Recaps

Song Wen visited the Mystic Medicine Pavilion under the alias Feng Xin to seek information about Gou Jun, but Manager Duan Qingwan initially offered only public details. After Song Wen implied that a powerful person would pay well, Duan Qingwan admitted that clan elder Duan Huo held additional intelligence, while Song Wen secretly planned to kill everyone who knew the secrets about Shadow Void and the Death-Substitute Puppet.

• Song Wen entered the Mystic Medicine Pavilion and asked to speak with its manager about buying intelligence.
• Duan Qingwan, a late-stage Soul Transformation cultivator from the Duan Clan of Mount Taichuan, met Song Wen, who introduced himself as Feng Xin.
• Duan Qingwan gave Song Wen a Jade Slip containing only widely known information about Gou Jun and Ancestor Yuan Rong's bounty.
• Song Wen pretended to gather intelligence for an important personage, and Duan Qingwan admitted that Duan Huo had collected further information on Gou Jun.
• Song Wen resolved to eliminate those involved in keeping the secrets about Shadow Void and the Death-Substitute Puppet.

Song Wen negotiated with Duan Qingwan for the Duan Clan’s intelligence about Gou Jun and arranged to meet Duan Huo. He met Duan Huo by the river and was shown a jade slip, but had not yet decided whether to buy it.

• Song Wen asked Duan Qingwan to introduce him to Duan Huo, and she demanded five hundred thousand superior spirit stones for the intelligence, or more for exclusive rights.
• Song Wen asked the Duan Clan to hold the intelligence for three days while he consulted his lord.
• The next day, Song Wen returned with five hundred thousand superior spirit stones and asked Duan Qingwan to bring Duan Huo to meet him outside the clan grounds.
• Song Wen waited by the river as Duan Qingwan returned with Duan Huo, who proposed moving to his residence, but Song Wen insisted they talk there.
• Duan Huo showed Song Wen the jade slip containing the intelligence, and Song Wen said he would inspect it before deciding whether to pay.

Song Wen bought Duan Huo’s intelligence about Gou Jun, learning that Gou Jun had a void demon sealed inside him and an inexhaustible supply of Death-Substitute Puppets. Duan Huo offered exclusive rights and hinted that True Person Bai Wei could reveal Gou Jun’s whereabouts, while Song Wen left without trusting Duan Huo’s assurances.

• Duan Huo showed Song Wen an excerpt describing Gou Jun’s first battle with Gu Huang and offered the complete intelligence for five hundred thousand superior spirit stones.
• Song Wen bought the jade slip and learned that Gou Jun had a void demon sealed inside him and an inexhaustible supply of Death-Substitute Puppets.
• Duan Huo told Song Wen that True Person Bai Wei of the Jade Spirit Palace had recommended Gou Jun for entry into the Turbid Spirit Realm and might know where he was.
• Duan Huo offered Song Wen exclusive rights to the intelligence for another seven hundred thousand superior spirit stones, payable within three days.
• Song Wen declined to meet Duan Huo’s backing lord in person, recognizing that Duan Huo had avoided his attempt to lure him away and deciding he would have to take risks.

Song Wen used the false identity of Feng Xin and the name of Patriarch Yuan Rong to lower Duan Huo’s guard during their negotiation. He left the market after revealing his true cultivation, incapacitating Duan Huo and Duan Qingwan, and carrying them away in blood cocoons.

• Song Wen prepared multiple escape routes and offered Duan Huo five hundred thousand superior spirit stones for exclusive rights to the information.
• When Duan Huo tried to leave, Song Wen claimed that Patriarch Yuan Rong backed him and handed over another five hundred thousand superior spirit stones.
• Duan Huo sensed that Feng Xin was an Integrated Body Realm Cultivator and attacked, but Song Wen struck him with Soul-Slaying Spike.
• Song Wen captured Duan Qingwan in blood and used a tentacle to pull Duan Huo away from the river.
• Seeing no response from the market or the Duan Clan, Song Wen retrieved his Heaven-and-Earth Avatar and flew away with Duan Huo and Duan Qingwan in blood cocoons.

