Recaps

Song Wen, Xue Cong, and Heng Ziping were cast out of Leng Zhi’s tornado amid a lightning assault, and they turned back toward the abyss when the astral winds weakened. The winds reversed before anyone could escape, sending Xue Cong and an injured Leng Zhi plunging into the depths.

• Leng Zhi expelled Song Wen, Xue Cong, and Heng Ziping from the tornado to stabilize it against silver lightning, then continued upward alone.
• Song Wen realized the astral winds were about to reverse and plunged toward the abyss floor; Xue Cong and Heng Ziping also turned downward.
• Song Wen ignored Xue Cong’s request to join forces and sped ahead using lightning, while Heng Ziping followed on a giant sword and mocked Xue Cong for relying on others.
• Xue Cong hardened his resolve to rely on himself, but the astral winds reversed and dragged him downward.
• Leng Zhi appeared above Xue Cong, badly injured and falling into the abyss with the reversed winds.

Song Wen survived the gale by using the Life-Substitution Technique to escape into a dark space beneath the caverns, where he encountered Heng Ziping, Xue Cong, and Leng Zhi. Heng Ziping accused Leng Zhi of betraying them and asked Song Wen to join him against her, but Song Wen refused and stayed out of their conflict.

• Shadow Void warned Song Wen to escape downward, and Song Wen used the Life-Substitution Technique to evade the gale and survive the impact.
• Song Wen found himself in a dark, airless space beneath the two caverns and considered searching for Pure Origin Heavenly Dew.
• Lightning snakes erupted from the caverns as the gale weakened, and Heng Ziping descended, followed by Xue Cong and Leng Zhi.
• Heng Ziping accused Leng Zhi of setting them up and urged Song Wen to join him against her.
• Song Wen refused to get involved, and Heng Ziping challenged him as cowardly and useless.

Song Wen avoided a fight with Heng Ziping, Leng Zhi, and Xue Cong, then followed Shadow Void's guidance to find Pure Origin Heavenly Dew on enormous stone pillars in the abyss. After Leng Zhi and Xue Cong discovered his search, Song Wen doubled back toward the pillar's base.

• Song Wen warned that fighting might disrupt the astral energy and endanger everyone, so Heng Ziping agreed to postpone his grudge against Leng Zhi until they left the abyss.
• The four descended to the abyss's bottom, where Shadow Void directed Song Wen east toward a huge stone pillar.
• Song Wen collected nine drops of Pure Origin Heavenly Dew from the first pillar and discovered more on a second pillar.
• Leng Zhi and Xue Cong found Song Wen collecting dew and began searching opposite sides of the pillar.
• Song Wen flew upward, then turned back and swept toward the bottom of the pillar as Leng Zhi and Xue Cong searched above.

Song Wen collected Pure Origin Heavenly Dew before Leng Zhi and Xue Cong confronted him, but Heng Ziping betrayed Leng Zhi’s plan and helped turn the fight against her. Song Wen tracked Leng Zhi to another stone pillar, where she prepared to fight him despite her injuries.

• Song Wen collected his twenty-first drop of Pure Origin Heavenly Dew, and Leng Zhi and Xue Cong demanded that he hand over his dew.
• Heng Ziping refused Leng Zhi’s offer to join forces and proposed that he and Song Wen kill her and Xue Cong instead.
• Leng Zhi fled using the Mystic Thunder Nine Heavens Escape Art, and Song Wen tracked her across the abyss with his Dream-Floating True Eye.
• Song Wen caught up with Leng Zhi beside a different giant stone pillar, where she threatened to kill him despite her injuries.

Song Wen killed Leng Zhi and searched for the missing Pure Origin Heavenly Dew before discovering an Immortal's Tomb. Heng Ziping joined him and revealed that the astral energy waterfall had become too chaotic for them to escape, leaving them to consider entering the tomb.

