Recaps

Li Qingfeng, Gu Qingqing, Qin Ying, and Song Yan disrupted Jiang Xiao’s Blood Refining Grand Formation and killed him at Peach Blossom Hollow. After returning to the Bai residence, Song Yan realized Bai Lei had been posing as the household servant while Bai Zimo was already dead, and confronted him as the group prepared to act.

• Li Qingfeng used the Heaven-Swallowing Art to draw in the formation’s blood mist, while Gu Qingqing protected him with precious jade.
• Song Yan used the Two-Pole Bead to bind Jiang Xiao’s black flying sword and disrupt the formation as Qin Ying attacked with frost.
• Qin Ying froze Jiang Xiao’s demonic body and shattered it, then pierced the bloody paper figure that emerged.
• At the Bai residence, Bai Zimo told the group that the villagers had been buried and explained the beggar’s history with Jiang Xiao.
• As the group prepared to leave, Song Yan accused Bai Lei of hiding beneath their noses after killing Bai Zimo, and Li Qingfeng said they had deciphered the Blood Refining Ancient Manual.

Song Yan, Li Qingfeng, and Gu Qingqing met Qin Ying on Lianyou Peak to receive their share of the spoils from defeating Jiang Xiao. Song Yan chose Jiang Xiao’s black Flying Sword, and Qin Ying offered it on the condition that Song Yan become her disciple after reaching the late Qi Refining stage and entering the Inner Sect.

• Song Yan and Li Qingfeng waited with Gu Qingqing on Lianyou Peak for Qin Ying to return from reporting on the Devil Cultivator.
• Qin Ying explained that the group’s efforts against Jiang Xiao had helped her win and let each of them choose one item from the spoils.
• Song Yan inspected the items and chose the black Flying Sword, despite sensing that it might be sinister.
• Qin Ying told Song Yan that he had to take her as his master after reaching the late Qi Refining stage and entering the Inner Sect.

After receiving a flying sword and an offer of tutelage from Qin Ying, Song Yan consulted Qin Xijun, who revealed that she was a Foundation Establishment cultivator and agreed to take him as her disciple. Back at his cave abode, Song Yan examined the sword and discovered its name was Heart Demon.

• Qin Ying offered to take Song Yan as her disciple, but he said he needed to consult an elder before deciding.
• Song Yan returned his unused protective remnant talisman to Qin Xijun and told her about Qin Ying's offer and the flying sword.
• Qin Xijun advised Song Yan to follow his own heart and promised to protect him if his prospective master mistreated him.
• Song Yan guessed that Qin Xijun was a Foundation Establishment cultivator and asked her to become his master; she reluctantly agreed.
• Song Yan returned to Greenleaf Peak and found the name Heart Demon inscribed on the black flying sword.

Song Yan discovered that the Two-Pole Bead had drawn Heart Demon and the Glutton Tail Flute into its realm, where his embryonic Dao Heart slowly began dispelling the sword’s Demonic Flames. At the Sheyang Sect, Sheng Yun entered the Inner Sect while her brother Sheng Nian left, and a voice tempted him to embrace Demon Sect cultivation.

• Song Yan’s spiritual power flowed into the Two-Pole Bead, which pulled Heart Demon into the Two-Pole Realm.
• Song Yan found an Ink-Colored Heavenly Waterfall and Ink Pool near the Dao Seed’s phantom, and recoiled from the malice and screams he sensed there.
• Song Yan saw his embryonic Dao Heart slowly stripping the Demonic Flames from Heart Demon and found the Glutton Tail Flute inside the Two-Pole Realm as well.
• At the Sheyang Sect, Sheng Nian urged Sheng Yun to stay and enter the Inner Sect, while he departed after learning he had no Spiritual Root.
• As Sheng Yun wept, a voice urged Sheng Nian to become its disciple and seize the path to immortality through Demon Sect cultivation.

Song Yan visited the Outer Sect library to find accounts of ancient Sword Cultivators, then sold his miscellaneous items at Lingyuan Marsh Market. As he passed the Seamless Heavenly Garment shop, a frail girl grabbed his sleeve and offered to sew him a Daoist robe for one three-mark Spirit Stone.

