Chapter Summaries

As Chen Ya and Li Luo battled the Demon Ruins cultivators above Dragon Pool Mountain, the trapped cultivators joined forces to attack the Blood-Colored Grand Formation. The Rogue Cultivator of Xin Mountain secretly redirected their power into the formation, triggering its collapse and destroying Dragon Pool Mountain.

• Chen Ya trapped the thin Daoist in a lightning domain, while Li Luo’s sword attack clashed with the fat Daoist’s Yellow Springs waves.
• Cultivators across the Chu Kingdom watched the invasion unfold, as Jiang Chaoshen flew toward Dragon Pool Mountain and Chen Linyuan refused to intervene.
• Cultivators inside the Great Enclosure Tower coordinated attacks on the Blood-Colored Grand Formation, while the Rogue Cultivator of Xin Mountain planted a paper person and prepared his scheme.
• Yang Kaijun left his clan’s gathering place without answering the elder who urged him to stay and resist the devil cultivators.
• Liu Ciming received the paper person outside the tower as the Rogue Cultivator of Xin Mountain and the formation’s other controllers synchronized their seals and redirected the cultivators’ attacks into the formation.
• The Rogue Cultivator of Xin Mountain invoked Formation Collapse, unleashing a shock wave that destroyed the Great Enclosure Tower, killed countless cultivators, and made Dragon Pool Mountain collapse into the dragon pool.

After the formation’s destruction devastated Dragon Pool Mountain, the surviving sects organized teams to hunt the remaining devil cultivators. Song Yan headed east, suspecting Ke Huai and Yang Kaijun had gone toward the Yang Clan Territory.

• The formation’s collapse destroyed the great enclosed tower and killed every Yang Clan attendee near its center, while the Dongyuan Sect disciples survived under the protection of their elders and Xiang Zhaoling’s treasure.
• Song Yan saw Yang Kaijun speaking with Ke Huai, who planned to help eliminate the remaining Yang Clan members before leaving with him.
• The two devil cultivators fled when Golden Core reinforcements approached, and Chen Ya, Jiang Chaoshen, and True Person Yinyu pursued them while Master Mingxin and Li Luo stayed to secure the ruins.
• Li Luo ordered the Nine Veins to assemble teams and exterminate the surviving devil cultivators, while Zhang Guangyuan assigned Dongyuan Sect disciples to their tasks.
• Song Yan and Li Yi were ordered to act independently and watch out for each other; Song Yan took Xiao He and flew east toward the Yang Clan Territory.

Zhou Liu left Shen Yu’s group to hunt Devil Cultivators alone and discovered Ke Huai and Yang Kaijun amid the ruins of the Yang Clan. His Life-Bound Talisman Seed surprised the pair, but they recognized its value and attacked him to seize it.

• Zhou Liu dismissed Shen Yu’s group and flew alone toward the Yang Clan Territory after sensing Demonic Qi.
• Zhou Liu found Ke Huai and Yang Kaijun torturing a dying Yang Clan cultivator and challenged them.
• Zhou Liu’s golden Law Seal failed to defeat the two Devil Cultivators, and they counterattacked him together.
• Zhou Liu drew a golden Flying Sword from his Talisman Seed and shattered Ke Huai’s Bone Whip and Yang Kaijun’s Demon Head Phantom.
• Ke Huai and Yang Kaijun recognized Zhou Liu’s Talisman Seed and rushed to claim its spiritual essence.
• Zhou Liu targeted Yang Kaijun with a powerful sword strike, but Ke Huai opened a purple rift that redirected the Sword Qi away.

Song Yan arrived at the Yang Clan ruins and rescued Zhou Liu from Ke Huai and Yang Kaijun, then used the Howling Sun Sword Formation and a powerful sword strike to kill Yang Kaijun while Ke Huai escaped. After the Nine Veins subdued the remaining Devil Cultivators, Master Mingxin stayed behind to oversee Dragon Pool Mountain’s recovery.