• Song Wen used Shadow Void to incapacitate Leng Zhi, devoured her soul and blood essence, and found only three drops of Pure Origin Heavenly Dew in her storage ring.
• Song Wen searched the stone pillar, found twelve empty pits, and suspected Heng Ziping had taken the missing dew from nearby pillars.
• Song Wen discovered an entrance marked Immortal's Tomb but hesitated to enter because of the dangers within.
• Heng Ziping arrived and told Song Wen that Xue Cong was dead and the astral energy waterfall was changing direction too frequently for them to escape.
• Heng Ziping suggested entering the tomb to look for treasure or another exit, and Song Wen invited him to go first.

Song Wen and Heng Ziping tried to escape the tomb’s surroundings, but a wave of foul aura and surging Astral Qi forced them toward the entrance. Song Wen reached the tomb, where he discovered that a restriction trapped divine sense and prevented him from controlling a magical artifact at a distance.

• Heng Ziping told Song Wen that the four stone pillars and Astral Qi vents might be the limbs and nostrils of a vast tomb-guarding stone beast.
• Song Wen and Heng Ziping turned back toward the tomb when foul aura swept behind them and Astral Qi blocked their way out.
• Song Wen used silver lightning to clear a path through the foul aura while Heng Ziping followed behind him.
• The Astral Qi and foul aura collided, and their shockwave shattered the men’s spiritual power shields; Heng Ziping protected himself with flying swords and a black talisman, while Gou Jun was torn apart.
• Song Wen used five Substitute Death Puppets to teleport to the tomb entrance and entered the passage, where a restriction trapped his divine sense and caused his Soul-Splitting Blade to fall from the air.

Song Wen followed a bloodstained passage into the Immortal's Tomb, where a gravity trap dropped him into a burial chamber containing four Integrated Body Realm cultivators. Wang Qiuyue saved him, and Heng Ziping then accused him of being a corpse-path evil cultivator with Pure Origin Heavenly Dew and urged Jian Xiao to kill him.

• Song Wen found fresh blood on the steps and cautiously followed the passage, but after eight turns the stairs collapsed beneath him under a powerful gravity restriction.
• Song Wen fell into a burial chamber and discovered Wang Qiuyue, Jian Xiao, Gu Huang, and Tang He waiting below.
• Wang Qiuyue slowed Song Wen's fall and saved him, explaining that she had promised Bai Wei to look after him.
• The fallen stairs restored themselves and collapsed again, dropping Heng Ziping into the chamber, where Jian Xiao rescued him.
• Heng Ziping spotted Song Wen and told Jian Xiao that Song Wen was a corpse-path evil cultivator carrying at least twenty drops of Pure Origin Heavenly Dew, asking Jian Xiao to kill him.

Wang Qiuyue revealed her true strength to protect Song Wen from Gu Huang, who accused him of being a Divine Blood Sect cultivator. After the confrontation subsided, Heng Ziping explained how he and Song Wen had reached the tomb and described the trapped Wind-Heaven Divine Ox.

• Heng Ziping accused Song Wen of being a corpse cultivator, and Gu Huang claimed Song Wen must belong to the Divine Blood Sect because he used lightning arts.
• Gu Huang demanded that Wang Qiuyue hand Song Wen over, but she refused and revealed her Integrated Body Late Stage strength and a colossal dragon phantom.
• Tang He and Jian Xiao declined to join Gu Huang against Wang Qiuyue, and Gu Huang retreated after Jian Xiao asked her to let the dispute end.
• Jian Xiao questioned Heng Ziping about how he and Song Wen had reached the tomb without crossing the foul qi barrier.
• Heng Ziping explained that they had followed an astral qi waterfall from the head of the Wind-Heaven Divine Ox, and Jian Xiao described how the trapped beast had attacked the other cultivators as they crossed the barrier.

Song Wen was pressured by Jian Xiao to open the Bronze Corpse Coffin in the tomb chamber. When he lifted the lid, a mutilated, charred corpse opened its scarlet eyes and stared at him.

