Recaps

Chen Fan tried to conceal his and Qin Ziyan’s involvement in the Hundred Herbs Garden incident while sect elders investigated the poisoned garden. After the elders left, Qin Ziyan revealed she had been awake and teased Chen Fan and Ye Wan about their closeness, leaving Chen Fan caught between them.

• Chen Fan told the Third Elder that he and Qin Ziyan had pursued a black-clad intruder to Hundred Herbs Garden, and Ye Wan warned the elders that the garden might contain poisonous gas.
• The three men sent into the garden found two dead guards and seven dead intruders, then collapsed after Spirit-Drunken Incense poisoned them.
• Chen Fan implied that the fallen men might survive, and the Third Elder took them away while Ye Wan stayed with Qin Ziyan.
• Qin Ziyan woke up, revealed that she had heard Chen Fan and Ye Wan talking, and teased them about their relationship.
• Qin Ziyan confronted Chen Fan about his resistance to poison and vowed to protect him, while Ye Wan reacted jealously to Chen Fan calling her Ziyan.

Chen Fan escaped Ye Wan and Qin Ziyan’s confrontation by pretending to faint, then returned to his room with the stolen plants. Meanwhile, Swordcry Mountain’s Deputy Sect Master Liu Wushuang convened a council to investigate the attack and its possible connection to the missing children, and Qin Ziyan was called on to report what she had seen.

• Ye Wan and Qin Ziyan nearly fought over Chen Fan, but Chen Fan pretended to faint and Ye Wan slipped away after checking on him.
• Qin Ziyan confirmed Chen Fan was unharmed, agreed not to report him, and made him promise to take her to Black Dragon Pool.
• Chen Fan returned to his room with the plants from Hundred Herbs Garden and began studying them against the Treasure Record.
• Liu Wushuang presided over a council at Cloudsea Pavilion and questioned whether the Hundred Herbs Garden attack was connected to the disappearances of children.
• Ye Wan told the council about the Heaven and Earth Gate and Spirit-Drunken Incense, offering an explanation that concealed Chen Fan’s involvement.
• Liu Wushuang asked Qin Jian whether his granddaughter Qin Ziyan had learned anything at Hundred Herbs Garden.

Qin Ziyan and Ye Wan defended Chen Fan when Liu Wushuang questioned his presence at the main peak, easing suspicion that he was a spy. After the others left, Liu Wushuang privately confronted Ye Wan about her relationship and accepted her certainty, while warning that her rival in love was formidable.

• Qin Ziyan recounted entering the Hundred Herbs Garden, finding two unconscious disciples, and escaping after seeing someone flee.
• Liu Wushuang questioned why Chen Fan had gone to the main peak, and Qin Jian suggested he might be a spy.
• Ye Wan and Qin Ziyan defended Chen Fan, explaining his past rescue of them and why he had accompanied Qin Ziyan.
• Liu Wushuang dismissed the group’s reports and asked Ye Wan to remain behind.
• Liu Wushuang asked whether Ye Wan was certain about her beloved, and Ye Wan firmly said she was.
• Liu Wushuang let Ye Wan leave but remarked that her rival in love was no easy opponent.

Chen Fan discovered that his poison-fueled cultivation no longer advanced, so he turned to practicing swordsmanship and encountered a powerful woman who broke the Soul Reaper Sword’s scabbard. She brought him to Cloudsea Pavilion and revealed that she had come after hearing about him from the inner court.

• Chen Fan fed some poorly made poison pellets to Eastern Evil and Western Poison, then found that consuming weaker poison no longer boosted his cultivation.
• Chen Fan decided to focus on External Force and went to the empty martial arts grounds to practice swordsmanship alone.
• A dignified woman challenged Chen Fan, mocked his sheathed sword, and shattered its scabbard with her Sword Qi.
• Chen Fan started to leave, but the woman stopped him and carried him through the air to Cloudsea Pavilion.
• The woman said she had heard about Chen Fan from the inner court and had come to see him, then noted that he had once reached the third level.

