Recaps

Qi Yun escaped Ghost-Crying Market while Situ Huaji rampaged through its garrison and fought Wu Yushan, damaging the Five Yin Bag and driving Wu Yushan to flee. Amid the devastation, Wuji Sacred Sect’s true cultivators finished their reconnaissance and gathered to prepare for their next move.

• Qi Yun returned to Ghost-Crying Market, saw Situ Huaji slaughtering its residents and garrison, and slipped away while the fighting drew everyone's attention.
• Wu Yushan summoned the Five Yin Bag, which sucked nearby cultivators into its mouth and attacked Situ Huaji with corrosive Sha Qi tentacles.
• Situ Huaji punched through the Five Yin Bag, injuring Wu Yushan and forcing him to flee, then pursued him despite his badly corroded arm.
• Wuji Sacred Sect’s inner-palace true cultivators used the chaos to complete their reconnaissance and regroup in a secluded mountain ravine.
• Yuan Zong thanked the gathered cultivators and declared that it was time to claim the fruits of their mission.

Yuan Zong sent the coordinates of Ghost-Crying Market to the Wuji Sacred Sect’s spell cultivators, who struck the market with Lesser Five Elements Annihilation Divine Light and broke its defenses. The Holy Sect’s true cultivators stormed the market, and Qi Yun fought his way into its depths while using Essence Devouring to replenish and strengthen himself.

• Yuan Zong used his Essence Blood and Law Seal to send the gathered coordinates to the Holy Sect’s spell cultivators.
• The white-haired old woman led the spell cultivators in firing Lesser Five Elements Annihilation Divine Light, which tore a breach in Ghost-Crying Market’s defenses despite the Ten Thousand Ghosts Netherworld Banner.
• Yuan Zong led the Holy Sect’s true cultivators into the damaged market, where the weakened Yellow Springs Netherworld survivors could barely resist.
• Qi Yun advanced under the protection of sunken abyss iron sand and killed a Yellow Springs Netherworld deacon with Dragon-Binding Gāthā.
• Qi Yun used Void-Trapping Awl to kill fleeing disciples as his skull collected their vital essence through Essence Devouring.
• Qi Yun reached the depths of Ghost-Crying Market.

Qi Yun broke into the Ten Rakshasas Temple, defeated two Five Poisons Cult disciples who tried to ambush him, and discovered a concealed trove of treasures inside a statue. He collected the hoard but paused over an inconspicuous object among the spoils.

• Qi Yun shattered the temple's weakened barrier, sent out Thousand Cranes Talismans to watch the market, and entered the temple.
• Qi Yun burned through the temple's remaining traps and blocked two poisoned needles from Five Poisons Cult cultivators hiding in the side hall.
• Qi Yun resisted the cultivators' poison and attacks with Sunken Abyss Iron Sand and Southern Brightness Devil Fire, then killed them and consumed their blood essence and cultivation with the white-bone skull.
• Qi Yun sensed a familiar tremor in the front hall and smashed the third Rakshasa statue on his left, revealing a hidden treasure trove.
• Qi Yun swept the treasures into his storage bracelet, then paused when he noticed an inconspicuous object among them.

Qi Yun refined an iron token that transformed [Profound Communion and Life Seizure] into a technique that summoned the cultivation-aiding [Stealing and Devouring Gu]. When the Yellow Springs Netherworld surrounded Ghost-Crying Market, Qi Yun fought through its reinforcements and trapped a Seven Kills Sect assassin in an iron-sand cage, crushing him.

• Qi Yun refined the iron token and updated [Profound Communion and Life Seizure], summoning the [Stealing and Devouring Gu] to gather and return ambient Qi as cultivation.
• Qi Yun left the Ten Rakshasas Temple as reinforcements from the northeast and southwest appeared and deadly white fog encircled Ghost-Crying Market.
• Yuan Zong ordered the Holy Sect cultivators to break out separately, and Qi Yun fought through a group of Yellow Springs Netherworld cultivators to escape southeast.
• A Seven Kills Sect assassin ambushed Qi Yun, but Qi Yun recognized his fighting style and countered his attacks.
• Qi Yun enclosed himself and the assassin in an iron-sand cage, escaped through a tiny opening, then crushed the assassin with [Millstone Hell].

