Recaps

After completing the first stage of his Sword Eye, Song Yan discovered that the Two-Pole Bead was surrounded by immense Demonic Qi and found an eerie human figure submerged in the Ink Pool within the Two-Pole Realm. The figure vanished after meeting his gaze, then whispered, “You finally noticed me.”

• Song Yan reflected on his recent duel with Kong You and looked forward to testing his sword forms in the Sect Grand Competition.
• Five months later, Song Yan completed the first stage of the Sword Eye, Void-Viewing, and used it to see Spiritual Qi and Demon Power more clearly.
• Song Yan noticed Demonic Qi filling his cave abode and saw that it surged around the Two-Pole Bead.
• Song Yan entered the Two-Pole Realm and suspected the Demonic Qi once stripped from Heart Demon had gathered in the Ink Pool.
• Song Yan glimpsed a human-shaped shadow beneath the Ink Pool; it vanished after meeting his gaze, and a whisper told him, “You finally noticed me.”

Song Yan realized the Demonic Flame from Heart Demon had formed the Strange Shadow in the Ink Pool and had been influencing his choices. After understanding that it tempted him with a false sense of freedom, he resolved to use the Heart Demon as an aid until he found a way to eliminate it.

• Song Yan traced the Ink Pool's Strange Shadow to the Demonic Flame absorbed by the Two-Pole Bead after Peach Blossom Hollow.
• Song Yan found no changes to his cultivation or techniques, but recognized that he had become far more aggressive since taking Qin Ying's Flying Sword, Heart Demon.
• Song Yan searched the Inner Sect Scripture Repository and learned that Heart Demons could only be resolved by oneself, while an annotation warned that they used a cultivator's deepest desire as bait.
• Song Yan realized the Heart Demon had tempted him with freedom from restraint, and decided to turn its influence into a source of aid while seeking a way to resolve it.

Song Yan attended the opening ceremony of the Sword-Wiping Grand Assembly, where disciples discussed his chances and the competition for places at Demon-Exorcising Peak. The ceremony revealed that the selection stage would take place in the Minor Grotto-Heaven Secret Realm.

• Song Yan climbed Sword-Wiping Peak with Li Qingfeng and Sun Zhengfu as disciples discussed the assembly and speculated about Song Yan's strength.
• Sun Zhengfu told Song Yan that the assembly offered three places at Demon-Exorcising Peak, and Song Yan said he would do his best.
• Song Yan arrived at the summit and spotted Gu Qingqing, Yang Yuerong, and Xiang Zhaoling among Lianyou Peak's disciples.
• An elder read the assembly's rules and procedures, while the disciples grew distracted and discussed the selection stage.
• Song Yan learned that the selection would take place in the Minor Grotto-Heaven Secret Realm, a spiritual treasure belonging to Daoist Li Jun.

Song Yan entered the Grotto-Heaven Realm for the sword trial and planned to eliminate nearby disciples while moving toward the center. He found a fellow competitor who had tracked him to the same location and prepared to strike from above.

• Luo Xiaming and three elders activated the cauldron and sent the sword-trial participants into the Grotto-Heaven Realm.
• Song Yan found himself separated from Li Qingfeng and the others near the edge of the trial grounds, where he studied the map and rules.
• Song Yan decided to hunt nearby disciples, gather spirit patterns, and move inward as the restricted area shrank.
• A cultivator in close-fitting clothes followed a nearby marker to Song Yan's position and activated a protective Spirit Talisman.
• The cultivator realized Song Yan's marker overlapped with his own, then saw Song Yan standing above him with golden eyes.

Song Yan defeated a fleeing cultivator in the Sword-Wiping Domain and headed toward Qingjiang Lake, thinking about the dangers and the Special Teleportation Talismans scattered through the realm. At Qingjiang Flat, Li Qingfeng, Sun Zhengfu, and Gu Qingqing watched a fight over Vermilion Fruits and plotted to use a teleportation talisman on Song Yan if they found him.

