Recaps

The seven lost their spiritual power and divine sense as they fell to the bottom of the abyss, where several suffered severe injuries. After Yi Ji used her bloodied feather fan to make light, Song Wen doubted that the supposed dragon corpse was genuine, and Shi Qingcang prepared to test it with his guillotine blade.

• A strange force sealed everyone’s spiritual power and sent the seven and the dragon corpse plunging into the abyss.
• After about half an hour, the group crashed onto the hard ground, and Yuan Rong shared healing pills with Xuan Li.
• Yi Ji used her bloodied feather fan to create firelight, revealing the dark rocks and the dragon corpse nearby.
• Song Wen examined the corpse, doubted it was a dragon, and asked Shi Qingcang to test it.
• Shi Qingcang raised his guillotine blade and slashed at the corpse.

After discovering that the dragon corpse was refined stone, Song Wen and the others recovered from their injuries and searched for a way out of the Burial Dragon Abyss. They found an unbreakable cliff and sent Feng Zhongli climbing into the darkness, while Song Wen remained wary of hidden danger.

• Shi Qingcang severed the dragon corpse’s claw and revealed that it was stone, which Song Wen identified as refined material containing something that disrupted divine senses.
• Song Wen warned the group to heal and stay together because their spiritual power was sealed and escape would be difficult.
• Yuan Rong gave healing pills to He Ying True Person and Yi Ji, and the group recovered before setting out to explore.
• The group reached a black cliff, and Shi Qingcang found that his full-strength strike could not damage it.
• Feng Zhongli began climbing the cliff while Song Wen cautioned her to come down if she encountered danger.

Song Wen and the other Great Ascension cultivators tried to climb out of the darkness but discovered a powerful gravity restriction that made the cliff impassable. Stranded without magic power, access to their storage rings, or a way to absorb spiritual energy, they faced growing hunger, and Song Wen ate some of his Blood Tide to sustain himself.

• Yi Ji, He Ying True Person, Shi Qingcang, and Yuan Rong climbed the cliff ahead while Song Wen waited and sent Xuan Li on without him.
• Feng Zhongli fell back down the cliff with her fingers bloodied and reported that gravity grew stronger with height until even Great Ascension cultivators could not withstand it.
• Yi Ji suspected Song Wen had known the cliff was impassable, but Feng Zhongli confirmed he had told the truth, and the group decided to keep exploring for another exit.
• Feng Zhongli revealed that she was hungry, and the others realized their sealed magic power, inaccessible storage rings, and inability to absorb spiritual energy left them without nourishment.
• Song Wen offered Feng Zhongli and the others some of his Blood Tide, but they refused, so he swallowed it himself to replenish his energy.

Song Wen and the others searched the valley for a way out, then discovered a True Dragon Spirit floating beyond their reach. After Shi Qingcang smashed apart the dragon corpse without finding anything, Xuan Li noticed the spirit changing as lights descended from above and were absorbed into it.

• Yuan Rong proposed that the group prepare to stay in the valley and keep exploring, while Feng Zhongli warned that they could not survive long without spiritual energy or food.
• Song Wen led the others toward the dragon corpse, and they spotted a faint, azure-lit cluster of light in the air that they identified as the True Dragon Spirit.
• Yuan Rong confirmed that the group had sought the True Dragon Spirit, and Yi Ji wondered whether it had emerged from the dragon corpse.
• Shi Qingcang smashed the dragon corpse into scattered stones, but found no secrets or opportunities within it.
• Xuan Li noticed that the True Dragon Spirit was changing as specks of light drifted down from above and disappeared into it.

Song Wen and the other cultivators remained trapped in the Burial Dragon Abyss as the True Dragon Spirit absorbed sacrificed soul fragments. Three years later, its remnant soul revealed that it planned to devour their souls, and Song Wen politely asked it questions.

