Recaps

Liu Ciming tried to kill Jin Tianya to seize Wu Daoxuan’s Spirit Transformation painting, but Jin Tianya revived through the artwork and unleashed its power on Shigu Flatland. The chapter ended with Jin Tianya atop a mountain of bones, inviting the souls of Changping to join him in endless torment.

• Liu Ciming examined Jin Tianya’s scroll and saw its grotesque painting of ghosts, blood, and a figure standing on a mountain of bones.
• Liu Ciming stabbed Jin Tianya with a black dagger and drained his Essence Blood, believing he had killed him.
• Jin Tianya’s skeletal hand caught Liu Ciming, and the painting’s ink restored his body as he revealed he had refined his soul into the artwork.
• Jin Tianya unleashed the painting’s demonic Qi and ghostly figures, which consumed the mortals of Shigu Flatland and left no survivors.
• Jin Tianya climbed a mound of bones and declared that the departed souls of four hundred and fifty thousand cultivators would join him in torment.

Jin Tianya used the Hell Transformation Painting to turn Shigu Flatland into Avīci Hell, where mortals became ghosts and cultivators’ realms fell. As the Six Great Sects gathered outside, Song Yan was dragged into the ink-black ground but resisted its illusions with help from his Dao heart and Xiao He.

• Liu Ciming’s cultivation rapidly fell inside Avīci Hell, forcing him to retreat beyond its boundary.
• Jin Tianya revealed that he had merged with the painting and explained that the hell’s reflections could trap cultivators by exposing their sins.
• The Six Great Sects’ elders gathered outside the spreading domain, while Cong Yuzhen worried about the mortals within and Master Sanjue led his disciples in prayer.
• Xu Ziqing recognized the Hell Transformation Painting and learned that Song Yan and Li Qingfeng were inside Shigu Flatland.
• Song Yan fought off vicious ghosts, but ink-black hands seized his ankles; Xiao He confirmed that the ghosts were real, while Song Yan’s Dao heart dispelled the illusions.

Song Yan and Li Qingfeng struggled to escape Avīci Hell as its Vengeful Ghosts and grasping shadows overwhelmed the cultivators inside. Outside, the Six Great Sects, the Yellow Springs Way, and Corpse-Bone Abyss faced off, while Shen Yu entered the hell reflection to pursue the figure he believed was the Spirit of the Painting.

• Song Yan rescued Li Qingfeng from being dragged beneath the Hell Reflection, and the two fought their way toward the edge of Shigu Flatland.
• Shen Huai abandoned Ji Chuanqiao when Vengeful Ghosts dragged him into the Hell Reflection, where he died and became a skeleton.
• Liu Ciming told Zheng Daming and Fu Ming that the Hell Transformation Painting had been made by a Spirit Transformation cultivator and had gone out of control.
• Elder Fu Xiao and the Six Great Sects confronted the Yellow Springs Way, then faced the arrival of Hu Rifei and the Demon Cultivators from Corpse-Bone Abyss.
• Shen Yu suspected the figure atop the bone mountain was the Spirit of the Painting and plunged into the reflection with a Spirit-Refining Secret Treasure.

Shen Yu and the other Foundation Establishment cultivators began refining Jin Tianya’s Avīci Hell, creating a safer route through it. As Song Yan and Li Qingfeng struggled to escape, Li Qingfeng used his Kitchen Lord Secret Art to cook a ghost pill, while Jin Tianya made the hell shift to thwart the cultivators’ efforts.

• Shen Yu and several other cultivators used their Spiritual Power to refine Avīci Hell, and they discovered that their path suppressed the vicious ghosts.
• Song Yan and Li Qingfeng neared the limits of their strength as ghostly figures and hallucinations overwhelmed them.
• Li Qingfeng cooked two vicious ghosts into a pill with his Black Pot and ate it, explaining that his Kitchen Lord Secret Art could refine all things under heaven.
• After the ghost pill reduced the danger around them, Li Qingfeng and Song Yan prepared another pill before Xu Ziqing told the disciples to flee northeast along the refined path.
• Song Yan and Li Qingfeng followed Xu Ziqing’s route toward safety, while Jin Tianya shook Avīci Hell and shifted its ink-black expanse to obstruct them.