• Song Yan caught the cultivator who recognized him, took his jade token, and eliminated him from the secret realm.
• Song Yan saw that his score had risen to two and continued toward the lake while considering how a Special Teleportation Talisman could help him survive the coming battles.
• Song Yan worried about facing Xiang Zhaoling, whose strength and spirit creatures remained difficult for him to gauge.
• At Qingjiang Flat, cultivators from Lianyou Peak, Sitting-and-Forgetting Peak, and Tongchen Peak fought over the valuable Vermilion Fruits.
• Li Qingfeng convinced Sun Zhengfu and Gu Qingqing not to seek out Song Yan, so they would not burden him during the assembly.
• Li Qingfeng proposed that the three secretly attach a Special Teleportation Talisman to Song Yan and send him to safety if they encountered him.

Wu Shuangzhi and the female cultivators fought off disciples from Sitting-and-Forgetting Peak and Tongchen Peak until Li Qingfeng, Sun Zhengfu, and Gu Qingqing intervened and the clash expanded into a melee among five groups. Song Yan arrived at Qingjiang Flat and spotted his fellow disciples, including Gu Qingqing, scrambling through the battlefield.

• Wu Shuangzhi rallied the exhausted female cultivators and drew resolve from remembering how Senior Brother Song had survived the Changping Ghost Domain.
• Li Qingfeng, Sun Zhengfu, and Gu Qingqing emerged, and Sun Zhengfu separated the groups while Gu Qingqing picked a Beauty Fruit.
• Disciples from Taiping Peak and Sword-Wiping Peak revealed themselves, creating a standoff among nineteen cultivators before Taiping Peak triggered a melee.
• Song Yan gathered six stalks of cold moon grass and noticed the dense gathering of cultivators near Qingjiang Flat on his map.
• Song Yan hurried to Qingjiang Flat and saw Li Qingfeng, Senior Brother Sun, and Gu Qingqing amid the fighting.

Song Yan intervened to save Gu Qingqing and helped his friends escape the melee, but Li Qingfeng used a teleportation Talisman to send him away alone. Song Yan arrived at the barren Linyun Mountains, where the Two-Pole Bead began humming.

• Gu Qingqing tried to seize another Beauty Fruit, and Song Yan rushed in to block the cultivators' attacks on her.
• Wu Shuangzhi's group retreated with the third Vermilion Fruit as Song Yan urged Li Qingfeng, Sun Zhengfu, and Gu Qingqing to leave the gathering battle.
• Li Qingfeng and Sun Zhengfu raised smoke and earthen walls while Gu Qingqing stuck a Talisman to Song Yan's robe, and Li Qingfeng activated it to teleport him away.
• Song Yan appeared in the Linyun Mountains, realized his friends had sent him away to protect his strength, and vowed to beat Li Qingfeng when they met again.
• Song Yan checked his map, prepared to head inward from the barren mountain range, and noticed the Two-Pole Bead humming.

Song Yan followed the Two-Pole Bead’s clue into the Hidden Qilin Cloud Grotto and discovered the autobiography and leftover inheritance of an ancient Sword Cultivator. He found several treasures and a rusted sword, and suspected his sect master had left them behind as rewards for the sword trial.

• Song Yan used the Mysterious Calamity Spirit-Worshipping Veil with Sword Qi from the Unmoored Boat to track a clue through the black-and-red mountains.
• Song Yan followed the trail to a cavern called the Hidden Qilin Cloud Grotto, where he sensed dense Sword Qi.
• Song Yan used the Void-Viewing Sword Eye to read a Sword Cultivator’s autobiography carved into the cavern wall, which described a small inheritance left behind.
• Song Yan found two jade cases, two small lamps, a fiery-red scale, and a rusted ancient sword on a stone platform.
• Song Yan suspected his sect master had taken one set of treasures and left the remaining inheritance as a reward for the sword trial.

