Chapter Summaries

Li Qingfeng killed the female cultivator with his secret art but was captured, while Xu Kai crippled and killed Li Yi. As Xu Kai moved to take Li Yi’s Heaven and Earth Bag, a mysterious cultivator appeared, collected Li Yi’s body and belongings in a black coffin, and left Xu Kai wondering who had thrown the peach pit that struck him.

• Li Qingfeng’s spirit flame burned the female cultivator to ashes and refined her spiritual power and Demonic Qi into two pills, which Xu Kai seized.
• Xu Kai restrained the exhausted Li Qingfeng and attacked Li Yi with talisman treasures and thunder talismans, then severed both of Li Yi’s arms and killed him with a flying knife.
• The two Devil Cultivators pressed Han Yuan as he faltered, believing his fellow disciples were lost.
• A peach pit pierced Xu Kai’s protective Spiritual Qi and struck his face, and a mysterious cultivator in a dark blue robe appeared beside Li Yi’s corpse.
• The mysterious cultivator sealed Li Yi’s wounds, placed his body, severed arms, and Great Halberd in a black coffin, and vanished it into his sleeve.
• Xu Kai realized the peach pit’s thrower might have been someone other than the mysterious cultivator and grew wary of the newcomer.

Yuanbao and Liu Tianfang’s group rescued Han Yuan and the other Jun Mountain disciples, but Liu Tianfang said they could not save Sect Master Chen. Under the Feather Sound Poison, Chen Linyuan relived his past and confronted the memory of the woman he feared seeing again after death.

• Yuanbao defeated the Devil Cultivators attacking Han Yuan’s group, then crippled Xu Kai by shattering his Qi sea with three staff strikes.
• Liu Tianfang introduced himself as a Jun Mountain cultivator and explained that he and Sect Master Chen had studied under the same master.
• Han Yuan asked Liu Tianfang to save Sect Master Chen and the other disciples, but Liu Tianfang said the group could not intervene as they looked toward the Forbidden Ground.
• The Feather Sound Poison clouded Chen Linyuan’s consciousness as memories of his life and cultivation passed before him.
• Chen Linyuan saw the back of the woman he had longed for and feared facing after death; she turned around and asked who he was and where they were.

Song Yan left the World Within the Painting and revealed a powerful Asura Dharma Body to rescue Zhang Guangyuan and strike down a white-robed Devil Cultivator. He then faced Zhang Xingming, a Golden Core cultivator, with only five breaths remaining before he needed to return to the painting.

• Yu Tian destroyed his False Core, killing two Devil Cultivators and many nearby Foundation Establishment Devil Cultivators.
• Wang Lin charged into a group of Devil Cultivators, but Zhang Xingming killed him and those nearby with a single palm strike.
• Song Yan left the painting before Lin Qing could finish preparing it and arrived at the battlefield near Dragonhead Mountain.
• Song Yan's Asura Dharma Body crushed the Green Jade Skull and smashed the white-robed Devil Cultivator into the ground with Heart Demon.
• Song Yan met Zhang Xingming's gaze and considered how to survive long enough to return to the painting.

Song Yan escaped Zhang Xingming’s deadly attack and lured him into Lin Qing’s World Within the Painting. While Lin Qing tried to hold Zhang Xingming there, Song Yan prepared a powerful Sword Dao technique outside the scroll.

• Zhang Xingming struck Song Yan with a demonic hand seal, but Song Yan’s asura dharma body blocked it long enough for him to escape using Wandering the Great Void.
• Zhang Xingming pursued Song Yan to a mountain forest, where Song Yan stopped and Lin Qing used the Truth-Shaming Brush and Leisurely Wandering Scroll to draw him into the World Within the Painting.
• Inside the painting, Zhang Xingming recognized the treasures and challenged Lin Qing and Void Aspect, who appeared beside him.
• Outside the scroll, Song Yan arranged fifteen Flying Swords and poured his inexhaustible Sword Qi into a still-forming Sword Formation.
• Song Yan relied on Lin Qing to stall Zhang Xingming for more than eight breaths while he prepared to unleash a dangerous Sword Dao method.

Lin Qing trapped Zhang Xingming in the World Within the Painting long enough for Song Yan to form a Sword Domain and unleash its full power. Song Yan killed Zhang Xingming after overcoming his attempt to destroy his Golden Core, while the battlefield’s survivors watched in shock.

