Recaps

Li Yan and the Return Army traced the network protecting Jin Zhiyuan and uncovered several sleeper agents. The arc ended with Su Hong’s group capturing Zhao Yidong, whose connection to Literary Heart Pavilion raised new questions about the enemy.

• Jin Zhiyuan’s hidden restriction triggered a fatal explosion during Su Liuyun’s Soul Search, and Li Yan helped shield Su Hong.
• Jin Thirty-One’s team discovered that Jin Zhiyuan’s assistants had escaped through a poisoned secret passage, while the Purple-Robed Youth identified a Brain-Twining White Corpse Gu protecting an important agent.
• Li Yan traced the assistants’ escape to likely hidden sentries and identified Blazing Sun in Panic in the passage, then used his Fragmented Poison Body to track its traces across Haina City.
• Su Liuyun’s forces captured Lin Fengshan, and the chief altar master found Mind-Wrapping White Corpse Gu fused with his soul before Lin revealed that he had passed intelligence to the Ghost Market.
• Lin Fengshan named Xu Li, Jin Zhiyuan, Guo Gongming, and Wan Kongshan as agents he knew, while Jin Thirty-One reported that a nearby itinerant artifact refiner had vanished.
• Return Army cultivators captured Guo Gongming and Wan Kongshan, whose interrogation revealed that they had monitored Jin Zhiyuan and used a coded warning system.
• Li Yan and Su Hong waited near the clerks’ residence for the operative sent to retrieve them, then captured Zhao Yidong when he entered the courtyard.
• Zhao Yidong identified himself as a steward of Literary Heart Pavilion and said he had come to take the two agents out of the city, but he did not know whose orders he followed.

Li Yan uncovered Wen Ruyun’s role in the enemy’s network, then used her death and the resulting clues to escape the Chief Altar Master’s reach. After leaving Cloud Bamboo Market, he traveled to Dongyi City under a new identity and sought entry into Juruisheng through an alchemy assessment.

• Li Yan traced Zhao Yidong’s coded messages to the Hall of Clear Discernment and identified Wen Ruyun as a likely enemy agent.
• Li Yan captured Wen Ruyun with Su Hong, but she died when a hidden devilish restriction triggered after she named Cloud Bamboo Market.
• Su Hong and Li Yan returned to headquarters, where Su Liuyun arranged reinforcements as Li Yan prepared to investigate Cloud Bamboo Market.
• Li Yan secretly left Su Hong a jade slip explaining his escape plan, and Su Hong chose to trust him while Su Liuyun promised to protect him.
• Li Yan fled from Cloud Bamboo Market and set out for East Yi City, while Guan Man agreed to ask the Great Elder to let Bai Ting join Guan Village’s next operation.
• Li Yan chose Juruisheng as cover, entered its district disguised as a Spirit Transformation Realm cultivator, and registered for an alchemy test.
• Li Yan presented himself as Chen Ying to a gray-robed Grand Alchemy Master, who considered him for a guest elder deacon position and led him to the practical assessment.

Li Yan rescued Zuo Qiudan from Dongmen Gaozhi, confronted their shared past, and arranged to leave Juruisheng with Shuang Qingqing. He joined her expedition to an ancient cultivator immortal city and waited with her and Yin Kongjin for Fang Xianhu.

• Li Yan passed Juruisheng’s pill assessment, earned a guest Attendant post, and learned that the firm would observe him for ten years.
• Li Yan entered Juruisheng’s wager-battle selection, broke into the final round, and secretly searched Dongmen Gaozhi, discovering that Gaozhi had imprisoned and tortured Zuo Qiudan.
• Li Yan freed Zuo Qiudan and helped him recover in Tuban, while Zuo Qiudan recalled how Dongmen Gaozhi had poisoned and robbed him.
• Li Yan met Shuang Qingqing again, explained his reason for joining Juruisheng, and accepted her offer to help him leave the marketplace.
• After Dongmen Gaozhi lost the wager battle, Li Yan captured him, brought Zuo Qiudan face-to-face with him, and left the marketplace with Shuang Qingqing’s help.
• Li Yan agreed to join Shuang Qingqing’s expedition with Fang Xianhu and Yin Kongjin, while Zuo Qiudan chose to travel with him and asked about Buluo, Wei Zhongran, and Zhao Zhi.
• Li Yan and Shuang Qingqing traveled north for more than a year and found the mountain near the Firecloud Three-Headed Cat’s territory where they suspected the ancient city lay.
• Li Yan and Shuang Qingqing hid near the suspected entrance, met Yin Kongjin, and waited for Fang Xianhu to arrive.

Li Yan and his companions entered the ancient city, where Fang Xianhu and Yin Kongjin plotted against him and Shuang Qingqing. After Li Yan defeated them and helped Shuang Qingqing escape the military camp, the two reached a monastery and faced eighteen powerful Arhat puppets.

• Yin Kongjin, Fang Xianhu, Shuang Qingqing, and Li Yan used the assembled map to enter the ancient city, but its gate restriction restrained their spiritual power until Li Yan broke through it in Qiongqi form.
• The group entered a ruined military camp, where a night fog filled the area with Baleful Intent and forced them to seek safety in central command tents.
• Fang Xianhu trapped Li Yan in a formation and worked with Yin Kongjin to target him and Shuang Qingqing, but Li Yan broke free and poisoned Fang Xianhu.
• Li Yan discovered Yin Kongjin’s transparent Clear Gleaming Thread trap, poisoned Yin Kongjin, and learned from his memories how to free Shuang Qingqing from her formation.
• Li Yan found Shuang Qingqing, and after she verified his identity and searched the tent for traps, they agreed to divide their finds and escaped the camp by breaking its Beacon Smoke Formation.
• Li Yan and Shuang Qingqing searched the city’s core and entered the Demon-Burning Monastery, where Li Yan struck the Deer-Seat Arhat after suspecting its eyes had moved.
• Eighteen Arhat puppets surrounded Li Yan and Shuang Qingqing and coordinated attacks powerful enough to threaten them, while Shuang Qingqing asked Li Yan to hold them back without damaging them.