Chapter Summaries

Song Yan captured a swarm of Cloud-Wing Bees in the Yanran Mountain Range while practicing his movement method, then continued searching for seven-leaf yanghuang to soothe his strained eyes. He had nearly finished his missions without finding the herb when he came upon a mountain peak with a Daoist temple in the clouds.

• Song Yan trapped a Cloud-Wing Bee in a sphere of Spiritual Qi and stored it in a spirit insect pouch as its swarm gathered to attack.
• Song Yan used Soaring Cloud Intent to evade the bees and capture them, eventually catching the last one as it tried to escape.
• Song Yan decided to sell the Cloud-Wing Bees to the Dongyuan Sect and worried that his low-grade spirit insect pouch might not keep them alive.
• Song Yan left the valley and continued searching for seven-leaf yanghuang, which he wanted to refine into eye medicine for his strained Void-Viewing Sword Eye.
• Song Yan reached a towering mountain peak and spotted a Daoist temple among the clouds and mist.

Song Yan encountered Ju Luyi while heading back from South Mountain Monastery and learned that attackers had slaughtered its disciples. Ju Luyi explained how she escaped, leaving Song Yan aware of the monastery’s destruction and the danger facing its surviving female disciples.

• Song Yan remembered Temple Master Lu of South Mountain Monastery and turned back after realizing he had walked too far south.
• Song Yan found Ju Luyi treating wounds on her legs beside a stream and gave her healing pills.
• Ju Luyi told Song Yan she had delivered custom Daoist robes to South Mountain Monastery and still planned to climb Tainan Mountain after dark.
• Ju Luyi revealed that three attackers had killed the monastery’s male disciples, while a few female disciples remained alive.
• Ju Luyi said she had resisted with her Law Artifact and escaped because the attackers considered her ugly and an ill omen.

Song Yan accompanied Ju Luyi back to the South Mountain Monastery, where they found its disciples murdered and the monastery occupied by three cultivators. After learning that the intruders had killed Temple Master Lu Yuan and looted the monastery, Song Yan began to bury the dead, prompting one cultivator to attack him.

• Ju Luyi explained that she had returned to find the embroidery needle her late mother left her, and Song Yan decided to accompany her to the mountain.
• Song Yan and Ju Luyi entered the South Mountain Monastery and found its grounds littered with murdered Taoists.
• Song Yan sensed three cultivators inside and glimpsed the bodies of female cultivators in the monastery buildings.
• The yellow-robed cultivator told Song Yan that Lu Yuan had been killed while traveling and admitted to slaughtering the monastery, taking its possessions, and abusing its women.
• Song Yan said he had been friends with Lu Yuan and began approaching a corpse to bury the disciples, while Ju Luyi hesitated to stop him.
• A long-faced cultivator hurled two flying blades at Song Yan.

Song Yan fought three cultivators at the South Mountain Monastery, killing the short, stout cultivator and using the battle to test his Green Snake in the Sleeve swordsmanship. After Xiao He disrupted the long-faced cultivator and Song Yan defeated the yellow-robed cultivator, the remaining enemy’s fate was left unresolved.

• Song Yan dodged the Returning Mother-and-Child Flying Blades and killed the short, stout cultivator with Sword Qi.
• Song Yan attacked the long-faced cultivator and the yellow-robed cultivator with two Flying Swords, using Green Snake in the Sleeve to wound the yellow-robed man.
• Xiao He attacked the long-faced cultivator with leaves infused with Demon Power, forcing him to defend against both her and Song Yan.
• The yellow-robed cultivator used a Spirit Talisman to enlarge himself and struck the ground, but Song Yan evaded the attack with Soaring Cloud Intent.
• Song Yan overwhelmed the yellow-robed cultivator with Flying Swords, wind and lightning sword shadows, and Green Scales Conceal the Edge.

Song Yan and Xiao He killed the three cultivators who had attacked South Mountain Monastery, and Song Yan buried the monastery’s disciples and honored Temple Master Lu. He returned Ju Luyi’s mother’s embroidered needle in exchange for a custom Daoist robe, then learned that Ju Luyi might know where to find the seven-leaf yanghuang he sought.

• Song Yan blocked the long-faced cultivator’s escape while Xiao He killed him with Green-Leaf Demon Blades, and Ju Luyi watched in shock.
• Song Yan burned the three attackers’ bodies, buried the South Mountain Monastery disciples, and erected a cenotaph for Lu Yuan.
• Song Yan found Ju Luyi’s embroidered needle in the short, fat cultivator’s Heaven and Earth Bag and offered to return it in exchange for a Daoist robe with Spirit Gathering Formation patterns.
• Ju Luyi agreed to make the robe and promised to finish it within five days.
• Song Yan asked Ju Luyi to help find seven-leaf yanghuang, and she said she thought she had seen the herb before.