• Lin Qing used the Wandering-Holding Scroll to send Zhang Xingming back to the painted realm’s entrance, then nearly died when Zhang Xingming attacked him; a golden Sword Qi from Lin Qing’s forehead shattered the Illusory Soul Bell and wounded Zhang Xingming.
• The World Within the Painting collapsed, and Song Yan began forming a Sword Domain with fifteen Flying Swords, three combined Sword Formations, Xianxian, and the Law Treasure Seeking Benevolence.
• Song Yan used purple qi to strengthen the domain’s Sword Qi and trapped Zhang Xingming, whose weapons failed to stop Song Yan’s successive sword strikes.
• Zhang Xingming tried to destroy his Golden Core and kill everyone at Dongyuan Sect, but Song Yan’s technique made the battlefield experience the destruction as an illusion and stopped him.
• Song Yan gathered the domain’s Sword Qi and purple qi into Seeking Benevolence, then struck Zhang Xingming with the sword and Sword Dao True Essence, killing him.
• Lin Qing and the Dongyuan Sect cultivators watched Song Yan’s victory in disbelief, while Lu Zhe, the Straw-Cloaked Old Man, the Hidden Dragon Secret Bureau, Han Yuan, Li Qingfeng, Liu Tianfang, and Lu Xuanling reacted to his achievement.

After Song Yan killed Zhang Xingming, Void Aspect used the Flower-Shifting Art to extract Zhang Xingming’s Golden Core while Song Yan searched for a way out of the Demon Ruins cultivators’ formation. In the Forbidden Ground, nine Nascent Soul cultivators waited for Chen Linyuan’s fortune to dissipate as he relived a meeting with Jiang Qingrou.

• Song Yan recovered some strength after killing Zhang Xingming, while Void Aspect extracted Zhang Xingming’s Golden Core using the Flower-Shifting Art.
• The Demon Ruins cultivators became disorganized, and Dongyuan Sect cultivators turned the battle around, but Song Yan realized the Nascent Soul cultivators had trapped everyone inside the area.
• Lin Qing approached Song Yan, who noticed a strange disturbance rising from the Forbidden Ground as his swords and the Sword Dao Lotus began to resonate.
• Chen Tianze told the other Nascent Soul cultivators that Zhang Xingming had died, but they dismissed the loss and focused on Chen Linyuan’s impending death and the chance to gain his fortune.
• Chen Linyuan experienced a tranquil memory with Jiang Qingrou, who praised her senior brother’s peerless Sword Dao and said he was the reason the Devil Cultivators dared not act.

Chen Linyuan learned of Jiang Qingrou’s unspoken love as the illusion of their past collapsed, and her final wish renewed his sword heart and restored him to the Nascent Soul Realm. He answered the Demon Ruins cultivators’ attack with one sword strike that killed all nine, leaving the Dongyuan Sect in stunned silence.

• Jiang Qingrou recalled her joyful years on Jun Mountain and confessed that she had loved Chen Linyuan without expecting him to notice or return her feelings.
• As the illusion began to dissolve, Chen Linyuan embraced Jiang Qingrou, who faded away after wishing to see him draw his sword once more.
• Yu Yiming attacked Chen Linyuan with a ghost-filled scroll while the other eight Nascent Soul devil cultivators prepared to strike.
• Chen Linyuan’s sword heart coalesced, his Nascent Soul formed, and he returned to the Nascent Soul Realm as the gathered cultivators launched their attacks.
• Chen Linyuan shattered the attackers’ techniques and unleashed a single sword strike that killed Yu Yiming, Chen Tianze, and all the other Nascent Soul devil cultivators.

Chen Linyuan’s final sword strike destroyed the Demon Ruins cultivators threatening the Dongyuan Sect, and the survivors gathered in the Forbidden Ground as he prepared to pass on the sect. Before his life faded, he named Luo Xiaming the next sect master, explained Sword Intent to Song Yan, and gave him his flying sword.

• Chen Linyuan’s sword strike cleaved the demonic clouds and killed all nine Nascent Soul Demon Ruins cultivators, while Earth-Character Thirty-Nine and the Zhu Family brothers watched in shock.
• Elder Mirage told Lu Zhe that Chen Linyuan had either been doomed to die or would take enemies down with him, then left Floating Jade Peak.
• Song Yan flew to the Forbidden Ground, prompting Dongyuan Sect disciples, including Luo Xiaming and Zhang Guangyuan, to follow and discover Chen Linyuan alive but nearing death.
• Chen Linyuan gave Luo Xiaming the Sect Master's Command Token, thanked the gathered disciples, and told them to say he had gone into seclusion.
• Liu Tianfang offered to protect the Dongyuan Sect for a hundred years, but Chen Linyuan declined and gave Luo Xiaming the nine dead cultivators’ Heaven and Earth Bags.
• Chen Linyuan explained to Song Yan how Sword Intent related to Divine Abilities, recognized him as both the Sword Sect Inheritor and his disciple, and gave him an ancient flying sword.

