Recaps

Duan Rong exposed the hidden mechanism behind Zhu Shizhong’s death, helped close the case, and entered the Inner Sect as Zhu He’s disciple. He explored the Gloomy Dark Forest with his senior disciples and ended the stretch in his new cultivation chamber, discovering an old whisk.

• Duan Rong proved at Wild Lake that his device could draw lightning, then helped Zhu Cheng uncover that Zhou Wei had poisoned the craftsmen and was tied to Zhu Shizhong’s murder.
• Duan Rong recognized Pockmarked Face as a lead but stopped pursuing the case, and Zhu Cheng closed the investigation after the sect approved it.
• Duan Rong returned to Xiangu County, reunited with Xiao Yu and his friends, and learned that Shen Mizhi had entered the Inner Sect after he supported her application.
• Duan Rong survived Yao Che’s test in Pagoda Forest and chose Zhu He as his master, joining him at Cloud Floating Peak.
• Duan Rong chose the Frost Pattern Phosphorous Crystal Saber and the Wandering Dragon Clear Chant Saber, while secretly absorbing weapon spirits to develop Saber Intent.
• Fan Hongjiao led Duan Rong, Wu Shidao, Wang Yue, and Lu Geng into the Gloomy Dark Forest, where Wu Shidao killed a Two-Legged Mad Serpent but suffered a serious wound.
• The group returned with beast remains, and Lu Geng showed Duan Rong how to preserve them in a Black Jade Pool inside a Cultivation Secret Chamber.
• Duan Rong arranged to use a cleaned chamber and, at night, picked up an old whisk and thought, Read Artifact Spirit!

Duan Rong advanced his cultivation, became entangled again with Lü Qingzhu, and accepted Zhu He’s mission to eliminate Li Shensi. He sabotaged Li Shensi’s horse and used a rhinoceros at the Heaven Worship ceremony, where Li Shensi and the beast plunged from the cliff.

• Duan Rong discovered the Garbha Sutra methods in the Immovable Wisdom King statue, devoured its Artifact Spirit, and cultivated by refining Origin Beast flesh.
• Duan Rong entered the Gloomy Dark Forest to hunt beasts, absorbed the Artifact Spirits of more statues, and reached the third level of the Essence Qi Realm within six months.
• Duan Rong fought Lü Qingzhu during a Crimson Fire Elephant hunt, then later saved her from a Fire Weasel and a Suan Yu Beast at the Black Fire Lotus pool.
• Duan Rong broke through to the fourth level of the Essence Qi Realm, bonded with Zhu He’s Dew-Drinking Cicada, and learned that Xiao Yu was unlikely to leave the Pagoda Forest.
• Zhu He sent Duan Rong to Divine Cloud Manor to eliminate Li Shensi, and Duan Rong investigated Li’s movements while enlisting Zhu Zhengfu and Zhu Cheng’s help.
• Duan Rong tested the Dew-Drinking Cicada’s Law of Power, then planned to strike during the Autumn Hunt and secretly sabotaged Li Shensi’s stirrup.
• Duan Rong used a Divine Soul Thorn as Li Shensi fell from his horse, then brought a drugged rhinoceros to the Heaven Altar.
• At the Heaven Worship ceremony, a black shadow struck the Incense Burner, Li Shensi cried out and leapt from the cliff, and the rhinoceros charged the crowd before plunging into the abyss.

Duan Rong dismantled Ge Rusong’s spy network and exposed Grand Harmony Tower, then survived an ambush that Zhu He had arranged to draw Ge Rusong out. Ge Rusong was captured, while Duan Rong recognized that Zhu He had long treated him as a piece in his plans and resolved to grow stronger while keeping their alliance.

• Duan Rong learned that Ge Rusong had accused him of killing Li Shensi, while Zhu He’s sealed letter contained only the character “Go.”
• Duan Rong confirmed Ru Yi was spying on him and began hunting Ge Rusong’s network, capturing Wei Ru and uncovering more spies in the Court of Judicial Review.
• Duan Rong raided Grand Harmony Tower, seized its underground intelligence archive, and led arrests across Divine Cloud Manor.
• Duan Rong killed Ge Hengtai when he tried to destroy evidence, then showed Wang Maochun, Chen Shanmeng, and Zhu Zhengfu the archive and exposed its links to the Office of Transmission.
• Pei Du and Jiang Zhe used Ru Yi to lure Duan Rong into an ambush, but Zhu He and Yang Sixuan intervened, and Ru Yi died after confessing that Ge Rusong had forced her to spy.
• Duan Rong tracked the spy network through Fat Xu and a beggar to Liang Xuesong’s Daoist temple, where Ge Rusong confronted him.
• Duan Rong unleashed the Dew-Drinking Cicada against Ge Rusong, and Zhu He, Chu Qiushan, and Gu Daoling joined the battle that ended with Ge Rusong captured.
• Chu Qiushan took Ge Rusong away and considered leaving the sect leadership behind to travel, while Duan Rong recognized Zhu He’s long game and resolved to cultivate harder.

Duan Rong returned to the sect, broke through to the Qi Cyclone Realm, and worked to recover from a hidden Dantian injury while confronting the despair in the Pagoda Forest. Lü Yinlin investigated Duan Rong’s unusual cultivation and the Garbha Sutra, then invited him to stay in the secluded valley and guide his training.

• Duan Rong reconciled with Zhu He, returned to the sect, and reported the Grand Harmony Tower case to the elders before forming a Qi Cyclone during their deliberations.
• Duan Rong reunited with Xi Men Kan Kan, learned that Xiao Yu was losing hope in the Pagoda Forest, and resolved to help her escape its rules.
• Zhu He treated Duan Rong’s hidden Dantian injury with medicinal paste, while Duan Rong and Xi Men Kan Kan trained and Duan Rong wounded Guo Tian after he attacked Kan Kan.
• Xiao Yu discovered that Su Bairong had hanged herself, and Shen Mizhi later left the Pagoda Forest and brought Duan Rong Xiao Yu’s anklet and blood-written message.
• Lü Yinlin summoned Duan Rong after hearing of the Heaven and Earth Essence Qi tide, examined his sea, and discovered his twelfth-layer Garbha Sutra cultivation.
• Duan Rong explained that he had obtained the Garbha Sutra through the Xu Ruhu case, and Lü Yinlin offered to guide him while allowing him to come and go from the valley.
• Duan Rong moved into a valley cave dwelling, received Gu Shidi’s saber calligraphy, and demonstrated his Mountain River Moon Shadow Saber to Lü Yinlin, who recognized its many kinds of intent.