Recaps

After the Insect Mother recovered, Song Wen failed to destroy the insect nest and escaped its pursuit using a blood crystal that created a hundred copies of himself. He warned Lu Yuanxiu to evacuate Glazed Light City, but the insect nest arrived before the Lu Clan members could flee, and Song Wen left them to face the attack.

• The Insect Mother recovered and threatened Song Wen, while he taunted her and prepared to attack the insect nest.
• The insect nest rose into the air, and its grayish-white sinews protected it from Song Wen's blood rain.
• Song Wen fled as the insect nest pursued him, then used a blood-red crystal to create a hundred copies and escape.
• Song Wen concluded that the insect nest was heading toward Glazed Light City and traveled there ahead of it.
• Song Wen warned Lu Yuanxiu to evacuate, and Lu Yuanxiu began gathering the remaining Lu Clan members.
• The insect nest arrived as the Lu Clan members panicked, and Song Wen departed while gray threads struck them.

Song Wen followed the Void Beetle Race as it devoured cities and watched its numbers grow at an alarming rate. At Twin Phoenix City, he confronted four Mahayana cultivators who had forced Divine Blood Sect disciples to stay and help defend the city, and they explained why they had chosen to fight rather than flee.

• Song Wen ignored the insect mother's taunts and followed the Void Beetle nest as it swept through Glazed Light City and captured its inhabitants.
• At Stoneport City, Song Wen watched the Void Beetles slaughter mortals and discovered that the nest could hatch several new beetles almost every breath.
• The insect nest continued east, destroying more than a hundred cities over two months while Song Wen tracked it.
• At Twin Phoenix City, Song Wen learned from Zhu Gao that cultivators there had prevented Divine Blood Sect disciples from fleeing despite the sect's warning.
• Song Wen confronted four Mahayana cultivators, who said they had stayed to defend the city because fleeing with their clans' younger generations would leave them vulnerable to the insect nest.

Song Wen left Twin Phoenix City to the four Mahayana cultivators and ordered the Divine Blood Sect to flee south, while he waited for the Void Beetle Race to arrive. The insect race destroyed the city’s protective formation and began capturing its cultivators, as Zhuang Kuan begged Song Wen for help.

• Song Wen condemned the four Mahayana cultivators for keeping Zhu Gao and the Divine Blood Sect disciples in Twin Phoenix City, then ordered Zhu Gao to lead the sect south and hand the city’s formation materials to Zhuang Kuan.
• Song Wen threatened Zhuang Kuan and the other three cultivators against abandoning Twin Phoenix City, then watched from afar as their forced confinement stirred unrest.
• Two days later, the Insect Mother arrived above Twin Phoenix City and mocked Song Wen, who claimed he would destroy the insect race when Ying Wu returned.
• The insect race shattered Twin Phoenix City’s protective formation and sent green threads to pierce and drag away its cultivators.
• Zhuang Kuan and the other three Mahayana cultivators fought the threads but could not escape, so Zhuang Kuan desperately begged Song Wen to save them.

Song Wen and Ying Wu joined forces against the Void Beetles after the insect mother mocked humanity and trapped Zhuang Kuan. Their ninth-rank Void Dragon Vine began corroding the giant insect phantom, but the insect race slowed it with green threads, leaving Song Wen to call for a coordinated attack.

• The insect mother taunted Zhuang Kuan and trapped him in a green-thread net as the Void Beetles devoured humans in Twin Phoenix City.
• Ying Wu arrived with the Kui Bull, and Song Wen asked him to help destroy the Void Beetles.
• Ying Wu summoned his ninth-rank Void Dragon Vine, which gathered Source Qi into a black dragon and sent it attacking the giant insect phantom.
• The insect mother countered with a gray-white torrent, but the Azure Luan Sword and Nine Calamities Measuring-Heaven Sword protected the Source-Qi dragon as it struck the phantom.
• The Source Qi corroded a pit roughly two thousand miles wide before green threads slowed its expansion, and Song Wen asked Ying Wu and Venerable Kui Bull to restrain the phantom.

Song Wen, Ying Wu, and Kui Bull attacked the Void Beetles’ Sacred Insect Phantom, but the insect mother said their defenses and numbers made it nearly impossible to defeat. Ying Wu revealed that a second Void Dragon Vine had awakened at late ninth order, and the insect mother accused them of worsening the spread of Source Qi.

