Recaps

Wang Jiu let Huang Xiao leave after learning he was the Transcendent Immortal Sword Lord’s successor, while Yang Hengchang and the Sword Pavilion remained trapped in the Drunken Immortal Wine Shop. Huang Xiao mocked Yang Hengchang from outside and flew off to get help, leaving the Sword Pavilion humiliated before the watching crowd.

• Yang Hengchang drove the Sword Pavilion members and onlookers downstairs as he struggled to decide whether to accept Wang Jiu’s demand to crawl out.
• Wang Jiu recognized Huang Xiao as an outsider and asked about his identity, but Feng Xiaofeng revealed that he was the Transcendent Immortal Sword Lord’s successor.
• Wang Jiu knocked Feng Xiaofeng down for interrupting and allowed Huang Xiao to leave, warning him not to fall into the Sword Pavilion’s hands again.
• Huang Xiao emerged from the Drunken Immortal Wine Shop and pretended to be a Sword Pavilion member as he mocked the crowd and called for Uncle-Master Yang to crawl down.
• Huang Xiao told Uncle-Master Yang to hold on while he went to get help, then flew away as the crowd speculated about his strength.
• Yang Hengchang heard the crowd’s assumptions and cursed Huang Xiao for bringing further shame on him and the Sword Pavilion.

After Wang Jiu forced Yang Hengchang and the Sword Pavilion members to crawl out of the Drunken Immortal Wine Shop, Yang Hengchang vented his humiliation by ordering an attack on the Jianghu crowd. Rumors spread through Qinyang City and damaged the Sword Pavilion’s reputation, while Yang Hengchang vowed to take revenge on Wang Jiu.

• Wang Jiu ordered Yang Hengchang and the others to come out, and they emerged from the Drunken Immortal Wine Shop after a quarter of an hour.
• Yang Hengchang ordered the Sword Pavilion members to kill the surrounding Jianghu people, and Feng Xiaofeng joined the fighting.
• Yang Hengchang killed several people with his Palm Force as the Jianghu crowd fled, while one survivor escaped his attack.
• A waiter emerged from the shop after the fighting ended, and rumors about Yang Hengchang crawling out spread throughout Qinyang City.
• Feng Xiaofeng reported the rumors to Yang Hengchang at the Swift Sword Inn, and Yang Hengchang silently vowed to repay Wang Jiu for the humiliation.

Yang Hengchang discovered that the Phoenix Blood had been stolen after he and Feng Xiaofeng left the Drunken Immortal Wine Shop. He suspected an unidentified expert who had brushed past him during the chaos, while ruling out the Saber King and the Rare Treasures Pavilion.

• Feng Xiaofeng turned back when Yang Hengchang cried out that his Phoenix Blood was missing.
• Yang Hengchang found only a vial of Red Fire Fruit Spirit Liquid and confirmed that the Phoenix Blood had disappeared.
• Feng Xiaofeng suspected the Saber King, but Yang Hengchang said he could not have stolen it without being noticed.
• Yang Hengchang recalled that the Phoenix Blood was still with them when they left the Drunken Immortal Wine Shop and suspected someone who had escaped his palm strike and swept past him.
• Yang Hengchang said he could barely remember the person's appearance and concluded that the thief was an expert.
• Feng Xiaofeng suspected the Rare Treasures Pavilion had leaked the news, but Yang Hengchang dismissed the idea.

After the Phoenix Blood was stolen, Yang Hengchang ordered his men to track Fan Zhongkun while Huang Xiao fled Qinyang City for Imperial Province. On the road, Hao Jinghai confronted Huang Xiao after learning he had slaughtered the God-Burying Hall’s branch altar.

• Yang Hengchang ordered his subordinates to find Fan Zhongkun’s exact location, hoping to earn merit in the struggle for Inugami.
• Huang Xiao left Qinyang City and headed toward Imperial Province, hoping to stay clear of the Sword Pavilion’s people.
• After four hours, Huang Xiao encountered Hao Jinghai, Deputy Hall Master of the God-Burying Hall, who blocked his path.
• Hao Jinghai revealed that his subordinates had identified Huang Xiao as the person who slaughtered the God-Burying Hall’s branch altar in Qinyang City and threatened him with the consequences.