• Song Yan entered the Outer Sect library looking for books about Sword Cultivators of High Antiquity and spoke with Sun Zhengfu, who directed him to the third floor.
• Song Yan found Tales of Ancient Swords, borrowed it, and went to Lingyuan Marsh Market to sell his miscellaneous items.
• Song Yan planned to find a teahouse and read the book before returning it to the library.
• Song Yan noticed the Seamless Heavenly Garment shop and was about to leave when a frail, freckled girl caught his sleeve.
• The girl offered to sew Song Yan a Daoist robe for one three-mark Spirit Stone.

Song Yan learned more about ancient Sword Cultivators and considered his priorities before hearing that the Dongyuan Sect's Sword-Wiping Assembly would offer unusually generous rewards. He decided to enter the competition and returned to the Seamless Heavenly Garment to order a robe from Xiao Ju.

• Song Yan visited the Carefree Heart Pavilion and read that some ancient Sword Cultivators fell to the Evil Dao, creating Evil Swords that could contain demonic thoughts.
• After finishing Tales of Ancient Swords, Song Yan wondered whether Heart Demon was a Flying Sword and decided to focus on improving his Sword Dao Seed, Dao heart, and Sword Intent.
• Song Yan overheard Dongyuan Sect disciples say that the Sword-Wiping Assembly was approaching and that its rewards were unusually generous ahead of a major Central Region gathering.
• Song Yan considered competing for the rewards, then found Xiao Ju sitting outside the Seamless Heavenly Garment with his damaged Daoist robe and three Spirit Stones.
• Song Yan told Xiao Ju he wanted a robe made exactly like the old one.

Song Yan learned that Shan Zifeng was withholding the compensation meant for him and resolved to kill him, but a sudden stir from the Two-Pole Bead drew him back to his cave abode. The chapter left him hurrying to discover what had changed.

• Song Yan practiced cultivation and calligraphy, then met Gu Qingqing and Shan Zifeng at the Heart-Cultivation Academy.
• After Song Yan left, Sun Zhengfu told him Xuanyuan Sect's compensation had been entrusted to Tongchen Peak, where Shan Zifeng was delaying its return and abusing his position.
• Song Yan decided he would kill Shan Zifeng once he had a foolproof opportunity, though Shan was stronger than him at the time.
• Gu Qingqing dismissed Shan Zifeng's complaints about Song Yan and left the academy, while Shan grew resentful.
• The Two-Pole Bead stirred, and Song Yan hurried back to his cave abode.

Song Yan touched the transformed flying sword Heart Demon and was overwhelmed by pain, then awoke in the body of Zhou Ziyin, a feared brute known as one of the Three Harms. After killing the tiger and flood dragon, Zhou Ziyin confronted the damage he had caused and was offered a chance to begin anew by a cultivator.

• Song Yan reached for Heart Demon in the Two-Pole Realm, and its dark flames and white light surged into him, overwhelming his consciousness.
• Song Yan awoke as Zhou Ziyin in Xianyang Township, where villagers feared him for his violent and lawless behavior.
• After learning that a white-browed tiger had killed the old man's son, Zhou Ziyin killed the tiger and brought its carcass back to the township.
• Zhou Ziyin went to Xuan Pool, fought the flood dragon for three days, killed it, and found an ancient sword inside its belly.
• Zhou Ziyin returned to find the township celebrating his supposed death, then saw his bloodied reflection and realized he looked like another of the Three Harms.
• At the Three Harms Tomb, a Daoist revealed himself as a cultivator and asked Zhou Ziyin whether he was willing to start anew.

Song Yan relived the final moments of Zhou Ziyin, whose sword had endured centuries of demonic flames, and discovered that its remaining formless spiritual intent strengthened his Seed of the Sword Dao. He refined the sword as his future life-bound flying sword, named it Unmoored Boat, and left the chapter cultivating faster while wondering what had happened to the dispersed demonic flames.

