Recaps

Song Wen refined the Ghost Head Shield and obtained information on Seven-Colored Grass and the Yan Family in the Poison Miasma Swamp before his upcoming departure. He met Chen Yi at the dining hall, paid her thirty Spirit Stones, and learned that her own assignment was nearly complete.

• Song Wen refined the Ghost Head Shield by feeding it blood essence and washing it with spiritual power.
• Chen Yi told Song Wen that Seven-Colored Grass grew only in the Poison Miasma Swamp, then agreed to ask Zhang Xiaofan for information on it and the Yan Family.
• Song Wen inspected his newly emerged Corpse Puppet and hurried to meet Chen Yi after she said she had obtained the requested information.
• Chen Yi gave Song Wen a Jade Slip with information from Zhang Xiaofan's master, and Song Wen paid her thirty Spirit Stones.
• Chen Yi explained that she had bought five stalks of Fire Spirit Grass for her assignment, and Song Wen congratulated her before they parted.

Song Wen studied information about seven-colored grass and the Yan Family before reporting to Elder Shen for a mission to inventory the family’s herbs. Elder Shen warned both Song Wen and Guo Tao against embezzlement, then secretly ordered Song Wen to monitor Guo Tao, leaving Song Wen wondering how he could do so safely.

• Song Wen read that seven-colored grass could be used to refine pills and learned about the Yan Family’s strength, including its talented eighteen-year-old cultivator Yan Yiwen.
• Song Wen arrived at the Pill Chamber and met Guo Tao, the late Qi refinement cultivator assigned to travel with him.
• Elder Shen verified their tokens, gave Song Wen and Guo Tao mission Jade Slips, and warned them to inspect the herbs carefully without stealing any.
• After telling them to set out, Elder Shen secretly instructed Song Wen to monitor Guo Tao and report any misconduct.
• Song Wen concealed his reaction and wondered how he could watch a stronger cultivator, while noting that Elder Shen had not detected his hidden strength.

Song Wen and Guo Tao traveled by flying boat to the Poison Miasma Swamp to inventory the Yan Family’s Seven-Colored Grass. After meeting patriarch Yan Zhengping, they were invited to stay overnight, where a young woman arrived calling him grandfather.

• Guo Tao revealed his flying boat and assured Song Wen that the mission would be easy and that the Yan Family might offer them benefits.
• Song Wen and Guo Tao flew to the Poison Miasma Swamp and landed on an island where Yan Family cultivators escorted them along a protected boardwalk.
• Guo Tao and Song Wen met Yan Zhengping and explained that they had come on a sect mission to inventory the Seven-Colored Grass.
• Yan Zhengping invited the two disciples to rest at the Yan Family estate and arranged for servants to take them to their rooms.
• A beautiful young woman appeared at the hall entrance and called Yan Zhengping grandfather.

Song Wen arrived at the Yan residence to inventory its medicinal herbs, where Yan Yiwen insulted him and Yan Zhengping offered him pills as an apology. After Song Wen reviewed the inventory requirements, Guo Tao secretly discussed with Yan Zhengping how easily they could deceive him.

• Yan Yiwen mocked Song Wen for his low cultivation, and Yan Zhengping scolded her before apologizing with ten Qi-Gathering Pills.
• Song Wen and Guo Tao went to their guest rooms, where Song Wen reviewed the Jade Slip's herb inventory and became wary of the circumstances surrounding Yan Yiwen's appearance.
• A maid delivered Song Wen's dinner, and he remained cautious while inspecting the unfamiliar surroundings.
• Guo Tao met with Yan Zhengping and three others in secret, describing Song Wen as inexperienced and easy to fool.

Yan Zhengping and the Yan Family prepared to conceal their Seven-Colored Grass secret while Guo Tao kept watch on Song Wen. Guo Tao used a supposed Miasma Tide to confine Song Wen, who suspected the deception and waited cautiously in his room as the spirit-field inventory was delayed.

