Chapter Summaries

Song Yan defeated the Tiger Demon, left Su Li to Xiao He, and found Bai Tao’s secluded home and sword, Moon-Crying. As he inherited Bai Tao’s memories, he learned how the lonely sword cultivator befriended a crow and traveled with it, before being left behind when his sect vanished.

• Ju Luyi healed Liu Xincheng while the villagers attacked her, and Xiao He killed the bare-chested man who threatened her.
• Song Yan returned with the Tiger Demon’s core, broke the Binding Formation, and left Su Li to be killed by Xiao He.
• Song Yan followed the Sword Dao traces to Bai Tao’s home, buried his remains, and refined Moon-Crying into his Law Artifact.
• Song Yan entered the Two-Pole Realm and received Bai Tao’s memories through the crow-shaped Sword Qi.
• Bai Tao rescued a wounded crow, cared for it, and became its companion as he practiced swordsmanship and entered cultivation.
• Bai Tao named his sword Moon-Crying, traveled with the crow, and later discovered that his sect had vanished, leaving him to preserve its legacy.

Song Yan witnessed the tragic history of Bai Tao and the Crow Immortal, whose lingering soul had merged with Bai Tao’s Flying Sword, Moon-Crying. After refining the sword’s remaining Sword Qi, Song Yan realized the crow might become an unclaimed Sword Spirit and left Bai Tao’s name beside the sword’s at his grave.

• Bai Tao fled to Qing Valley after defeating unknown cultivators, raised disciples, and eventually died from his worsening injuries, leaving his crow behind.
• The Crow Immortal repeatedly tried to warn Qing Valley’s villagers of coming disasters, but they ignored it and finally killed it as an ill omen.
• The crow’s wandering soul merged with the Sword Intent in Moon-Crying, where it eventually became a Sword Spirit-like being that returned to warn Qing Valley.
• Song Yan experienced the crow’s memories, refined Moon-Crying’s remaining Sword Qi, and discovered the crow had appeared on his shoulder.
• Song Yan realized the crow could become an unclaimed Sword Spirit, then inscribed “Bai Tao. Moon-Crying.” on the gravestone before leaving the valley.

Song Yan offered Ju Luyi an Attendant post, but she refused and asked to travel with him instead; he agreed to take her along and discuss cultivation as they journeyed. While waiting in Yunxi City, Song Yan gave Xiao He the Tiger Demon’s core, then tempered his body with the demon’s essence blood and reached the Leakless realm.

• Song Yan offered Ju Luyi a vacant Attendant position in Yunxi City, but she refused and asked to become his disciple.
• Song Yan declined to take Ju Luyi as a disciple but invited her to travel with him and promised to discuss cultivation; she accepted.
• Song Yan inspected the belongings of Senior Bai Tao and Su Li, then gave the Tiger Demon’s core to Xiao He, who ate it and fell asleep.
• Song Yan used the Tiger Demon’s essence blood to temper his body and discovered that he had reached the Leakless realm.

Song Yan successfully refined the ownerless crow into Unmoored Boat’s sword spirit and named it Xianxian. When Xuanyuan Sect cultivators confronted Xiao Ju over Su Li, Song Yan drove them away and warned them against crossing him again.

• Song Yan used his sword intent and spiritual Qi to refine the crow, completing its embryonic sword spirit and discovering that it could also use Void-Viewing Sword Eye.
• Song Yan named the crow Xianxian and began nurturing it with his sword Qi.
• Zhou Chen and two Xuanyuan Sect cultivators demanded that Xiao Ju let them question her about Su Li, but Xiao Ju stood in their way.
• Xianxian repelled Zhou Chen’s attack, and Song Yan emerged, criticized the sect’s role in the Qing Valley demon calamity, and forced the three cultivators out of the courtyard.
• Song Yan revealed his identity and warned the Xuanyuan Sect cultivators to leave; after one insulted the Dongyuan Sect, Song Yan’s sword Qi grazed his ear and sent them fleeing.

Song Yan traveled with Xiao Ju and Xiao He from Yunxi City to Fengan City in Lin Province, where he learned that his grandfather’s hometown lay near the site of General Xiao Ming’s famous tiger-slaying feat. After hearing a storyteller begin that tale, Song Yan returned to his room and found Xiao Ju sewing a proper pouch for his flying sword.