• Song Wen learned that Jian Xiao's group had disturbed the Wind-Heaven Divine Ox and thanked Wang Qiuyue for helping him.
• Jian Xiao urged Song Wen to open the coffin and threatened that his identity as a demonic cultivator might be exposed if he refused.
• Wang Qiuyue let Song Wen decide for himself, and Song Wen accepted Jian Xiao's demand while preparing a Minor Teleportation Talisman and the Substitution Death Spell.
• Song Wen cautiously climbed onto the platform and examined the ordinary-looking Bronze Corpse Coffin before lifting its lid.
• A mutilated corpse with a charred body and missing limbs opened its scarlet eyes and stared at Song Wen.

Song Wen and the other cultivators encountered a powerful corpse inside the tomb, where a formation pinned most of them down. Song Wen’s Minor Teleportation Talisman moved him only a short distance, and he began teleporting again as the corpse mocked his escape attempt.

• The corpse rose from its coffin and declared that the six intruders would become living sacrifices, while Song Wen suspected it was trying to escape its confinement.
• Jian Xiao asked the corpse to let them leave, but Wang Qiuyue attacked it with a phantom dragon claw.
• The corpse activated the Soul-Devouring Blood Sacrifice Formation, which crushed five cultivators to the floor while Wang Qiuyue struggled to remain standing.
• The formation’s blood-red patterns crawled toward the pinned cultivators as Song Wen studied the chamber and its restrictions.
• Song Wen used a Minor Teleportation Talisman, but the gravity restriction limited him to a short jump; he activated another talisman while the corpse taunted him.

Song Wen destroyed the Bronze Corpse Coffin, breaking the formation and freeing the others while also removing the tomb’s protective restrictions. He and the others attacked the mutilated corpse together, but it retaliated with transparent blades.

• Song Wen teleported beside the Bronze Corpse Coffin and struck it with a Lightning Sphere after realizing it might be the formation’s core.
• The coffin shattered, dissipating the blood-colored markings and collapsing the tomb’s defensive formation.
• The mutilated corpse revealed that the coffin had been its Corpse-Nurturing Coffin and attacked Song Wen in a rage.
• Song Wen used a Minor Teleportation Talisman to evade the corpse and urged Jian Xiao, Gu Huang, Tang He, Wang Qiuyue, and Heng Ziping to join the fight.
• The five attacked the mutilated corpse and blasted it into a crater, where it fired transparent blades at them.

Song Wen stole a wooden box, captured the corpse’s soul, and escaped the tomb chamber after Jian Xiao attacked him. Wang Qiuyue confronted Jian Xiao for betraying their benefactor, while Gu Huang pursued Song Wen to settle an old blood debt.

• Song Wen evaded the corpse’s divine sense attack, captured its soul with a blood-red tentacle, and left its body in the side chamber.
• Jian Xiao recovered and questioned Song Wen about the corpse’s death as Song Wen headed toward the tomb’s ceiling.
• Jian Xiao attacked Song Wen after discovering the empty side chamber, but Song Wen used the Substitute Death Art and blasted open an escape route.
• Wang Qiuyue blocked Jian Xiao and accused him of repaying Song Wen’s kindness with enmity.
• Gu Huang regained consciousness, declared that Song Wen had used the same Substitute Death Art as the demonic cultivator who severed his arm, and pursued him.

Gu Huang pursued Song Wen through the Astral Qi Waterfall, determined to avenge his severed arm and seize the Void Demon. Song Wen used the shifting astral gale to try to drag Gu Huang toward the Wind-Heaven Divine Ox, but Gu Huang’s flying sword tore apart Song Wen’s giant corpse form.