• Ke Huai and Yang Kaijun defeated Zhou Liu and prepared to take his Talisman Seed, but Song Yan arrived with his flying swords and ordered Xiao He to guard Zhou Liu.
• Song Yan activated the Howling Sun Sword Formation, forcing Ke Huai and Yang Kaijun to flee through a rift as other foundation establishment cultivators approached.
• Song Yan unleashed a distant sword strike that killed Yang Kaijun, while Ke Huai survived by using a talisman and fled; True Person Li Luo, Master Mingxin, the Rogue Cultivator of Xin Mountain, Wu Xusheng, and Chen Linyuan sensed or witnessed the strike.
• Song Yan left the ruins with Xiao He as Xi Shuyan and Fan Dongchen found Zhou Liu badly wounded, and the Nine Veins finished clearing out the Devil Cultivators.
• Elder Xu Ziqing identified the slain Devil Cultivator Liu Ciming, and the Golden Core cultivators departed Dragon Pool Mountain except for Master Mingxin, who remained to oversee recovery and tend to the dead and wounded.

Song Yan honored Yang Yuerong with a gravestone, then received Yang Kaijun’s recovered Heaven and Earth Bag from the frightened rogue cultivator Chen Dongfeng. As the Dongyuan Sect prepared to return amid a Demon Ruins invasion, Yang Wenxuan arranged for Song Yan to remain behind and help settle accounts with the Hu Lineage, leaving Song Yan suspicious of his intentions.

• Song Yan carved Yang Yuerong’s name into a small gravestone, and Gu Qingqing silently mourned beside it among the ruins.
• Rogue Cultivator Chen Dongfeng brought Xiao Ju Yang Kaijun’s Heaven and Earth Bag, explaining that he had found it while clearing the outskirts and had left its contents untouched.
• After emerging from seclusion, Song Yan read Xiao Ju’s Jade Slip and put away the recovered bag, amused that Chen Dongfeng had returned it out of fear of his power.
• Zhang Guangyuan announced that the Dragon Pool Mountain Gathering would not resume because Demon Ruins cultivators had invaded several border countries and the sects would return to their bases.
• Yang Wenxuan proposed that Xu Ziqing and Song Yan stay behind to help hold the Hu Lineage accountable for colluding with Devil Cultivators, and Song Yan sensed Yang Wenxuan’s concealed killing intent.

Song Yan stayed on Dragon Pool Mountain while Xiao Ju returned to the sect, then investigated the mask he had found in Yang Kaijun’s belongings. After feeding it his Divine Sense and putting it on, he found himself inside a black-mist space, standing on the thumb of an enormous statue.

• Song Yan agreed to stay with Xu Ziqing and a small group of disciples while the other cultivators returned to the sect with the elders.
• Song Yan sent Xiao Ju back to the sect for her protection and told Xiao He to keep others away if he ever pretended to die.
• Song Yan searched Yang Kaijun’s Heaven and Earth Bag and found a mask, along with a Jade Slip describing ancient Fangxiangshi rituals and the summoning of nuo gods.
• Song Yan discovered that the mask absorbed his Divine Sense, then put it on after its wooden portion began to glow.
• Song Yan used the Void-Viewing Sword Eye and saw that he was standing on the thumb of a giant humanoid statue in a black-mist space.

Song Yan discovered that visualizing the Five-Star Pulse Seizing Diagram could strengthen his Divine Sense, then joined the forces assembled to punish the Hu Lineage. The Hu Lineage's defenses began collapsing under the attackers' assault.

• Song Yan studied the Golden Page of the Chess Manual and visualized its diagram, sensing his Divine Sense grow stronger as the board unfolded into a world of mountains, rivers, and stars.
• Song Yan decided that the Hu Lineage's crisis offered a rare opportunity and joined the Foundation Establishment cultivators surrounding its ancestral hall.
• Hu Haotian rejected the charges of collusion with the Demonic Path and rallied the Hu Lineage to fight rather than surrender.
• The Hanging Sword Mountain cultivator ordered the attackers to leave no one alive, and the gathered cultivators unleashed their Law Artifacts and Law Techniques against the formation.
• The Xuanyuan Sect cultivator and other Foundation Establishment cultivators struck the barrier, and the Golden Folding Fan pierced it as the formation rapidly began to collapse.

Song Yan pursued a fleeing Hu cultivator and discovered that the man was the Rogue Cultivator of Xin Mountain, a False Core Realm Devil Cultivator sent by Yang Wenxuan to kill him. Xin Mountain seemingly killed Song Yan with a blood-based technique, but after he fled, a black-mist duplicate emerged from Song Yan’s crystallized corpse and disappeared into the night.