• Song Yan left Yunxi City with Xiao Ju, boarded a passenger ship bound for Lin Province, and listened as an old man and a scholar told Xiao He stories about the Dark Seas.
• After arriving in Xiapi Prefecture, Song Yan hired Wu Dou as a guide and asked him where Wuzhiping was; Wu Dou said it lay near the Chu-Ning border and was known for General Xiao Ming’s tiger-slaying feat.
• Wu Dou led Song Yan and Xiao Ju to the Returning Clouds Inn, where they heard a storyteller recount the beginning of General Xiao Ming’s tiger encounter before he stopped at a cliffhanger.
• Song Yan completed his cultivation and nourished Xianxian with Sword Qi, then asked Xiao Ju what she was sewing; she said it was a pouch for his flying sword.

Song Yan traveled to Changfeng Village to investigate his grandfather Song Ying’s past, but villagers said Song Ying had never belonged to the village and had once lived in a shelter on Wuzhiping. Meanwhile, Xie Chan learned Song Yan had passed through Yunxi City and set out to find him.

• Song Yan considered teaching Xiao Ju the Sword-Planting Method but decided to wait until he reached Foundation Establishment and she advanced further.
• The Second Prince arrived in Yunxi City with Xie Chan, who learned that Song Yan had traveled north toward Lin Province and immediately left to pursue him.
• Song Yan and Xiao Ju traveled to Changfeng Village with Wu Dou, where the villagers denied knowing Song Ying as a local.
• The old village chief recalled that Song Ying had stayed near Wuzhiping as a traveling physician, then vanished, and led Song Yan toward the site of his thatched shelter.
• Song Yan learned that Changfeng Village had formed through the merger of two villages that once stood in the mountains.

Song Yan dreamed of a straw-cloaked man who summoned him to Wushan Valley and learned that the Two-Pole Bead was tied to the Sword Sect. Unable to enter the sect because his cultivation was too low, Song Yan was brought into Wushan Valley’s true appearance and began cultivating in a dream filled with dense Spiritual Qi.

• Shu Yang told Song Yan that villagers had abandoned their mountain homes after people died in places haunted by ghost walls, and that General Xiao later slew the Tiger Demon.
• At the old physician’s hut, Song Yan fell asleep, dreamed of a straw-cloaked man asking about his Two-Pole Bead, and was told to go to Wushan Valley before dawn.
• Song Yan realized the dream was connected to the Sword Sect and left Xiao Ju and the sleeping Xiao He behind as he went up Black Mountain.
• At Wushan Valley, a youth resembling Song Yan gave him a Jade Seal, but its teleportation array did not activate because Song Yan’s cultivation was too low.
• The youth brought Song Yan into Wushan Valley’s true appearance, revealed himself as the straw-cloaked old man, and sent him into a dream to cultivate amid condensed Spiritual Qi.

Song Yan broke through to the ninth layer of Qi Refining in the dream, then entered the deserted Sword Sect and learned the Jade Seal’s uses. While searching the outer sect, he found a pill furnace and a message connecting its former owner, Si Xiangqing, to the notes on Sword Qi Alchemy.

• Song Yan broke through the bottleneck to the ninth layer of Qi Refining in his dream, but the old man ended the vision by sending an ink dragon crashing down on him.
• Song Yan returned to the valley, used the Jade Seal to enter the Sword Sect, and refined it to learn it was the Great Void Sword-Nourishing Chapter, a disciple token and a means of storing Sword Qi and returning to the sect.
• Song Yan explored the deserted sect, found that a formation blocked his way into the Inner Sect, and decided to return after establishing his Dao Foundation.
• Song Yan searched the outer sect and found an abandoned alchemy hut with books, pills, and an ugly Pill Furnace.
• Song Yan recognized Si Xiangqing’s handwriting from his notes on Sword Qi Alchemy, then read her message explaining that Chen Yi had forged the Sword Qi Pill Furnace for her.
• Song Yan activated the furnace and discovered that it could capture escaping Sword Qi and handle standard adjustments to its field, making alchemy easier.

Song Yan returned from the Sword Sect ruins, stabilized his cultivation, and practiced the Great Void Sword-Nourishing Chapter while waiting for Xiao He to recover. On the way to Beiya Mountain, he learned that gangs in Fengan City were hunting Wu Dou over an alleged immortal opportunity and rescued him, only to hear that a woman in white had been searching for Song Yan.

