Recaps

Shuang Qingqing recounted how her past as a Heavenly Spirit Clan prodigy led to the treachery that changed her life. Her story left her trapped in her master Shen Yuhuan’s cave as Bai Fengtian poisoned Shen Yuhuan and attacked her, while Shuang Qingqing prepared to escape.

• Shuang Qingqing explained that she had survived for countless years as a remnant soul after entering a strange land, then began recounting her former life.
• Shuang Qingqing described her rise as a gifted puppet cultivator and how the war left Shen Yuhuan and Bai Fengtian managing the Heavenly Spirit Clan.
• Bai Fengtian concealed his desire for Shen Yuhuan, curbed his branch’s misconduct when challenged, and waited for a chance to strike.
• Shuang Qingqing visited Shen Yuhuan and cultivated in a secret chamber while Bai Fengtian arrived with news from the battlefield.
• Shen Yuhuan discovered that Bai Fengtian had poisoned the jade slip and secretly ordered Shuang Qingqing to flee and warn Tongguan and Tongye.
• Shuang Qingqing saw Shen Yuhuan weakening as Bai Fengtian approached her, and heard Shen Yuhuan urge her to prepare the Purple-Winged Ice Phoenix and escape.

Shuang Qingqing recounted how she escaped after Shen Yuhuan destroyed her lifebound treasure and died, then described how Bai Fengtian covered up his crime by massacring the family and clansmen who might expose him. The chapter left Bai Fengtian blaming Shuang Qingqing and a Devil general for the attack, while the Celestial Spirit Race believed his story.

• Shuang Qingqing escaped Shen Yuhuan's cave abode in the Purple-Winged Ice Phoenix as Shen Yuhuan destroyed her lifebound treasure and was killed by Bai Fengtian.
• Bai Fengtian discovered Shuang Tongye and realized Shen Yuhuan's disciple had witnessed the attack, then slaughtered Shuang Tongye, her Dao Companion, and their community.
• Shuang Qingqing warned Shuang Tongguan, and he and others escaped through a teleportation formation, while Shuang Tongye's community was killed before she could flee.
• Bai Fengtian killed more Celestial Spirit Race members, then appeared bloodied and falsely accused Shuang Qingqing and a Devil general of attacking him and Shen Yuhuan.
• The Celestial Spirit Race members believed Bai Fengtian's account after seeing his injuries.

Bai Fengtian framed Shuang Qingqing and ordered his followers to capture her and her allies. After he pursued her and unleashed Heaven Devourer, Shuang Qingqing was swept into a spatial rift and awoke in chaotic space.

• Bai Fengtian accused Shuang Qingqing of colluding with the Devil Race and sent trusted followers to intercept her while delaying word to the Grand Elder.
• Shuang Qingqing traveled with Shuang Tongguan and his wife, but Bai Fengtian's loyalists blocked their group and a fight broke out.
• Shuang Qingqing and Shuang Tongguan's group gained the upper hand until Bai Fengtian arrived, killed members of their branch, and pursued Shuang Qingqing as the others fled.
• Bai Fengtian used his white rat puppet's Heaven Devourer technique, and Shuang Qingqing narrowly escaped its first bite with the Purple-Winged Ice Phoenix.
• Bai Fengtian unleashed Heaven Devourer again, dragging Shuang Qingqing toward a spatial rift, and she later awoke among drifting meteorites in chaotic space.

Shuang Qingqing recounted how Bai Fengtian attacked her, how she survived and recovered her memories, and how Bai Yihe’s schemes now threatened her and Bai Rou. She asked Li Yan and Zhao Min to rescue Bai Rou while she confronted Shuang Fengyan, leaving the yellow-robed man aware that he and the two clans had already been drawn into the conflict.

