Recaps

Song Wen rescued Mo Yexue from Mountain-Devouring Rats and learned that she was his old acquaintance, Extreme Yin. Their reunion turned grim when Mo Yexue told him that Lan Chen had died after refusing an outer sect steward position at the Ten Thousand Swords Pavilion.

• Song Wen pursued Ji Lin after a distant boom, then learned from Shadow Void that Mountain-Devouring Rats were overwhelming six Ten Thousand Swords Pavilion cultivators.
• The six cultivators split up to escape, and Song Wen changed course to help a fleeing woman he recognized as Mo Yexue.
• Song Wen killed the three Mountain-Devouring Rats pursuing Mo Yexue, and she recognized him as Extreme Yin by his Soul-Splitting Blade.
• Mo Yexue told Song Wen that Lan Chen had ascended near the Ten Thousand Swords Pavilion but declined its offer of an outer sect steward position.
• Mo Yexue said Lan Chen later stayed in Thousand Blades City and planned to stabilize her cultivation before traveling to Taitan City to join the Jade Spirit Palace.

Mo Yexue told Song Wen that Lan Chen had been killed by Wu Bo, prompting Song Wen to vow revenge while insisting he would not act rashly. He accompanied Mo Yexue to meet Ji Lin and Zuo Hui, where he offered them the corpse of a sixth-rank Mountain-Devouring Rat after learning Pei Ningxuan had died.

• Mo Yexue revealed that Wu Bo of the Wu Clan had killed Lan Chen, and Song Wen asked about the clan’s strength.
• Song Wen asked Mo Yexue about True Yang Grass and admitted he had come looking for her group; she worried he would attack Ji Lin and Pei Ningxuan.
• Song Wen took Mo Yexue to the agreed meeting place southwest of Azure Cloud Ridge, where they waited for two or three hours.
• Ji Lin and the injured Zuo Hui arrived, and Ji Lin ordered Mo Yexue to help them while saying Pei Ningxuan had died saving them.
• Song Wen showed Ji Lin the corpse of a sixth-rank Mountain-Devouring Rat, and Zuo Hui immediately demanded it.

Song Wen defeated Ji Lin and captured Zuo Hui while Mo Yexue demanded to learn what happened to Elder Pei Ningxuan. After Zuo Hui revealed that Ji Lin had struck Pei Ningxuan into the Mountain-Devouring Rat swarm, Mo Yexue killed him aboard the flying vessel.

• Song Wen attacked Zuo Hui, fought Ji Lin, and used demonic sound to defeat him before capturing him.
• Mo Yexue stopped Song Wen from killing Zuo Hui immediately and demanded to know where Pei Ningxuan was.
• Song Wen and Mo Yexue fled toward the night sky aboard a flying vessel, taking Zuo Hui with them.
• Mo Yexue tortured Zuo Hui until he confessed that Ji Lin had struck Pei Ningxuan into the Mountain-Devouring Rat swarm and fled.
• Mo Yexue killed Zuo Hui and told Song Wen that Pei Ningxuan had been the only person who looked after her in the Ten Thousand Swords Pavilion.

Song Wen and Mo Yexue reached Tancang Market, where Mo reunited with Pei Ningxuan. Song Wen obtained twenty-three stalks of True Yang Grass from Pei and flew away, while Mo stayed with her elder.

• Song Wen searched Zuo Hui and Ji Lin's storage rings, found one stalk of True Yang Grass, and agreed to wait with Mo Yexue in Tancang Market for her missing fellow disciples.
• Song Wen offered Mo a share of the storage-ring treasures, but she refused because taking them could arouse suspicion.
• At dawn, Mo Yexue recognized Pei Ningxuan waiting above Tancang Market and introduced Song Wen as the senior who had saved her.
• Mo Yexue asked Pei Ningxuan to sell Song Wen True Yang Grass, and Pei agreed to sell him all twenty-three stalks she had for one hundred and fifteen high-grade spirit stones.
• Song Wen paid Pei Ningxuan, said farewell to her and Mo Yexue, and flew away.