• Song Yan witnessed Zhou Ziyin fall to a devil cultivator, while Zhou Ziyin's ancient sword survived the demonic flames that destroyed him.
• Back in the Two-Pole Realm, Song Yan found that strands of formless spiritual intent emerged from the sword and merged into his Seed of the Sword Dao.
• Song Yan drew sword Qi from his Dao seed to refine the ancient sword as his future life-bound flying sword, naming it Unmoored Boat.
• Song Yan completed the refinement in two and a half days and found Unmoored Boat more nimble than his previous flying sword.
• Song Yan's cultivation and spiritual Qi absorption improved, bringing his expected attempt at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer to about three months away.
• Song Yan reflected on Zhou Ziyin's past and wondered whether the Two-Pole Bead had dissolved the demonic flames or absorbed them into the Two-Pole Realm.

Song Yan received the long-delayed Daoist robe from Ju Luyi and agreed to recommend her sewing work. He then met Wu Huaguo and Rong Xiaofeng for their cave-abode expedition, where they discussed the organizer’s odd request for only two pieces of calligraphy.

• Song Yan practiced controlling Sword Qi in his warm pool while Xiao He playfully stole it and revealed she could carry it unharmed.
• Ju Luyi delivered Song Yan’s robe nearly half a year late, explaining that she had gone to the Yanran Mountain Range to gather materials for a Water-Repelling Array Pattern and got lost.
• Song Yan accepted Ju Luyi’s apology, agreed to recommend her sewing, and learned her name.
• Song Yan tested the robe’s water-repelling effect, packed his supplies, and left to keep his appointment.
• Song Yan met Wu Huaguo and Rong Xiaofeng, gave them his real name, and agreed they could still call him Fellow Daoist Tong in front of the other expedition members.
• Wu Huaguo said the late Qi Refining stage organizer truly wanted only two pieces of calligraphy from the cave abode, leaving Song Yan puzzled about his motives.

Song Yan joined Che Ning and the others on an expedition to the cave abode of the Foundation Establishment cultivator Lin Qinglong at Cloud-Covering Peak. After Che Ning used a jade ring to reveal the hidden entrance, the group approached the cliff, where the scene began to change.

• Song Yan met Che Ning and the other cultivators waiting outside Spirit Stream Market, and Che Ning offered to take some of them to Cloud-Covering Peak on his Withered-Wood Meditation Mat.
• On the way, Che Ning questioned Song Yan about when he joined the sect, and Song Yan thought Che Ning resembled Senior Brother Lin Qing.
• Wu Zheng identified Cloud-Covering Peak as an auspicious burial site, and Che Ning confirmed that Lin Qinglong had established his cave abode there.
• Che Ning used a blue-green jade ring to stop the waterfall, then led the group toward the cliff after the ring revealed rippling spiritual light.
• As the group came within ten feet of the cliff, the scene before them began to change.

Song Yan and the other cultivators opened the hidden entrance to Senior Lin Qinglong’s cave abode and read the late senior’s account of his life. After they found the inner chamber empty except for a scroll painting, Che Ning revealed that the true cave abode and Lin Qinglong’s legacy were inside it.

• Che Ning and the other cultivators joined their spiritual power to break the restriction, activating a mechanism that carried them down to the cave’s entrance.
• The group read Lin Qinglong’s brief autobiography and learned that he had left the Cloud Brook Sect, become a painter and rogue cultivator, and later protected the sect for a hundred years.
• Lin Qinglong’s account said he had left his cave abode free of traps and intended its antiques, spiritual objects, and records for whoever found them.
• Song Yan took a rusty, broken short sword from a pool after the other cultivators dismissed it as worthless.
• The group reached an empty inner chamber containing only an enormous scroll painting, and Che Ning said Lin Qinglong’s true cave abode and legacy were inside it.

Song Yan, Rong Xiaofeng, and Wu Huaguo entered the world inside the painting and explored a wooden hut, where a talisman golem attacked them. They defeated it and found a Middle-Grade Spirit Stone, while the other cultivators explored elsewhere in the realm.