Song Wen captured Duan Huo and Duan Qingwan to learn who knew his secrets, then killed their bodies and trapped their souls for interrogation. Duan Qingwan began revealing information about the Six Baleful Hall after Song Wen tortured Duan Huo.

• Song Wen questioned Duan Huo, who explained how he had obtained Gu Huang's jade slip and tried to sell its secrets about Gou Jun.
• Duan Qingwan confirmed that no one besides Song Wen had bought the information, but Song Wen crushed and killed her and Duan Huo anyway.
• Song Wen absorbed their bodies, kept their souls in his sea of consciousness, and threatened to torment them unless they provided useful information about the Six Baleful Hall.
• When Duan Huo could not answer, Song Wen tortured him with golden liquid, and Duan Qingwan said Six Baleful Hall Spirit Transformation cultivators had appeared in Peacewood City several months earlier.

Song Wen investigated the Six Baleful Hall corpse cultivators in Peacewood City and concluded that the Bao Clan was hiding their whereabouts. After Bao Rong accused him of being the nonexistent criminal Li Tu and escorted him to the Bao Clan, Song Wen faced Ancestor Bao Tianming, who demanded to know why he was asking about the corpse cultivators.

• Song Wen visited five intelligence shops in Peacewood City but found no information about the Six Baleful Hall cultivators, leading him to suspect the Bao Clan was concealing them.
• Bao Rong and two Spirit Transformation cultivators confronted Song Wen, accusing him of being Li Tu, and Song Wen agreed to go with them to meet Bao Tianming.
• Bao Rong brought Song Wen into the Bao Clan and introduced him to Ancestor Bao Tianming.
• Bao Tianming asked Song Wen who he was and why he was investigating the Six Baleful Hall corpse cultivators, and Bao Rong ordered Song Wen to answer.

Song Wen revealed his Integrated Body Realm strength and captured Bao Tianming and three Bao Clan cultivators while searching for Six Baleful Hall. Bao Tianming admitted he supplied corpse-path materials and essence blood, and said Six Baleful Hall would send someone to Peacewood City in three days.

• Song Wen slapped Bao Rong aside and demanded to know where the corpse cultivators of Six Baleful Hall were.
• Bao Tianming activated the cave’s formation, but Song Wen revealed his Integrated Body Realm cultivation and bound all four Bao Clan members with blood-red tentacles.
• Bao Tianming denied ties to evil cultivators until Song Wen tortured him and threatened to slaughter the Bao Clan.
• Bao Tianming confessed that he gathered corpse-path materials and killed Rogue Cultivators and mortals to refine essence blood for Six Baleful Hall.
• Bao Tianming said Six Baleful Hall would contact him in three days in Peacewood City, and Song Wen took the materials from his storage ring.
• Song Wen asked Bao Tianming where he refined the essence blood.

Song Wen confirmed that Bao Tianming worked with the Six Baleful Hall and uncovered its blood-refining operation. He waited for the Hall’s contact and arranged to meet Feng Chang outside Peacewood City.

• Song Wen used the Blood Sea Imperial Seal to control Bao Tianming, Bao Rong, and two others, then had Bao Tianming lead him out of the Bao Clan.
• Bao Tianming showed Song Wen an underground cavern where cultivators butchered corpses and collected their blood for refining.
• Song Wen questioned Bao Tianming and learned that the Six Baleful Hall taught him the methods and that a Void Refinement cultivator named Feng Chang usually handled their transactions.
• Three days later, Feng Chang contacted Bao Tianming through a communication Jade Slip, and Song Wen ordered him to move their transaction outside Peacewood City.
• Bao Tianming worried Feng Chang would suspect the change, so Song Wen supplied an excuse about Jade Spirit Palace disciples shouting about slaying demons in the city.

Song Wen used Bao Tianming to arrange an exchange with Feng Chang outside Peacewood City, then discovered Gong Tianzong had advanced to the Integrated Body Late Stage. Suspecting Divine Blood Sect had sent a powerful disciple to support Gong Tianzong, Song Wen decided against attacking him.

