Chapter Summaries

Song Yan arrived at Liuli Island to serve a fortnight of reflection and settled beside a waterfall, where he read about the ancient origins of the Taiyi Sect. Drawn by the smell of roasted chicken, he found a slovenly old man who revealed that the irresistible aroma came from a secret spice blend stolen from Jiang Zhangbo.

• Song Yan reached Liuli Island and used his Golden Core presence to pass the cultivators who guarded the path to the rear mountain.
• Song Yan chose a waterfall pool as his retreat and spent his first days practicing swordsmanship and reading ancient texts.
• Song Yan discovered that the Taiyi Sect had grown from the Pure Yang Dao Palace, which was also tied to the Sword Sect and Heavenly Derivation Lineage.
• Song Yan followed a tantalizing cooking fragrance to Arhat Mountain, where he found an old man roasting a Spirit Pheasant.
• The old man told Song Yan that Half-Bowl Wine House's secret spice blend, stolen from Jiang Zhangbo, had stirred his appetite.

Song Yan sought the spices used by an old Daoist and was sent to Little Taihang to fetch Monkey Wine. At the Monkey Cave, he discovered a jade bamboo staff that stirred the Infinite Treasury and asked the White Ape Duke to inspect it.

• An old Daoist gave Song Yan a roasted Spirit Pheasant leg seasoned with rare spices and promised to discuss obtaining them in exchange for a gourd of Monkey Wine.
• Song Yan lost his way in the mountain forest and met Bao Dafu, who recognized him as Jun Mountain’s True Disciple and agreed to lead him to Little Taihang, also called the Monkey Cave.
• Song Yan and Bao Dafu walked past Mountain-Moving Strongmen and white Ape Demons training together, while Bao Dafu explained that he had been sent back to redo his lessons.
• Bao Dafu brought Song Yan to the White Ape Duke, who scolded him for returning to the Monkey Cave so soon and demanded to know why Song Yan had come.
• The Infinite Treasury stirred as Song Yan noticed a white-jade Green Bamboo Short Staff embedded in a stone platform beneath the great tree, and he asked the White Ape Duke if he could examine it.

Song Yan challenged the White Ape Duke for the Jade Bamboo Staff and fought him for days, proving his endurance and strength. After they reached a draw, the Duke gave Song Yan a gourd of Monkey Wine, whose effects strengthened his body and stirred the Kunwu Remnant Flame.

• Song Yan asked to see and take the Jade Bamboo Staff, so the White Ape Duke challenged him to a duel for it.
• The White Ape Duke attacked Song Yan, and they fought with bamboo weapons and fists as Song Yan's injuries rapidly healed.
• Song Yan and the White Ape Duke battled for days, until their punches left them evenly matched.
• The White Ape Duke gave Song Yan a gourd of wine, and Song Yan drank some before realizing it was Monkey Wine.
• The wine healed Song Yan's aches, strengthened his body, and made the Kunwu Remnant Flame flare within his Golden Core.

Song Yan defeated the White Ape Duke after nine days of combat and awakened the Jade Bamboo Staff with his sword intent, allowing him to claim it. He left the Monkey Cave with his reflection period over and reunited with Chu Rang, who had come searching for him.

• Song Yan drank the potent Monkey Wine, and its essence strengthened his body as he resumed fighting the White Ape Duke.
• After nine days, Song Yan disarmed the exhausted White Ape Duke and stopped his bamboo branch just short of his chest, winning their bout.
• Song Yan awakened the Jade Bamboo Staff with his myriad manifestations sword intent, then made it fly into his hand with Avīci Prison sword intent.
• The White Ape Duke recognized Song Yan as the destined one and explained that he had guarded the staff under his ancestor's instructions.
• Song Yan stored the Jade Bamboo Staff in the Infinite Treasury, rested and drank with the White Ape Duke, then left the Monkey Cave when Chu Rang called for him.

Song Yan left Liuli Island and returned to his restored cave abode, where Elder Pei Tu returned his Golden Book and Jade Register and asked how he wanted his Golden Core Ceremony arranged. Song Yan had not yet chosen between an extravagant gathering of guests from across the world and a simpler rite before Jun Mountain’s Patriarchs.

