Recaps

Murong Xu and Jiang Pu entered the magical book that contained the mountain-climbing trial. Jiang Pu found herself in thick fog among unseen creatures, while the three Treading-Void Split Souls inside her planned to stay hidden and let another Ascendant Will explore first.

• Murong Xu pressed his palm to the book and vanished into the trial realm.
• The three Treading-Void Split Souls discussed the Yang Clan's factions and decided to enter Heaven-Clearing Academy while concealing their presence.
• The split souls identified two other Ascendant Wills among the children and chose to let the one controlling a body explore the Book-Within Grotto-Heaven first.
• Jiang Pu touched the book and appeared in thick fog, where she heard growls and hisses from unseen creatures.

Yang Lingshu, Yang Yuanliu, and Yang Yuanwen discussed avenging Yang Lingqing while carefully preparing the Yang Clan for its struggle against Upper Realm cultivators. They learned that Yang Yuan Zhen and Xuan Cang had entered the Book-Within Grotto-Heaven together, where the two young heirs were poised to turn the hunters into prey.

• Yang Yuanliu and Yang Yuanwen praised Yang Yuan Zhen’s extraordinary birth and agreed that Upper Realm cultivators could become opportunities for the Yang Clan’s younger generation.
• Yang Lingshu reminded them to strengthen the New Heaven Grand Plan patiently before pursuing their blood-deep feud over Yang Lingqing’s death.
• Yang Lingshu asked whether Yang Yuan Zhen had secretly taken Xuan Cang into the Book-Within Grotto-Heaven, surprising Yang Yuanwen.
• Yang Yuanliu explained that he had allowed the two children to enter after Ying Cai spoke on their behalf, and Yang Lingshu said Second Brother and Yang Yuan Hong had likely approved.
• Yang Yuanwen reasoned that Xuan Cang could use the Upper Cultivators’ methods to temper his Innate Azure Dragon Physique, while Yang Yuanliu’s book showed the two children moving furtively inside the grotto-heaven.
• Yang Lingshu described Xuan Cang as bait and Yang Yuan Zhen as the blade, as the pair prepared to lure and strike their targets.

Jiang Pu hid on Clear Sky Peak and watched two Six-Legged Jackals investigate a rock-like exotic beast. The beasts began testing each other’s hunting defenses while Jiang Pu stayed concealed nearby.

• Jiang Pu discovered that Six-Legged Jackals made distant calls through the dense fog and hid when two passed by.
• Jiang Pu heard scurrying and saw a rock-like exotic beast approach, with small creatures seemingly hiding in cracks across its body.
• The sound lured the two Six-Legged Jackals back, and Jiang Pu hid under damp leaves to observe them.
• The Six-Legged Jackals cautiously split up and approached the rock beast from opposite sides.
• One Six-Legged Jackal spat saliva onto the stone to test whether the beast could sense its temperature, but the rock beast remained still and made its cries sound more frightened.

Jiang Pu used the Six-Legged Jackals’ sharp hearing against them as she made her way toward someone calling for help. After killing one jackal and confusing the other two, she continued toward the cries.

• Jiang Pu decided to investigate the cries for help, hoping to rescue someone and gain a companion for the climb.
• When three Six-Legged Jackals tracked her to the trees, Jiang Pu used strips torn from her sleeves to create misleading sounds.
• Jiang Pu dropped onto one jackal and killed it with a stone.
• Jiang Pu climbed back into a tree and tugged the cloth strips, filling the forest with sounds that confused the remaining jackals.

Jiang Pu rescued Hu Zhinian and Hu Zhiyue from a pack of Six-Legged Jackals by using beast heads and rustling branches to frighten the beasts away. She warned the siblings that following her meant they might be used as scouts, and they accepted her terms.

• Hu Zhinian and Hu Zhiyue fought the Six-Legged Jackals together, hoping their struggle would draw a rescuer to them.
• Jiang Pu arrived and prepared a ruse using the heads of three Six-Legged Jackals, cloth strips, and beast hides tied among the trees.
• Jiang Pu threw the beast heads toward the pack and rustled the branches, frightening the Six-Legged Jackals into fleeing.
• Hu Zhinian and Hu Zhiyue thanked Jiang Pu and introduced themselves as siblings from the Hu Family under Fuyao Sect.
• Jiang Pu said the siblings would have to accept being used to scout ahead if they followed her, and they agreed.

