Heaven Dynasty for the Western Region before Fang Li could consolidate her rule. Fang Li completed her coronation and took control of the dynasty, while Fang Jing stayed alive to protect his son until his departure.

• Fang Jing told Fang Yuan to leave for the Western Region and make a life beyond Fang Li's reach.
• Fang Yuan refused at first, but Fang Jing ordered him to leave the next day.
• Fang Yuan left his father's hall, vowing to remember Fang Li and Ye Lin.
• Fang Jing remained alone and held on to life until his son could be safe.
• Fang Li completed her coronation as ministers bowed to her as the new Emperor.
• Fang Li looked to Ye Lin with gratitude, recognizing his role in her victory.

After Fang Li became Emperor of the Sacred Heaven Dynasty, Ye Lin accepted her gift and departed. Fang Li then learned that Fang Yuan had escaped the dynasty, but an unknown pressure crushed the two shadows she sent to retrieve him.

• Ye Lin accepted a Spatial Ring from Fang Li, told her to handle the remaining matters, and left to cultivate before the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm.
• Fang Li went to see Fang Jing and thanked him for sparing her life.
• Fang Li asked where her cousin Fang Yuan had gone, and Fang Jing said he had sent him beyond the Eastern Region and asked her to spare him.
• Fang Li ordered two shadows to chase Fang Yuan and bring him back.
• A terrifying pressure filled the hall and crushed the two shadows into mangled flesh.

Fang Li confronted Fang Jing, who demanded that she spare his son and let him go free. After Fang Li agreed to keep his son under watch, Fang Jing spent his final day with her nearby and died in meditation.

• Fang Jing pressured Fang Li to spare his only son and grant him freedom.
• Fang Li agreed not to kill Fang Jing’s son but insisted he remain under her constant watch.
• Fang Li warned Fang Jing that killing her would bring the Fourth Young Master’s wrath upon his son.
• Fang Jing asked Fang Li to stay with him for one day, and she granted his request.
• Fang Jing recalled his life and died in meditation; Fang Li wished him a peaceful journey.

After three hundred years of seclusion, Ye Lin prepared to enter the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm with Yun Qiyue. He learned that the Heavenly Blade Sage was imprisoned, and Yun Qiyue began explaining why.

• Ye Lin emerged from three hundred years of cultivation as the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm’s opening approached.
• Ye Lin and Yun Qiyue met the Heavenly Blade Sage’s disciples in the main hall and left without attending the young man’s planned speech.
• Ye Lin asked Yun Qiyue where their master was, and she told him the Heavenly Blade Sage had gone to prison.
• Yun Qiyue said the confinement was related to the Dark Shadow Pavilion.

Ye Lin learned that his Master was trapped in seclusion until he reached the Ninth Heaven of the Quasi-Saint Realm, then prepared to travel to the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm with Yun Qiyue. The Spirit King sent a powerful bodyguard to meet Ye Lin on Meteor Island, and the chapter ended with the man pledging to protect him.

• Yun Qiyue told Ye Lin that his Master and a Dark Shadow Pavilion elder had been forced into seclusion and could not leave until they reached the Ninth Heaven of the Quasi-Saint Realm.
• Yun Qiyue brought three elderly Dao Protectors, while Sword Demon and Blade Fanatic joined Ye Lin for the trip to the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm.
• The Spirit King contacted Ye Lin and said he had sent a man to Meteor Island to protect him.
• Ye Lin and Yun Qiyue's group left Meteor Island and encountered the Spirit King's ten-foot-tall bodyguard, who vowed to protect Ye Lin and obey his orders.

Ye Lin and Yun Qiyue traveled with Iron Hammer, whose immense power unsettled the other experts. They arrived at the gathering place for the secret realm, where everyone waited for the Yin-Yang Sect before its opening.