After twenty years in seclusion, Song Wen advanced his divine sense and raised Shadow Void to the mid seventh rank before setting out for the Source-Qi Death Domain. He found the Divine Blood Sect’s abandoned Six Baleful Hall outpost and entered the domain seeking its outer members to track down higher-ranking cultivators.

• Song Wen returned to Cloud Creek Valley after spending his wealth on demon beast souls and began twenty years of closed-door cultivation.
• Song Wen advanced his divine sense to the late stage of the Void Refinement Realm, raised Shadow Void to the mid seventh rank, and created the Blood Luo Pill.
• Song Wen left Cloud Creek Valley with the Nether Fox after rewarding Guan Lin for tending the spirit fields.
• Song Wen sent a Shadow King Gu to scout an oasis and learned that the underground Six Baleful Hall outpost had been abandoned.
• Song Wen searched the outpost, found no useful clues, and flew into the Source-Qi Death Domain.
• Song Wen planned to find Spirit Transformation Realm members of the Six Baleful Hall and use them to trace its Void Refinement Realm cultivators.

Song Wen tracked two Divine Blood Sect cultivators to a mountain village, where they reported to Fuliang, a late-stage Void Refinement cultivator. Fuliang had them slaughter the villagers and enter a bronze cauldron to stabilize their corpse qi, while Song Wen waited for a chance to attack.

• Nether Fox gorged itself on a fifth-rank Void Demon corpse until Song Wen stopped it, and Shadow Void detected two Spirit Transformation cultivators nearby.
• Song Wen identified the fleeing cultivators as Divine Blood Sect members suffering from unstable corpse qi and followed them out of the Source-Qi Death Domain to a mountain village.
• The two cultivators entered a hidden mountaintop residence and told Fuliang that Source-Qi had disrupted their cultivation.
• Fuliang ordered the cultivators to kill everyone in the village, then collected the corpses in a bronze cauldron and made the two cultivators enter it to stabilize their corpse qi.
• Song Wen learned what had happened from Shadow Void and chose to wait for Fuliang to leave the mountain’s defensive formation.

Song Wen destroyed Fuliang and his two Spirit Transformation subordinates, then questioned Ji Lin about Six Baleful Hall. Ji Lin revealed its possible location and two Integrated Body Realm cultivators, leaving Song Wen with information that matched Blood Sorrow’s.

• Fuliang erased the village and leveled the mountain before Song Wen attacked and killed the two Spirit Transformation cultivators with the Soul-Splitting Blade.
• Song Wen used Shadow Void’s divine sense attack to incapacitate Fuliang, crushed his head, and captured his soul and corpse.
• Song Wen collected the corpses and bronze cauldron, fled toward the Source-Qi Death Domain, and let the black hole devour the two wounded cultivators’ souls.
• Song Wen questioned Ji Lin, who said Six Baleful Hall was hidden beneath a Rift Valley three hundred li east of Luyang City, though it frequently changed bases.
• Ji Lin named Gong Tianzong and Wei Gu as Six Baleful Hall’s two Integrated Body Realm cultivators, matching the information Song Wen had learned from Blood Sorrow.

Song Wen learned that the three major sects had an understanding with Six Baleful Hall, then broke through to the late Void Refinement stage and spent eight years stabilizing his cultivation. He traveled to Luyang City to investigate Six Baleful Hall, but after waiting there for over a month, he saw six righteous-path Integrated Body Realm cultivators arrive instead.

• Song Wen questioned Ji Lin about Six Baleful Hall and learned the three major sects would leave its people alone outside Southern Nether Province's heartland, then devoured Ji Lin's soul.
• Song Wen used Fuliang's spiritual power and a Cloud-Unraveling Pill to break through to the late Void Refinement stage.
• Song Wen spent eight years in the Source-Qi Death Domain stabilizing his cultivation while the Nether Fox advanced to the middle stage of the fifth rank.
• Song Wen disguised himself as a mortal and went to Luyang City to watch for Six Baleful Hall cultivators, avoiding the city’s water guards and finding little food or comfort there.
• After more than a month in Luyang City without seeing any corpse cultivators, Song Wen saw six righteous-path cultivators with Integrated Body Realm cultivation arrive.