• Song Wen and Ying Wu struck the Sacred Insect Phantom while Kui Bull’s lightning was weakened by its Heaven-Destroying Divine Light.
• The insect mother said the Sacred Insect Phantom distributed attacks across tens of millions of Void Beetles and claimed the Void Beetle race would eventually rule the Profound Realm.
• Song Wen questioned the insect mother about Kui Bull and the origins of her race, but she refused to answer.
• Ying Wu stopped the assault and revealed that the Void Dragon Vine that consumed the black sphere had awakened at late ninth order.
• The insect mother condemned Song Wen and Ying Wu for raising Void Dragon Vines that converted spiritual energy into Source Qi, which she said was already consuming the world.

Ying Wu demonstrated that her Void Dragon Vine could convert Source Qi back into spiritual qi, prompting the Insect Mother to ask to become her spirit beast and help destroy the Source-Qi Death Domain. After Ying Wu accepted the contract, the Insect Mother revealed that the Void Beetles came from the Qiankun Realm, which Source Qi had consumed, and described their escape into the void.

• Ying Wu used her late ninth-tier Void Dragon Vine to absorb Source Qi and produce spiritual qi, shocking the Insect Mother.
• The Insect Mother offered to become Ying Wu's spirit beast and pledged the Void Beetle race's loyalty in exchange for helping disperse the Source-Qi Death Domain.
• Song Wen advised Ying Wu to accept, and Ying Wu agreed on the condition that the Void Beetles stop using humans as blood food.
• Ying Wu formed a spirit beast contract with the Insect Mother, who then explained that Source Qi had destroyed the Void Beetles' homeland in the Qiankun Realm.
• The Insect Mother recounted how several dozen Insect Mothers opened a spatial rift and sent her and her followers through the void in a movable insect nest.
• The insect nest drifted through spatial storms for an unknown number of years, while some Void Beetles died and others hatched from eggs carried from the Qiankun Realm.

The Insect Mother explained how her clan entered the Profound Realm and gave Ying Wu the Heaven-Destroying Divine Light cultivation method, which he believed he could adapt for humans. After the Void Beetles departed for the Western Rong Continent, Ying Wu revealed that an unseen force was driving his obsession with erasing source qi.

• The Insect Mother explained that a spatial storm had brought her wounded clan into the Profound Realm, and she gave Ying Wu the Heaven-Destroying Divine Light method as an apology for the lives her clan had taken.
• Ying Wu said he could study the differences between human and Void Beetle bodies and adapt the cultivation art for Song Wen.
• Song Wen proposed settling the Void Beetles in the Western Rong Continent, and the Insect Mother agreed to follow his plan.
• Zhuang Kuan accused Song Wen and the Void Beetles of slaughtering his people, but Ying Wu killed him with the Azure Luan Sword.
• Four years later, Song Wen declined to accompany Ying Wu and the Void Beetles through the Spatial Projection to the Western Rong Continent, while Ying Wu said an unseen force compelled him to erase source qi from the world.

Song Wen mastered Heaven-Destroying Divine Light but could not advance his myriad poisons primordial body without Immortal Realm poisons. He and Ying Wu set out for Central Profound Province to investigate Youye, and Ying Wu proposed that they either champion justice or become wicked bandit cultivators on the way.

• Song Wen learned that the Pagoda Temple's remaining forces had been destroyed, arranged for the Divine Blood Sect to rebuild western Cangwu Province, and then entered seclusion.
• After ten years, Song Wen mastered Heaven-Destroying Divine Light and found it could dissipate his Primordial Chaos Divine Thunder before it touched him.
• Song Wen's cultivation of the myriad poisons primordial body stalled because the necessary poisons were from the Immortal Realm, so he ended his seclusion.
• Ying Wu returned, and Song Wen persuaded him to accompany him to Central Profound Province to investigate Youye and collect pills.
• Song Wen and Ying Wu crossed the desert into Falling Star Province, where Ying Wu suggested they travel as either justice-seeking immortal lovers or wicked bandit cultivators.

Ying Wu intervened when three Spirit Transformation cultivators attacked Zhan Shihui over a Heavenly Star Flower, but their competing claims left her unsure whom to believe. Song Wen recognized Zhan Shihui as a member of the Zhan Clan and vouched for her, prompting Ying Wu to kill the three men and spare her.

