Recaps

Song Wen entered a cavern where spiritual power and Divine Sense were suppressed, then discovered a grand hall and eight Lizardfolk bound to pillars. As a mysterious figure captured the female Lizardfolk he had used to scout the cavern, Song Wen hid nearby and listened to the figure explain that he was using the prisoners to lure out a Nether Fox.

• Song Wen tested the cavern’s suppression and found that he could use spiritual artifacts only while touching them, then rode his sword to a mountain and climbed to a hall on its summit.
• Song Wen found eight Lizardfolk chained to pillars, including the Lizardfolk King, but did not see the Lizardfolk he had previously held hostage.
• A mysterious figure emerged from the grand hall, revived the Lizardfolk King, and said he was using the prisoners’ living aura to lure out the Nether Fox.
• The figure sensed another presence, captured Song Wen’s female Lizardfolk scout, and chained her to a pillar while Song Wen watched from hiding.
• The Lizardfolk King angrily roared when he saw the female Lizardfolk captured.

Song Wen freed the Lizardman King to learn that the Nether Fox’s brow bone was the Hidden Soul Jade, but Blood Brow intercepted him and proposed they capture the Nether Fox together. The two exchanged information, and Song Wen revealed that Yan Yiwen possessed a Profound Yin Body as Blood Brow prepared to explain the Nether God Temple and the Nether Fox.

• Song Wen secretly freed the badly wounded Lizardman King in exchange for the location of the Hidden Soul Jade, and the Lizardman King said it was the Nether Fox’s brow bone in the great hall.
• Song Wen fled when he realized the Lizardman King’s captor might be nearby, but Blood Brow blocked his path in the form of Wu Ren’s corpse puppet, now a third-tier Silver Corpse.
• Blood Brow confirmed that Song Wen wanted the Hidden Soul Jade to conceal his soul-power fluctuations and proposed that they work together to capture the Nether Fox, with Song Wen taking its brow bone and Blood Brow its corpse.
• Blood Brow asked Song Wen whether he knew of anyone with a Profound Yin Body, and Song Wen named Yan Yiwen, a Foundation Establishment cultivator in the Nine Palaces Sect.
• Blood Brow inferred that Yan Yiwen was connected to the pursuit that had driven Song Wen into the Endless Desert, and Song Wen asked her to explain the Nether God Temple and the Nether Fox.

Blood Brow tried to force Song Wen to lure a Late Third Rank Nether Fox from the Nether God Temple, but Tai He arrived and offered to help capture it in exchange for three tails. Blood Brow agreed and activated a blood formation across the plaza, leaving Song Wen caught between them.

• Blood Brow explained that the Nether God Temple housed a Late Third Rank Nether Fox and demanded that Song Wen act as bait, while withholding how she would protect him.
• When Song Wen considered fighting her instead, Blood Brow prepared to kill him and use his corpse to lure the Nether Fox.
• Tai He arrived, suppressed Song Wen with his aura, and identified him as Extreme Yin, the person he had been pursuing.
• Blood Brow proposed that Song Wen lure out the Nether Fox so she and Tai He could capture it, with Tai He receiving three tails and Blood Brow keeping the body.
• Blood Brow struck a stone pillar and activated a blood-red formation that shrouded the plaza.

Tai He and Blood Brow used Song Wen and the lizardmen’s corpses to lure the Nether Fox into the Nether God Temple. Song Wen discovered that his Corpse King Blood Refinement Art could withstand the temple’s ghostly mist, and the chapter ended with the Nether Fox appearing and eyeing him as prey.

• Tai He bound Song Wen with a magic chain, while Blood Brow prepared to take him into the Nether God Temple as bait.
• Tai He killed the nine lizardmen, and Blood Brow carried their corpses inside to spread their flesh and blood through the hall.
• Song Wen found that the ghostly mist made the Corpse King Blood Refinement Art circulate on its own, and he secretly considered escaping into the inner hall.
• Song Wen waited near the inner hall’s stone door while Blood Brow warned him not to open it and alarm the Nether Fox.
• The stone door opened, and the Nether Fox emerged, smelled Song Wen, and settled at the entrance with its jaws open.