Song Wen fled Six Baleful Hall as six righteous-path Body Integration cultivators surrounded it and confronted Wei Gu and Gong Tianzong. The battle began with the righteous cultivators’ formation sword striking Gong Tianzong’s corpse coffin and driving it into the ground.

• Song Wen recognized Bai Wei and five other righteous-path Body Integration cultivators surrounding the Rift Valley, then fled without using spiritual power.
• The six cultivators formed a barrier around Six Baleful Hall, and Wei Gu and Gong Tianzong appeared within it.
• Jian Xiao accused Six Baleful Hall of slaughtering mortals and serving the Divine Blood Sect, while Wei Gu mocked the righteous cultivators and probed whether Mahayana cultivators were present.
• Jian Xiao ordered the six cultivators to attack with a giant sword formed by their barrier.
• Gong Tianzong sent a giant blood-red corpse coffin to meet the sword, but the impact shattered its corpse qi and smashed the coffin into the ground.

Song Wen rescued Bai Wei from the energy storm after she offered him a Heavenly Dipper Body Integration Pill, then carried her into the Source-Qi Death Domain. There, he demanded the pill, but Bai Wei questioned his identity, leaving Song Wen threatening her with his spear.

• The black wolf Void Demon’s divine-sense attack incapacitated Bai Wei, causing Jian Xiao’s formation to collapse and the barrier to shatter.
• The resulting energy storm erased Luyang City and swept Bai Wei toward Song Wen as he tried to escape.
• Bai Wei begged Song Wen to save her and offered a Heavenly Dipper Body Integration Pill, so Song Wen used a talisman and dragged her underground.
• Song Wen carried Bai Wei south into the Source-Qi Death Domain, where he emerged and asked her for the pill.
• Bai Wei asked whether Song Wen knew her and then questioned which sect he belonged to, so Song Wen aimed a spear at her abdomen and challenged her claim to possess the pill.

Song Wen bargained with the severely injured Bai Wei for a Heavenly Dipper Body Integration Pill and brought her away from the Source-Qi Death Domain. When her divine soul began to collapse, Shadow Void revealed that Soul Source Essence could save her if Song Wen found an Ember Abyss Jade to contain it.

• Bai Wei swore to provide Song Wen with a Heavenly Dipper Body Integration Pill within a hundred years and promised not to harm him.
• Song Wen took Bai Wei aboard his flying ship and helped her refine pills, but her damaged divine soul worsened as they traveled.
• Bai Wei asked Song Wen to take her to Taitan City and entrusted him with a final message for her disciple, Qiao Mengyu, if she died.
• Shadow Void told Song Wen that he could heal Bai Wei with Soul Source Essence, but the essence vanished when exposed to the outside world.
• Shadow Void explained that Ember Abyss Jade, found in places dense with Source Qi, could contain Soul Source Essence.

Song Wen used Soul Source Essence from his sea of consciousness to repair Bai Wei’s damaged sea of consciousness and divine soul. After seven days, Bai Wei’s divine soul opened its eyes, and she awoke in the cave with Song Wen close beside her.

• Shadow Void told Song Wen he could transfer Soul Source Essence by constructing a passage between their seas of consciousness.
• Song Wen practiced forming a narrow passage, then carried Bai Wei to a cave and set up a concealment formation.
• Song Wen connected their brows and opened a passage into Bai Wei’s undefended sea of consciousness.
• Song Wen sent Soul Source Essence through the passage and entered Bai Wei’s sea of consciousness to guide it onto her cracked divine soul.
• Song Wen continued healing Bai Wei for seven days until most of the cracks in her divine soul were repaired.
• Bai Wei’s divine soul opened its eyes, and her physical eyes opened as she stared at Song Wen.

Song Wen healed Bai Wei, received her gratitude, and left to return to Cloud Creek Valley while she headed back to Jade Spirit Palace. A Mystic Firmament Sect cultivator ambushed him and demanded Bai Wei’s whereabouts, so Song Wen pretended to surrender and offered to lead him to her.

