Recaps

Commander Liu invited Lin Xuan to explore the Dark Orchid Secret Realm on behalf of Dongfang Muxue, and Lin Xuan accepted after learning it contained traces of a broken sword. Lin Xuan prepared to depart the next day, while the Vast Sea Saint King declined to join him.

• Commander Liu told Lin Xuan that Dongfang Muxue had offered him an entry slot in the Dark Orchid Secret Realm and mentioned that a sacred sword remnant found there would be a prize in the coming Mansion Competition.
• Lin Xuan weighed the risks of being associated with Dongfang Muxue's faction against the chance to find the broken sword and agreed to go.
• Commander Liu said the flying boat would leave for the Dark Orchid Secret Realm the next day, and Lin Xuan arranged to meet him at the moorings.
• Lin Xuan asked the Vast Sea Saint King to join the expedition, but the Vast Sea Saint King declined because the secret realm's sword inheritance and bloodline formations did not suit him.

Lin Xuan and the Vast Sea Saint King agreed to split up so the King could recover and visit old acquaintances in the Taiyu Divine Dynasty. Meanwhile, Dongfang Muxue opened the Dark Orchid Secret Realm to strengthen her faction before the Mansion Competition, but an unexpected choice among the explorers caused an uproar.

• The Vast Sea Saint King told Lin Xuan that his injuries were slowly improving and that he wanted to visit old friends or their descendants in the Taiyu Divine Dynasty.
• Lin Xuan and the Vast Sea Saint King agreed to split up, with Lin Xuan urging him to prioritize his life and send word if anything happened.
• The Eldest Imperial Prince recruited three Saint Realm experts, and his prodigy Xue Yan broke through to the Saint Realm at age thirty-five, alarming Dongfang Muxue's faction.
• Dongfang Muxue asked her guardian Great Saint to open the Dark Orchid Secret Realm, a place formed from the sword immortal's destruction of the Mingli Divine Dynasty.
• The princess's faction prepared its prodigies to explore the secret realm, but an unfamiliar name appeared among the three chosen candidates and provoked an uproar.

Dugu Yun confronted Dongfang Muxue over losing his place in the Dark Orchid Secret Realm and challenged Lin Xuan to a contest. Lin Xuan declined, but when Dugu Yun insulted him, Lin Xuan released overwhelming pressure that forced him to his knees.

• Dugu Yun drank with Wan Hao and Ji Yanbai, lamenting that Lin Xuan had taken his place in the Dark Orchid Secret Realm.
• Wan Hao and Ji Yanbai urged Dugu Yun to demand an explanation from Dongfang Muxue, and the three went to the princess's residence.
• Lin Xuan told Dongfang Muxue he had come from the Sword Pavilion to seek someone connected to the secret realm, but her records revealed little about the sword immortal associated with it.
• Dugu Yun barged in and accused Dongfang Muxue of unfairly giving his place to Lin Xuan, whom he believed was only a Great Emperor.
• Dongfang Muxue said Lin Xuan was stronger than Dugu Yun, and Dugu Yun challenged Lin Xuan to a contest for the secret-realm spot.
• Lin Xuan declined to fight, but after Dugu Yun insulted him, Lin Xuan's pressure crushed the room and forced Dugu Yun to his knees in terror.

Lin Xuan subdued Dugu Yun with a trace of pressure, leaving him too shaken to tell Ji Yanbai and Wan Hao what had happened. Two days later, Lin Xuan joined Ji Yanbai and Wan Hao as they teleported to the Dark Orchid Secret Realm.

• Lin Xuan’s pressure nearly crushed Dugu Yun, who abandoned his challenge and left the princess’s residence in a daze.
• Ji Yanbai and Wan Hao found Dugu Yun withdrawn, but he refused to explain what had happened and sent them away.
• Two days later, Dongfang Muxue warned Lin Xuan, Ji Yanbai, and Wan Hao to put their lives first before they entered the Dark Orchid Secret Realm.
• Ji Yanbai advised Lin Xuan to stay close to him and Wan Hao, offering to protect him from danger.
• The teleportation formation filled with the sharp fragrance and Sword Intent of dark orchids, and the three arrived in the Dark Orchid Secret Realm.