Lu Yuan returned to South Mountain Monastery as a corpse-like being, mourned his dead disciples, and left for the northwest. At the Painting Academy, Xiang Zhaoling discussed a dangerous senior brother with Zhou Mengdie, who became interested in winning the Sword-Wiping Grand Assembly after hearing its prize might include a flying Spirit Artifact.

• Lu Yuan crawled to the monastery’s graves, grieved over his slain disciples, and realized he could not remember how he had died or survived.
• Lu Yuan bowed toward the path Song Yan had taken, then stumbled down the mountain and disappeared to the northwest.
• At the Painting Academy, Xiang Zhaoling teased the sleeping Zhou Mengdie and told her about a senior brother she had met.
• Zhou Mengdie panicked when Xiang Zhaoling mentioned killing, while Xiang Zhaoling argued that violence was sometimes necessary.
• Xiang Zhaoling offered to take Zhou Mengdie to the Southern Border after the Sword-Wiping Grand Assembly, and Zhou Mengdie asked whether winning could earn them a flying Spirit Artifact.

Song Yan eased the strain from practicing the Void-Viewing Sword Eye, then went to explore Sword-Wiping Peak and watch disciples spar ahead of the sect’s Sword-Wiping Assembly. At the Sword-Discussion Platform, he saw Kong You fighting and heard that the formidable disciple seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of Spiritual Power.

• Xiao He helped Song Yan apply medicinal liquid to soothe his sore eyes, and he decided to practice the eye technique in moderation while focusing on his Divine Sense and swordsmanship.
• Song Yan left his cave abode with Xiao He to look around Sword-Wiping Peak and noticed many disciples preparing for the Sword-Wiping Assembly.
• After hearing disciples discuss Kong You’s strength, Song Yan followed the crowds to the Sword-Discussion Platform.
• Song Yan heard that Kong You had just fought Li Xin and still showed no sign of depleted Spiritual Power.

Kong You defeated Zhao Mian in the sect’s sword competition, displaying powerful water and lightning techniques through his pendant Law Artifact. As the crowd praised him, Xiao He suggested he might not be able to beat Song Yan, catching Kong Yun’s attention as the competition was about to begin.

• Disciples explained that the postponed sect competition would select twelve Qi Refining disciples for the Nine Veins Grand Competition at Dragon Pool Mountain.
• Kong You used his waterdrop pendant Law Artifact to strengthen his defenses and lightning techniques, defeating Zhao Mian after their duel.
• Kong You dismissed the crowd’s praise inwardly as he remembered Li Yi, whose fighting spirit had once frightened him.
• Kong Yun took pride in the praise for his elder brother, Kong You.
• Xiao He remarked that Kong You might not be able to beat Song Yan, and Kong Yun heard her comment.

Song Yan accepted Kong Yun’s challenge and began sparring with Kong You on the Sword-Discussion Platform. His Azure Sword Qi pierced Kong You’s Water Curtain and forced him to retreat to the platform’s edge behind repeated ice shields.

• Kong Yun challenged Song Yan to fight Kong You, while Yuwen Yao and Gu Qingqing watched from nearby.
• Kong You stopped Kong Yun from pressing Song Yan, but Song Yan stepped onto the platform and introduced himself.
• Song Yan and Kong You began their spar after exchanging polite words.
• Kong You raised a Water Curtain, expecting to follow with an attack once it blocked Song Yan’s strike.
• Song Yan’s Azure Sword Qi tore through the Water Curtain, and Kong You retreated while repeatedly casting Ice Shield to defend himself.

Song Yan defeated Kong You on the Sword-Discussion Platform using only Sword Qi, then left as the onlookers realized he had never drawn his Flying Sword. Kong You accepted the loss as a lesson, while Gu Qingqing resolved to cultivate harder.

• Song Yan broke Kong You’s water curtain with Green Snake in the Sleeve and overwhelmed him with eighteen sword shadows from Sword in the Clouds.
• Song Yan stripped away Kong You’s protective Spiritual Qi and stopped his final strike as a drop of rain against Kong You’s brow, prompting Kong You to concede.
• Gu Qingqing recognized how much Song Yan had improved and resolved to work harder at cultivation as Yuwen Yao led her back toward Lianyou Peak.
• Gu Qingqing and the gathered cultivators realized Song Yan had controlled only Sword Qi and had never drawn his Flying Sword.
• Kong You accepted his defeat without excuses, reflected that a real fight would offer no second chance, and left Sword-Wiping Peak with Kong Yun.

After completing the first stage of his Sword Eye, Song Yan discovered that the Two-Pole Bead was surrounded by immense Demonic Qi and found an eerie human figure submerged in the Ink Pool within the Two-Pole Realm. The figure vanished after meeting his gaze, then whispered, “You finally noticed me.”

