Recaps

Song Wen learned that Gu Huang’s desire to marry Ying Wu had turned into a wish to force his submission, then killed Ke Zheng after discovering he had lied about Ying Wu’s whereabouts. Song Wen found Ying Wu at Great Passage Lake and gave him a Jade Slip, whose contents immediately intrigued him.

• Ke Zheng told Song Wen how Gu Huang’s rejected marriage proposal and Ying Wu’s refusal had become a source of resentment and obsession for Gu Huang.
• Song Wen refused to let Ke Zheng return, killed him, and searched his soul for useful information about Ying Wu.
• Song Wen discovered that Ke Zheng had lied: Ying Wu often cultivated at Great Passage Lake, far beyond the Ten Thousand Swords Pavilion.
• Song Wen flew to Great Passage Lake and sent a Jade Slip toward the island where Ying Wu was staying.
• Ying Wu emerged from the island, examined the Jade Slip, and asked Song Wen whether he had personally done what it described.

Song Wen, posing as Ye Hua, gained Ying Wu’s trust with flattery and an argument about beauty and the Heavenly Dao, then accepted her invitation to visit her island. As they descended, he discovered that the mist concealed pits filled with demon beasts of many kinds and ranks.

• Song Wen praised Ying Wu and argued that beauty and ugliness were both manifestations of the Heavenly Dao, winning her agreement.
• Song Wen introduced himself as Ye Hua and said Wu Bo had told him about the place, prompting Ying Wu to curse Gu Huang.
• Ying Wu invited Song Wen to her island and offered to show him her spirit beast workshop.
• When Song Wen hesitated, Ying Wu swore a soul oath that she would not harm him if he did not act against her within Great Passage Lake.
• Song Wen accepted the invitation and followed Ying Wu through the mist toward the island.
• Song Wen discovered concealed pits among the island’s rocks containing demon beasts ranging from venomous insects to seventh-rank flood dragons.

Ying Wu showed Song Wen two artificially modified creatures and explained how he fused a seventh-tier coiling dragon vine with a Void Demon. After Song Wen sensed a mysterious resonance around Ying Wu, Ying Wu revealed that the vine still had a flaw he hoped Song Wen could fix.

• Ying Wu led Song Wen to a pit containing a monster assembled from several demonic creatures and said its potential was exhausted.
• Ying Wu showed Song Wen a coiling dragon vine that carried the aura of a Void Demon, and Song Wen recognized its unusual origin.
• Ying Wu spoke excitedly about the Heavenly Dao, briefly radiating a mysterious resonance that Song Wen dismissed as having little effect on him.
• Ying Wu explained that he made the hybrid by turning a Void Demon incorporeal, using turtledove feather grass to make its body turn woody, and guiding the vine's roots into it.
• Ying Wu asked Song Wen to help resolve a flaw in the powerful coiling dragon vine, and Song Wen wondered whether it could not grow stronger.

Ying Wu explained that his Void Dragon Vine could not reproduce, and Song Wen proposed that a rare herb might help him solve the problem. Song Wen then shocked Ying Wu by asking him to marry him.

• Ying Wu told Song Wen that the Void Dragon Vine could not reproduce by seeds, roots, or cuttings, and shared his theory that fusing it with a Beauty Serpent might restore that ability.
• Song Wen examined Ying Wu's jade slip and suggested replacing the poisonous Turtledove Feather Grass with Bodhi Spirit Stamen during the fusion process.
• Song Wen warned Ying Wu to keep the Bodhi Spirit Stamen secret because the Divine Blood Sect might bring disaster upon them and the Southern Nether Province sects.
• Ying Wu offered to repay Song Wen's help and said he would try to cultivate the herb from its intact roots.
• Song Wen hinted at a further treasure in his spirit beast pouch, then asked Ying Wu, “Would you consent to marry me?”

Song Wen gave Ying Wu the Beauty Serpent, easing her anger and winning her invitation to drink with him. After they shared the spirit wine, Ying Wu became drunk and offered him her body, while Song Wen remained clear-headed.