Chen Linyuan dissolved into the Dao, leaving his sword and a path to Jun Mountain for Song Yan as the world entered a new age. As the sect’s fortune and Spiritual Qi changed, Song Yan’s flying sword revealed its name: “Sole Laughter.”

• Chen Linyuan told Song Yan he could refine the Law Treasure with the Sword Case, gave him a jade jue for Jun Mountain, and left the choice of going to the Central Region to him.
• Chen Linyuan dissolved into spiritual potential and fortune throughout Dongyuan Sect after bidding farewell to his disciples and wishing them success in the immortal Dao.
• Earth-Character Thirty-Nine and the Zhu brothers paid their respects at Dragonhead Mountain, and Earth-Character Thirty-Nine told his disciple to bring the junior sister back to Great Tang and report to the main pavilion.
• As a new age began, Lu Qingyan paused his painting in Ghost Valley, while an old man on Jun Mountain damaged a carving of Chen Linyuan and kept it despite its scar.
• A strand of clear Qi entered Song Yan’s Sword Mansion, and the archaic characters on his flying sword became legible as “Sole Laughter.”

Twelve-year-old Chen Linyuan went hunting alone in the mountains and encountered a strange white fox caught in his net. After he freed it, the fox fled in terror just before a grotesque demonic figure appeared behind him.

• Chen Linyuan left home for one last hunt before the New Year, despite Hunter Zhang having already ended his trips into the mountains.
• While waiting in a tree, Chen Linyuan experienced the familiar warmth of Spiritual Qi entering his body as he vaguely sensed someone practicing swordsmanship.
• Chen Linyuan found a small white fox caught in his net, freed it, and told it to go home for the New Year.
• The fox suddenly fled into the woods, and Chen Linyuan dodged a foul-smelling gust and turned to face a grotesque demonic figure.

Chen Linyuan killed a mountain yaoguai with a branch and met an old man who offered to teach him cultivation, then the story followed his rise to Golden Core and his growing fame in the Central Region. After winning the Core-Origin Assembly, he gave Jiang Qingrou a precious Jade Glaze Pill and left her to decide what to do with it.

• Chen Linyuan used a surge of mysterious power to kill the mountain yaoguai, then fled to a ruined temple as rain began.
• An old man asked Chen Linyuan to join the Jun Mountain Dao Sect, but Chen Linyuan mistook him for a human trafficker and seized his wrist.
• Forty years later, Chen Linyuan formed an upper-grade Ranked Golden Core, prompting a rare celestial phenomenon over Jun Mountain.
• Chen Linyuan traveled to the Pill Sect’s Core-Origin Assembly with Jiang Qingrou and recounted meeting a Fox Demon maiden in Between Mountains and Seas.
• Chen Linyuan’s sword subdued the Assembly’s talents and earned him the title of Top Champion.
• Chen Linyuan gave Jiang Qingrou a high-grade Jade Glaze Pill, telling her she could use it, sell it, or keep it.

After sixty years of cultivation, Chen Linyuan traveled to Luohou Abyss, where he fought challengers for decades, formed his Nascent Soul, and learned that his fate was destined to end in failure. He later attended the Desolate Heaven Grand Banquet, where he met Lu Qingyan and became its Top Champion.

• Chen Linyuan reached late Golden Core and traveled through the Central Region before entering Luohou Abyss.
• Chen Linyuan defeated attackers in White Dragon Valley, challenged its master, and left after kicking his accumulated Heaven and Earth Bags into the abyss.
• Chen Linyuan spent twenty-three years fighting across Luohou Abyss, formed his Nascent Soul at age 169, and learned that his destiny led to failure in the Immortal Court.
• Chen Linyuan returned to public view and attended the Desolate Heaven Grand Banquet, where he met Lu Qingyan of Ghost Valley and offered to spar with him someday.
• Chen Linyuan overwhelmed the other young Nascent Soul cultivators on the Desolate Heaven Blood Road and claimed the title of Top Champion.