After escaping the Yellow Springs Netherworld’s counter-encirclement, Qi Yun rested in a mortal county town and inventoried his spoils from Ghost-Crying Market. He discovered an Azure River Scale that could help him explore the Yin Nether Abyss, assessed his progress toward the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, and began planning raids on smaller strongholds when Yuan Zong sent another message.

• Qi Yun escaped the Yellow Springs Netherworld cultivators, took an antique dark-gold ring from the slain assassin, and later received Yuan Zong’s warning to avoid the enemy’s reinforcements.
• Qi Yun activated an Essence-Averting Formation Plate in a county-town inn and sorted through the talismans, medicines, and materials he had collected.
• Qi Yun recognized a scale among his spoils as an Azure River Scale, which could protect him from the extreme cold of the Yin Nether Abyss and aid his search for a Foundation Establishment object.
• Qi Yun found that his True Essence had reached about eighty percent of his Purple Mansion and estimated that one or two more large battles could bring him to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer.
• Qi Yun decided to seek intelligence on smaller Yellow Springs Netherworld strongholds for lower-risk raids, but Yuan Zong’s message arrived before he could plan further.

Qi Yun interpreted the Holy Sect’s protest as cover for a larger scheme and set out to intensify the conflict. He discovered and destroyed a Yellow Springs Netherworld soul-refining stronghold with a massive iron-sand sphere packed with eighty-one White Bone Corpse Explosion cores.

• Qi Yun read Yuan Zong’s message about the six-faction alliance and concluded the Holy Sect’s public condemnation was laying the groundwork for a broader plan.
• Qi Yun sent dozens of Thousand Cranes Talismans to scout the surrounding mountains and located a Yellow Springs Netherworld stronghold hidden in a miasma-filled valley.
• Qi Yun formed a huge sphere of Sunken Abyss Iron Sand and embedded eighty-one White Bone Corpse Explosion skulls inside it.
• Qi Yun dropped the sphere onto the stronghold and detonated the skulls, obliterating the Yin soul barrier and engulfing the valley in a devastating blast and Corpse Poison Yin Fire.
• Qi Yun watched the destruction as the Stealing and Devouring Gu absorbed the death Qi and Sha Qi, and he concluded that he had muddied the waters enough.

Qi Yun absorbed the essence and chaotic energies left in the ruined Yellow Springs Netherworld stronghold, breaking through to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer. He studied a costly atlas of Heavenly Gang and Earthly Sha sites and focused on locations near him as he prepared to advance further.

• Qi Yun surveyed the destroyed stronghold and judged that his powerful attack had consumed most of his True Qi and was too slow for moving targets.
• Qi Yun summoned his eighty-one bone skulls and the Stealing and Devouring Gu to drain the remains and lingering energies throughout the ruins.
• Qi Yun used the influx of power to fill his Purple Mansion with True Essence and break through to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer.
• Qi Yun retrieved the Secret Detailed Explanation of Heavenly Gang and Earthly Sha Sites in the Northwest, which he had purchased with three years of savings and a loan of twenty thousand Sacred Yuan.
• Qi Yun examined the atlas through his Divine Sense and focused on several marked sites near his current location.

Qi Yun discovered that Wu Yushan had survived Situ Huaji’s attack and was hiding in a mountain cave after massacring a village to restore his strength. Rather than risk a direct fight, Qi Yun spread rumors to draw greedy cultivators to Wu Yushan, then watched from afar as they began attacking the cave.

• Qi Yun followed his guide toward Black Wind Ravine but found a village full of drained corpses and recognized Wu Yushan’s lingering presence.
• Wu Yushan recalled how Situ Huaji’s punch had wrecked his Purple Mansion and forced him to feed on the villagers’ blood and vital essence.
• Qi Yun located Wu Yushan, considered attacking him for his cultivation and treasures, then decided to make others test his strength first.
• Qi Yun planted traces and rumors of a wounded Yellow Springs Netherworld cultivator across the surrounding area, attracting rival forces and Rogue Cultivators.
• Cultivators gathered around Wu Yushan’s cave, and one of them struck its illusion with a fire talisman as Qi Yun watched from a distance through Thousand Cranes.