• Song Wen praised Ying Wu and revealed the fifth-rank Beauty Serpent, which she had long wanted to obtain.
• Ying Wu apologized for misjudging Song Wen and accepted the Beauty Serpent, while Song Wen asked only to visit her island again.
• Ying Wu invited Song Wen to a pavilion on the western shore and poured them both rare spirit wine.
• The wine clouded Song Wen’s consciousness, but the black hole in his sea of consciousness absorbed its power and restored his clarity.
• Ying Wu became drunk and told Song Wen she would not marry him but could give him her body.

Song Wen and Ying Wu spent several days together, after which Ying Wu made clear she had no romantic intentions and agreed to travel with him to Scarlet Firmament Province. Ying Wu revealed that her Void Dragon Vine could purify source qi, giving Song Wen hope that the Source-Qi Death Domain might be countered.

• Ying Wu told Song Wen she had slept with him to thank him and satisfy her curiosity, then warned him not to expect anything more.
• Song Wen asked Ying Wu about Thunder Hou blood, and she said rumors placed a Thunder Hou in the Annihilation Abyss of Scarlet Firmament Province.
• Ying Wu proposed that she and Song Wen travel to Scarlet Firmament Province together in three days to gather materials for the Beauty Serpent and Coiling Dragon Vine.
• Ying Wu explained that her Void Dragon Vine could imprison the Beauty Serpent and produce enough source qi to sustain it.
• Ying Wu revealed that the Void Dragon Vine could devour and purify source qi by transforming it into demon essence, and she imagined that many such vines could erase the Source-Qi Death Domain.

Song Wen and Ying Wu searched for Thunder Hou in the Annihilation Abyss but found no useful clues, then turned back toward Qiu Ning City. On the way, Song Wen rescued Kong Guan from Mystic Lightning Eagles, hoping the Kong Clan cultivator could share information about Thunder Hou.

• Ying Wu told Song Wen she still lacked Spirit-Nurturing Dew and Blood Grudge Sand, and explained that she had offended Azure Flame Sect elder Wen Xuan.
• Song Wen said he had found reports confirming Thunder Hou lived in the Annihilation Abyss but no information about their lair, and Ying Wu agreed to join his search.
• After more than a month in the Annihilation Abyss without finding Thunder Hou, Song Wen decided to return to Qiu Ning City to seek better information.
• Song Wen and Ying Wu ignored Kong Guan's first plea for help as Mystic Lightning Eagles pursued him, but Song Wen changed his mind after learning Kong Guan belonged to the Kong Clan.
• Song Wen used his black wings to strike the Mystic Lightning Eagles with silver lightning, killing two and driving the rest away.

Song Wen and Ying Wu rescued Kong Guan from Mystic Lightning Eagles and questioned him about Thunder Hou before following his report of Azure Flame Sect cultivators taking mortals into an underwater cavern. They discovered that an invisible force blocked divine-sense perception inside, suggesting the cavern concealed more than Kong Guan had expected.

• Song Wen and Ying Wu escorted Kong Guan away from the deadly lightning and learned he had entered the Annihilation Abyss to search for Thunder-Pattern Mystic Crystals.
• Song Wen asked Kong Guan about Thunder Hou, and Kong Guan recalled that an elder of his clan had seen one around sixty years earlier but did not know where.
• Kong Guan told Song Wen and Ying Wu that Azure Flame Sect cultivators had been taking mortals into an underwater cavern, and Ying Wu asked him to lead them there.
• Kong Guan brought Song Wen and Ying Wu to the cavern, where both cultivators found their divine senses blocked by an invisible force.

Ying Wu broke the formation concealing a cavern beneath the lake and discovered thousands of corpses being refined with lightning by Azure Flame Sect disciples. The disciples revealed that Daoist Wenxuan had ordered them to refine the corpses into fourth-rank puppets, leaving Ying Wu and Song Wen questioning his purpose.