• Song Yan returned to Wushan Valley with the Jade Seal and Sword Qi Pill Furnace, then brought Xiao Ju and the sleeping Xiao He to a temporary dwelling in the valley.
• Song Yan stabilized his ninth-layer Qi Refining cultivation and practiced the Great Void Sword-Nourishing Chapter, forming a sword mark on the Jade Seal and connecting Xianxian to its Sword Qi.
• Xiao He woke after more than a week of sleep, having advanced to the late first tier, and Song Yan set out with her and Xiao Ju toward Beiya Mountain.
• At Fengan City, Song Yan learned that the Sea Dragon Society and Desolate Mountain Society were searching for a man said to have gained an immortal opportunity.
• Song Yan recognized Wu Dou as the man being chased, and Xiao Ju drove off the gang members who tried to seize him.
• In a private teahouse, Wu Dou told Song Yan that a woman in white had been asking around for him and that the gangs had mistaken the silver she gave Wu Dou for evidence of an immortal opportunity.

Song Yan reached Forget-Worry Market Ward, sold some belongings, and sought ingredients for a Foundation Establishment Pill before Chen Jiping found him on behalf of Sheng Nian of Xin Mountain. He agreed to travel with Chen Jiping, A Yuan, and Xiao Ju to meet Sheng Nian, while Xie Chan arrived too late to find him.

• Song Yan gave Wu Dou gold, silver, and a protective talisman, then escorted him safely out of Fengan City.
• Song Yan and Xiao Ju entered Forget-Worry Market Ward, where he sold assorted items for just over eighty Spirit Stones and asked about three ingredients for his Foundation Establishment Pill.
• Song Yan learned that Origin Spirit Fruit was available at a high price, water ying flower was scarce, and the shopkeeper had no leads on truefall vine.
• Song Yan confronted Chen Jiping and a masked cultivator following him, then learned they had tracked him using Sheng Nian's Sound Transmission Talisman.
• Chen Jiping said Sheng Nian wanted to discuss a big deal in Yijiang, and Song Yan agreed to travel there with her, A Yuan, and Xiao Ju.
• Xie Chan returned to Forget-Worry Market Ward after searching for Song Yan for over ten days, but he had already left.

Sheng Nian was cornered beside Guihong Marsh by cultivators accusing him of crimes they had committed, and he nearly resorted to a damaging escape technique. Song Yan arrived with Xiao Ju, Chen Jiping, and Lu Yuan, exposed Jiang Chen to a fierce attack, and began fighting the surrounding cultivators.

• Surrounded by pursuers at Guihong Marsh, Sheng Nian weighed using the Blood Escape Secret Technique despite the lasting damage it would cause.
• Jiang Chen attacked Sheng Nian, but a black crow and its feather intercepted his Sword Qi before Song Yan arrived.
• Chen Jiping treated Sheng Nian's wounds while Song Yan confronted Jiang Chen and asked whether anyone should be spared.
• Sheng Nian identified Jiang Chen and other cultivators as the true perpetrators of the crimes they had blamed on him.
• Song Yan used Tide-Severing and other sword techniques to pierce Jiang Chen's chest, but Jiang Chen survived by using a secret method.
• Song Yan summoned Green Snake in the Sleeve to hold back the attackers and tossed Sheng Nian his broken saber, telling him to fight when he recovered.

Song Yan and A Yuan defeated the cultivators who had ambushed Sheng Nian, then the group escaped to Sheng Nian’s hidden cave. There, Sheng Nian began explaining why he had called Song Yan, asking whether he had heard rumors about the Immortal Dynasty Ancient Battlefield.

• Song Yan overwhelmed Jiang Chen and the other attackers with his sword techniques while A Yuan killed two opponents and drove Jiang Chen back into the Sword Formation.
• Song Yan combined Moonfall with Sword in the Clouds to kill the four remaining attackers, while A Yuan captured and crippled a Demon Ruins cultivator who had tried to flee.
• Sheng Nian recovered, accepted the Horizontal Saber from Song Yan, and met Xiao Ju; he teased her about joining their secret, and she firmly agreed to keep it.
• Sheng Nian led Song Yan, Xiao Ju, and the others to a hidden cave, where he asked Song Yan if he had heard rumors about the Immortal Dynasty Ancient Battlefield.