• Song Wen explained that his secret art had weakened his divine soul while healing Bai Wei, and she gave him sixty thousand high-grade spirit stones and a communication jade slip in thanks.
• Bai Wei asked why Song Wen had hidden in Luyang City and promised to investigate the battle between the three great sects and Six Baleful Hall.
• Song Wen left the Cave and chose to fly toward Cloud Creek Valley rather than risk going to Luyang City.
• A black-robed cultivator struck Song Wen from the air and threatened him with Myriad Thunders Devouring the Body if he used an Earth-Escape Talisman.
• Shadow Void reported that the attacker was an injured Integrated Body Middle Stage cultivator, and Song Wen feigned terror and offered to lead him to Bai Wei.

Song Wen lured Xuan Qu into the Source-Qi Death Domain, where he revealed his identity as a void demon and attacked. Xuan Qu escaped with a lightning talisman, but Song Wen tracked him down and beheaded him.

• Xuan Qu promised to keep Song Wen by his side if Song Wen led him to Bai Wei, and Song Wen said she was in the Source-Qi Death Domain.
• Xuan Qu and Song Wen found the ravine where Bai Wei had fled, but her traces had vanished.
• Xuan Qu sensed a void demon hidden in Song Wen's body, and Song Wen's divine-sense attack disrupted Xuan Qu's attempt to activate his treasures.
• Xuan Qu escaped with a lightning talisman, and Song Wen tracked his trail using the Dream-Floating True Eye.
• Song Wen caught up with the injured Xuan Qu fifty thousand li away, severed his arm, and beheaded him with the Soul-Splitting Blade.

Song Wen interrogated Xuan Qu’s divine soul after defeating him, learning about the battle at Luyang City, Xuan Qu’s obsession with Bai Wei, and his lightning talismans. Xuan Qu explained the Mystic Thunder Nine Heavens Escape Art, leaving Song Wen eager to test his own talent in lightning arts.

• Song Wen burned Xuan Qu’s remains to ash, then suppressed Xuan Qu’s divine soul in his sea of consciousness and healed it enough to prevent it from dispersing.
• Xuan Qu told Song Wen he had left the battle at Luyang City to pursue Song Wen and Bai Wei, but lost their trail in the Source-Qi Death Domain and did not know how the battle ended.
• Xuan Qu revealed that he had loved Bai Wei for four thousand years and wanted to kill her after learning she had been involved with a demonic cultivator, whom he believed was a Mahayana Realm cultivator.
• Song Wen asked about Xuan Qu’s Mystic Thunder Nine Heavens Talisman, and Xuan Qu said he had bought the remaining one from his sect.
• Xuan Qu explained that the Mystic Thunder Nine Heavens Escape Art was one of the Mystic Firmament Sect’s three great escape arts, and Song Wen became interested in testing his lightning talent.

Song Wen inventoried Xuan Qu’s treasures, identified two Supreme-grade Spirit Stones, and prepared to strengthen his gu worms. A month later, he met Bai Wei and her disciple Qiao Mengyu to discuss the battle in Luyang City and another matter.

• Song Wen devoured Xuan Qu’s soul, returned to Cloud Creek Valley, and examined Xuan Qu’s storage ring.
• Song Wen found two Supreme-grade Spirit Stones, then realized he needed blood food for his Nether Fox and gu worms.
• Song Wen decided to refine King Gu Pills for his fourth-tier Shadow King Gu and noted that he still needed materials for a Beast Soul Pill.
• A month later, Song Wen contacted Bai Wei in Taitan City and arranged to meet her at Auspicious Jade Mountain.
• Bai Wei arrived aboard a flying ship with Qiao Mengyu, introduced her disciple to Song Wen, and asked about his recovery.

Song Wen learned that Six Baleful Hall had fled into the Source-Qi Death Domain after Jian Xiao turned the battle at Luyang City, making his search for them difficult. Bai Wei asked him to heal her worsening divine-soul injuries, and he agreed in exchange for her alchemy insights and True Yang Grass and Bright-Purity Herb.