• Ying Wu dismissed Kong Guan and warned him not to reveal the cave’s location.
• Ying Wu split the lake with her flying sword and shattered the cavern’s seventh-rank formation.
• Song Wen and Ying Wu discovered more than ten thousand lightning-tempered corpses and confronted the four Spirit Transformation cultivators refining them.
• Song Wen explained that the lightning method rapidly strengthened corpses but required many sacrifices and extensive materials.
• An Azure Flame Sect cultivator said Daoist Wenxuan had ordered the corpses refined into fourth-rank puppets, surprising Ying Wu and Song Wen.

Ying Wu and Song Wen seized Wen Xuan’s corpse-refining cavern and hid nearby to watch for his response. When they learned Wen Xuan had arrived with only two Integrated Body cultivators, they approached and discovered that Gu Huang was among them.

• Ying Wu used the name Wang Qiuyue to claim the cavern and demanded supplies from Wen Xuan, including Thunder Hou essence blood.
• Ying Wu placed a Ghost-Clawed Salamander to guard the cavern and hid with Song Wen in a concealed underwater cave.
• The Ghost-Clawed Salamander informed Ying Wu that Wen Xuan had arrived with three Integrated Body cultivators and no Mahayana cultivator.
• Ying Wu removed the cave’s concealment formation, and he and Song Wen headed toward the corpse-refining cavern.
• Song Wen recognized Gu Huang among Wen Xuan’s companions, and Ying Wu planned to destroy the cavern’s ten thousand corpse puppets after obtaining what they needed.

Song Wen pretended to be Dao companions with Ying Wu to provoke Gu Huang while they demanded an item from Wen Xuan and Xi Fei. After Gu Huang attacked him and Ying Wu intervened, Song Wen claimed their relationship had become real, prompting Gu Huang to strike at Ying Wu.

• Song Wen moved close to Ying Wu to provoke Gu Huang, who recognized his former fellow disciple and learned that she had come to claim an item.
• Ying Wu demanded the item from Wen Xuan, while Xi Fei warned that the three of them could overpower her and threaten Song Wen.
• Song Wen introduced himself as Ye Hua and claimed that he and Ying Wu were Dao companions, enraging Gu Huang into attacking him.
• Ying Wu deflected Gu Huang's flying sword, and Song Wen insisted that he and Ying Wu shared the reality of Dao companions despite not having formally become one.
• Ying Wu objected when Song Wen spoke of their past together, and Gu Huang attacked Ying Wu with his flying sword.

Ying Wu negotiated with Wen Xuan for the spiritual materials and a lead about Thunder Hou, while Song Wen verified the lead. After the exchange began, Wen Xuan restored the defensive barrier and launched an attack on Ying Wu and Song Wen.

• Ying Wu knocked away Gu Huang’s flying sword and refused to surrender the Corpse Puppets without the agreed materials, while Xi Fei and Wen Xuan urged Gu Huang to set their dispute aside.
• Wen Xuan offered ten jin each of spirit-nurturing dew and blood grudge sand, no Thunder Hou blood, and a Jade Slip containing a lead about Thunder Hou.
• Song Wen and Ying Wu examined the Jade Slip, which described Kong Letian’s encounter with three Thunder Hou in the Annihilation Abyss sixty years earlier.
• Ying Wu ordered the Ghost-Clawed Salamander out of the cavern, and Wen Xuan threw him the storage pouch as promised.
• Wen Xuan activated a formation disk to restore the defensive barrier, trapping the Ghost-Clawed Salamander outside the cavern.
• Wen Xuan, Xi Fei, and Gu Huang charged at Ying Wu and Song Wen.

Ying Wu used the Void Sword Formation to withstand the combined assault of Gu Huang, Wen Xuan, and Xi Fei. After Song Wen found poison instead of the requested ingredients in their storage pouch, Ying Wu prepared to confront the attackers while leaving him protected.

• Ying Wu summoned nine flying swords and formed a shield that repelled Gu Huang’s sword and Xi Fei’s water dragons.
• Wen Xuan struck the shield with his golden pillar, but Ying Wu’s formation endured and its recoil forced him back.
• Gu Huang recognized the Void Sword Formation and explained that Ying Wu had mastered the rare Ten Thousand Swords Pavilion technique.
• Song Wen found two bottles of poison in the storage pouch instead of Spirit-Nurturing Dew or Blood Grudge Sand.
• Ying Wu contracted the sword shield around Song Wen, then stepped outside it to face the three attackers.