Song Yan used a damaged Talisman Treasure to push through Avīci Hell toward White Bone Mountain, hoping to reach the Spirit of the Painting. Shen Yu ordered Shen Huai to stop him, and her hairpin disabled the Talisman Treasure just as Song Yan approached the mountain.

• Avīci Hell shifted, separating Song Yan from Li Qingfeng and the safe passage while Jin Tianya’s control caused the Ghost Domain to grow more dangerous.
• Song Yan realized the Foundation Establishment cultivators’ efforts to refine the painting were hastening the deaths of those stranded inside, and he decided to head for White Bone Mountain.
• Song Yan activated his damaged Talisman Treasure, which shielded him from the ghosts and demonic mist as he advanced toward the mountain.
• Shen Yu, alarmed by Song Yan’s progress, ordered Shen Huai to kill him.
• Shen Huai fired her hairpin at Song Yan; he dodged the attack, but the hairpin struck his Talisman Treasure and extinguished its azure light.

Shen Huai destroyed Song Yan’s Talisman Treasure, and the ghosts dragged him into the Hell Reflection while Shen Yu dismissed the killing as Song Yan’s own fault. Trapped and stripped of his cultivation, Song Yan faced the tortures of the Eighteen Hells, and his fate remained uncertain as his consciousness faded.

• Shen Huai tore away the shattered Talisman after destroying Song Yan’s protection, leaving him exposed to the ghosts of Avīci Hell.
• The ghosts dragged Song Yan into the Hell Reflection, and Shen Yu claimed Song Yan had tried to seize the evil treasure for himself.
• Xu Ziqing demanded that Shen Yu answer for Shen Huai’s attack, while Li Qingfeng raged and the other sects avoided taking sides.
• Shen Yu continued refining the treasure as Jin Tianya mocked the righteous cultivators for acting like Devil Cultivators.
• Inside the Hell Reflection, Song Yan lost access to his Spiritual Power and Sword Qi and endured the tortures of the Eighteen Hells.
• Song Yan’s Dao Heart briefly kept him lucid, but despair and the fading of his senses left his survival uncertain.

Song Yan awakened Sword Intent and survived the Hell Reflection, emerging with a flying sword and rescuing Xiao He. He then killed Shen Huai before the astonished cultivators, leaving Shen Yu to face the aftermath.

• Song Yan realized he had relied on others instead of trusting his Sword Dao, and his Seed of the Sword Dao awakened as he comprehended Sword Intent.
• Song Yan's Sword Intent shattered the Hell Reflection around him, and a half-formed flying sword emerged from his Sword Mansion.
• Xiao He appeared outside Avīci Hell, and Dongzi tried to seize her until Song Yan's flying sword severed the ape demon's arm.
• Song Yan emerged from the darkness alive, stunning the cultivators from the Six Sects, Corpse-Bone Abyss, and Yellow Springs Way.
• Song Yan attacked Shen Huai with Sword Qi, pierced her chest, and beheaded her despite Shen Yu's warning.

Song Yan advanced through the Hell Transformation Painting’s Ghost Domain and confronted Jin Tianya, the Spirit of the Painting. He pierced Jin Tianya’s skull with Sword Essence, leaving the painting’s fate unresolved.

• Song Yan freed Xiao He and continued toward White Bone Mountain while Hu Rifei wondered whether her protective light resembled Lady Bai of Shangtong Mountain.
• Shen Yu ordered Song Yan to stop, but Song Yan ignored him and walked through the Ghost Domain toward Jin Tianya.
• Song Yan’s Spiritual Power veered away from Jin Tianya, so he climbed White Bone Mountain instead of stopping.
• Jin Tianya sent Vengeful Ghosts and a gigantic demonic manifestation against Song Yan, but Song Yan’s sword phantoms and the Unmoored Boat destroyed them.
• Song Yan reached Jin Tianya and pierced his skull with a strand of Sword Essence.