• Ying Wu stopped the three cultivators from fleeing and demanded to know why they were attacking Zhan Shihui.
• Zhan Shihui and the middle-aged cultivator disputed whether the Heavenly Star Flower belonged to her or to the men who claimed to have nurtured it.
• Song Wen arrived and suggested killing everyone because neither side's case was clear, frightening all four into begging for their lives.
• Zhan Shihui identified herself as a member of the Zhan Clan of Yitai City, and Song Wen said she seemed trustworthy.
• Ying Wu declared the three men guilty of killing for treasure and used the Azure Luan Sword to kill them.

Ying Wu brought Zhan Shihui and the others to Yitai City, where ghost cultivators were besieging the Zhan Clan. After Ying Wu destroyed their attacking ghosts, Zhan Ji and Zhan Shihui urged her to help defend the city, leaving her response unresolved.

• Zhan Shihui invited Ying Wu to Yitai City, and Ying Wu accepted while taking her and the others aboard her flying ship.
• Zhan Shihui told Song Wen and Ying Wu that the Zhan Clan controlled Yitai City's teleportation array, which Song Wen hoped to use to reach Central Profound Province.
• Ying Wu and her group arrived to find ghost cultivators attacking Yitai City, and Ying Wu warned that the Zhan Clan's situation was worse than Zhan Shihui believed.
• A huge ghost lunged at the flying ship, and Ying Wu killed it with one sword strike.
• When a ghost cultivator demanded that Ying Wu leave, she demanded that he kill himself to atone, and he sent a horde of ghosts against her ship.
• Zhan Ji called from inside the city's protective barrier for Ying Wu's help, and Zhan Shihui pleaded with her to defend the city and its people.

Song Wen fought the ghost cultivators attacking Yitai City while Ying Wu watched, and killed the gaunt leader’s six subordinates. Zhan Ji and three Zhan Clan cultivators joined the battle after the city’s barrier fell, and the wounded leader was revealed to be Qu Tianlu.

• Ying Wu killed the ghosts approaching the airship, but Song Wen persuaded him to leave the gaunt ghost cultivator to his subordinate.
• Song Wen fought the gaunt cultivator’s black banner and pressed forward, prompting the enemy to summon six subordinates and form a giant wolf ghost.
• Song Wen broke through the giant ghost’s yin qi and killed one Body Integration Realm cultivator, then used his flying saber to kill the other five subordinates.
• Song Wen turned to attack the gaunt cultivator, and Zhan Ji and three other Zhan Clan Mahayana cultivators emerged after lowering the city’s protective barrier.
• Song Wen and the Zhan Clan cultivators surrounded the gaunt cultivator, and Song Wen’s saber strike shattered his armor and severely wounded him.
• Zhan Ji laughed and identified the gaunt cultivator as Qu Tianlu, declaring that he would eliminate him.

Song Wen killed Qu Tianlu before he could self-detonate, ending the ghost cultivator’s attack on the Zhan Clan. Ying Wu accepted Zhan Ji’s invitation to the clan residence, then secretly suggested killing the four Zhan Clan Mahayana cultivators.

• Zhan Ji revealed that Qu Tianlu sought revenge for the massacre of his family, and Qu Tianlu accused Song Wen of ruining his plan.
• Qu Tianlu tried to self-detonate, but Song Wen stabbed him and destroyed his body and soul.
• Zhan Ji thanked Ying Wu and invited her and Song Wen to the Zhan Clan residence; Song Wen reported that all seven ghost cultivators had been killed.
• Zhan Ji warmly addressed Zhan Shihui after learning Ying Wu had saved her, and Ying Wu asked him to arrange lodging for the people she had rescued.
• As Ying Wu and Song Wen headed into the residence, she secretly asked Song Wen whether they should kill the four Zhan Clan cultivators.

Song Wen and Ying Wu used the Zhan Clan’s Teleportation Array to travel from Falling Star Province to Central Profound Province. After arriving at a mountain plaza controlled by the Scarlet Sun Sect, they were ordered to pay a steep entry fee.