• The Nine Veins cultivators overwhelmed the Hu Lineage, while Song Yan watched the slaughter and noticed a Paper Person hiding in a pool of blood.
• A Hu cultivator at Qi Refining Perfection killed a Nine Veins cultivator and escaped the battlefield in a streak of Blood Light.
• Song Yan pursued the fugitive into a mountain valley, where the man revealed himself as the Rogue Cultivator of Xin Mountain and admitted Yang Wenxuan had hired him to kill Song Yan.
• Xin Mountain used his False Core power to immobilize Song Yan and destroy his body, leaving him crystallized and apparently dead.
• An uncanny presence made Xin Mountain withdraw, and he fled the valley without taking Song Yan’s possessions.
• Black mist emerged from Song Yan’s corpse and formed an identical figure, who cursed the corpse and vanished as a crow watched from a tree.

Song Yan revived through a prepared Sword Sect technique after Xiao He found his corpse, and he reunited with her before Bai Qi departed. When Xu Ziqing and the other cultivators arrived, Song Yan told them the fleeing Hu Lineage disciple had been the False Core Realm Rogue Cultivator of Xin Mountain, a Devil Cultivator.

• Xiao He found Song Yan's frozen corpse and broke down, refusing to believe he was dead.
• Bai Qi tried to comfort Xiao He and urged her to accept Song Yan's death, but Xianxian appeared and transformed into a figure made of Sword Qi.
• Song Yan revived as the black Sword Qi entered his body, then reassured Xiao He and told Bai Qi he had prepared in advance rather than used a resurrection art.
• Song Yan thanked Bai Qi for teaching Xiao He, warned her that Dragon Pool Mountain cultivators were approaching, and watched her leave.
• Song Yan asked Xiao He why she had kept Bai Qi and her lessons secret; Xiao He admitted she wanted him to think she could cultivate on her own.
• Xu Ziqing and other cultivators arrived, and Song Yan explained that the fleeing Hu Lineage disciple was the False Core Realm Rogue Cultivator of Xin Mountain.

Song Yan returned to the Dongyuan Sect after surviving the Rogue Cultivator of Xin Mountain, recovering from his resurrection, and eliminating his Heart Demon. He learned that his life lamp’s disappearance had prompted Qin Xijun to attack Yang Xuan and that she was now confined to the Forbidden Ground, so he hurried to Dragon Head Peak to see her.

• Song Yan explained that the Rogue Cultivator of Xin Mountain had trapped him, while concealing his suspicions about Yang Wenxuan, and returned with Xu Ziqing and the others.
• Song Yan focused on recovering and reshaping Xianxian’s body, and reflected that Turning Heaven and Earth had let him escape death and rid himself of his Heart Demon.
• After recuperating for three days, Song Yan traveled back to the Dongyuan Sect and reported his return at the Mission Hall on Taiping Peak.
• A steward told Song Yan that his life lamp had gone out, prompting Qin Xijun to attack Yang Xuan before the sect master intervened and sent her to the Forbidden Ground to reflect.
• Song Yan completed his return formalities and flew toward Dragon Head Peak to visit Qin Xijun.

Song Yan learned that Qin Xijun had been confined to Sky Falcon Cliff after confronting Yang Wenxuan over Song Yan’s extinguished life lamp, then obtained permission to visit her. After their reunion, Song Yan explained his apparent death, and Qin Xijun asked whether Yang Wenxuan had been involved.

• Song Yan visited Zhang Guangyuan, who explained that Qin Xijun had been confined for one year at Sky Falcon Cliff after injuring Yang Wenxuan and confirmed Song Yan could visit her.
• Song Yan reached the Forbidden Ground, presented his clearance to a formation guardian, and entered Sky Falcon Cliff for a four-hour visit.
• Song Yan reunited with Qin Xijun, who checked that he was unharmed and teased him for leaving her worried and alone.
• Song Yan described what had happened when his life lamp went out, glossing over his secret technique and the Heart Demon.
• Qin Xijun asked Song Yan whether Yang Wenxuan had anything to do with his ordeal.

Song Yan told Qin Xijun that Yang Wenxuan had sent the Rogue Cultivator of Xin Mountain to kill him, then met with sect master Chen Linyuan, who verified his identity and ordered him to prepare for the battlefield. Chen Linyuan also left Song Yan to settle his conflict with Yang Wenxuan himself, while privately wondering about Song Yan’s unusual Sword Intent.