• Song Wen recognized the lights around the True Dragon Spirit as soul fragments, and the group wondered why it was absorbing them.
• The cultivators searched the valley for a way out or food, found nothing, and returned to wait beneath the spirit.
• Over three years, the others starved until their bodies withered, while Song Wen remained physically unchanged.
• The True Dragon remnant soul revealed itself and said it had been waiting for their bodies to fail so it could devour their divine souls.
• Song Wen noticed the soul fragments had stopped falling and asked the remnant soul to answer a few questions.

The dragon soul explained how it had used a stone stele and the Dragon-Breath Profound Ice to arrange its survival and lure human cultivators into the Kunxu Secret Realm. Song Wen questioned the dragon soul’s claims about the restrictions and proposed a bargain to escape the valley, leaving the others hopeful for its response.

• The dragon soul said the Kunxu Secret Realm and its restrictions were formed by heaven and earth, while it could fly because the restrictions did not affect souls.
• Song Wen recalled that the restrictions had appeared only after the Dragon-Breath Profound Ice melted and doubted the dragon soul’s account.
• The dragon soul admitted it had left a black stone stele at the node passages to lure cultivators and had frozen itself in the profound ice to slow the erosion of time.
• The dragon soul revealed that a lightning-covered barbaric bull had destroyed its physical body and vowed to take revenge after rebuilding it.
• Song Wen asked the dragon soul to help them escape in exchange for providing enough living human souls to restore it, and the other six watched with hope.

Trapped in the Kunxu Secret Realm, Song Wen refused Shi Qingcang’s demand for blood and fought back when Shi attacked him. The battle ended with Song Wen shooting a hidden blood-plasma arrow into Shi Qingcang’s eye.

• The dragon soul rejected the cultivators’ offer of a Heavenly Dao oath and explained that devouring their divine souls would restore its strength.
• Shi Qingcang demanded that Song Wen share his blood plasma, then threatened him with a guillotine blade when Song refused.
• Song Wen challenged the others to join Shi, while Feng Zhongli chose to trust Song and drank blood plasma from the ground.
• Shi Qingcang attacked Song with the blade, but Song struck it aside and closed in for hand-to-hand combat.
• Song Wen secretly spat a blood-plasma arrow into Shi Qingcang’s right eye, destroying it.

Song Wen defeated Shi Qingcang, captured his divine soul, and refused to surrender it to the dragon soul. The survivors ate Shi Qingcang’s corpse or the blood slurry, while Feng Zhongli and Xuan Li began recovering from its harmful effects.

• Song Wen slammed Shi Qingcang into the rocks until his head burst, then seized his divine soul.
• Feng Zhongli and Xuan Li declined Shi Qingcang’s corpse, so Yuan Rong began eating it, followed by Yi Ji and He Ying True Person.
• Shi Qingcang’s divine soul cursed his fellow disciples, and Song Wen silenced him by tightening his grip.
• The dragon soul demanded Shi Qingcang’s divine soul, but Song Wen refused and argued that the survivors could endure until the secret realm closed by eating.
• Song Wen asked Feng Zhongli and Xuan Li about the effects of the blood slurry; Feng Zhongli reported abdominal pain, and Xuan Li said she had been poisoned.
• Yuan Rong, Yi Ji, and He Ying True Person watched the two women to judge whether the blood slurry was dangerous.

Feng Zhongli and Xuan Li survived consuming the blood plasma, while Song Wen and the others remained trapped in the valley until Venerable Yun Chan arrived looking for the missing Zen masters Jikong and Cizhou. Yun Chan challenged the dragon soul but discovered that the valley’s restrictions could stop even a Tribulation Transcendence cultivator.

