Recaps

Song Wen learned that the sect had failed to capture a Blood Kui Beast, and his Sacred Beetle Gu returned from Year Mountain with a strange aura. Zhou Siyi asked him to accompany her to Mountain Ravine Ghost Market to seek corpse-refinement methods, but he declined and suggested asking sect Foundation Establishment cultivators to buy them for her.

• Song Wen continued raising and refining seven second-rank Man-Snakes while cultivating and practicing alchemy.
• Zhou Siyi told Song Wen that Blood Year had awakened without producing a Blood Kui Beast, leaving only three alive in the sect.
• Two days later, Song Wen's Sacred Beetle Gu returned from Blood Year, stuffed with food and carrying a strange aura.
• Zhou Siyi told Song Wen that another corpse-refinement attempt had failed and killed the Man-Snake she was refining.
• Zhou Siyi asked Song Wen to accompany her to Mountain Ravine Ghost Market, but he refused and suggested she ask Foundation Establishment cultivators to buy corpse-path methods for her.

Zhou Siyi failed to lure Wu Sheng out of the sect and returned to her father, Zhou Xuelin, who beat her before hiding his cruelty from Teng Jingshan. After Teng Jingshan arrived with an important matter, Zhou Xuelin sealed their conversation behind a spiritual barrier.

• Zhou Siyi told Zhou Xuelin that Wu Sheng had refused to leave the sect, and Zhou Xuelin struck her twice and berated her.
• Zhou Xuelin prepared to kick Zhou Siyi again, but Teng Jingshan called from outside with an urgent matter.
• Zhou Xuelin ordered Zhou Siyi to heal her face, and she swallowed a pill that quickly restored her appearance.
• Zhou Xuelin welcomed Teng Jingshan and presented Zhou Siyi as a dutiful daughter while she served them tea.
• Teng Jingshan said he had come to discuss an important matter, and Zhou Xuelin cast a spiritual barrier that kept Zhou Siyi from hearing them.

Zhou Xuelin forced Zhou Siyi to accept an assignment to assassinate Song Wen, promising to remove the Soul-Locking Curse while secretly planning to kill her afterward. When Zhou Siyi approached Song Wen to find a chance to strike, he invited her to observe a corpse refinement at the Human-Snake Cavern with two other elders, disrupting her plan to be alone with him.

• After Teng Jingshan left, Zhou Xuelin gave Zhou Siyi a poisoned Blood-Taking Plume and ordered her to kill Wu Sheng and the Man-Snakes in his cave abode.
• Zhou Siyi pleaded not to go, but Zhou Xuelin threatened her with the Soul-Locking Curse and claimed he would remove it if she killed Wu Sheng.
• Zhou Xuelin revealed that Spirit Beast Peak could gain the sect master's seat by refining a Man-Snake Profound Corpse first, and said Wu Sheng was the obstacle to that goal.
• Zhou Siyi agreed to assassinate Song Wen, and Zhou Xuelin privately admitted that the curse would dissipate along with her soul.
• Two days later, Zhou Siyi waited outside Song Wen's cave abode while he finished refining a Man-Snake, then asked to watch him work.
• Song Wen agreed, but proposed demonstrating the refinement at the Human-Snake Cavern with Zhang Bing and Li Shi present, leaving Zhou Siyi disappointed because she wanted to be alone with him.

Zhou Siyi warned Song Wen that Zhou Xuelin had sent her to assassinate him, then revealed the abuse and Soul-Locking Curse that kept her trapped under her father’s control. She asked Song Wen to join her against Zhou Xuelin, while Song Wen weighed the danger against what he still wanted from the Beast Taming Sect.

• Zhou Siyi stopped Song Wen from summoning Zhang Bing and Li Shi, privately warning him that someone wanted him dead.
• Song Wen led Zhou Siyi into his cave abode and activated two formations before asking who was behind the threat.
• Zhou Siyi revealed that Zhou Xuelin had ordered her to assassinate Song Wen because Song Wen’s progress with profound qi could help Pill Peak claim the sect master position.
• Zhou Siyi showed Song Wen the scars Zhou Xuelin had inflicted on her and explained that his Soul-Locking Curse prevented her from fleeing.
• Zhou Siyi asked Song Wen to join her in opposing Zhou Xuelin, and Song Wen considered his options while weighing his reasons to remain in the sect.