Song Yan witnessed Sole Laughter’s memories of Chen Linyuan losing Jiang Qingrou and his cultivation after she sacrificed herself to defeat Yun Wuzi. The experience awakened a second Slaughter Sword Intent in Song Yan, which he knew he still needed to unite with his own.

• Chen Linyuan entered the Demon Ruins alone and killed most of its Nascent Soul cultivators, then accompanied Jiang Qingrou to see the Jimo Fireworks.
• Yun Wuzi attacked Chen Linyuan, and his Divine Ability linked his heart meridians to Jiang Qingrou’s to restrain Chen Linyuan.
• Jiang Qingrou stabbed herself to break the link, and Chen Linyuan killed Yun Wuzi before she died in his arms.
• Chen Linyuan’s Dao Heart shattered, his cultivation fell to the Golden Core Realm, and he left Jun Mountain with Jiang Qingrou’s remains.
• Song Yan emerged from Sole Laughter’s memories and watched a second Slaughter Sword Intent form, recognizing that he still needed to comprehend and unite it with his own.

A month after the attack on the Dongyuan Sect, Liu Tianfang departed for Jun Mountain with four selected disciples while Song Yan stayed behind to pursue his own training and investigate Luohou Abyss. The chapter ended with Song Yan paying respects at the Memorial Spirit Hall and encountering Xu Ziqing.

• Rumors spread that Daoist Li Jun had slain nine Nascent Soul Devil Cultivators, while the Dongyuan Sect opened its gates to visitors and reported that Li Jun had entered seclusion and Luo Xiaming had become sect master.
• Liu Tianfang prepared to take Li Qingfeng, Han Yuan, Yuwen Yao, and Zhou Mengdie to Jun Mountain, but Song Yan declined to join them for now and said he would go later.
• Liu Tianfang told Song Yan that Li Yi had been taken by Lu Xuanling of Heaven's Deputy Office, a Dao Nascent Realm Martial Immortal who might be able to restore him.
• After the flying boat departed, Song Yan decided to visit Luohou Abyss to temper his Sword Dao and investigate whether it connected to Between Mountains and Seas.
• Luo Xiaming appointed Song Yan Peak Master of Demon-Exorcising Peak, and Song Yan went to the Memorial Spirit Hall to pay respects to the fallen, including Kong Yun and Kong You.
• Song Yan noticed Xu Ziqing in the Memorial Spirit Hall.

Song Yan said farewell to Xu Ziqing, Lin Qing, Xiao Ju, and Qin Xijun as he prepared to leave the Chu Kingdom for the Central Region. He passed the Void Transformation Book to Xiao Ju and departed with a promise to seek a Phoenix plume that might restore Qin Xijun’s chance of reaching the Golden Core Realm.

• Xu Ziqing told Song Yan that Xu Ziling had died after Daoist Shuihan forced her to become a cultivation cauldron, and Song Yan left a flower at her cenotaph.
• Lin Qing congratulated Song Yan, said goodbye before leaving the sect to wander, and gave him a dead cicada shell as a keepsake.
• Song Yan passed the secret Daoist scriptures of their Sword Sect lineage to Xiao Ju and urged her to cultivate diligently while he was away.
• Qin Xijun told Song Yan that a Phoenix plume might help repair her damaged Dao and restore her hope of advancing to the Golden Core Realm.
• Song Yan left Qin Xijun’s general store to begin his journey toward the Central Region.

Meng Tongzhou and Meng Lu honored Elder Song and received Song Yan and Sheng Nian’s gifts, while Sheng Yun learned that Song Yan had sent her a message from afar. Traveling toward the Central Region, Song Yan considered forming a Golden Core for Void Aspect and searched Zhang Xingming’s belongings, where he found notes about the Five Elements Spiritual Source.

• Meng Tongzhou took Meng Lu to sweep Elder Song’s grave, where they found Song Yan’s letter and pills for ordinary people; Meng Tongzhou guessed Song Yan and Sheng Nian stayed away because leaving again would be difficult.
• Sheng Yun received a Jade Slip from Song Yan and complained that her brothers had left without visiting, while He Yuanyuan praised Song Yan’s battle against a Golden Core Devil Cultivator.
• Song Yan traveled by Spirit Boat toward Cloud-Covering Peak and considered whether Void Aspect could form a Golden Core using Zhang Xingming’s preserved core.
• Song Yan inspected Zhang Xingming’s Heaven and Earth Bag, found eighty-nine Middle-Grade Spirit Stones, and sorted through its contents.
• Song Yan set aside an unidentified blue pill and began reading a Rogue Cultivator’s core-formation notes, which described the Five Elements Spiritual Source.

