Recaps

Song Yan listened as the final stage’s rules were announced, then watched the opening knockout matches begin. Shao Sichao won his bout with a technique called Shewang, while Song Yan waited for his own match.

• Ju Luyi realized Song Yan had been greeting Senior Sister Zhao, while Xiang Zhaoling teased Song Yan and sparked Sun Zhengfu’s suspicion.
• Luo Xiaming announced that the opening round would reduce twenty-two contestants to eleven, followed by a round-robin tournament to determine the top ten and two reserves.
• Daoist Li Jun arrived, and the final stage officially began as the contestants received their drawn numbers.
• Song Yan drew number seventeen and watched the first bouts, focusing on Shao Sichao’s match against a Taiping Peak disciple.
• Shao Sichao used Shewang to break his opponent’s protective spiritual Qi and paralyze him, winning the bout.

Song Yan won his first-round match on the central Sword-Discussion Platform, then watched Xiang Zhaoling reveal her Gu Arts and defeat Zhai Yin. Her victory reminded the spectators that she was a formidable fighter.

• Song Yan used the Void-Viewing Sword Eye to suspect that Shao Sichao had restricted his opponent's Spiritual Power and blood circulation with poison.
• Song Yan defeated the round-faced Qi Refining Eighth Layer cultivator with Azure Sword Qi, and the opponent conceded.
• Li Yi noticed that Song Yan's Sword Qi seemed stronger than it had been in the Grotto-Heaven Realm.
• Xiang Zhaoling used a moon-white Gu insect to send crescent blades at Zhai Yin, then released a black-and-purple butterfly Gu that left him dazed.
• Xiang Zhaoling pushed Zhai Yin off the platform, and Daoist Li Jun recognized her display as the uncanny Gu Arts of the Southern Border.

Song Yan watched the Sword-Discussion bouts and grew concerned as Sun Zhengfu faced the aggressive Ye Tian. When Ye Tian’s heavy sword closed in, Sun Zhengfu used a golden rune from his bamboo slips and stopped the attack with a single word.

• Xiang Zhaoling told Song Yan that her Gu insects came from a Southern Border cultivation lineage and mentioned a crudely named insect.
• Li Yi’s opponent conceded, while Lin Qing quickly defeated number twenty-one with an ink-like Law Technique.
• Song Yan suspected that Lin Qing might be the person called Che Ning, who had explored Lin Qinglong’s tomb with them.
• Sun Zhengfu faced Ye Tian, whose heavy sword attack swept across the platform but failed to knock him off.
• Remembering Song Yan’s relentless progress, Sun Zhengfu resolved to show his own spirit and said, “Stop,” halting Ye Tian’s sword with a golden rune.

Sun Zhengfu defeated Ye Tian with the Bamboo Slip’s Confucian Dao power, then collapsed from the strain. After the first elimination round ended, the round-robin tournament began, opening with Song Yan facing Yuwen Yao.

• Sun Zhengfu used the words “Disperse” and “Retreat” to weaken Ye Tian and knock him off the platform, winning their match.
• Sun Zhengfu collapsed unconscious after his victory, and the officiating elder announced the first round’s eleven advancing disciples.
• After a two-hour rest, the round-robin tournament began, with the eleven disciples set to face one another for points and rankings.
• The officiating elder paired Song Yan against Yuwen Yao on the central platform while the other matches began elsewhere.
• Yuwen Yao proposed that Song Yan win by enduring her three strongest palm strikes, and Song Yan agreed.

Song Yan faced Yuwen Yao in a sword-testing duel and endured her first two powerful palm strikes. He defeated her final azure dragon seal with a burst of Sword Essence, leaving the spectators stunned.

• Yuwen Yao struck Song Yan with Azure Dragon Explores with Its Claws and slammed him into the platform, but he emerged from the dust cloud unharmed.
• Yuwen Yao launched two handprints with Roaming the Heavens, and Song Yan countered them with Tide-Severing.
• Yuwen Yao drank wine to restore her Spiritual Power and unleashed her final palm strike, High Wilderness, which formed an enormous azure dragon.
• Song Yan drove Unmoored Boat into the platform and poured out his Sword Qi to withstand the dragon's attack.
• Song Yan released Sword Essence from his fingertip, pierced the azure dragon seal, and brought the duel to a close as the spectators fell silent.

Song Yan defeated Yuwen Yao, then advanced through the deciding bouts as Xiang Zhaoling and two later opponents conceded. He reached four consecutive victories without suffering an injury.