Huang Xiao prepared to risk his life against Hao Jinghai, raising his power with the Heavenly Demon Skill and planning to use the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Great Art. As Hao Jinghai moved to attack, he spotted something to the side and reacted with delighted surprise.

• Huang Xiao accepted that he would likely die fighting Hao Jinghai and resolved to wound the Void Martial Realm expert with his full strength.
• Huang Xiao transformed his Northern Darkness True Qi into Heavenly Demon True Qi, and Hao Jinghai recognized the demonic aura and speculated that the Transcendent Immortal Sword Lord had studied demonic arts.
• Hao Jinghai underestimated Huang Xiao and held back to observe his techniques, while Huang Xiao continued building power and prepared to use the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Great Art.
• Hao Jinghai sensed that Huang Xiao's aura was unstable and decided to attack, but then turned toward something nearby and exclaimed that he had found what he was searching for.

Huang Xiao escaped after Fan Zhongkun challenged Hao Jinghai to keep the God-Burying Hall expert from pursuing him for the Minghong Saber. After reaching a riverside gathering of Jianghu fighters, Huang Xiao saw a woman in a pink dress riding toward them on a blood-red steed.

• Fan Zhongkun charged Hao Jinghai with Inugami, and their clash showed that Hao Jinghai’s gauntlets could withstand the Evil Blade.
• Huang Xiao realized Fan Zhongkun wanted the Minghong Saber and fled using the Lingbo Ethereal Steps.
• Fan Zhongkun kept Hao Jinghai occupied, while Hao Jinghai abandoned his pursuit of Huang Xiao to stop Fan Zhongkun from escaping with Inugami.
• After running for two hours, Huang Xiao reached a river where Jianghu fighters had gathered and washed in the water.
• A woman in a pink dress galloped toward the riverside on a blood-red steed, drawing cries of surprise from the crowd.

Huang Xiao watched a cold, beautiful woman arrive on an exhausted horse and kill Chen Lecher and his companions with her horsewhip. She asked for directions to Qinyang City, leaving the onlookers stunned by her astonishing Sword Qi.

• Huang Xiao recognized the woman as an expert when she rode toward the crowd with a scarlet-sheathed longsword beside her saddle.
• Chen Lecher blocked the woman’s path and insulted her, so she struck him across the face with her horsewhip.
• Chen Lecher’s companions confronted the woman and demanded that she settle the injury, while she asked them which way led to Qinyang City.
• The woman declared that the men deserved to die, then killed them with rapid horsewhip thrusts through their foreheads.
• Huang Xiao saw the woman’s movements clearly and recognized the astonishing Sword Qi behind her horsewhip attacks.

Huang Xiao prepared to face Fan Zhongkun after the injured pursuer caught up, but a woman seeking Inugami attacked Fan Zhongkun first. Huang Xiao discovered that she was also a Half-Step Martial Realm expert.

• The woman killed Lecher Chen and his group, then asked Huang Xiao for directions to Qinyang City.
• Fan Zhongkun arrived, and the Jianghu fighters rushed at him before he slaughtered them and charged toward Huang Xiao.
• Huang Xiao realized Fan Zhongkun was badly injured and prepared to use the Heavenly Demon Skill against him.
• The woman attacked Fan Zhongkun and demanded that he leave Inugami behind.
• Huang Xiao sensed the woman's aura surge and recognized her as a Half-Step Martial Realm expert.

Huang Xiao and a red-clad Half-Step Martial Realm woman teamed up against the gravely injured Fan Zhongkun, who wielded Inugami. As they continued fighting, Huang Xiao recognized something in the woman’s fierce swordsmanship and began to suspect who she was.

• The red-clad woman charged Fan Zhongkun with her crimson sword, and Huang Xiao joined her after warning her about Inugami.
• Huang Xiao switched cultivation methods to surprise Fan Zhongkun, then attacked alongside the woman, who pierced Fan Zhongkun’s palm before retreating from his counterattack.
• The woman and Huang Xiao pressed their assault, but Fan Zhongkun’s power surged and he sent Huang Xiao flying, though the clash also made Fan Zhongkun spit blood.
• The woman continued fighting Fan Zhongkun in the air while Huang Xiao recovered and realized her swordsmanship was stronger than his own.
• Huang Xiao watched the woman’s swordsmanship and began to suspect her identity.