Song Wen used a corpse puppet to fake his death and help free the Nether Fox from Blood Brow’s formation, while Tai He entered the temple to capture him. A second Great Cavern Divine Thunder immobilized Blood Brow long enough for the Silver Corpse, Ghost King, and wounded Nether Fox to escape into the inner hall.

• The Nether Fox ate a lizardman corpse, then attacked Song Wen before Blood Brow trapped it in a blood formation and weakened it with bloodlight.
• Song Wen charged Blood Brow, but the chains dragged his corpse puppet into the Ghost King’s sword, making Tai He believe Song Wen had died.
• Blood Brow knocked away a pseudo-third-rank Silver Corpse, then Song Wen struck her with Great Cavern Divine Thunder and the Ghost King knocked the formation disk from her hand.
• The Silver Corpse seized the formation disk as the barrier collapsed, and the Nether Fox headed for the inner hall.
• Blood Brow pursued the Silver Corpse, but another Great Cavern Divine Thunder froze her while the Silver Corpse, Ghost King, and Nether Fox escaped into the inner hall; Tai He witnessed their escape.

Song Wen escaped into the Nether God Temple's inner hall, where he used the Corpse King Blood Refinement Art to withstand its corrosive ghost mist and took Blood Brow's array disk. Tai He failed to enter safely and questioned Blood Brow about the temple and Song Wen's cultivation art, seeking a way to capture him alive.

• Song Wen used the Life-Substitution Technique to escape Tai He's chains, then released the silver corpse and Ghost King and attacked Blood Brow with the Great Cavern Divine Thunder to seize her array disk.
• Song Wen entered the inner hall, used the Corpse King Blood Refinement Art to endure the ghost mist, and kept only the Ghost King with him.
• Song Wen tried to approach the wounded Nether Fox, but fled deeper into the hall when Tai He opened the stone gates and sent in his chain magic treasure.
• Tai He entered the inner hall but withdrew when the ghost mist began corroding his mana shield.
• Blood Brow told Tai He that the ghost mist came from the Ghost Mist Domain and suggested Song Wen cultivated the Corpse King Blood Refinement Art.
• Tai He asked Blood Brow how they could enter the inner hall safely so he could capture Song Wen alive.

After swearing a Soul Oath with the wounded Nether Fox, Song Wen obtained the instructions for the Nether God Temple’s formations and discovered a teleportation formation to the Ghost Mist Domain. He found a possible escape route, but the Nether Fox warned that activating it required seventy-two Superior Spirit Stones.

• Song Wen and the Nether Fox swore a Soul Oath not to attack each other while inside the Nether God Temple.
• Song Wen questioned the Nether Fox about controlling the temple’s formations, and the Nether Fox tried to persuade him to hand over the formation disk.
• Song Wen threatened to reveal the Nether Fox’s location to the Nascent Soul cultivators outside, forcing it to give him a Jade Slip containing the formation instructions.
• Song Wen learned that the formation disk could activate the Blood Baleful Sealing Demon Array and a teleportation formation to the Ghost Mist Domain.
• Song Wen found the teleportation formation deep in the inner hall, but the Nether Fox told him it needed seventy-two Superior Spirit Stones to activate.

Song Wen activated the Teleportation Array to escape Tai He, despite learning that its destination was the deadly Ghost Mist Domain. The Nether Fox leaped into the array with him, and Tai He discovered the destination was far beyond the Soul Lamp’s range.

• Song Wen placed seventy-two superior spirit stones in the Teleportation Array and began activating it despite the Nether Fox warning him about the Ghost Mist Domain.
• Tai He entered the inner hall protected by the Spirit Bell Shield after capturing Blood Brow, and he rushed toward the array when he saw its azure light.
• The Nether Fox jumped into the Teleportation Array just before Song Wen activated it, and they vanished together.
• Tai He learned from Blood Brow that the array led to the Ghost Mist Domain beyond the Sea of Disorder, then confirmed Song Wen was beyond the Soul Lamp’s sensing range.
• Tai He blamed Blood Brow for Song Wen’s escape and threatened her with death.

