Recaps

Li Yan tested the silver sand and discovered that combining it with the blood river created a silent, devastating taiji yin-yang attack. After confirming its power against a demon beast, he realized the two substances offered him a chance to understand transformations between elemental forces and began preparing for secluded cultivation.

• Li Yan found that neither his physical strength nor nascent-soul flame could break or refine the silver sand, but its cold gradually recovered after contact with the blood river.
• When the silver sand entered the blood river, a taiji yin-yang pattern formed; Li Yan's divine sense was shredded inside it, and his nascent soul supplied magical power that dispersed the pattern.
• Li Yan combined a larger amount of silver sand and blood-river water, then launched the resulting pattern into a cliff, where it silently bored a washbasin-sized passage more than four hundred zhang deep.
• Li Yan returned to his cave abode after testing the attack on a fourth-tier Demon-Eyed Illusion Wolf, whose defenses and body the pattern tore apart.
• Li Yan concluded that more silver sand could make the attack powerful enough to threaten Spirit Transformation cultivators, and that experiencing its yin-yang power had given him insight into elemental transformations.
• Li Yan decided to enter secluded cultivation to pursue those insights, then remarked that the strange formation deserved a name.

Li Yan studied the Fuxi Disk and gained a breakthrough in his understanding of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, greatly strengthening his arts. Ren Yanyu then asked him to guard the Po Jun Sect while she answered a summons from the Blood Lantern Sect, whose hierarchy she began explaining.

• Li Yan resumed studying the Fuxi Disk, and half a month later Yu Banjiang began another Nascent Soul tribulation at the Po Jun Sect.
• Yu Banjiang endured a day and a half of heart demon trials and succeeded in forming his Nascent Soul, then entered seclusion to stabilize his realm.
• Over the next half year, Li Yan’s study of the Fuxi Disk advanced his Five Elements understanding, strengthened his spells, and improved Shaking Heaven and Earth with brief foresight.
• Ren Yanyu visited Li Yan and told him the Blood Lantern Sect had summoned her away for about a year, asking him to protect the Po Jun Sect while Shangguan Tianque refined pills and Yu Banjiang recovered.
• Ren Yanyu explained that the Po Jun Sect served the Blood Lantern Sect, which in turn was attached to the Pure Yang Hall and stronger sects above it.

Ren Yanyu explained how the Pure Yang Hall’s subordinate sects competed for Great Wu Fruits in a secret realm and what rewards small sects could earn. Li Yan learned that the contest offered a chance to obtain a treasure that could aid his cultivation, but the Blood Lamp Sect’s dependence on the Pure Yang Hall made its independence unlikely.

• Ren Yanyu told Li Yan that the Pure Yang Hall had assigned the Blood Lamp Sect and three other powers to explore a secret realm containing a Great Wu Fruit tree.
• Ren Yanyu explained that the Pure Yang Hall took nine of the thirteen fruits, while the four subordinate powers competed for the rest through teams led by Spirit Transformation cultivators.
• Ren Yanyu said the Breakthrough Army Sect had to send a Nascent Soul cultivator to assist the Blood Lamp Sect, with rewards depending on the contest’s outcome and their contributions.
• Li Yan asked about the Great Wu Fruit’s uses and whether a cultivator could secretly take one; Ren Yanyu explained its benefits and the inspections that prevented theft.
• Li Yan asked why the Pure Yang Hall allowed the Blood Lamp Sect to obtain Great Wu Fruits, and Ren Yanyu explained that the Pure Yang Hall controlled its subordinate powers and that the Blood Lamp Sect was too entrenched to leave easily.

Li Yan agreed to travel to the Blood Lamp Sect in Ren Yanyu’s place, hoping to learn about the Immortal-Spirit Realm and find a way to send a message to the lower realm. After reaching the sect’s imposing mountain gate, he identified himself to a Blood Lamp Sect guard and presented the sect’s jade slip.

• Ren Yanyu warned Li Yan about the dangers and likely futility of pursuing the Great Nothing Fruit, then gave him instructions and a map for the journey.
• Li Yan explained that he wanted to learn about other sects and agreed to take Ren Yanyu’s place on the trip.
• Li Yan prepared his belongings and reforged sonic magic treasures, then set out northwest toward the Blood Lamp Sect.
• During nearly two months of travel, Li Yan avoided dangerous regions and fought three demon beasts and one Nascent Soul cultivator.
• Li Yan reached the Blood Lamp Sect’s blood-red mountain gate and felt the oppressive force of its formation.
• A concealed early Nascent Soul guard challenged Li Yan, who identified himself as a member of the Shattered Army Sect and offered the jade slip.