• Yan Zhengping warned Guo Tao to monitor Song Wen and kill him if he discovered the Yan Family's secret, while ordering the spirit-field preparations to be accelerated.
• Guo Tao told Song Wen that a Miasma Tide had made it dangerous to leave the residence and that the inventory would be postponed.
• Song Wen noticed the sky showed no sign of a Miasma Tide and suspected Guo Tao was deliberately keeping him under house arrest.
• Song Wen decided not to confront Guo Tao and stayed in his room, believing the Yan Family was disguising a problem with the spirit fields.

Song Wen joined Guo Tao and Yan Zhengping for an inventory of the Yan Family’s Seven-Colored Grass spirit field, while weighing the danger of the field’s hidden problem. The group reached the vast floating farm, where Yan Zhengping explained the crops and assigned the inventory’s focus.

• Guo Tao told Song Wen that the miasma tide had receded and invited him to inventory the Seven-Colored Grass.
• Song Wen considered fleeing the Corpse Demon Sect to escape punishment but steadied himself and agreed to follow Guo Tao’s arrangements.
• Yan Zhengping led Song Wen, Guo Tao, and sixteen Yan Family cultivators by shallow-draft ship through the Poison Miasma Swamp after distributing antidote pills.
• Song Wen tracked the ship’s route and estimated that the spirit field lay a little over two hundred li from the swamp’s edge.
• The group reached the floating turf ridges, where Seven-Colored Grass grew, and Yan Zhengping described the fields and said the inventory would focus on seventy-year and hundred-year herbs.

Song Wen was prevented from entering the spirit fields and had to watch their inventory through a magical mirror while Guo Tao went with the Yan Family. After inspecting the transmitted images of the hundred-year Seven-Colored Grass, Song Wen remained suspicious and watched the distant fields from the ship’s railing.

• Yan Zhengping limited the small boat to five people, leaving Song Wen behind while Guo Tao boarded with the Yan Family cultivators.
• Song Wen questioned why he could not enter the spirit fields, and Yan Zhengping claimed the Yan Family had brought only one boat made from rare Baqing Wood.
• Yan Zhengping gave Song Wen an Image-Recording Mirror and Guo Tao an Image Stone so Song Wen could watch the fields remotely.
• Guo Tao activated the Image Stone as the boat entered the spirit fields, and Song Wen examined the hundred-year Seven-Colored Grass through the mirror.
• Song Wen found the grass’s appearance matched the jade-slip description but still felt the images were unreal, then moved to the railing and gazed toward the fields.

Song Wen discovered that the Yan Family had replaced the high-year Seven-Colored Grass with painted counterfeits and suspected they were staying in the Poison Miasma Swamp to force-ripen another crop. As the ship began its return journey, more than a dozen black-clad attackers ambushed it, and the ship’s defensive barrier came under heavy assault.

• Song Wen used an ordinary Beetle Gu to inspect a Seven-Colored Grass plant and confirmed that it was only ten years old, with its appearance disguised by dye.
• Song Wen concluded that the Yan Family had stolen the high-year Seven-Colored Grass and might be waiting for a force-ripened crop to mature before fleeing the swamp.
• Guo Tao claimed that he had counted the spirit herbs and found no discrepancies, while Song Wen agreed that their inventory task was complete and asked when they would leave.
• Yan Zhengping persuaded Guo Tao to accept a banquet at the Yan Family residence before departing the next morning.
• As the great ship moved toward the Yan Family residence, more than a dozen black-clad cultivators launched a sudden attack, and Yan Zhengping raised the ship’s defensive barrier.

Song Wen prepared to flee as Ghost Three led a powerful group of attackers against the Yan Family’s ship. After Ghost Three exposed the Yan Family’s secret dealings with the Nine Palaces Sect, Yan Zhengping turned his killing gaze toward Song Wen.