Lin Xuan, Ji Yanbai, and Wan Hao explored the Dark Orchid Secret Realm and found the ruined capital of a divine dynasty destroyed by a sword immortal. Lin Xuan recognized the Sword Qi as likely belonging to Ancestor Zhiruo, but its lack of any trace of her suggested she might still be alive and had left the realm.

• Ji Yanbai warned Lin Xuan not to touch the ancient corpses, their Storage Bags, or the dark orchids because hidden Sword Qi could kill them.
• Lin Xuan sensed that the Sword Qi resonated with the Lin Household bloodline and concluded it had likely been left by Ancestor Zhiruo.
• Ji Yanbai, Wan Hao, and Lin Xuan reached the ruined center of the secret realm and saw the sword scar that had destroyed the divine dynasty.
• Ji Yanbai and Wan Hao urged everyone to cultivate beneath the Sword Qi before the realm became dangerous after three days.
• Lin Xuan found no trace of Ancestor Zhiruo and wondered whether she was still alive and had left the secret realm.

Lin Xuan spent three days contemplating the Dark Orchid Secret Realm while wondering whether Ancestor Zhiruo was still alive. When the realm’s tokens awakened the others, Ji Yanbai and Wan Hao believed Lin Xuan had gained nothing and asked if he had failed to comprehend even a trace.

• Lin Xuan wondered where Ancestor Zhiruo was and resolved to make finding her his most important task.
• Lin Xuan surveyed the secret realm with his Divine Sense, found dangerous opportunities, and then sank into contemplation.
• After three days, the secret realm tokens grew hot and awakened Lin Xuan, Ji Yanbai, and Wan Hao.
• Ji Yanbai and Wan Hao realized they had absorbed spiritual power and dragon Qi and advanced close to breaking through to the Saint Realm.
• Seeing no apparent change in Lin Xuan, Ji Yanbai and Wan Hao concluded that his cultivation had made no progress.
• Wan Hao asked Lin Xuan whether he had failed to gain even a trace of insight.

Lin Xuan secretly collected fragments of his ancestor Zhiruo’s broken sword in the Dark Orchid Secret Realm, while Ji Yanbai and Wan Hao mistook his lack of visible gains for incompetence. After they returned, Dongfang Muxue offered Lin Xuan a chance to compete on behalf of the True Spirit Prince’s Mansion, and he agreed to honor his promise.

• Lin Xuan told Ji Yanbai and Wan Hao that the secret realm’s insights and cultivation methods were too low-grade to help him, while privately reflecting on the broken sword fragments he had collected.
• Lin Xuan realized the fragments belonged to his ancestor Zhiruo’s sword and believed he would need to win the Mansion Competition to obtain its hilt and restore it.
• Ji Yanbai and Wan Hao dismissed Lin Xuan as a fraud, then left the secret realm when their tokens signaled that the teleportation array had opened.
• Back at the princess’s residence, Ji Yanbai and Wan Hao hurried home to digest their gains, while Lin Xuan told Dongfang Muxue he had not found what he sought.
• Dongfang Muxue offered Lin Xuan the chance to compete for the True Spirit Prince’s Mansion, and he accepted; the Mansion Competition was due to begin in three days.

The Sixteen Princes' Mansions gathered in the imperial capital for a competition that would decide their rankings and shape the power struggle between the Eldest Princess and the Eldest Imperial Prince. As Lin Xuan watched from the True Spirit Prince's Mansion's position, the first match was announced: Zhou Qiao against Chu Nanyue, prodigies from opposing sides.