• Feng Zhongli and Xuan Li vomited up unabsorbed black blood after consuming the blood plasma, then assured Song Wen that they felt better.
• Song Wen and the others endured their confinement with the blood plasma keeping them from starving, while the dragon soul continued to watch them.
• Venerable Yun Chan descended into the valley and asked whether anyone had seen Jikong and Cizhou.
• Xuan Li recognized Yun Chan, and Song Wen and the others realized that the secret realm had been open for nearly eighty years and that Yun Chan might have come to investigate the Zen masters’ deaths.
• Yun Chan questioned the dragon soul and leapt toward it, but the valley’s restrictions dragged him back to the ground.

Venerable Yun Chan arrived in Rift Valley but found himself trapped by its restrictions, like Song Wen and the others. After failing to climb out, he returned to the dragon soul, leaving escape dependent on confronting it.

• The dragon soul mocked Venerable Yun Chan, who asked Song Wen and the others whether they had found a way to escape.
• Song Wen explained that he had suppressed Shi Qingcang's divine soul beneath its guillotine blade after killing him, and denied being a member of the Divine Blood Sect.
• Feng Zhongli and Yi Ji described how the sealed cultivators survived and explained that climbing the cliffs became impossible under increased gravity.
• Venerable Yun Chan accepted Yi Ji's feather fan and climbed the cliff, but fell back before reaching the summit.
• Venerable Yun Chan returned to the center of Rift Valley and said they would need to find a solution through the dragon soul, which urged them to surrender their divine souls.

Song Wen proposed that Venerable Yun Chan and the others leave their bodies with their souls to capture the dragon soul, and Yun Chan decided to risk the plan. The seven souls emerged together, but Yun Chan paused to watch the others instead of attacking the dragon soul.

• Song Wen privately suggested that Yun Chan use the restrictions’ inability to affect souls to capture the dragon soul.
• Yun Chan weighed the risks and mistrusted Song Wen and the other six Mahayana cultivators, but eventually summoned them and ordered them to join the plan.
• Yi Ji questioned whether everyone should leave their bodies unguarded, but Yun Chan demanded obedience and threatened anyone who hesitated or harbored hidden intentions.
• After about half an hour, Yun Chan gave the signal, and all seven souls emerged from their bodies.
• Yun Chan’s soul ordered them to go, then scrutinized the other six souls instead of immediately rushing at the dragon soul.

Song Wen and the others left their bodies to confront the dragon soul, which revealed it had lured them into a trap. Yun Chan and the group struggled to restrain it as its light and shadow slowed their souls.

• Song Wen found that his soul could move freely while the black hole from his sea of consciousness stayed within it, and he led the others upward after Yun Chan commanded them to advance.
• The dragon soul revealed that it had waited thirty years to trap them outside their bodies and attacked Yun Chan.
• Song Wen pretended to be staggered by the clash of souls, shouted for the others to help, then was struck by the dragon soul's tail and sent plummeting.
• Yun Chan pushed through the dragon soul's light and shadow, grabbed its neck, and wrestled with it as its claws pierced his forearms.
• Xuan Li and the other five joined the fight, but the dragon soul's light and shadow slowed them before it swept its tail at them.

Venerable Yun Chan subdued the dragon soul, but Song Wen seized control of Yun Chan’s physical body with a guillotine blade and demanded the dragon soul. The chapter ended with Song Wen ordering Yun Chan to hand it to Feng Zhongli, who would pass it along.

• Venerable Yun Chan battered the dragon soul until Yuan Rong asked him to stop so they could question it.
• Song Wen returned to his body, used the guillotine blade to scatter Shi Qingcang’s soul, and threatened Venerable Yun Chan’s physical body.
• Song Wen held the blade to Yun Chan’s neck and demanded the dragon soul, preventing Yun Chan from approaching.
• Venerable Yun Chan agreed to hand over the dragon soul, claiming he had captured it to learn how to leave the place.
• Song Wen ordered Yun Chan to give the dragon soul to Feng Zhongli, who would pass it to him.

Song Wen took the True Dragon Spirit and refused to return Venerable Yun Chan’s body, then cut off Yun Chan’s head and survived when Yun Chan’s divine soul entered him. He walked away with the dragon soul to question it about escaping the dead land, while the others stayed behind.