Wu Yushan was driven to unleash a powerful secret technique against the cultivators besieging him, killing every living creature within ten li. Qi Yun witnessed the display through Thousand Cranes and wondered whether Wu Yushan had used the power of a Foundation Establishment True Person.

• Wu Yushan killed a charging Rogue Cultivator with one strike, but the besiegers saw signs of his weakness and renewed their attacks.
• A Soul-Capturing Bell struck Wu Yushan’s damaged soul, awakening Situ Huaji’s lingering power before Wu Yushan suppressed it at further cost to his health.
• Qi Yun watched through Thousand Cranes and realized Situ Huaji’s power remained inside Wu Yushan and reacted to attacks on his soul.
• As the besiegers pressed their assault, Wu Yushan stopped suppressing his injuries and invoked an ancient technique that released a presence far beyond Qi Refining.
• Wu Yushan’s Dao intent swept across ten li and destroyed the souls of the besiegers and every other living creature in its reach.
• The power left Wu Yushan near collapse, and Qi Yun wondered whether it had been the power of a Foundation Establishment True Person.

After Wu Yushan’s attempt to wield Foundation Establishment-level power nearly destroyed his unfinished Dao Foundation, Qi Yun secretly followed him to an abandoned city. Qi Yun trapped the wounded cultivator inside a ruined temple and began preparing an ambush.

• Wu Yushan discovered that invoking his unfinished Dao Foundation had left it covered in cracks and his cultivation weakened, so he fled toward a secluded cave abode.
• Qi Yun tracked Wu Yushan from a distance and realized he was gravely wounded and near the end of his strength.
• Wu Yushan entered an abandoned city and took refuge in a small temple in its southwestern corner.
• Qi Yun used Thousand Cranes Talismans to map the city and locate Wu Yushan inside the temple.
• Qi Yun silently surrounded the temple with trapping, misdirection, lightning, and fire formations, then began forming Method Formulas to launch his ambush.

Qi Yun ambushed Wu Yushan in a ruined temple and fought him with formations and successive techniques until Wu Yushan tried to bargain, then launched a hidden attack. Qi Yun countered with the soul-targeting Void Weeping Roar, causing Wu Yushan’s already damaged Dao Foundation to shatter.

• Qi Yun’s Dragon-Binding Cangues flattened the temple, and his formations trapped Wu Yushan in the ruins.
• Qi Yun battered Wu Yushan with Void-Trapping Awls, iron sand, devil fire, and exploding skulls as Wu Yushan answered with Netherworld techniques and burned his divine soul.
• As his Dao Foundation neared collapse, Wu Yushan called for a stop and offered his treasures in exchange for his life.
• Qi Yun pretended to accept the offer while Wu Yushan secretly prepared a Soul-Losing and Spirit-Scattering Nail.
• Wu Yushan attacked at close range, but Qi Yun unleashed Void Weeping Roar, which struck Wu Yushan’s soul and triggered the shattering of his Dao Foundation.

Qi Yun stopped Wu Yushan from detonating his shattered Dao Foundation by refining it, then killed him and gained a major upgrade to his white bone Law Technique. Injured but enriched by the victory, Qi Yun fled the ruined city to find a safe place to recover.

• Wu Yushan gave up controlling his crumbling Dao Foundation and began detonating it to take Qi Yun down with him.
• Qi Yun nailed Wu Yushan to a ruined wall with sunken abyss iron sand and used the Law Technique Panel to suppress and refine his Dao Foundation.
• Wu Yushan mistook Qi Yun for a reincarnated True Person, abandoned resistance, and died as Qi Yun absorbed his Dao intent.
• Qi Yun used his eighty-one white bone skulls to devour Wu Yushan and received the upgraded Nether Spring White Bone Method in place of Skull Incantation.
• Qi Yun stored Wu Yushan's corpse, assessed his injuries, and fled toward a secluded mountain ravine to recover.

After recovering from the Yin Qi Wu Yushan left in his body, Qi Yun examined the dead cultivator’s Storage Ring and discovered valuable records about cultivation and a Foundation Establishment item. He sealed the ring against possible tracking and set off toward the Earthly Sha node.

