Recaps

Li Yan faced the golden-armored general in the final Heavenly Tribulation, while onlookers reacted to the strength of his soul and the general’s overwhelming power. After evading a series of attacks and testing his weapons against the general, Li Yan realized his opponent was formed from earth-element spiritual power and had no soul.

• Wei Zhongran speculated to Mo Qing that Li Yan’s powerful soul came from his near-death experience crossing the barrier between the two realms.
• A handsome Phantom Sect cultivator observed Li Yan and judged that he had a chance of surviving the tribulation.
• The golden-armored general’s roar injured distant Golden Core cultivators, prompting Wang Tian and Baili Yuan to recognize how great the gap between them and the general was.
• Zhao Min and Li Changting raised a barrier to protect Miao Wangqing as the Heavenly Tribulation’s battle began.
• Li Yan dodged the general’s axe and attacked with his Guiyi Water-Parting Spikes, but the general’s armor repelled his blows and wounded his arm.
• Li Yan escaped a counterattack and concluded that the general could feel pain but had no soul, having been condensed from pure earth-element spiritual power.

Li Yan used the Heaven and Earth Cage to draw the golden-armored Earth Tribulation into a confined space, then attacked it with his Guiyi Water-Parting Spikes infused with wood spiritual power. The spikes pierced its defenses and slowed the cage, leaving Li Yan hopeful that his Five Elements strategy could defeat the tribulation.

• Li Yan realized the golden-armored warrior had no soul, resisted poison, and outmatched him in strength, so his usual methods could not defeat it.
• The warrior trapped Li Yan inside the Heaven and Earth Cage and struck him with its axe, badly worsening his injuries.
• Li Yan recognized that the cage consumed the tribulation's power and deliberately provoked the warrior into using it while keeping his plan concealed from Wei Zhongran and Mo Qing.
• When the warrior tried to locate and attack him inside the shrinking cage, Li Yan sent his Guiyi Water-Parting Spikes through its fist and then pierced its armor.
• Li Yan infused the spikes with pure wood spiritual power, which countered the warrior's earth element and slowed the cage's advance.

Li Yan faced the final strikes of his Nascent Soul Heavenly Tribulation, the Heavenly Sword and Earthly Saber, and endured their rapidly shifting attacks with his body and five-element power. After crushing the earthly saber, he rushed toward the sword as his body cracked under the strain.

• Li Yan emerged from the shattered golden pillar of light, concealed how much he had recovered, and confronted the Heavenly Sword and Earthly Saber tribulation.
• Li Yan sent the Guiyi Water-Parting Spikes, transformed into two flood dragons, to restrain the heavenly sword while he fought the earthly saber with his body.
• The saber switched among soul attacks and the powers of the five elements, but Li Yan adapted and withstood its blows as cracks spread across it and the flood dragons were damaged.
• Li Yan trapped the saber against his back with his muscles and shoulder blades, then crushed it into spiritual light.
• Li Yan recalled the damaged Guiyi Water-Parting Spikes and charged toward the remaining sword, while Mo Qing warned Wei Zhongran that Li Yan's secret art was overpowering his body.

Li Yan survived the final strike of the Heavenly Tribulation by shattering its golden sword, then received tribulation essence energy as he lay wounded. The handsome youth secretly diverted two motes to Li Yuyin and left a jade slip with Li Yan, while Wei Zhongran and Mo Qing kept the sect disciples away so Li Yan could recover and comprehend his breakthrough.

• Li Yan endured the fourth strike, seized the golden sword embedded in his shoulder, and shattered it with a punch, causing the Heavenly Tribulation to disperse.
• Tribulation essence energy descended on Li Yan and began healing his grievous injuries as it drew him into a hazy state of enlightenment.
• The handsome youth secretly took two motes of tribulation essence energy from Li Yan, left a pale red jade slip at his waist, and sent the motes to Li Yuyin with a purple jade slip.
• Wei Zhongran and Mo Qing discussed Wei Zhongran's reckless attempt to intervene, then Wei Zhongran ordered the approaching disciples to stay a hundred li away.
• Bai Liyuan, Wang Tian, Zuo Shengyan, Zhao Min, Li Changting, and Miao Wangqing turned back after Wei Zhongran warned them not to disturb Li Yan.