• Feng Zhongli handed the dragon soul to Song Wen, who rejected its offer to reveal a way out and demanded it tell them how to leave.
• Song Wen refused Venerable Yun Chan’s demand for his body and beheaded him with his executioner's blade.
• Feng Zhongli tried to stop Yun Chan’s divine soul from attacking Song Wen, but Song Wen diverted her with the thrown blade, allowing Yun Chan to enter his brow.
• Song Wen showed no sign of possession and told Feng Zhongli he had been prepared to handle Yun Chan’s divine soul.
• Yi Ji and Yuan Rong praised Song Wen, and the group stayed behind as he carried the dragon soul into the darkness.

Song Wen captured Venerable Yun Chan and the dragon soul within his sea of consciousness, where a vast black hole terrified the dragon soul. After questioning Yun Chan about the secret realm and learning of his Three Lives Dharma Eye, Song Wen tortured the dragon soul until it agreed to speak about escaping.

• Song Wen brought the dragon soul into his sea of consciousness, where it saw the black hole and discovered Venerable Yun Chan, a tentacled monster, and a human divine soul.
• Song Wen questioned Venerable Yun Chan about treasures in the Kunxu Secret Realm, and Yun Chan said he had found none and used the Three Lives Dharma Eye to locate passages between regions.
• Venerable Yun Chan offered blood-path spiritual items from his storage ring that could strengthen Song Wen's Blood Sea Seal.
• Song Wen asked the dragon soul how to leave the deadly place, but it demanded freedom and human souls in exchange for help.
• Song Wen burned the dragon soul's tail with Golden Broth Curse, and the dragon soul surrendered and agreed to speak.

Song Wen learned two ways to escape Burial Dragon Abyss from the dragon soul and told the others, who chose to wait at the Li-Nan position for the restrictions to fail. With their escape plan settled, the group began eyeing Song Wen’s treasures, and he remained wary of their intentions.

• The dragon soul explained that Song Wen could either send his divine soul outside to seek help or escape when the restrictions at the Li-Nan position briefly failed every twelve years.
• Song Wen questioned the dragon soul about treasures in the Kunxu Secret Realm, but it claimed that nothing of note remained.
• Song Wen decided to keep the dragon soul and Venerable Yun Chan’s soul bodies alive for now, then returned to the others and shared both escape methods.
• Yi Ji proposed waiting at the Li-Nan position first, and the group agreed to try that plan before risking their divine souls outside the valley.
• While the group waited, Song Wen noticed their covetous looks toward his treasures and resolved to stay especially cautious around Yi Ji, He Ying True Person, and Yuan Rong.

After the valley’s restriction failed, Song Wen attacked Yi Ji as they all tried to escape, and the fight continued while Xuan Li intervened. The chapter ended when a hidden Golden Wheel suddenly descended, startling both Song Wen and Yi Ji.

• Song Wen sensed that the restriction at the bottom of the valley had failed and began ascending with Yi Ji, He Ying True Person, Feng Zhongli, Yuan Rong, and Xuan Li.
• Song Wen attacked Yi Ji with a blood-colored torrent, but He Ying True Person withdrew his chain and fled rather than help her.
• Yi Ji struck back with fire attacks, while Song Wen used the Nine Calamities Measuring-Heaven Sword and Blood Tide to defend himself.
• Xuan Li attacked Yi Ji with her Moon Wheel, and Yi Ji’s fire phoenix and fire wall clashed with Song Wen’s Blood Tide and Xuan Li’s weapon.
• As Yi Ji’s blazing white fire streak approached Song Wen from behind, a golden flying wheel descended, revealing that Xuan Li had concealed a Golden Wheel.