• Song Wen and Ying Wu decided to spare Zhan Ji and the other Zhan Clan members until they returned, since the clan was needed to guard its Teleportation Array.
• Ying Wu asked Zhan Ji to arrange the array’s use, and Zhan Ji agreed to have the Zhan Clan provide the spirit stones needed to activate it.
• Song Wen and Ying Wu departed through the array, while Ying Wu told Zhan Ji they would visit again soon.
• Song Wen and Ying Wu arrived at a mountain plaza in Central Profound Province and found several cultivators led by a late-stage Void Refinement young man.
• The young man identified the area as belonging to the Scarlet Sun Sect and demanded four million superior spirit stones from them.

Song Wen and Ying Wu left the Scarlet Sun Sect after Song Wen placated Sang Zhi by paying him three million spirit stones. Sang Zhi revealed that the Phantom Illusion Sect was recruiting corpse-path and wood-element cultivators, and his parting insult toward Ying Wu left their departure on a hostile note.

• Song Wen stopped Ying Wu from acting against Sang Zhi and pretended to apologize for offending him.
• Sang Zhi demanded four million spirit stones, then accepted three million from Song Wen and offered to escort them out.
• Song Wen asked about Central Profound Province’s powerful factions, and Sang Zhi described the Phantom Illusion Sect’s recruitment of corpse-path and wood-element cultivators for Youye’s cultivation art.
• Song Wen concealed his interest in the Phantom Illusion Sect and told Sang Zhi that neither he nor Ying Wu practiced the required techniques.
• At the mountain gate, Song Wen said he and Ying Wu were Dao companions, and Sang Zhi mocked Ying Wu for choosing him.

After Sang Zhi provoked them, Song Wen and Ying Wu attacked the Scarlet Sun Sect to draw out Youye and force the sect to reveal what it knew. The sect’s formation still held, and Ying Wu demanded that Sang Beici hand over her son or face the sect’s destruction.

• Song Wen learned Ying Wu had the Insect Mother and four ninth-rank insect clans, then told her to seal off the area and slowly kill the Scarlet Sun Sect’s people to lure out the Phantom Illusion Sect and Youye.
• When Sang Zhi ordered the guards to attack, Ying Wu cut them down with Sword Qi and summoned an early ninth-rank Void Beetle to batter the sect’s formation and kill people outside it.
• Five Mahayana cultivators appeared at the mountain gate, and Ying Wu asked which woman was Sang Beici.
• Sang Beici admitted she was Sang Zhi’s mother and offered to take responsibility for his offenses, but Ying Wu mocked her defense of him as young and ignorant.
• Ying Wu demanded Sang Zhi’s surrender, threatening to wipe out the Scarlet Sun Sect if Sang Beici refused.

Ying Wu and Song Wen forced the Scarlet Sun Sect to hand over Sang Zhi after Peng Mo and the other elders chose to protect the sect instead of Sang Beici. Ying Wu severed Sang Zhi’s limbs, and Sang Beici was gravely wounded by the Void Beetle as she rushed to save him.

• Ying Wu threatened to break the Scarlet Sun Sect’s protective formation, while Peng Mo urged Sang Beici to surrender Sang Zhi for the sect’s survival.
• A female cultivator accused Sang Beici of endangering the sect and helped the other elders stop her as Peng Mo went to capture Sang Zhi.
• Peng Mo brought Sang Zhi to the mountain gate and sent him through the barrier to Ying Wu.
• Ying Wu severed Sang Zhi’s four limbs with Sword Qi, and Sang Zhi pleaded for his mother to save him.
• Sang Beici rushed through the barrier, but the Void Beetle pierced her chest and sealed her power; Sang Zhi begged Ying Wu to spare her.

Ying Wu broke the Scarlet Sun Sect’s protective formation and captured its leaders while waiting for the Phantom Illusion Sect, the real target, to arrive. Three days later, Elder Wang and six cultivators from the Phantom Illusion Sect cautiously approached and identified the giant insect phantom as a mother insect seeking to restore its swarm.