Jiang Pu and the three Treading Void divided souls discovered that the little savage had found and swallowed a creation pearl from a puppet, which they believed was linked to the Yang Clan’s Immortal Treasure. Hoping to use the child to reach the treasure and transfer their hosts, Jiang Pu approached him, and he paused to listen.

• The little savage searched a destroyed puppet, found a fluorescent pearl, and swallowed it.
• Jiang Pu recognized the pearl as connected to the Yang Clan’s Immortal Treasure, while the three divided souls planned to use the little savage as a new host.
• The little savage searched a second puppet, found no pearl, and warned Jiang Pu and the others away from his prey.
• Jiang Pu asked whether the little savage could understand her and whether he wanted to hunt the puppets, and he stopped to look at her.

Yang Xuancang and Yang Yuanzhen entered Clear Sky Peak to lure a higher cultivator's will into acting against them. Chen Yang learned that Yang Yuanzhen had neither luck nor karma, a condition the Reincarnation Divine Lord had called being “natural.”

• Yang Xuancang’s exceptional toughness and two years of intense training had prepared him to play a wild child on Clear Sky Peak.
• Yang Yuanzhen brought Yang Xuancang to Clear Sky Peak, where he used his wild-child role to attract the enemy’s attention and reveal clues about the origin of creation.
• Yang Yuanzhen was meant to draw her white jade short blade once the enemy attacked Yang Xuancang.
• Chen Yang and Yang Lingrui discovered that Yang Yuanzhen had been born without luck or karma.
• Frost Flower Venerable God recalled the Reincarnation Divine Lord describing people like Yang Yuanzhen as “natural,” helping Chen Yang understand her condition.

Jiang Pu and the Hu siblings followed Yang Xuancang to a cave that the Treading-Void Split Souls suspected held an Origin of Creation and treasures connected to his unusual ability to digest treasure pearls. Inside, hidden mechanisms immediately separated Hu Zhiyue and dropped Hu Zhinian into a trap.

• Jiang Pu persuaded the Hu siblings to follow Yang Xuancang to the cave and rest there.
• The three Treading-Void Split Souls sensed a powerful Origin of Creation fluctuation inside and speculated that the cave held treasures explaining Yang Xuancang’s ability to digest treasure pearls.
• Yang Xuancang warned Jiang Pu and the Hu siblings to stay close because the cave was dangerous.
• Hu Zhiyue lagged behind and was blocked by a mechanism wall, while Hu Zhinian triggered another mechanism and fell into a trap.
• Yang Xuancang cried out in frustration at the siblings for falling into the traps despite his warning.

Yang Xuancang led Jiang Pu through the cave’s traps to an abandoned dwelling, where they discovered a frost-covered young girl’s corpse. The three Treading-Void Split Soul fragments believed it was an ancient cultivator preserved by the Creation Origin, unaware that the girl was only pretending to be dead.

• Chen Yang increased the cave mechanisms’ difficulty to ensure the Hu siblings would be eliminated from the trial.
• Yang Xuancang and Jiang Pu passed through the cave’s traps and reached an abandoned dwelling.
• Yang Xuancang opened a dark chamber and revealed a frost-covered young girl’s corpse beneath ash-black cloth.
• The three Treading-Void Split Soul fragments sensed the Creation Origin’s aura and concluded the corpse belonged to an ancient cultivator preserved in a tomb.
• The fragments speculated that the Yang Clan might have discovered multiple ancient corpses, while mistaking the girl for dead.

The three Treading-Void Split Souls tried to leave Jiang Pu and enter Yang Xuancang, but an unfamiliar spatial Daoist Magic blocked them. A girl who had been dead for millennia appeared and found them, leaving the souls trapped in the Yang Clan’s prepared death trap.

• The three Treading-Void Split Souls left Jiang Pu and approached Yang Xuancang, confident they could hide within him undetected.
• An unfamiliar spatial Daoist Magic blocked their way into Yang Xuancang.
• The three Treading-Void Split Souls turned back toward Jiang Pu and saw a girl who had been dead for thousands of years standing between them.
• The girl’s blue-lit eyes fixed on the Upper Cultivator Soul Fragments, and fear overwhelmed them.
• The girl said, “I see you,” as the three Treading-Void Split Souls realized they had no hope of escape.

Yang Yuanzhen gave Yang Xuancang frozen cakes made from Upper Cultivator Soul Fragments, and he discovered they strengthened his mind. After receiving a new mission from the Immortal Venerable, the pair prepared to split up on Clear Sky Peak.