• Ye Lin learned that the huge man was named Iron Hammer and told him to stay by his side.
• Iron Hammer followed Ye Lin and Yun Qiyue while the Sword Demon and Blade Fanatic judged him too powerful for them to defeat, even together.
• Yun Qiyue asked where Ye Lin had found Iron Hammer, and Ye Lin said he belonged to a friend.
• A Quasi-Saint changed the scenery around them, and Ye Lin and Yun Qiyue arrived at a crowded gathering of powerful experts, including five gold-trimmed white-robed figures.
• The assembled experts said the Yin-Yang Sect had not yet arrived and argued over how long they had been waiting for the secret realm to open.

Ye Lin learned that everyone who left the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm forgot what happened inside, then used his abilities to gather information about its inhabitants and dangers. After three days, the Eastern Region Top Hundred assembled, and the five elders prepared to open the realm.

• Yun Qiyue told Ye Lin that cultivators forgot everything that happened in the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm after leaving it.
• Ye Lin read Yun Qiyue’s information and learned she planned to infiltrate the Cloud Spirit Race to obtain the Myriad Phenomena secret canon.
• Ye Lin gathered information about native inhabitants, including the Cloud Spirit Race, Star Core Giants, Spirits of Law, the Remnant Race, Cloud Kun, and Time Abyss Dragons.
• Ye Lin learned that sixty-three of the ninety-seven Daluo Golden Immortals he observed were destined to die inside the secret realm.
• Three days later, the Eastern Region Top Hundred and their Dao Protectors had gathered, and the five elders began calculating to open the realm.

Yun Qiyue explained how the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm was opened and introduced the Law Heavenly Ladder, the final test for entering it. Ye Lin and Yun Qiyue began climbing toward the realm with their Dao protectors.

• Yun Qiyue told Ye Lin that five powerful figures alone knew how to open the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm and that its existence depended on all five surviving.
• The five elders formed a golden formation that shattered the sky and produced three thousand staircases of auspicious clouds.
• Yun Qiyue explained that climbers had to reach the end of the Law Heavenly Ladder to enter the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm.
• A cultivator and his three Dao protectors began climbing as Ye Lin and Yun Qiyue set off with six Dao protectors following.
• Ye Lin stepped onto the heavenly ladder and felt a faint stinging sensation across his skin.

Ye Lin and Yun Qiyue passed the Heavenly Ladder trial and entered the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm. They arrived on a vast sea of clouds, where Ye Lin found that a mysterious force sharply limited and obscured his divine sense.

• Ye Lin climbed the Heavenly Ladder, enduring the effects of the Great Daos while observing the other entrants.
• Ye Lin and Yun Qiyue reached the final steps of space, time, and power, then entered the vortex with their six Dao Protectors.
• Ye Lin was swept through the vortex, where time and space lost meaning and the Three Thousand Great Daos passed around him.
• Ye Lin and Yun Qiyue arrived atop a vast, solid sea of clouds beneath a sky of shifting colors and nine moving stars.
• Ye Lin spread out his divine sense and discovered that the realm restricted it to roughly a hundred li and blurred what he could perceive.

Ye Lin and Yun Qiyue entered the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm and found that its unusually stable space suppressed their strength and blocked divine sense. After confirming the area was safe but devoid of life, they split up to investigate, leaving Ye Lin to consult his three Dao Protectors.

• Ye Lin and Yun Qiyue observed that the secret realm's spatial barrier was far stronger than Origin Continent's and suppressed their strength.
• Blade Fanatic sensed no danger or signs of life within a hundred li, but found the realm's laws unusually active and dense.
• Yun Qiyue left with her three Dao Protectors so she and Ye Lin could investigate separately and avoid conflict over treasures.
• Ye Lin asked his three Dao Protectors how they should proceed in the unfamiliar realm.

Ye Lin and his companions investigated the cloud layer in the secret realm and discovered it concealed an empty space below. Blade Fanatic began cutting a careful opening through the clouds so they could descend and explore.

• Sword Demon suggested that they first learn the secret realm’s laws before acting.
• Blade Fanatic sensed that the clouds were condensed from spiritual source and that an unusually dense concentration lay beneath them.
• Ye Lin’s Sword Qi vanished against a net of fine laws in the cloud layer, but Iron Hammer probed through three hundred zhang and sensed wind and the sound of water below.
• Blade Fanatic used a nearly invisible short blade to cut a smooth opening through the cloud layer without dispersing the clouds.