Song Wen killed Yi Ji during the renewed restriction in Burial Dragon Abyss, escaped with the Death-Substitute Puppet, and joined Feng Zhongli, He Ying True Person, Yuan Rong, and Xuan Li above the abyss. After they killed He Ying True Person, Song Wen turned on Yuan Rong, who tried to save himself by offering to guide them to the Snowfield.

• Golden Wheel caught Yi Ji off guard and wounded her, allowing Song Wen to close in while Moon Wheel attacked from another direction.
• Yi Ji unleashed her feather fan’s flaming plumes, but Moon Wheel cut her waist and Song Wen killed her with the Soul-Splitting Blade.
• As the restriction descended again, Song Wen retrieved only a storage ring before using the Death-Substitute Puppet to escape the abyss.
• Song Wen, Feng Zhongli, and Xuan Li joined forces to kill the fleeing He Ying True Person and collect his corpse and treasures.
• Song Wen targeted Yuan Rong, who formed a defensive sword array and claimed he knew the route to the Snowfield.

Song Wen tried to force Yuan Rong to reveal the route to the Snowfield, but Yuan Rong escaped with a Teleportation Talisman after Song Wen guessed where a hidden passage might be. Song Wen suspected Yuan Rong would return to the only known node passage in the Dragon-Burial Domain and went there to wait with Xuan Li and Feng Zhongli.

• Song Wen learned that neither the dragon soul nor Venerable Yun Chan knew how to reach the Snowfield, while Yuan Rong threatened to destroy his own soul rather than let Song Wen interrogate him.
• Song Wen deduced that a passage to the Snowfield was likely in the water region where Yuan Rong, Ji Yue, and Zhu You had once been transported.
• Yuan Rong dismissed his sword formation and used a Teleportation Talisman to escape Song Wen's Nine Calamities Measuring-Heaven Sword.
• Song Wen searched the surrounding area but found no trace of Yuan Rong, then guessed that he would seek the known node passage in the Dragon-Burial Domain.
• Song Wen, Xuan Li, and Feng Zhongli reached the passage by the great river and decided to wait there while Xuan Li and Feng Zhongli recovered.

After ending their half-year wait for Yuan Rong, Song Wen, Feng Zhongli, and Xuan Li traded for what they needed and set out to inspect the Snowfield exit. They returned to the Snowfield, where a blizzard brought three enormous snow demons toward them.

• Song Wen ended the wait for Yuan Rong and divided Yi Ji, He Ying, and Shi Qingcang's treasures with Feng Zhongli and Xuan Li.
• Song Wen gave Feng Zhongli a Purple-Rhyme Fruit for her Nether-Tide Voidwater and traded another fruit to Xuan Li for ten million high-grade spirit stones and two Teleportation Talismans.
• The three decided to travel to the Snowfield and investigate the exit, then found a moving node passage in the Water Region and used it to return.
• Feng Zhongli identified the exit's direction as east, but snowfall quickly became a blizzard that obscured the Snowfield.
• Song Wen, Xuan Li, and Feng Zhongli prepared to fight as three towering snow demons emerged through the blizzard and approached them.

Song Wen, Xuan Li, and Feng Zhongli defeated the Snow Demons but could not break the ice sealing the Snowfield exit. Song Wen suspected weaker cultivators might make the ice easier to shatter, so he returned to the Pure Land and asked Geng Qian to gather his maidservants.

• Song Wen and Xuan Li defeated one Snow Demon while Feng Zhongli and her giant ape fought the other two, and the group then traveled to the Snowfield exit.
• The three combined their strongest attacks against the ice sealing the exit, but barely damaged it.
• Song Wen recalled Geng Qian's account of cracks appearing when weaker cultivators had attacked the ice and proposed testing whether the ice's strength depended on the cultivators present.
• Song Wen returned to the Pure Land and told Geng Qian he had found the passage to the Snowfield, fulfilling his promise.
• Song Wen asked Geng Qian to gather the six low-level maidservants so they could accompany him to the Snowfield.

