Recaps

Mu Guyue used soul attacks and her crescent handguard blades to kill two Spirit Transformation Realm squad leaders, shocking the enemy forces. As the remaining four cultivators joined forces against her, the battle continued with Mu Guyue reflecting on the speed and effectiveness of Li Yan’s one-strike approach.

• Mu Guyue struck Squad Leader Feng with a soul technique and cleaved him and his Nascent Soul in half with her crescent handguard blade.
• Mu Guyue charged the white-robed young man, disrupted his soul with Soul-Severing Slash, and killed him with her twin blades.
• The remaining Spirit Transformation Realm cultivators recognized Mu Guyue as a Devil Race cultivator and began converging to surround her.
• Mu Guyue reached the retreating alluring woman before the four enemies could fully join together and considered how her attacks compared with Li Yan’s.
• Mu Guyue reflected that soul cultivators could swiftly kill powerful opponents but remained vulnerable because their bodies were frail.

Mu Guyue killed a Misha Hall Spirit Transformation cultivator in an ambush while Li Yan drew a Void Refinement expert into their layered trap. They escaped into the beacon tower’s formation, which the green-robed man battered as he realized his subordinates had been outmaneuvered.

• Mu Guyue lured the seductive woman into a weak underground formation, then pierced her with bone spikes and destroyed her body, leaving her Nascent Soul alive.
• As three Spirit Transformation cultivators surrounded Mu Guyue, Li Yan attacked them from behind and urged her to retreat into the formation.
• Li Yan and Mu Guyue entered the beacon tower and took control of its grand formation just as the green-robed Void Refinement expert struck it.
• The green-robed man realized Li Yan had used poison and a double-layered scheme to escape, while two of his capable subordinates had been killed.
• The green-robed man struck the formation again as Li Yan, Mu Guyue, and four Nascent Soul cultivators held it, astonishing the Nascent Soul cultivators with their strength.

Li Yan and Mu Guyue endured Gui Qing’s devastating attack on the Southern Fang Beacon Tower until Zhao Haiyang arrived and forced him to retreat. Zhao Haiyang then presented his token and asked what had provoked Gui Qing.

• Gui Qing unleashed a massive saber strike against the Beacon Tower formation, injuring Li Yan, Mu Guyue, and the cultivators sheltering inside.
• Zhao Haiyang arrived and stopped Gui Qing’s saber with a dragon-tongue spear before Gui Qing withdrew westward.
• Li Yan refused to reveal his name to Gui Qing, who left vowing to eliminate the cultivators at the tower.
• Li Yan awakened the unconscious Golden Core cultivators and led Mu Guyue and the injured Nascent Soul cultivators to meet Zhao Haiyang.
• Zhao Haiyang showed his token above the still-active formation and asked what had provoked Gui Qing.

Zhao Haiyang praised Li Yan and Mu Guyue for their victory over Mosha Hall and offered them posts at Wind Signal Camp, which they accepted after resolving their concerns about leaving South Fang Beacon Tower. Half a month later, after helping repel repeated attacks, they received transfer orders and departed, leaving their former subordinates reluctant to see them go.

• Zhao Haiyang heard Li Yan's account of the trap that killed three Mosha Hall cultivators and promised South Fang Beacon Tower a merit and rewards.
• After learning Li Yan and Mu Guyue belonged to Heavenbreaker Sect, Zhao Haiyang offered them positions at Wind Signal Camp, and Li Yan asked whether they could transfer so soon after arriving.
• Zhao Haiyang assured them that their transfer could proceed with their agreement, and they later received orders to leave South Fang Beacon Tower.
• During the following half month, Li Yan and Mu Guyue led the defense through nine more clashes, helping their side inflict heavier losses on Mosha Hall.
• After handing the beacon tower over to three arriving Spirit Transformation cultivators, Li Yan and Mu Guyue bid farewell to their subordinates and flew toward the rear.

Li Yan searched the Dark Domain Swamp for a yin vein while suspecting the Wind Messenger Camp was deliberately sending him on deadly missions. After learning that Zhao Haiyang had propositioned Mu Guyue, the two connected his assignments to Zhao and considered how to respond.