Huang Xiao joined the woman he suspected was Jiang Liuli to stop Fan Zhongkun from killing her, but Fan escaped when his surprise attack failed. The woman said she would spare Huang Xiao once because they had fought Fan together.

• Huang Xiao decided to prioritize killing the injured Fan Zhongkun, despite the woman’s strength.
• Fan Zhongkun fled, and the woman pursued him while Huang Xiao followed and called for her to stop.
• Fan Zhongkun turned back with a powerful surprise attack, wounding the woman but failing to defeat her.
• Huang Xiao attacked Fan Zhongkun, and Fan fled when he realized he could not face both of them while injured.
• Huang Xiao and the woman stopped pursuing Fan, and she told Huang Xiao she would spare him this once.

Huang Xiao was mistaken by a powerful woman for a member of the Demonic Path, and she warned him to grow stronger before their next meeting. After she left, he disguised his appearance and aura while reconsidering how the Upper Clarity Scripture might let him cultivate Demonic Arts more safely.

• The woman accused Huang Xiao of belonging to the Demonic Path and dismissed him as weaker than Pang Yi of the God-Burying Hall.
• The woman warned Huang Xiao to leave and said she would show no mercy when they met again, possibly at the Imperial Province Ranking Contest, then rode away.
• Huang Xiao wondered whether Pang Yi rivaled Sword God Yi and left as the surrounding Jianghu people watched him with awe.
• Huang Xiao considered how to avoid recognition by Jiang Liuli and used the Ten Thousand Demons Formless Art to change his appearance and conceal his aura.
• Huang Xiao reflected that the Upper Clarity Scripture might help him resist Demonic Arts' influence and allow him to cultivate them more deeply.

Huang Xiao disguised himself while traveling toward Imperial Province, but Daoxuanzi recognized him and explained his own interest in the Saber King and the contested Inugami blade. Daoxuanzi declined to pursue Inugami, and the chapter ended with Huang Xiao asking about the young woman he had encountered.

• Huang Xiao concealed his appearance and wrapped the Minghong Saber before setting out, but Daoxuanzi appeared and immediately saw through his disguise.
• Daoxuanzi told Huang Xiao that the Saber King, Wang Jiu, had attacked the Sword Pavilion to avenge his murdered master and had long sought a treasured saber.
• Daoxuanzi explained that Wang Jiu was drawn to Inugami because it could strengthen his saber techniques, while its evil nature threatened to corrupt its wielder.
• Daoxuanzi revealed that he had watched Huang Xiao fight Fan Zhongkun but had not taken Inugami because doing so could provoke the Heavenly Evil Sect and bring trouble to Shangqing Temple.
• Huang Xiao asked Daoxuanzi who the young woman he had met was, and Daoxuanzi responded with a peculiar expression.

Daoxuanzi gave Huang Xiao Phoenix Blood and instructions for safely using it, while revealing that the powerful young woman was Jiang Liuli. After Huang Xiao left to gather rare ingredients in Chaotic Province, Daoxuanzi noticed a strange scarlet blaze over Mist Mountain and rushed toward it.

• Daoxuanzi handed Huang Xiao Phoenix Blood taken from Yang Hengchang and warned that he needed rare medicinal ingredients to neutralize its violent aura before taking it.
• Daoxuanzi explained that the blood came from a Phoenix at least a thousand years old and told Huang Xiao to obtain the ingredients through the Rare Treasures Pavilion using his VIP Token.
• Huang Xiao resolved to stay in Chaotic Province and gather the ingredients’ equivalent value by killing and plundering members of the Demonic Sects.
• Daoxuanzi revealed that the young woman was Jiang Liuli and warned Huang Xiao to avoid her and the Sword Pavilion for now.
• After Huang Xiao departed, Daoxuanzi wondered how he had acquired several Demon Hall cultivation methods and decided to watch him more closely.
• Daoxuanzi spotted a scarlet blaze across the sky above Mist Mountain and rushed toward it.