• Yang Xuancang finished digesting the pearl-like orbs while Yang Yuanzhen waited for him.
• Yang Yuanzhen gave Yang Xuancang frozen cakes made from Upper Cultivator souls, and he sensed that each one made his brain grow stronger.
• Yang Yuanzhen and Yang Xuancang found Jiang Pu unconscious, and Yang Yuanzhen said the Immortal Venerable had ordered them to leave her there.
• Yang Yuanzhen explained that two Upper Cultivator Soul Fragments remained on Clear Sky Peak and that they would split up to deal with them.
• Yang Yuanzhen told Yang Xuancang to stop holding back against the irredeemable troublemaker, and she took out a Stone Body Clone of Chen Yang as they prepared to leave.

Zhou Baitai used the other trial children as expendable bait while leading them through Clear Sky Peak, and only four injured children remained behind him. Under the influence of higher cultivators’ will inside his soul spirit, he planned to use those four as stepping stones to cross the Fallen Leaf Land.

• Zhou Baitai repeatedly sent the children ahead to draw puppet attacks, leaving only five of the original twenty-two, including himself.
• The remaining children resented Zhou Baitai’s contempt and violence but stayed silent because they were weaker than him.
• After one child was teleported away in the Fallen Leaf Land, Zhou Baitai realized the mimic insects could drain spiritual energy and kill those trapped among them.
• Zhou Baitai planned to cross the land by using the four remaining children as stepping stones.
• The higher cultivators’ will had invaded Zhou Baitai’s mind by exploiting a weakness in his state of mind and had made him increasingly irritable.

Zhou Baitai crossed the insect swarm and encountered Yang Xuancang, a seemingly ordinary child who blocked his attack with overwhelming strength. The Treading Void soul fragments planned to abandon Zhou Baitai and take over Yang Xuancang’s body.

• Zhou Baitai used the children on his shoulder as stepping stones to cross the insect swarm and continued up the mountain, convinced immortal power would help him overcome any trial.
• A gale brought Yang Xuancang onto the path, and Zhou Baitai found through his investigation that the wildling child had no cultivation.
• The Treading Void soul fragments recognized Yang Xuancang’s exceptional physique and planned to wait for Zhou Baitai to lose before attempting to seize the child’s body.
• Yang Xuancang refused to move aside, so Zhou Baitai attacked him with a claw strike.
• Yang Xuancang blocked Zhou Baitai’s blow and remained steady, while Zhou Baitai was hurled back more than thirty feet and realized the child was far stronger than he had expected.

Wu Chang revealed himself to the three Treading-Void Split Souls as the Creation Origin they had come to capture and killed their leader when he begged for mercy. He restrained the remaining two and summoned illusory coffins to punish them for their intentions.

• The three Treading-Void Split Souls recognized Wu Chang as the Creation Origin sought by the Sea Pavilion True Lord.
• The oldest split soul begged Wu Chang for forgiveness after realizing the gap between their strength.
• Wu Chang erased the oldest split soul with a single gesture.
• The two remaining split souls knelt and pleaded for their lives, and Wu Chang silenced them with his gaze.
• Wu Chang summoned two illusory coffins whose deathly aura threatened to destroy Primordial Spirits and souls.

Wu Chang asked the two Treading-Void Split Souls for a story, and one recounted how the Heavenly Sea Domain changed after Great Awakening Temple’s tribulation immortal disappeared. The account ended with Ascension Sect rising in power and Wave-Chasing Sea Pavilion’s Mirror Immortal joining its faction.

• Wu Chang asked the two Treading-Void Split Souls to tell him a story in exchange for one of his own.
• One Treading-Void Split Soul described how Great Awakening Temple controlled the Heavenly Sea Domain more than two thousand years earlier, when Wave-Chasing Sea Pavilion was only a second-rate realm gate.
• A tribulation immortal eminent monk vanished from Great Awakening Temple, but the Dominion Realm Gates held back from acting for a hundred years in case he returned.
• Great Awakening Temple summoned the Dominion Realm Gates to confront a massive Black Curtain Star Cluster, and three True Immortals died during the effort to avert the disaster.
• Great Awakening Temple’s authority weakened after losing two True Immortals, allowing Ascension Sect to expand by absorbing other realm gates and real domains.
• Wave-Chasing Sea Pavilion’s Mirror Immortal joined Ascension Sect’s faction as the Heavenly Sea Domain’s balance of power shifted.