• Li Yan's squad searched the swamp for a branch of Mosha Hall's yin vein, suffering two deaths and one injury without finding any clues.
• Li Yan recalled how he had been repeatedly transferred into Deathwind squads and sent on missions with exceptionally high casualty rates after leaving Mu Guyue's squad.
• Mu Guyue told Li Yan that Zhao Haiyang had asked her to serve as his deputy commander, and she said she had told him Li Yan was her Dao Companion.
• Li Yan explained his suspicions that Zhao Haiyang was behind his dangerous assignments, and Mu Guyue grew angry as she realized their missions had kept them apart.
• Mu Guyue warned Li Yan that his missions were too dangerous to continue and asked what they should do.

Li Yan and Mu Guyue planned to escape Zhao Haiyang’s control without endangering the Pojun Sect. During a dangerous scouting mission in the Dark Domain Marsh, Li Yan detected unusual yin energy inside a tree hollow.

• Li Yan warned Mu Guyue that Zhao Haiyang would make her situation more dangerous, and they agreed to wait for a chance to act without implicating the Pojun Sect.
• Li Yan proposed that after the mission they would accept another assignment together, approach Ghost Sound City, and appeal to Chunyang Hall’s Elders’ Hall.
• Li Yan flew through the Dark Domain Marsh with four other members of a Deathwind squad, keeping his displayed divine sense limited to conceal his true ability.
• Li Yan noticed yin energy leaking from a hollow at the base of a bare tree, despite the marsh’s death energy and miasma suppressing yin energy.

Li Yan used the Dark Domain Swamp mission to build a favor and conceal his plans while Zhao Haiyang paused his attempts to target him. After Li Yan and Mu Guyue left the military camp together on a personal mission near Ghostsound City, Zhao Haiyang learned they were seeking Hongluo Dao.

• Li Yan returned from the Dark Domain Swamp mission with severe injuries, and Zhao Haiyang decided to stop arranging dangerous missions for him temporarily.
• Li Yan and Mu Guyue spent two months in seclusion while Zhao Haiyang monitored them.
• A bearded cultivator who owed Li Yan a favor told him about a new mission near Ghostsound City, as planned.
• Li Yan and Mu Guyue accepted a personal mission and left the military camp together.
• Zhao Haiyang learned that General Niu's mission was to find Hongluo Dao, a Rakshasa Hall cultivator reportedly seen near Ghostsound City.

Zhao Haiyang sent Kong Qianqiu and Min Bufuh to intercept Li Yan and Mu Guyue as they traveled toward Ghost Sound City. The two travelers disguised themselves as ordinary ghost cultivators, unaware that their pursuers were concealed underground nearby.

• Zhao Haiyang ordered Kong Qianqiu and Min Bufuh to kill Li Yan and Mu Guyue if they got the chance, and to meet him eight days later regardless of the outcome.
• Kong Qianqiu and Min Bufuh used a concealed one-way teleportation array to travel ahead of Li Yan and Mu Guyue.
• On their fourth day out, Li Yan and Mu Guyue sensed powerful enemy scans near Ghost Sound City and decided to stop hiding their auras.
• Li Yan and Mu Guyue swallowed black-red pills that changed their appearances and auras, then flew away disguised as ordinary young ghost cultivators.
• Kong Qianqiu and Min Bufuh remained concealed a thousand li underground, waiting for Li Yan and Mu Guyue to pass.

Kong Qianqiu and Min Bufu tracked Li Yan and Mu Guyue toward Ghostsound City using a secret method that detected their identity tokens. Li Yan and Mu Guyue sensed the pair following them and changed course, but Kong Qianqiu and Min Bufu remained unaware that their pursuit had been noticed.

• Kong Qianqiu and Min Bufu detected Li Yan and Mu Guyue's identity tokens with bronze ring ornaments and set off after them in disguise.
• Li Yan and Mu Guyue flew toward Ghostsound City under the concealment of Ghost Transformation Pills while enemy cultivators repeatedly probed them with divine sense.
• Li Yan and Mu Guyue approached a vast emerald river and discussed the water-dwelling clans and beasts said to guard the frontier.
• Li Yan noticed a bald old man and a young man following them, and Mu Guyue identified the pair as the two trailing cultivators.
• Mu Guyue told Li Yan to change direction, and the pair turned south.
• Min Bufu noticed their change of course, but Kong Qianqiu assumed they had received a lead on their mission and continued the pursuit.

