Recaps

Gu Han revealed that he had arranged for a Sword Mantis to kill Xu Qinglan so he could claim the Sword Embryo and become the next mountain master. Xue Chong chose to stand beside Gu Han rather than enter the cave to save her, as Xu Qinglan continued fighting inside.

• Gu Han confessed to Xue Chong that he had always resented being overshadowed by Xu Qinglan.
• Gu Han asked whether he would have a chance to become mountain master if Xu Qinglan never returned to Sword-Hiding Mountain.
• Gu Han revealed that he had made a deal with a Sword Mantis to kill Xu Qinglan and admitted that he had orchestrated the stolen Sword Embryo and the accusation against her.
• Xue Chong heard Xu Qinglan fighting inside the cave and struggled between rescuing her and siding with the disciple he had raised.
• Xue Chong took his place beside Gu Han, and Gu Han said they should go.

Gu Han betrayed Xu Qinglan to seize the Sword Embryo, but the Sword Mantis turned on them both. Xue Chong took a blade meant for Gu Han, who fled and was struck by Sword Qi as he ran.

• Gu Han entered the cavern with Xue Chong and ordered the Sword Mantis to kill Xu Qinglan and take her Sword Embryo.
• Gu Han revealed that he and the Sword Mantis had made a deal, and Xue Chong realized Gu Han had betrayed them.
• The Sword Mantis abandoned its agreement and attacked Gu Han, declaring that it wanted the Sword Embryo for itself.
• Xue Chong stepped in front of Gu Han and took the Sword Mantis's blade through his chest, then lost both hands as he clutched the weapon.
• Gu Han fled without helping Xue Chong, and a streak of Sword Qi struck him in the chest.

Yang Xiao stopped Xu Qinglan from detonating her Apertures and fought the Sword Mantis alone. He killed the demon with the Army-Breaking Spear, leaving Lu Chenyue, Yan Tieyi, and Xu Qinglan stunned.

• Gu Han died at the cave entrance after Xue Chong watched him fall.
• Xu Qinglan prepared to detonate her Apertures rather than let the Sword Mantis take the Sword Embryo, but Yang Xiao stopped her and sent her to Lu Chenyue.
• Yang Xiao charged the Sword Mantis and endured its blade attacks while Lu Chenyue prepared to help him.
• Yang Xiao let the Sword Mantis pierce his chest, seized its arm-blade, and drove the Army-Breaking Spear into its body.
• Yang Xiao tore the Sword Mantis open and killed it, astonishing Lu Chenyue, Yan Tieyi, and Xu Qinglan.

Yang Xiao and the survivors returned to Sword-Hiding Mountain after defeating the demons and exposing Gu Han's betrayal. Shao Tianheng restored the Sword Pool, punished Xue Chong, and offered Yang Xiao a reward, which Yang Xiao chose to be a suitable weapon and a place on a Mind-Cleansing Cushion.

• Yang Xiao killed the demon, took its Demon Core, and left the cave while the others stared in shock.
• Yan Tieyi confirmed Gu Han was dead, and Lu Chenyue and Yan Tieyi helped the wounded Xue Chong and Xu Qinglan return with Yang Xiao to Sword-Hiding Mountain.
• Xue Chong confessed that Gu Han had colluded with the Sword Mantis, framed Xu Qinglan, and lured the others into danger, then accepted his punishment of seclusion in Back Mountain.
• Shao Tianheng examined the Sword Embryo, confirmed it was unharmed, and returned it to the pool, restoring the Sword Pool's order.
• Shao Tianheng ordered everyone to keep Gu Han's treachery secret and thanked Yang Xiao for saving the Sword Embryo and Xu Qinglan.
• Yang Xiao requested a suitable weapon and permission to use a Mind-Cleansing Cushion, and Shao Tianheng agreed.

At the Hundred Swords Return to the Pool Gathering, Yang Xiao received the honor of sending the first weapon into the pool and tempered his Army-Breaking Spear. He then entered Sword-Hiding Mountain’s restricted grounds to approach the Mind-Cleansing Cushion, where Lu Chenyue explained that its effect grew stronger farther inside.