• Shuang Qingqing described surviving in the chaotic spatial currents inside the Purple-Winged Ice Phoenix before her remnant soul entered a cave and was rescued by Zhang's master.
• Shuang Qingqing explained that she returned to the Heavenly Spirit Clan and discovered that Bai Yihe had obstructed her investigations and controlled Bai Rou.
• Shuang Qingqing recounted how Bai Fengtian’s attack scattered Shuang Tongguan and others, prompting the clan’s Great Elder to pass down a search for them through successive elders.
• Shuang Qingqing said Bai Yihe planned to use Shuang Fengyan’s return to eliminate her and asked Li Yan and Zhao Min to rescue Bai Rou.
• The middle-aged man in yellow robes realized Shuang Qingqing had involved them in the dispute and considered how to refuse on behalf of the two clans.

Shuang Qingqing secured a promise from the Giant Wood Clan to ask Heavy Peak and Water Moon to help rescue Bai Rou, while preparing to face the Celestial Spirit Clan herself. Bai Rou remained imprisoned, and Li Yan asked Shuang Qingqing about the Dark Spirit Demon Bat clan.

• Shuang Qingqing explained that Bai Fengtian’s memories had likely been altered by the Bai family’s Spirit Transformation cultivator, persuading the yellow-robed middle-aged man to consider helping rescue Bai Rou.
• The yellow-robed middle-aged man agreed to inform Heavy Peak and Water Moon, who were expected to reach the Celestial Spirit Clan in half a month, but warned that they would not help with other dangers.
• Shuang Qingqing told Li Yan and Zhao Min to meet Bai Rou in half a month and flee the Sparrow Plume Tower Region if Bai Rou did not arrive.
• The yellow-robed middle-aged man privately questioned Shuang Qingqing’s claims about Li Yan and Zhao Min’s background but could not decide whether she had exaggerated them.
• Bai Rou woke in a sealed stone chamber after the Second Elder imprisoned her and took away her Storage Pouch, and she feared something had happened to Shuang Qingqing.
• As Shuang Qingqing prepared to leave with Li Yan and Zhao Min, Li Yan asked whether she knew anything about the Dark Spirit Demon Bat clan.

Li Yan told Shuang Qingqing about his connection to Meng Zhiyuan and the powerful senior who might help them secure the Dark Spirit Demon Bat clan’s aid. Shuang Qingqing took Li Yan and Zhao Min toward the clan, where she began gathering information about its strength and situation.

• Li Yan asked whether the Dark Spirit Demon Bat clan had powerful experts, and Shuang Qingqing revealed that Meng Shangmo was its sole expert, a formidable late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.
• Li Yan explained that he knew Meng Zhiyuan and had gained the recognition of a Void Refinement expert, leading Shuang Qingqing to believe Meng Shangmo might honor their request.
• Shuang Qingqing agreed to take Li Yan and Zhao Min to the Dark Spirit Demon Bat territory to investigate the clan and seek Meng Shangmo’s help.
• Two days later, Shuang Qingqing brought Li Yan and Zhao Min to a marketplace thirty thousand li from the clan’s territory after traveling more than three million li on the Cloud-Piercing Willow.
• Shuang Qingqing captured and soul-searched eight Golden Core cultivators for information, killing seven and erasing the survivor’s memory of their encounter.

Li Yan reached the Dark Spirit Demon Bat clan’s fogbound territory and asked its guards for Meng Zhiyuan, whose group had recently returned there. The guards recognized the name, but Li Yan still did not learn the group’s origins, which the clan’s ancestor had kept secret.

• Shuang Qingqing told Li Yan to ask for Meng Zhiyuan and leave if the clan denied knowing him, while she and Zhao Min hid in his spirit storage pouch.
• Li Yan entered the mountains shrouded in dense fog and searched for the Dark Spirit Demon Bat clan’s grounds.
• A third-tier Dark Spirit Demon Bat and ten second-tier bats surrounded Li Yan and began a coordinated sonic attack.
• Li Yan blocked the first sonic wave and called out that he was looking for Meng Zhiyuan, causing several bats to stop the group attack and alert their Martial Uncle.
• The third-tier bat remembered Meng Zhiyuan’s recent arrival and learned that the clan’s ancestor had recognized his group’s token and ordered their origins kept secret.