Li Yan and Mu Guyue suspected that Kong Qianqiu and Min Bufu were tracking them with items provided by the Moji Dao Sect, so they left those items behind to mislead their pursuers. Kong Qianqiu and Min Bufu discovered the decoy but failed to find their targets, and later realized Li Yan and Mu Guyue had discarded all the sect-issued gear because they only suspected a tracking mark.

• Li Yan and Mu Guyue reasoned that the two men following them might include Zhao Haiyang, and suspected the Moji Dao Sect’s issued items were being used to track them.
• Kong Qianqiu and Min Bufu followed the signal from a bronze ring pendant to a remote valley, where they mistook a decoy for Li Yan and Mu Guyue lying in wait.
• Kong Qianqiu and Min Bufu found a Storage Pouch inside a formation that blocked Divine Sense and realized Li Yan and Mu Guyue had lured them away with discarded items.
• Kong Qianqiu and Min Bufu searched the area for hours but found neither Li Yan nor Mu Guyue, then returned to inspect the abandoned gear.
• Kong Qianqiu and Min Bufu found azure armor, pill bottles, and identity tokens, and Min Bufu concluded that Li Yan and Mu Guyue had only suspected one of the items contained a tracking mark.

Li Yan and Mu Guyue ambushed Kong Qianqiu and Min Bufuh, using concealed poison and Soul-Splitting Slash to defeat them before Li Yan searched their memories and killed them. Li Yan learned they were Zhao Haiyang’s trusted aides, leaving him and Mu Guyue with their identities and belongings to investigate.

• Kong Qianqiu and Min Bufuh examined the items from the Moji Dao Sect and prepared to use them to ensnare Li Yan and Mu Guyue.
• Li Yan and Mu Guyue revealed themselves after secretly observing the pair and confirming Zhao Haiyang was absent.
• Li Yan’s poison weakened Kong Qianqiu and Min Bufuh, while Mu Guyue struck Kong Qianqiu with Soul-Splitting Slash; Li Yan captured both men.
• Li Yan sealed the pair’s cultivation, searched their memories, and learned they were Zhao Haiyang’s trusted aides and elders of third-rate sects.
• Li Yan burned Kong Qianqiu and Min Bufuh to ashes and collected their storage rings, prompting Mu Guyue to ask what had happened.

Li Yan and Mu Guyue uncovered how the Moji Dao Sect’s bronze pendants tracked identity tokens and weighed how to deal with Zhao Haiyang. Li Yan proposed a deception using the Truth-Confusing Pill, then revealed a spiritual aura that convinced Mu Guyue he could pass as a late-stage Spirit Transformation cultivator.

• Li Yan explained that the bronze pendants could detect identity tokens even inside ordinary storage rings, but not inside Empty Shadow or Tuban, and he and Mu Guyue hid their belongings in Empty Shadow.
• Mu Guyue asked whether they should seek the Guiyun Laixi Trading Firm in Ghostsound City or confront Zhao Haiyang, and Li Yan rejected a head-on fight while proposing a scheme.
• Li Yan used the Truth-Confusing Pill to transform into Kong Qianqiu so convincingly that Mu Guyue could not detect the disguise.
• Mu Guyue raised the problem of concealing their cultivation from Zhao Haiyang, a Void Refinement expert.
• Li Yan briefly revealed an aura of late-stage Spirit Transformation, astonishing Mu Guyue, before returning to his late-stage Nascent Soul aura.

Li Yan and Mu Guyue finalized their plan to meet Zhao Haiyang, with Li Yan concealing his cultivation and preparing to impersonate Kong Qianqiu. Several days later, Li Yan reached the meeting place and encountered Zhao Haiyang.