• Xu Mingting arrived at the gathering expecting his elder sister, Xu Qinglan, to be its focus, but found Yan Tieyi at the front and Yang Xiao among the honored guests.
• A Sword-Hiding Mountain elder invited Yang Xiao to send the first weapon into the pool, prompting surprise among the assembled clans and sects.
• Yang Xiao revealed the Army-Breaking Spear, whose killing aura made nearby weapons vibrate, then lowered it into the pool as golden sword Qi gathered around it.
• Xu Mingting realized Yang Xiao had risen far beyond his earlier standing and ordered clansmen to investigate Yang Xiao’s connections.
• After the spear was tempered, Yang Xiao retrieved it and followed a Sword-Hiding Mountain disciple into the restricted grounds with Yan Tieyi.
• Lu Chenyue led Yang Xiao and the others to the depths of the sword pool and explained that the Mind-Cleansing Cushion’s soul-cleansing effect strengthened farther inward.

Yang Xiao and Yan Tieyi cleansed their minds and bodies in Sword-Hiding Mountain’s Sword Pool secret grounds, where Yang Xiao gained a golden Soul Cleansing entry. Lu Chenyue then gave Yang Xiao the famed blade Shadowless, but Yang Xiao’s test of its edge left Lu Chenyue doubting whether the centuries-old weapon was still sharp.

• Lu Chenyue led Yang Xiao and Yan Tieyi into the secret grounds and explained that the broken swords in its walls marked weapons that had failed tempering.
• Xu Qinglan yielded her cushion facing the Sword Pool’s core to Yang Xiao, who accepted the seat while Yan Tieyi took another cushion nearby.
• The Sword Qi cleansed Yang Xiao’s demonic malice and granted him the golden Soul Cleansing entry, while Yan Tieyi also felt lighter after his session.
• Lu Chenyue presented Yang Xiao with Shadowless, a light, silent blade that had been stored for centuries because no one on the mountain used a blade.
• Yang Xiao tested Shadowless against his finger, but it did not break his skin, leaving Yan Tieyi and Lu Chenyue surprised and Lu Chenyue questioning the blade’s sharpness.

Yang Xiao and Yan Tieyi left Sword-Hiding Mountain after Yang Xiao gained a blood-absorbing saber affix and received Shao Tianheng’s personal offer of aid. Back in Qingzhou, Yang Xiao returned to the Demon Suppression Division just as the deputy generals were tallying their Merit.

• Yang Xiao tested the Army-Breaking Affix on his blade, discovered its silent edge could cut him without his noticing, and thanked Lu Chenyue before leaving Sword-Hiding Mountain with Yan Tieyi.
• Shao Tianheng saw Yang Xiao and Yan Tieyi off at the mountain gate and promised that Sword-Hiding Mountain would always welcome Yang Xiao as a personal debt of gratitude.
• On the road to Qingzhou, Yan Tieyi reflected on the dangers of their journey while Yang Xiao reviewed his gains, including demon cores, a tempered spear, a gold affix, and the saber Shadowless.
• Xu Mingting waited for Yang Xiao at the mountain gate, learned that he had already left, and decided to reassess the Xu Family’s relationship with him and treat Xu Qingshan better.
• Several days later, Yan Tieyi parted from Yang Xiao at Qingzhou, and Yang Xiao returned to the Demon Suppression Division to prepare for the deputy generals’ Merit tally.

Yang Xiao brought his Qi-Gathering Bottle to the Demon-Slaying Battalion’s monthly merit settlement, where its contents revealed that he had killed several powerful demons. The courtyard was left stunned by the Sword Mantis’s demonic qi, and Li Hanguang questioned Yang Xiao as he calmly confirmed the kill.