• Gu Huang chose the Astral Qi Waterfall as the likeliest route Gou Jun would take and flew after him.
• Gu Huang found Song Wen in the astral gale and attacked, while Song Wen prepared a Minor Teleportation Talisman to escape.
• When the astral gale began changing direction, Song Wen put away the talisman and transformed into a thirty-foot giant corpse.
• Gu Huang protected himself from Shadow Void’s attack with a pearl and realized Song Wen was trying to send him into the Wind-Heaven Divine Ox.
• The flying sword pierced Song Wen’s giant corpse and minced it into bloody flesh, disrupting his assault on Gu Huang.

Song Wen drove Gu Huang into the astral caverns, escaped the abyss, and raced toward the Turbid Spirit Realm’s exit. Elsewhere, Hong Yi fled a giant eagle and neared the exit while struggling to maintain her pagoda’s protection.

• Song Wen struck Gu Huang’s shield with the corpse puppet, then used the Void Demon’s power to disrupt Gu Huang’s attack as they fell toward the astral caverns.
• Gu Huang smashed into the cavern wall, suffered severe injuries, and anchored himself there with his natal flying sword while Song Wen escaped beneath the astral winds.
• Song Wen fled west, entered the astral-wind waterfall when its direction changed, and raced east toward the Turbid Spirit Realm’s exit.
• Hong Yi fled a giant eagle through a mountain range, using a golden pagoda to withstand its hurricanes as she approached the exit.
• A gleam of cold light shot toward the giant eagle’s eye.

Gou Jun wounded the giant eagle and saved Hong Yi, who agreed to travel with Song Wen toward the Turbid Spirit Realm's exit. Song Wen sent Hong Yi ahead to scout for Jian Xiao and, after learning she returned alone, thought of a way to keep his treasures for himself.

• Gou Jun used a series of feints and a hidden blade strike to wound the giant eagle and drive it away from Hong Yi.
• Hong Yi thanked Gou Jun, admitted she was injured and low on spiritual power, and agreed to accompany Song Wen toward the exit.
• Song Wen asked Hong Yi to check whether Ten Thousand Swords Pavilion cultivators were waiting at the exit, then hid in a muddy pool while Shadow Void watched for danger.
• Shadow Void told Song Wen that Hong Yi had returned alone, and Song Wen emerged from hiding.
• Song Wen suddenly thought of a way to claim all the treasures he had obtained for himself.

Song Wen and Hong Yi left the Turbid Spirit Realm with a native man, then faced questioning from Fan Kang about their early return and their gains. Fan Kang doubted Song Wen’s honesty and demanded to inspect his storage ring.

• Hong Yi waited for Song Wen, who returned with Gou Jun and a native man he claimed to have rescued from a flying beast.
• Hong Yi assured Song Wen that the Turbid Spirit Realm exit was clear, and the two traveled there and entered the vortex with the native.
• Song Wen, Hong Yi, and the native emerged in the Cloudpass Mountain Range, where Fan Kang questioned them about returning early.
• Hong Yi explained that she had been injured and saved by Song Wen, while Song Wen handed Fan Kang a pouch containing his claimed gains.
• Fan Kang accused Song Wen of hiding treasures and demanded that he hand over his storage ring for inspection.

Song Wen disguised himself as Gou Jun and tried to evade Fan Kang’s search for hidden storage rings. He revealed that the body Fan Kang confronted was a clone, while the native vanished, leaving Fan Kang without his target.

• Song Wen handed Fan Kang his storage ring, and Fan Kang found two seventh-rank spirit herbs from the Turbid Spirit Realm but no other rings.
• Fan Kang searched Song Wen and the captured native, while Zhao Ce suggested cutting Song Wen open to find a concealed ring.
• Fan Kang promised to take Gou Jun as his disciple if he proved his innocence, and Hong Yi urged him to accept.
• Song Wen activated the ring in Fan Kang’s hand and swung a flying sword at Fan Kang, then exploded under Fan Kang’s pressure.
• Fan Kang discovered Song Wen’s body was a wooden clone and saw that the native had vanished, leaving silver talisman fragments behind.