• The imperial capital filled with contestants, spectators, and gamblers as the Mansion Competition drew near.
• Experts established a powerful arena in the northern imperial capital, and representatives of the Sixteen Princes' Mansions took their places.
• The True Spirit Mansion Master worried about his mansion's ranking, while Lin Xuan remained confident in his strength.
• Xia Huanchao mocked Lin Xuan and eagerly anticipated seeing the Sword Ruins prodigy Wang Xiao compete.
• The competition began with the announcement of Zhou Qiao of the Profound Radiance Prince's Estate versus Chu Nanyue of the Great Prosperity Prince's Estate, prompting an uproar because they represented opposing political sides.

Chu Nanyue defeated Zhou Qiao in the Mansion Competition’s opening match, revealing that he had reached the Perfected Half-Saint realm. His victory gave the Eldest Imperial Prince an early lead and left the spectators astonished by Chu Nanyue’s rise.

• Zhou Qiao looked down on Chu Nanyue and urged him to concede, while Chu Nanyue calmly said their latest fight might end differently.
• At the referee’s command, Chu Nanyue moved with unexpected speed and struck Zhou Qiao before he could respond.
• Chu Nanyue blasted Zhou Qiao off the platform, winning their match.
• The spectators realized Chu Nanyue was a Perfected Half-Saint, and Zhou Qiao accepted that he had lost in both the match and their cultivation gap.
• The referee declared Chu Nanyue the winner, and the spectators predicted that the Eldest Imperial Prince would give him greater support.

The Eldest Imperial Prince’s faction took the first two Mansion Competition matches, as Chu Nanyue defeated Zhou Qiao and Sikong Sheng swiftly defeated Liang Qi. Dongfang Muxue grew increasingly uneasy as the prince’s strength appeared far greater than she had expected.

• Dongfang Muxue watched Zhou Qiao’s defeat and worried that Chu Nanyue would become another powerful asset for the Eldest Imperial Prince.
• The Eldest Imperial Prince dismissed Dongfang Muxue and resolved that he alone would inherit the divine dynasty.
• The officials announced the second match between Liang Qi of the Forgotten River Prince's Mansion and Sikong Sheng of the Yaoguang Prince's Estate, prompting speculation about the ruler’s matchups.
• Xia Huanchao boasted that Liang Qi had comprehended seventh-level sword intent, but Sikong Sheng defeated Liang Qi with one move and knocked him from the arena.
• Sikong Sheng mocked the princess’s faction and claimed victory, deepening Dongfang Muxue’s suspicion that the Eldest Imperial Prince’s forces were stronger than her intelligence suggested.

The Princess's Mansion suffered defeat after defeat in the Mansion Competition, leaving Ji Yanbai as its final hope. Xue Yan crushed him in a single exchange, leaving the competition's outcome grim for Dongfang Muxue's side.

• Dongfang Muxue watched the Princess's Mansion prodigies lose every match against the Eldest Imperial Prince's fighters.
• Ji Yanbai entered the Saint Realm after returning from the secret realm, and the Princess's Mansion pinned its hopes on him.
• The referee matched Ji Yanbai against Xue Heng of the Northern Dipper Prince's Mansion, whom the narration identified as Xue Yan.
• Ji Yanbai charged at Xue Yan with a killing move, confident that his Saint Realm cultivation and saint technique would secure victory.
• Xue Yan dodged Ji Yanbai's attack, shattered his Saint Domain with a blow, and kicked him out of the arena in a single breath.

Wang Xiao entered the arena as the True Spirit Prince's Mansion's seemingly favored contestant, but he immediately conceded to Jiang Yuan. His surrender left the mansion competition's outcome—and the hopes of the Princess's Mansion and the True Spirit Prince's Mansion—uncertain.

• The eldest prince declared that he had won the mansion competition and urged Dongfang Muxue to dissolve the Princess's Mansion.
• Dongfang Muxue rejected his certainty and pointed to the True Spirit Prince's Mansion as a reason the contest was not over.
• The tenth match was announced between Wang Xiao of the True Spirit Prince's Mansion and Jiang Yuan of the Profound Ancient Prince's Mansion.
• The True Spirit Prince's Mansion's lord and Xia Huanchao expected Wang Xiao to defeat Jiang Yuan and preserve their mansion's standing.
• Wang Xiao entered the arena and unexpectedly announced that he conceded.