• Li Hanguang recorded the Deputy Generals’ merits as they submitted their Qi-Gathering Bottles, while Yang Xiao’s arrival drew curious attention.
• Yang Xiao handed Li Hanguang his bottle, and its demonic qi surged out in far greater quantities than Li Hanguang expected.
• Zhou Zheng recognized one strand as the Nine-Poison Scorpion Lord’s demonic qi, and Li Hanguang identified another as the Jade-Ridge Silkweaver Spider’s.
• Li Hanguang recognized a powerful swordlike strand as the Sword Mantis of Sword-Hiding Mountain and asked whether Yang Xiao had killed it too.
• Yang Xiao nodded, leaving the courtyard silent as the Deputy Generals stared at him.

Yang Xiao earned 121 minor Merits for killing numerous powerful demons and exchanged them for the top-tier Core Condensation Method Myriad Apertures Melt Heaven. Li Hanguang hinted that Yang Xiao should meet the Qingzhou Governor-General after reaching the Mysterious Core Realm, and Xu Qingshan later sought him out for a private conversation.

• Yang Xiao presented Demonic Qi from eight Aperture-Opening Realm demons and four Core-Condensation Realm demons, stunning the Deputy Generals and Zhou Zheng.
• Li Hanguang recorded Yang Xiao's reward as 121 minor Merits, and Yang Xiao requested a top-tier Core Condensation Method suited to him.
• Li Hanguang approved the exchange for Myriad Apertures Melt Heaven and told Yang Xiao he should meet the Qingzhou Governor-General after breaking through to the Mysterious Core Realm.
• Yang Xiao left the Demon-Slaying Battalion as the other Deputy Generals wondered whether he was truly only at the Aperture-Penetration Realm.
• Xu Qingshan waited for Yang Xiao and said he had something to discuss, so Yang Xiao invited him to a nearby restaurant.

Xu Qingshan told Yang Xiao that the Xu Family wanted to arrange a marriage for him, but Yang Xiao refused because he wanted control over his own cultivation and future. After returning home, Yang Xiao received the Myriad Apertures Melt Heaven method and prepared to pursue the Mysterious Core Realm.

• Xu Qingshan offered Yang Xiao a marriage arranged by the Xu Family, citing his talent and Pei Xuance’s regard for him.
• Yang Xiao refused, saying marriage would bind families together and let outside forces alter the Dao Path he wanted to choose for himself.
• Yang Xiao briefly remembered the Xu Family’s eldest daughter, whom he had seen beside the Sword Pool on Sword-Hiding Mountain.
• A young captain delivered the Core Condensation Method on Lord Li’s orders, and Yang Xiao opened the box to find Myriad Apertures Melt Heaven.
• Yang Xiao read the method’s effects, which promised a breakthrough to the Mysterious Core Realm and a Heaven-Melting Treasure Furnace trait.

Yang Xiao used Myriad Apertures Melt Heaven to fuse his three hundred and sixty Apertures and condense a black-and-gold Mystic Core. The breakthrough drew spiritual qi from nearly a hundred miles away, and he reached perfected Core Condensation.

• Yang Xiao ignited all three hundred and sixty Apertures and drew spiritual qi into his body to refine his Qi Sea.
• Yang Xiao endured the pressure as his Apertures merged one by one, forming a round embryo that cracked open into a Mystic Core.
• The Mystic Core attracted spiritual qi from across nearly a hundred miles, startling Qingzhou City's residents and the Deputy Generals.
• Li Hanguang recognized Yang Xiao's breakthrough and hoped his arrival would change Qingzhou's fortunes.
• Yang Xiao absorbed the gathered spiritual qi until he reached perfected Core Condensation, then rose with his newly strengthened power.

Yang Xiao encountered the confused Qingzhou Governor-General Qin Lie after breaking through to the mysterious core realm. Li Hanguang explained Qin Lie’s condition and told Yang Xiao about the Treasure Ground opportunity available to cultivators who reached his new realm.