Ying Wu withstood Wen Xuan, Xi Fei, and Gu Huang’s combined assault, then counterattacked with her Azure Luan Sword and overwhelmed their defenses. Realizing that Ye Hua was Ying Wu’s weakness, Wen Xuan ordered Xi Fei and Gu Huang to attack the sword formation while he held Ying Wu back.

• Wen Xuan, Xi Fei, and Gu Huang attacked Ying Wu as she left the Grand Void Sword Formation, but she defended herself with her Azure Luan Sword and monster companion.
• Ying Wu’s Azure Luan Sword shattered Xi Fei’s light barrier and knocked Gu Huang’s flying sword aside before Wen Xuan’s stone staff repelled it.
• Ying Wu challenged the three of them and threatened to destroy the corpse puppets in the underwater cavern.
• Wen Xuan recognized Ye Hua as Ying Wu’s weakness and ordered Xi Fei and Gu Huang to besiege the sword formation while he held Ying Wu back.

Song Wen left the Void Sword Formation and offered to handle Gu Huang and Xi Fei, leaving Ying Wu to fight Wen Xuan. Wen Xuan, Gu Huang, and Xi Fei mistook Song Wen’s move for a chance to capture him and use him to force Ying Wu to retreat.

• Wen Xuan wielded the enlarged stone staff against Ying Wu, but the ape-bodied, snake-headed monster struck the pillar and sent it flying.
• Ying Wu pressed Wen Xuan with the Azure Luan Sword, and he blocked its repeated strikes with the stone staff while his hands were badly injured.
• Gu Huang and Xi Fei attacked the Void Sword Formation, distracting Ying Wu and allowing Wen Xuan to escape the sword’s pursuit.
• Wen Xuan enlarged the stone staff into a colossal pillar and attacked Ying Wu, who began retreating while fending it off.
• Song Wen told Ying Wu to focus on Wen Xuan and left the formation, prompting Wen Xuan to order Gu Huang and Xi Fei to capture him.

Song Wen used a substitute-death technique to catch Xi Fei off guard and killed her with the Nine Calamities Measuring-Heaven Sword. After Ying Wu recognized him as Gou Jun, Song Wen asked her to kill Wen Xuan while he pursued the fleeing Gu Huang.

• Song Wen let Xi Fei's dragon destroy a substitute body, concealing his survival as he closed in on her.
• Gu Huang recognized Song Wen's substitute-death technique and fled under cover of his Sword Qi.
• Song Wen stabbed Xi Fei through the back, destroying her body and Nascent Soul before engulfing her remains in a Blood Tide.
• Ying Wu recognized the Nine Calamities Measuring-Heaven Sword and realized Song Wen was Gou Jun.
• Song Wen asked Ying Wu to prevent Wen Xuan's escape, then pursued Gu Huang with his Thunder Kui Wings and Mystic Thunder Nine Heavens Escape Art.

Song Wen tracked Gu Huang through the Annihilation Abyss and nearly caught him, but Gu Huang escaped with a Teleportation Talisman. Following Gu Huang’s natal flying sword back toward their original route, Song Wen found him hidden beneath the lakebed behind a formation barrier.

• Song Wen followed Gu Huang’s fading aura across the black water, using the Dream-Floating True Eye and Shadow Void to locate him.
• Gu Huang attacked Song Wen with his flying sword, but Song Wen weakened it with blood beams and brought it down with lightning.
• Gu Huang used a Teleportation Talisman to escape, leaving his natal flying sword behind.
• Song Wen used the Ten-Thousand-Mile Breath-Tracking Technique on the sword and pursued Gu Huang back toward their starting point.
• Song Wen searched the lakebed with lightning and uncovered Gu Huang inside a cave, protected by a formation barrier.
• Gu Huang glared at Song Wen and asked whether he was truly determined to kill him.