Song Yan found the sword Sacrificial Qilin Lord, but the Two-Pole Bead pulled him into a strange vision as the restriction neared its limit. He awoke as Nie Chao, a wandering swordsman searching for Duan Tianhai, and learned that Pinghu Village’s sacrifice was for Tanjiang Mountain’s Qilin Lord.

• Song Yan collected a blood-like substance and a red jade scale, then examined an ordinary iron sword engraved with the name Sacrificial Qilin Lord.
• The Two-Pole Bead pulled the sword into the Two-Pole Realm and dragged Song Yan’s Divine Sense into a vision as the restriction began to contract.
• Song Yan awoke in a ruined temple as Nie Chao, a wandering swordsman who had been drinking while searching for his absent friend Duan Tianhai.
• Nie Chao followed Duan Tianhai’s trail to Pinghu Village, where the elders refused to help and told him to leave during their sacrificial ceremony.
• A fat beggar told Nie Chao that the villagers were offering their sacrifice to Tanjiang Mountain’s Qilin Lord.

Nie Chao tried to stop Pinghu Village from sacrificing two children to the Qilin Lord, but the Demon Beast badly injured him. After returning to the mountain to confront it, he rejected its demand that he lure other martial artists to their deaths.

• The fat beggar told Nie Chao that Pinghu Village had sacrificed virgin boys and girls to the Qilin Lord for decades.
• Nie Chao and the fat beggar joined the villagers’ procession and saw the real Qilin Lord reach for two sleeping children.
• Nie Chao attacked the Qilin Lord and was thrown aside, while the villagers fled; the beast then raced farther up the mountain.
• The fat beggar carried the children down with the injured Nie Chao, but villagers blamed him for ruining the sacrifice and chased them away.
• After recovering in a ruined temple, Nie Chao returned to the mountain and was gravely injured again by the Qilin Lord.
• The Qilin Lord offered to spare Nie Chao if he lured martial artists to it, but Nie Chao refused and spat blood at the beast.

Nie Chao awakened Sword Qi and helped kill the Qilin Lord, then accepted the sword-robed Daoist as his master. He learned the qilin had been possessed by a Devil Cultivator and chose to keep his ordinary iron sword, naming it Sacrificial Qilin Lord.

• The Qilin Lord threatened Nie Chao, but he refused to yield and awakened Sword Qi through his ordinary iron sword.
• A fat beggar struck the Qilin Lord with a chicken bone, revealed himself as a sword-robed Daoist, and defeated it with Azure Sword Qi.
• Nie Chao killed the wounded Qilin Lord with a thrust through its brow and agreed to become the Daoist’s disciple.
• The Daoist explained that a Devil Cultivator had possessed the true Qilin Lord, whose Demon Beast Core had been shattered by Nie Chao’s grandmaster a hundred years earlier.
• Nie Chao decided to keep his iron sword and named it Sacrificial Qilin Lord.

Song Yan learned the body-refining method Nie Chao had inherited from the sword-robed Daoist, then left the Two-Pole Realm and hurried toward the center of the Sword-Wiping Realm as his Spirit Marks faded. At Flowing Cloud Cliff, three Tongchen Peak disciples prepared to ambush a lone cultivator entering the safe area, only to recognize Song Yan.

• Song Yan discovered that the Two-Pole Realm had passed on the body-refining method used by Nie Chao to refine Demon Beast Essence Blood.
• Song Yan decided to wait until the Sword-Wiping Assembly ended before practicing the method, then woke and saw that Xiao He had been waiting for him.
• Song Yan checked his fading Spirit Marks, bowed to the autobiography on the cavern wall, and hurried toward the central region with Xiao He.
• Three Tongchen Peak disciples hid at Flowing Cloud Cliff and planned to ambush an approaching cultivator.
• The disciples saw Song Yan approaching through the mist and recognized his Sword-Wiping Peak robes and Sword Case.

Song Yan entered the restriction and defeated three cultivators, taking their Spirit-Pattern Jade Tokens and raising his recorded number to twenty-six. With the assembly nearly halfway over, he realized that finding more opponents would become increasingly difficult.