• A white-haired old man restrained Yang Xiao and mistook him for General Pei, telling him to leave Qingzhou after killing a Buddhist disciple.
• Li Hanguang arrived, identified the old man as Qingzhou Governor-General Qin Lie, and explained that a past injury had damaged Qin Lie’s soul.
• Yang Xiao confirmed his breakthrough to the mysterious core realm, and Li Hanguang explained that cultivators at this level could enter a Treasure Ground to harvest elemental qi for the core-pattern stage.

After Li Hanguang left, Yang Xiao discovered that his fifth equipment slot could plunder pill patterns directly from Pill-Pattern Realm demon cores. He tested two Mysterious Core demon cores, strengthening his body and gaining new traits, and ended with physical might comparable to a pill-pattern demon king.

• Li Hanguang warned Yang Xiao that gathering qi in a treasure ground could take years or decades, then left with the confused Governor-General.
• Yang Xiao realized Li Hanguang had mistaken him for Pei Xuance and inferred that Pei Xuance’s past involved a killing connected to the Precious Monastery.
• Yang Xiao inspected his fifth equipment slot and learned it could seize a pill pattern directly from an equipped Pill-Pattern Realm demon core.
• Yang Xiao equipped the White Ape Lord’s core, gained Spirit Ape Mimicry, and raised his bodily strength to perfected Core Condensation.
• Yang Xiao equipped the Nine-Poison Scorpion Lord’s core, gained Nine-Poison Demon Essence, and advanced his physique to the Core-Pattern Stage, matching a pill-pattern demon king’s physical might.

Yang Xiao used demon cores to advance the Ten-Thousand-Forged Demon Body to its sixth transformation and equipped Shadowless to gain the Breath Concealment affix. He tested how his strength had grown and found his aura could now disappear almost completely.

• Yang Xiao absorbed the Nine-Poison Scorpion Lord's power, refining its venom into his sinews and bones.
• Yang Xiao equipped the Jade-Ridge Silkweaver Spider core and gained the Silkweaver Demon Thread affix as his body underwent its fifth transformation.
• Yang Xiao absorbed the Sword Mantis core, gained the Swordsmanship Master affix, and completed his sixth transformation to the late Pill-Pattern Realm.
• Yang Xiao assessed his new strength and judged that he could overpower ordinary Core Condensation Stage martial artists in close combat.
• Yang Xiao equipped the famed saber Shadowless and gained its purple Breath Concealment affix, which nearly erased his presence.

After a month away, Yang Xiao reviewed his breakthroughs and asked Li Hanguang for a Pill-Pattern Realm Demon King to kill. Li Hanguang refused, but pointed him toward a Demon Plague assignment in Xunjiang Commandery, where earlier Deputy Generals had failed to contain the outbreak.

• Yang Xiao reviewed his gains, including reaching Perfected Core Condensation and late Pill-Pattern Realm body tempering, while his fifth Equipment Slot remained empty.
• Yang Xiao entered the Demon-Slaying Battalion courtyard, and Zhou Zheng recognized him and asked about the previous night's spiritual-energy disturbance.
• Yang Xiao confirmed that he had caused the disturbance by breaking through, then asked Li Hanguang whether he could hunt a Pill-Pattern Realm Demon King.
• Li Hanguang refused to let Yang Xiao challenge a Demon King and explained that most Treasure Grounds lay outside Qingzhou, beyond Yellow Wind Mountain.
• Li Hanguang offered Yang Xiao an assignment in Xunjiang Commandery, where a Demon Plague had raged for months despite several groups of Deputy Generals trying to contain it.

Yang Xiao accepted a dangerous investigation in Tangkou Township, where the waterways and fields had mysteriously dried and three Core-Condensation Realm deputy generals had vanished. He followed traces of a powerful flood dragon demon to a River God Temple surrounded by dense water mist, while the land beyond it remained parched.