• Li Yan explained that Five Elements Return to Primordial Chaos could temporarily raise his cultivation, while Mu Guyue asked about its risks and accepted his assurances.
• Li Yan instructed Mu Guyue to wait near Ghostsound City and refused to let her accompany him to meet Zhao Haiyang.
• Several days later, Li Yan used Kong Qianqiu's identity and followed signals from a Windwatch Camp sound-transmission tablet to a forest meeting place.
• After checking that he had not been followed, Li Yan revealed himself as Kong Qianqiu, and Zhao Haiyang stepped out from behind a tree.

Zhao Haiyang joined Kong Qianqiu and Min Bufu outside Ghostsound City, then entered the city disguised as a Golden Core cultivator to pursue Mu Guyue. After locating her inn, Zhao Haiyang stayed in the crowded tavern while his two subordinates departed, leaving the next move uncertain.

• Kong Qianqiu told Zhao Haiyang that Mu Guyue and Li Yan had entered Ghostsound City, so he and Min Bufu had continued tracking them instead of attacking.
• Zhao Haiyang ordered Kong Qianqiu to keep watch, then decided to enter Ghostsound City after learning Mu Guyue remained at the Rising Peace Inn.
• Zhao Haiyang and Kong Qianqiu disguised themselves as elderly Golden Core cultivators and passed the city’s inspection without incident.
• At the inn, Min Bufu told Zhao Haiyang that Mu Guyue was in her room and Li Yan was away, then gave him a jade slip with their room location.
• Zhao Haiyang told Kong Qianqiu and Min Bufu to leave and keep watch while he remained in the crowded tavern, observing the inn.

Min Bufui escaped Ghostsound City while Kong Qianqiu reported Zhao Haiyang to the Mosha Hall, prompting cultivators to surround Shengping Inn and inspect its occupants. The green-robed leader cleared Zhao Haiyang, but both men suddenly acted at the same moment, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• Min Bufui passed through the city gate and blended into the crowd leaving Ghostsound City.
• Kong Qianqiu secretly told a Mosha Hall patrol captain that a suspected Void Refinement Realm cultivator from the Moji Dao Sect was at Shengping Inn.
• The Mosha Hall detained Kong Qianqiu and sent cultivators to surround Shengping Inn while Zhao Haiyang waited inside, unaware of the report.
• The green-robed cultivator ordered the inn's occupants to show proof of identity and singled out Zhao Haiyang for questioning.
• Zhao Haiyang presented a genuine identity token claiming he had come from Flowing Night City, and the green-robed cultivator declared him clear.
• As the green-robed cultivator turned away, he and Zhao Haiyang suddenly acted at the same moment.

Zhao Haiyang’s cover was exposed, and he fought his way out of Shengping Inn before racing for Ghost Sound City’s eastern gate with Kong Qianqiu. With the blue-robed Void Refinement cultivator in pursuit and stronger enemies possibly waiting, Zhao Haiyang reached the gate passage but remained unsure he could escape.

• Zhao Haiyang and the blue-robed cultivator simultaneously attacked each other, and their clash destroyed Shengping Inn and killed many people.
• Zhao Haiyang recognized that the blue-robed cultivator was an early-stage Void Refinement expert, then destroyed the inn and nearby buildings as he fled.
• The blue-robed cultivator raised the alarm and ordered the city gates closed, while Zhao Haiyang concluded Kong Qianqiu had probably not betrayed him.
• Zhao Haiyang killed the patrolling cultivators surrounding Kong Qianqiu, grabbed him, and rushed toward the eastern gate.
• Zhao Haiyang passed the guards and entered the gate passage as the blue-robed cultivator pursued him, leaving him uncertain whether he could escape Ghost Sound City.

Zhao Haiyang nearly escaped Ghostsound City, but a decoy Kong Qianqiu detonated in his hand and delayed him until the city gates sealed. Four thousand li away, Mu Guyue and Li Yan confirmed their plot had trapped him, though Li Yan was injured controlling his avatar.

• Zhao Haiyang fought through the closing gate passage as the blue-robed cultivator and three other Void Refinement cultivators pursued him.
• Zhao Haiyang used the blue-robed cultivator’s attack to propel himself toward the gate, accepting injuries as he broke through the formation’s approach.
• The Kong Qianqiu in Zhao Haiyang’s hand detonated his body and repeated Mu Guyue’s message, forcing Zhao Haiyang to divert his power and collide with the sealed gate.
• Zhao Haiyang realized Kong Qianqiu had been a decoy and roared in fury as the cultivators closed in around him.
• Four thousand li south of Ghostsound City, Mu Guyue and Li Yan discussed their escape plan, and Li Yan revealed that Zhao Haiyang had nearly escaped before his avatar kept him inside the city.