• Song Yan returned to the restriction with five layers on his spirit marks and found three cultivators waiting on Flowing Cloud Cliff.
• The three cultivators attacked Song Yan, but he used Azure Sword Qi and sword shadows to counter their spells and Flying Sword.
• Song Yan eliminated the two Qi Refining seventh-layer cultivators and absorbed their spirit marks, raising his count to eighteen.
• Song Yan broke through the cultivator surnamed Guo's spiritual shields and eliminated him, increasing his count to twenty-six.
• Song Yan considered how many participants avoided fighting or had already been eliminated outside the restriction, and concluded that he had little time or prey left.

Gu Qingqing ran into Song Yan after helping teleport him away and ended up leading him toward Li Pang. Outside the Grotto-Heaven Realm, Qin Xijun and the elders watched the Sword-Wiping Assembly as the remaining contestants prepared for more intense battles.

• Gu Qingqing watched Song Yan defeat his ambushers, tried to slip away, and was caught by him in the bushes.
• Song Yan questioned Gu Qingqing about the teleportation talisman, and she blamed Li Pang before revealing he had fled north toward the maple woods.
• Song Yan made Gu Qingqing lead him along a quieter path, and she asked to hide when they found Li Pang.
• At Sword-Wiping Peak, Qin Xijun worried that Song Yan was not hurrying through the event while the elders discussed Li Yi and Yuwen Yao as leading contenders.
• The elders reviewed the top twenty-two standings, which listed Song Yan in seventeenth place, as 128 contestants remained in the restriction.

Li Yi searched the Sword-Wiping Assembly for opponents and eagerly fought a disciple he encountered. Later, Gu Qingqing lured Chen Youcai and Bai He into an ambush, where Song Yan appeared and took their Spirit Marks.

• Li Yi complained that the central district was empty and charged southeast when someone appeared on his map.
• Li Yi ignored the disciple's introduction and demanded a bout, while the disciple pleaded for mercy.
• With only about seventy cultivators left, Gu Qingqing walked alone through a forest and drew the attention of Chen Youcai and Bai He.
• Chen Youcai and Bai He approached Gu Qingqing, hoping to take the Spirit Marks from her token.
• Gu Qingqing called for her Senior Brother Song, and an empowered Unmoored Boat cut down the two men's protective Spiritual Qi and knocked their jade tokens loose.
• Song Yan appeared behind Chen Youcai and Bai He and asked to borrow their Spirit Marks.

Song Yan reached Deer-Chasing Plain and intervened when Li Qingfeng was cornered by the Kong brothers over a Golden-Vein Spirit-Dispersing Herb. He claimed the herb and Li Qingfeng’s Spirit Marks, then faced Kong You’s stare.

• Song Yan and Gu Qingqing continued toward Deer-Chasing Plain, where they met Cen Qinghe and two other disciples, who handed over their Spirit Marks before leaving.
• Song Yan and Gu Qingqing spotted Li Qingfeng fleeing through the Ancient Vine Forest with a Golden-Vein Spirit-Dispersing Herb while Kong You and Kong Yun pursued him.
• Li Qingfeng counterattacked Kong Yun with the Heaven-Swallowing Art, then absorbed Kong You’s lightning strike before collapsing and dropping the herb.
• Song Yan caught the herb, took Li Qingfeng’s Spirit-Pattern Jade Token, and sent him out of the restriction, raising his own total to sixty-nine Spirit Marks.
• Song Yan stored the herb in a medicinal case and found Kong You staring at him.

Song Yan and Kong You faced off in the Ancient Vine Forest, where their powerful sword and thunder techniques shook the battlefield. The duel remained unresolved as Li Yi watched without intervening.

• Song Yan and Kong You sent Gu Qingqing and Kong Yun away before preparing to fight one-on-one.
• Kong You unleashed purple lightning, while Song Yan dodged and attacked with Azure Sword Qi and eighteen Sword Shadows.
• Song Yan merged the Sword Shadows into a condensed streak of sword light that met Kong You's lightning and blasted away the mist.
• Li Yi arrived and watched the duel, choosing not to attack either fighter.