Zhou Siyi carried Song Wen’s trap to Zhou Xuelin, claiming Wu Sheng had been poisoned and that a Man-Snake in his cave was close to filling its body with Profound Qi. Tempted by the chance to seize the Man-Snake and secure the sect master’s seat, Zhou Xuelin went to Song Wen’s cave and opened its restrictions.

• Zhou Siyi told Song Wen her original plan to wound him and frame Zhou Xuelin, but Song Wen insisted they needed to kill Zhou Xuelin in one strike.
• Zhou Siyi arrived at Zhou Xuelin’s cave gravely injured and claimed Wu Sheng had wounded her with lightning after being struck by the Blood-Taking Plumes.
• Zhou Siyi told Zhou Xuelin that Wu Sheng had seven second-order Man-Snakes, including one nearing the stage of Profound Qi filling the body, and gave him Wu Sheng’s identity token.
• Zhou Xuelin suspected Zhou Siyi might be deceiving him, then healed her enough to keep her alive as a scapegoat.
• Zhou Xuelin took Zhou Siyi to Song Wen’s cave, opened its restrictions with the identity token, and sensed a formation concealing the cave’s interior.

Zhou Xuelin was lured into Song Wen's cave dwelling, where Spirit-Hiding Mist caused him to mistake the imprisoned Man-Snakes for attackers and kill them. Fang Pengyi exposed the apparent assassination attempt before the sect, and Zhou Xuelin faced disgrace and the Law Enforcement Hall as his chances of becoming sect master collapsed.

• Zhou Xuelin threw Zhou Siyi into Song Wen's cave dwelling, disabled its restrictions, and broke the formation barrier, releasing dense Spirit-Hiding Mist.
• Unable to see through the mist, Zhou Xuelin attacked what he thought was Song Wen and killed all seven Man-Snakes in the cave dwelling.
• Zhou Xuelin fled outside and discovered Fang Pengyi protecting Song Wen, realizing that he had been lured into a trap.
• Fang Pengyi accused Zhou Xuelin of attempting to assassinate a fellow elder and summoned Pill Peak cultivators, who surrounded the cave dwelling's exit.
• Zhou Siyi begged Zhou Xuelin to spare her, drawing the onlookers' condemnation as he threatened her in front of them.
• Luo Liangong, Feng Xinghai, and other Law Enforcement Hall cultivators arrived, leaving Zhou Xuelin facing public disgrace and the loss of his bid for sect master.

Zhou Xuelin was exposed for killing Man-Snakes and plotting against Wu Sheng after Zhou Siyi testified against him. Yang Yu arrived and condemned Zhou Xuelin, who turned on his daughter as the Supreme Elder’s power descended.

• Fang Pengyi accused Zhou Xuelin of attempting to assassinate Wu Sheng, and Zhou Xuelin claimed he had entered the cave only to check on him.
• Zhou Xuelin secretly urged Zhou Siyi to support his story, promising to remove her Soul-Locking Curse, but she testified that he had tried to kill Wu Sheng out of jealousy.
• Zhou Xuelin tried to attack Zhou Siyi, but Yang Yu appeared and used his divine sense to inspect Song Wen’s cave abode.
• Yang Yu discovered that Zhou Xuelin had killed six Man-Snakes, including one that had begun developing substantial Profound Qi.
• Zhou Siyi told Yang Yu that Zhou Xuelin had abused her and bound her soul with a Soul-Locking Curse, and Yang Yu confirmed the curse.
• Yang Yu confronted Zhou Xuelin and overwhelmed him with spiritual power; Zhou Xuelin vowed to drag Zhou Siyi down with him.

Yang Yu killed Zhou Xuelin as he attacked Zhou Siyi, freeing her from the Soul-Locking Curse and ordering the sect to help Song Wen refine a new Profound Corpse. After Zhou Xuelin’s wealth was divided, Song Wen returned to his cave dwelling and resisted the urge to devour the Man-Snake remains.