• Qi Yun spent half a month expelling Wu Yushan’s Evil Qi and healing his injuries, then reflected on the gulf between their cultivation levels.
• Qi Yun found Wu Yushan’s Storage Ring, burned away its restriction with the Southern Brightness Devil Fire, and discovered it could block divinations and deductions.
• Qi Yun searched the ring and found Yellow Springs Netherworld cultivation inheritances, Ghost-Crying Market records, and detailed information about the wild Foundation Establishment item.
• Qi Yun found little ready wealth in the ring but valued Wu Yushan’s cultivation notes and Foundation Establishment preparations as guidance for his own Dao Path.
• Qi Yun transferred the useful contents to his storage bracelet, wrapped the Storage Ring in sealing talismans, and headed toward the marked Earthly Sha node.

Qi Yun opened the Earthly Door Aperture by absorbing Earthly Protection Sha Qi beneath Black Wind Ravine, then sensed someone divining his location and fled toward Wuji Sacred Sect territory. A Seven Kills Sect ambush attacked him at a tea stall, and he realized they had targeted him because of his ring.

• Qi Yun located Earthly Protection Sha Qi beneath the pool at Black Wind Ravine and spent over a month cultivating until he opened and stabilized the Earthly Door Aperture.
• After emerging from cultivation, Qi Yun sensed someone divining his location and used a silver ring to break the lock before fleeing toward Wuji Sacred Sect territory.
• Qi Yun disguised himself as a traveler and stopped at a tea stall, where a youngster attacked him with poison powder.
• Qi Yun's skeletal skull destroyed the poison, and disguised Seven Kills Sect attackers launched a coordinated ambush that his Sunken Abyss Iron Sand shielded against.
• Qi Yun divined that the Seven Kills Sect was acting independently, then realized the attackers had come for his ring.

Qi Yun defeated a Seven Kills Sect ambush and captured two surviving assassins. He prepared to question them about the gold ring and whether more enemies were coming.

• Qi Yun used sunken abyss iron sand and eighty-one white bone skulls to slaughter the Dead Puppets surrounding the tea pavilion.
• Seven Kills Sect elites unleashed Light Devouring Kill, trapping Qi Yun in darkness and attacking him with disorder-infused saber lights.
• Qi Yun detonated all eighty-one skulls, shattering the darkness and injuring the hidden assassins.
• The assassins tried to escape using phantom-body concealment, but Qi Yun’s Void Weeping Roar exposed and stunned them.
• Qi Yun transformed into Southern Ming Sword Devil and killed several assassins while crippling two others for questioning.
• Qi Yun approached the two survivors to demand the Seven Kills Sect’s plans and learn the gold ring’s value.

Qi Yun learned that the gold ring was one of seventy-two keys to an ancient sword cultivator inheritance coveted by the Seven Kills Sect, whose assassins had ambushed him to recover it. To escape their pursuit, he changed his appearance and methods, took the name Zhang Mazi, and entered the Wuji Sacred Sect’s purge squads, where he could secretly collect corpses and cultivate amid the fighting.

• Qi Yun drugged and questioned two Seven Kills Sect assassins, learning that the gold ring opened an ancient inheritance site and that the sect had gathered nearly thirty of the seventy-two keys.
• Qi Yun burned the interrogated assassins’ bodies, then planned to conceal his identity and use Wu Yushan’s Storage Ring to hinder divination.
• Qi Yun traveled into Wuji Sacred Sect territory and prepared a new identity by changing his appearance, Law Techniques, and presence.
• Qi Yun became Zhang Mazi, a pockmarked disciple wielding a Soul Refining Banner, and joined the Holy Sect’s attack on Yin Bone Market.
• During the battle, Zhang Mazi secretly swept corpses into his banner to conceal his Essence Devouring and gather resources for his Nether Spring White Bone Method.

Qi Yun refined a blood-red coffin nail into his Soul Refining Banner, speeding up its resentful-soul cultivation, then considered joining the growing crisis at Teapot Valley for possible gains. There, ten Holy Sect True Persons held the entrance to the Yin Ruins against nearly a thousand Yellow Springs Netherworld cultivators, while the sect’s disciples stayed away.