Li Yan and Mu Guyue returned to Ghost Sound City after searching for clues about Red Luo Dao and confirmed that its Return, O Return shop matched the trading house Li Yan had known in the lower realm. Li Yan asked a senior steward about Su Hong, who said he did not know where she was, leaving Li Yan without confirmation that she had returned to the upper realm.

• Li Yan told Mu Guyue that Zhao Haiyang had destroyed himself and his treasures after four Void Refinement cultivators trapped him, collapsing the city gate passage.
• After searching nearby for Red Luo Dao clues for three months, Li Yan and Mu Guyue entered Ghost Sound City and found its streets under heavy patrol.
• Li Yan recognized the familiar Return, O Return shop and took Mu Guyue inside to ask about Su Hong.
• Li Yan persuaded the black-robed appraisal steward to hear his questions and asked whether Su Hong was in the upper realm.
• The steward questioned whether Li Yan and Mu Guyue were ascended cultivators, then said he did not know where Su Hong was and privately suspected she was still traveling in the lower realm.

Li Yan arranged for messages to be sent to Su Hong and the lower realm, then continued saving for a cross-realm journey with Mu Guyue. More than a year after returning to Po Jun Sect, Su Hong received his jade slip and recognized the phrase identifying its sender as an old friend of wind and snow.

• Li Yan persuaded the black-robed steward at Guiqulaixi to send one jade slip to Su Hong and another to the Phantom Sect, though the messages would take decades to reach their destinations.
• Li Yan and Mu Guyue learned that Guiqulaixi could escort them to a cross-realm formation but could not send them directly to the lower realm, so they postponed their journey until they had more top-grade spirit stones.
• After more than seven years of rotating duty, Li Yan revisited the steward, learned that the jade slips were still traveling through North Pasture Realm, and obtained a token and map for contacting Guiqulaixi at a market town.
• Li Yan and Mu Guyue returned to Po Jun Sect, received their accumulated profits from Shangguan Tianque, and continued waiting while they gathered funds.
• Su Hong investigated Jia Fugui and the Abacus Sect, then Uncle Lian delivered a jade slip from Ghost Sound City bearing the message that it came from an old friend of wind and snow.
• Su Hong froze when she heard the sender's identifying phrase.

Su Hong followed Li Yan’s message to the Po Jun Sect and finally reunited with him after years of searching. She asked how he had reached the Immortal-Spirit Realm, while Li Yan was eager to learn what had happened to his family in the lower realm.

• Su Hong learned that Li Yan’s jade slip directed her to the Po Jun Sect and discovered the sect was part of the Moji Dao Sect.
• After more than twelve years of travel, Su Hong arrived at the Po Jun Sect with Protectors Lian and Ning and asked its guards to summon Li Yan.
• Li Yan appeared at the mountain gate when he learned Su Hong had come, and the two greeted each other after their long separation.
• Li Yan welcomed Su Hong and her attendants into his cave abode, where he recognized the attendants as powerful true bodies and revealed his middle Spirit Transformation Realm cultivation.
• Li Yan asked how Su Hong received his message and reached the upper realm, but she redirected the conversation and asked him to explain how he had arrived there.

Li Yan told Su Hong how he and Xue Longzi were swept into the chaotic void, leaving Xue Longzi’s fate unknown while Li Yan eventually ascended to the Immortal-Spirit Realm. As Su Hong listened, she reflected on her history with Li Yan and the unusual closeness that had grown between them.

• Li Yan explained that he used a teleportation treasure to drag himself and Xue Longzi into the chaotic void, where they fell into a spatial fragment and became separated.
• Li Yan recounted waking in the Heavenly Demon Grassland after passing through a spatial node, where Po Jun Sect cultivators rescued him.
• Su Hong recalled how she left her sheltered life to experience the Mortal Realm, met Li Yan, and gradually came to value his company and wonder whether he had survived.
• Su Hong said that even Void Refinement and Body Integration experts could not be sure of escaping the chaotic void’s spatial fragments alive.