Song Yan killed Jin Tianya, causing the Hell Transformation Painting to shatter and reveal a jade ring that he concealed. As Shen Yu threatened Song Yan, Xu Ziqing and Fu Xiao defended him, but the Yellow Springs Way Devil Cultivators began escaping, alarming Hu Rifei.

• Song Yan killed Jin Tianya, and the Hell Transformation Painting collapsed into an enormous painting that cracked and shattered.
• A fragment of the painting flew into Song Yan's palm and became a notched jade ring, while Shigu Flatland returned to its ruined, empty state.
• Shen Yu threatened Song Yan, but Fu Xiao blamed the Xuanyuan Sect for attacking first and defended Song Yan's actions.
• Xu Ziqing cited the Xuanyuan Sect's ambush and Shen Yu's threat as grounds to condemn them, while Shen Yu backed down rather than risk a fight.
• Liu Ciming crushed a Treasure Talisman to teleport the Yellow Springs Way Devil Cultivators away, and Hu Rifei sensed that something was wrong.

After the Yellow Springs Way cultivators escaped, the Six Sects settled Changping, while Song Yan’s reputation for killing spread among the cultivators. In private, he examined his newly completed Life-Bound Flying Sword and began studying the next sword techniques available to him.

• The Yellow Springs Way cultivators used a high-grade Teleportation Treasure Talisman to escape after Fu Xiao ordered the Six Sects to attack them.
• Shen Yu and the Xuanyuan Sect left Changping early, while Xu Ziqing, Cong Yuzhen, and the other sects handled the aftermath and distributed battle merits.
• Rumors spread that Song Yan had killed Shen Huai and ruined a chance at Spirit Transformation, though some cultivators defended him; many Qi Refining cultivators decided it was best not to provoke him.
• Song Yan sensed his completed Life-Bound Flying Sword, saw that his Sword Dao Seed had begun to sprout, and recognized that he had become an Ancient Sword Cultivator.
• Song Yan reviewed the Sword-Planting Technique and Essentials of Swordsmanship, setting aside techniques that required Foundation Establishment and reading about Void-Observing Sword Eyes.

Song Yan examined Shen Huai’s Heaven and Earth Bag, acquired several useful items, and compared her Spirit Observation and Qi Gazing technique with the Void-Viewing Sword Eye. He set aside the tracking technique and began cultivating the sword eye, carefully guiding Sword Qi toward his eyes after nearly hurting himself.

• Song Yan recalled learning about eye techniques and decided the Void-Viewing Sword Eye was suitable to cultivate in Changping.
• Song Yan opened Shen Huai’s Heaven and Earth Bag, found more than six hundred low-grade spirit stones and a green middle-grade spirit stone, and transferred useful items into his own bag.
• Song Yan examined Shen Huai’s broken copper-coin law artifact, refined her jade pendant into a healing law artifact, and kept her needle-type hairpin to sell later.
• Song Yan studied Shen Huai’s Spirit Observation and Qi Gazing technique, judged it too demanding to cultivate soon, and chose to focus on the sword Dao.
• Song Yan began cultivating the Void-Viewing Sword Eye, felt sharp pain after directing Sword Qi too quickly, then steadied himself and continued more cautiously.

Song Yan successfully cultivated the Void-Viewing Sword Eye and used it to see Spiritual Qi and Sword Qi. After the Six Sects finished their work in Changping, he left with the Dongyuan Sect, reflecting on how hardship had strengthened his Dao Heart and Sword Intent.

• Song Yan stabilized the Sword Qi in his eyes, activated the Void-Viewing Sword Eye, and saw Spiritual Qi and the Unmoored Boat’s Sword Qi clearly.
• Song Yan told Xiao He they could return to the Dongyuan Sect in two days, and she eagerly welcomed the news.
• Master Sanjue and the Transformation Crossing Temple purified the resentful Qi at Shigu Flatland, while the authorities marked the ruins forbidden and nearby residents prepared to relocate.
• Song Yan gave Brother Tao a Heaven and Earth Bag for Sheng Yun, then departed Changping with Xu Ziqing and the Dongyuan Sect disciples.
• As Changping disappeared below, Song Yan reflected on his dangerous journey, his completed Dao Heart, and his formed Sword Intent, and looked ahead to condensing his Life-Bound Flying Sword.