• Song Yan defeated Yuwen Yao with a sword strike, and she conceded before inviting him to fight her again someday.
• The five winners of the first deciding round were Li Yi, Song Yan, Xiang Zhaoling, Han Yuan, and Lin Qing.
• Xiang Zhaoling conceded to Song Yan, explaining that she did not want his sword to kill the Gu insects she had raised.
• Lin Qing and Shao Sichao also conceded to Song Yan, giving him four consecutive victories without a fight or injury in those bouts.

Song Yan fought Han Yuan in the round-robin finals and won after weathering the body cultivator’s fierce close-range attacks. Han Yuan accepted the loss openly, and Song Yan prepared to continue the tournament.

• Song Yan defeated Zhao Xuan and Chen Chen, while Sun Zhengfu conceded without fighting.
• The officiating elder matched Song Yan against Han Yuan, a body cultivator who had fought through every earlier round.
• Han Yuan declined Song Yan’s offer to rest and attacked with a barrage of powerful punches.
• Song Yan used sword Qi and the Unmoored Boat to wound Han Yuan, then closed the distance and held sword Qi at his brow.
• Han Yuan conceded, praised Song Yan, and said he had lost because his strength fell short.

Song Yan and Li Yi faced off in the final decisive match, with both undefeated and tied for first place. Li Yi’s fierce techniques overwhelmed Song Yan, who responded by summoning all thirty-six of his Sword Shadows as the battle continued.

• After Han Yuan conceded defeat, the final matchups were announced, pairing Li Yi against Song Yan.
• Li Yi unleashed his strange black-and-red power and drove Song Yan back with his halberd techniques.
• Song Yan struck Li Yi with Tide-Severing, sending him flying, but Li Yi counterattacked with Sacrificing at Guanshan and shattered Song Yan’s Sword Shadows.
• As Li Yi raised his halberd for another crushing strike, Song Yan unleashed thirty-six Sword Shadows, reaching the limit of his Divine Sense.

Song Yan awakened Sword Momentum and matched Li Yi in their final match, then both fighters unleashed their strongest attacks and collapsed near the end. Li Yi appeared to have won, but the match’s result remained uncertain.

• Song Yan entered a state of deep focus as his presence rose to match Li Yi’s fighting spirit.
• Song Yan struck with an ordinary sword attack empowered by Sword Momentum, sending Li Yi flying toward the edge of the platform.
• Song Yan and Li Yi exchanged attacks, with Song Yan’s sword marks breaking through Li Yi’s protective Spiritual Power.
• Song Yan and Li Yi unleashed Sword in the Clouds and Break Loulan, filling the Sword-Discussion Platform with their attacks.
• After the clash, Song Yan barely remained standing with the Unmoored Boat, while Li Yi leaned on his halberd, badly wounded and exhausted.

Song Yan and Li Yi ended their final match in a draw, with the Spirit Mark count placing Li Yi first and Song Yan second in the Sword-Wiping Grand Assembly. After the rewards were announced, Song Yan planned to travel and recover, then realized his new understanding of Sword Momentum had clarified his sword techniques before exhaustion put him to sleep.

• Song Yan and Li Yi both conceded, and the Deacon Elder declared their match a draw, awarding Li Yi first place and Song Yan second based on Spirit Marks.
• Song Yan and Li Yi received treatment while friends gathered around them, and the elders announced the top ten and named Sun Zhengfu and Qin Zhan as accompanying disciples.
• Luo Xiaming announced the winners' rewards, including a Foundation Establishment Pill for Li Yi, and offered the top three the choice to join Demon-Exorcising Peak.
• Song Yan declined offers from shop representatives, ordered two black Daoist robes from Ju Luyi, and invited his friends to his cave abode before they departed.
• Song Yan recovered in his Cultivation Room and found that his new grasp of Sword Momentum clarified the Sword-Planting Technique and gave him a direction for studying the Sword Formation.
• Song Yan washed, lay down, and fell into a deep sleep after the exhausting day.

Song Yan resumed cultivation after recovering and decided to study alchemy while avoiding a risky breakthrough attempt. He visited Qin Xijun for alchemical texts, then went to Tongchen Peak to collect his Sword-Wiping Assembly reward.

• Song Yan found his cultivation had advanced after the recent battles, but decided not to risk using the Qiyang Pill for a breakthrough while his foundations remained unstable.
• Song Yan visited Qin Xijun and selected several alchemical Jade Slips to study.
• Song Yan gave Qin Xijun the Spirit Observation and Qi Gazing Jade Slip he had taken from Shen Huai's Heaven and Earth Bag, and she accepted it as a useful secret method.
• Song Yan went to Tongchen Peak to collect his second-place Sword-Wiping Assembly reward and found Xu Ziqing waiting in the Affairs Hall.
• Wu Zheng handed Xu Ziqing a Heaven and Earth Bag containing Song Yan's reward.