• Song Yan reflected on his recent duel with Kong You and looked forward to testing his sword forms in the Sect Grand Competition.
• Five months later, Song Yan completed the first stage of the Sword Eye, Void-Viewing, and used it to see Spiritual Qi and Demon Power more clearly.
• Song Yan noticed Demonic Qi filling his cave abode and saw that it surged around the Two-Pole Bead.
• Song Yan entered the Two-Pole Realm and suspected the Demonic Qi once stripped from Heart Demon had gathered in the Ink Pool.
• Song Yan glimpsed a human-shaped shadow beneath the Ink Pool; it vanished after meeting his gaze, and a whisper told him, “You finally noticed me.”

Song Yan realized the Demonic Flame from Heart Demon had formed the Strange Shadow in the Ink Pool and had been influencing his choices. After understanding that it tempted him with a false sense of freedom, he resolved to use the Heart Demon as an aid until he found a way to eliminate it.

• Song Yan traced the Ink Pool's Strange Shadow to the Demonic Flame absorbed by the Two-Pole Bead after Peach Blossom Hollow.
• Song Yan found no changes to his cultivation or techniques, but recognized that he had become far more aggressive since taking Qin Ying's Flying Sword, Heart Demon.
• Song Yan searched the Inner Sect Scripture Repository and learned that Heart Demons could only be resolved by oneself, while an annotation warned that they used a cultivator's deepest desire as bait.
• Song Yan realized the Heart Demon had tempted him with freedom from restraint, and decided to turn its influence into a source of aid while seeking a way to resolve it.

Song Yan attended the opening ceremony of the Sword-Wiping Grand Assembly, where disciples discussed his chances and the competition for places at Demon-Exorcising Peak. The ceremony revealed that the selection stage would take place in the Minor Grotto-Heaven Secret Realm.

• Song Yan climbed Sword-Wiping Peak with Li Qingfeng and Sun Zhengfu as disciples discussed the assembly and speculated about Song Yan's strength.
• Sun Zhengfu told Song Yan that the assembly offered three places at Demon-Exorcising Peak, and Song Yan said he would do his best.
• Song Yan arrived at the summit and spotted Gu Qingqing, Yang Yuerong, and Xiang Zhaoling among Lianyou Peak's disciples.
• An elder read the assembly's rules and procedures, while the disciples grew distracted and discussed the selection stage.
• Song Yan learned that the selection would take place in the Minor Grotto-Heaven Secret Realm, a spiritual treasure belonging to Daoist Li Jun.

Song Yan entered the Grotto-Heaven Realm for the sword trial and planned to eliminate nearby disciples while moving toward the center. He found a fellow competitor who had tracked him to the same location and prepared to strike from above.

• Luo Xiaming and three elders activated the cauldron and sent the sword-trial participants into the Grotto-Heaven Realm.
• Song Yan found himself separated from Li Qingfeng and the others near the edge of the trial grounds, where he studied the map and rules.
• Song Yan decided to hunt nearby disciples, gather spirit patterns, and move inward as the restricted area shrank.
• A cultivator in close-fitting clothes followed a nearby marker to Song Yan's position and activated a protective Spirit Talisman.
• The cultivator realized Song Yan's marker overlapped with his own, then saw Song Yan standing above him with golden eyes.

Song Yan defeated a fleeing cultivator in the Sword-Wiping Domain and headed toward Qingjiang Lake, thinking about the dangers and the Special Teleportation Talismans scattered through the realm. At Qingjiang Flat, Li Qingfeng, Sun Zhengfu, and Gu Qingqing watched a fight over Vermilion Fruits and plotted to use a teleportation talisman on Song Yan if they found him.

• Song Yan caught the cultivator who recognized him, took his jade token, and eliminated him from the secret realm.
• Song Yan saw that his score had risen to two and continued toward the lake while considering how a Special Teleportation Talisman could help him survive the coming battles.
• Song Yan worried about facing Xiang Zhaoling, whose strength and spirit creatures remained difficult for him to gauge.
• At Qingjiang Flat, cultivators from Lianyou Peak, Sitting-and-Forgetting Peak, and Tongchen Peak fought over the valuable Vermilion Fruits.
• Li Qingfeng convinced Sun Zhengfu and Gu Qingqing not to seek out Song Yan, so they would not burden him during the assembly.
• Li Qingfeng proposed that the three secretly attach a Special Teleportation Talisman to Song Yan and send him to safety if they encountered him.

Wu Shuangzhi and the female cultivators fought off disciples from Sitting-and-Forgetting Peak and Tongchen Peak until Li Qingfeng, Sun Zhengfu, and Gu Qingqing intervened and the clash expanded into a melee among five groups. Song Yan arrived at Qingjiang Flat and spotted his fellow disciples, including Gu Qingqing, scrambling through the battlefield.