Li Yan reached the Dark Spirit Demon Bat clan and reunited with Meng Zhiyuan’s youngest junior brother, who explained that Meng and the others were in seclusion. He then told Li Yan what the clan had learned about their abandonment, though the reason they were left behind remained unresolved.

• Dark Spirit Demon Bats questioned Li Yan about his connection to Meng Zhiyuan, but Li Yan only said he had met Meng before and had been invited to visit.
• Meng Zhiyuan’s youngest junior brother arrived, recognized Li Yan, and explained that Meng and two other senior brothers were in seclusion but had asked him to welcome their benefactor.
• The junior brother led Li Yan into the clan’s cavern, where Dark Spirit Demon Bats greeted him as the benefactor who had saved them.
• In a private chamber, the junior brother told Li Yan that the clan ancestor had granted them their territory as compensation and was investigating why they had been abandoned.
• The junior brother explained that the clan had learned their group was assigned a secret mission to the Demon-Devouring Abyss, but the Spirit Transformation cultivator sent to find them could not locate the Chencang Passage and returned alone after fighting a powerful Magic Beast.

Li Yan learned that Meng Zhiyuan and two other senior brothers had entered closed-door cultivation in hopes of forming Nascent Souls, while the crimson-robed young man agreed to bring Li Yan’s request to Meng Shangmo. Meng Shangmo received Li Yan in his cave residence, where Li Yan saw the short old man waiting in a pavilion.

• The crimson-robed young man told Li Yan that the Chencang Path had been found beneath the sea and that his group had escaped a vast lightning region by taking a western detour.
• He said Meng Zhiyuan, the second senior brother, and the third senior brother had entered closed-door cultivation, while the fourth senior sister had also gone into seclusion.
• Li Yan inferred that the Dark Spirit Demon Bat clan was supplying the returned cultivators with abundant resources and that Meng Zhiyuan had a strong chance of forming a Nascent Soul.
• Li Yan asked the crimson-robed young man to arrange a visit with Senior Meng, and the young man agreed to speak with Patriarch Meng Shangmo.
• The young man returned and led Li Yan into Meng Shangmo’s spacious cave residence, where a short old man stood in a pavilion.

Li Yan met Meng Shangmo, the Dark Spirit Demon Bat clan’s ancestor, and asked him to help Shuang Qingqing and her disciple. Meng Shangmo agreed to honor Meng Zhiyuan’s promise and asked Li Yan to explain the trouble Shuang Qingqing faced.

• Li Yan entered Meng Shangmo’s cave dwelling after Yi Xiaowu brought him there and waited outside.
• Meng Shangmo saw through Li Yan’s concealed cultivation and discussed True Lord Qianzhong and Li Yan’s ties to a powerful sect.
• Meng Shangmo explained that Yi Xiaowu and the other disciples felt indebted to Li Yan and that Yi Xiaowu had stayed outside in case Li Yan needed help.
• Meng Shangmo thanked Li Yan for helping the Dark Spirit Demon Bat clan and promised to fulfill Meng Zhiyuan’s agreement.
• Li Yan asked Meng Shangmo to help Shuang Qingqing, whose disciple had also been placed under someone else’s control.
• Meng Shangmo recognized Shuang Qingqing’s name and asked what trouble she had encountered and how he could help.

Li Yan persuaded Meng Shangmo to protect Bai Rou and discreetly approach Shuang Fengyan, while Meng Shangmo revealed that he had detected an expert inside Li Yan’s spirit-storage pouch. Li Yan reunited with Shuang Qingqing and Zhao Min, who assessed Meng Shangmo’s insight and thanked Li Yan for helping her.