• Yang Yu killed Zhou Xuelin and protected Zhou Siyi’s soul, causing the Soul-Locking Curse to dissipate.
• Yang Yu ordered Fang Pengyi to support Song Wen in gathering corpse-refining materials and told Song Wen to contact him if difficulties arose.
• Fang Pengyi, Feng Xinghai, and Luo Liangong agreed to divide Zhou Xuelin’s belongings among themselves, Song Wen, and Zhou Siyi, with Song Wen and Zhou Siyi each receiving more than two hundred thousand spirit stones and spirit artifacts.
• Luo Liangong gave Song Wen a Profound Yellow Pagoda, and Zhou Xuelin’s corpse was handed to Zhou Siyi.
• Zhou Siyi thanked Song Wen and flew away, then stopped to gaze back at his cave dwelling.
• Song Wen considered devouring the Man-Snake corpses to test whether he could absorb their Profound Qi, but refrained because he had to hand them over to Liu Jiang.

Song Wen replaced his lost Man-Snakes and continued refining them while Rong Jingyun emerged from seclusion after reaching the peak of Foundation Establishment. She told him about the Azure Tide Secret Realm, which would open in two years and contain treasures useful for forming a Golden Core.

• Song Wen gave Liu Jiang the Man-Snakes killed at Pill Peak and persuaded him to provide one replacement, while Liu Jiang agreed to repair the surviving snake that had been cut in half.
• Song Wen spent the following months cultivating and refining pills, while Zhou Siyi returned to the Profound-Class Pill Chamber and later came to bid him farewell.
• A year passed, and Song Wen again possessed four second-rank Man-Snakes, one of which had undergone corpse refinement ten times.
• Rong Jingyun emerged from seclusion after advancing to the peak of Foundation Establishment and explained that she had come out to prepare for the Azure Tide Secret Realm.
• Rong Jingyun told Song Wen that the secret realm would open in two years and contained Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Liquid and the Yin-Yang Blood-Weeping Branch, a key ingredient for Golden Core Pills.

Song Wen learned about the Azure Tide Secret Realm, then continued refining the Man-Snake Profound Corpse until its fading vitality forced him to seek help. Fang Pengyi obtained Purple Cloud Lingzhi to revive the Man-Snake, and Song Wen began the seventeenth refinement with the others standing by.

• Song Wen researched the Azure Tide Secret Realm and learned about its treasures, demon beasts, and fifty-year entrance cycle.
• Eight months later, Song Wen halted his seventeenth corpse refinement when the Man-Snake's vitality suddenly plummeted.
• Song Wen asked Liu Jiang for a way to restore the Man-Snake's vitality without weakening its corpse qi, and Liu Jiang summoned Fang Pengyi and Rong Jingyun for advice.
• Fang Pengyi rejected using a Life-Saving Pill, while Rong Jingyun suggested Purple Cloud Lingzhi to stimulate the Man-Snake's vitality.
• Fang Pengyi obtained Purple Cloud Lingzhi, fed it to the Man-Snake, and urged Song Wen to resume refining it into a corpse.

Song Wen completed the Man-Snake Profound Corpse’s transformation, earning Fang Pengyi the promised path to becoming Sect Master and receiving rewards from Yang Yu. After learning the silver Merit Token’s benefits, Song Wen asked Fang Pengyi to help him obtain the Golden Core-stage Longevity Art.

• Song Wen completed the nineteenth corpse refinement, and ten days later the Man-Snake’s entire body was filled with Profound Qi.
• Fang Pengyi summoned Yang Yu, who praised their success and named Fang Pengyi as the next Sect Master when Zhu Feichen stepped down in ten years.
• Yang Yu rewarded Song Wen with thirty Superior Spirit Stones and a silver Merit Token, then ordered him to refine more Man-Snake Profound Corpses with Fang Pengyi providing the materials.
• Fang Pengyi explained that the silver Merit Token granted access to Foundation Establishment-level sect resources, but not the Golden Core-stage Longevity Art.
• Song Wen asked Fang Pengyi to help him obtain the Longevity Art’s Golden Core-stage method, and Fang Pengyi agreed.

Song Wen prepared for the Azure Tide Secret Realm by raising his cultivation to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage and gathering knowledge for his future Golden Core attempt. Three months later, he joined thirteen other Beast Taming Sect cultivators aboard Tu Lian’s ship to travel to the realm, where he noticed an iron-masked cultivator watching him with hostility.