• Qiao Mengyu said Song Wen resembled an old acquaintance she had not seen in forty years.
• Bai Wei explained that Jian Xiao used a Profound Heaven Spirit Treasure to wound Six Baleful Hall’s leaders, who escaped into the Source-Qi Death Domain with their subordinates.
• Bai Wei promised to watch for news of Six Baleful Hall and said she would refine a Heavenly Dipper Body Integration Pill for Song Wen.
• Bai Wei asked Song Wen to repair her worsening injuries in her sea of consciousness, and he agreed to help.
• Song Wen requested Bai Wei’s alchemy insights and True Yang Grass and Bright-Purity Herb, and Bai Wei gave him the jade slip before leaving to fetch the herbs.

Song Wen began treating Bai Wei’s damaged sea of consciousness by transferring Soul Source Essence into it. As the chapter ended, the first signs of recovery appeared.

• Qiao Mengyu told Song Wen that he resembled an old acquaintance who shared her feud with the Six Baleful Hall, then explained that her master had severed their contact.
• Bai Wei returned with one thousand Bright-Purity Herbs and one hundred True Yang Grass, promising to provide the remaining herbs later.
• Bai Wei took Song Wen to a secluded valley, where Qiao Mengyu stood watch while they entered the Ship Pavilion.
• Song Wen examined Bai Wei’s sea of consciousness and found it still riddled with holes.
• Song Wen transferred Soul Source Essence through a passage between their seas of consciousness, and Bai Wei’s damaged sea showed faint signs of recovery.

Song Wen treated Bai Wei's damaged sea of consciousness, enduring repeated interruptions as she struggled to stay still, until he fully restored it. After receiving his promised payment, he asked Bai Wei and Qiao Mengyu to keep his healing ability secret and departed.

• Song Wen guided Soul Source Essence into Bai Wei's damaged sea of consciousness, where he saw her soul's true appearance.
• Bai Wei's movements repeatedly broke the connection between their seas of consciousness, prolonging the treatment.
• After nearly half a month of treatment and three additional days, Song Wen completely healed Bai Wei's sea of consciousness.
• Bai Wei paid Song Wen the promised one hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones, and Qiao Mengyu congratulated her on recovering.
• Song Wen asked Bai Wei and Qiao Mengyu to keep his soul-healing ability secret, then flew away.

Song Wen refined a Beast Soul Pill and used it to help his Shadow King Gu advance, but the insect fell into an unexplained sleep after reaching the fifth tier. He left it in Nether Fox’s care, traveled to Taitan City, and met Bai Wei at Auspicious Jade Mountain to receive True Yang Grass for making Blood Luo Pills.

• Song Wen completed a Beast Soul Pill and fed it to the Shadow King Gu, which began advancing inside a Spirit-Gathering Formation.
• After nine months, the Shadow King Gu broke through to the fifth tier and collapsed into an unresponsive sleep; Song Wen could not determine what was wrong.
• Song Wen left the valley after asking Nether Fox to watch over the gu insect and removing the formations around the pavilion so it could enter.
• Song Wen bought demon beast souls in Taitan City and contacted Bai Wei, arranging to meet at Auspicious Jade Mountain.
• Bai Wei gave Song Wen nine hundred True Yang Grass plants, and Song Wen considered how the herbs would help him refine Blood Luo Pills and improve his cultivation.

Song Wen returned to Cloud Creek Valley and found that a black-robed cultivator had taken the Nether Fox, four Gu insects, and the spirit herbs, leaving Guan Lin behind with a message directing him to the Li Clan in Auspicious Celebration City. After confirming Guan Lin’s account and removing the spiritual power planted in her dantian, Song Wen was left to investigate the mysterious abduction.

• Song Wen learned from Bai Wei that Six Baleful Hall had not reappeared, then flew back toward Cloud Creek Valley.
• Song Wen found the valley’s formation breached and its treasures and creatures missing, so he used Shadow Void to scout before approaching Guan Lin’s hiding place.
• Song Wen sent his Heaven-and-Earth Avatar to find Guan Lin, who explained that a black-robed cultivator had taken the Nether Fox, four Gu insects, and spirit herbs after a Gu insect emitted purplish-red light.
• Guan Lin told Song Wen that the black-robed cultivator had left a message directing him to the Li Clan in Auspicious Celebration City and had planted spiritual power in her dantian as a one-month death threat.
• Song Wen confirmed Guan Lin’s account and dissolved the foreign spiritual power in her dantian.