• Li Yan explained Shuang Qingqing’s history and request to Meng Shangmo, who agreed to secretly protect Bai Rou and speak with Shuang Fengyan.
• Li Yan gave Meng Shangmo a jade slip describing Bai Rou, then received his advice and two sound-transmission talismans.
• As Li Yan left, Meng Shangmo warned him not to let the expert inside his spirit-storage pouch cause trouble, startling Li Yan with his perception.
• Li Yan departed from Yi Xiaowu and met Shuang Qingqing and Zhao Min outside the Dark Spirit Demon Bats’ territory.
• Shuang Qingqing reasoned that Meng Shangmo had sensed something unusual without knowing exactly who was in the pouch, and she thanked Li Yan for his help.

Shuang Qingqing resolved to confront Shuang Fengyan and expose what had happened to her master, then publicly challenged Bai Yihe at the Heavenly Spirit Clan over his capture of Bai Rou. Bai Yihe accused her of murdering her master and colluding with the Devil Race, while Shuang Qingqing faced the clan’s elders and gathered cultivators.

• Shuang Qingqing told Li Yan that she would meet Shuang Fengyan to reveal the truth about her master, despite knowing she was no match for him.
• Li Yan gave Shuang Qingqing Meng Shangmo’s sound-transmission talisman and relayed his warning not to let Bai Yihe dictate her moves.
• Shuang Qingqing appeared before the Heavenly Spirit Clan’s cultivators and demanded that Bai Yihe come out.
• The Third Elder arrived with Bai Yihe and questioned Shuang Qingqing’s public confrontation.
• Shuang Qingqing accused Bai Yihe of capturing Bai Rou, and the Third Elder learned of the matter for the first time.
• Bai Yihe claimed Shuang Qingqing had murdered her master, colluded with the Devil Race, and slaughtered her master’s kin, then declared she would not escape.

Bai Yihe accused Shuang Qingqing of an ancient massacre and tried to provoke a fight, while Shuang Qingqing challenged the fairness of the clan’s judgment. Shuang Fengyan arrived but had not yet acted when two powerful outsiders appeared, halting Bai Yihe’s attack.

• Bai Yihe recounted how Bai Fengtian’s memories had been altered and how a decree ordered Shuang Qingqing and her descendants killed.
• Bai Yihe and the Bai clansmen denounced Shuang Qingqing, while she challenged their accusations and the Third Elder’s impartiality.
• Shuang Fengyan appeared and faced Shuang Qingqing, but Bai Yihe attacked her with the Heaven-Devouring Rat technique before she could speak further.
• Two Nascent Soul cultivators, Chongfeng and Shuiyue, arrived and stopped the confrontation from escalating.

Shuiyue and Heavy Peak demanded Bai Rou’s release on behalf of an unnamed patron, but Bai Yihe refused and the dispute threatened to draw them into Shuang Qingqing’s conflict. The confrontation ended with Meng Shangmo appearing beside Bai Rou, having bypassed Bai Yihe’s defenses without being detected.

• Shuiyue and Heavy Peak asked Bai Yihe to release Bai Rou, explaining that they had come at someone else’s request rather than to aid Shuang Qingqing.
• Bai Yihe refused to hand over Bai Rou, while Heavy Peak proposed letting Shuang Fengyan search her soul to verify that she was unrelated to the clan’s dispute.
• Shuang Fengyan asked who had sent Shuiyue and Heavy Peak, and Shuiyue said their patron was too powerful for them to provoke.
• Shuiyue and Heavy Peak quietly decided to interfere if the Celestial Spirit Clan attacked Shuang Qingqing, then positioned themselves alongside her.
• An unseen voice urged the cultivators to stop fighting over Bai Rou, and Meng Shangmo appeared with Bai Rou beside him.
• Bai Yihe realized Meng Shangmo had brought Bai Rou past his formation without triggering any warning.