Song Yan collected his sword trial reward and learned that he could exchange it for a rare spiritual object instead of an upper-grade Law Artifact. After examining the Earth Treasury’s treasures, he chose the Burning Like Karmic Fire to strengthen his future Sword Dao cultivation.

• Wu Zheng gave Song Yan his sword trial reward, and Xu Ziqing explained that he could exchange it for a spiritual object of the same tier.
• Xu Ziqing urged Song Yan to inspect the Earth Treasury’s spiritual objects, and Wu Zheng guided him inside.
• Song Yan examined the treasures, including the lifesaving Scapegoat Puppet, and weighed its risks against the benefits of the Burning Like Karmic Fire.
• Song Yan gave up his reward jade slip and chose the Burning Like Karmic Fire, a tiny wisp of supreme spiritual fire.

Song Yan explored the fourth floor of the Inner Sect Scripture Repository but found no cultivation method better suited to his Sword Dao than the Qi Condensation Chapter. He discovered an unconventional alchemy book that challenged the usual reliance on fire refining.

• Song Yan entered the Inner Sect Scripture Repository with his Sword-Wiping Assembly qualification and went up to the fourth floor.
• He browsed several advanced cultivation methods but decided the Qi Condensation Chapter remained best suited to his undifferentiated-origin Spiritual Power.
• Song Yan searched the fourth floor for an alchemy scripture that he could understand and noticed an old book titled "Thousand Elixirs and Unusual Prescriptions."
• He read that the book described unusual pill-refining methods and argued that fire refining was not the only way to make pills.

Song Yan read an unusual alchemy text describing how to refine pills with Sword Qi, then returned to his cave abode and refined Burning Like Karmic Fire into his Seed of the Sword Dao. The fire formed a new pool in the Two-Pole Realm, where Sacrificial Qilin Lord began to repair itself, leaving Song Yan wondering whether he could reforge it further.

• Song Yan redeemed copies of Thousand Elixirs and Unusual Prescriptions and the Little Profound Mystery Qi Scripture from the Inner Sect Scripture Repository.
• Song Yan returned to his cave abode and began refining Burning Like Karmic Fire with the sword-planting Method Formula.
• Burning Like Karmic Fire burst apart inside the Two-Pole Realm, creating scorched ground and a boiling fire pool as Song Yan's Spiritual Power and Sword Qi poured into the Two-Pole Bead.
• Song Yan summoned Sacrificial Qilin Lord into the fire pool and saw its cracks mend and its dulled patterns regain their light.
• Song Yan considered whether the fire pool could use the remaining Qilin scales to reforge Sacrificial Qilin Lord.

Song Yan used the Two-Pole Realm’s fire pool to begin reforging Sacrificial Qilin Lord with cloud iron and Qilin scales, then recovered his Spiritual Power and studied an unconventional alchemy text. He discovered that Thousand Elixirs and Unusual Prescriptions described Sword Qi Alchemy, a method developed by an ancient Sword Cultivator and alchemy experts.

• Song Yan fed cloud iron and a Qilin scale into the fire pool, which melted the materials and began repairing Sacrificial Qilin Lord.
• Song Yan added his remaining cloud iron and judged that the materials could raise the blade to an Upper-Grade Law Artifact.
• Song Yan tested Burning Like Karmic Fire and found that it increased his Sword Shadows’ destructive power but was slower than wind and thunder.
• Song Yan exhausted most of his Spiritual Power and Sword Qi, then recovered with a Spirit Gathering Formation and Spirit Stones.
• Song Yan studied Thousand Elixirs and Unusual Prescriptions and learned that its unconventional methods relied chiefly on Divine Sense.
• Song Yan read how Chen Yi and two seniors had developed Sword Qi Alchemy to help a Sword Cultivator disciple who struggled with conventional alchemy.

Song Yan spent three months mastering Sword Qi Alchemy, improving his success rates with several pills while exhausting his savings and supplies. He stopped refining to recover and planned to break through to the Qi Refining Eighth Layer, though he had no Spirit Stones left to prepare for it.