Li Yan entered the heavily guarded Blood Lamp Sect and was escorted to a great hall where subordinate-sect elders were gathering. He found Donglin Tingyue among them and quietly told the Golden Core cultivator leading him that she could leave.

• The red-robed cultivator checked Li Yan's identity and escorted him through the Blood Lamp Sect's guarded mountain gate.
• Li Yan sensed another Nascent Soul cultivator guarding the gate and recognized that the sect's black-red clouds concealed a deadly formation.
• The red-robed cultivator brought Li Yan to a floating great hall and told him to wait there for the group to depart that night.
• A woman leading Li Yan explained that four elders had arrived and one was still expected; Li Yan entered the hall and recognized Donglin Tingyue among the gathered guests.
• Li Yan passed the woman and sent her a voice transmission saying she could leave, though her reception duty was not yet finished.

Li Yan met the other Nascent Soul cultivators gathered for the Blood Lamp Sect expedition and learned about their identities and temperaments. After Chen Xingshan arrived with three Blood Lamp Sect elders, he ordered the assembled team to depart.

• Li Yan greeted Eastern Frost Tingyue, then asked her through voice transmission about the other cultivators who would join their team.
• Jia Fugui of the Abacus Sect arrived, introduced his wares, and chatted and traded with the gathered cultivators.
• Chen Xingshan entered with three late Nascent Soul Blood Lamp Sect cultivators, and Li Yan sensed that Chen was at the middle Spirit Transformation stage.
• Chen Xingshan briefly assessed the team's strength, ordered everyone to depart, and led them toward the rear of the main hall.

Li Yan traveled with the Blood Lamp Sect squad through an ultra-long-distance teleportation and then rode with three rival squads toward the secret realm holding the Great Void Fruits. The group reached the desert lake that served as the entrance, where Chongyangzi began laying down the requirements for entering.

• Chen Xingshan led Li Yan and the others through the Blood Lamp Sect’s underground passage and onto the red lotus lamp teleportation array bound for Pure Yang Hall.
• Li Yan pretended to be badly weakened after the teleportation, while Chen Xingshan assessed the squad’s condition and singled out the young late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator for praise.
• Half a month later, Li Yan and the other contestants traveled atop a Purple-Gold Flood Dragon Python with Spirit Transformation overseers from Pure Yang Hall and the four participating squads.
• Chongyangzi reminded the rival leaders that the four Great Void Fruits must not be damaged, and Chen Xingshan clashed verbally with an elder of the Seven Tigers Alliance.
• Donglin Tingyue told Li Yan that a lake ahead was the secret realm entrance and that reaching the Great Void Fruit trees would take about ten days after entry.
• The Purple-Gold Flood Dragon Python stopped above the desert lake, and Chongyangzi warned the contestants that violating the entry requirements could cost their squad its qualification.

Chongyangzi led Li Yan and the other contestants through a water passage into a flying vessel bound for the Great No-Fruit tree, warning them to stay aboard during the dangerous crossing. As the vessel crossed the Bone-Melting Winds desert, the teams settled into separate rooms, and Li Yan began studying information about their rivals ahead of the coming contest.

• Chongyangzi opened a passage across the turquoise lake and ordered the Nascent Soul cultivators to board the flying vessel, remain on its lowest level, and avoid fighting.
• Chongyangzi, Chen Xingshan, and the other three leaders entered the vessel before it passed through the water gate into a desert swept by Bone-Melting Winds.
• Li Yan and Donglin Tingyue tested the vessel’s surroundings with their Divine Sense, felt the Bone-Melting Winds shred it, and saw that other contestants had suffered the same pain.
• Yun Feng led Li Yan’s team toward rooms near the stern, and the four teams chose separate areas while Jia Fugui chatted with rival cultivators and sold magical treasures.
• Li Yan chose a room beside Donglin Tingyue’s, set additional defensive restrictions, and began reviewing a jade slip about the opposing cultivators.