• Song Wen instructed Bao Tianming to move the trade outside Peacewood City, and Bao Tianming told Feng Chang that Jade Spirit Palace disciples had made the city unsafe.
• Feng Chang arrived with a tall, thin man whose aura suggested he was at least an Integrated Body Realm cultivator, and Bao Tianming handed over the spirit materials.
• The tall, thin man inspected the materials, and Feng Chang paid Bao Tianming one hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones.
• After Feng Chang and the tall, thin man departed, Song Wen's Heaven-and-Earth Avatar seized the unconscious Bao Tianming and carried him away.
• Song Wen recognized the tall, thin man as Gong Tianzong and realized he had reached the Integrated Body Late Stage after converting to the Corpse King Reincarnation Art.
• Song Wen suspected a powerful Divine Blood Sect disciple had come to support Gong Tianzong and refrained from attacking him.

Song Wen used a fifth-rank Void Demon and a disguised Nascent Soul body to ambush Gong Tianzong and Feng Chang in the Source-Qi Death Domain. His surprise sword strike wounded Gong Tianzong, but a peak seventh-rank blood corpse emerged from Gong Tianzong’s corpse coffin and knocked the Nine Calamities Measuring-Heaven Sword aside.

• Song Wen reached the Source-Qi Death Domain and learned from Shadow Void that Gong Tianzong and Feng Chang were approaching without other cultivators nearby.
• When Shadow Void detected a fifth-rank Void Demon, Song Wen flew toward it and prepared a fleeing Nascent Soul cultivator as bait.
• Feng Chang attacked the apparent intruder with six Corpse-Suppressing Nails, destroying the disguise and the pursuing Void Demon.
• Song Wen appeared behind Gong Tianzong and struck with the Nine Calamities Measuring-Heaven Sword, sending Gong Tianzong and his hastily summoned corpse coffin flying.
• Gong Tianzong opened the corpse coffin, releasing a peak seventh-rank blood corpse that swatted away Song Wen’s sword.

Song Wen, disguised as Gou Jun, fought Gong Tianzong with powerful treasures and abilities while trying to strike down the Divine Blood Sect hall master. Just as Gong Tianzong resisted a Void Demon soul attack and prepared to defend himself, Song Wen unleashed another unexpected attack on the corpse coffin.

• Song Wen hid behind a Blood Tide and rushed toward Gong Tianzong, who recognized him as Gou Jun and questioned him about Wei Gu's death.
• Gong Tianzong used Corpse Coffin Burying Heaven to pull Song Wen toward the coffin, but Song Wen halted himself with the Thunder Kui Wings and struck the coffin with Vast Extremity Divine Thunder.
• The blood corpse caught Song Wen from behind and tore apart his body, but Gong Tianzong realized the body was a substitute puppet and threw Feng Chang toward Song Wen to disrupt his attack.
• Song Wen launched the Nine Calamities Measuring-Heaven Sword at Gong Tianzong and attacked his consciousness with nine tentacles, revealing the assault as a Void Demon technique.
• Gong Tianzong endured the soul attack and summoned a pearl as Song Wen's two blood-red eye beams shot toward the corpse coffin.

Song Wen killed Gong Tianzong and Feng Chang in the Source-Qi Death Domain, then fled with Gong Tianzong’s treasures. The black-robed Lord Xuan Gu arrived afterward, traced Song Wen’s aura, and lost the trail after a thousand li.

• Gong Tianzong’s blood corpse was delayed by the blood sea, and the Nine Calamities Measuring-Heaven Sword shattered his shield before Song Wen killed him with the Soul-Splitting Blade.
• Gong Tianzong’s divided soul threatened Song Wen on behalf of Lord Xuan Gu, but Song Wen’s sea of consciousness dragged it into a black hole and devoured it.
• The blood sea swallowed Gong Tianzong’s remains and captured Feng Chang, whom Song Wen crushed after ignoring his plea about an ancient cultivator’s cave dwelling.
• Song Wen collected Gong Tianzong’s blood corpse and corpse coffin, recalled the blood sea, and fled sideways along the edge of the Source-Qi Death Domain.
• Lord Xuan Gu arrived, sensed Gong Tianzong’s death, and pursued Song Wen’s lingering aura, but the trail abruptly vanished after more than a thousand li.