• Song Yan asked Chu Rang to take him to Arhat Mountain, but they found the old Daoist gone and the roasting fire extinguished.
• After they left Liuli Island, Chu Rang used the Spirit Key to remove Song Yan’s Spiritual Power shackles.
• Song Yan returned to Chiyu Peak, where visitors including Yuan Xiaolu, cultivators from Dongyuan Sect, and Pei Tu came to see him.
• Pei Tu returned Song Yan’s Golden Book and Jade Register and reminded him to present it again before the Patriarchs.
• Pei Tu asked Song Yan whether he preferred an expansive Golden Core Ceremony with invitations sent across the world or a simple traditional rite before Jun Mountain’s Patriarchs.

Song Yan argued that Jun Mountain should quietly report his First-Grade Core Formation rather than hold a public celebration, and Pei Tu agreed to convey his wishes to the sect. In Between Mountains and Seas, Xiao He recovered from molting and eagerly agreed to travel to the Central Region with Feng Xiao and Ying Yu.

• Song Yan urged Pei Tu to avoid inviting cultivators from across the world to celebrate his First-Grade Core Formation and suggested saving a public announcement for a future Nascent Soul breakthrough.
• Pei Tu approved of Song Yan's modesty and said he would report the discussion to the sect master and elders.
• Ying Yu found Xiao He inside her shed skin and told her that Manman had invited them to the Central Region with Domain Lord Lu of Kunlun Mountain.
• Xiao He emerged from her shed skin, examined her changed appearance, and agreed to go to the Central Region.
• Feng Xiao arrived, checked on Xiao He's recovery, and Ying Yu decided to join the trip as well.

Song Yan refined the Jade Bamboo Staff, triggering a vision of Xue Qing’s life and the staff’s origins. The vision ended with the Fish-Dragon Bamboo Staff becoming a legendary relic, while Song Yan remained in the Two-Pole Realm.

• Song Yan planted Cloud Abyss Bamboo Rice, refined the Jade Bamboo Staff as a Law Treasure, and placed it in the Two-Pole Realm beside the Sword Dao Lotus.
• Xue Qing, the daughter of swordsmith Xue Zhu, learned bamboo-staff swordsmanship from the White Ape Elder, who eventually departed after years of training her.
• After Wu soldiers killed Xue Zhu and demanded that Xue Qing serve their kingdom, she refused and fought them to protect her village and avenge her father.
• When Xue Qing was cornered and her bamboo staff snapped, the Carp Demon gave up its path to Dragon Transformation and became the Fish-Dragon Bamboo Staff.
• Xue Qing used the staff to defeat the Wu soldiers but died from her wounds, and the staff returned to the spring as her legend spread.
• Decades later, the White Ape Elder took the Fish-Dragon Bamboo Staff from the spring and vanished into the moonlit clouds.

Song Yan visited Returning Goose Marsh to gather materials for upgrading the Unmoored Boat, where he encountered a young cultivator he had once rescued and was invited to meet Zhao Wang. Zhao Wang apologized for his family’s actions, leaving the conversation poised to continue.

• Song Yan named the Fish-Dragon Bamboo Staff Leaping Abyss and decided to gather materials to raise the Unmoored Boat’s sword body to law-treasure grade.
• Song Yan bought most of the needed materials at Returning Goose Marsh and evaded cultivators seeking recordings of his sword strike by changing his appearance.
• Song Yan spotted Fang Cunsheng buying the only available piece of Profound Firmament Stone but chose not to demand it from him.
• Dongxue invited Song Yan to the Ancient Immortal Legacy Pavilion on Zhao Wang’s behalf and led him to meet the True Lord.
• Zhao Wang apologized to Song Yan for Zhao Zun, his wife née Xu, and his own failure to discipline his household.

Zhao Wang apologized to Song Yan and compensated him with a Water Jade Ring full of Artifact Refining materials and his notes, which Song Yan used to prepare the Unmoored Boat for refinement. Meanwhile, Jun Mountain’s elders agreed on an internal ceremony for Song Yan, and he discovered that the Infinite Treasury could nurture his Life-Bound Flying Sword with Core Flame as well as Sword Qi.