• Song Wen requested leave to cultivate, and Fang Pengyi approved while delivering the Golden Core-stage Longevity Art technique the next day.
• Song Wen bought spiritual medicines and studied Golden Core Pills and core-formation insights, planning to seek the Yin-Yang Blood-Weeping Branch and Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Liquid in the Azure Tide Secret Realm.
• After ten months of seclusion, Song Wen emerged at the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage and left Liu Jiang in charge of the Human-Snake Cavern while he prepared for the secret realm.
• Song Wen visited the Profound-Class Pill Chamber to consult its alchemists and encountered Zhou Siyi, who congratulated him on his breakthrough.
• Song Wen met Rong Jingyun and Heng Cheng at the sect’s main peak, then noticed Feng Qi, Leng Tianlu, and a hostile iron-masked cultivator among the other volunteers.
• Tu Lian arrived at noon, and the fourteen cultivators boarded her flying ship and headed west.

The sects’ leaders gathered above the Azure Tide Secret Realm and clashed over old grudges before its opening. Yan Yuyan revealed that she had taken the Lei Clan’s thunder secret art to create a sword formation capable of wielding thunder arts.

• Tu Lian and Yan Yuyan renewed their rivalry, while Hui Ming tried to mediate and Tu Lian mocked the Primordial Unity Temple’s troubles.
• Lei Jun arrived and threatened Yan Yuyan over their personal grudge, but Shu Qing urged the leaders to avoid fighting before the secret realm opened.
• Tu Lian withdrew to her ship, and Lei Jun returned to his after warning Yan Yuyan that he would not spare her after the expedition.
• Shu Qing asked Yan Yuyan why Lei Jun wanted revenge, and Yan Yuyan admitted she had borrowed the Lei Clan’s Nine Divine Thunder Secret Art without permission.
• Yan Yuyan told Shu Qing she planned to use the secret art in a sword formation capable of wielding thunder arts.

Song Wen entered the Azure Tide Secret Realm and flew toward its lone mountain, where spiritual herbs gathered. When night and thick fog fell, he followed the signs of a distant battle, discovered another cultivator’s scout rats, and stopped to hide rather than risk being detected.

• Tu Lian explained the secret realm’s one-month limit and the sect’s reward for anyone who found a Yin-Yang Blood-Weeping Branch.
• Song Wen entered the secret realm alone, found that his spiritual sense was limited to a hundred meters, and sent Sacred Beetle Gu out to scout.
• Song Wen flew toward the distant mountain but landed in a tree to wait out the approaching night and thick fog.
• After sensing a battle, Song Wen sent his Sacred Beetle Gu toward it and found one dead rat spirit beast and another hiding in a tree hollow.
• Song Wen suspected the rat beasts belonged to a cultivator with many scouts, so he concealed his aura in a tree instead of moving closer.

Song Wen traveled to the towering mountain at the heart of the secret realm, where two third-order demonic beasts fought near its base and cultivators entered through four ruined passages. Inside one passage, Song Wen spotted ordinary scouting bats just before dozens of black needles flew at him from the darkness.

• Feng Qi, Leng Tianlu, and the masked man watched a staged battle, while the woman and burly man leading the ambush decided to withdraw.
• After dawn, Song Wen watched cultivators fly toward the mountain and waited before scouting ahead with the Sacred Beetle Gu.
• Song Wen reached the mountain after two days and saw a winged white tiger battle an alligator dragon in a lake; the alligator dragon drove the tiger away.
• Song Wen waited until nearby cultivators had entered the mountain, then went into the nearest ruined entrance and sent the Sacred Beetle Gu ahead.
• Song Wen noticed two ordinary bats being used as scouts in the dark passage, then dozens of black needles shot toward him from ahead.

Song Wen was caught between seven robber cultivators and three monks from Primordial Unity Temple, so he feigned poisoning and provoked the monks into attacking the robbers. As the two groups clashed, the last monk revealed a sinister nature and summoned a skull phantom wielding a battered saber.

• Song Wen blocked the robber cultivators’ Dragon Whisker Needles with his Turtle-Snake Shield and cast the needles away beyond their control.
• Song Wen sensed seven late-stage Foundation Establishment robbers approaching from ahead and three peak Foundation Establishment monks from Primordial Unity Temple coming from behind.
• Song Wen swallowed a poisonous herb, pretended to be poisoned, and accused the monks of conspiring with the robbers.
• The monks saw the bald robber leader and attacked, with one monk using Arhat Golden Body while another empowered him with a kasaya.
• As the third monk passed the feigning Song Wen, he gave him a sinister look and summoned a skull phantom carrying a battered saber.