Wang Xiao conceded his match to Jiang Yuan and revealed that he had secretly pledged allegiance to the eldest prince, leaving Dongfang Muxue's faction reeling as many supporters defected. Dongfang Muxue refused to concede, pointing out that someone from the True Spirit Prince's Mansion still had yet to fight.

• Wang Xiao conceded to Jiang Yuan without fighting, and the referee declared Jiang Yuan the winner of the tenth match.
• Wang Xiao mocked the True Spirit Palace Lord and said he had belonged to the eldest prince from the start, while the eldest prince taunted Dongfang Muxue.
• Qi Mu, Gong Ling, Qian Duanxue, and others defected from Dongfang Muxue's side and urged her to concede.
• Dongfang Muxue rejected the defectors' pleas and remained composed despite their betrayal.
• Dongfang Muxue told the eldest prince the competition was not over because someone from the True Spirit Prince's Mansion had yet to fight.

Dongfang Muxue named Lin Xuan as the honored guest she had summoned, while Wang Xiao and the Eldest Imperial Prince mocked him for his Great Emperor Realm cultivation. Lin Xuan defeated the Saint Realm prodigy Xue Yan with one sword, leaving the Eldest Imperial Prince shocked and Wang Xiao regretting his betrayal.

• Dongfang Muxue asked Lin Xuan to help her, revealing that he—not Wang Xiao—was her honored guest.
• Wang Xiao and the Eldest Imperial Prince mocked Lin Xuan's cultivation, but Lin Xuan stepped onto the platform to fight.
• The match was announced as Lin Xuan versus Xue Yan, and the Eldest Imperial Prince signaled Xue Yan to kill him.
• Lin Xuan unleashed a terrifying sword strike that shattered Xue Yan's defenses and sent him off the platform gravely wounded.
• The Eldest Imperial Prince was shaken by Lin Xuan's swordsmanship, while Wang Xiao realized his betrayal had cost him the chance to follow a swordsman he could never surpass.

Lin Xuan defeated Wang Xiao with one sword strike, securing a win for the True Spirit Prince's Mansion and revealing his overwhelming Sword Intent. The Eldest Imperial Prince recognized Lin Xuan as Dongfang Muxue's trump card, then sneered that he had one of his own.

• Lin Xuan's sword strike overwhelmed Wang Xiao, leaving Xia Huanchao regretting his earlier rejection of Lin Xuan's guidance.
• Ji Yanbai and Wan Hao realized Lin Xuan's strength explained Dugu Yun's despair and that Lin Xuan's claims about the Dark Orchid Secret Realm had been true.
• The referee declared Lin Xuan the winner of the eleventh match, and the lord of the True Spirit Prince's Mansion celebrated the reversal of their fortunes.
• The Eldest Imperial Prince recognized Lin Xuan as Dongfang Muxue's hidden trump card and wondered how she had enlisted him.
• The Eldest Imperial Prince steadied himself and sneered that he also had a trump card.

Lin Xuan swept through the eldest prince’s fighters, shifting the mansion competition in Princess Dongfang Muxue’s favor. The contest took a dramatic turn when Xu Yan, the Great Saint’s son, entered the arena to face Lin Xuan.

• The eldest prince watched as Lin Xuan defeated each of his fighters with a single stroke, driving many opponents to concede without fighting.
• Former retainers who had defected from the princess’s mansion regretted their choice as the odds turned against the eldest prince.
• The referee announced that Lin Xuan’s next opponent was Xu Yan of the Changyuan Prince’s Mansion.
• The crowd recognized Xu Yan as Great Saint Xu’s only son and a once-renowned prodigy who had spent twenty years in seclusion.
• Xu Yan stepped into the arena and revealed that he had reached the middle stage of the Saint Realm before the age of fifty.