Li Yan considered how to obtain a Great Wuguo fruit while avoiding the scrutiny of the Spirit Transformation cultivators. After eight days aboard the vessel, Yuan warned Chong Yangzi that the Blood Lantern Sect might be working with Heart Refining Valley to sabotage the Pure Yang Hall, and Chong Yangzi reacted with sudden alarm.

• Li Yan weighed ways to get close to the Great Wuguo fruit and decided he might have to help Chen Xingshan claim one, while guarding against betrayal.
• Eight days passed as the giant vessel crossed the Bone-Melting Wind toward the Great Wuguo Tree region.
• Yuan visited Chong Yangzi and warned that Chen Xingshan might carry a supreme treasure and intend to destroy the Great Wuguo Tree.
• Yuan cited reports of failed breakthroughs among Blood Lantern Sect subordinates and a Heart Refining Valley plan to undermine the Pure Yang Hall.
• After Yuan left, Chong Yangzi considered her warning and suddenly froze with a drastic change in expression.

Yuan and He used the Azure Nether Demon Vine to ambush Chong Yangzi, Chen Xingshan, and the Seven Tigers Alliance cultivator, then seized the giant vessel’s control treasure. With the other Spirit Transformation cultivators dead or captured, Yuan ordered the Nascent Soul cultivators to gather on deck as the conspirators prepared to kill them and take the Great Wu Fruit tree.

• Yuan’s Azure Nether Demon Vine trapped Chong Yangzi in his room, and he realized that Heavenly Mountain Garden had joined forces with Heart Refining Valley against Pure Yang Hall.
• He and He lured Chen Xingshan and the Seven Tigers Alliance cultivator into Chong Yangzi’s room and killed them, while Chong Yangzi was captured alive.
• Yuan used Soul Search on Chong Yangzi and took the ring that controlled the giant vessel.
• Yuan ordered the cultivators on the vessel’s first level to gather on the deck so she and He could kill them before claiming the Great Wu Fruit tree.

Li Yan grew suspicious when a Tianshan Garden woman announced the gathering instead of Chongyangzi, and he sensed an elderly woman descending from the vessel’s second level. Realizing something was wrong, he seized Donglin Tingyue and fled into a nearby room as the elderly woman surnamed He paused on the stairs.

• The female cultivator surnamed Yuan persuaded the elderly woman surnamed He to descend and kill the Blood Lamp Sect and Seven Tigers Alliance cultivators while she controlled the vessel and watched Chongyangzi.
• Li Yan noticed that a woman, rather than Chongyangzi, had called the cultivators together on the vessel’s eighth day.
• Li Yan heard Tianshan Garden disciples question why Pure Yang Hall was no longer handling matters and used his Divine Sense to probe the stairway to the second level.
• Li Yan glimpsed the elderly woman surnamed He descending the stairs and concluded that Chongyangzi and the Pure Yang Hall cultivators were missing.
• Li Yan grabbed Donglin Tingyue, muffled her attempted cry, and pulled her into a nearby room without being noticed by the gathered cultivators.
• The elderly woman surnamed He paused on the stairs with a suspicious expression.

Li Yan sensed that Elder He’s arrival and the missing leaders signaled danger, so he hid with Donglin Tingyue as Elder He launched a massacre on the deck. A voice blamed the Blood Lamp Sect and Seven Tigers Alliance for betraying Chongyangzi, while the green flames killed cultivators and Donglin Tingyue froze in shock at the scene outside.

• Li Yan pulled Donglin Tingyue into a room and concealed them after sensing killing intent from Elder He and suspecting something was wrong.
• Donglin Tingyue realized Li Yan had subdued and moved her without resistance, then felt her blood run cold when the scene outside changed.
• Elder He found three Blood Lamp Sect cultivators missing and declared that they should be killed after she dealt with those gathered on the deck.
• Elder He unleashed two ghost-face banners and sickly green flames upon the Tianshan Garden and Blood Lamp Sect cultivators.
• A voice announced that the Blood Lamp Sect and Seven Tigers Alliance had attacked Chongyangzi, that Chen Xingshan and Men Dou were dead, and that Tianshan Garden should obey Elder He.
• The green flames consumed cultivators from Li Yan’s team, including a voluptuous young woman and a large male cultivator.