Huang Xiao was forced by the Heavenly Evil Sect to join a crowd being herded toward Mist Mountain after a crimson blaze signaled the Phoenix’s appearance. In Qinyang City, Jiang Liuli reached Yang Hengchang, who recognized the sign and prepared to go to the mountain before the Heavenly Evil Sect claimed the Phoenix.

• Huang Xiao saw the crimson sky over Mist Mountain, suspected the Phoenix had appeared, and followed people away from the mountain to avoid the arriving experts.
• A Hunchbacked Old Man of the Heavenly Evil Sect blocked the road and ordered the crowd toward Mist Mountain, injuring several people with his Sound Art.
• Huang Xiao concealed his half-step Martial Realm cultivation and went with the crowd, realizing the Heavenly Evil Sect was driving them toward the Phoenix for its own purposes.
• Jiang Liuli arrived outside Qinyang City, saw the crimson sky, and hurried to meet Yang Hengchang.
• Feng Xiaofeng showed Yang Hengchang the glow, and Yang Hengchang concluded that the Phoenix had appeared and set out for Mist Mountain.
• Yang Hengchang encountered Jiang Liuli as he left, and his expression turned to delighted surprise.

Jiang Liuli arrived at Yang Hengchang’s residence and learned that the Transcendent Immortal Sword Lord’s successor was Huang Xiao, the man who had helped her fight Fan Zhongkun. After confirming his identity from Feng Xiaofeng’s description of his saber, she left confident she could defeat him.

• Jiang Liuli reached Yang Hengchang and urged him to wait for Granduncle Geng and the other Sword Pavilion reinforcements before heading to Mist Mountain.
• Jiang Liuli told Yang Hengchang she had encountered the gravely wounded Fan Zhongkun and nearly fallen into his trap.
• Jiang Liuli asked Yang Hengchang and Feng Xiaofeng to describe the Transcendent Immortal Sword Lord’s successor, and recognized the description as matching the man who had fought alongside her.
• Feng Xiaofeng revealed that Huang Xiao carried an imitation of the Demon Hall’s Supreme Demon Saber, and Jiang Liuli drew her Red Precious Sword and held it to his neck for omitting that detail.
• Jiang Liuli confirmed that Huang Xiao was the successor, mocked Feng Xiaofeng, and went to rest.

Yang Hengchang worried that the Heavenly Evil Sect might exploit the Phoenix and the Evil Blades, while Huang Xiao and the other captives were forced deeper into Mist Mountain. When the captives’ escape plan was exposed, Huang Xiao joined the flight and pulled the burly man toward a different route as Heavenly Evil Sect pursuers closed in.

• Yang Hengchang judged Jiang Liuli more promising than Feng Xiaofeng and feared that the Sword Pavilion’s forces might be insufficient if the Phoenix appeared.
• The next day, the Heavenly Evil Sect escorted Huang Xiao and more than a thousand captives into Mist Mountain, where poisonous miasma weakened them and stragglers were killed.
• Huang Xiao accepted the burly man’s proposal to join a revolt, but the Heavenly Evil Sect discovered their secret communications and attacked.
• The captives scattered and fought back as they fled, and Huang Xiao followed the burly man’s group while hiding his Half-Step Martial Realm strength.
• When two Half-Step Martial Realm pursuers approached the group, the burly man chose to go right, but Huang Xiao grabbed him and led him left.

Huang Xiao led Chen Jiao and his companions away from the main fleeing crowd, then stopped to face the Heavenly Evil Sect pursuers. He killed two of them and left the reason the sect had driven people into Mist Mountain still unknown.

• Huang Xiao redirected Chen Jiao and four others to the left, but three Heavenly Evil Sect pursuers caught up with them.
• Two frightened men abandoned the group, while Chen Jiao, Biaozi, and Huzi pledged to follow Huang Xiao and stand together.
• Huang Xiao questioned the pursuers about why the Heavenly Evil Sect was driving people into Mist Mountain and whether it was connected to the Phoenix.
• The Heavenly Evil Sect men threatened to kill the group, and Huang Xiao revealed his Half-Step Martial Realm strength by beheading two of them in a flash.