• The Friend-Inviting Jade Pendant entered the painting, and Che Ning and the cultivators followed into its world.
• Song Yan, Rong Xiaofeng, and Wu Huaguo entered a mountain forest and agreed to move quickly in search of treasures.
• The three explored a wooden hut but found only decayed and ordinary belongings.
• A talisman golem formed from purple leaves and attacked the group with fierce winds and thunder.
• Rong Xiaofeng identified the golem's weak points, and Song Yan and Wu Huaguo struck its wrists to defeat it.
• The talisman golem crumbled into a Cinnabar Talisman, leaving a Middle-Grade Spirit Stone behind.

Song Yan shared a Talisman Golem’s Middle-Grade Spirit Stone with Rong and Wu Huaguo after their successful hunt. In the painting world, Che Ning obtained the Truth-Shaming Brush and used its powers to kill the scar-faced cultivator who tried to steal it.

• Song Yan offered the Talisman Golem’s Middle-Grade Spirit Stone to Rong and Wu Huaguo, who agreed to split any more they found.
• Che Ning obtained the Truth-Shaming Brush, a spiritual artifact paired with the Wandering-Holding Scroll, and reflected on his long pursuit of the treasures.
• The scar-faced cultivator attacked Che Ning, but Che Ning evaded the saber strike and used the brush to interfere with the man’s saber intent.
• Che Ning explained that the Truth-Shaming Brush could record and alter a target’s state or presence, trapping the scar-faced cultivator inside the painting.
• Che Ning detonated the ink traces on the scar-faced cultivator’s body, killed him, and took his Heaven and Earth Bag.

Che Ning considered whether to kill Song Yesheng but decided to wait, while Song Yan and Wu Huaguo and Rong Xiaofeng explored Wind-Moon Cliff. Song Yan began refining a wind-and-thunder spiritual object, but three cultivators appeared from the clouds as he sat down.

• Che Ning decided not to kill Song Yesheng for now and suspected Wu Zheng if Wei Dao died again.
• Song Yan, Wu Huaguo, and Rong Xiaofeng defeated a talisman puppet and collected its spirit stone.
• The three climbed to Wind-Moon Cliff and discovered a withered tree holding powerful wind and thunder spiritual power.
• Wu Huaguo and Rong Xiaofeng stepped back while Song Yan approached the tree, but he could not store it in his Heaven and Earth Bag.
• Song Yan sat down to refine the spiritual object, and three cultivators emerged from the clouds on another valley's summit.

Song Yan drew the Wind-Thunder Spirit from the dead wood while Rong Xiaofeng and Wu Huaguo fought three Rogue Cultivators seeking the spiritual object. After Xiao He disabled their youngest companion and the scholar-robed cultivator badly wounded Rong Xiaofeng, Song Yan finished gathering the wind and thunder and launched a lightning-charged Flying Sword at the scholar.

• A red-robed female cultivator and a scholar-robed Rogue Cultivator attacked Song Yan's companions while their timid junior, A-Ming, was sent to disrupt Song Yan.
• Wu Huaguo and Rong Xiaofeng held off their opponents as Song Yan said he needed half an incense stick to finish drawing out the Wind-Thunder Spirit.
• Wu Huaguo filled the cliff with flowers and grass, letting Xiao He ambush A-Ming with a bite that left him unconscious.
• Wu Huaguo injured the red-robed woman with her Flower-Pitying, Speech-Understanding Scripture, but the scholar-robed man crushed most of Rong Xiaofeng's insects and wounded him.
• Song Yan completed his cultivation and sent a Flying Sword crackling with golden lightning toward the scholar-robed cultivator.

After refining the Wind-Thunder Spirit, Song Yan helped Rong Xiaofeng and Wu Huaguo defeat three rogue cultivators on the mountain. The group searched the fallen cultivators and agreed to divide their spoils after leaving the space.

• Song Yan used his wind-and-thunder Sword Qi while Rong Xiaofeng's spirit insects and Wu Huaguo's plants hindered the scholar-robed cultivator and the red-skirted female cultivator.
• Song Yan killed the scholar-robed cultivator after Wu Huaguo disrupted his spiritual power, and Rong Xiaofeng searched the corpse.
• Song Yan killed the red-skirted female cultivator as Xiao He brought over the unconscious young man who had tried to kill him.
• Wu Huaguo buried the two younger cultivators, and Song Yan thanked Rong Xiaofeng and Wu Huaguo for standing with him.
• Rong Xiaofeng and Wu Huaguo accepted the scholar-robed cultivator's Heaven and Earth Bag as their share and agreed to divide the spoils after leaving the space.