Lin Xuan faced Xu Yan, whose Saint Realm cultivation and saint art seemed to make victory certain, but Lin Xuan revealed a complete Sword Domain that overwhelmed the arena. Xu Yan’s expression changed as the domain’s power spread around them.

• Xu Yan acknowledged Lin Xuan’s extraordinary strength but said their cultivation gap made a fair match impossible.
• Xu Yan unleashed the saint art created by Great Saint, filling the arena with blinding light and immense pressure.
• Lin Xuan waited for Xu Yan’s attack, then activated his Sword Domain, sending black-and-white yin-yang fish through the saint art’s radiance.
• Lin Xuan’s Sword Qi broke Xu Yan’s pressure and spread throughout the arena, astonishing the Sword Dao practitioners watching below.
• Xu Yan’s expression changed when he saw Lin Xuan’s complete, fully controlled Sword Domain.

Lin Xuan revealed a sword domain and defeated Xu Yan with a single strike, shocking everyone who witnessed the battle. Xu Yan conceded and left to pursue his Dao, while the Eldest Imperial Prince was left in despair and the crowd realized the Taiyu Divine Dynasty’s future might change.

• Lin Xuan’s sword domain shocked Wang Xiao and the spectators, while Xia Huanchao regretted rejecting Lin Xuan’s guidance and coughed up blood from anguish.
• Lin Xuan struck Xu Yan off the platform, leaving him wounded but alive through mercy.
• Xu Yan conceded, thanked Lin Xuan, and realized the defeat had rekindled his ambition.
• Xu Yan told the Eldest Imperial Prince to find someone more capable and left without hesitation.
• The Eldest Imperial Prince watched Xu Yan leave in despair as the spectators wondered who Lin Xuan was and what his strength could be.

After the Mansion Competition, Dongfang Muxue gained support while Lin Xuan claimed the reward he had sought: the broken sword’s hilt. He examined the gathered fragments but could not restore the sword, leaving him unsure how to proceed.

• The Eldest Imperial Prince left after his defeat, while the other factions began choosing sides and Dongfang Muxue received a stream of supporters.
• Lin Xuan turned away visitors seeking to approach him or the Princess's Mansion.
• The True Spirit Mansion Master celebrated the mansion’s first-place finish, and Dongfang Muxue took responsibility for demanding compensation from the Emotion-Extinguishing Sword Sect over Wang Xiao’s misconduct.
• Lin Xuan examined the sword hilt and every fragment of its blade, which he had received as the competition reward.
• Lin Xuan tried several times to join the fragments with spiritual power, but the sword’s residual sword Qi nearly injured his divine soul, and he realized he lacked the artifact-refining knowledge to restore it.

After his attempt to study the broken sword fragments stalled, Lin Xuan accepted Dongfang Muxue’s invitation to a banquet. She asked him to expound the Dao at the Great Cosmos Holy Academy in exchange for access to its Sword Pool and the chance to take a gifted genius as his disciple, and Lin Xuan agreed.

• Lin Xuan put aside the broken sword fragments after finding no suitable artifact refiner to examine them.
• Lin Xuan accepted Dongfang Muxue’s invitation and attended her banquet at the princess’s residence.
• After the guests left, Dongfang Muxue told Lin Xuan that the Taiyu Divine Dynasty controlled a small world containing the Great Cosmos Holy Academy, which had produced many powerful cultivators, including two Great Saints.
• Dongfang Muxue explained that the Academy’s Sword Pool held statues embodying the Sword Dao of generations of Taiyu sword cultivators, and offered Lin Xuan access if he expounded the Dao there.
• Dongfang Muxue added that Lin Xuan could take an exceptionally gifted Academy genius as his disciple if both agreed, and Lin Xuan accepted her invitation.

Wang Yan, a talented disciple at the Great Cosmos Holy Academy, entered the dangerous Stele Forest after the academy’s officials withheld resources he needed to keep his fiancée, Li Hong, alive. He hoped to grow strong enough to win the new student tournament and claim a cure from the academy treasury, though entering the forest could cost him his life or his aptitude.