• Zhao Wang apologized to Song Yan for his wife and son, then gave him the Water Jade Ring and a copy of Longview Notes.
• Song Yan left Returning Goose Marsh, refined the Water Jade Ring, and found rare materials inside, including five Mystic Empyrean Stones.
• Song Yan studied Zhao Wang’s Artifact Refining notes, prepared materials, and began refining the Unmoored Boat with Core Flame.
• At Xuanyuan Terrace, Chu Xiao and the other Divine Lords and elders approved an internal ceremony for Song Yan, while several elders expressed interest in the Dongyuan lineage’s disciples.
• Song Yan completed the Unmoored Boat’s refinement and confirmed that the Infinite Treasury could expose it to Core Flame while it received Sword Qi.

Song Yan completed the Jun Mountain True Disciple ceremony, received the Daoist name Ciyu, and gained access to the sect’s three great teachings. He became absorbed in the Jingshan Recluse’s Sword Debate Treatise, which explored the principles of heaven and earth through the sword.

• Song Yan performed the rites in the Patriarch Hall and was formally named a True Disciple by Divine Lord Xiaoxiang, who bestowed the Daoist name Ciyu.
• Song Yan inscribed his name and Daoist name in Jun Mountain’s Jade Register, and Divine Lord Xiaoxiang and Yangsu Divine Lord sealed the entry.
• Yangsu Divine Lord told Song Yan that he could freely study Jun Mountain’s scriptures and Three Great True Disciple Methods.
• Song Yan went to the Langhuan Jade Cavern and received copies of the three great teachings from the guardian elder.
• Song Yan skimmed the Supreme Clarity Cloud-Illuminating Heart Sutra and the Grand Goose Breath-Origin True Formula, then focused on the Jingshan Recluse’s Sword Debate Treatise and became engrossed in its teachings.

Song Yan studied Jun Mountain’s Sword Debate essay, selected disciples for the Daoyuan Mountain Gathering, and joined the Nuo Realm’s discussion about the upcoming Golden Core Ceremony. Meanwhile, Zhu Pingfang and Zhu Lifang pursued a fugitive in Chang'an City, and Sheng Nian set out for the Taiyi Sect with a monk.

• Song Yan spent seven days studying the Sword Debate essay, then selected six disciples for his entourage and left the remaining places to the Foreign Affairs Court elders.
• Song Yan entered the Nuo Realm, where Su Xueming and the others discussed the Clear-Talk Assembly and Song Yan’s attendance.
• Zhu Pingfang and Zhu Lifang captured a fugitive in Chang'an City and wondered whether Song Yan was the same person they had encountered at the Dongyuan Sect.
• Sheng Nian read news of Song Yan’s First-Rank Golden Core, dismissed the Old Devil’s remarks, and headed to Huayin with the Holy Monk.

Song Yan led twelve Jun Mountain disciples toward the Taiyi Sect gathering, offering guidance along the way and explaining why he had chosen Fang Cunsheng. At Silver Frost Pass, he reunited with Zhong Ali of the Luofu Sect and invited her and her White Tiger, Fengchun, to travel with him.

• Song Yan departed for Daoyuan Mountain with twelve disciples, including the puzzled Fang Cunsheng.
• Song Yan advised the disciples aboard the Spirit Boat and helped Fang Cunsheng improve his pill-refining technique.
• Song Yan told Fang Cunsheng that he had chosen him because they had met before outside Wushang City, where Song Yan had saved his life.
• Song Yan stopped at Silver Frost Pass and recognized Zhong Ali painting in a pavilion nearby.
• Zhong Ali recognized Song Yan from the Painting Refinement, and Song Yan invited her and Fengchun to join the journey to the Taiyi Sect gathering.

Song Yan and Zhong Ali arrived at Taiyi’s Spirit Firmament Gorge for the Daoyuan Mountain Pure Discussion Assembly, where Zhong Ali’s identity as Luofu’s sole Dao Child drew attention. Meanwhile, Taiyi’s elders received Demon Race representatives, and Song Ying hinted that his interest in the young demons had a deeper explanation.

• Zhong Ali told Song Yan she wanted to paint a True Dragon and described reports of a dragon-shaped demon rising from Silent Dragon Abyss decades earlier.
• Song Yan arrived at Spirit Firmament Gorge with the Jun Mountain disciples, and Wang Kai recognized Zhong Ali as the Luofu Sect’s traveling Dao Child.
• Song Yan and Zhong Ali settled into their lodgings as invited cultivators gathered for the assembly and rumors spread that it could identify promising young leaders.
• Wen Changming informed Daoist Shanhai that Demon Race representatives had arrived, and Lu Zhe introduced his companions while reporting on Between Mountains and Seas and Mirage.
• Xiao He felt a familiar connection to the black-and-purple-robed elder, who invited the young demons to visit the Pill Sect in the future.
• After the Demon Race representatives left, Daoist Shanhai asked Song Ying why he cared about them, and Song Ying told him to divine the answer.