After returning to Dongyuan Sect from Changping, Song Yan settled back into his cave abode and examined the ink-black jade pendant that had formed from the shattered Spirit Transformation Ink Treasure. He recognized it as a Friend-Inviting Jade Pendant, a token representing profound trust, but its purpose remained unexplained.

• Xu Ziqing brought the returning cultivators to Dongyuan Sect and told them the elders would handle their mission records and contributions.
• Song Yan, Li Qingfeng, and Cen Qinghe parted ways, and Song Yan shared his cave abode's location with them.
• Song Yan returned to Sword-Wiping Peak, where Xiao He explored her belongings while he cleaned the cave abode.
• Song Yan relaxed in the warm pool and studied the ink-black jade pendant formed when the Ghost Domain dispersed.
• Song Yan recalled seeing a similar pendant with Che Ning and identified it as a Friend-Inviting Jade Pendant, a token of absolute trust in its holder.

Song Yan pondered the black jade pendant and learned that it was linked to Wu Daoxuan’s former residence, where visitors might find his paintings. With the residence’s location and opening time still unknown, Song Yan returned to his cave abode, noting that he had one of the eighty-seven pendants.

• Song Yan failed to uncover the jade pendant’s secrets and went to sleep after bathing in the pool.
• News of the Changping events spread, and cultivators learned that eighty-six black jade pendants had scattered across the region.
• The Wu Clan clarified that the pendants were connected to one of Wu Daoxuan’s former residences, where entry might depend on skill in painting and cultivation could be sealed.
• Song Yan practiced calligraphy at the Ink Way Academy while disciples discussed the residence and its thousand-year-old clues.
• Song Yan decided he might visit the former residence to observe the painters, and counted his pendant among the eighty-seven that existed.

Wu Xingzhi left the Xuanyuan Sect after revealing information about the Ink Jue and the Daoist Heir's Former Residence. Lou Zhengze and Shen Yu considered how to secure the opportunity, with Shen Yu narrowing the former residence's possible location to Longquan or Junping.

• Wu Xingzhi departed the Xuanyuan Sect on an ink-black mystic crane after Lou Zhengze saw him off and asked him to convey his regards to Wu Xunzhi.
• Lou Zhengze told a Golden Core elder that he trusted Wu Xingzhi's account and learned that only two Xuanyuan Sect members had obtained an Ink Jue.
• Shen Yu and the elders discussed whether Song Yan might possess an Ink Jue, and Shen Yu warned that Song Yan must not be underestimated.
• Shen Yu examined a map and concluded that the Daoist Heir's Former Residence might be near Longquan in the Chu Kingdom or Junping in the Central Region.

Song Yan captured a swarm of Cloud-Wing Bees in the Yanran Mountain Range while practicing his movement method, then continued searching for seven-leaf yanghuang to soothe his strained eyes. He had nearly finished his missions without finding the herb when he came upon a mountain peak with a Daoist temple in the clouds.

• Song Yan trapped a Cloud-Wing Bee in a sphere of Spiritual Qi and stored it in a spirit insect pouch as its swarm gathered to attack.
• Song Yan used Soaring Cloud Intent to evade the bees and capture them, eventually catching the last one as it tried to escape.
• Song Yan decided to sell the Cloud-Wing Bees to the Dongyuan Sect and worried that his low-grade spirit insect pouch might not keep them alive.
• Song Yan left the valley and continued searching for seven-leaf yanghuang, which he wanted to refine into eye medicine for his strained Void-Viewing Sword Eye.
• Song Yan reached a towering mountain peak and spotted a Daoist temple among the clouds and mist.

Song Yan encountered Ju Luyi while heading back from South Mountain Monastery and learned that attackers had slaughtered its disciples. Ju Luyi explained how she escaped, leaving Song Yan aware of the monastery’s destruction and the danger facing its surviving female disciples.