Li Yan and Zhao Min met Shuang Qingqing and Bai Rou at the Heavenly Spirit Clan after Meng Shangmo arranged for Shuang Qingqing’s dispute with the Bai clan to be resolved. Shuang Qingqing explained how Meng Shangmo’s intervention forced Shuang Fengyan to reconsider the old accusations against her, leaving Bai Rou reunited with Li Yan while the clan’s secrets remained under scrutiny.

• Meng Shangmo claimed Bai Rou was connected to him, and Shuang Fengyan declared that Shuang Qingqing’s matter should finally be settled.
• Li Yan received Meng Shangmo’s message and went with Zhao Min to the Heavenly Spirit Clan to meet Shuang Qingqing.
• Li Yan greeted Bai Rou, who addressed him and Zhao Min as Martial Uncles, while Li Yan asked to speak as they had in the past.
• Bai Rou revealed that Shuang Qingqing had willingly accepted a restriction from the Grand Elder, and Shuang Qingqing said Meng Shangmo had helped resolve the matter.
• Shuang Qingqing recounted how Meng Shangmo brought Shuang Fengyan to meet her and how her account led him to reconsider whether Bai Fengtian’s memories had been altered.
• Shuang Fengyan returned to the clan and found Bai Yihe demanding that Shuang Qingqing be killed, prompting him to examine the Bai clan’s hostility toward her.

Shuang Qingqing arranged for Li Yan and Zhao Min to take Bai Rou away while she prepared to seek the Immortal-Spirit Realm with Shuang Fengyan, and she gave Li Yan a booklet of Nascent Soul insights. When Li Yan recognized a pattern on its cover, Shuang Qingqing reacted with shock, suggesting it was connected to someone from her past.

• Shuang Fengyan accepted Shuang Qingqing's account and proposed taking her to the Immortal-Spirit Realm to restore her memories, while Meng Shangmo placed a tracking restriction on her.
• Shuang Qingqing asked Li Yan and Zhao Min to take Bai Rou away and later bring her back to the Desolate Moon Continent.
• Shuang Qingqing gave Li Yan a booklet containing her master's and her own insights on forming a Nascent Soul.
• Li Yan recognized a dark bluish-green pattern on the booklet and asked Shuang Qingqing whether it was significant.
• Shuang Qingqing sprang up and asked Li Yan if he had seen the pattern before.

Li Yan revealed that Shuang Wuyan and Shuang Chongshan might descend from Shuang Tongguan’s Du Ye Clan, prompting Shuang Qingqing and Shuang Fengyan to investigate. The Third Elder returned with the missing group, and Li Yan reunited with Shuang Wuyan and Shuang Chongshan in Shuang Fengyan’s cave residence.

• Li Yan told Shuang Qingqing that he had seen the Divine Puppet Art’s mark among people surnamed Shuang from the Du Ye Clan, and she urgently questioned him about it.
• Shuang Fengyan agreed to have the Third Elder investigate Shuang Wuyan and the others and visit the Du Ye Clan, while Li Yan recorded their details and Falling Star Valley’s location on a jade slip.
• Shuang Qingqing taught Li Yan and Zhao Min Dao principles in her courtyard while they waited for news.
• Bai Yihe noticed Shuang Qingqing, Bai Rou, and two Gold Core Realm cultivators visiting Shuang Fengyan, but misread the reason for their meeting.
• Shuang Qingqing and Li Yan went to Shuang Fengyan’s cave residence, where Li Yan recognized Shuang Wuyan and Shuang Chongshan and greeted them with relief.

Mu Guyue searched for a vanished cave entrance, then attacked the Primal Chaos Mystic Gold Dragon in the Demon-Devouring Abyss. Meanwhile, the Heavenly Spirit Clan’s Third Elder found Shuang Wuyan and offered to bring her branch back to the clan after verifying her puppet-making technique.