• Song Wen moved to the stern, summoned his corpse puppet, and readied his shield and Flying Talisman while the Yan Family prepared to defend the ship.
• Ghost Three confronted Yan Zhengping and demanded revenge for the Yan Family’s destruction of his clan.
• Ghost Three revealed that he had learned the Yan Family secretly sold Seven-Colored Grass to the Nine Palaces Sect and warned that the Corpse Demon Sect would punish them if it found out.
• The Yan Family cultivators reacted with shock and panic as their secret dealings were exposed, leaving them resolved to kill the outsiders and flee to the Nine Palaces Sect.
• Yan Zhengping turned his killing gaze toward Song Wen at the stern.

Yan Zhengping and Ghost Three clashed as the Rogue Cultivators attacked the Yan Family, while Song Wen escaped into the forest. Yan Family reinforcements arrived, but Ghost Three urged the Rogue Cultivators to fight harder and seize the family’s wealth.

• Ghost Three shattered the Yan Family’s defensive barrier with his demon-subduing pestle and fought Yan Zhengping to a standstill.
• Song Wen used a Flying Talisman and his corpse puppet to flee through the forest, escaping the battlefield without being pursued.
• The Yan Family struggled to withstand the Rogue Cultivators’ attacks as Yan Zhengping waited anxiously for reinforcements.
• More than twenty Yan Family cultivators guarding the Seven-Colored Grass spirit field arrived across the swamp, heartening their side.
• Ghost Three rallied the Rogue Cultivators by promising them the Yan Family’s riches, and they unleashed more vicious attacks.

Yan Tiangong arrived to rescue the besieged Yan Family, driving the Rogue Cultivators into retreat with a poison-nail attack. His strength quickly collapsed afterward, and Yan Zhengping ordered clansmen to pursue the fleeing enemies before they could reveal the Yan Family’s secret.

• Yan Family cultivators suffered heavy losses while Yan Zhengping was pinned down by Ghost Three.
• Yan Tiangong appeared above the battlefield and struck the Rogue Cultivators with twelve poison nails, killing three and wounding several others.
• The surviving Rogue Cultivators fled, while Yan Family cultivators killed four badly wounded attackers.
• Ghost Three lost part of his arm to a poisoned nail and escaped into the forest, and another wounded Rogue Cultivator fled after taking a pill.
• Yan Tiangong weakened sharply after landing on the wrecked ship, and Yan Zhengping gave Yan Gao and Yan Wu orders to hunt down the two escapees before they revealed the Yan Family’s secret.

After the Yan Family’s battle with the Rogue Cultivators, Yan Zhengping sent Yan Feng after the fleeing Song Wen, while Song Wen raced out of the swamp. He encountered Yan Yiwen, who knew nothing of the family’s betrayal or the pursuit, and escaped past her toward the mountains.

• Yan Zhengping learned that Song Wen had escaped and ordered Yan Feng to pursue him southwest, the direction Guo Tao had seen him flee.
• Song Wen used four Flying Talismans to cross the swamp and found Yan Yiwen waiting in the forest beyond it.
• Yan Yiwen mistook Song Wen for a cowardly fugitive and threatened to gouge out his eyes when she caught him staring.
• Song Wen pretended to be afraid, went around Yan Yiwen, and disappeared into the forest toward a distant mountain.
• After Song Wen had left, Yan Yiwen realized she could have asked him about the battle, but concluded he probably knew nothing.

Song Wen fled toward the sect while Yan Feng and five Yan Family cultivators pursued him. After a prolonged chase, Song Wen pretended to run out of blood essence and prepared to confront Yan Feng, who wanted to capture him and uncover his secret.

• Song Wen used a Swift Movement Talisman to flee the swamp, then sped away with the Blood Escape Technique when Yan Feng and five Yan Family cultivators caught up.
• Yan Feng recognized the Blood Escape Technique and urged the others to keep pursuing, but Song Wen soon vanished ahead of them.
• Yan Feng chased Song Wen alone, while the other five Yan Family cultivators fell far behind.
• After nearly an hour of pursuit, Song Wen and Yan Feng both had little spiritual power left, and Song Wen considered killing his pursuer.
• Song Wen concealed a talisman and a black sphere, then withdrew the blood qi around himself to feign exhaustion.
• Yan Feng tried to persuade Song Wen to surrender, hoping to capture him alive and discover the secret behind his abundant blood essence.