• Song Yan remembered Temple Master Lu of South Mountain Monastery and turned back after realizing he had walked too far south.
• Song Yan found Ju Luyi treating wounds on her legs beside a stream and gave her healing pills.
• Ju Luyi told Song Yan she had delivered custom Daoist robes to South Mountain Monastery and still planned to climb Tainan Mountain after dark.
• Ju Luyi revealed that three attackers had killed the monastery’s male disciples, while a few female disciples remained alive.
• Ju Luyi said she had resisted with her Law Artifact and escaped because the attackers considered her ugly and an ill omen.

Song Yan accompanied Ju Luyi back to the South Mountain Monastery, where they found its disciples murdered and the monastery occupied by three cultivators. After learning that the intruders had killed Temple Master Lu Yuan and looted the monastery, Song Yan began to bury the dead, prompting one cultivator to attack him.

• Ju Luyi explained that she had returned to find the embroidery needle her late mother left her, and Song Yan decided to accompany her to the mountain.
• Song Yan and Ju Luyi entered the South Mountain Monastery and found its grounds littered with murdered Taoists.
• Song Yan sensed three cultivators inside and glimpsed the bodies of female cultivators in the monastery buildings.
• The yellow-robed cultivator told Song Yan that Lu Yuan had been killed while traveling and admitted to slaughtering the monastery, taking its possessions, and abusing its women.
• Song Yan said he had been friends with Lu Yuan and began approaching a corpse to bury the disciples, while Ju Luyi hesitated to stop him.
• A long-faced cultivator hurled two flying blades at Song Yan.

Song Yan fought three cultivators at the South Mountain Monastery, killing the short, stout cultivator and using the battle to test his Green Snake in the Sleeve swordsmanship. After Xiao He disrupted the long-faced cultivator and Song Yan defeated the yellow-robed cultivator, the remaining enemy’s fate was left unresolved.

• Song Yan dodged the Returning Mother-and-Child Flying Blades and killed the short, stout cultivator with Sword Qi.
• Song Yan attacked the long-faced cultivator and the yellow-robed cultivator with two Flying Swords, using Green Snake in the Sleeve to wound the yellow-robed man.
• Xiao He attacked the long-faced cultivator with leaves infused with Demon Power, forcing him to defend against both her and Song Yan.
• The yellow-robed cultivator used a Spirit Talisman to enlarge himself and struck the ground, but Song Yan evaded the attack with Soaring Cloud Intent.
• Song Yan overwhelmed the yellow-robed cultivator with Flying Swords, wind and lightning sword shadows, and Green Scales Conceal the Edge.

Song Yan and Xiao He killed the three cultivators who had attacked South Mountain Monastery, and Song Yan buried the monastery’s disciples and honored Temple Master Lu. He returned Ju Luyi’s mother’s embroidered needle in exchange for a custom Daoist robe, then learned that Ju Luyi might know where to find the seven-leaf yanghuang he sought.

• Song Yan blocked the long-faced cultivator’s escape while Xiao He killed him with Green-Leaf Demon Blades, and Ju Luyi watched in shock.
• Song Yan burned the three attackers’ bodies, buried the South Mountain Monastery disciples, and erected a cenotaph for Lu Yuan.
• Song Yan found Ju Luyi’s embroidered needle in the short, fat cultivator’s Heaven and Earth Bag and offered to return it in exchange for a Daoist robe with Spirit Gathering Formation patterns.
• Ju Luyi agreed to make the robe and promised to finish it within five days.
• Song Yan asked Ju Luyi to help find seven-leaf yanghuang, and she said she thought she had seen the herb before.

Lu Yuan returned to South Mountain Monastery as a corpse-like being, mourned his dead disciples, and left for the northwest. At the Painting Academy, Xiang Zhaoling discussed a dangerous senior brother with Zhou Mengdie, who became interested in winning the Sword-Wiping Grand Assembly after hearing its prize might include a flying Spirit Artifact.