Chen Fan learned that Wushuang belonged to both Black Dragon Pool and Swordcry Mountain, received her scabbard, and descended from the mountain. Swordheart Hall disciples arrested him as a suspected spy, but Palace Master Liu Ruyu questioned whether their evidence proved anything.

• Wushuang examined Chen Fan's Venomheart Dart, told him not to reveal it, and said she was from Black Dragon Pool as well as Swordcry Mountain.
• Wushuang gave Chen Fan her scabbard and told him her name before he left the mountain.
• Swordheart Hall patrols spotted Chen Fan in the inner courtyard, arrested him, and brought him to the hall.
• Chen Fan saw Ye Wan among the assembled disciples while the Third Elder accused him of being a spy.
• Liu Ruyu challenged the Third Elder, pointing out that Chen Fan's presence in a forbidden area did not prove he was a spy.

Chen Fan escaped the Third Elder’s accusation after the Fire Spirit Sword scabbard revealed that Vice Sect Master Wushuang had given it to him. After more than half a year of cultivation, he accepted a difficult sect mission to investigate missing children and stolen treasures, hoping to track down the man in black.

• The Third Elder accused Chen Fan of being a spy, but Bai Shuang’s search uncovered Wushuang’s scabbard and shocked the elders into abandoning the accusation.
• Liu Ruyu dismissed the gathering and sent Ye Wan to escort Chen Fan back to the outer court; Chen Fan told her Wushuang had given him the scabbard, and Ye Wan explained the sect’s investigation into spies.
• Chen Fan spent more than half a year cultivating with poison, while Eastern Evil and Western Poison grew stronger and gained more useful abilities.
• Chen Fan visited the outer court mission hall and rejected the ordinary assignments in favor of difficult missions concerning missing children and stolen treasures.
• The steward gave Chen Fan the special missions, warning him that inner court disciples were already involved and that he would need one of them to acknowledge his assistance to claim a reward.

Chen Fan investigated the West Ridge prince’s mysterious disappearances and discovered that Spirit-Mystifying Incense had been used to incapacitate the guards. He followed the prince into the royal palace and watched him enter the Treasure Pavilion, waiting to learn what he was searching for.

• Chen Fan accepted the mission to investigate the West Ridge prince and traveled to West Ridge City.
• Chen Fan met Steward Chu, learned how the prince vanished from his guarded residence, and went there after nightfall.
• Chen Fan sensed Spirit-Mystifying Incense and saw the prince leave while the guards collapsed.
• Chen Fan checked the guards, identified the incense, and followed the prince through the city to a secluded palace wall.
• The prince evaded palace patrols and entered the Treasure Pavilion, while Chen Fan waited outside to see what he would seek.

Chen Fan exposed Prince Chen Tianyun’s deception and learned he had been helping Heaven and Earth Gate obtain treasures. By impersonating the prince, Chen Fan lured out the black-clothed man and discovered that stolen materials and kidnapped children were being gathered for a powerful figure’s cultivation.

• Chen Fan followed Chen Tianyun to a meeting with a black-clothed man and saw the prince hand over an object in a square container.
• Chen Fan confronted Chen Tianyun, exposed his use of Spirit-Mystifying Incense, and sent him back to his residence after the prince collapsed.
• Chen Fan disguised himself as Chen Tianyun and waited at the meeting place, where the black-clothed man appeared seeking another piece of Vermilion Blood Sand.
• Chen Fan struck the black-clothed man with Little West’s venom and forced him to reveal that he was a deputy leader of the Falcon Gang, which served Heaven and Earth Gate.
• The black-clothed man told Chen Fan that kidnapped children and stolen treasures were intended to support a high-ranking figure’s cultivation, and that Chen Tianyun had been used to steal palace treasures before being promised a false offer of discipleship.

Chen Fan followed a dying black-clad man’s clues to a mountain cave, where a mysterious figure had just departed after a secret operation. He encountered Myriad Blossom Valley disciples Hua Yuewu and Yang Dawei, and the three began comparing what they knew about the missing children.