• Wang Yan endured ostracism and the loss of cultivation resources after refusing to become a Holy Master’s enforcer or take a master at the academy.
• Wang Yan recalled how Li Hong had supported him in the Profound Domain and explained that he had saved her after demon beasts gravely injured her in the Desolate Wood Forest.
• Wang Yan decided he needed the Stele Forest’s treasures to reach the Thearch Realm and win access to the academy treasury’s cure for Li Hong.
• Wang Yan cut his palm to activate the entrance and entered the Stele Forest, accepting the risk of death or ruined aptitude.

Dongfang Muxue brought Lin Xuan to the Great Cosmos Holy Academy to preach the Sword Dao, but the saint teachers doubted that a Great Emperor from the Primordial Holy Heaven could be a true expert. Lin Xuan accepted the dean’s offer to open the Sword Pool and was eager to investigate the swords’ response to his arrival.

• The academy’s saint teachers gathered in its isolated pavilion to welcome Dongfang Muxue, who had won the right to enter the small world.
• Dongfang Muxue arrived with Lin Xuan and introduced him as the Sword Dao expert who would preach to the academy’s students.
• Dongfang Muxue asked the dean to open the Sword Pool so Lin Xuan could study there for three days before preaching.
• The saint teachers were angered and skeptical when they learned Lin Xuan was a Great Emperor from the Primordial Holy Heaven.
• The dean agreed to open the Sword Pool while its Sword Qi was weakest, and Lin Xuan accepted immediately after sensing the broken swords stir in response to him.

Lin Xuan followed the dean and Dongfang Muxue to the Sword Pool, while the academy’s holy teachers resented the princess for choosing a Great Emperor to preach to them. They found the Pool’s Sword Intent raging beyond the dean’s power to suppress, and Lin Xuan considered activating the formation himself.

• After Lin Xuan agreed to preach the Dao, the dean led him and Dongfang Muxue to the Sword Pool.
• The holy teachers complained that Dongfang Muxue had insulted them by bringing a Great Emperor instead of recognizing their own expertise, and one vowed to judge Lin Xuan’s lecture in three days.
• Lin Xuan saw that the Sword Pool contained countless swords and fierce Sword Intent sealed behind defensive formations.
• The dean explained that the Sword Intent was unusually berserk despite the full moon and that he could not activate enough of the twelve phantom swords to suppress it.
• Lin Xuan asked whether unleashing his Sword Intent on the formation could light the phantom swords and open the Sword Pool.

Lin Xuan tested his sword against the Sword Pool’s formation wall, which the dean believed no one could fully awaken. Lin Xuan lit all twelve sword shadows with one strike, leaving the dean stunned by his strength.

• The dean explained that activating the Sword Pool’s sword shadows was difficult and lighting them all was nearly impossible.
• The dean assumed Lin Xuan would fail to light even one shadow and let him try.
• Lin Xuan struck the formation wall with his sword, unleashing a burst of spiritual power.
• All twelve sword shadows lit up steadily after Lin Xuan’s single strike.
• The dean realized Lin Xuan’s Sword Intent surpassed that of a Sword Domain expert and understood why the princess had invited him to expound the Dao.

Lin Xuan entered the Sword Pool and faced the countless ancient Sword Intents gathered there, then spent three days in seclusion. When he emerged, hostile holy teachers were preparing to confront him over his upcoming Dao lecture.

• The dean silently accepted Dongfang Muxue’s decision to bring Lin Xuan into the Sword Pool after realizing she had trusted his strength.
• Lin Xuan explored the Sword Pool and examined sword traces left by powerful cultivators from the Taiyu Divine Dynasty and beyond.
• As the Sword Qi surged toward him, Lin Xuan drew his sword, calmed the Sword Pool with one stroke, and announced that he had come to discuss the sword.
• Lin Xuan emerged from three days of seclusion without incident.
• Holy teachers who had spread news of Lin Xuan’s lecture gathered eagerly, intending to challenge and humiliate him.