Song Wen killed Gu Huang despite his threat to expose Song Wen’s secrets, then tortured Gu Huang’s soul for answers. Gu Huang confirmed that the information was real and stored at the Formless Pavilion, and Song Wen began questioning him about the Corpse Puppets.

• Song Wen broke Gu Huang’s formation and overcame his turtle-shell shield with the Nine Calamities Measuring-Heaven Sword.
• Gu Huang threatened to reveal Song Wen’s secrets, including his Death-Substitute Puppets and the void demon sealed within him, but Song Wen’s blood tide swallowed him.
• Song Wen took Gu Huang’s head and questioned his soul in his sea of consciousness, where Gu Huang refused to answer at first.
• Song Wen tortured Gu Huang’s soul with molten gold and repeatedly restored it with light from the black hole.
• Gu Huang admitted that he had left the intelligence jade slip at the Formless Pavilion and said it would release the information after his death.
• Song Wen stopped torturing Gu Huang and asked why he had traveled to the Annihilation Abyss to refine ten thousand Corpse Puppets.

Song Wen interrogated Gu Huang about Gong Tianzong’s corpse-puppet commission, then tormented him with a story about Ying Wu until his soul began to collapse. Song Wen returned to Ying Wu with Gu Huang’s head, while she mistakenly believed he had allowed Gu Huang’s soul to reincarnate.

• Gu Huang told Song Wen that Gong Tianzong had hired him to refine ten thousand fourth-rank corpse puppets, and Xi Fei confirmed his account.
• Gu Huang revealed that he had obtained a Teleportation Talisman from Gong Tianzong and planned to trade the puppets at a valley outside Thousand Blades City.
• Gu Huang asked Song Wen whether he had been intimate with Ying Wu, and Song Wen claimed she had chosen him out of curiosity and that he still longed for her.
• Song Wen’s taunts drove Gu Huang’s soul toward collapse, while Song Wen devoured Xi Fei’s soul and took spirit stones and a tortoiseshell shield from Gu Huang’s storage ring.
• Song Wen returned to Ying Wu, who was still overpowering Daoist Wenxuan, and tossed her Gu Huang’s head.
• Ying Wu thanked Song Wen for giving Gu Huang a chance at reincarnation, misunderstanding his vague explanation about Gu Huang’s soul.

After Ying Wu and Song Wen killed Wen Xuan, they divided the dead cultivators’ treasures and began retrieving the corpse puppets from the cavern. Ying Wu then questioned Song Wen’s identity, asking whether he was really Ye Hua or Gou Jun and whether their earlier conversations had all been lies.

• Ying Wu explained that he had spared Gu Huang because of their old ties, and Song Wen gave him Gu Huang’s storage ring.
• Ying Wu severed Wen Xuan’s legs and killed him with the sword formation after Song Wen urged him to grant Wen Xuan a quick death.
• Ying Wu and Song Wen divided the spirit stones and other treasures from Gu Huang, Wen Xuan, and Xi Fei’s storage rings.
• Song Wen failed to break the cavern’s barrier, so Ying Wu shattered its entrance formation with the Azure Luan Sword.
• Song Wen used his Blood Tide to seal the cavern and retrieve the corpse coffins and puppets, then collected Wen Xuan’s remains.
• Ying Wu asked Song Wen whether his real name was Ye Hua or Gou Jun and whether everything he had told Ying Wu was false.

Song Wen and Ying Wu settled their suspicions and joined forces to search the Annihilation Abyss for the Thunder Hou. They entered the abyss’s core region and began looking for the three beasts amid relentless lightning.

• Ying Wu questioned Song Wen about his false names and Jian Xiao’s death, but rejected his offer of the Nine Calamities Measuring-Heaven Sword.
• Song Wen collected the corpse coffins and puppets, found jade slips detailing Gong Tianzong’s corpse-refinement requirements, and identified himself as Extreme Yin.
• Ying Wu warned Song Wen that their appearances and auras had been exposed, then agreed to accompany him to search for the Thunder Hou.
• Song Wen and Ying Wu traveled deeper into the Annihilation Abyss, where Song Wen estimated they had reached its core region.
• Song Wen and Ying Wu searched the storm-lashed surroundings for the three Thunder Hou described in Wen Xuan’s information.