• Qi Yun collected the bodies and Storage Bags of fallen Yellow Springs Netherworld cultivators with his Soul Refining Banner, then found a blood-red coffin nail that triggered an update to the Law Technique.
• The Law Technique Panel upgraded Soul Refining Banner 2.0, increasing its resentful soul refinement speed and reducing the expected time for its first combat-ready soul to form to about ten days.
• Qi Yun learned that ten Holy Sect True Persons had sealed the entrance to the Yin Ruins at Teapot Valley, trapping Yellow Springs Netherworld cultivators inside while the sect’s other disciples avoided the confrontation.
• Qi Yun considered the dangerous standoff a possible opportunity and headed toward Teapot Valley with his banner, cultivation guide, and inheritance ring in mind.
• At Teapot Valley, ten Holy Sect True Persons faced nearly a thousand Yellow Springs Netherworld cultivators, and several True Persons remarked that their absent disciples were wisely avoiding a risky fight with little reward.

The Wuji Sacred Sect distracted the Yellow Springs Netherworld at Teapot Valley while its cultivators raided the Netherworld’s rear, and Qi Yun paid Ning Feng for information about an ancient sword cultivator inheritance site. Qi Yun read the scroll and was surprised and pleased by what he learned.

• A Wuji Sacred Sect True Person challenged the Yellow Springs Netherworld’s claim to the Yin Ruins Remnant Realm, and the two sects’ True Persons argued on the verge of battle.
• Wuji Sacred Sect cultivators raided the Yellow Springs Netherworld’s markets, resource sites, and outlying strongholds while its leaders remained focused on Teapot Valley.
• Ning Feng gave Qi Yun information about the inheritance site in exchange for five hundred Thousand Cranes Talismans and a promise of two thousand five hundred more.
• Qi Yun recalled that his divination about disposing of the Seven Kills Sect’s gold ring had been highly favorable, then read the scroll and reacted with surprised delight.

Qi Yun entered Sword Inquiry Forest and passed its first trial by recognizing that his deepest goal was to control his own destiny and make his Dao his own. He crossed the rainbow bridge toward the forest’s next trials with his resolve strengthened.

• Qi Yun learned that Sword Inquiry Forest held countless sword inheritances and opened to anyone bearing one of its golden rings, then destroyed the scroll describing it.
• Qi Yun found a dry well, threw the golden ring into it, and entered Sword Inquiry Forest through a vortex of light.
• Qi Yun arrived on a cliff above a vast sea of clouds filled with ancient swords and began the first trial, which tested whether entrants understood their true desires.
• Qi Yun rejected slaughter, protection, longevity, and carefree freedom as his ultimate goals, realizing instead that he sought freedom to control his own destiny.
• The sea of clouds settled, a single sword embodying Qi Yun’s resolve appeared, and a rainbow bridge formed.
• Qi Yun stepped onto the bridge and advanced toward Sword Inquiry Forest’s next trials.

Qi Yun entered the Sword Inquiry Forest’s Reflection Pool and rejected the three sword paths it offered, choosing instead to follow his own pursuit of freedom. In the sword forest, he resonated with an unremarkable ancient sword and obtained the incomplete Nameless Swordsmanship, which he intended to improve with the Law Technique Panel.

• Qi Yun examined the Reflection Pool, whose shifting image could not settle on a clear measure of his sword potential.
• The inheritance presented Qi Yun with Deceptive Mist, Layered Peaks, and Flowing Light, but he rejected all three preset paths.
• Qi Yun entered the sword forest without a sword-intent seed and released his Dao heart’s pursuit of freedom.
• A dull, bent dark-gray sword responded to Qi Yun’s intent, and he drew it from the earth.
• Qi Yun received the incomplete Nameless Swordsmanship and resolved to develop it with the Law Technique Panel.

After emerging from the Sword Inquiry Forest, Qi Yun learned that more than two months had passed outside and that a battle at Teapot Valley had exposed an Earth Temple inside the Yin Ruins. He chose to avoid the dangerous struggle for the temple and continued cultivating, while the northwestern powers converged on Teapot Valley.

• Qi Yun discovered that time had passed far more slowly in the Sword Inquiry Forest than in the outside world.
• Qi Yun read reports that a battle between the Wuji Sacred Sect and the Yellow Springs Netherworld had torn open the Yin Ruins and revealed an Earth Temple.
• Qi Yun recognized that the Earth Temple could provide abundant pure Qi of Earth Sha, but decided the danger of fighting over it outweighed the benefits.
• Qi Yun disguised himself as Zhang Mazi and resumed traveling to Earthly Sha sites to cultivate and open apertures.
• The Azure Sect, Phoenix Helm, and other powers sent forces toward Teapot Valley as the struggle over the Earth Temple intensified, while Qi Yun remained away and continued his cultivation.