Wu Zheng killed Wei Dao after they found nothing in the world within the painting, and the surviving cultivators returned to the outside world. Song Yan and the married couple discovered the scholar-robed cultivator had carried a book called the Artless Fragment, which might be connected to Lin Qinglong, and waited for Rong Xiaofeng and Wu Huaguo to name a price.

• Wu Zheng stabbed Wei Dao from behind, took his Heaven and Earth Bag, and buried him near Lin Qinglong’s remains.
• The world within the painting dissipated, leaving five survivors, and Che Ning took the painting as a scroll before departing.
• Song Yan, Rong Xiaofeng, and Wu Huaguo returned to Spirit Stream Market and divided the three rogue cultivators’ belongings, including three Middle-Grade Spirit Stones.
• Song Yan took a human-skin mask from the red-skirted female cultivator’s bag.
• The group found the Artless Fragment in the scholar-robed cultivator’s bag and connected its name to Lin Qinglong’s title, Rogue Person of Artlessness.
• Song Yan waited for Rong Xiaofeng and Wu Huaguo to offer a price for the book.

Song Yan accepted the couple’s offer to trade the Artlessness fragment and the other loot for the middle-grade Spirit Stones, allowing them to take the Daoist text back to the Wu Clan. After returning to the sect, he sensed that his Sword Dao Seed had reached its current limit and resolved to break through to the Qi Refining sixth layer.

• Rong Xiaofeng offered Song Yan all the middle-grade Spirit Stones from the trip in exchange for the Artlessness fragment and the other items from the three Heaven and Earth Bags.
• Song Yan agreed to the division, and Rong Xiaofeng and Wu Huaguo thanked him and invited him to visit Beiya Mountain in Dragon Spring Prefecture.
• Song Yan left the couple and hurried back to the sect.
• Song Yan reflected that refining and fusing the Deadwood Wind-Thunder had strengthened his Sword Dao Seed and seemed to bring his cultivation closer to a breakthrough.
• Song Yan decided it was time to advance to the Qi Refining sixth layer.

Song Yan broke through to the Qi Refining Sixth Layer and later observed the Two-Pole Bead using the supreme wind-and-thunder spirit to nurture his Life-Bound Flying Sword. The chapter ended as a pitch-black hand emerged from the Ink Pool and nudged the Glutton Tail Flute.

• Song Yan used Yellow Sprout Pills and the Little Spirit Gathering Formation to break through to the Qi Refining Sixth Layer, which he attributed to the Dao Seed's transformation.
• After stabilizing his realm, Song Yan noticed Xiao He was missing and planned to warn her to be careful when she returned.
• Song Yan cleaned the battered short sword from Senior Lin Qinglong's cave abode and planned to have it repaired and sell it at the black market as a valuable find.
• More than half a month later, Song Yan watched golden wind-and-thunder light from a dead tree in the Two-Pole Realm flow around his Flying Sword and merge into the Dao Seed's phantom.
• After Song Yan directed his Divine Sense out of the Two-Pole Realm, a pitch-black hand emerged from the Ink Pool and gently nudged the Glutton Tail Flute.

Shan Zifeng abused his authority over Tongchen Peak’s Affairs Hall, extorting resources from weaker disciples and threatening their families. After learning Song Yesheng was rebuilding his cultivation quickly, Shan Zifeng ordered an investigation and planned to cripple him again if he had no relatives in the sect.

• Shan Zifeng beat disciple Hu for the missing spirit grain and Spirit Tea, then ordered Hu’s younger sister to come to the Affairs Hall for punishment.
• The chapter explained how Shan Zifeng used his connections to Wang Lin and a Foundation Establishment relative to intimidate disciples and embezzle their resources.
• A square-faced disciple told Shan Zifeng that two cultivators had left the sect and handed over the things they had left behind.
• The square-faced disciple warned that Song Yesheng was rebuilding his cultivation unusually fast and might soon enter the Inner Sect.
• Shan Zifeng ordered an investigation into whether Song Yesheng had relatives in the sect and said Zheng Bo and the others should cripple him again if he was alone.

