Recaps

Duan Rong joined Taiyi Sect as a Medicine Boy, gained access to its medicines and discarded artifacts, and grew close to Xiao Yu. After Tang Zhu died during a pill-refining accident, Duan Rong took work auditing the Herb Pavilion and learned that his cave had belonged to a missing disciple.

• Duan Rong killed Fan Yuanhai in the Dense Forest, then reunited with Xiao Yu and Xi Men Kan Kan and learned that Shuangshuang and Jiang Qingyu had died.
• The survivors brought the bodies to Xiangu County, where Duan Rong stayed with Xiao Yu’s family before setting out for Taiyi Sect with the other Registered Disciples.
• Duan Rong entered Taiyi Sect’s Lower Courtyard and earned a Medicine Boy position by identifying three poisonous herbs, then met Shang Xiangyu and began working under him.
• Duan Rong devoured Artifact Spirits from tools and weapons, gained techniques from discarded artifacts, and shared a night with Xiao Yu before returning to his cave.
• Duan Rong fed poisonous creatures to the Black Blood Vines and noticed a fruit ripening, while Shang Xiangyu prepared to refine a Spring Return Pill to save his failing body.
• During pill refinement, the furnace exploded and Chen Hu caused Tang Zhu’s death, after which Shang Xiangyu ordered the death reported as an accident and pursued a blood-based pill method.
• Duan Rong agreed to audit the Herb Pavilion’s accounts for Contribution Points, then learned from Yin Cong that Wei Luan had disappeared and had once lived in Duan Rong’s cave.

Duan Rong survived Shang Xiangyu’s bloody schemes, killed Pan Yong, and advanced his cultivation while concealing his crimes. After building a life with Xiao Yu and training with their friends, he reached the Outer Sect assessment, where awakened statues attacked the candidates’ divine souls.

• Duan Rong witnessed Shang Xiangyu kill Shang Xin for blood to refine Blood Spring Pills, then killed Chen Hu and helped stage the furnace deaths of Chen Hu and Yin Cong.
• Duan Rong discovered maggots in Shang Xiangyu’s black pills, searched Shang Xiangyu’s chamber, and learned he had left to seek the Filthy Blood Sect’s aid for his depleted origin.
• Duan Rong killed Pan Yong, stole his Star Disk and other belongings, disguised himself as Pan Yong to collect medicines, and cultivated the Garbha Sutra through its eleventh level.
• Yang Yi arrested Duan Rong after finding books about the Filthy Blood Sect, but Yang Sixuan’s questioning uncovered nothing, and Duan Rong was released.
• Duan Rong resumed his cultivation, reached the True Qi Realm, and spent days searching discarded weapons for Artifact Spirits before joining Xiao Yu, Xi Men Kan Kan, and Shen Mizhi in Guanglu Court work.
• Duan Rong reconciled with Xiao Yu after telling her about his past with Lü Qingzhu, then became his friends’ informal martial arts teacher and secretly refined pills for them.
• Three years later, Duan Rong reached True Qi Realm Perfection and crossed the iron-chain assessment route, giving his beast-hide strap to Xi Men Kan Kan and using Cloud Cliff Willow Catkin Step himself.
• At the Outer Sect assessment, Duan Rong saw Jiang Hanyan play her zither as the awakened statues’ pressure struck the candidates’ divine souls, and realized her music was protecting them.

Duan Rong and Xiao Yu returned to Xiangu County and uncovered Ruan Fengshan and Sun Qian’s Filthy Blood Sect operation. With allies and Taiyi Sect reinforcements, they attacked the sect leaders, but Wei Ziyang’s final explosion left several disciples dead or badly injured and threatened to shake the Hall of Elders.

• Duan Rong and Xiao Yu returned to Yuan Yang Prefecture, learned that Xiao Zongting was dead, and found his letter exposing Ruan Fengshan’s crimes and origins.
• Duan Rong investigated Sun Qian and the Filthy Blood Sect, discovered their captive-women ritual and planned attack, and learned that Wei Ziyang and Ge Qinglei were coming to Xiangu County.
• Duan Rong sent intelligence to the Office of Transmission, while Xi Men Kan Kan, Shen Mizhi, and Liu Shushan arrived with a Black Python Bow and Mystic Iron Arrows.
• Duan Rong killed Bai Rong with a Mystic Iron Arrow and rescued the badly injured Hu Huanhuan before Wei Ziyang and Ge Qinglei arrived for their inspection.
• Duan Rong and Xiao Yu ambushed Wei Ziyang, Ge Qinglei, Ruan Fengshan, and Sun Qian, while their friends joined the fight and Duan Rong killed eleven disguised True Qi Realm experts.
• Taiyi Sect reinforcements arrived, and Duan Rong killed Sun Qian and wounded Ruan Fengshan as the disciples fought Wei Ziyang and subdued Ge Qinglei.
• Wei Ziyang used Explosive Burial, killing Shen Qing and reducing Ge Qinglei to powder while badly injuring Jiang Zhe, Lu Jin, and Bai Yuan.
• Jiang Zhe blamed Ge Rusong’s pursuit of merit and unauthorized handling of the mission, and concluded the disaster would cause a storm within Taiyi Sect’s Hall of Elders.

Duan Rong rescued Shen Yanliu from execution by disguising Tang Wan Hong as him, then helped the family survive the aftermath. He was later sent to Divine Cloud Manor, where he uncovered evidence that Zhu Shizhong’s death by lightning had been engineered.

• Duan Rong exposed and purged Filthy Blood Sect members in Xiangu County, then buried Xiao Zongting and helped restore the Yuan Shun Escort Agency.
• Duan Rong married Xiao Yu, visited Shen Garden, and discovered that Xiong Yi had infiltrated Tang Wan Hong’s circle to find records of Shen Garden’s dealings.
• After learning Shen Yanliu had been imprisoned and faced execution, Duan Rong dug a tunnel into the prison and switched Tang Wan Hong into Shen Yanliu’s cell using a lifelike disguise.
• Duan Rong smuggled Shen Yanliu out through the tunnel, while Tang Wan Hong was left to be executed in his place, and Shen Mizhi and Xiao Yu later collected the bodies and burned the disguise.
• Duan Rong arranged for Shen Yanliu to recover at a Xi Men Family estate, then returned to his sect duties and continued digesting the Filthy Blood Divine Skill’s source bloodlight.
• Zhu He ordered Duan Rong to investigate Zhu Shizhong’s unnatural death at Divine Cloud Manor, where officials believed lightning had struck the Cooling Room.
• Duan Rong searched the wreckage overnight and found a concealed wooden handle and needle in a roof beam’s water channel, concluding that someone had deliberately directed lightning at Zhu Shizhong.