Tai He spared Blood Brow after she claimed ties to the Divine Blood Sect and agreed to accept a Soul-Locking Curse in exchange for Yan Yiwen’s Profound Yin Physique. Meanwhile, Song Wen and the Nether Fox arrived in the Ghost Mist Domain, where Song Wen found a clue to the Sea of Disorder and set off in a direction opposite the one the fox recommended.

• Blood Brow claimed she belonged to the Divine Blood Sect and persuaded Tai He to spare her in exchange for accepting a Soul-Locking Curse and possessing Yan Yiwen’s body.
• Song Wen and the Nether Fox were teleported to a reef island in the Ghost Mist Domain, where the fox recovered by absorbing ghost mist and advised Song Wen to head toward the Sea of Disorder.
• Song Wen searched the island and found a cave containing the remains of a Nether God Temple disciple and an inscription pointing east toward an island beyond the Ghost Mist Domain.
• Song Wen trusted the inscription’s arrow over the Nether Fox’s directions and left with the Ghost King scouting ahead.
• The Nether Fox chose not to pursue Song Wen and settled in the cave dwelling, wondering how he had found the correct direction.

Song Wen left the Ghost Mist Domain, found a secluded island in the Sea of Disorder, and spent three months expelling the ghost qi from his body. He decided to cultivate there and began refining a Golden Core Pill, leaving the story as his first attempt got underway.

• Song Wen defeated an evil spirit with the Ghost King and discovered that the black hole in his sea of consciousness could absorb it.
• Song Wen crossed into the Sea of Disorder and found an island with no human residents or powerful demon beasts.
• Song Wen built a cave beneath the ruins, set up formations, and cultivated for three months until he expelled all the ghost qi from his body.
• Song Wen decided to remain on the island and pursue Golden Core formation, relying on his gathered herbs and Delusion-Quelling Pills.
• Song Wen practiced controlling spiritual-power flames for six months, studied Golden Core Pill methods, and began refining the pill.

Song Wen successfully refined Golden Core Pills, rested on the island, and spent three years preparing to form his core. During core formation, the Corpse King Blood Refinement Art disrupted the process, causing his newly condensed golden pellet to collapse and injuring him.

• Song Wen failed twice before successfully refining one Golden Core Pill, then refined three more using an older Yin-Yang Blood-Weeping Branch.
• Song Wen spent half a year living like a mortal on the island, then secluded himself for three years to prepare for core formation.
• Song Wen filled his cave with spiritual qi, drank Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Liquid, and transformed the Longevity Art's spiritual energy into mana.
• Song Wen swallowed a Golden Core Pill, and his mana began condensing into a tiny golden pellet.
• The Corpse King Blood Refinement Art's vortex erupted, tainted the pellet, and caused it to collapse; Song Wen's dantian shook and he spat blood.

Song Wen failed to form a Golden Core because the two spiritual power vortices in his dantian could not fuse, and he determined that he had to raise the Corpse King Blood Refinement Art to the Foundation Establishment Peak Stage first. After years of cultivation, he sought another source of essence blood and turned his attention to enslaving the Cloudflying Beasts.

• Song Wen discovered that the Longevity Art had become mana despite his failed Golden Core formation, and concluded he needed to cultivate the Corpse King Blood Refinement Art to the Foundation Establishment Peak Stage before attempting the Corpse King Reincarnation Art.
• Song Wen used corpse-path spiritual materials and stored essence blood to cultivate the Corpse King Blood Refinement Art to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, but ran out of essence blood and estimated that reaching the Peak Stage would take another thirty to forty years.
• Song Wen considered hunting sea beasts for their essence blood but avoided entering the dangerous waters of the Outer Sea.
• Song Wen decided to send two Sacred Beetle Gu to investigate the Cloudflying Beasts’ nest on the island’s western cliff.
• Song Wen observed that the flock’s lone second-order early-stage Cloudflying Beast received the prey first and left the scraps for the other Cloudflying Beasts.