• Li Hanguang told Yang Xiao that Tangkou Township had dried up and that three Core-Condensation Realm deputy generals and their guards had disappeared there.
• Li Hanguang offered Yang Xiao the chance to earn promotion by resolving the case, and Yang Xiao accepted.
• Yang Xiao rode into Tangkou Township and found cracked fields, dry ditches, and dead fish.
• Yang Xiao detected a water demon's scent beneath a dried riverbed and found a heavy black scale belonging to a Mysterious Core Realm flood dragon demon.
• Yang Xiao followed the scale's residual demonic qi to a River God Temple, where dense water mist surrounded the grounds despite the drought outside.

Yang Xiao entered the River God Temple in Tangkou Township, where Third Lord Jiao had displaced Clam Spirit Lady and forced the starving villagers to worship him. The chapter left Third Lord Jiao asking whether the Demon Suppression Division had sent anyone new to serve as choice meat.

• Yang Xiao left his horse in the woods and walked through the mist toward the River God Temple.
• Yang Xiao saw villagers queue to burn incense, while learning that Third Lord Jiao had seized the temple, killed Demon Suppression Division agents, and kept survivors alive with drops of his saliva.
• Two Fish Demons took the last woman in the township from the incense queue and led her into the main hall.
• Third Lord Jiao watched a demon child eat human flesh and learned from a Fish Demon that the woman was the last one left.
• Third Lord Jiao asked whether the Demon Suppression Division had sent anyone new.

Yang Xiao confronted Third Lord Jiao in a temple where Water Demons had gathered villagers to feed a child. He killed Third Lord Jiao in a single silent strike and took his Flood Dragon Core, then faced the smiling child.

• Third Lord Jiao ordered the Fish Demon to clear the temple and move elsewhere, while Water Demons herded more than a hundred people into the hall.
• Yang Xiao entered in dark robes and counted five Water Demons and Third Lord Jiao, whose cultivation was Perfected Core Condensation.
• Third Lord Jiao recognized Yang Xiao as a Demon Suppression Division member and offered to spare one villager if Yang Xiao survived one move.
• Yang Xiao refused the offer and cut off Third Lord Jiao's head before he could attack.
• Yang Xiao punched through Third Lord Jiao's corpse and retrieved his Flood Dragon Core.
• Yang Xiao turned toward the child, whose blood-smeared mouth framed a guileless smile as their eyes met.

Yang Xiao killed Third Lord Jiao and his Fish Demon guards, then bound the Little Dragon King. The villagers revealed that another being had drained Tangkou Township’s water and might return for its offspring.

• Third Lord Jiao threatened Yang Xiao with the Canglan River’s Waterfolk and warned that the child was the Old Dragon King’s grandson, but Yang Xiao refused to back down.
• Yang Xiao recognized the child as Jiang Qing’s son and killed five Fish Demons who demanded Third Lord Jiao’s core.
• Yang Xiao kicked Third Lord Jiao’s head from the hall and threw out his body, revealing a forty-zhang flood dragon corpse.
• Yang Xiao bound the child with Spiritual Power and told the villagers to go home, but they said the dried paddies made returning impossible.
• An old villager told Yang Xiao that another being had drawn water from the fields, wells, and river forks, and said it might return because its offspring was there.

Yang Xiao stayed at the River God Temple, strengthened himself with Third Lord Jiao's Flood Dragon Core, and waited with the villagers for the vicious flood dragon to return. When the blue-robed father arrived, Yang Xiao killed his young flood dragon son, provoking his fury.

• Yang Xiao equipped Third Lord Jiao's Flood Dragon Core, reached Pill Pattern Perfection, and gained an underwater speed boost.
• Yang Xiao urged the villagers to stay away from the door, then kept the young flood dragon restrained as bait for his father.
• The blue-robed flood dragon returned to the temple and demanded that Yang Xiao hand over his son.
• Yang Xiao thrust the Army-Breaking Spear through the young flood dragon's brow, killing him.
• The blue-robed man stared at Yang Xiao with killing intent and shouted in rage.

Yang Xiao fought the Little Dragon King, surviving his rain-needle attack and smashing through the water wyrms summoned with pill-pattern power. He reached the Little Dragon King in midair, and their battle remained unresolved.