• Chen Fan questioned the poisoned black-clad man, learned that a mysterious cultivator had practiced in a cave west of West Ridge City, and killed him when he launched a desperate attack.
• A hooded lord told a burly subordinate that the operation had succeeded thanks to Vermilion Blood Sand, then left the cave and ordered the cleanup.
• Chen Fan reached the mountain and encountered Hua Yuewu and Yang Dawei, who attacked after mistaking him for an accomplice.
• Chen Fan activated the Golden Wheel Scripture, causing Yang Dawei’s Seven-Colored Phoenix Butterflies to retreat into his gourd, then blocked Hua Yuewu’s poisonous mist with his Snake Staff.
• Hua Yuewu identified herself and Yang Dawei as disciples of Myriad Blossom Valley investigating missing children, and explained that they had tracked black-clad men using pollen and the butterflies.
• Chen Fan and the pair exchanged information, but he withheld what he had learned about the Heaven and Earth Gate expert and the mysterious cultivator.

Chen Fan and the two Myriad Blossom Valley disciples found six slain black-clad cultivators near the mountain before a powerful white-robed man appeared and ordered Chen Fan to accompany him uphill. The man taught Chen Fan a Soaring Art on the spot, and Chen Fan began climbing through the air as the story left the others watching below.

• Chen Fan followed Little West through the weeds and discovered six black-clad corpses with their faces destroyed.
• Yang Dawei and Hua Yuewu examined the bodies, and Chen Fan warned that the killer might be above them on the mountain.
• A silver-haired man in white appeared, suppressed the three cultivators, then released them and told Chen Fan to come uphill with him.
• The man allowed Yang Dawei and Hua Yuewu to wait below and taught Chen Fan the incantations for a Soaring Art.
• Chen Fan used the new technique to step through the air and climb the mountain while the white-robed man moved ahead.

Chen Fan and Yun Zhongjun confronted a black-clad Heaven and Earth Gate fighter in a cave, where Spirit-Drunken Incense left all three incapacitated. Chen Fan recovered first and approached the defeated man, who recognized his resistance to the poison and asked what connection he had to the Poison Immortal.

• Chen Fan followed Yun Zhongjun into the hidden cave and found a black-clad masked man waiting in a chamber.
• Yun Zhongjun attacked the man, who countered with dual blades and revealed that Spirit-Drunken Incense was weakening their Origin Qi.
• Chen Fan lost consciousness as Yun Zhongjun and the black-clad man fought amid the incense.
• Chen Fan awoke to find Yun Zhongjun unconscious and the black-clad man apparently defeated, then crawled toward him intending to kill him.
• The black-clad man woke in terror and asked how Chen Fan could still be conscious, then demanded to know his relationship with the Poison Immortal.

Chen Fan killed the black-clad man and helped Yun Zhongjun recover enough to leave the mountain, while the mystery of Chen Fan’s resistance to Spirit-Drunken Incense deepened. They reached Swordcry Mountain after curfew, where the guards discovered Yun Zhongjun and reacted with shock.

• The black-clad man died after marveling at Chen Fan’s strange resistance to Spirit-Drunken Incense, and Chen Fan worried that Yun Zhongjun might be in grave danger.
• Chen Fan circulated his Origin Qi through Yun Zhongjun to help him recover, then cultivated until Yun Zhongjun woke with only fragmentary memories.
• Yun Zhongjun recognized the Fire Spirit Sword and asked Chen Fan to carry him to a cliff, where he used sword flight to descend the mountain with him.
• Chen Fan carried Yun Zhongjun toward Swordcry Mountain, leaving the cave undisturbed for the two people from Myriad Blossom Valley to find.
• At the closed mountain gate, Chen Fan explained himself to the guards, but another disciple found Yun Zhongjun nearby and the old guard rushed over in alarm.

Chen Fan fought off Bai Shuang, who accused him of harming Yun Zhongjun and tried to kill him for his sword, until Wu Xu and Soaring Heavens Palace disciples intervened. Wu Xu escorted Chen Fan back to the sect and learned that Senior Yun had taught him the Soaring Art.