Li Yan completed his Nascent Soul formation, but a second Heavenly Tribulation gathered over Buli Peak and struck Li Yuyin as she underwent her own breakthrough. After learning that Li Yuyin survived, Li Yan returned to stabilize his newly formed Nascent Soul.

• Mo Qing and Wei Zhongran saw dark clouds gather again after Li Yan's tribulation appeared to end, while the sect's cultivators wondered what was happening.
• The clouds formed a vortex above Buli Peak, and Mo Qing and Wei Zhongran evacuated the peak's living creatures before Li Yuyin's Heavenly Tribulation began.
• Li Yan's Nascent Soul formed within his dantian, and he awoke to find his cultivation had advanced.
• Mo Qing told Li Yan that Li Yuyin had also formed her Nascent Soul, though her tribulation had severely injured her and nearly destroyed her two lifebound Heaven Azure Green Dormant Gu kings.
• Mo Qing urged Li Yan to stabilize his cultivation, and Li Yan returned to do so while Mo Qing began repairing the damaged ground.

After Li Yan returned from successfully forming his nascent soul, Zhao Min left once she saw he was safe, and Qianji and Zi Kun guarded him while he stabilized his cultivation. Wang Dahai woke in the herb garden and learned he had missed both nascent soul breakthroughs; Li Yan then discovered an unfamiliar pale red jade slip tucked into his sash.

• Li Yan returned to his bamboo courtyard covered in blood, greeted Zhao Min, and entered his cultivation chamber to stabilize his cultivation.
• Qianji and Zi Kun congratulated Li Yan and activated the Great Dragon-Elephant Array to guard the courtyard.
• Wang Dahai woke in the herb garden, and Yu Xiaofan told him that a senior had overcome a Heavenly Tribulation.
• Wang Dahai claimed he had accidentally been caught in the tribulation's aftermath, then learned from Yu Xiaofan that two Heavenly Tribulations had occurred and both cultivators had formed nascent souls.
• Li Yan noticed a pale red jade slip tucked into his sash and wondered who had placed it there.

Li Yan discovered a jade slip from Gu Jiuqi, who had taken two grains of his Tribulation Essence Qi to help Li Yuyin break through. Gu Jiuqi compensated him with the Devil-Sealing Needle technique and proof that could exempt him from a hundred years of sect-guarding duty, leaving Li Yan satisfied with the bargain.

• Li Yan examined the pale-red jade slip and recognized Gu Jiuqi’s voice in its message.
• Gu Jiuqi explained that he had used two grains of Li Yan’s Tribulation Essence Qi to help Li Yuyin break through and offered compensation.
• Li Yan studied the Devil-Sealing Needle, a powerful metal-element group attack technique inscribed with the power of laws.
• Li Yan learned the jade slip could serve as proof to reduce his required sect-guarding duty by a hundred years.
• Li Yan considered Phantom Sect’s duties for Nascent Soul cultivators and accepted that his compensation was fair.

After forming his nascent soul, Li Yan examined the changes to his cultivation, poison body, and divine sense. He discovered his divine sense could sweep across the Wangliang Sect’s territory, drawing notice from Wei Zhongran and Mo Qing.

• Li Yan found that his dantian had become a sea of pure black water-element spiritual power, while his nascent soul embodied the five elements and formed an inner heaven and earth.
• Li Yan discovered his thirty-one-part disjointed poison body had changed into thirty-two pale-azure threads that circulated potent poisons through his meridians, making them faster and more than three times as strong.
• Li Yan saw that his nascent soul was about one and seven-tenths inches tall, giving him a foundation near the peak of the early stage and strength to contend with middle-stage cultivators using secret arts.
• Li Yan explored his expanded sea of consciousness and sent his divine sense across the Wangliang Sect’s mountains and rivers, perceiving every detail as it traveled.
• Wei Zhongran noticed Li Yan sweeping the surroundings with his newly expanded divine sense, while Mo Qing recognized the exhilaration of a cultivator who had just formed a nascent soul.

After forming his Nascent Soul, Li Yan measured his Divine Sense and discovered new cultivation methods and immortal arts in his sea of consciousness. He learned powerful techniques tied to the laws of life and Gui Water, but their demands and costs meant he could not use them recklessly.