• Yang Xiao ordered the villagers into the River God Temple as the Little Dragon King gathered rain into a curtain of deadly needles.
• Yang Xiao endured the rain needles and struck the Little Dragon King, severing his left arm; the arm fell again after Yang Xiao's corrosive aura disrupted its reattachment.
• The Little Dragon King drew in water from the surrounding area and formed eight enormous water wyrms, threatening to destroy the temple and bury the villagers.
• Yang Xiao empowered the Army-Breaking Spear with baleful Demon Power and charged the water wyrms head-on.
• Yang Xiao shattered the water wyrms one after another and fought his way through them to the Little Dragon King in midair.

Yang Xiao overwhelmed the Little Dragon King with his strength and pinned him underground, forcing him to transform into an Azure Flood Dragon. The transformed dragon remained badly wounded as Yang Xiao smashed its eye and kicked its enormous body to the ground.

• The Little Dragon King attacked Yang Xiao with Water Blades, but they barely scratched him.
• Yang Xiao knocked the Little Dragon King into a crater and pelted him with Spirit Crystals, leaving wounds that would not heal.
• The Little Dragon King tried to escape underground, but Yang Xiao pinned him through the chest with the Dragon-Pinning Form.
• The Little Dragon King transformed into an Azure Flood Dragon and rose into the sky above Tangkou Township.
• Yang Xiao struck the flood dragon's eye, then kicked its enormous body crashing to the ground.

Yang Xiao killed the Little Dragon King and seized the Canglan Water Pattern from his Flood Dragon Core. The people of Tangkou Township learned their tormentor was dead, while Yang Xiao gained the ability to sense and control Water Essence.

• Yang Xiao overwhelmed the Little Dragon King and severed his head with the Army-Breaking Spear, then took the Flood Dragon Core.
• Yang Xiao showed the people of Tangkou Township the Little Dragon King's severed head, and they bowed in relief.
• A middle-aged villager asked whether water would return to the fields, and Yang Xiao told him to wait and see.
• Yang Xiao extracted essence from the Little Dragon King's corpse and equipped the Flood Dragon Core.
• Yang Xiao's furnace refined the core and transferred the Canglan Water Pattern to his Mystic Core, granting him control over surrounding Water Essence.

After killing the Little Dragon King, Yang Xiao used the Canglan Water Pattern to free Tangkou Township’s water veins and restore water to its fields. He left the villagers to rebuild, and weeks later they had replaced the River God Temple’s demon idols with a statue of him.

• Yang Xiao absorbed the Little Dragon King's remaining Demon Power and discovered that the Canglan Water Pattern let him sense and control nearby water essence.
• Yang Xiao destroyed the Demon Power chains trapping Tangkou Township’s underground water and guided the returning river into its fields and channels.
• The villagers celebrated the restored water, and an old man thanked Yang Xiao as he said the township would rebuild its fields and waterways.
• A rescued peasant woman gave Yang Xiao clean clothes, and the villagers knelt to thank him as he rode away.
• Weeks later, Tangkou Township rebuilt the River God Temple with a statue of Yang Xiao and offerings of clear water, rice, fish fry, and grain.

Yang Xiao returned to Qingzhou after resolving the crisis in Tangkou Township and reported to Li Hanguang, bringing back the auras of two slain flood dragons. Li Hanguang recognized one as the Old Dragon King's valued son and decided the death must be kept secret.

• Yang Xiao arrived at the Demon Suppression Division and told Zhou Zheng that the Tangkou Township task was complete.
• Yang Xiao gave Li Hanguang the Qi-Gathering Bottle and described following a Mystic Flood Dragon scale to the River God Temple.
• Li Hanguang identified the first aura as Third Lord Jiao of the Canglan River, then recognized the second as the Old Dragon King's most valued son.
• Yang Xiao confirmed he had killed both flood dragons alone and told Li Hanguang that Tangkou Township's underground water vein had been reopened.
• Yang Xiao warned Li Hanguang that the two flood dragon corpses remained in the fields and should be collected soon.