• Mu Guyue searched the seafloor for the entrance to Heavenly Spirit Cave, but could not find it and grew furious.
• Mu Guyue entered a sealed cave in Demon-Devouring Abyss and cut away moss to reveal a passage, but the route into the mysterious cave was still gone.
• Mu Guyue attacked the demonic-qi barrier around the Primal Chaos Mystic Gold Dragon’s cave, and he angrily confronted her before they fought again.
• The Heavenly Spirit Clan’s Third Elder secretly traveled to Falling Star Valley and found Shuang Wuyan refining a puppet.
• The Third Elder told Shuang Wuyan that he had come to find Shuang Tongguan’s branch and asked her to demonstrate the Heavenly Spirit Clan’s orthodox puppet-making method so he could take them back to the clan.

The Third Elder explained how Shuang Tongguan’s descendants became the Frost branch of the Duye Clan and eventually returned to the Heavenly Spirit Clan. Shuang Qingqing then approached Frost Wuyan and asked whether she had heard the name Shuang Qianhan.

• Frost Wuyan refined materials for the Third Elder after realizing she could not resist him.
• The Third Elder told Shuang Qingqing and the others that Shuang Tongguan’s family had fled Bai Fengtian, joined the war alliance, and been stranded on the Lost Continent.
• Shuang Tongguan’s descendants settled in the Duye Clan, which later suppressed them and failed to help when their branch was attacked.
• Shuang Fengyan vowed to remember the Duye Clan, while Frost Wuyan asked how Li Yan had found them.
• Frost Chongshan’s family thanked Li Yan for saving them and helping them return to the clan.
• Shuang Qingqing approached Frost Wuyan and asked whether she had heard of Shuang Qianhan.

Shuang Qingqing confirmed Shuang Wuyan’s branch descended from Shuang Tongguan by revealing secret knowledge of the Flower-Piercing Trace-Seeking Disk and demonstrating its power. She restored the branch to its ancestral land, while Shuang Fengyan imprisoned Bai Yihe and accused his ancestor Bai Fengtian of betraying the clan.

• Shuang Qingqing told Shuang Wuyan she knew the Flower-Piercing Trace-Seeking Disk’s hidden flaw and asked to inspect it.
• Shuang Wuyan produced the ancient compass and butterfly, and Shuang Qingqing made it emit forty-nine streaks of azure light.
• Shuang Qingqing led Shuang Wuyan and the others to Shuang Tongguan’s ancestral land and moved the medicinal fields into her spirit-storage pouch.
• Shuang Fengyan told the imprisoned Bai Yihe that Shuang Qingqing’s descendants had been found and that Bai Fengtian was suspected of attacking disciples and killing clansmen.
• Bai Yihe denied the accusations and blamed Shuang Qingqing, but Shuang Fengyan struck him into the wall before he could finish.

Shuang Qingqing resolved the danger surrounding her descendants and prepared to escort Li Yan, Zhao Min, and Bai Rou back to the Desolate Moon Continent. Li Yan and Zhao Min set their sights on the Soul Prison Clan’s underground secret cavern, while a message from Li Yan reached Su Hong just before she departed.

• Shuang Fengyan restrained Bai Yihe, learned through a Soul Search that he had followed his ancestors’ orders, and decided to take him along when ascending.
• Shuang Fengyan, Shuang Qingqing, and the Third Elder searched the Bai lineage’s cultivators and altered memories to conceal Shuang Qingqing’s identity and protect her descendants.
• Shuang Qingqing agreed to escort Li Yan, Zhao Min, and Bai Rou back to the Desolate Moon Continent after they visited the Howling Cold Stone, estimating the round trip would take no more than forty years.
• Li Yan planned to enter the Soul Prison Clan’s underground secret cavern, but Zhao Min said she had a token and would go with him.
• Shuang Qingqing urged Bai Rou to form her Golden Core as Li Yan’s growing strength reminded Bai Rou of the distance between them.
• Su Hong received a jade slip sent by Li Yan shortly before she was due to leave.

Su Hong struggled to make sense of Shuang Qingqing’s dealings with the Heavenly Spirit Clan while Li Yan and Zhao Min traveled to the Soul Prison Clan’s underground secret grotto. After entering, they encountered Wustu and several other cultivators, then emerged into a vast, ruined desert.