• Song Yan activated the restrictions around his courtyard and began practicing Sword Qi Alchemy, learning to control his Sword Qi and Burning Like Karmic Fire as a pill furnace.
• Song Yan successfully refined a low-grade Qi-Nourishing Pill on his first attempt, then continued practicing and studying after later batches failed.
• Over three months, Song Yan raised his success rate to over seventy percent for Yellow Sprout Pills and around fifty percent for Qi-Congealing Pills.
• Song Yan spent all his Spirit Stones, usable herbs, medicines, and sect contribution points on alchemy, leaving him unable to continue refining.
• Song Yan recovered in the Hot Spring Pool, realized his cultivation had reached a breakthrough threshold, and planned to attempt the Qi Refining Eighth Layer despite having no Spirit Stones.

After coming out of seclusion, Song Yan heard Lin Qing’s account of a previous life in which the Demonic Path destroyed the sect, and learned that the sect master had tasked Lin Qing with investigating a possible traitor in the Qin Lineage. Song Yan agreed to work with Lin Qing and ended the night determined to grow stronger before the predicted invasion in three years.

• Song Yan planned to sell his Qi-Nourishing Pills and use the Spirit Stones to advance his cultivation before seeking Moon-Supporting Ancient Lotus seeds.
• Lin Qing visited Song Yan, revealed that he had accepted the Qin Lineage’s invitation, and asked whether Song Yan believed in rebirth.
• Lin Qing recalled how Chen Linyuan had spared him, given him Sword Qi, and ordered him to investigate sect traitors by joining the Qin Lineage and recruiting Song Yan as an ally.
• Lin Qing told Song Yan that the Demonic Path had destroyed the sect in his previous life and that the Qin Lineage’s rise afterward seemed suspicious.
• Song Yan checked the Sword Qi mark on Lin Qing, accepted his account, and agreed to work with him.
• After Lin Qing left, Song Yan considered the invasion predicted for three years later and resolved to strengthen himself.

Song Yan rescued Wu Shuangzhi and Wu Zilin by killing the five Zhongmiao Sect cultivators who had attacked them, then left the stream valley after learning they needed to recover their fellow disciple Ye’s remains. The chapter ended with Song Yan reflecting on his cultivation of the Moon Ring Sword Formation and preparing to test another formation at his cave abode.

• Wu Shuangzhi and Wu Zilin fled into a stream valley, where five Zhongmiao Sect cultivators caught up and attacked them.
• Song Yan intervened when the cultivators threatened the siblings and killed all five with his Moon Ring Sword Formation.
• Wu Shuangzhi recognized Song Yan from the Sword-Wiping Grand Assembly, and Song Yan gave her and Wu Zilin two Heaven and Earth Bags.
• Wu Shuangzhi declined Song Yan’s offer to escort them back because she and Wu Zilin needed to tend to Senior Brother Ye’s remains.
• Song Yan left the valley and reflected on his recent breakthrough, his training in the Moon Ring Sword Formation, and his plans to test another formation at his cave abode.

Song Yan tested a Spirit-Gathering Sword Formation that greatly improved his cultivation, then a white-robed Daoist sought him out through Yang Wenxuan, intending to refine him into an “immortal pill.” Yang Wenxuan suggested waiting until the Dragon Pool Mountain summit, but learned that people from the Demon Ruins were also hunting Song Yan.

• Song Yan received travel precautions from the sect and set up a Spirit-Gathering Sword Formation using three Flying Swords and six Sword Shadows.
• Song Yan found that the formation gathered Spiritual Qi more effectively than an ordinary mid-grade Spirit Gathering Formation and lasted about a day and a half.
• In Yan'ou, the white-robed Daoist asked Yang Wenxuan about Song Yan and revealed that he wanted to refine him into an “immortal pill.”
• Yang Wenxuan proposed waiting until the Dragon Pool Mountain summit so Song Yan could contribute to the sect first, but the white-robed Daoist warned that Song Yan might not survive two years because people from the Demon Ruins were looking for him.
• Yang Wenxuan asked whether the Demon Ruins were targeting Song Yan because of Changping, but the white-robed Daoist refused to answer and ended their meeting.

Song Yan returned to Shiliang Town, paid respects at his grandfather’s grave, and continued north with Xiao He to Yunxi City. There, he began his Dongyuan Sect inspection and asked the city lord to summon Attendant Liu, Liu Xincheng.

• Song Yan passed through Shiliang Town and heard that several townspeople had moved on to new lives, but he chose not to visit them.
• Song Yan and Xiao He offered incense at his grandfather’s grave, then left town without returning to Little Solitary Mountain.
• Song Yan and Xiao He reached prosperous Yunxi City, where Song Yan admired the busy docks and suggested they travel by boat after a few days.
• Song Yan changed into Dongyuan Sect robes and went to the city lord’s residence to find Attendant Liu.
• City Lord Zhao Huaiyuan arrived with Chen Shi and Yihuan, greeted Song Yan respectfully, and heard Song Yan ask for Liu Xincheng.