Sheng Nian told Song Yan about a sealed ancient battlefield near Yijiang and proposed they join forces against the Demon Ruins cultivators hunting them. After dividing their spoils and agreeing on treasures, Sheng Nian began interrogating a captured pursuer with demonic magic.

• Sheng Nian explained that an ancient talisman could lead them into a sealed battlefield at Yangling when its restrictions weakened in two to five years.
• Sheng Nian revealed that Demon Ruins cultivators, acting on Liu Ciming's orders, were hunting Song Yan and suggested they turn the tables on them.
• Sheng Nian and Song Yan divided the captured cultivators' treasures, with Sheng Nian keeping the Solitary Awakening Ancient Jade and Song Yan taking the Sinking Sand Profound Gold.
• Song Yan agreed to deal with the captured Demon Ruins cultivator before traveling to Dragon Spring Prefecture.
• A Yuan restrained the prisoner as Sheng Nian sent Demonic Qi into his brow, causing him to convulse.

Sheng Nian told Song Yan that the Demon Ruins cultivators were waiting in Qingfeng Gorge for a Dao Child candidate, and they planned to attack them after he recovered. While waiting, Song Yan sorted the spoils from the Heaven and Earth Bags, refined two supreme spiritual objects, and began forming a Dharma-body skeleton with Sword Qi.

• Sheng Nian revealed that the Demon Ruins cultivators belonged mostly to the Seed Demon Way and were waiting in Qingfeng Gorge for their missing Dao Child candidate.
• Song Yan opened a temporary cave abode on Qingzhang Mountain, guided Xiao Ju's cultivation, and sorted the three Heaven and Earth Bags, finding spirit stones, Jianmu Essence, Sunken Sand Black Gold, and an incomplete Buddhist cultivation method.
• Song Yan refined the Jianmu Essence and Sunken Sand Black Gold into his Dao Seed, then set up the Spirit-Gathering Sword Formation to draw Spiritual Qi toward the mountain.
• Song Yan used Sword Qi to begin the Void Spirit Bone Molding stage of the Pure Land Great Radiant Dharma Form, feeding the formation with pills, spirit stones, and Xianxian's feathers.
• Xiao Ju and Snake Treasure noticed an eight-foot translucent skeleton taking shape behind Song Yan.

Song Yan and Sheng Nian joined forces to hunt the Demon Ruins cultivators at Green Pine Temple, while Sheng Nian explained his beliefs about the Demonic Path. After killing Brother Lei, they reached the temple and unleashed darkness on two more Devil Cultivators, leaving their fate unresolved.

• Song Yan completed his Void Spirit Bone Molding and later gave Sheng Nian a Buddhist cultivation method related to Sha Qi.
• Sheng Nian told Song Yan that true Demonic Path cultivation pursued freedom and the true self, and Song Yan agreed to settle matters at Green Pine Temple.
• At Oxback Peak, Sheng Nian lured Brother Lei into battle while Song Yan's White Bone Dharma Body crushed Brother Lei's Ghost Banner demon head and absorbed its Demonic Qi.
• Sheng Nian killed Brother Lei, and A Yuan collected his remains and Heaven and Earth Bag as the three headed toward Green Pine Temple.
• At the temple, the fat Daoist and the delicate-featured Devil Cultivator abused mortal women until Song Yan, Sheng Nian, and A Yuan appeared at their door and engulfed the hall in darkness.

Song Yan and Sheng Nian wiped out the Demon Ruins cultivators at Green Pine Temple, questioned and killed the fat Daoist, and learned about routes between the Demon Ruins and the mortal world. As Song Yan left, Old Devil Xie recognized his Sword Dao Pupil Technique as a Sword Sect inheritance and named Zheng Tianqi as the sect’s founder, leaving Sheng Nian astonished by the founder’s ascension.

• Song Yan, Sheng Nian, and Corpse Puppet A Yuan subdued the fat Daoist and questioned him about teleportation formations, Demon Ruins factions, and Zhao Ziyang.
• The fat Daoist revealed that a formation in Guangling Prefecture brought cultivators from the Demon Ruins, while one in Xin'an Prefecture led there, then denied knowing of a connection to the South Chu Qin Clan.
• Song Yan destroyed the fat Daoist’s Dantian, and A Yuan tortured him to death as Song Yan and Sheng Nian continued clearing Green Pine Temple.
• Song Yan and Sheng Nian divided the spoils after the Demon Ruins cultivators were killed, but Zhao Ziyang never appeared.
• Sheng Nian asked Old Devil Xie how he recognized Song Yan’s Sword Sect inheritance, and Old Devil Xie identified Zheng Tianqi as the Sword Sect’s founder, who had ascended twenty-four thousand years earlier.