Song Wen fled with Gong Tianzong’s corpse and interrogated Gong Tianzong’s soul, learning about Xuan Gu’s plans and the blood corpse. The chapter left Song Wen with new information about the Divine Blood Sect’s scheme, but without the Ten Thousand Corpse Formation diagram.

• Song Wen hid Gong Tianzong’s corpse in a Corpse-Nurturing Coffin, used the nun statue to conceal his aura, and tortured Feng Chang while questioning Gong Tianzong.
• Song Wen told Gong Tianzong that he had no connection to the Divine Blood Sect and claimed he wanted to devour Gong Tianzong’s cultivation.
• Gong Tianzong revealed that Xuan Gu was a middle-stage Mahayana cultivator who had come to the Southern Nether Province after Wei Gu’s death and to oversee the Six Baleful Hall’s affairs.
• Gong Tianzong said Xuan Gu had arranged for Fan Kang and Tang Qing to refine ten thousand fourth-tier Corpse Puppets each, then secretly seized them for a plan to attack the three great sects.
• Gong Tianzong told Song Wen that Xuan Gu kept the Ten Thousand Corpse Formation diagram and had given him a powerful blood corpse with lingering flaws that Gong Tianzong had been trying to fix.

Song Wen devoured Gong Tianzong’s spiritual power and broke through to the Integrated Body Middle Stage while hiding in the Source-Qi Death Domain. Six years later, he set out with Nether Fox to capture Void Demons and subdued the beast that had wounded it.

• Song Wen learned that Gong Tianzong had no Mahayana-stage techniques for the Corpse King Reincarnation Art and heard where Six Baleful Hall’s stronghold was before devouring Gong Tianzong’s and Feng Chang’s souls.
• Song Wen fled deeper into the Source-Qi Death Domain, then absorbed Gong Tianzong’s blood essence and spiritual power until he broke through to the Integrated Body Middle Stage.
• Song Wen released Nether Fox from the cave to explore while he continued cultivating, and six years later Shadow Void broke through to the late seventh rank.
• Song Wen left seclusion and learned that Nether Fox knew where to find the Void Demon that had injured it, so he followed it to the beast’s valley.
• Song Wen trapped the early sixth-rank Void Demon with a corpse-aura hand, and Nether Fox tore away its tentacles while it struggled.

Song Wen hunted void demons in the Source-Qi Death Domain and helped the Nether Fox advance to the sixth tier before leaving. In Taitan City, he reunited with Lan Chen, who reported her progress at the Jade Spirit Palace and asked about Mo Yexue.

• Song Wen hunted void demons with Shadow Void’s guidance, feeding weaker ones to the Nether Fox and devouring stronger ones with the black hole in his sea of consciousness.
• After four years of seclusion, Song Wen watched the Nether Fox draw in origin qi and successfully advance to the sixth tier.
• The Nether Fox chose to accompany Song Wen in hunting more void demons before entering its spirit beast pouch outside the Source-Qi Death Domain.
• In Taitan City, Song Wen reunited with Lan Chen, who said Bai Wei had made her a nominal disciple and might later accept her as a True Disciple.
• Lan Chen asked Song Wen about Mo Yexue, then pursued him despite his attempt to change the subject.

After spending half a month with Lan Chen, Song Wen contacted Bai Wei to ask her to carve the array for his Thunder-Commanding Divine Control Ritual Altar. Bai Wei arrived with Lan Chen, who praised her master and thanked Song Wen for bringing them together, leaving the three gathered in the courtyard.

• Song Wen said goodbye to Lan Chen, who took a pill to recover and returned to Jade Spirit Palace.
• Song Wen contacted Bai Wei and asked her to carve the array patterns for his Thunder-Commanding Divine Control Ritual Altar, and she agreed to meet him.
• Song Wen prepared tea at his inn and opened the courtyard gate to Bai Wei and Lan Chen, who had returned with her.
• Bai Wei told Song Wen that she had accepted Lan Chen as her registered disciple and planned to make her a personal disciple.
• Lan Chen thanked Bai Wei and her fellow disciples for giving her a home, then thanked Song Wen for bringing her to her master.

Lan Chen tried to match Song Wen with Bai Wei before Song Wen asked her to study a secret formation. Bai Wei agreed to visit his cave abode, and as they arrived in Cloud Creek Valley, she teased him about keeping a hidden beauty there.