• Song Yan explained to Qin Xijun why he had not implicated Yang Wenxuan in his report, and Qin Xijun agreed to leave the matter to him.
• Martial Uncle Sun told Song Yan that Chen Linyuan had summoned him to the Forbidden Ground’s rear mountain.
• Chen Linyuan examined Song Yan to confirm that his soul was unchanged and that nothing else inhabited his body.
• Chen Linyuan told Song Yan to prepare for the northeast battlefield, where reinforcements would be needed within six months, and Song Yan agreed to go.
• Chen Linyuan said Song Yan must resolve his troubles with Yang Wenxuan himself, but not within the sect.
• After Song Yan left, Chen Linyuan privately wondered how Song Yan had wielded his Sword Intent so naturally, then poured wine before the bluestone tablet and found his jar empty.

After recovering from his injuries and mental exhaustion, Song Yan reunited with his disciple Xiao Ju and guided her cultivation. He then comforted Xiao He as she weighed whether to leave with Bai Qi for Between Mountains and Seas, asking her to wait until she reached the second order before deciding.

• Song Yan rested for several days, then used a Healing Pill to heal the injuries left by the Rogue Cultivator of Xin Mountain.
• Xiao Ju visited Song Yan, offered him Qi-Nourishing Pills and food, and told him she had settled in at Lianyou Peak.
• Song Yan accepted Xiao Ju’s thoughtfulness, returned most of her pills, and answered her cultivation questions before telling her he expected to leave for the battlefield within half a year.
• Song Yan noticed Xiao He was gloomy, and she told him she feared she would remain weak and unable to help him if she stayed by his side.
• Xiao He asked whether she should go with Bai Qi to Between Mountains and Seas, and Song Yan supported her choice but asked her to wait until her cultivation reached the second order.

Song Yan advanced his Void-Viewing Sword Eye, discovering that it could use the Flowers in the Mirror, Moon in the Water Sword Intent to create an illusory sword strike. He gave the Glutton Tail Flute to Xiao He, then found that his Jiazuo divine mask had begun emitting Spiritual Power and heard voices within its black fog.

• Song Yan resumed cultivating the Void-Viewing Sword Eye, endured a painful breakthrough, and gained clearer perception of Spiritual Power and impurities.
• Song Yan used the advanced eye technique to turn spiritual mist into a sword shadow that struck a stone wall, then vanished along with the mark it left.
• Song Yan gave the Glutton Tail Flute to Xiao He and taught her how to play it as she practiced happily in the Bamboo Grove.
• Song Yan noticed the Jiazuo divine mask glowing and releasing ripples of Spiritual Power, put it on, and heard faint voices within the familiar black fog.

Song Yan entered the Nuo Realm and met four other Nuo Mask holders, who explained how they had discovered the space and named its occupants Fangxiangshi. After revealing that his mask was Jiazuo and that he came from the Border Region, Song Yan learned Cuoduan had also visited the region, leaving open the possibility that they had crossed paths.

• Song Yan appeared on the giant statue’s right thumb, where Cuoduan, Lanzhu, Boqi, and Zuming noticed him.
• Cuoduan explained that he had found a Nuo Mask named Cuoduan and that the other figures had arrived after finding their own masks.
• Cuoduan described the Nuo Realm and conjectured that the statue represented the first Fangxiangshi, who could call upon all twelve Nuo Gods.
• Song Yan identified his mask as Jiazuo, and Cuoduan and the others discussed the ten positions and the different regions they came from.
• Song Yan said he was from the Border Region, and Lanzhu pointed out that Cuoduan had visited there a couple of years earlier.

Song Yan joined the Fangxiangshi gathering and asked its members to look for ancient swords, while Zuming questioned him about Cuoduan. In the Central Region, Wang Ke suspected Jiazuo was Song Yan, then met with his master, Qingyan True Person, and asked about a golden lotus-patterned eye technique.

• Cuoduan explained that the Fangxiangshi exchanged resources and information and set their formal gathering for the second day of the first lunar month.
• Song Yan asked the group to watch for ancient swords, and Zuming offered to search for them in exchange for asking whether Song Yan had met Cuoduan before.
• After leaving the realm, Song Yan weighed its benefits and limitations, while Wang Ke suspected Jiazuo was Song Yan because of an eye technique he had seen in the Chu Kingdom.
• Wang Ke visited his master, Qingyan True Person, at Drunken Flower Terrace and learned that the Purple Source Sect had been destroyed in a demon calamity about a thousand years earlier.
• Wang Ke asked Qingyan True Person whether he had seen a golden eye technique with lotus patterns.