Song Yan defeated Kong You by combining his flying sword with Sword Qi, then took Kong You’s Spirit-Pattern Jade Token. His score rose to 116 as the watching cultivators struggled to understand the victory.

• Kong You used Thousand-Fathom Rain, but Song Yan unleashed Tide-Severing and shattered the water blades and thunderclouds.
• Song Yan sent Unmoored Boat through Kong You’s flowing-water cocoon, causing the defensive technique to collapse.
• Song Yan sat down to recover while Unmoored Boat returned carrying Kong You’s Spirit-Pattern Jade Token.
• Song Yan transferred Kong You’s 47 points to his own token, raising his score from 69 to 116.

Song Yan and Li Yi fended off cultivators who tried to seize their spirit marks as the Sword Trial selection entered its final moments. Li Yi cleared the Ancient Vine Forest while Song Yan’s total rose to 152, leaving the two still set to settle their strength on the Sword-Discussion Platform.

• Li Yi refused to attack Song Yan while he was vulnerable and challenged him to a later fight on the Sword-Discussion Platform.
• When disciples ambushed Song Yan, Li Yi drove them off and eliminated four Taiping Peak disciples by taking their tokens.
• Song Yan used Void-Viewing and two flying swords to defeat more attackers, raising his spirit marks to 152.
• Li Yi fought off the cultivators converging on him as the restrictions pressed inward, while Xiao He collected tokens for Song Yan.
• Song Yan watched Li Yi’s powerful halberd techniques but gained little insight into his methods.

The Sword-Wiping Domain selection ended, and Xu Ziqing announced the twenty-two disciples advancing to the next stage, with Li Yi first and Song Yan second. Song Yan prepared for the duels in three days while Yang Wenxuan resolved to investigate him further.

• Yang Wenxuan discussed Song Yan with a young female disciple and decided he would accompany her to approach him later.
• Lin Qing watched Song Yan and wondered whether he was a friend or foe, while Yuwen Yao kept her distance as the restriction contracted.
• Xu Ziqing announced the end of the selection after fewer than twenty-two disciples remained, and the jade tokens transported everyone to the Sword-Discussion Platform.
• Xu Ziqing named the twenty-two advancing disciples, including Li Yi with 424 spirit marks, Song Yan with 191, and Sun Zhengfu.
• Li Yi praised Song Yan's swordsmanship and challenged him to a duel in three days, then left Sword-Wiping Peak.
• Song Yan, Gu Qingqing, Li Qingfeng, Cen Qinghe, and Sun Zhengfu talked before Song Yan and Sun Zhengfu left to prepare for the deciding matches.

Song Yan finished refining the Sacrificial Qilin Lord and considered how he would use it alongside his other Flying Swords. Elder Yang Wenxuan and his disciple Qin Sheng visited to congratulate him, then Yang asked what he knew about the South Chu Qin Clan, leaving Song Yan to weigh his poor impression of the clan.

• Song Yan examined the Sacrificial Qilin Lord, confirmed it had no hidden secret, and decided to keep it in the Useless Sword Case with Joined Branches.
• Song Yan reflected on the Sword-Robed Daoist’s words about Senior Nie Chao’s grandmaster going to a faraway place and planned to study Sword Formations after the Sword-Wiping Grand Assembly.
• Elder Yang Wenxuan and Qin Sheng arrived at Song Yan’s cave abode, and Yang congratulated him on his performance at the Sword-Wiping Grand Assembly.
• Yang introduced Qin Sheng as his disciple, and Song Yan noticed that she resembled Senior Sister Qin Ying.
• Yang asked Song Yan whether he had heard of the South Chu Qin Clan, and Song Yan recognized it as one of the Four Great Immortal Clans while recalling his poor impression of its conduct.