Deng Ke was turned away from Spirit Firmament Gorge while Jiang Cold Mountain and his two nephews entered and discussed Song Yan. Song Yan later visited an alchemy lecture with Zhong Ali and Lü Luo, where Fang Cunsheng accepted a challenge to refine pills.

• Elder Jingchen refused Deng Ke's request to see True Person Ciyu before the gathering opened.
• Jiang Cold Mountain entered with Jiang Yiheng and another young clan member, warning them not to make an enemy of Song Yan; Jiang Yiheng insisted he could compete with Song Yan and Su Xueming someday.
• After declining the Northern Capital Jiang Clan's request to become a guest elder, Song Yan went out and met Zhong Ali and Lü Luo, who was helping Heaven's Deputy Office secure the gathering.
• Song Yan chose to visit the alchemy venue, where Lu Bo lectured on refining pills and several Taiyi Sect disciples mocked Fang Cunsheng for taking notes.
• Lu Bo proposed an alchemy contest after the dispute, and Fang Cunsheng agreed to refine a batch of Jade Camellia Pills.

Fang Cunsheng won an alchemy contest against Xia Zhan by producing a high-grade Jade Camellia Pill, and Song Yan demonstrated a barehanded method that created three supreme-grade pills. Song Yan then recognized a disguised True Person Xinglin as his long-missing junior brother Shao Sichao and confronted him about his identity.

• Xia Zhan and Fang Cunsheng competed to refine Jade Camellia Pills, and Xia Zhan produced three mid-grade and two low-grade pills.
• Fang Cunsheng pushed his damaged furnace beyond its limits, causing it to explode, but he revealed three completed pills, including one high-grade pill with pill glow.
• Xia Zhan admitted defeat and apologized to Fang Cunsheng, while Lu Bo called the contest a draw to preserve harmony.
• Song Yan demonstrated barehanded alchemy with sword Qi and refined three supreme-grade Jade Camellia Pills, then praised Fang Cunsheng's comprehension and advised him to strengthen his control.
• Zhong Ali's painting showed a concealed cultivator watching Song Yan, prompting him to leave the hall and pursue True Person Xinglin.
• Song Yan confronted True Person Xinglin outside the Cinnabar Dawn Daoist Grounds and recognized him as Shao Sichao, his missing junior brother, asking who he really was.

Song Yan encountered his old acquaintance Shao Sichao, who avoided explaining how he had joined the Pill Sect, then passed close to Xu Youhe without recognizing her. Meanwhile, Shanhai refused to meet Meng Tian because he feared her becoming a destructive true dragon, and True Person Xueming’s Golden Core Ceremony began drawing prominent guests.

• Shao Sichao told Song Yan that he was now True Person Xinglin of the Pill Sect but refused to reveal details of his past or how he had survived.
• Song Yan walked through Spirit Firmament Gorge with Zhong Ali and Lü Luo, passed Xu Youhe without recognizing her, and left her furious and tearful.
• Wen Changming refused Meng Tian’s demand to meet Shanhai and sent her away; Meng Tian vowed to make them pay after crossing the Mysterious Gate.
• Shanhai told Song Ying that Meng Tian’s cruel nature made her unfit to inherit the Demon Race’s future, while Mirage continued refusing to shoulder the dragonkin’s fate.
• Guests gathered for True Person Xueming’s Golden Core Ceremony, where Fairy Yun Wu, Wang Ke, and True Person Xinglin were among the notable attendees.

Song Yan attended Su Xueming’s Golden Core Ceremony, where Jun Mountain and the other guests presented gifts before the banquet’s Dharma Combat Meet began. When Luo Yun challenged Jun Mountain’s disciples and asked for Song Yan’s guidance if she won, Li Qingfeng stepped forward to face her.