Song Wen and the others discovered that the solid ice weakened when only a low-cultivation person was near it, then shattered it with Xuan Li’s Moon Wheel. The exit began freezing over again almost immediately, leaving them without a clear escape.

• Song Wen, Feng Zhongli, and Xuan Li killed the snow demons and asked Geng Qian and the six women to help test the ice sealing the exit.
• Song Wen had Ai Shan attack the ice alone and record the results, confirming that the ice weakened when powerful cultivators were far away.
• After experiments showed that the three Mahayana cultivators had to be more than ten thousand li away, Song Wen left Ai Shan behind and sent Xuan Li’s Moon Wheel toward the exit.
• The Moon Wheel shattered the ice and exposed the black vortex, but its residual force killed Ai Shan.
• As Song Wen, Feng Zhongli, and Xuan Li reached the exit, new azure ice rapidly spread across the vortex again.

Song Wen, Xuan Li, and Feng Zhongli escaped the Kunxu Secret Realm after an army of snow demons appeared, then parted ways outside. Song Wen left with Xuan Li, while Feng Zhongli watched them go with a newfound resolve.

• Feng Zhongli broke the ice blocking the exit, but dozens of enormous snow demons emerged, forcing the group to leave the secret realm.
• Geng Qian and the five women exited first, followed by Song Wen, Xuan Li, and Feng Zhongli; the snow demons stopped at the forbidden boundary.
• Outside the secret realm, Song Wen's arrival frightened off cultivators waiting to rob the survivors, and Geng Qian thanked him before departing with the women.
• Song Wen said he planned to go to Taitan City, and Feng Zhongli exchanged communication jade slips with him before setting off in another direction.
• Xuan Li invited Song Wen to resume their intimacy, and he left with her as Feng Zhongli watched them go and appeared to make a decision.

After parting from Xuan Li, Song Wen returned to Great Passage Lake and found Zhou Siyi had advanced to the peak of the Golden Core realm. Her unexplained cultivation resonance resembled Ying Wu’s, and Song Wen began investigating after learning Zhou Siyi had assisted with Ying Wu’s Void Dragon Vine fusion.

• Xuan Li parted from Song Wen after offering to obtain scarce spirit materials for him in exchange for a price.
• Song Wen traveled to Great Passage Lake and reunited with Zhou Siyi, whose cultivation had risen from Foundation Establishment Late Stage to the peak of the Golden Core realm in thirty-five years.
• Song Wen detected a faint resonance on Zhou Siyi resembling Ying Wu’s and questioned her about unusual opportunities and treasures.
• Zhou Siyi said she had mostly stayed on the island and used ordinary resources, but recalled assisting Ying Wu with her Void Dragon Vine fusion thirty years earlier.
• Song Wen wondered whether the Void Dragon Vine had caused Zhou Siyi’s resonance and what benefits or dangers it might bring.

After three years of secluded cultivation, Song Wen reached the mid-Mahayana divine soul realm and Shadow Void advanced to the late eighth rank. He joined Ying Wu on an expedition into the Source-Qi Death Domain, where she brought an eighth-rank Void Dragon Vine to test how it would respond to source qi.

• Song Wen returned to Cloud Creek Valley, cultivated for three years, and advanced his divine soul while Shadow Void reached the late eighth rank.
• Song Wen refused to risk entering the Source-Qi Death Domain just to gather Soul Source Essence for Gu Que, but said he might investigate it later.
• Song Wen left seclusion and headed to Great Passage Lake, where he met Ying Wu as she was setting out for the Source-Qi Death Domain.
• Ying Wu invited Song Wen to accompany her, explaining that she wanted to see what would happen if she placed a newly fused eighth-rank Void Dragon Vine in the domain.
• After traveling several hundred thousand li into the Source-Qi Death Domain, Ying Wu summoned the mid-eighth-rank Void Dragon Vine on a barren mountaintop.