• Lu Yuan crawled to the monastery’s graves, grieved over his slain disciples, and realized he could not remember how he had died or survived.
• Lu Yuan bowed toward the path Song Yan had taken, then stumbled down the mountain and disappeared to the northwest.
• At the Painting Academy, Xiang Zhaoling teased the sleeping Zhou Mengdie and told her about a senior brother she had met.
• Zhou Mengdie panicked when Xiang Zhaoling mentioned killing, while Xiang Zhaoling argued that violence was sometimes necessary.
• Xiang Zhaoling offered to take Zhou Mengdie to the Southern Border after the Sword-Wiping Grand Assembly, and Zhou Mengdie asked whether winning could earn them a flying Spirit Artifact.

Song Yan eased the strain from practicing the Void-Viewing Sword Eye, then went to explore Sword-Wiping Peak and watch disciples spar ahead of the sect’s Sword-Wiping Assembly. At the Sword-Discussion Platform, he saw Kong You fighting and heard that the formidable disciple seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of Spiritual Power.

• Xiao He helped Song Yan apply medicinal liquid to soothe his sore eyes, and he decided to practice the eye technique in moderation while focusing on his Divine Sense and swordsmanship.
• Song Yan left his cave abode with Xiao He to look around Sword-Wiping Peak and noticed many disciples preparing for the Sword-Wiping Assembly.
• After hearing disciples discuss Kong You’s strength, Song Yan followed the crowds to the Sword-Discussion Platform.
• Song Yan heard that Kong You had just fought Li Xin and still showed no sign of depleted Spiritual Power.

Kong You defeated Zhao Mian in the sect’s sword competition, displaying powerful water and lightning techniques through his pendant Law Artifact. As the crowd praised him, Xiao He suggested he might not be able to beat Song Yan, catching Kong Yun’s attention as the competition was about to begin.

• Disciples explained that the postponed sect competition would select twelve Qi Refining disciples for the Nine Veins Grand Competition at Dragon Pool Mountain.
• Kong You used his waterdrop pendant Law Artifact to strengthen his defenses and lightning techniques, defeating Zhao Mian after their duel.
• Kong You dismissed the crowd’s praise inwardly as he remembered Li Yi, whose fighting spirit had once frightened him.
• Kong Yun took pride in the praise for his elder brother, Kong You.
• Xiao He remarked that Kong You might not be able to beat Song Yan, and Kong Yun heard her comment.

Song Yan accepted Kong Yun’s challenge and began sparring with Kong You on the Sword-Discussion Platform. His Azure Sword Qi pierced Kong You’s Water Curtain and forced him to retreat to the platform’s edge behind repeated ice shields.

• Kong Yun challenged Song Yan to fight Kong You, while Yuwen Yao and Gu Qingqing watched from nearby.
• Kong You stopped Kong Yun from pressing Song Yan, but Song Yan stepped onto the platform and introduced himself.
• Song Yan and Kong You began their spar after exchanging polite words.
• Kong You raised a Water Curtain, expecting to follow with an attack once it blocked Song Yan’s strike.
• Song Yan’s Azure Sword Qi tore through the Water Curtain, and Kong You retreated while repeatedly casting Ice Shield to defend himself.

Song Yan defeated Kong You on the Sword-Discussion Platform using only Sword Qi, then left as the onlookers realized he had never drawn his Flying Sword. Kong You accepted the loss as a lesson, while Gu Qingqing resolved to cultivate harder.

• Song Yan broke Kong You’s water curtain with Green Snake in the Sleeve and overwhelmed him with eighteen sword shadows from Sword in the Clouds.
• Song Yan stripped away Kong You’s protective Spiritual Qi and stopped his final strike as a drop of rain against Kong You’s brow, prompting Kong You to concede.
• Gu Qingqing recognized how much Song Yan had improved and resolved to work harder at cultivation as Yuwen Yao led her back toward Lianyou Peak.
• Gu Qingqing and the gathered cultivators realized Song Yan had controlled only Sword Qi and had never drawn his Flying Sword.
• Kong You accepted his defeat without excuses, reflected that a real fight would offer no second chance, and left Sword-Wiping Peak with Kong Yun.