Huang Xiao accepted Chen Jiao’s beast immortal grass, which could attract divine beasts, then chose to head deeper into Mist Mountain to seek the Phoenix. After killing the remaining Heavenly Evil Sect pursuer, he sensed more sect experts approaching.

• Chen Jiao gave Huang Xiao beast immortal grass and explained that divine beasts prized it, while his ancestor had once served an unknown divine beast.
• Huang Xiao accepted the gift, and Chen Jiao, Biaozi, and Huzi left for Imperial Province and the coming Ranking Contest.
• A returning Heavenly Evil Sect expert threw two captured Jianghu men toward Huang Xiao and fled after seeing his dead companions.
• Huang Xiao killed the two Jianghu men to protect his secret, then caught and killed the fleeing Heavenly Evil Sect expert.
• Huang Xiao sensed several Heavenly Evil Sect experts heading toward him and realized he had made too much noise.

Huang Xiao fled deeper into Mist Mountain with a Heavenly Evil Sect expert, Zheng Hu, pursuing him. After their fight stirred Huang Xiao’s Demon-Ghost Blood Curse, Huang Xiao posed as a Demon Hall member to make Zheng Hu hesitate, but Zheng Hu called for reinforcements, leaving Huang Xiao in greater danger.

• Huang Xiao escaped into Mist Mountain, but Zheng Hu caught up and challenged him to fight.
• Huang Xiao used a tricky palm strike, then unleashed the Heavenly Demon Skill and fought Zheng Hu with the Heavenly Demon Subduing Tiger Fist.
• Zheng Hu’s Evil Dao aura stirred the suppressed Demon-Ghost Blood Curse inside Huang Xiao, making Huang Xiao fear that continued fighting could kill him.
• Huang Xiao claimed to be from the Demon Hall and implied that its lords knew of the Heavenly Evil Sect’s plans, making Zheng Hu wary.
• Zheng Hu decided to capture Huang Xiao and sent a piercing cry to summon the Heavenly Evil Sect members.

Huang Xiao tried to escape while Zheng Hu summoned the Heavenly Evil Sect, but Jiang Liuli arrived and revealed she recognized him. After Jiang Liuli severed Zheng Hu’s right hand, Huang Xiao drew her away as he fled, leaving Zheng Hu wondering who the mysterious “Huang lad” was.

• Huang Xiao and Zheng Hu howled for allies, then Huang Xiao attacked while Zheng Hu waited for the Heavenly Evil Sect’s experts.
• Jiang Liuli arrived, recognized Huang Xiao despite his disguise, and warned him to stay put.
• Huang Xiao told Zheng Hu that Jiang Liuli had reached the Half-Step Martial Realm, but Zheng Hu still challenged her.
• Jiang Liuli overwhelmed Zheng Hu’s forbidden-art-enhanced Palm Force and severed his right hand with the Lihuo Sword.
• Zheng Hu fled, then realized Jiang Liuli had turned to pursue Huang Xiao and wondered whether the boy was a hidden young expert named Huang.

After Zheng Hu lost his hand, the Heavenly Evil Sect forced the surviving Jianghu fighters to a secluded valley, where Linghu Xiang ordered them into a deadly Evil Array. Elder Han watched as the gray mist thickened, confident the captives would break the array, though earlier Heavenly Evil Sect experts had all died inside.

• Jiang Liuli severed Zheng Hu’s right hand, and he left vowing to seek revenge through the Heavenly Evil Sect.
• Elder Qin and the other Void Martial Realm experts ordered the remaining captives onward, then delivered them to Linghu Xiang and Elder Han.
• Linghu Xiang forced the Jianghu fighters into the mist-covered valley, warning that anyone who stayed behind would be killed.
• Elder Han said the captives’ entry would begin the attempt to break the Evil Array, whose mist grew denser around them.