Song Wen used a Heavenly Thunder Talisman and poisoned explosives to kill Yan Feng despite their difference in cultivation. He fled as Yan Feng’s five fellow clansmen arrived and found the corpse.

• Song Wen’s aura shifted, and he struck Yan Feng with a Heavenly Thunder Talisman, destroying his protective bell and taking his left arm.
• Song Wen exploded a thunderclap bomb coated with Heaven-Burning Fire, poisoning the wounded Yan Feng.
• Song Wen finished Yan Feng with two Fireball Talismans, then reached for his storage pouch and corpse.
• Song Wen abandoned Yan Feng’s blood essence and fled when five of Yan Feng’s fellow clansmen approached.
• The five clansmen found Yan Feng’s corpse and wondered whether they could defeat Extreme Yin together.

Song Wen used Black-Bellied Beetle Gu hidden in Yan Feng's corpse to ambush and kill the five Yan Family cultivators pursuing him. He fled toward the Corpse Demon Sect, crossed a great river, and hid in a cliff crevice to rest for the night.

• The five Yan Family cultivators decided to keep hunting Song Wen because they feared he would expose their betrayal to the Corpse Demon Sect.
• When the man in gray reached for Yan Feng's corpse, Black-Bellied Beetle Gu burst out and burrowed into his brain.
• The Gu insects attacked the other four pursuers, killing all five as they fed on their bodies.
• Song Wen emerged from hiding, devoured the five men's souls and the remains on Yan Feng's corpse, and stored all six bodies.
• Song Wen flew across a great river, discarded the corpses in its waters, and hid in a cliff crevice to recover overnight.

Song Wen encountered the gravely wounded Ghost Three but fled rather than risk saving or robbing him. Yan Family cultivators captured Ghost Three, then learned that Extreme Yin had killed Yan Feng and five others and might have escaped toward the Corpse Demon Sect.

• Song Wen spotted Ghost Three crash into the forest and ignored his plea for help, escaping with talismans and the Blood Escape Technique.
• Ghost Three recalled trying to trick Song Wen into saving him, then lost consciousness as his injuries and poison overwhelmed him.
• Yan Gao's search party found Ghost Three, gave orders to detoxify him, cripple him, and take him back to the Yan Family.
• Yan Qiu noticed signs that another person had been in the area and questioned whether Ghost Three had an accomplice.
• A Yan Family cultivator reported that Extreme Yin had likely killed Yan Feng and five others and escaped, prompting Yan Qiu to wonder whether Extreme Yin had passed through the area.

Song Wen fled toward Three Corpses City while Yan Qiu and Yan Gao pursued him, and he suspected the Yan Family had discovered his trail. He entered the city disguised as a rogue cultivator and settled in an inn, planning to travel to the Corpse Demon Sect by flying ship the next day.

• Yan Qiu persuaded Yan Gao to keep pursuing Extreme Yin while their companions escorted Ghost Three back to the Yan Family stronghold.
• Song Wen continued racing toward the Corpse Demon Sect, using Swift Travel Talismans and the Blood Escape Technique to avoid the Yan Family.
• Song Wen reached Three Corpses City, where he saw Yan Family cultivators stationed outside the gates and suspected they were searching for him.
• Song Wen concealed his corpse qi, revealed fourth-level Qi Refinement cultivation, altered his appearance, and entered the city without showing his Corpse Demon Sect token.
• Song Wen observed the city's exploited mining slaves and their well-dressed mortal overseers, then rented a room at a cultivator inn.

Song Wen escaped the Yan Family’s search in Three Corpses City and reached the Corpse Demon Sect’s territory, intending to report the family’s crimes to Elder Shen. At the alchemy hall, he encountered Guo Tao, who chose to negotiate rather than attack while the Yan Family prepared to flee.