Song Wen enslaved the Flying Cloud Beast King and used its flock to gather prey, accelerating his cultivation until the Corpse King Blood Refinement Art reached peak Foundation Establishment. After years of preparing to form a Golden Core, he entered seclusion and began merging the mana of his two arts.

• Song Wen used the Sacred Beetle Gus to lure the Flying Cloud Beast King into the Six-Harmony Demon-Locking Formation and force a spirit beast contract.
• Song Wen ordered the Flying Cloud Beast King to gather prey, then devoured the sea beasts' essence blood and souls while the Cloudflying Beast flock dwindled.
• Thirteen years later, the Corpse King Blood Refinement Art broke through to peak Foundation Establishment, and Song Wen spent another half year stabilizing his cultivation.
• Song Wen studied the Corpse King Reincarnation Art for five years and prepared to form a Golden Core.
• Song Wen entered seclusion, transformed the Corpse King Blood Refinement Art's spiritual energy into mana, and began circulating the Corpse King Reincarnation Art to merge it with the Longevity Art's mana.

Song Wen merged his cultivation arts and formed a Golden Core, then faced a heart tribulation filled with the corpses he had once dissected. He fought through the dead in a frenzy, but the trial continued as exhaustion overtook him.

• Song Wen circulated the Corpse King Reincarnation Art, merging the magical power of the Corpse King Blood Refinement Art and the Longevity Art.
• Song Wen swallowed a Golden Core Pill and spent months cultivating until a Golden Core formed and strengthened his body.
• Song Wen was drawn into a void where hundreds of thousands of corpses surrounded him, overwhelming him with dread and despair.
• Song Wen recognized the corpses as those he had dissected and declared that they would not stop his Golden Core formation.
• Song Wen charged into the crowd and smashed apart corpses until exhaustion left him barely able to stand.

Song Wen endured the Heart Tribulation and completed his Golden Core breakthrough, then spent over a year consolidating his cultivation. After finding a sea chart pointing toward the inner sea, he accidentally provoked a colossal fish with his newly unleashed aura and hurried back into his cave abode.

• Song Wen realized his endless battle against corpses was an illusion of the Heart Tribulation and resisted further illusions of people who had died by his hand.
• The Heart Tribulation ended, and the Corpse King Reincarnation Art absorbed spiritual energy and nearly two hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones to complete Song Wen's Golden Core.
• Song Wen spent over a year consolidating his cultivation before finding a weathered sea chart on a boulder carried to his cave by the Sacred Beetle Gu.
• The sea chart showed Song Wen's location in the southeastern Sea of Disorder and a route toward the inner sea.
• Song Wen tested his physical strength and released a powerful aura, provoking a giant fish that sent devastating waves across the island.
• Song Wen hid inside his cave abode and activated three formations, while the giant fish eventually returned to the deep sea.

After reaching the Golden Core Realm, Song Wen tried to refine his Jade Radiance Flame and Nether Corpse Cold Flame into his dantian, but their opposing natures made them violently repel each other. He decided to fuse them with stronger lightning and successfully cultivated the Jade Pivot Divine Thunder, preparing to try again.

• Song Wen surveyed the destruction caused by the giant fish and returned to seclusion to strengthen his abilities.
• Song Wen refined the Earthcore Smelting Flame, Jade Radiance Flame, and Nether Corpse Cold Flame, but had to expel the latter two when they clashed in his dantian.
• Song Wen tried fusing the opposing flames with Yin Baleful Dew and Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Liquid, but neither could serve as a suitable medium.
• Song Wen used Palm Thunder to bring the flames together, but its lightning failed to overcome their repulsion.
• Song Wen cultivated the Jade Pivot Divine Thunder in half a year and summoned its powerful silver lightning.

Song Wen spent years on the island refining his spirit flames and treasures, restoring his Ghost King, and advancing his Silver Corpse before deciding to leave after forty-six years. As he flew high above the sea with his Sacred Beetle Gu scouting the clouds, a Late Third Rank bird demon beast appeared nearby and dived toward the ocean.