Wang Ke learned that Qingyan True Person had been friends with the legendary Chen Linyuan, whose eye technique resembled the one Wang Ke had encountered. At Song Yan’s cave, Yan Heng apologized for his earlier offense and explained that his ancestor had pursued a way for cultivators below the Golden Core Realm to refine Law Treasures.

• Wang Ke asked Qingyan True Person about an unfamiliar eye technique, and Qingyan True Person connected it to his old friend Chen Linyuan, a prodigious Sword Cultivator from Jun Mountain.
• Qingyan True Person recalled Chen Linyuan’s extraordinary cultivation and their friendship, then struck Wang Ke with a jade flute when Wang Ke asked who had won their sparring matches.
• At the Dongyuan Sect’s mountain gate, Yan Heng and his grandson Yan Que arrived to visit Song Yan, and Ju Luyi recognized Yan Heng as the shopkeeper who had insulted her and her master.
• Yan Heng apologized to Song Yan and said he had come to discuss an ancient sword passed down through his family.
• Yan Heng explained that his ancestor Yan Bo had pursued an unusual method for refining Law Treasures without Golden Core Realm cultivation, a path the Yan Clan had rejected as misguided.

Yan Heng gave Song Yan his ancestor Yan Bo’s unfinished Flying Sword and asked for help as he and Yan Que returned to the Yan Clan for refuge. Song Yan discovered the sword was named Seeking Benevolence and that a mysterious figure had appeared in the Infinite Treasury before receiving a summons to the Elders' Court about an important matter.

• Yan Heng explained how his family’s pursuit of Yan Bo’s artifact-refining ambition had brought them decline, and said he planned to seek refuge with the Yan Clan at Beiya Mountain.
• Yan Heng presented Song Yan with Yan Bo’s broken Flying Sword as an apology and a way to free his descendants from the burden of preserving it.
• Song Yan accepted the sword, wrote Yan Heng a letter of introduction to Yan Xun, and sent Yan Heng and Yan Que on their way.
• Song Yan refined the sword and stored it in the Infinite Treasury, where it was slowly restored and a mysterious figure appeared, repeating, “I am rotten wood, unfit for carving!”
• Song Yan found the name “Seeking Benevolence” faintly marked on the sword and decided to set it aside rather than melt it down.
• Zhang Guangyuan sent Song Yan a Communication Talisman summoning him to the Elders' Court on Dragonhead Mountain, and Song Yan realized the day he had expected had arrived.

Song Yan's ally Wu Shuangzhi was captured and brought to a Devil Cultivator base beneath Crane Rock Mountain, where Peony threatened to torture her. Song Yan arrived with a righteous-path force, breaking the valley's formation and surrounding the base.

• Two Devil Cultivators brought the wounded Wu Shuangzhi through a hidden passage into the valley beneath Crane Rock Mountain.
• Peony identified Wu Shuangzhi as an offering and threatened to plant a demon seed in her, while Zhuo Hong and Zheng Daming discussed the threat posed by Song Yan.
• Wu Shuangzhi mocked Peony and declared that Song Yan would kill her, so Peony bound and wounded Wu Shuangzhi with blood-red vines.
• Song Yan's sword shadows shattered the valley's Restriction Formation as nearly a hundred righteous cultivators surrounded the Devil Cultivators.
• Song Yan descended into the valley, and Zheng Daming recognized him.

Song Yan ambushed the Devil Cultivators at Crane Rock Mountain, killed Peony and Zhuo Hong, and left Zheng Daming for Cong Yuzhen to capture. After the battle, he gave Wu Shuangzhi a saber as she prepared to avenge her younger brother.

• Song Yan ordered the righteous disciples to attack the Devil Cultivators in the valley while he faced Peony, Zheng Daming, and Zhuo Hong on the platform.
• Song Yan used Moonfall to kill Peony in a single breath, then sent Unmoored Boat after the fleeing Zhuo Hong and killed him.
• Song Yan let Zheng Daming escape so Cong Yuzhen could claim the battle merit, and she trapped and captured him with Guest-Detaining Rain.
• Song Yan examined Peony's Heaven and Earth Bracelet as the righteous disciples finished off the Devil Cultivators in the valley.
• Wu Shuangzhi thanked Song Yan and said she intended to avenge her younger brother, so Song Yan gave her a blue-and-white saber.