• Ying Wu shattered the Scarlet Sun Sect’s barrier with one sword strike and revealed that his cultivation was at the mid-Tribulation Transcendence Realm.
• Green threads from the insect phantom captured the fleeing Scarlet Sun Sect disciples, while Ying Wu cocooned Peng Mo, Sang Zhi, Sang Beici, and the other sect leaders to await the Phantom Illusion Sect.
• Ying Wu told the captives that they would live if the Phantom Illusion Sect could save them, and Sang Zhi cursed him as the group hung suspended in cocoons.
• Three days later, Elder Wang and six Phantom Illusion Sect cultivators stopped more than twenty thousand li from the Scarlet Sun Sect after spotting the giant insect phantom.
• The middle-aged female cultivator used her purple-lit eyes to see tens of thousands of cocoons hanging from the phantom, and Elder Wang concluded that it was a mother insect trying to recover its brood and injuries.

Song Wen and Ying Wu watched as the Phantom Illusion Sect’s Li Chen led an assault on the Void Beetle, hoping to draw out a powerful enemy. The beetle wounded under the combined attack, and Li Chen demanded that it submit to him.

• Song Wen dismissed the Phantom Illusion Sect’s first scouts and waited for a stronger force to arrive.
• Li Chen led more than a dozen cultivators toward the Void Beetle after deciding to test its strength.
• The Void Beetle’s howl incapacitated the Body Integration Realm cultivators, while its clashes with Li Chen and the Mahayana Realm cultivators left it unharmed at first.
• The Phantom Illusion Sect cultivators formed a formation and sent a massive dark chain at the Void Beetle, which shattered the chain but was brought to a halt.
• Li Chen struck the Void Beetle’s back with the Soul-Breaking Awl, cracking its carapace and drawing dark green blood.
• Li Chen demanded that the wounded Void Beetle submit and become his spirit beast.

The Void Beetle drove back Li Chen and the Phantom Illusion Sect cultivators, while Ying Wu revealed she had strengthened the beast’s flesh. After Li Chen escaped, Ying Wu taunted the captives and promised to destroy any reinforcements the sect sent.

• The Void Beetle’s blood reinforced its cracked shell, allowing it to withstand Li Chen’s Soul-Breaking Awl.
• The Void Beetle nearly slaughtered Elder Wang and the other cultivators, then pursued Li Chen as he fled.
• Li Chen released his early ninth-rank corpse puppet, the Nether Corpse, to fight the Void Beetle, but escaped while the beast attacked the puppet.
• Song Wen told Ying Wu that Li Chen’s escape might bring unexpected benefits, and Ying Wu complained that waiting was boring.
• Ying Wu freed Sang Zhi, Sang Beici, Peng Mo, and the other captives, then taunted them about the Phantom Illusion Sect’s defeat.
• Sang Zhi insisted that Li Chen would return with stronger reinforcements, and Ying Wu vowed to kill them before the captives’ eyes.

Song Wen ambushed Ku Yan and Li Chen’s group while the Void Beetle kept Ku Yan occupied, then overwhelmed Ku Yan with lightning arts. Ku Yan was left badly injured in a crater, and flying swords blocked Li Chen and the others from escaping.

• Li Chen returned with Ku Yan and six Mahayana cultivators, and led them toward the Void Beetle near the former Scarlet Sun Sect.
• Ku Yan sent twelve corpse coffins to attack the Void Beetle, which defended itself with frigid blade light.
• Song Wen emerged from the concealment formation and struck Ku Yan with purple lightning, revealing his late tribulation-transcendence cultivation.
• Ku Yan recognized Song Wen’s Mystic Yellow Thunder as one of the nine great heavenly thunder secret arts and suspected he belonged to the Divine Blood Sect.
• Song Wen’s Mystic Yellow Thunder broke through Ku Yan’s defenses and hurled her into a mountain, while flying swords blocked Li Chen and the others from fleeing.

Song Wen and Ying Wu captured Ku Yan, Li Chen, and their companions, then questioned them about the Phantom Illusion Sect. Li Chen disclosed the sect’s strength and defenses and offered to help destroy it in exchange for his life.

• Song Wen and Ying Wu overwhelmed the group, and Song Wen’s blood pythons swallowed Ku Yan, Li Chen, and the others.
• Song Wen questioned the captives, and he tortured Ku Yan with the Blood Tide when she refused to cooperate.
• Li Chen agreed to answer, revealing that the Phantom Illusion Sect had five other Tribulation Transcendence cultivators and more than sixty Mahayana cultivators, most of whom practiced the Corpse King Reincarnation Art.
• Li Chen described the sect’s Five Extremes Illusion-Annihilation Formation and explained that it could combine with the formation protecting Qilin Transformation City.
• Li Chen offered to help Song Wen and Ying Wu exterminate the Phantom Illusion Sect if they spared his life.