Song Wen escaped the monks of Primordial Unity Temple after they tried to kill him, while their pursuit of disguised rogue cultivators ended with one cultivator dead and the rest fleeing. Jie Hui stopped Jie Wu and Jie Se from fighting and urged them to hurry toward the Fire Qilin Wood.

• Song Wen sent a python phantom against a skeletal ghost creature and fled, then used lightning spears to weaken three more ghosts sent after him.
• Jie Hui, Jie Wu, and Jie Se confronted the rogue cultivators, who blocked Jie Wu with swords and used pink mist to confuse him before retreating.
• The monks killed the bald rogue cultivator, while the other six escaped beyond the range of their spiritual senses.
• Jie Wu wanted to pursue the fleeing cultivators, but Jie Hui warned him about their soul attacks and redirected the group toward the Fire Qilin Wood.
• Jie Hui reprimanded Jie Wu and Jie Se for arguing and warned them to stay cautious in the dangerous secret realm.

Song Wen followed Jie Hui's trio to an underground lava cavern where several groups competed for mature Fire-Scale Wood. When the Lei Clan cultivator tried to seize the trees, the disturbance drew a swarm of Molten Flame Salamanders from the lava.

• Song Wen used his Sacred Beetle Gu to follow Jie Hui's trio through the underground maze toward the Fire-Scale Wood.
• Song Wen discovered a lava cavern containing a grove of Fire-Scale Wood and saw the Lei Clan cultivator, Feng Qi's group, and Jie Hui's trio gathered there.
• The Lei Clan cultivator tried to negotiate with Feng Qi over the two mature trees, but Jie Wu refused to let Feng Qi's group share them.
• The Lei Clan cultivator used Thunder Escape Technique to rush toward the trees, and Jie Wu's attack struck the lava and provoked a swarm of Molten Flame Salamanders.
• The Lei Clan cultivator dodged the salamanders' attacks and joked that his master had deliberately stirred them up.

Feng Qi fought Jie Wu and Jie Se over the Fire-Scale Wood, using the magma cavern to overwhelm them with powerful fire techniques. After seeing Feng Qi’s strength, Jie Hui proposed they cooperate to claim the wood, but Feng Qi remained distrustful.

• Jie Hui proposed that Lei Yuanhua help distract the Molten Flame Salamanders in exchange for an even share of the Fire-Scale Wood, while Feng Qi warned Lei Yuanhua not to trust the monks.
• Jie Hui demanded that Feng Qi and the other Beast Taming Sect cultivators leave the Fire-Scale Wood, but Feng Qi summoned two flame dragons and attacked.
• Jie Wu charged Feng Qi with his Arhat Golden Body as Jie Se protected him with his kasaya, but Feng Qi’s dragons broke through both defenses and sent Jie Wu flying toward the magma.
• Jie Hui, wary of Feng Qi’s advantage in the cavern and Lei Yuanhua’s presence, asked Feng Qi to cooperate in taking the Fire-Scale Wood.
• Feng Qi distrusted Jie Hui, recalling how the monks had changed their plans whenever they encountered someone stronger.

Lei Yuanhua fled the battle for the Fire Qilin Wood after Feng Qi and the Primordial Unity Temple monks joined forces against him. Jie Hui and Feng Qi reached the island where the Fire Qilin Wood grew, but its guardian, the Redfire Lizard, emerged from the lava and attacked.

• Lei Yuanhua mocked Jie Hui’s shifting alliances, while Feng Qi and Jie Hui argued over how to divide the two Fire Qilin Woods.
• Lei Yuanhua escaped Feng Qi’s fire dragons, but thousands of Molten Flame Salamanders surrounded him as Jie Wu and Jie Se closed in.
• Lei Yuanhua unleashed the Thunderstorm Technique to clear a path and fled the cavern, leaving the salamanders to attack Jie Wu and Jie Se.
• Jie Hui and Feng Qi flew toward the island where the Fire Qilin Wood grew as Jie Wu and Jie Se fought off the salamanders.
• The Redfire Lizard burst from the lava and attacked Jie Hui with its tail and a torrent of lava, weakening his five skeletal ghosts.

Jie Hui and Feng Qi divided the mature Fire Qilin Wood after driving off the Redfire Lizard, then headed toward the Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Liquid Hall. Song Wen followed them through the magma caverns and entered the hall, where his Foundation Establishment Middle Stage cultivation drew everyone’s attention.