• Li Yan withdrew his Divine Sense before it reached five thousand li, then estimated that its full range could reach around seven thousand li.
• Li Yan found the Nascent Soul Qi-Refining Chapter and a new version of Five Elements Return to Primordial Chaos that used three hidden meridians to draw on the power of the Five Elements.
• Li Yan discovered the second level of Wave-Subduing Soul Slaying, Soul-Dragging Death Guide, which could force an opponent's soul from their body using the Guiyi Water-Parting Spikes refined as talismanic soul-dragging brushes.
• Li Yan learned that Soul-Dragging Death Guide involved the power of laws and could threaten even Nascent Soul cultivators, whose souls could otherwise escape through teleportation.
• Li Yan read Nine Cauldrons Gui Water, a technique that compressed his spiritual power and could unleash devastating attacks, but would consume most of his power in a single strike.
• Li Yan considered how scarce his Melted Bamboo Shoot water droplets had become, then opened his eyes in the cultivation chamber after reflecting on the benefits of forming his Nascent Soul.

Li Yan tested his newly formed nascent soul’s teleportation and discovered new instructions for Stealth Night Concealment before spending a year stabilizing his cultivation. After emerging, he learned that many Wangliang Sect cultivators, including Zhao Min, had entered seclusion because his breakthrough had stirred them to action.

• Li Yan demonstrated his nascent soul’s rapid teleportation and reflected on how it could help him escape danger.
• Li Yan found new instructions for Stealth Night Concealment, which taught him to merge his aura with the external five elements.
• After a year in seclusion, Li Yan emerged and learned that Qianji and Zi Kun had waited nearby while he stabilized his cultivation.
• Li Yan sensed that only Fourth Senior Sister was present on Small Bamboo Peak, then answered Wei Zhongran’s summons.
• Wei Zhongran told Li Yan that his senior brothers and most of the sect’s Gold Core Realm cultivators were in seclusion or away, and Zhao Min had entered seclusion as well.
• Wei Zhongran explained that Li Yan’s successful nascent soul formation had prompted the cultivators to act.

Li Yan learned that his Nascent Soul formation had prompted many sect members to enter seclusion, received Wei Zhongran’s guidance, and agreed to the ceremony planned for him and Li Yuyin. After leaving, he headed to the Woodflow Sect, where Bai Rou received a startling message and Tang Yuniang faced a mysterious green-robed visitor.

• Wei Zhongran told Li Yan that several sect members had entered seclusion after hearing of his Nascent Soul formation, then shared decades of cultivation experience with him.
• Wei Zhongran explained that Zhao Zhi had missed her chance to gain insight because worry over Zhao Min had kept her from cultivating in peace, but he hid this from Li Yan.
• Li Yan agreed to attend the Nascent Soul formation ceremony for himself and Li Yuyin, planned for nine years later.
• Li Yan left for the Woodflow Sect while Bai Rou was refining an ancient ape puppet; a sound-transmission talisman startled her, and she hurriedly hid the damaged puppet in a green box.
• Tang Yuniang saw a green-robed figure appear in the Woodflow Sect’s main hall and stare at her with blazing eyes.

Li Yan visited the Wood Flow Sect after reaching the Nascent Soul Realm and met with Bai Rou, who had been refining artifacts. Their familiar banter resumed, though Li Yan noticed that Bai Rou seemed more open than before.

• Li Yan appeared in the Wood Flow Sect's main hall, showed Tang Yuniang his Phantom Sect token, and asked for Bai Rou.
• Tang Yuniang contacted Bai Rou with a sound-transmission talisman, and Bai Rou told her to bring Li Yan to her courtyard.
• Bai Rou congratulated Li Yan on reaching the Nascent Soul Realm, but he asked her to keep addressing him as before.
• Bai Rou reflected on her closeness to Li Yan and her earlier unease after seeing him with Zhao Min.
• Li Yan asked what Bai Rou had been refining, and she teased him that he owed compensation for the materials she had wasted welcoming him.

Li Yan visited Bai Rou, returned Shuang Qingqing’s treasured booklet, and told her about Sun Guoshu and Mu Lian. As he left, Bai Rou arranged for the Woodflow Sect to invoke Li Yan’s name to protect its puppet prices, leaving Tang Yuniang shocked to learn he was a Nascent Soul cultivator.