Ye Lin and his companions entered the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm and discovered a glowing forest beneath the sea of clouds, where a powerful mist strengthened Ye Lin as he absorbed it. They remained on guard in the dangerous realm, whose rewards had drawn many cultivators despite its high death rate.

• Blade Fanatic used the Stillspace Blade to carve a passage through the clouds, revealing a forested land suspended beneath them.
• Ye Lin agreed to descend, and Iron Hammer entered first to check for danger before Ye Lin followed.
• Ye Lin discovered that the mist in the forest was more powerful than the Zenith Heaven Divine Source and absorbed it through his body.
• Sword Demon and Blade Fanatic landed beside Ye Lin while Iron Hammer watched the unfamiliar forest for threats.
• Ye Lin and his companions stayed vigilant as they entered a realm where more than half of cultivators had died, though survivors gained immense power.

Ye Lin and his companions encountered a transparent deer in the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm, and it showed them goodwill before inviting them to follow. The group followed it deeper into the forest, where they saw more strange sights.

• A transparent deer emerged from the thicket and sent glowing specks of goodwill into Ye Lin.
• Iron Hammer wondered whether the deer would taste good, and it moved farther away from him.
• The deer turned and beckoned Ye Lin, Sword Demon, Blade Fanatic, and Iron Hammer to follow.
• Ye Lin decided to follow the deer, and Sword Demon and Blade Fanatic agreed.
• The four followed the deer through the forest and saw moving mushrooms, glowing trees, and floating water filled with tiny fish.

Ye Lin received a sword-shaped fruit containing a fragment of the Sword Dao laws from the Transparent Deer, but a giant Quasi-Saint bear soon appeared, drawn to the fruit. Iron Hammer stepped forward to test the bear as Ye Lin and the others faced the danger.

• The Transparent Deer led Ye Lin and the group to a clearing with three fruit-bearing trees and a clear pool.
• The Transparent Deer gave Ye Lin the silver sword-shaped fruit, which he recognized as containing a fragment of the Sword Dao laws.
• A roar from the forest revealed a powerful presence, and the Transparent Deer vanished as the ground began to shake.
• A gigantic first-layer Quasi-Saint bear arrived and fixed its blood-red eyes on the fruit in Ye Lin's hand.
• Ye Lin backed away and shielded the others while Iron Hammer summoned his massive hammer and prepared to challenge the bear.

Iron Hammer killed the giant bear with one blow, and Ye Lin's group withdrew to the sea of clouds with three trees and their fruits. After dividing the fruits, Ye Lin examined the sword-shaped fruit while the others ate their shares.

• Iron Hammer smashed the giant bear into minced flesh with a single hammer blow.
• Ye Lin warned the group to leave before the commotion attracted other powerful creatures and told Iron Hammer to uproot the trees bearing the fruits.
• The four returned to the sea of clouds, where Blade Fanatic sealed the passage behind them.
• Ye Lin kept the sword-shaped fruit and offered the other two fruits to Sword Demon, Blade Fanatic, and Iron Hammer.
• The three seniors split the remaining fruits evenly, and Iron Hammer swallowed his share.

Ye Lin awakened to the Cloud Pierce sword move by resonating with a sword-shaped fruit, while Iron Hammer and the others realized they had eaten their fruits without gaining the same benefit. After Ye Lin mastered the move, the three companions decided to share their partial insights so they could learn their own moves completely.

• Ye Lin used the Great Void Return-to-Emptiness Sword Canon to resonate with the sword-shaped fruit, releasing a sword light that drew him into an ocean of Sword Dao laws.
• Iron Hammer realized he had swallowed his fruit incorrectly, while Sword Demon and Blade Fanatic regretted copying him.
• Ye Lin discovered the fruit contained the Cloud Pierce sword move and absorbed its insights, advancing his Sword Dao.
• After three days of enlightenment, Ye Lin opened his eyes with sword energy leaking out and gained a new trump card.
• Sword Demon, Blade Fanatic, and Iron Hammer agreed to exchange their partial insights so they could master the moves contained in their fruits.