• Su Hong learned that Shuang Fengyan had returned to the Heavenly Spirit Clan and granted Shuang Qingqing a spiritual-energy-rich place to cultivate, but she could not determine their connection to Li Yan and Zhao Min.
• Li Yan and Zhao Min reached the far west of the Green Continent and approached the Soul Prison Clan’s underground secret grotto with entry tokens from Su Hong.
• An unseen voice demanded their tokens or twenty thousand low-grade spirit stones, and Li Yan and Zhao Min prepared to enter the array restriction.
• Five Golden Core Realm cultivators arrived, including Wustu, whom Li Yan and Zhao Min recognized.
• When the hunchbacked cultivator’s companions shifted to encircle Wustu, Li Yan told Zhao Min to leave, and they activated their tokens to pass through the barrier.
• Li Yan and Zhao Min arrived in a vast, dim desert filled with the ruins of massive stone structures.

Li Yan and Zhao Min entered the Soul Prison Clan secret grotto and flew toward Blackwater Gorge, while Ustu persuaded his companions to target them for their possible poison skills and valuable rewards. As Li Yan and Zhao Min crossed a field of ruins, they vanished in a flash of light just as yellow projectiles pierced the sky where they had been.

• Li Yan and Zhao Min entered the secret grotto, concealed their auras, and hurried away after encountering Ustu and his companions at the entrance.
• Ustu told his four companions that Li Yan and Zhao Min had poisoned him and might be seeking the Black Cloud Frost-Coagulating Insect.
• Ustu revealed that Li Yan and Zhao Min had exposed the Heavenly Orchid Clan's crimes and received access to the Wood Clarity Pool and gifts from the allied clans.
• Ustu's companions decided to pursue the Black Cloud Frost-Coagulating Insect first and search for Li Yan and Zhao Min afterward.
• Li Yan led Zhao Min toward Blackwater Gorge, but as they flew over ruined houses, they suddenly vanished while yellow projectiles shot up from the sand.

Li Yan and Zhao Min were attacked by a crossbow insect colony, whose volleys grew stronger as their shots accumulated. Zhao Min began refining the colony’s king while Li Yan and Zi Kun held off the swarm, leaving the insect king still struggling against her control.

• Li Yan and Zhao Min evaded the crossbow insects’ ambush, then Li Yan blocked their volleys with a wall of black energy as the shots accumulated and destroyed the rooftop beneath them.
• Zhao Min asked Li Yan to keep the insects focused on him while she formed spell seals to refine their king.
• Zhao Min’s technique briefly dazed the colony, drew its peak second-tier king from underground, and left her straining to subdue it.
• Li Yan summoned Zi Kun, who used the Great Dragon-Elephant Array to absorb the insects’ attacks while Li Yan sent the black energy wall flying away.

Li Yan and Zhao Min subdued a swarm of crossbow insects, with Zhao Min beginning to refine their king and discovering the insects could reclaim their magical power. As they explored the ruins of the Immortal-Seeking Lineage, they detected an unusual spiritual-energy fluctuation in a buried ancient pagoda.

• Li Yan drove off nearby cultivators and Demon Beasts while Zhao Min subdued the crossbow insect king with a talisman and branded it through her Divine Sense.
• Zhao Min gained partial control of the king, which stopped the swarm's attack and led the crossbow insects to absorb the magical power they had released against the Great Dragon-Elephant Array.
• Li Yan told Zi Kun to stay hidden, and Zhao Min stored the crossbow insects in Meng Zhiyuan's spirit storage pouch before the group left the ruins.
• Li Yan and Zhao Min discussed the unusual buildings and history of the Immortal-Seeking Lineage as they flew through the underground secret caverns.
• Li Yan and Zhao Min detected a faint, unusual spiritual-energy fluctuation inside a ruined ancient pagoda partly buried beneath the sand.