• Li Yan gave Bai Rou Shuang Qingqing’s booklet and explained that Zhao Min had a copy to study.
• Bai Rou told Li Yan that Sun Guoshu had recently been visiting and was now accompanying Mu Lian, a Foundation Establishment disciple, on her travels.
• Li Yan revealed that he had encountered Sun Guoshu and Mu Lian fleeing for their lives on his way back to the sect, then recounted what had happened to Bai Rou.
• After Li Yan departed, Bai Rou gave Tang Yuniang five transmission talismans and told her to notify Bai Rou immediately if Li Yan returned.
• Bai Rou instructed Tang Yuniang to say that Li Yan had set the price whenever Laojun Peak stewards tried to lower the price of the Woodflow Sect’s puppets.
• Tang Yuniang realized Li Yan was one of the cultivators who had formed a Nascent Soul and wondered how Bai Rou knew him.

Li Yan visited Ping Tu after forming his Nascent Soul, and Ping Tu strengthened their transmission crystal so they could communicate across its range. News that the Phantom Sect had gained two Nascent Soul cultivators in one day unsettled the other great sects, while Huchen Wuding continued refining pills.

• Tang Yuniang realized that the ordinary-looking man she had spoken with was Li Yan, a Nascent Soul cultivator.
• Li Yan entered Ping Tu’s secret chamber, where Ping Tu recognized that he had formed his Nascent Soul and stabilized his realm.
• Ping Tu imprinted the transmission rhomboid crystal, allowing Li Yan to contact him within range and return to the secret chamber if needed.
• News spread that Li Yuyin and Li Yan had formed Nascent Souls on the same day, prompting the Spring Sword King, Yiye Arhat, and the old Daoist of the Grand Profound Sect to consider their response.
• Huchen Wuding practiced alchemy in the Huchen Lineage’s alchemy room.

Huchen Wuding successfully refined three Purple Heart Pills and learned that Li Yan had survived and become a Nascent Soul cultivator, prompting him to plan to attend Li Yan's ceremony in nine years. The chapter then shifted to a snowy valley, where a wounded man fled from a murderous young man.

• Huchen Wuding finished refining three Purple Heart Pills and confirmed their effects, planning to use them to pursue a breakthrough to the late Golden Core Realm.
• Huchen Wuding emerged from seclusion and learned from a sound transmission talisman that Li Yan was alive, had become a Nascent Soul cultivator, and would hold a ceremony in nine years.
• Huchen Wuding remembered how Li Yan had saved and influenced him, then resolved to attend his benefactor's ceremony after refining a pill.
• In territory under the Pure Land Sect's jurisdiction, a bloodied middle-aged man fled through a snowy valley while a young man dressed like a book attendant pursued him and rejected his plea for mercy.

Bu Luo escaped a deadly ambush, looted his pursuers, and learned that Li Yan had reached Nascent Soul Realm and would hold a ceremony in nine years. The chapter then shifted to a secluded shop, where a black-veiled woman arrived to trade her latest haul with Elder Ge.

• Bu Luo trapped five pursuers in his formation, killed the two Foundation Establishment cultivators, and beheaded the black-bearded man with his silver disc and bamboo twig.
• Bu Luo collected the pursuers’ belongings, burned the corpses, retrieved his formation equipment, and fled the valley.
• Four days later, Bu Luo found a Wangliang Sect notice announcing that Li Yan and Li Yuyin had formed Nascent Souls and would hold a ceremony in nine years.
• Bu Luo resolved to reach late Golden Core Realm before visiting Li Yan at the ceremony.
• A black-veiled woman visited Elder Ge’s secluded raw-materials shop and handed him her Storage Pouch to inspect.

Mei Hongyu sold demon-beast corpses and gathered cultivation-world news from Old Ge, then discovered that Li Yan was alive and engaged to Zhao Min. The news unsettled her as she continued her journey toward the Northern Underworld Demon-Suppressing Tower, seeking a way to heal her son's injured soul.