• Song Wen fused Jade Radiance Flame and Nether Corpse Cold Flame with Jade Pivot Divine Thunder to create an emerald firebird, then used it to forge a Three-Banner Yin Soul Banner from ghost-path spirit artifacts and the Funeral Banner.
• Song Wen used the firebird and the banner's ghost qi to repair the Ghost King's cracked ghost core, while corpse-path materials helped his Silver Corpse advance to the Third Rank.
• Song Wen cultivated the Baleful Path Ghost Scripture as the Ghost King recovered to Early Third Rank and the Silver Corpse completed its advancement.
• After forty-six years on the island, Song Wen freed the Cloudflying Beast clan and left, with his resources dwindling and his six Sacred Beetle Gu still lacking a known path to Third Rank.
• Song Wen flew high above the sea while his Sacred Beetle Gu scouted the clouds; two days later, a gigantic Late Third Rank bird demon beast emerged nearby and dove toward the sea.

After nearly two years crossing the Sea of Disorder, Song Wen reached its inner sea and joined Xing Chang’s group to hunt a Tidal Demon in exchange for spirit stones. The group trapped the beast on a rocky island, but its attacks shook their formation barrier.

• Song Wen survived dangerous weather and reached the inner sea, where he encountered three Foundation Establishment cultivators on a rocky island.
• Song Wen introduced himself as Wei Ding and agreed to help Xing Chang, Elder Qi, and Yu Da capture a Tidal Demon for five thousand spirit stones.
• Xing Chang gave Song Wen the northern flag of the Four-Direction Demon-Subduing Formation and explained his role in the hunt.
• The four cultivators hid around the island and waited for the Tidal Demon to return to its cave.
• The Tidal Demon arrived, was trapped inside the formation, and battered its barrier with its body and water spears.

Elder Qi and the others tried to subdue the Tidal Demon with a formation, but Xing Chang’s panic and the demon’s strength forced them to retreat. The demon pursued Xing Chang, who was struck by a water spear and fell toward the sea as he called for Elder Qi’s help.

• Elder Qi led the Four-Direction Demon-Subduing Formation against the Tidal Demon, but its water currents countered the formation’s fire attacks and battered its light curtain.
• Elder Qi warned Xing Chang, Wei Ding, Yu Da, and Song Wen to retreat, then shouted for them to flee when the formation could no longer hold.
• Xing Chang and Yu Da fled first, causing the formation to collapse, while Elder Qi and Song Wen attacked the Tidal Demon with flying swords.
• The Tidal Demon ignored Elder Qi and Song Wen and pursued Xing Chang, while Yu Da escaped and Song Wen followed behind Elder Qi.
• The Tidal Demon struck Xing Chang’s shield with a water spear, sending him falling toward the sea, and Elder Qi’s attempt to attack the demon was stopped by a wall of water.

Song Wen saved Xing Chang from the Tidal Demon, then joined Elder Qi in battle while Xing Chang fled. Half a day later, Yu Da captured Xing Chang and confronted the badly injured Song Wen, who claimed Elder Qi had died and the Tidal Demon had been wounded.

• Song Wen struck the Tidal Demon with a Falling Thunder Technique, distracting it long enough to save Xing Chang, though the spell caused little damage.
• Elder Qi attacked the Tidal Demon but was overwhelmed by its water spells, while Xing Chang fled and left Song Wen to help.
• Song Wen entered the watery battle curtain with six Sacred Beetle Gu and warned Elder Qi to watch out as the fight continued.
• Half a day later, Song Wen collapsed, apparently gravely injured, on an island where Yu Da had already ambushed and captured Xing Chang.
• Song Wen told Xing Chang that Elder Qi had died after wounding the Tidal Demon, and Yu Da said he would use someone else to kill Xing Chang because he feared the Xing Family's soul mark.

Song Wen learned the truth about Xing Chang, the Tidal Demon hunt, and the Xing Family’s Soul-Concentrating Spike technique while Yu Da prepared to kill Xing Chang. Yu Da ordered Song Wen to kill Xing Chang, but Song Wen refused to trust him.