Song Wen killed Li Chen, Ku Yan, and the other captured Phantom Illusion Sect cultivators, then concealed his devouring ability from Ying Wu. After waiting a month for Youye to arrive, Song Wen and Ying Wu decided to investigate the Phantom Illusion Sect, and Song Wen broke his promise to spare the Scarlet Sun Sect captives.

• Li Chen offered to betray Youye and lure the Phantom Illusion Sect's Tribulation Transcendence cultivators into a trap, but Song Wen killed him, Ku Yan, and the others with Blood Tide.
• Ying Wu questioned Song Wen about his ability to devour magical power, and Song Wen bluffed that it came from a special opportunity.
• Song Wen and Ying Wu waited a month for Youye, but no one came, so they decided to investigate the Phantom Illusion Sect themselves.
• Song Wen and Ying Wu released Sang Zhi and the other Scarlet Sun Sect captives from their cocoons.
• Song Wen sent Blood Tide over the captives despite his promise, and Sang Beici embraced Sang Zhi before they were both swallowed.

Song Wen and Ying Wu were trapped near Qilin Transformation City after Youye anticipated their approach and surrounded the area with Confinement Formations. Ying Wu's attempt to break through the barrier failed, leaving only her and Song Wen alive inside as Youye and the Phantom Illusion Sect prepared to attack.

• Song Wen and Ying Wu disguised themselves and flew toward Qilin Transformation City, hoping to investigate the Phantom Illusion Sect and destroy the city's protective formation.
• A blue-black barrier rose around them and hundreds of nearby cultivators, and Youye arrived with four Tribulation Transcendence cultivators.
• Youye explained that he had predicted their plan, tracked unfamiliar cultivators near the city, and laid sixteen Confinement Formations to trap them.
• Song Wen spotted the four cultivators and more than fifty Great Ascension cultivators emerging from the Phantom Illusion Sect, while forty-nine prepared a formation.
• At Song Wen's signal, Ying Wu sent her flying swords against the barrier and summoned the Kui Bull, but the formation absorbed the attack and the sword shocks killed the other trapped cultivators.

Song Wen and Ying Wu broke through Youye’s trapping formation and attacked his forces, but Youye revealed defenses prepared over many years. He held off Ying Wu while ordering the cultivators inside a formation barrier to kill Song Wen, leaving the battle unresolved.

• Ying Wu and Song Wen struck Youye’s trapping formation together, shattering its barrier and charging in with the Kui Bull.
• Youye rallied his four Tribulation Transcendence cultivators and confronted Ying Wu, blocking the Kui Bull’s thunder with a golden bone bell.
• Song Wen repelled the four cultivators’ spirit treasures with the Nine Calamities Measuring-Heaven Sword and sent Soul-Slaying Spikes toward them, but a green formation barrier disrupted his control of the attacks.
• Youye declared that he would hold off Ying Wu and the Kui Bull while his allies used the formation to kill Song Wen, revealing that his years of planning had been for this battle.

Song Wen attacked the Phantom Illusion Sect’s green barrier while four Tribulation Transcendence cultivators summoned an Eight-Armed Fiendish Deity to protect it. After his Annihilation Yang Thunder cracked the barrier, the fiendish deity struck him down, and Youye declared him dead while urging Ying Wu to surrender.

• The four Tribulation Transcendence cultivators used a divine statue and their essence blood to summon the Eight-Armed Fiendish Deity outside the green barrier.
• Song Wen’s Nine Calamities Measuring-Heaven Sword failed to break the barrier, and the fiendish deity shattered his blood lake with its attacks.
• Song Wen split into a hundred figures and sent them toward the barrier, while the fiendish deity destroyed many of his copies.
• Song Wen gathered Annihilation Yang Thunder and struck the green barrier, cracking it and injuring the forty-nine Mahayana cultivators maintaining it.
• The Eight-Armed Fiendish Deity swatted Song Wen away and apparently burst his body, allowing the green barrier to stabilize.
• Youye told Ying Wu that Extreme Yin was dead and offered to spare Ying Wu if he submitted.