• Lan Chen praised Bai Wei to Song Wen and suggested they become Dao companions, then left the two alone.
• Song Wen gave Bai Wei a jade slip containing the formation patterns for the Thunder-Commanding Divine Control Ritual Altar, and Bai Wei agreed to help study and inscribe them.
• Song Wen invited Bai Wei to his cave abode, and she accepted despite his awkward reassurances.
• Song Wen flew Bai Wei to Cloud Creek Valley, where she remarked on its poor spiritual energy and teased him about having only one maid.
• Bai Wei noticed Guan Lin flying over from the spirit fields and asked Song Wen whether she was a beauty he had hidden away.

Song Wen welcomed Bai Wei to his valley and persuaded her that he had long cherished her, leading to an intimate encounter that lasted nine days. Afterward, he left her waiting while he went to his own pavilion, and Bai Wei eventually began studying the formation he had assigned her.

• Guan Lin greeted Bai Wei as Madam, and Song Wen explained that Bai Wei was not his companion and had once been his enemy.
• Song Wen showed Bai Wei the pavilion prepared for her and asked her to deduce the valley's formation.
• Bai Wei asked why Guan Lin had called her Madam, and Song Wen confessed a fabricated tale of long-held affection for an old acquaintance.
• Bai Wei kissed Song Wen, and they spent nine days together.
• Song Wen left Bai Wei in her pavilion and activated a seventh-rank concealment formation in his own pavilion.
• After waiting for Song Wen to return, Bai Wei began studying the formation jade slip he had given her.

After Bai Wei completed the formation inscription, she told Song Wen that the major sects planned to send cultivators through a nearly repaired formation to scout the unknown destination. Song Wen became interested as Bai Wei explained that the first group would face great danger.

• A month after Song Wen said he would return, Bai Wei found him and told him she had finished deducing the formation.
• Song Wen delayed discussing the formation, and he and Bai Wei spent ten days together in his pavilion.
• Song Wen gave Bai Wei the spirit materials and waited outside while she inscribed the formation over half a month.
• Bai Wei showed Song Wen the completed formation, and he praised her work.
• After returning the unused materials, Bai Wei told Song Wen that the major sects planned to recruit rogue cultivators to scout through a nearly repaired formation whose destination and dangers were unknown.

Song Wen decided to travel to the Western Rong Continent despite the dangers, then completed a ritual altar from Radiant Goldstone and used it to devour lightning-art talent from demonic beasts. After sacrificing a Thunder Hou and a Mystic Lightning Eagle, he found that his lightning arts had grown stronger.

• Song Wen told Bai Wei he would join the journey to the Western Rong Continent, and she advised him to prepare for the departure in ten or twenty years.
• After Bai Wei left, Song Wen carved the ritual altar from Radiant Goldstone and placed it in the formation she had inscribed.
• Song Wen sacrificed the young Thunder Hou on the altar and absorbed its lightning-art talent, increasing the power of his lightning arts by roughly thirty to forty percent.
• Song Wen sacrificed a fifth-rank Mystic Lightning Eagle and gained another increase of about ten percent in his lightning arts.

Song Wen discovered that the Thunder-Commanding Divine Control Ritual Altar had stopped improving his lightning-art talent, then prepared for his dangerous journey to the Western Rong Continent. He visited Ying Wu at Great Passage Lake and found him watching a Poison Flood Dragon and a Thunder Eagle mating.

• After the altar failed to improve his talent again, Song Wen tested his lightning arts in a desert and measured their increased speed and power.
• Song Wen considered the altar's possible limitations and set aside plans to investigate them until he could revive the remnant soul in his sea of consciousness.
• Song Wen reviewed his supplies for the Western Rong Continent and decided he needed a way to disguise himself as a demon beast.
• Song Wen gathered more than forty Bodhi Spirit Stamens and traveled to the Ten Thousand Swords Pavilion.
• At Great Passage Lake, Song Wen met Ying Wu, who was intently watching a Poison Flood Dragon and a Thunder Eagle mate.