Li Yan learned from Su Hong that his loved ones in the lower realm had searched for him for years, but Zhao Zhi had died during her Nascent Soul Formation Heavenly Tribulation. As he struggled with the news, Su Hong revealed that Zhao Min had borne him a daughter, Li Zhaoyan, who had already reached the Golden Core Realm.

• Li Yan explained how he had sought a way to contact the lower realm and found Guiqulaixi, while Su Hong described how she learned of his connection to the Abacus Sect and Pojun Sect.
• Su Hong told Li Yan that Gong Chenying, Zhao Min, Wei Zhongran, and the others had never stopped searching for him, believing he was trapped because his soul lamp remained lit.
• Su Hong revealed that Zhao Zhi had died during her Nascent Soul Formation Heavenly Tribulation, and Li Yan grieved that he had not seen her again.
• Su Hong changed the subject by telling Li Yan that Zhao Min had given birth to their daughter, Li Zhaoyan, who was now in the Golden Core Realm.
• Li Yan stared at Su Hong in shock as he repeated that his daughter had reached the Golden Core Realm.

Li Yan asked Su Hong for help returning to the Mortal Realm or crossing to the Jieyou Realm, and explained that he planned to escort Mu Guyue, a Black Devil Race cultivator who had once saved him. Su Hong recognized Mu Guyue from Guiqulaixi’s records and confirmed that Li Yan’s account was plausible, though she remained surprised by the connection.

• Su Hong told Li Yan that his son and daughter were well and shared news about Small Bamboo Peak and the Phantom Sect’s Nascent Soul cultivators.
• Li Yan asked Su Hong for a way to return to the Mortal Realm and requested that she pass his location to Zhao Min and the others if he could not return.
• Li Yan explained that he planned to accompany a female friend to the Jieyou Realm because she had saved his life in a dangerous secret realm.
• Su Hong learned that the woman was Mu Guyue of the Black Devil Race and recalled her name from records about the Broken Army Sect.
• Su Hong checked Guiqulaixi’s records and found that Mu Guyue had borne a son in the lower realm, leaving her astonished but more convinced of Li Yan’s explanation.

Li Yan and Mu Guyue arranged with Su Hong to cross to the Jieyou Realm and send news to the lower realm. Su Hong then revealed she knew the location of a spatial node leading toward the lower realm, but warned that using it was extraordinarily dangerous.

• Li Yan asked Su Hong to meet Mu Guyue, and Su Hong agreed to arrange their crossing to the Jieyou Realm.
• Li Yan brought Mu Guyue to meet Su Hong, and the two women greeted each other before discussing the journey.
• Su Hong explained the route and fees, granted Li Yan and Mu Guyue concessions, and settled the crossing arrangements with them.
• Mu Guyue left to prepare, while Li Yan asked Su Hong to stay so they could arrange matters with the sect.
• Su Hong hinted that a way to reach the lower realm existed, then said she knew the location of a spatial node whose dangers could be as perilous as ascension.

Su Hong explained to Li Yan how travel between the Immortal Spirit Realm and the Mortal Realm worked and why descending through a spatial node had become dangerous. She revealed that most routes had collapsed or grown unstable, leaving only a few scattered nodes in the hands of powerful factions.

• Su Hong hesitated to help Li Yan because the trading company's secret passages were restricted, while Lian and Ning privately discussed her concern for him.
• Li Yan asked Su Hong to reveal the location of a spatial node leading to the lower realm, and he insisted he was willing to risk the dangers of traveling through it.
• Su Hong challenged Li Yan's understanding of how the laws of the upper and lower realms affected cultivators who traveled between them.
• Li Yan explained that the laws of the Immortal Spirit Realm encompassed those of the Mortal Realm, allowing descending cultivators to travel safely if they suppressed their cultivation.
• Su Hong explained that widespread use, careless cultivators, and battles near spatial nodes had destroyed most routes to the lower realm.
• Su Hong said that disturbances between the laws of heaven and earth had made the remaining spatial passages exceptionally unstable.