Song Yan studied a rogue cultivator’s notes on core formation and realized the withered branch he had swallowed might have been a Wood-Element Spiritual Source treasure. He traveled to Great Tang to seek Luohou Abyss, but after encountering Lü Luo chasing a wanted criminal, he drew her attention by mentioning Lu Xuanling and revealing his mysterious black-robed companion.

• Song Yan read about Golden Cores, Spiritual Source treasures, and Divine Abilities, then suspected the withered branch he had swallowed was a Wood-Element Spiritual Source treasure.
• Song Yan wondered whether Sword Intent could be gathered into a Dao Embryo and concluded that he would focus on honing his Sword Dao while gathering resources.
• Song Yan used Lin Qing’s Relocation Token to teleport to Great Tang and flew west for three days without finding any settlements.
• Lü Luo introduced herself as an Office Soldier of Heaven’s Deputy Office while pursuing a wanted criminal, and Song Yan asked whether she knew Lu Xuanling.
• The wanted criminal tried to escape, but Song Yan’s black-robed companion knocked him unconscious and appeared beside Song Yan, alarming Lü Luo.

Song Yan entered Wushang Prefecture City, learned that Luohou Abyss lay near Shanzhou, and heard that it had become a perilous, largely abandoned destination. He stayed at an inn to consider why so few people visited despite the treasures he believed the sect master had thrown into the Spirit Abyss.

• Lü Luo captured a criminal, escorted Song Yan into Wushang Prefecture City, and then left him to report back while stopping for tea.
• Song Yan sent his void-aspect dharma body outside the city to refine a Golden Core and asked Chen Yu for a map of the Tang Court's territory.
• Song Yan found that ordinary maps did not mark Luohou Abyss, and Chen Yu pointed him toward Shanzhou.
• Chen Yu warned Song Yan that a madman had killed many people at Luohou Abyss centuries earlier, the Spirit Abyss had changed, and the area had become a dumping ground for waste.
• Song Yan decided Luohou Abyss was still the best place to hone his Sword Dao, then stayed at an inn and wondered whether anyone knew about the treasures the sect master had cast into the Spirit Abyss.

Song Yan stocked up on supplies at Wushang’s Myriad Treasures Thoroughfare and bought a set of Crane-Robe Fasteners at a street auction. After selling one to a bamboo-hatted cultivator, he headed back to the inn while an unseen watcher took interest in his wealth.

• Song Yan visited the Myriad Treasures Thoroughfare and bought pills, ingredients, talismans, and formation items for his journey to Luohou Abyss.
• At Curio Street, Song Yan watched a fast-moving auction and bid fifty Middle-Grade Spirit Stones for three Crane-Robe Fasteners.
• The bamboo-hatted cultivator offered Song Yan twenty Middle-Grade Spirit Stones for one fastener, and Song Yan accepted the trade.
• Song Yan left for the inn, planning to perform Dawn Gathering Qi before heading to the teleportation hall.
• A pair of azure eyes watched Song Yan from the air, and an unfamiliar voice remarked that he seemed wealthy.

Song Yan waited in a secluded forest for the Void-Aspect Dharma Body, then rescued Fang Cunsheng from cultivators trying to seize his Jun Mountain Disciple Token. After learning the token allowed free teleportation, he confronted a hidden foreign cultivator who introduced himself as Gan Shen and revealed he was from the Bright Sect.

• Song Yan considered how to temper his sword intent while waiting for the Void-Aspect Dharma Body to arrive outside Wushang Prefecture City.
• Song Yan used the Void-Aspect Dharma Body to drive off Xiaotang Fort cultivators who were attacking Fang Cunsheng for his Jun Mountain Disciple Token.
• Fang Cunsheng explained that Jun Mountain disciples could teleport for free, then offered Song Yan his token, which Song Yan told him to keep before sending him on his way.
• Song Yan sensed someone had been following him and forced the concealed figure to appear with a burst of Sword Qi.
• The stranger introduced himself as Xia Bo Paili, or Gan Shen, and said he came from Western Xia Hanhai and wanted to travel to Shanzhou.
• Song Yan recognized Gan Shen as a member of the Bright Sect and asked whether Cult Master Lu still led it, leaving Gan Shen astonished.