• Bai Shuang accused Chen Fan of harming Yun Zhongjun and attacked him, while the other disciples stood aside.
• Chen Fan blocked Bai Shuang's first strike with his sheathed sword and escaped his next attack using the Soaring Art.
• Bai Shuang tried to seize Chen Fan's sword and attacked again, but Wu Xu arrived with Soaring Heavens Palace disciples and stopped him.
• Bai Shuang left after the surrounding Swordheart Hall disciples ignored his call for support, and Wu Xu escorted Chen Fan toward the sect.
• Wu Xu asked Chen Fan where he had learned the Soaring Art, and Chen Fan said Senior Yun had taught it to him.

Chen Fan returned safely to the sect, survived a dangerous surge in cultivation by bleeding himself, and discovered that losing blood permanently reduced his realm. Liu Wushuang then visited him, questioned him about his trip, resolved the trouble with fellow disciples, and asked him to help her with something.

• Wu Xu escorted Chen Fan safely back to his outer-sect residence after the trip down the mountain.
• Chen Fan's cultivation surged toward the third level until his body began to swell, so he cut his wrist to relieve the excess energy and later returned to the peak of the second level.
• Chen Fan realized that depleting his blood and qi irreversibly lowered his cultivation, and he suspected Eastern Evil and Western Poison had drunk his spilled blood.
• Liu Wushuang arrived at Chen Fan's room and ordered him to recount everything that had happened during his trip down the mountain.
• Liu Wushuang alluded to drunken sleeps, told Chen Fan she had handled the trouble caused by fellow disciples, and asked him to help her with a task.

Chen Fan prepared for Liu Wushuang’s order to visit Black Dragon Pool and asked Ye Wan to help bring Qin Ziyan along. Ye Wan agreed and confronted Qin Ziyan at Sword-Imperial Pavilion, where Qin Ziyan restrained her anger upon seeing her.

• Liu Wushuang ordered Chen Fan to go to Black Dragon Pool and gave him a black token, telling him to bring the materials from Hundred Herbs Garden.
• Chen Fan recovered, strengthened his two snakes with his blood, and turned most of his remaining materials into pills, poisons, and other preparations.
• Chen Fan learned that Ye Wan had returned and that Xiaoyun had recovered, then asked Ye Wan to help him find Qin Ziyan for the Black Dragon Pool trip.
• Ye Wan agreed to help and went to Sword-Imperial Pavilion, where she called Qin Ziyan out in front of the gathered disciples.
• Qin Ziyan came out ready to vent her anger but held back when she saw Ye Wan.

Ye Wan, Chen Fan, and Qin Ziyan left Swordcry Mountain together and traveled toward Black Dragon Pool. After resting and recovering, they reached the lush forest marking its territory.

• Ye Wan told Qin Ziyan to meet her outside the mountain gate at the third watch, and Qin Ziyan eagerly planned her escape.
• Chen Fan waited outside the mountain, and Qin Ziyan arrived disguised in black before grabbing his hand and setting off with him.
• Ye Wan caught up with them, scolded them for holding hands, and led the way northeast toward Black Dragon Pool.
• The three traveled through the night until Qin Ziyan grew exhausted, and Ye Wan stopped when she realized Chen Fan had kept pace with her.
• After resting and recovering, they continued at a slower pace, and Ye Wan explained that they had entered Black Dragon Pool's territory.

Chen Fan, Ye Wan, and Qin Ziyan reached Black Dragon Pool and gained entry after Chen Fan showed the guards the Black Dragon Token. They were escorted across the lake to an island and brought before an elderly Black Dragon Pool expert, whose purpose remained unknown.

• Ye Wan warned Chen Fan and Qin Ziyan that they were nearing Black Dragon Pool, and the three proceeded cautiously through its territory.
• Black Dragon Pool disciples confronted the three at the lakeshore, where Chen Fan presented Liu Wushuang’s Black Dragon Token.
• The guard recognized the token and welcomed the three as distinguished guests, then escorted them by boat to the central island.
• The group crossed the island’s grounds and entered a large courtyard, where they were led into a hall.
• Chen Fan, Ye Wan, and Qin Ziyan found an elderly man seated in the place of honor.