Old Madam He ambushed the cultivators on the flying vessel, killing most of them while six survivors fled into rooms and fortified themselves. Li Yan and Donglin Tingyue stayed hidden as Old Madam He ordered two sects to attack the survivors’ rooms and began searching the vessel for concealed passengers.

• Old Madam He’s attack killed more than seventy percent of the cultivators from the Blood Lantern Sect and Seven Tigers Alliance, but three Blood Lantern Sect disciples, Yun Feng, and two Seven Tigers Alliance cultivators survived by using defenses and retreating into rooms.
• A swift Seven Tigers Alliance cultivator escaped into the Bone-Melting Wind and quickly died, while Old Madam He ordered eighteen cultivators from Spirit-Subduing Mountain Manor and Heavenly Mountain Garden to join forces against the six survivors.
• Old Madam He searched the vessel for the three hidden passengers, while Donglin Tingyue trembled at the carnage and realized Li Yan had saved her by keeping them inside their room.
• Li Yan judged that Old Madam He was a middle-stage Spirit Transformation cultivator and considered using Tuban, but feared that doing so would expose him or leave him trapped.
• Donglin Tingyue strengthened the room’s concealment and defensive formations, and she and Li Yan remained hidden behind the open door.

Li Yan and Donglin Tingyue hid from the Spirit Transformation cultivator searching the vessel, then discovered Jia Fugui concealed in their room with a powerful illusion treasure. The three joined forces to hide as the old woman surnamed He approached, leaving them silent beneath the pressure of her search.

• Li Yan and Donglin Tingyue prepared to hide while the old woman surnamed He searched the vessel and other cultivators bombarded rooms.
• Li Yan sensed someone concealed in the room and attacked, but Jia Fugui revealed himself and asked to join them in hiding.
• Jia Fugui activated his Bewildering Tail Plume, spreading its white light around all three of them.
• Li Yan told Jia Fugui that the old woman was a Spirit Transformation cultivator killing the remaining cultivators, and Jia Fugui explained that he had suspected the summons was not from Chongyangzi.
• The three suppressed their auras and stood still as the old woman surnamed He reached their room and began breaking through its restrictions.

Li Yan, Jia Fugui, and Donglin Tingyue remained hidden aboard the vessel while He searched for them and the attackers killed the exposed cultivators. Li Yan warned that their pursuers would likely tighten their guard, leaving the three with little chance of escaping into the secret realm.

• Yun Feng failed to hold his room’s restrictions, charged into the attackers, and was killed by their spells and a golden ring that prevented his self-destruction.
• He broke through a heavily protected room but found it empty, searched it repeatedly, and then collected the dead cultivators’ storage treasures.
• Jia Fugui proposed that they stay hidden until the Bone-Melting Wind vanished and speculated that the Blood Lamp Sect and Seven Tigers Alliance might have betrayed the Pure Yang Hall.
• The two Seven Tigers Alliance cultivators were killed after their room’s defenses collapsed, while He failed to find the three hidden cultivators and began searching four suspicious rooms in person.
• As the attackers began bombarding the last Blood Lamp Sect room, Li Yan argued that their growing vigilance and the Spirit Transformation cultivators above made escape increasingly unlikely.

Li Yan left the hidden room during the chaos on the giant vessel to search for a chance to escape, despite Jia Fugui and Donglin Tingyue's objections. He vanished using concealment techniques as the old woman surnamed He focused on the fighting, while she ordered a search for the three remaining Blood Lamp Sect cultivators.

• Li Yan told Jia Fugui and Donglin Tingyue he would leave the room and gave them voice transmission talismans, warning them not to stop him.
• Jia Fugui and Donglin Tingyue reacted with alarm, and Jia Fugui considered how to relocate the Bewildering Tail Plume if Li Yan were captured.
• When the three Blood Lamp Sect cultivators burst out to fight, Jia Fugui opened the restriction and Li Yan vanished using Night Concealment and Ebb Tide.
• The old woman surnamed He watched the battle and failed to notice Li Yan leaving; the three Blood Lamp Sect cultivators were killed by the attackers.
• After the fight, the old woman surnamed He ordered the cultivators to search the vessel for the three remaining Blood Lamp Sect cultivators.