• Xing Chang begged Yu Da to spare his life, but Yu Da rejected his pleas and kicked him away.
• Song Wen recalled that he had learned about the Sea of Disorder’s five great forces, Xing Chang’s background, and the Xing Family’s trial involving the Tidal Demon and Earth Spirit Pills.
• Song Wen became interested in obtaining the Soul-Concentrating Spike, which Xing Chang had not yet earned.
• Song Wen urged Yu Da to spare Xing Chang and exploit the benefits of his Xing Family status, but Yu Da explained that the Xing Family could trace a Soul-Locking Curse back to its caster.
• Yu Da gave Song Wen one chance to kill Xing Chang, and Song Wen accused Yu Da of planning to kill him afterward.

Song Wen killed Yu Da with a poisoned needle after using the Sacred Beetle Gu to distract him, then traveled with Xing Chang to Fangzhu Island. They arrived at Fangzhu City, where Xing Chang reunited with his anxious mother, Shan Yue.

• Yu Da threatened Xing Chang and attacked Song Wen, but Song Wen used the Sacred Beetle Gu to distract him and killed him with a poisoned needle.
• Song Wen urged Xing Chang to hide Yu Da's body and find a place to recover, and they healed on the island for half a month.
• Song Wen and Xing Chang traveled for several months to Fangzhu Island and reached Fangzhu City, the Xing Family's stronghold.
• Shan Yue waited outside the city, and she tearfully welcomed Xing Chang and checked him for injuries.

Song Wen declined Shan Yue’s offer to join the Xing Family and went to South City to buy maps and pill formulas. He left with detailed charts of Fangzhu Island and the Inner Sea, along with six formulas to support his plan to earn spirit stones as an alchemist.

• Xing Chang told Shan Yue that Elder Qi had died and introduced Song Wen, crediting him with saving Xing Chang twice.
• Shan Yue thanked Song Wen and offered him a position in the Xing Family, but Song Wen declined to avoid its internal power struggles.
• Xing Chang exchanged communication jade slips with Song Wen, then left with Shan Yue for North City without giving him a tangible reward.
• Song Wen changed his appearance, visited a general store in South City, and bought detailed maps of Fangzhu Island and the Inner Sea for five thousand spirit stones.
• Song Wen bought six second- and third-tier pill formulas for ten thousand spirit stones so he could pursue alchemy as a way to earn spirit stones.

Song Wen gathered information on the Xing Family, settled into a rented cave residence, and searched Fangzhu City for ingredients and other useful resources. After learning about the Dark Star Black Market, he received an invitation from Xing Chang and agreed to meet him.

• Song Wen obtained public information about the Xing Family from a shopkeeper, then rented a Grade B cave residence and installed several formations.
• Song Wen studied pill formulas and learned that Xing Gaohan was the Xing Family's strongest cultivator, while Xing Liren and Xing Xinxin were his talented children.
• Song Wen bought most of the herbs for four second-tier pill formulas but could not find the rare ingredients needed for the Golden Jade Pill and Qi Spirit Pill.
• At a rogue cultivator's stall, Song Wen learned that the Dark Star Black Market lay six hundred li east of Fangzhu City and paid the stallholder ten spirit stones for the information.
• Xing Chang messaged Wei Ding to invite him to the Listening Wind Pavilion, and Song Wen replied that he would arrive shortly.

Song Wen met Xing Chang, received a meager reward for saving his life, and then searched the Dark Star Black Market for rare spirit herbs. At Hundred Herbs Tower, he recognized an incomplete formula as Corpse Curse Water and wondered whether its owners were seeking the complete technique behind it.

• Xing Chang gave Song Wen a hundred mid-grade spirit stones and hinted that he intended to assign him future tasks.
• Song Wen went to the Dark Star Black Market to look for Golden Essence Seed, Profound Spirit Ginseng, and Sparrowcry Flower.
• An assistant at Hundred Herbs Tower offered Profound Yin Stone and Baleful Crystal if Song Wen could complete the shop's ancient formula.
• Song Wen recognized the incomplete formula as Corpse Curse Water from the Corpse King Reincarnation Art.
• Song Wen wondered whether the formula's owners possessed the cultivation technique and were trying to draw out someone with its complete version.