Chen Fan learned that Black Dragon Pool's chief, Luo Gang, had sought the black-clad men for a cure after they poisoned his son. After Chen Fan revealed his knowledge of the God-Sealing Needles, Luo Gang begged him to help, and Chen Fan asked to see his son.

• Luo Gang recognized Chen Fan as the secret Black Dragon Envoy and promised to keep his identity confidential.
• Luo Gang explained that his son had fallen into a coma from a strange poison and that God-Sealing Needles had only slowed its spread.
• Luo Gang revealed that Black Dragon Pool had attacked Swordcry Mountain to obtain herbs demanded by the black-clad men in exchange for an antidote.
• Chen Fan warned Luo Gang that the black-clad men might not have cured his son even if they received the treasures, and said they could no longer be found.
• Chen Fan asked Luo Gang to take him to his son.

Chen Fan treated Luo Gang’s gravely poisoned son with carefully measured snake venom, preserving his life while warning that his recovery remained uncertain. After seven days, Chen Fan accepted Venomheart Darts as thanks and left Black Dragon Pool with Ye Wan and Qin Ziyan without revealing his name.

• Chen Fan examined Luo Gang’s dying son, changed the placement of his God-Sealing Needles, and used Little West to inject a small amount of snake venom.
• Chen Fan told Luo Gang that his son would need gradual treatment over seven days, then secretly reunited affectionately with Ye Wan that night.
• During the following days, Chen Fan continued treating the boy, whose poison and failing vitality gradually improved.
• On the seventh day, Chen Fan warned Luo Gang that his son might not awaken soon and could suffer aftereffects, while Luo Gang gave him ten Venomheart Darts.
• Luo Gang escorted Chen Fan, Ye Wan, and Qin Ziyan from Black Dragon Pool, and Chen Fan departed without revealing his name.

Chen Fan returned to Swordcry Mountain just in time for the inner court selection trial, where he watched Wu De and Jiang Yueying display formidable skills in the arena. As Jiang Yueying neared victory, Chen Fan realized he had brought no sword and faced the prospect of challenging her unarmed.

• Ye Wan promised to explain Qin Ziyan's absence to the Sword-Imperial Pavilion, and the three returned to Swordcry Mountain.
• Chen Fan, Ye Wan, and Qin Ziyan learned that the inner court selection was underway and hurried to the outer court martial arts arena.
• Chen Fan reunited with Murong Zhu, who explained that he had won one challenge before being defeated and introduced Wu De as a powerful arena holder.
• Wu De knocked another challenger from the arena with the flat of his giant sword.
• Jiang Yueying challenged Wu De and used swift movements and sword strikes to gain the advantage.
• Chen Fan realized that he had forgotten to bring a sword as Jiang Yueying appeared close to winning.

Chen Fan entered the inner court selection and faced Li Ruotong after Li defeated Jiang Yueying. Though Chen Fan had forgotten his sword and kept fleeing with the Soaring Art, he replenished his Internal Qi with poison pellets and continued the chase.

• Li Ruotong defeated Jiang Yueying with a backward short-sword strike, then took her place at the center of the arena.
• Chen Fan entered the arena without his Snake Staff, which he handed to Murong Zhu, and the disciples called him the outer sect's Great Devil King.
• Chen Fan told Li Ruotong he had forgotten his sword and invited him to attack, prompting Li to unleash his full strength.
• Chen Fan dodged Li Ruotong's attacks by leaping over him with the Soaring Art whenever he neared the edge of the arena.
• After more than half an hour of pursuit, Chen Fan replenished his Internal Qi with poison pellets and prepared to outlast Li Ruotong.

Chen Fan outlasted Li Ruotong in the inner court selection, then learned that all three inner court palaces wanted to recruit him. As the stewards argued over his choice, the Sword-Imperial Pavilion’s First Elder arrived and asked the other palaces to let him take Chen Fan as his disciple.