On Laba Festival, Song Yan met Buddhist disciples who sensed a heart demon around him, while an unknown outer sect disciple spent ten days studying how missions were accepted. Song Yan later met Shao Sichao in disguise and asked what he knew about Shan Zifeng.

• Song Yan encountered two monks from Transformation Crossing Temple delivering Laba dew, and one worried that Song Yan showed signs of a heart demon.
• An unfamiliar Qi Refining sixth-layer disciple observed the Mission Hall for ten days, then went to Spirit Source Marsh and passed Yang Yuerong without being recognized.
• Song Yan wore a human-skin mask and arranged a meeting with an information broker at the Carefree Heart Pavilion.
• The broker turned out to be Shao Sichao, who warned that information about a fellow cultivator's personal affairs cost extra.
• Song Yan asked Shao Sichao how much he knew about Shan Zifeng.

Song Yan questioned Shao Sichao about Shan Zifeng and learned what resources might help his cultivation, while Shao could not identify the source of Song Yan’s Sword-Controlling Technique. Preparing for a coming fight, Song Yan attended the Night Market Auction, where the first lot—a Mountain-Subduing Seal imitation—looked exactly like the one Wang Xi had used.

• Song Yan paid Shao Sichao for information about Shan Zifeng’s cultivation, connections, master, method, and recent interest in Indigo Fire Flowers.
• Song Yan offered Shao Sichao thirty more Spirit Stones to learn which Daoist book Song Yan had used to learn his Sword-Controlling Technique, but Shao could not answer.
• Song Yan left the Carefree Heart Pavilion and resolved to kill Shan Zifeng before the New Year.
• At the Worry-Relief General Store, Song Yan checked the auction list, noted the Qi-Replenishing Pills and Ren Water Spirit-Transforming Talisman, and decided to attend.
• Song Yan entered the Rare Goods Pavilion auction, where Luo Sheng opened the bidding with an imitation Mountain-Subduing Seal that Song Yan recognized as resembling Wang Xi’s artifact.

Song Yan bought a Ren Water Spirit-Transforming Talisman and Qi-Replenishing Pills at the auction, then used a Mission Hall escort assignment to lure Shan Zifeng toward an ambush. Shan Zifeng reached the prepared trap but stopped just before entering it.

• Song Yan won the Ren Water Spirit-Transforming Talisman for three hundred Spirit Stones and a set of Qi-Replenishing Pills for one hundred and twenty-five.
• After leaving the auction, Song Yan noticed two rogue cultivators following a sect cultivator and suspected someone would die.
• Shan Zifeng accepted Tong Chuping’s Law Artifact escort mission because its Fire-Forging Pills reward suited his needs, while considering whether he could exploit the client.
• Song Yan disguised himself, concealed his presence, and prepared a Flight-Prohibition Talisman Array near a town on Shan Zifeng’s route.
• After waiting for three days, Song Yan saw Shan Zifeng approach the ambush, but Shan Zifeng suddenly stopped just before entering it.

Song Yan killed Shan Zifeng with a hidden formation of Sword Essence after weakening him with the Ren Water Spirit-Transforming Talisman. He burned and buried Shan Zifeng’s body, gathered the loot, and fled the woods after the battle.

• Shan Zifeng detected Song Yan’s ambush, but Song Yan used a Ren Water Spirit-Transforming Talisman to suppress his fire techniques and pressed the attack with Unmoored Boat.
• Shan Zifeng activated his Protective Spirit Jade and crimson armor, while Song Yan concealed a Binding Formation containing Sword Essence sealed in talismans.
• Song Yan used Sword Dao True Essence to shatter Shan Zifeng’s armor, then unleashed the hidden Sword-Rays until they broke his Copper Bell and killed him.
• Song Yan burned Shan Zifeng’s corpse, buried the remains, and left the woods with Xiao He carrying Shan Zifeng’s Heaven and Earth Bag.