• Mei Hongyu sold Old Ge three demon-beast corpses, kept the one-horned white-eyed wolf's beast core, and exchanged some of her payment for supplies.
• Old Ge had Dongsheng bring Mei Hongyu a jade slip containing five years of cultivation-world news, then warned Dongsheng to stop harboring improper thoughts about her.
• After leaving the market, Mei Hongyu checked that no one followed her and read the jade slip while flying away.
• Mei Hongyu stopped when she learned that Li Yan had returned to the Wangliang Sect, would hold a Nascent Soul Formation ceremony in nine years, and had become engaged to Zhao Min.
• Mei Hongyu recalled her past intimacy with Li Yan and the effects of the Wind Clarity Art, which had prevented intimacy with her husband and intensified her allure.
• Mei Hongyu continued toward the Northern Underworld Demon-Suppressing Tower after her husband's death and her son's soul injury.

Mei Hongyu saw Li Yan’s name again and found her long-settled emotions stirring, while Li Yan tested a new toxin produced by his Disjointed Poison Body. He discovered that the nearly invisible blood thread could threaten a Nascent Soul, but its full effect remained unknown.

• Mei Hongyu learned that Li Yan had appeared again and struggled with the old feelings that disrupted her calm.
• Mei Hongyu reflected on her stalled cultivation, her lost family, and her life as a Rogue Cultivator before flying away beneath the moon.
• Li Yan tested the blood thread on Demon Beasts for days but found no effect on their bodies, souls, blood essence, or behavior.
• Li Yan released his Nascent Soul to test the blood thread and watched it vanish from his finger and reappear above his head.
• Li Yan’s Nascent Soul sensed danger and returned to his body, leading him to suspect that the blood thread was a poison capable of attacking a Nascent Soul.

Li Yan tested the poison in his blood thread and realized it might threaten Nascent Soul cultivators who had lost their bodies, while his damaged Guiyi Water-Parting Spikes continued recovering in seclusion. Nine years later, Li Yuyin visited him after he emerged from seclusion, and their conversation began with her correcting his form of address.

• Li Yan tested the blood thread on a Rift-Splitting Rain Swallow’s demon core, found it harmless, and concluded it might specifically attack Nascent Souls.
• Li Yan inspected his damaged Guiyi Water-Parting Spikes and decided to nurture them while studying Soul-Enticing Slaughter and cultivating other techniques.
• Over the following years, Miao Wangqing gave birth to a son with a good earth spiritual root, and Li Wuyi briefly returned to Small Bamboo Peak before retreating again.
• Nine years later, Li Yuyin visited Li Yan’s courtyard, and her charm briefly affected Qianji until Li Yan’s voice brought him back to his senses.
• Li Yan welcomed Li Yuyin into his reception hall, where she objected to his formal greeting and reminded him of their seniority in the sect.

Li Yuyin visited Li Yan to tell him about the Nascent Soul ceremony and thank him for the help that enabled her advancement. After she left, Li Yan learned Zi Kun was helping prepare for the ceremony and set out to meet familiar visitors in the sect.

• Li Yan and Li Yuyin discussed how to address each other, and she told him the Nascent Soul ceremony was scheduled for the next day.
• Li Yuyin said she would attend only the first half of the ceremony because she needed to return to healing, and Li Yan agreed to cover the rest.
• Li Yuyin thanked Li Yan for the Tribulation Essence Qi that had helped her form a Nascent Soul, though she did not reveal that Gu Jiuqi had arranged it.
• Li Yuyin left after urging Li Yan to prepare for the ceremony, and Li Yan reflected on her unusual behavior.
• Li Yan summoned Qianji, learned that Zi Kun was helping Li Wuyi and the others prepare for the ceremony, and dismissed Qianji.
• Li Yan sensed familiar visitors in the Phantom Sect and went to see them before the ceremony.

Li Yan gave Qianji a mark that let him enter and leave Tuban while within five hundred zhang, allowing Qianji to reunite with his clan. As guests gathered for Li Yan’s Nascent Soul ceremony, they traded rumors about his obscure past and remarkable deeds.

