Recaps

Li Yan poisoned Qianyu Sect's elders and escaped Su Nanzi, then warned Mo Sen and Jiang Xuan of the sect’s trap before returning to Wangliang Sect. He reunited with his family and companions, approved Li Zhaoyan’s match with Ling Qingyun, and hurried to Bai Rou’s Spirit Transformation tribulation.

• Li Yan used an exploding avatar and Zhili Poison to attack Qianyu Sect, killing two elders and leaving Lu Hongfeng mortally wounded as Su Nanzi pursued him.
• Li Yan fought Su Nanzi with talismans, the Five Elements Chaotic Cloak, and Heavy Water Beads, then escaped by hiding his true body among the beads.
• Li Yan recovered on his journey and left warnings that helped Mo Sen and Jiang Xuan avoid Qianyu Sect’s ambush.
• Li Yan returned to Wangliang Sect and learned that Zhao Min and Gong Chenying had taken Little Beast to the Tianli Clan, while Wei Zhongran was away on a mission involving the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect.
• Li Yan reunited with Li Wuyi and his companions, welcomed Wei Chituo’s relationship with Ye Huaiqing, and approved of Ling Qingyun as a potential Dao companion for Li Zhaoyan.
• The Sect Master confirmed the secret-realm negotiations with the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect, and Li Yan chose not to join the mission because it could expose his ties to the Five Immortals Sect.
• Four months later, Li Yan rushed to the rear mountains after Bai Rou sensed her Spirit Transformation Heavenly Tribulation.

Li Yan left Wangliang Sect for the Tianli Clan, then secretly infiltrated a secret-realm expedition to investigate the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect. He lured and killed Xu Yusheng, Shi Chen'an, and their companions, disguising their deaths as a Radiant Gold Blood Leech attack, while another squad arrived to investigate.

• Li Yan told Bai Rou that Shuang Qingqing had reached the Void Refinement Realm and planned to establish the Muliu Sect, then Bai Rou resolved to find her after stabilizing her realm.
• Li Yan learned that Zhao Min and the others needed to visit the Tianli Clan, and he decided to escort them there while sharing his plans with his fellow disciples.
• Zuo Qiudan parted from Ming Feng, Ming Qi, and Ming Yu, reached Pojun Sect, and reunited with Bu Luo.
• Li Yan secretly left Wangliang Sect, impersonated Zhuang Muhua, and joined Zhang Su and Hu Qianqiu's team entering the secret realm.
• Li Yan encountered Radiant Gold Blood Leeches and learned that their great clans planned to move the secret realm and erase its entrance, potentially trapping the cultivators inside.
• Li Yan infiltrated the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect's search area and discovered that Xu Yusheng and Shi Chen'an's team would gather on an island while Shi Chen'an recovered from an injury.
• Li Yan trapped the gathered cultivators with the Ghost Trace formation and poison, made them hallucinate leech attacks, and killed all twenty, including Xu Yusheng and Shi Chen'an.
• Heng Guyuan and a short young man arrived with another squad, searched the island, and concluded that the Brightgold Blood Worms had likely retreated.

Li Yan stole Heng Guyuan’s golden leaf and escaped the secret realm’s suspicion as the Gold Radiance Blood Leech clan severed the passage, trapping Elder He inside. He crossed Dim Heaven Dark Earth, killed Qiu Zhongnuo, and unknowingly retraced the ghost cultivator’s earlier search for the Green-faced Gate and the sealed Seven-Spirit Mist Roar.

• Li Yan killed Heng Guyuan and the other Yin-Yang Chaos Sect cultivators, took Heng Guyuan’s golden leaf, and returned their treasures to disguise the attack as a demon-beast assault.
• He Yiniang, Elder Yang, and Liao entered the secret realm, found the dead teams, and questioned their disciples, but Li Yan left without drawing attention to himself.
• The Gold Radiance Blood Leech leaders activated their formation and severed the passage, trapping He Yiniang inside as Elder Yang and Liao blamed the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect for closing the entrance.
• He Yiniang fought the Gold Radiance Blood Leech demons and was eventually captured, while Li Yan released Zhuang Muhua and set out for the White Devil Race.
• Li Yan crossed Dim Heaven Dark Earth, where he met Qiu Zhongnuo and two other cultivators in a ruined tower during a storm.
• Qiu Zhongnuo revealed himself as a ghost cultivator, killed the other two strangers, and attacked Li Yan, who destroyed his body and seized his Nascent Soul.
• Li Yan learned from Qiu Zhongnuo’s memories that he was a Nightwalker Sect patriarch who had pursued Li Yan after the Yellow Springs City escape.
• Qiu Zhongnuo’s past revealed how he found the Green-faced Gate ruins and the Great Disputation Ghost Array, but failed to break the seal protecting the Seven-Spirit Mist Roar.

After escaping Dim Heaven Dark Earth, Li Yan sought the Heavenly Demon White Jade Disk and opened a gu-insect shop to draw out Luo Beixi. As Qianji joined him in Saint Demon City, Luo Beixi grew familiar with Li Yan but remained wary, and their first private meeting began.

• Li Yan defeated Qiu Zhongnuo, destroyed his hidden ghost, and later erased his soul after leaving Dim Heaven Dark Earth, releasing twenty of the captured Nascent Souls and keeping six others.
• Li Yan entered Saint Demon City disguised as a middle-stage Void Refinement cultivator, ruled out stealing the White Devil Race’s technique, and targeted Luo Beixi, its sole known Void Refinement practitioner of the Heavenly Demon White Jade Disk.
• Li Yan opened Gu Garden near the Holy Devil Palace, stocked it with gu insects, and waited for Luo Beixi to visit while learning enough about gu insects to speak with him.
• Qianji awoke as a soul inside Tuban, learned that centuries had passed since his death, and possessed a snow mosquito body with Li Yan’s help before choosing to remain with him.
• Li Yan and Qianji ran the shop together, and Luo Beixi visited with Junior Brother Ye, whose soul art detected strong soul fluctuations from Qianji but found Wang Xing’s soul steady.
• After tracing a poison pill ingredient to Gu Garden, Luo Beixi inspected the shop with Ye but found no clear evidence of wrongdoing and returned to his cave abode with questions.
• Over the next three years, Luo Beixi visited Gu Garden more often to discuss and buy gu insects, while Li Yan judged that Luo was guarding against another enemy and still did not fully trust him.
• Luo Beixi arrived alone during a busy period and asked to speak somewhere quiet, so Li Yan led him to the back courtyard while wondering whether Ye had truly left him alone.