• Li Ruotong withdrew from his prolonged pursuit of Chen Fan, and Chen Fan remained in the arena until the selection ended.
• Steward Xu selected Chen Fan for the Sword-Imperial Pavilion, and Steward Liu selected him for Swordheart Hall.
• Steward Zhang also selected Chen Fan for Soaring Heavens Palace, prompting the three stewards to argue over which palace should take him.
• Steward Liu and Steward Xu each offered Chen Fan a chance to become an elder’s personal disciple, while Steward Zhang argued that Chen Fan’s Soaring Art made him best suited to his palace.
• The Sword-Imperial Pavilion’s First Elder arrived and asked the other stewards to let him take Chen Fan as his disciple.

Chen Fan was assigned to Soaring Heavens Palace after Yun Zhongjun revealed that Chen Fan had learned his Soaring Cloud Formula, while Murong Zhu was accepted into Swordheart Hall to fill its quota. After settling into the inner court, Chen Fan met Yun Zhongjun and learned that the palace master still had not recovered most of his memories.

• Yun Zhongjun arrived at the selection ground and claimed Chen Fan as his disciple, ending the Grand Elder's attempt to recruit him for the Sword-Imperial Pavilion.
• The Grand Elder assigned Chen Fan to Soaring Heavens Palace, and Steward Liu secured a Swordheart Hall place for Murong Zhu.
• Chen Fan received his Soaring Heavens Palace disciple token and moved into the inner court.
• Steward Zhang escorted Chen Fan to Yun Zhongjun's thatched hut after the palace's afternoon meditation.
• Yun Zhongjun told Chen Fan that the Spirit-Drunken Incense had left him unable to recover most of his memories, though he still remembered inheriting his master's teachings and taking charge of Soaring Heavens Palace.

Chen Fan learned that Yun Zhongjun had taken him as a disciple and that the Soaring Cloud Formula was reserved for the Palace Lord or his successor. Liu Wushuang revealed the history of the Demon Cult and questioned Chen Fan about the men in black, leaving him caught up in an investigation that might involve the Heaven and Earth Gate and the Demon Spirit Cult.

• Yun Zhongjun recognized Chen Fan as his disciple, promised to teach him the rest of the Soaring Cloud Formula at the fourth level, and explained that the art was reserved for the Palace Lord or his successor.
• Liu Wushuang told Chen Fan that the Demon Cult’s leader had been sealed about eight hundred years earlier and might return after a thousand years; she also revealed that her and Yun Zhongjun’s master was the Sword Saint, one of the eight who fought him.
• Yun Zhongjun explained that he had been investigating the black-clad men before the Spirit-Drunken Incense poisoned him, and Chen Fan said he had heard one of them identified as an expert from the Heaven and Earth Gate.
• Liu Wushuang said the Heaven and Earth Gate had sealed off its mountain and linked the secretive Demon Spirit Cult to suspicious activity in the West Ridge Mountains and rumors of the Devil Master’s return.
• Chen Fan pledged to help uphold justice, but Liu Wushuang called him crafty and insisted that he still answer for his own affairs.

Liu Wushuang concluded that Chen Fan was the Poison Immortal’s successor and suspected Swordcry’s Third Elder, Shi Dehao, of being an informant for the black-clothed group. She arranged a test, and Chen Fan was attacked while returning to the sect from Pingliang City.

• Chen Fan told Liu Wushuang about his memory loss and life in the sect, and she identified him as the Poison Immortal’s successor based on his resistance to poison and information from Black Dragon Pool.
• Liu Wushuang explained that the Venomheart Darts and God-Sealing Needles came from the Poison Immortal’s Compendium of Ten Thousand Poisons, whose true whereabouts were unknown.
• Liu Wushuang suspected that Shi Dehao was connected to the black-clothed people and planned to test him by creating an opportunity for an attack on Chen Fan.
• Three days later, Chen Fan visited the Myriad Treasures Pavilion in Pingliang City, traded ordinary pills for forty Spirit Stones, and began his return to the sect.
• As Chen Fan traveled through the dark mountains, someone sent yuan energy sweeping toward him, and he fled in terror.