Fan Kang failed to find Gou Jun, while Song Wen escaped detection and returned to Cloud Creek Valley. There, he tried to question the deranged divine soul of a mutilated corpse but could not make it reveal anything.

• Fan Kang searched the surrounding mountains for Gou Jun, then decided to wait for Bai Wei to emerge from the Turbid Spirit Realm before seeking information.
• Song Wen hid underground until the sects departed, then surfaced and traveled back to Cloud Creek Valley.
• Song Wen found Guan Lin tending the Bodhi Spirit Stamen, with some of the plants having reached four hundred years of age.
• Song Wen entered his pavilion and tried to question the mutilated corpse's divine soul, but it only threatened him.
• Song Wen ordered Shadow Void to whip the divine soul until it nearly dissipated, then stopped it and considered healing the soul to learn the corpse's secrets.

Song Wen studied a jade slip describing how to upgrade his Blood Sea Seal into the Undying Blood Sea Yama Emperor Seal, but realized the required netherworld sand would be prohibitively expensive and scarce. In Taitan City, he learned from Bai Wei that Gu Huang had survived their fight and that Song Wen’s reputation among the three great sects had grown, though Gu Huang had not revealed Song Wen’s methods to outsiders.

• Song Wen examined the refinement method for the Undying Blood Sea Yama Emperor Seal and learned it could be made by adding netherworld sand to his Blood Sea Seal.
• Song Wen calculated that he needed more than a hundred thousand jin of netherworld sand, costing at least five hundred thousand superior spirit stones, and decided to visit Taitan City.
• Song Wen contacted Bai Wei, who said she had found heavenly soul lingzhi and expected to locate soul-nirvana grass within a year.
• Bai Wei told Song Wen that Gu Huang had survived and that Song Wen’s deeds had become widely known among high-level cultivators of the three great sects.
• Song Wen learned that Gu Huang had not disclosed his methods to outsiders, easing his concern that his techniques would be exposed.

Song Wen negotiated with Wang Qiuyue, trading the Heaven-and-Earth Avatar Technique and the method for refining the Undying Blood Sea Yama Emperor Seal for a chance to learn what was in Tang He's wooden box and information about netherworld sand. After learning Fan Kang had put a bounty on him in Taitan City, Song Wen left to seek the sand near Pingxi City.

• Wang Qiuyue asked Song Wen for his avatar technique and the contents of the wooden box he had taken from the Immortal's Tomb.
• Song Wen offered Wang Qiuyue the Heaven-and-Earth Avatar Technique and the refinement method in exchange for a copy of any cultivation method or secret technique found in Tang He's box.
• Wang Qiuyue told Song Wen that netherworld sand could be found in a yin-shrouded desert east of Pingxi City, though evil cultivators frequented the area.
• Song Wen left copies of both techniques in his inn room for Wang Qiuyue and learned that Fan Kang had issued a bounty for his capture or death.
• Song Wen sent Wang Qiuyue the inn's location, left Taitan City, and flew away.

Song Wen posed as Guan Liang, Fan Kang’s disciple, to pressure Pingxi City’s rulers into revealing their Netherworld Sand. The chapter ended with him rejecting Wen Hua’s offer of ten jin and demanding more.

• Song Wen inspected Pingxi City and entered a shop after sensing yin energy in its rear courtyard.
• Song Wen claimed to be Guan Liang, Fan Kang’s disciple, and demanded Netherworld Sand from the shop’s manager.
• The manager directed Song Wen to Nether Calamity Valley and said Wen Hua was away, so Song Wen gave him an hour to summon her.
• Wen Hua, Ke Feng, and Di Cang met Song Wen outside the city and offered him ten jin of Netherworld Sand as a gift.
• Song Wen angrily dismissed the offer, while Wen Hua warned him not to let greed go too far.