Li Yan avoided detection while scouting the second-level entrance, then stayed hidden as the old woman surnamed He searched the vessel for the missing cultivators. She discovered the concealment treasure hiding Donglin Tingyue and Jia Fugui, injured Jia Fugui with a strike, and prepared to attack them again.

• Li Yan used Night Concealment to reach the bow, checked the second-level entrance, and decided not to go upstairs while the Spirit Transformation cultivators remained together.
• The old woman surnamed He continued searching the vessel while receiving orders from the female cultivator surnamed Yuan to finish clearing the lower level and later help control the vessel.
• The old woman surnamed He detected an inner restriction in a room and broke through it, revealing that Donglin Tingyue and Jia Fugui were concealed there.
• The old woman surnamed He struck at the Bewildering Tail Feather, injuring Jia Fugui with the shockwave and forcing the treasure away from its original position.
• The old woman surnamed He realized the concealment came from a mobile magic treasure and threatened to strike the hidden pair again.

Jia Fugui and Donglin Tingyue attacked the old woman surnamed He with their strongest artifacts, but the mid-stage Spirit Transformation cultivator countered them and injured them. As she prepared to enter the room again, Jia Fugui gathered his remaining artifacts for a desperate attempt to destroy her.

• Jia Fugui launched a golden melon artifact while Donglin Tingyue attacked with silver needles, but the old woman surnamed He deflected both attacks and destroyed the melon.
• Black smoke burst from cracks in the golden melon, but the old woman used her ghost-face banner to swallow it before leaving the room.
• Jia Fugui sent a narrow flying sword at the old woman, who caught and twisted its transformed blades until the backlash injured Jia Fugui and Donglin Tingyue.
• The old woman sealed the damaged flying sword and prepared to attack the room again while Jia Fugui and Donglin Tingyue swallowed pills.
• Jia Fugui brought out more than twenty artifacts and proposed detonating them, while Donglin Tingyue added four artifacts and a rouge bird to their last-ditch attack.

Li Yan drew the old woman surnamed He away from Donglin Tingyue and Jia Fugui by exposing a faint trace of his aura, while the two prepared to detonate their magic treasures. He then struck at the old woman surnamed He from close range, leaving the clash unresolved.

• Jia Fugui and Donglin Tingyue activated many magic treasures and prepared to detonate them against the old woman surnamed He.
• The old woman surnamed He sensed a concealed aura moving across the deck, ordered six cultivators to attack the room, and rushed to investigate.
• Jia Fugui and Donglin Tingyue halted their nearly triggered treasures when the old woman surnamed He left, then sensed six cultivators approaching their room.
• Li Yan recalled that the cultivators above were focused on the fighting below and moved across the vessel, deliberately leaking a trace of aura to draw the old woman surnamed He away.
• The old woman surnamed He failed to locate Li Yan and realized too late that he was close; Li Yan appeared six chi away and attacked as she raised her ghost-face banner.

Li Yan ambushed the old woman surnamed He and hurled her off the giant vessel before attacking the gathered Nascent Soul cultivators. He charged through their disrupted formation toward the vessel’s stern.

• Li Yan used a full-force shoulder charge to strike the old woman surnamed He and send her over the vessel’s edge.
• The old woman tried to seize Li Yan’s fist, but his follow-up punch launched her into the sandstorm, where she disappeared.
• Li Yan hurled the Immortal-Striking Stone, the copper bell, and two Guiyi Water-Parting Spikes at the twelve Nascent Soul cultivators, disrupting their reactions.
• Li Yan activated Five Elements Chaotic Cloak and charged toward the seven cultivators near the railing as the surrounding laws of heaven and earth slipped from their control.
• Li Yan streaked across the vessel toward its stern, piercing through the enemy formation.

Li Yan drove Elder He and numerous cultivators off the vessel with a surprise attack, then turned to fight the remaining attackers. Jia Fugui and Donglin Tingyue realized he had returned to save them, while the surrounded Li Yan evaded a coordinated strike and counterattacked.

• Li Yan used his momentum to knock cultivators overboard and snatched their storage rings as he passed.
• Jia Fugui and Donglin Tingyue saw Li Yan reappear, and Donglin Tingyue received his message to attack together.
• A Tianshan Garden disciple ordered the others to surround Li Yan and sent Junior Sister Wang to notify Elder Yuan.
• Li Yan rushed at the petite Tianshan Garden disciple, but shifted his kick aside at the last instant to evade her blades and the other attackers’ weapons.
• Li Yan appeared beside the petite cultivator and shouted as his enemies’ attacks converged on his afterimage.