• Song Wen disguised himself as a first-level Qi Refinement Rogue Cultivator and boarded an airship, slipping past Yan Gao, Yan Qiu, and the other Yan Family searchers.
• The airship carried Song Wen to the market beneath Corpse Demon Mountain, where he found no Yan Family members and headed for the alchemy hall to report their crimes to Elder Shen.
• Song Wen removed his disguise at the alchemy hall’s entrance and found Guo Tao waiting for him, so he prepared his talismans and techniques in case of an attack.
• Guo Tao refrained from attacking Song Wen because it could expose the Yan Family’s betrayal, and he planned to try to buy Song Wen’s silence while the family secretly relocated its younger generation, including Yan Yiwen.

Song Wen met Guo Tao in the Pill Hall, where the restrictions prevented either cultivator from using spiritual power, and used their conversation to extract compensation for the Yan Family’s attack on him. Guo Tao paid him two thousand spirit stones and surrendered his flying boat, and Song Wen agreed to follow Guo Tao’s lead on the Seven-Colored Grass inventory.

• Song Wen entered the Pill Hall only after Guo Tao went in first, then told the guards he had completed Elder Shen’s mission and come to report.
• Guo Tao insisted the Yan Family was loyal to the sect and urged Song Wen not to believe Ghost Three, but Song Wen revealed that six Yan Family cultivators had hunted him on the way back.
• Guo Tao offered compensation, raising his offer to ten thousand spirit stones, and gave Song Wen two thousand spirit stones along with his flying boat.
• Song Wen accepted the flying boat and agreed that the Seven-Colored Grass inventory would proceed according to Guo Tao’s word.

Song Wen exposed Guo Tao’s collusion with the Yan Family to Elder Shen, who had Guo Tao arrested and ordered Song Wen confined while the sect investigated. Song Wen returned to his cave dwelling, where he reviewed his gains and prepared to repair his corpse puppet and refine a flying boat.

• Song Wen pretended to accept Guo Tao’s offer of brotherhood, then accused him before Elder Shen of helping the Yan Family steal the Seven-Colored Grass and cover up its betrayal.
• Song Wen told Elder Shen that the Yan Family had tried to kill him and urged the elder to act before they fled.
• Elder Shen believed Song Wen and ordered guards to shatter Guo Tao’s dantian and take him to the Prison Hall.
• Elder Shen ordered Song Wen confined to his cave dwelling until the investigation was complete, then left for the sect’s main hall.
• Song Wen welcomed the confinement as protection from possible Yan Family spies and assessed his supplies, including spirit stones, talismans, a damaged corpse puppet, a flying boat, and loot from Yan Feng and five others.

Song Wen examined the Yan Family’s spoils, discovered the Myriad Poisons Primordial Body and learned how it had strengthened Yan Feng. After the Corpse Demon Sect annihilated the Yan Family, Song Wen learned that Yan Yiwen had escaped to the Nine Palaces Sect, leaving him with a possible future enemy.

• Song Wen found the Myriad Poisons Primordial Body, Poison Tempering Pills, and cultivation insights among the Yan Family’s storage bags, and chose a set of Mother-and-Child Poison Needles to keep.
• The Corpse Demon Sect announced that it had exterminated all 83,272 members of the Yan Family for colluding with the Nine Palaces Sect, sparking rumors of a war between righteous and demonic forces.
• After his confinement ended, Song Wen visited Elder Shen and learned that Yan Yiwen had escaped and likely joined the Nine Palaces Sect, making her a potential threat to him.
• Elder Shen told Song Wen that a Golden Core Ancestor had used Yan Tiangong’s essence blood to purge Yan Family descendants from within the Corpse Demon Sect.
• Elder Shen explained that the Yan Family had gambled on an alliance with the Nine Palaces Sect because its aging ancestor and lack of a successor threatened its hold on the Poison Miasma Swamp.