• Yun Wu, Wubei, Wang Ke, and Tang Hulu gathered with the other sects as the guests awaited the ceremony.
• Song Yan and Zhong Ali arrived together, drawing attention because of rumors linking Song Yan’s first-grade golden core to Luofu.
• Su Xueming began the ceremony, and Song Yan, Yun Wu, Wubei, and representatives of the other guests presented congratulatory gifts.
• A Taiyi Sect elder announced a Dharma Combat Meet, and Foundation Establishment disciples began sparring for prizes and recognition.
• Luo Yun defeated her opponent with Rosy Clouds Sword Qi and asked to receive Song Yan’s guidance if she won her next bout.
• Li Qingfeng volunteered to fight Luo Yun, and she prepared to face him.

Li Qingfeng defeated Luo Yun by absorbing and refining her Rosy Clouds Sword Qi, then received a Moonlight Condensed Jade Pill from Fairy Yunwu. Song Yan comforted and advised Luo Yun, gifted her Flowing Rosy Clouds, and departed with the Dongyuan Sect as Fairy Yunwu invited him to spar at the Clear-Talk Assembly.

• Luo Yun challenged Li Qingfeng, who used a cauldron phantom to absorb her Rosy Clouds Sword Qi and turn it into powerful sword pellets.
• Fairy Yunwu stopped Luo Yun from overtaxing herself and explained that Li Qingfeng had been showing mercy; Luo Yun conceded, and the Taiyi Sect elder declared Li Qingfeng the winner.
• Fairy Yunwu rewarded Li Qingfeng with a Moonlight Condensed Jade Pill, while Song Yan advised Luo Yun to temper her sword intent and gave her the flying sword Flowing Rosy Clouds.
• Song Yan encouraged the gathered disciples to spar wholeheartedly and treat the matches as a way to discuss the Dao; the Foundation Establishment bouts continued before the Golden Core Ceremony ended.
• Song Yan prepared to leave with the Dongyuan Sect, and Fairy Yunwu thanked him and invited him to spar during the Clear-Talk Assembly, which he agreed to attend.

Song Yan met Deng Ke, a timid Golden Core cultivator from the Tianyan Deng Clan who had inherited part of the Sword Sect’s legacy from Pei Bu’er. They recognized their connection through Deng Su and agreed to travel together so Deng Ke could help repair Song Yan’s broken Sword Sect Jade Seal, though Deng Ke admitted he had not comprehended Sword Intent.

• Elder Jingchen passed Deng Ke’s request to Song Yan, who invited Deng Ke to meet him at Cloud-Embracing Villa after learning he came from the Wusun Kingdom.
• Song Yan recognized Deng Ke as Deng Su’s younger brother, and Deng Ke explained how he had obtained Pei Bu’er’s Sword Sect inheritance in a Wusun secret realm.
• Deng Ke offered Song Yan his inherited Dao Canon and flying sword, but Song Yan returned them and treated him as a fellow disciple.
• Song Yan learned Deng Ke had a Sword Sect Jade Seal and that Pei Bu’er’s jade slip contained instructions for repairing Song Yan’s broken seal.
• Song Yan told Deng Ke about his disciple Xiao Ju and asked what Sword Intent Deng Ke had comprehended, and Deng Ke confessed that he had comprehended none.

Song Yan learned that Deng Ke had formed a Golden Core without sword intent, then examined the damaged Jade Seal with him and compared the inheritances they had received. Meanwhile, Tang Hulu and Wang Ke discussed how to learn more about Song Yan’s strength as the Clear-Talk Assembly opened, where Song Yan arrived at the Military Strategy Forum just as cultivators argued over the unrest in the Eastern Wilderness.

• Deng Ke told Song Yan that sorrow and dejection had led him to form a Seed of the Sword Dao, though decades of cultivation had not produced any sword intent.
• Song Yan encouraged Deng Ke not to give up his inheritance, and Deng Ke examined Song Yan’s cracked Jade Seal and explained that repairing it would require refining it anew.
• Song Yan and Deng Ke compared Senior Pei’s teachings and discovered that Deng Ke had received a method for refining Sword Chapters that Song Yan had not found in the Infinite Treasury.
• Tang Hulu read intelligence about Song Yan and discussed with Wang Ke how to get him to reveal his strength; Wang Ke suggested that a fight with True Person Tianyi would draw attention.
• The Clear-Talk Assembly opened with seven forums, and Song Yan led the Jun Mountain group to the Military Strategy Forum.
• Song Yan entered the forum’s hall and heard two cultivators arguing over whether the Eastern Wilderness unrest called for a decisive response.