Song Wen, posing as Guan Liang, negotiated to buy a huge quantity of netherworld sand and followed Ke Feng to the mining operation in Nether Calamity Valley. After seeing the vein and the mortals forced to mine it, he doubted they could meet his order within three months.

• Song Wen agreed to pay three superior spirit stones per jin for at least a hundred thousand jin of netherworld sand and gave Ke Feng a hundred thousand superior spirit stones as a deposit.
• Wen Hua revealed that the group had found a netherworld sand vein in Nether Calamity Valley and promised to deliver the order within three months.
• Ke Feng led Song Wen into the valley and through several barriers to a vast underground mining shaft.
• Song Wen saw Golden Core ghost cultivators whip the mortal miners and noted that the mine's yin energy would likely kill them within a year.
• Song Wen questioned whether the tens of thousands of miners could produce a hundred thousand jin in three months.

Song Wen accompanied Ke Feng to the Nether Calamity Valley mines, then rejected Ke Feng’s gruesome entertainment and invitations to stay at his residence. After reaching an inn in Pingxi City, Song Wen ordered Shadow Void to monitor Ke Feng, Wen Hua, and Di Cang, and learned that only Ke Feng had returned home.

• Ke Feng claimed his group could gather over one hundred thousand jin of Netherworld Sand because they had fifty mine shafts and stored reserves.
• Song Wen watched a mine slave fall to his death, and an old woman delivered Ke Feng the corpses of dead slaves and the Netherworld Sand mined that month.
• Ke Feng took Song Wen to a ravine, where vicious dogs devoured the corpses, and proposed capturing women and children for their screams; Song Wen refused.
• Ke Feng offered to take Song Wen to a brothel and later to his residence, but Song Wen declined both invitations and asked for an inn.
• Ke Feng escorted Song Wen to Leisure Cloud Pavilion, where Song Wen had Shadow Void watch the three men’s residences.
• Shadow Void reported that Ke Feng had returned to his residence, while Wen Hua and Di Cang were absent.

Song Wen suspected Wen Hua, Ke Feng, and Di Cang were plotting against him, so he used his Heaven-and-Earth Avatar to keep watch while he hid outside Pingxi City. When the trade was arranged, the real Guan Liang appeared, and Wen Hua accused the avatar of being an impostor.

• Song Wen learned that Ke Feng had visited Wen Hua's residence and suspected the three cultivators might be plotting to kill him.
• Song Wen hid in a ravine and controlled his Heaven-and-Earth Avatar, which returned to the inn and continued to observe Ke Feng.
• Ke Feng told the Heaven-and-Earth Avatar that the Netherworld Sand was ready, but Song Wen refused to trade at Wen Hua's residence and proposed meeting outside the city.
• Wen Hua, Ke Feng, and Di Cang arrived at the meeting place with a young man whom Wen Hua identified as the real Guan Liang.
• The Heaven-and-Earth Avatar accused Wen Hua of bringing an impostor, but Wen Hua laughed and declared the avatar was impersonating Guan Liang.

Song Wen learned that Guan Liang and the three miners had mistaken his avatar for the real Young Master Guan Liang, while Fan Kang had not come in person. After defeating and capturing them, Song Wen demanded their Netherworld Sand and sought information that could help him kill Fan Kang.

• Wen Hua explained that she and the others had suspected Song Wen was an impostor and sent Di Cang to report to Fan Kang.
• Guan Liang ordered Wen Hua, Ke Feng, and Di Cang to surround the Heaven-and-Earth Avatar, then attacked and destroyed it with his sword.
• Guan Liang recognized that his opponent was Gou Jun and tried to flee, but Song Wen struck him and the three others unconscious with an attack on their souls.
• Song Wen carried the four captives far away, severed their legs, and rejected Guan Liang's offer to persuade Fan Kang to withdraw his bounty.
• Song Wen demanded the Netherworld Sand and information about Fan Kang's weaknesses, and Wen Hua, Ke Feng, and Di Cang offered their stored supplies in exchange for their lives.