Song Wen sought a way to draw out a Void Refinement cultivator of the Li Clan and seized on Young Master Ming’s public violence to provoke one. He fled with Ming impaled on his flying sword, while the mustached man rushed to summon a Li Clan elder.

• Song Wen watched the Li Clan’s residence and decided he needed to draw out one of its Void Refinement cultivators to find clues about the missing Nether Fox and Gu insects.
• Young Master Ming whipped a Golden Core woman to death for refusing him, while his mustached Spirit Transformation attendant helped him.
• Song Wen attacked Young Master Ming, pierced him with a flying sword, and carried him away as Li Clan cultivators tried and failed to stop him.
• The mustached man flew toward the Li Clan residence to summon a Void Refinement elder, while the other cultivators chose not to pursue or report the incident.

Song Wen used Young Master Ming as bait to confront Li Rui and Li Xinxin, but Li Rui denied that the Li Clan had robbed Song Wen’s cave abode. After Li Zhengqing rescued Young Master Ming, Song Wen unleashed golden lightning at Li Rui, leaving the Li Clan scrambling to defend themselves.

• Song Wen pinned Young Master Ming at the bottom of a fissure and hid in a pond while his Heaven-and-Earth Avatar guarded the valley.
• Li Rui and Li Xinxin arrived, and the Avatar identified itself as Jiang Yushan and demanded the return of the treasures taken from its cave abode.
• Li Rui denied that the Li Clan had robbed the cave, explaining that all six of its Void Refinement cultivators had stayed home for half a month.
• Li Xinxin attacked the Avatar as Li Zhengqing tunneled underground and rescued Young Master Ming.
• The Avatar summoned golden lightning against Li Rui, while Li Zhengqing expanded a bronze bell to shield Li Rui, Li Xinxin, and Young Master Ming.

Song Wen defeated Li Rui and Li Zhengqing, then took them and Young Master Ming hostage. He sent Li Xinxin to tell Li Tianhe that the Li Clan must find and surrender the person who looted his cave abode, while he carried the captives away.

• Two blood-red beams weakened Li Rui's flying sword and bronze bell before golden lightning battered him into a crater.
• A black-cloaked figure attacked Li Zhengqing with nine blades, striking his sea of consciousness and leaving him incapacitated.
• A saber attack wounded Li Rui, and a second bolt of golden lightning left him severely injured but alive.
• Song Wen demanded that Li Xinxin tell Li Tianhe to find the cave-abode looter or face the deaths of the captives and continued attacks on the Li Clan.
• Li Xinxin left without Young Master Ming, and Song Wen took the three captives and his Heaven-and-Earth Avatar away.

Song Wen restrained Li Rui, Li Zhengqing, and Young Master Ming with sealed Blood Luo Pills, then used his avatar to bargain with Li Tianhe over their lives. Li Tianhe agreed to search for the rogue cultivator who looted Song Wen’s cave abode, and Song Wen remained hidden until Shadow Void confirmed the elder had left.

• Song Wen fed Li Rui and Li Zhengqing three sealed Blood Luo Pills each and Young Master Ming one, then blocked their meridians and warned them not to force the seals.
• Song Wen buried himself in a pit while his Heaven-and-Earth Avatar guarded the three captives with the Chasing Sun Spear.
• Li Tianhe arrived using three soul lamps to track the captives, and his exchange with the avatar became a standoff over whether Song Wen would kill them.
• Song Wen’s avatar threatened Li Tianhe with the deaths of Li Rui and Li Zhengqing, then described the rogue cultivator’s likely cultivation, gender, and water-element technique.
• Li Tianhe agreed to search for the rogue cultivator and promised to keep the three Li Clan members safe; after he secretly lingered nearby, the avatar detected him and sent him away.
• Song Wen asked Shadow Void whether Li Tianhe had left, and Shadow Void said he should have.