Elder Han ordered the Heavenly Evil Sect to use Jianghu people and then its own disciples as sacrifices to weaken the evil qi in the mist, but the effort barely changed it. As rival factions arrived and Han Chengsang left to confront them, Huang Xiao watched from hiding and realized the evil qi was being replenished.

• Elder Han had Jianghu people driven into the mist, where they lost their minds and killed one another; their deaths failed to disperse the evil qi.
• After learning that experts from the God-Burying Hall, the Sword Pavilion, and other factions had arrived, Han Chengsang left to stop them and ordered Linghu Xiang to obtain the Evil Blade within a quarter of an hour.
• Linghu Xiang sent Heavenly Evil Sect disciples into the mist as sacrifices, first dozens of Peerless Realm disciples and then more than a hundred others, followed by the Half-Step Martial Realm disciples.
• Huang Xiao, having fled from Jiang Liuli, hid on a rock above the valley and observed the Heavenly Evil Sect's sacrifice.
• Huang Xiao realized the mist was likely made of evil qi rather than a formation and that the Heavenly Evil Sect's sacrifices had barely weakened it.
• After the remaining Half-Step Martial Realm experts fell, Huang Xiao concluded that something was replenishing the evil qi, though he could not tell what.

Huang Xiao and Jiang Liuli discovered that the Heavenly Evil Sect was searching the valley for the Evil Blade Tiger Wing, and they agreed to a temporary truce to investigate. Their uneasy alliance ended when Fan Zhongkun suddenly attacked them, declaring that he would kill them both.

• Huang Xiao warned Jiang Liuli that Heavenly Evil Sect experts were gathered in the valley below, and she agreed to postpone their duel.
• Jiang Liuli revealed that the Sword Pavilion sought both the Phoenix and Tiger Wing, while the Heavenly Evil Sect had come to Chaotic Province seeking Tiger Wing and Inugami.
• Huang Xiao and Jiang Liuli watched as the Heavenly Evil Sect's disciples died in the gray mist, leaving its elders facing the dangerous task of advancing.
• Fan Zhongkun attacked Huang Xiao and Jiang Liuli from behind, and they joined forces to block his saber.
• Fan Zhongkun said his injuries had healed and threatened to kill them both.

Huang Xiao and Jiang Liuli fell into the secluded valley with Fan Zhongkun, where evil qi prevented them from escaping. Linghu Xiang sent Heavenly Evil Sect elders into the mist to seize Inugami and search for Tiger Wing, while Fan Zhongkun attacked Huang Xiao for the Imitation Saber.

• Fan Zhongkun overwhelmed Huang Xiao and Jiang Liuli, sending them over the cliff before following them into the valley.
• The evil qi stopped Fan Zhongkun from controlling the momentum of heaven and earth, and he landed among Linghu Xiang and the Heavenly Evil Sect experts.
• Linghu Xiang ordered the elders to charge into the mist and seize Inugami, hoping to recover Tiger Wing as well.
• Huang Xiao and Jiang Liuli found themselves trapped by the valley and struggled against the invading evil qi.
• Fan Zhongkun charged at Huang Xiao to take the Imitation Saber, and Huang Xiao fled deeper into the valley with Jiang Liuli following.

Huang Xiao and Jiang Liuli were cornered by Fan Zhongkun at the end of the secluded valley, where Huang Xiao’s Minghong Saber pushed back the evil qi. When Fan Zhongkun attacked, Inugami suddenly dragged him toward a pile of rocks, and an oppressive force knocked all three fighters down.

• Huang Xiao and Jiang Liuli reached a cliff at the end of the valley with Fan Zhongkun close behind them.
• Fan Zhongkun attacked, but the Minghong Saber released an aura that cleared the evil qi around Huang Xiao and Jiang Liuli, letting them force Fan Zhongkun back.
• Fan Zhongkun recognized the saber’s aura and learned that Huang Xiao was the Transcendent Immortal Sword Lord’s successor, then attacked him again with Inugami.
• Inugami abruptly changed direction and pulled Fan Zhongkun into a pile of rocks, shattering them with his slash.
• An oppressive force descended, forcing Jiang Liuli to one knee and knocking Huang Xiao and Fan Zhongkun facedown, unable to rise.