Song Wen spent his reward and the proceeds from selling his belongings on cultivation supplies, then began training his corpse puppet and tempering his body with the Myriad Poisons Primordial Body. After a painful medicinal bath and a night of recovery, he returned to Corpse Dissection Cave to resume his work.

• Elder Shen rewarded Song Wen with five hundred spirit stones, and Song Wen sold artifacts, storage bags, and the Mysterious Poison Scripture for another 1,650 under a soul contract.
• Song Wen bought cultivation resources, Gu-nurturing materials, poisonous herbs, a black mystic iron coffin, and supplies for refining corpses.
• Song Wen repaired his corpse puppet in a large red coffin using corpse-refining materials and stolen essence blood.
• Song Wen brewed a poisonous medicinal bath and endured its toxins to begin cultivating the Myriad Poisons Primordial Body.
• Song Wen took a healing pill and cultivated through the night, then returned to Corpse Dissection Cave, where Yuan Cheng gave him more than a hundred corpses.

Song Wen briefly lost control as the Corpse King Blood Refinement Art caused his body to become dangerously zombified, then recovered and recognized that the technique lacked a cure. He resolved to find Sky Cicada Wood to manage the condition while postponing his attempt to obtain the complete technique from Shi Shou.

• Song Wen began to transform into a zombie while dissecting a young female Rogue Cultivator's corpse, but the female corpse dissector's roar helped jolt him back to his senses.
• Song Wen realized that the Corpse King Blood Refinement Art, rather than contamination from the Corpse Dissection Cave, had caused his bloodthirsty loss of control.
• Song Wen concluded that Shi Shou had likely given him an abridged technique and that he needed to harmonize the corpse baleful qi in his body.
• Song Wen learned through Chen Yi and Zhang Xiaofan's Golden Core-stage master that Sky Cicada Wood could temporarily address zombification, but found none for sale in the market district.
• Song Wen recalled that a four-hundred-year-old piece of Sky Cicada Wood had sold for 2,300 spirit stones to a Corpse Demon Sect Foundation Establishment elder, and he had not dared to bid against the elder.
• Song Wen finished dissecting the corpse and estimated that the corpse qi he had expended would take about half a month to recover if he did not cultivate.

Song Wen concealed his identity and visited an underground Ghost Market to join a group seeking Sky Cicada Wood in the Ancient Battlefield of the Righteous and Demonic Paths. He met the other members of the expedition and introduced himself under the alias Guo Tao.

• Song Wen collected his stipend, revealed his Qi Refining Sixth Layer cultivation, and took leave from Corpse Dissection Cave to deal with his worsening corpse transformation.
• Song Wen disguised himself and went to the underground Ghost Market, where he met the group organizing an expedition for Sky Cicada Wood.
• Song Wen entered the group’s cave and confirmed he was the cultivator with the flying boat.
• Niu Ding objected to Song Wen hiding his face, so Song Wen removed his disguise and gave the alias Guo Tao.
• Niu Ding, Xuan Ye, Lao Chun, and Zi Yi introduced themselves and stated their cultivation levels.

Song Wen and four other cultivators agreed to travel together into the ancient battlefield after revealing their separate goals. Before departing, Song Wen prepared his defenses and weapons for the dangerous journey.

• Xuan Ye said he sought Snake-Scale Fruit and invited others to help gather it, while Niu Ding said he wanted to retrieve his eldest brother's body near the snake cave.
• Song Wen revealed that he was seeking Sky Cicada Wood, and Lao Chun and his senior sister said they needed Forsythia Yellow to treat their poisoned father.
• The woman in purple offered the others spirit stones to help her and Lao Chun obtain Forsythia Yellow, and Xuan Ye warned that it grew in a dangerous part of the caverns.
• The group agreed to set out, with Song Wen providing the flying boat for the journey.
• Song Wen reviewed the protective armor, talismans, weapons, poison, and Black-Bellied Beetle Gu he had prepared for the trip.