Yang Wenxuan tried to recruit Song Yan for the Qin Lineage, then attacked him and searched his belongings under the pretext of investigating possible Devil Cultivator ties. The search ended with Yang Wenxuan taking the Mysterious Calamity Spirit-Worshipping Veil and the Evil Cultivator Notes from Song Yan's Heaven and Earth Bag.

• Yang Wenxuan introduced Qin Sheng as Qin Ying's younger clan sister and hinted that the Qin Lineage could support Song Yan's cultivation.
• Song Yan declined to join the Qin Lineage's faction, citing his mediocre aptitude and gratitude to Senior Qin Xijun.
• Yang Wenxuan questioned how Song Yan had advanced so quickly and defeated powerful opponents, then bound Song Yan and Xiao He with Spiritual Power.
• Yang Wenxuan searched Song Yan's Heaven and Earth Bag but did not recognize the Two-Pole Bead's secret.
• Yang Wenxuan removed the Mysterious Calamity Spirit-Worshipping Veil and the Evil Cultivator Notes from the bag.

After Yang Wenxuan searched Song Yan’s belongings and warned him against opposing the Qin Lineage, Song Yan told Qin Xijun what had happened and learned of her history with the clan. Qin Xijun revealed that the lineage’s recent Spirit Pill could improve cultivation aptitude, leaving Song Yan wondering whether it was connected to a pill he had once found.

• Yang Wenxuan returned Song Yan’s belongings after inspecting them, then warned Qin Sheng that Song Yan’s unusual Spiritual Power might contain Sword Qi and ordered her to report the encounter to the clan elders.
• Song Yan told Qin Xijun that Yang Wenxuan had searched his Heaven and Earth Bag, and he said he wanted to handle any future conflict himself.
• Qin Xijun revealed that she had been born into the Qin Lineage and left her position as an elder after rejecting its increasingly sordid methods of recruiting allies.
• Qin Xijun said the Qin Lineage had developed a Spirit Pill that could improve cultivation aptitude and had helped Qin Ying cultivate unusually quickly.
• Song Yan recalled the Spirit-Transforming Blood Pill he had once obtained from Devil Cultivators and wondered whether it was related to the Qin Lineage’s pill.

Song Yan learned of Qin Xijun’s suspicion that the Qin Lineage’s aptitude-enhancing pill was tied to the demonic path, then returned to his cave abode to begin refining his body with Qilin blood. The chapter left him enduring a painful medicinal bath as the blood began reshaping his flesh.

• Qin Xijun told Song Yan that children with poor aptitude had disappeared or died and that she suspected their deaths were connected to a mysterious pill and the demonic path.
• Song Yan learned that Yang Wenxuan was responsible for investigating such incidents in the Dongyuan Sect, and Qin Xijun warned him to keep his distance from the Qin Lineage.
• Song Yan resolved to grow stronger and join Demon-Exorcising Peak, then visited Lingyuan Marsh Market to buy spirit medicines.
• Song Yan prepared a medicinal bath with Qilin precious blood, spirit medicines, and a drop of his own essence blood.
• Song Yan entered the cauldron and circulated spiritual Qi through his meridians as the scorching medicinal liquid began reshaping his body.

Song Yan completed a body-tempering session that strengthened his body and meridians, letting him wield his Sword Qi more freely. On the day of the decisive contest, he arrived at Sword-Wiping Peak as spectators gathered and Ju Luyi watched from the western stands.

• Song Yan absorbed the demon blood and medicinal liquid over thirty-six hours, strengthening his body, meridians, and Sword Mansion of the Dao-Subduing.
• Song Yan tested his increased strength and Sword Qi, then buried the medicinal dregs and practiced before the contest.
• Ju Luyi arrived at Sword-Wiping Peak with the Seamless Heavenly Garment group and was told by their leader to stop handling the embroideries and help set up.
• Song Yan entered the arena with the other finalists, including Li Yi, while spectators praised his earlier victory and a Taiping Peak disciple mocked his chances against Li Yi.
• Song Yan noticed Ju Luyi in the western spectator area and nodded to greet her.