• Wu Shuangzhi rallied the exhausted female cultivators and drew resolve from remembering how Senior Brother Song had survived the Changping Ghost Domain.
• Li Qingfeng, Sun Zhengfu, and Gu Qingqing emerged, and Sun Zhengfu separated the groups while Gu Qingqing picked a Beauty Fruit.
• Disciples from Taiping Peak and Sword-Wiping Peak revealed themselves, creating a standoff among nineteen cultivators before Taiping Peak triggered a melee.
• Song Yan gathered six stalks of cold moon grass and noticed the dense gathering of cultivators near Qingjiang Flat on his map.
• Song Yan hurried to Qingjiang Flat and saw Li Qingfeng, Senior Brother Sun, and Gu Qingqing amid the fighting.

Song Yan intervened to save Gu Qingqing and helped his friends escape the melee, but Li Qingfeng used a teleportation Talisman to send him away alone. Song Yan arrived at the barren Linyun Mountains, where the Two-Pole Bead began humming.

• Gu Qingqing tried to seize another Beauty Fruit, and Song Yan rushed in to block the cultivators' attacks on her.
• Wu Shuangzhi's group retreated with the third Vermilion Fruit as Song Yan urged Li Qingfeng, Sun Zhengfu, and Gu Qingqing to leave the gathering battle.
• Li Qingfeng and Sun Zhengfu raised smoke and earthen walls while Gu Qingqing stuck a Talisman to Song Yan's robe, and Li Qingfeng activated it to teleport him away.
• Song Yan appeared in the Linyun Mountains, realized his friends had sent him away to protect his strength, and vowed to beat Li Qingfeng when they met again.
• Song Yan checked his map, prepared to head inward from the barren mountain range, and noticed the Two-Pole Bead humming.

Song Yan followed the Two-Pole Bead’s clue into the Hidden Qilin Cloud Grotto and discovered the autobiography and leftover inheritance of an ancient Sword Cultivator. He found several treasures and a rusted sword, and suspected his sect master had left them behind as rewards for the sword trial.

• Song Yan used the Mysterious Calamity Spirit-Worshipping Veil with Sword Qi from the Unmoored Boat to track a clue through the black-and-red mountains.
• Song Yan followed the trail to a cavern called the Hidden Qilin Cloud Grotto, where he sensed dense Sword Qi.
• Song Yan used the Void-Viewing Sword Eye to read a Sword Cultivator’s autobiography carved into the cavern wall, which described a small inheritance left behind.
• Song Yan found two jade cases, two small lamps, a fiery-red scale, and a rusted ancient sword on a stone platform.
• Song Yan suspected his sect master had taken one set of treasures and left the remaining inheritance as a reward for the sword trial.

Song Yan found the sword Sacrificial Qilin Lord, but the Two-Pole Bead pulled him into a strange vision as the restriction neared its limit. He awoke as Nie Chao, a wandering swordsman searching for Duan Tianhai, and learned that Pinghu Village’s sacrifice was for Tanjiang Mountain’s Qilin Lord.

• Song Yan collected a blood-like substance and a red jade scale, then examined an ordinary iron sword engraved with the name Sacrificial Qilin Lord.
• The Two-Pole Bead pulled the sword into the Two-Pole Realm and dragged Song Yan’s Divine Sense into a vision as the restriction began to contract.
• Song Yan awoke in a ruined temple as Nie Chao, a wandering swordsman who had been drinking while searching for his absent friend Duan Tianhai.
• Nie Chao followed Duan Tianhai’s trail to Pinghu Village, where the elders refused to help and told him to leave during their sacrificial ceremony.
• A fat beggar told Nie Chao that the villagers were offering their sacrifice to Tanjiang Mountain’s Qilin Lord.

Nie Chao tried to stop Pinghu Village from sacrificing two children to the Qilin Lord, but the Demon Beast badly injured him. After returning to the mountain to confront it, he rejected its demand that he lure other martial artists to their deaths.

• The fat beggar told Nie Chao that Pinghu Village had sacrificed virgin boys and girls to the Qilin Lord for decades.
• Nie Chao and the fat beggar joined the villagers’ procession and saw the real Qilin Lord reach for two sleeping children.
• Nie Chao attacked the Qilin Lord and was thrown aside, while the villagers fled; the beast then raced farther up the mountain.
• The fat beggar carried the children down with the injured Nie Chao, but villagers blamed him for ruining the sacrifice and chased them away.
• After recovering in a ruined temple, Nie Chao returned to the mountain and was gravely injured again by the Qilin Lord.
• The Qilin Lord offered to spare Nie Chao if he lured martial artists to it, but Nie Chao refused and spat blood at the beast.