Song Wen brought Ying Wu Bodhi Spirit Stamens and asked for a way to disguise himself as a demonic beast before traveling to the Western Rong Continent. Ying Wu agreed to help in exchange for Song Wen capturing unfamiliar demonic beasts for her, then led him to a pit containing a centipede-like beast.

• Ying Wu dragged Song Wen to the pavilion, where they spent twelve days together before she judged him barely passable.
• Song Wen gave Ying Wu many Bodhi Spirit Stamens, including one a thousand years old, and she thanked him for helping solve her Void Dragon Vine problem.
• Song Wen told Ying Wu he planned to use the teleportation formation to reach the Western Rong Continent and said he could avoid being recognized by the Azure Flame Sect.
• Ying Wu agreed to teach Song Wen a method to assume a demonic form in exchange for his help capturing demonic beasts unknown on the Eastern Profound Continent.
• Ying Wu led Song Wen to a pit and showed him a ten-foot-long, dark-brown centipede-like demonic beast.

Ying Wu fused Song Wen with her hybrid Seven-Blood Centipede, transforming him into a powerful demonic beast body. Song Wen tested his new strength, while Ying Wu wondered why he had endured the painful fusion so quietly.

• Song Wen questioned how Ying Wu's late seventh-rank Seven-Blood Centipede could help him transform, and Ying Wu explained that she had bred it from a Red-Poison Centipede and a Thousand-Legged Earth Dragon.
• Ying Wu released the Seven-Blood Centipede and told Song Wen to let it fuse with him, assuring him that she would keep it from harming him.
• The Seven-Blood Centipede lunged at Song Wen, but Ying Wu froze it briefly with a cyan rune before it coiled around him.
• The centipede's legs pierced Song Wen's body, and its purple-black fluid entered him, transforming him into a towering, armored monster with a tail and bone spikes.
• Song Wen examined his new body and thanked Ying Wu, who said his strength rivaled that of a late-stage Body Integration Realm body cultivator.
• Ying Wu said she had abandoned the fusion herself because of its pain and asked why Song Wen had seemed to suffer so little.

Song Wen completed his contract with the Seven-Blood Centipede, received a potent tonic from Ying Wu, and gave her two Shadow Gus to study. He then prepared for his journey to the Western Rong Continent and met Wang Qiuyue, who doubted their different goals would allow them to travel together.

• Ying Wu warned Song Wen that using the Seven-Blood Centipede's demonic power could force him out of its demonic body state, then dissolved her contract and helped him form one with it.
• Ying Wu made Song Wen swallow a lump of flesh that she later identified as the reproductive organ of a female Illusion Sheep, and it cured the soreness in his lower back.
• Song Wen gave Ying Wu his fourth- and fifth-rank Shadow Gus so she could study their spiritual-sense-extending ability and try to improve it.
• Song Wen bought demonic beast souls in Thousand Blades City and flew toward Jade Spirit Palace to prepare for his journey west.
• Song Wen met Wang Qiuyue in Taitan City, where she said their different aims in the Western Rong Continent could make traveling together difficult.

Song Wen traded a Minor Teleportation Talisman method to Wang Qiuyue for records of spiritual treasures that could aid a Mahayana breakthrough, then persuaded her to arrange a large batch of talismans. He warned her that Xuan Gu planned to use three Ten Thousand Corpse Formations against the Southern Nether Province’s three great sects and revealed who had supplied the Corpse Puppets.

• Wang Qiuyue exchanged records of nearly ten spiritual herbs for Song Wen’s Minor Teleportation Talisman method and agreed to copy her sect’s Mahayana breakthrough insights for him later.
• Song Wen asked Wang Qiuyue to have two junior talisman makers produce one hundred Minor Teleportation Talismans and one hundred fifth-tier Earth-Escape Talismans, providing materials and payment.
• Song Wen told Wang Qiuyue that Xuan Gu, a Mahayana cultivator overseeing the Six Baleful Hall, intended to retaliate against the three great sects.
• Song Wen revealed that Xuan Gu planned to use three Ten Thousand Corpse Formations, each requiring ten thousand fourth-tier Corpse Puppets.
• Song Wen said Fan Kang and Tang Qing had each delivered ten thousand Corpse Puppets to Xuan Gu, while Gu Huang had died before completing his share.