• Li Yan offered to bring some Snow Mosquitoes out of Tuban, but Qianji declined because his clansmen needed extreme cold.
• Li Yan placed a mark in Qianji’s sea of consciousness, enabling him to enter and leave Tuban within five hundred zhang, and Qianji joyfully returned to the space.
• Li Yan left the courtyard while keeping control over the passage to Tuban through his Divine Sense.
• Cultivators from major sects and Lineages gathered at Junlin Pavilion for a small trade fair before Li Yan’s Nascent Soul ceremony.
• Elder Fan asked Fellow Daoist Wang about Li Yan, and Wang recounted how Li Yan had saved the Azure Sixteenth Squad at Tonggui Ridge.
• Guests exchanged stories about Li Yan’s role in the South Sea conflict, the destruction of the Devil Race’s Heaven-Shaking Thunder stores, and his long disappearance after falling into Yin Demon Cliff.

As preparations for Li Yan’s Nascent Soul Formation ceremony continued, he privately reunited with Huchen Wuding, who had become head of the Huchen Lineage. They discussed old acquaintances and cultivation, and Huchen Wuding left with new insights to consider.

• Huchen Wuding left a gathering of disciples after Li Yan sent him a private message inviting him to talk.
• Huchen Wuding met Li Yan on a secluded mountain and congratulated him on reaching the Nascent Soul Realm.
• Li Yan asked about Patriarch Huchen and learned that he had left the Lineage years ago, leaving Huchen Wuding in charge.
• Li Yan and Huchen Wuding recalled Zhuo Lingfeng, who had disappeared after leaving the Huchen Lineage with Li Yan.
• The two discussed poisonous spirit plants, alchemy, and cultivation methods for more than two hours, and Huchen Wuding returned home to reflect on Li Yan’s guidance.

Li Yan met with Hu Chenwuding to exchange knowledge about poison cultivation, then reunited with Buluo, who had infiltrated a sect under Phantom Sect's jurisdiction. Buluo shared the Truth-Confusing Pills he and Zuo Qiudan had developed, while Li Yan learned how their disguise method worked.

• Li Yan reflected on the poison methods he had gleaned from Hu Chenwuding and the cultivation shortcuts he had offered in return.
• Li Yan contacted Buluo, who had been waiting alone at Junlin Pavilion while the others attended a trading fair.
• Buluo explained that he had disguised himself as a disciple of a sect under Phantom Sect's jurisdiction after knocking out one of its members.
• Li Yan praised Buluo's disguise, and Buluo revealed that he and Zuo Qiudan had developed it using two kinds of Truth-Confusing Pills.
• Buluo gave Li Yan both bottles of pills and explained how they altered and fixed the wearer's face and bones.

Li Yan and Bu Luo exchanged rare treasures and discussed the silver pages from the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Tower before parting. The next morning, guests began arriving at the Phantom Sect’s open mountain gate.

• Li Yan accepted two bottles of Truth-Confounding Pills from Bu Luo as a gift for forming a Nascent Soul.
• Li Yan gave Bu Luo ten drops of Melt Bamboo Shoot, which Bu Luo tested and recognized as a powerful way to restore spiritual power.
• Li Yan asked Bu Luo about pages of other colors and learned the names of eight people who had fought over the silver pages, six of them under the Pure Land Sect.
• Bu Luo left the Phantom Sect after congratulating Li Yan, and Li Yan vanished from the mountain peak after seeing him off.
• The next morning, cultivators arrived at the Phantom Sect’s open mountain gate on flying treasures and powerful spirit beasts.

The Phantom Sect welcomed cultivators arriving to celebrate the ceremony, including Hanglin and the Great Profound Sect delegation. Li Yan reunited with Qiu Jiuzhen, whose doubts about his rise to Nascent Soul deepened as the ceremony awaited its remaining guests.

• Phantom Sect disciples registered arriving cultivators and escorted them to the plaza or the high platform.
• Hanglin arrived with more than twenty Golden Core disciples from the Great Profound Sect and greeted the Nascent Soul cultivators.
• Li Yan recognized Qiu Jiuzhen among the Great Profound Sect disciples, and she watched him with complicated feelings as she confirmed his identity.
• Hanglin congratulated Li Yan, then placated Li Yuyin when she complained that he had not congratulated her.
• Wei Zhongran asked the guests to return to their seats while they waited for the ceremony and the remaining arrivals.
• Qiu Jiuzhen wondered how Li Yan had overcome his supposedly poor aptitude, then told her junior sister that he had seemed unremarkable when they met in a secret realm.