After spending six months opening fifty-three Earth Sha apertures, Qi Yun entered Teapot Valley’s Yin Ruins to seek a new source of cultivation. He reached the rift and prepared to absorb its Earth Sha, while a mysterious Daoist watched him enter with apparent expectation.

• Qi Yun learned that the Wuji Sacred Sect, Yellow Springs Netherworld, Azure Sect, and Phoenix Helm had divided control of Teapot Valley and restricted access to the Earth Temple.
• After failing to find unoccupied Earth Sha caves, Qi Yun decided to risk entering Teapot Valley under his Zhang Mazi disguise.
• Qi Yun obtained a thirty-day passage token at a Holy Sect entrance, where a middle-aged Daoist watched him and remarked that he had been waiting for him.
• Qi Yun passed through the light screen and saw the ruined Yin Ruins, the spatial rift, and the ancient Earth Temple within it.
• Qi Yun sensed the unopened apertures stirring and walked toward the rift to find a place to cultivate.

Qi Yun agreed to seize control of the Earth Temple after True Person Qianxin offered him a Wind-Calming Pill and the Holy Sect’s Foundation Establishment method. The Yin Ruins were then sealed, and Qianxin turned suspicion toward the Yellow Springs Netherworld by claiming the seal resembled its technique.

• Qi Yun absorbed the Earth Sha in the Yin Ruins until True Person Qianxin contacted him and assigned him to seize the Earth Temple’s core during an impending seal.
• Qi Yun initially resisted the dangerous mission, but agreed after Qianxin promised him a Wind-Calming Pill and the Holy Sect’s Foundation Establishment method.
• Half a day later, the Yin Ruins were enclosed by a dark-gray sealing barrier that cut off communication and access between the valley and the outside.
• Foundation Establishment True Persons from the four sects gathered outside the barrier to investigate, and a Yellow Springs Netherworld True Person recognized patterns resembling his sect’s Ghost Gate Pass Sealing Great Art.
• True Person Qianxin called attention to the resemblance, prompting the Azure Sect and Phoenix Helm True Persons to turn their suspicion toward the Yellow Springs Netherworld.

Qi Yun entered the Earth Temple fissure after planting the Soul Refining Banner outside to keep the other sects away. When a Phoenix Helm disciple attacked the banner, its resentful souls overwhelmed her, while an Azure Sect disciple watched with interest.

• Qi Yun failed to use Gather Form and Disperse Qi to slip into the fissure, so he approached it carrying the Soul Refining Banner.
• A Phoenix Helm disciple rushed past Qi Yun, and one sweep of his banner sent her flying and shattered both her arms.
• Qi Yun planted the Soul Refining Banner beside the fissure and leaped into the Earth Temple.
• The Phoenix Helm disciple recovered with secret medicine and attacked the banner with a rainbow radiance formed from a hundred spiritual birds.
• The banner unleashed pale ghost hands that tore apart the rainbow radiance and dragged the Phoenix Helm disciple toward its darkness.
• The Azure Sect disciple watched the banner’s power with growing interest as its resentful souls prepared to seize their attacker.

Qi Yun entered the Earth Temple and discovered that its dense Earth Sha could corrupt his talismans and power hidden clay monks. One clay monk’s Buddhist chanting began forcing Earth Sha into Qi Yun and tempting him to surrender, but the Soul Refining Banner disrupted the chant and helped him escape.

• The cultivators of the three sects attacked the Soul Refining Banner, but its hundred resentful souls formed a ghost domain that held them back.
• An Azure Sect disciple shattered the banner’s formation with his ancient sword, and the damaged banner fled into the Earth Temple fissure after Qi Yun.
• Qi Yun entered the dusky-yellow temple, where the surrounding Earth Sha quickly corroded his Thousand Cranes Talismans.
• Qi Yun trapped a clay monk with iron-sand chains, but the monk’s chanting caused his earth sha acupoints to absorb Sha Qi and began tempting him to submit.
• The Soul Refining Banner drowned out the chanting, allowing Qi Yun to break the gathered Sha Qi in his body and flee with the banner.