Song Wen captured a young Thunder Hou and used it to lure its parents into a trap, then threatened them while retreating with a blade pressed to the cub’s brow. The male Thunder Hou pulled the blade free with a strange force and charged Song Wen.

• Song Wen spotted and captured a fourth-rank Thunder Hou cub while Ying Wu watched.
• Song Wen bound the cub to a boulder and threatened it until its late seventh-rank mother arrived.
• The mother called for the cub’s father, a peak seventh-rank Thunder Hou, which attacked Song Wen with lightning.
• Song Wen threatened to kill the cub unless its parents let him retreat, then withdrew the binding bloodwater while keeping his blade in the cub’s brow.
• The cub lunged toward its parents, and the male Thunder Hou used a strange force to pull the blade from its brow before charging Song Wen.

Song Wen and Ying Wu trapped the Thunder Hou family in a sword formation and attacked the parents while their young fled. The male Thunder Hou was weakened by the assault and faced an approaching sword as it looked toward its trapped mate and terrified offspring.

• Song Wen used a corpse puppet to draw the male Thunder Hou into striking him, then Ying Wu activated the concealed nine-sword formation.
• Ying Wu formed a giant Sword Qi sword that broke through the female Thunder Hou’s thunder shield and pinned her underground.
• The young Thunder Hou fled as the male Thunder Hou charged to rescue its mate.
• Ying Wu sent three giant swords after the male Thunder Hou, which destroyed two but lacked the strength to stop the third.
• The male Thunder Hou looked toward its trapped mate and fleeing young as the final sword descended.

Song Wen collected the Thunder Hou essence blood and corpses after Ying Wu helped him defeat the beasts, then followed Ying Wu after they spotted a tiny golden creature resembling a True Dragon. They entered a lightning-free region in the Annihilation Abyss, where Ying Wu’s unusual danger-sensing ability reassured him, and spotted a one-footed, hornless ox on a reef.

• Song Wen collected the male and female Thunder Hou essence blood and took their corpses, along with the young Thunder Hou, while Ying Wu ended the sword formation.
• Song Wen offered the two adult Thunder Hou corpses to Ying Wu, but Ying Wu ignored him and rushed toward a tiny golden spirit beast in the clouds.
• Ying Wu followed the golden creature west, and Song Wen reluctantly trailed after him as the lightning strikes grew sparse and disappeared.
• Song Wen urged Ying Wu to turn back from the strange lightning-free region, but Ying Wu said his special ability sensed no danger to those below the eighth rank or Mahayana realm.
• Ying Wu stopped after spotting a hornless, one-footed dark azure ox lying on a reef ahead.

Song Wen and Ying Wu discovered a sleeping Kui Bull in the Annihilation Abyss and left without disturbing it. A year later, Song Wen returned to Thousand Blades City and learned that Mystic Medicine Pavilion had not publicly released Gu Huang’s intelligence about Gou Jun, leaving Song Wen’s secrets potentially undisclosed.

• Song Wen and Ying Wu found a sleeping Kui Bull, and Song Wen worried that its power could create the Annihilation Abyss while Ying Wu admired it.
• A pale-yellow little dragon emerged from the clouds, circled above the Kui Bull, and vanished into its forehead; Song Wen and Ying Wu then retreated from the Abyss.
• After leaving the Annihilation Abyss, Song Wen and Ying Wu agreed to return to Southern Nether Province because the Azure Flame Sect likely linked them to Wen Xuan and Xi Fei’s deaths.
• One year later, Song Wen disguised himself as an early Void Refinement cultivator and entered Thousand Blades City, while Ying Wu went toward the Ten Thousand Swords Pavilion.
• Song Wen found that Mystic Medicine Pavilion had not released Gu Huang’s intelligence about Gou Jun, suggesting it had either kept or privately sold the information and might not have exposed Song Wen’s secrets.