• Jie Hui used a skull-and-skin drum to frighten the Redfire Lizard while Feng Qi uprooted the two mature Fire Qilin Woods.
• Jie Hui threatened Feng Qi over their agreement, and Feng Qi gave him one Fire Qilin Wood before fleeing with Leng Tianlu and the masked man.
• Jie Hui, Jie Se, and Jie Wu chose not to pursue Feng Qi and continued toward the Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Liquid Hall.
• Song Wen left the immature Fire Qilin Woods untouched and used Thunder Escape Technique to follow Jie Hui’s group through the underground passages.
• Song Wen reached the Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Liquid Hall and found nearly twenty cultivators gathered around its twelve meditation cushions.
• The cultivators turned their attention to Song Wen because he displayed only Foundation Establishment Middle Stage cultivation.

Song Wen yielded his stone cushion to the masked man, who then became a target when a Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect cultivator challenged him for it. The masked man summoned a late second-order giant wolf as the confrontation began.

• Song Wen occupied an empty cushion, then surrendered it without resistance when the masked man confronted him.
• Feng Qi signaled the masked man not to attack Song Wen, and the masked man took Song Wen’s vacated cushion.
• The cultivators in the hall eyed the masked man and Ji Ruxue, but none dared to make the first move.
• A dark-skinned Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect cultivator threatened the masked man and demanded his cushion.
• The masked man summoned a giant wolf from his spirit beast pouch.

Feng Qi intervened to save the masked Beast Taming Sect cultivator, then challenged Ji Ruxue and the Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect. Mu Yunxin joined Ji Ruxue and Xue Gu against him, revealing that she and Feng Qi had become enemies after he wounded her.

• The farmer's flying sword badly wounded the masked man's giant wolf, but Leng Tianlu knocked the sword aside before it could strike again.
• A man and a woman among the rogue cultivators attacked the masked man, leaving him gravely injured until Feng Qi blocked the killing blow with a fire dragon.
• Feng Qi asked the Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect and Blissful Union Sect cultivators to spare the masked man's life, offering them the stone meditation cushion.
• Ji Ruxue mocked Feng Qi and defended the masked man, prompting Feng Qi to summon two fire dragons and threaten her.
• Xue Gu confronted Feng Qi, and Mu Yunxin joined Xue Gu and Ji Ruxue, declaring that she and Feng Qi had become enemies.

Mu Yunxin and her allies forced Feng Qi and his companions out of the Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Liquid Hall, leaving the newly vacant prayer mats contested. When Jie Hui’s skeletal ghosts rushed to claim one, Ji Ruxue confronted them with the Great Cavern Divine Thunder, astonishing Song Wen with her technique.

• Mu Yunxin refused Feng Qi’s offer to surrender one prayer mat and threatened to kill him if he stayed.
• Rong Jingyun declined to help Feng Qi, citing his earlier treatment of Elder Wu and her desire to claim spirit liquid without joining his dispute.
• Feng Qi ordered Leng Tianlu and the injured masked man to leave the hall with him.
• A man and a woman from the rogue cultivators moved toward the vacant prayer mats, but Jie Hui sent five skeletal ghosts to claim the one beside him.
• Ji Ruxue challenged Jie Hui’s claim and mocked his justification for controlling ghosts, prompting him to send the skeletal ghosts to attack her.
• Ji Ruxue summoned nine lightning-charged swords with the Great Cavern Divine Thunder, and Song Wen wondered whether the Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect had altered the technique.

Ji Ruxue fought Jie Hui over a stone meditation cushion, breaking his ghosts’ attack before resisting his hand drum’s illusion. After the dispute settled, spiritual energy surged through the hall as the Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Liquid began to condense.

• Ji Ruxue trapped Jie Hui’s five skeletal ghosts in her Exorcising Evil Sword Formation and injured them with lightning.
• Jie Hui struck his human-skin hand drum, making Ji Ruxue see a terrifying beast, but Mu Yunxin’s shout woke her and she dispelled the illusion.
• Ji Ruxue attacked Jie Hui again, but Mu Yunxin persuaded her to stop; a Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect disciple claimed the vacant cushion.
• Xue Gu watched Jie Hui, then glanced toward Lei Huayuan and the other Lei Clan cultivators and nodded, prompting Jie Hui to smile.
• More than a quarter of an hour later, spiritual energy surged through the hall as the Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Liquid began to condense.