Song Yan inspected Dongyuan Sect attendant Liu Xincheng’s records in Yunxi City and noticed irregularities involving Qing Valley. Liu Xincheng concealed his concern, and Song Yan planned to investigate the valley himself the next day.

• Zhao Huaiyuan welcomed Song Yan and noticed Liu Xincheng treated the visiting cultivator with unusual deference.
• Liu Xincheng gave Song Yan a jade slip recording recruitment and secular affairs, then explained that Xuanyuan Sect attendant Su Li was away investigating the Crow Demon Calamity near Qing Valley.
• Song Yan reviewed the records and found gaps in the entries for Qing Valley and another location.
• Liu Xincheng claimed Qing Valley’s attendant had temporarily left and that he and Su Li had covered the duties, but he denied having important business to report to the sect.
• Song Yan decided to inspect the areas himself the next day, declined another banquet invitation, and went to rest in the city lord’s residence.

Song Yan rejected the City Lord’s attempt to arrange two women for him, then traveled to Yunlin Market to buy pill ingredients and sell Yellow Sprout Pills. At the market, he heard rumors that Demon Crows near Qing Valley foretold calamities and disappearances.

• Song Yan sent away the two women Zhao Huaizhen had arranged, explaining that he needed to preserve his primal yang for cultivation.
• Song Yan set up protective formations, gathered Spiritual Qi with a Sword Formation, and cultivated with a Qi-Congealing Pill.
• Song Yan traveled to Yunlin Market to purchase ingredients and sell Yellow Sprout Pills, noting that pill refining was not yet profitable for him.
• At Pill Embrace Hall, Song Yan overheard cultivators discussing reports of Demon Crows near Qing Valley and a curse linked to calamities, disappearances, and the valley’s declining cultivators.

Song Yan learned from Ju Luyi and Liu Xincheng that Attendant Hu had gone missing in Qing Valley and was believed to have been killed by the Demon Crow. He went to investigate with them, where a black crow appeared and his Void-Viewing Sword Eye revealed traces of Sword Qi.

• Song Yan sold Yellow Sprout Pills and spent the proceeds on ingredients for refining more pills.
• Song Yan met Ju Luyi in a Yunlin Market shop and learned that she had returned to Qing Valley to visit Attendant Hu, who was missing and believed dead.
• Ju Luyi told Song Yan that Attendant Su of the Xuanyuan Sect had said the Demon Crow killed Attendant Hu.
• Liu Xincheng arrived and admitted that something was wrong in Qing Valley, so Song Yan ordered him to lead the way.
• Song Yan, Ju Luyi, and Liu Xincheng reached Qing Valley as a black crow flew in, and Song Yan saw Sword Qi around its trajectory.

Song Yan arrived in Qing Valley with Liu Xincheng and Ju Luyi to investigate the disappearance of Attendant Hu, but the villagers’ hostility toward Ju Luyi was interrupted when the Tiger Demon revealed that it had eaten the missing attendants. The Tiger Demon ordered Su Li to activate the Binding Formation and trap the villagers, leaving Song Yan facing an imminent attack.

• Su Li waited with the Tiger Demon in the Bai Clan ancestral hall while the demon demanded another child to accompany his wine.
• A black crow appeared over Qing Valley, and the villagers attacked it before it dissipated into dark spiritual light.
• Song Yan entered the valley with Liu Xincheng and Ju Luyi, and the villagers blamed Ju Luyi for the crow and their misfortunes.
• Song Yan used Sword Qi to stop the villagers from throwing things at Ju Luyi, then asked how Attendant Hu had disappeared.
• The Tiger Demon emerged from the ancestral hall and said that half of the missing attendants were in its belly and the rest were in a cesspit.
• The Tiger Demon ordered Su Li to activate the Binding Formation and keep the villagers from escaping.

Song Yan killed the Tiger Demon with his Sword Formation and the Overlapping Blades technique, then headed toward Qing Valley’s exit. There, Su Li threatened Liu Xincheng and the villagers until a mysterious little girl intervened.

• Song Yan used his Sword Formation and Overlapping Blades to kill the Tiger Demon and took its core, corpse, and saber.
• Su Li overpowered Liu Xincheng while Ju Luyi treated his injuries and the villagers gathered outside Qing Valley.
• Su Li cut off an old farmer’s hand and attacked Liu Xincheng and Ju Luyi with a wind blade.
• A green leaf dispersed Su Li’s attack, and he spotted a little girl staring at him among the villagers.