Song Yan and Xiao Ju traveled to Lanxi Cave Grotto-Heaven to visit Liang Feng, the Spirit Plant Master Song Yan had met at Beiya Mountain. They found his wife tending Qiduo Flower Shop and asked whether Liang Feng was there.

• A woodcutter directed Song Yan and Xiao Ju toward Lanxi Cave, then watched them vanish from sight.
• Song Yan and Xiao Ju entered Lanxi Cave Grotto-Heaven, refined identity tokens, and passed through its market ward.
• Song Yan told Xiao Ju that the old friend he had come to see was Liang Feng, and she described him as an ordinary person who had sought hope for his sick wife.
• Song Yan and Xiao Ju reached Qiduo Flower Shop, where a pale woman greeted them.
• Song Yan asked the woman whether Liang Feng was there.

Song Yan reunited with Liang Feng and received four Moon-Bearing Lotus Seeds in exchange for returning the Heart-Linked Mother-and-Offspring Insect. He settled in Liang Feng’s hidden valley and planned to refine Thoughtless Pills to help suppress the heart demon he might face during Foundation Establishment.

• Liang Feng explained that he and A Qing had joined Lanxi Cave after Linghua Valley found them, and he led Song Yan and Xiao Ju to his secluded valley.
• Liang Feng gave Song Yan four ripe Moon-Bearing Lotus Seeds, and Song Yan returned the mother insect, completing their transaction.
• Liang Feng offered Song Yan access to the valley and its hidden cave abode, and Song Yan agreed to let Liang Feng keep twenty percent of the spirit plant harvest for his work.
• Song Yan decided to stay in the valley with Xiao Ju and considered how to prepare for a heart demon during Foundation Establishment.
• Song Yan chose to refine Thoughtless Pills using Moon-Bearing Lotus Seeds as a substitute ingredient, hoping the practice would also help him prepare to refine an improved Foundation Establishment Pill.

Song Yan settled into a leisurely routine in Dragon Spring Prefecture, cultivating his Divine Sense through Go while searching Lanxi Market for Truefall Vine to prepare for Foundation Establishment. After learning the auction would not offer the rare ingredient, he left the shop and was accosted by a ragged mortal at the market entrance.

• Song Yan played Go with Hu Qing and taught Xiao He and Xiao Ju, while Xiao Han quickly understood the game’s tactics.
• Song Yan heard that Shi Ying had been named Crown Prince of Chu and continued his cultivation in the Nameless Mountain Valley.
• Song Yan visited Pill Entry Hall to ask Zhang Dandong whether the upcoming auction would feature Truefall Vine, but the auction list contained only Mysterious Spirit Herb and other ingredients.
• Song Yan bought more Thoughtless Pill ingredients and considered returning to his sect to seek a Foundation Establishment Pill if he could not find Truefall Vine.
• A ragged youth burst through the crowd, grabbed Song Yan’s sleeve, and urgently begged him not to leave; Song Yan sensed that the youth was a mortal.

Song Yan met Wang Ke, a seemingly ordinary mortal from Clouddream Mountain who possessed Truefall Vine and asked Song Yan to escort him to the Go Dao Tournament and then the Chu Capital in exchange for the vine. After accepting the deal, Song Yan returned to Nameless Mountain Valley and resumed practicing pill refinement.

• Wang Ke stopped Song Yan in Lanxi Market and claimed to have the Truefall Vine Song Yan needed, so Song Yan questioned how he had overheard his conversation with Shopkeeper Zhang.
• Wang Ke revealed a length of Truefall Vine from a disguised Go stone and explained that he was a cultivator whose sect required its disciples to seal their cultivation when traveling.
• Wang Ke asked Song Yan to escort him to the Go Dao Tournament on Beiya Mountain and then to the Chu Capital, offering three lengths of Truefall Vine in installments.
• Song Yan used the Void-Viewing Sword Eye to discover that a powerful restriction protected Wang Ke, then agreed to escort him and gave him a month's lodging at Wangxian Inn.
• Song Yan returned to Nameless Mountain Valley with the first length of Truefall Vine and prepared to refine another Thoughtless Pill using the Sword Dao Pill Furnace.