Li Yan killed the petite female cultivator while Jia Fugui and Donglin Tingyue joined the battle against the remaining Nascent Soul cultivators. Their allies held off several enemies, leaving Li Yan free to keep fighting as the battle intensified.

• Li Yan outmaneuvered the petite female cultivator and crushed her head with a savage heel strike.
• The other three Nascent Soul cultivators' attacks missed Li Yan and struck the petite female cultivator's protective barrier, while six more cultivators were interrupted by attacks from Jia Fugui and Donglin Tingyue.
• Jia Fugui and Donglin Tingyue charged out of the room, with Donglin Tingyue sending her rouge bird to attack an enemy.
• Jia Fugui used his abacus to disrupt two cultivators, while Donglin Tingyue and her rouge bird trapped a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator with flaming bubbles.

Li Yan used the vessel’s lethal outer barrier to kill a Tianshan Garden cultivator and then found himself surrounded by six Nascent Soul cultivators. As Donglin Tingyue and Jia Fugui failed to break through their own opponents to help him, the six attackers suddenly cried out and recognized Li Yan’s immortal art as a trap.

• Li Yan struck the headless body of the Tianshan Garden cultivator beyond the vessel’s defensive barrier, while earlier attacks left her Nascent Soul too dazed to escape.
• Three cultivators turned from Jia Fugui and Donglin Tingyue to join the three already facing Li Yan, then spread out to surround him near the railing.
• The six cultivators attacked Li Yan with weapons and spells, while one warned the others about his magical treasures and their effects on the soul and spiritual energy.
• Donglin Tingyue tried to rush to Li Yan’s aid, but the lightning cultivator forced her back, and Jia Fugui’s magical treasures were intercepted by his opponents.
• As the six besieged Li Yan, they suddenly cried out, identified his immortal art as a trap, and called for retreat.

Li Yan used the Five Elements Chaotic Cloak and close-range attacks to defeat the cultivators surrounding him, then revealed that he had trapped the fleeing enemies in a deadly poison and illusion formation. With the first level cleared, he, Jia Fugui, and Donglin Tingyue still faced the Spirit Transformation cultivators above, who had not yet noticed the battle.

• Li Yan spread the Five Elements Chaotic Cloak across the six cultivators and knocked them beyond the ship's barrier, taking their storage rings as he sent them flying.
• Three cultivators escaped Jia Fugui and Donglin Tingyue and rushed toward the stairs, while the two pursued them.
• Li Yan stopped Jia Fugui and Donglin Tingyue near the stairs and warned them that he had placed deadly poison there.
• Li Yan revealed an illusion formation that trapped the three fleeing cultivators and killed them with poison, along with the Tianshan Garden disciple who had delivered a message.
• Jia Fugui thanked Li Yan, and the three realized they might still survive because the Spirit Transformation cultivators on the second level had not noticed the upheaval.

Li Yan concealed himself with Jia Fugui and Donglin Tingyue after killing the cultivators on the first deck, leaving poison and an illusion array to guard the stairway. The three considered how to survive the Spirit Transformation cultivators above, and Jia Fugui proposed staying hidden until they reached the Great No-Fruit Tree.

• Li Yan collected the storage rings from the fallen cultivators and threw their bodies off the ship, leaving only himself, Jia Fugui, and Donglin Tingyue on the first deck.
• Li Yan laid deadly poison and the Mirror Flowers illusion array around the stairway to hinder anyone coming down from the second deck.
• Li Yan hid himself, Jia Fugui, and Donglin Tingyue beneath the Bewildering Tail Feather near a row of rooms.
• Jia Fugui asked whether Li Yan's poison could stop a Spirit Transformation cultivator, and Li Yan said he could not be sure and questioned whether the stairway was the only route between decks.
• Donglin Tingyue and Jia Fugui proposed remaining hidden until the ship reached the Great No-Fruit Tree, while Jia Fugui pledged to follow Li Yan's decisions and offered him favorable terms from the Abacus Sect.