Zhuang Xuanji realized that the distant expedition arranged by the Sea Pavilion True Lord and her Ancestor was likely meant to keep her from interfering in Azure Waves affairs. She asked when it would depart and learned she had five years to prepare.

• Zhuang Xuanji considered the risks and opportunities of the Sea Pavilion's plan to explore unknown domains.
• She deduced that the Void Realm cultivators had cut off Nangong Jinghe to prevent him from disrupting their search for the Origin of Creation.
• Zhuang Xuanji concluded that the distant expedition was intended to remove her from the Void Realm and that her Ancestor had likely helped arrange it.
• Zhuang Xuanji asked the Dao Academy Ancestor when the expedition would depart, and he said it was scheduled for five years later.

The Dao Academy ancestor urged Zhuang Xuanji to survive Sea Pavilion’s plans by distinguishing herself among the immortal seedlings, unaware that Jun Qian and Ni Yue had already marked her as immortal material. Zhuang Xuanji accepted the advice and asked to bring Futuo on her journey in five years, and the ancestor agreed to make the request.

• The Dao Academy ancestor told Zhuang Xuanji that standing out among the immortal seedlings might earn Sea Pavilion’s recognition and preserve her life as a superior seedling.
• Zhuang Xuanji thanked the ancestor and said she would prepare for the journey, then asked to take one more person with her.
• The ancestor thought she meant Nangong Jinghe but considered it impossible to release him from the clear pool.
• Zhuang Xuanji named Futuo and explained that she wanted to continue their unfinished debate on the Dao.
• The ancestor agreed to ask Sea Pavilion to let Futuo join the journey as Zhuang Xuanji’s attendant.

Chen Yang learned the identity, cultivation, and abilities of Sea Pavilion True Lord Jun Qian from two Treading-Void Split Souls. After examining True Lord Canglang’s unusual conduct, Chen Yang suspected that he had kept the spatial Creation Origin Wu Chang on Canglan Continent secret from his True Immortal master.

• The two Treading-Void Split Souls told Chen Yang everything they knew about Sea Pavilion True Lord.
• They revealed that Jun Qian was a peak Twelfth Layer Treading Void cultivator and a Direct Disciple of a Sea Pavilion Immortal who possessed two immortal arts.
• Chen Yang considered the Wave-Chasing Sea Pavilion’s modest standing and the immense value of Wu Chang, and questioned why True Lord Canglang had not simply invoked his True Immortal master’s authority to recruit more searchers.
• Chen Yang speculated that True Lord Canglang had concealed the spatial Creation Origin on Canglan Continent from his True Immortal master.

Chen Yang learned why three Void Realm cultivators had submitted to Sea Pavilion’s True Lords and what immortal arts they had received. He suspected True Lord Canglang practiced a Five Elements immortal art and considered how the Five Elements Immortal Estate might recover its strength.

• Chen Yang learned that the Dao Academy patriarch had mastered an icy mist immortal art, while the Confluence Faction’s eldest brother had been injured by his unrefined yin fire.
• Chen Yang discovered that the third cultivator was an old demonic cultivator, not Nangong Jinghe’s Senior Brother, and that he had failed to comprehend the metal-path immortal art bestowed by True Lord Canglang.
• Chen Yang deduced that the three immortal arts represented water, fire, and metal, and suspected True Lord Canglang’s art gathered the Five Elements.
• Chen Yang considered extracting the three arts from the cultivators’ descending split souls to help the Five Elements Immortal Estate restore its former power.

The selection trials on Clear Sky Peak concluded for the mortal children, while young Qi Gathering cultivators from different families battled their way through a dangerous region. Feng Weiran, He Shuping, Zi Mo, and Murong Xu fought a swarm of strange insects as they continued climbing toward the mountaintop.

• Yang Xuanqing and Yang Xuanlang brought Zhou Baitai and the unconscious children to Tiangong Peak, where Chen Huaien and several Azure Waves deities altered their memories and repaired Zhou Baitai's soul.
• The mortal children's trial results were finalized: most reached only the misty region, while Jiang Pu passed through Puppet Land and entered the Technique Academy as a Direct Disciple.
• Feng Weiran, He Shuping, Zi Mo, and Murong Xu coordinated their attacks against a swarm of strange insects in a Gobi quicksand region.
• Feng Weiran reinforced Zi Mo with protective Word Spirit techniques, allowing him to kill an injured insect and escape the swarm's encirclement.
• Murong Xu killed another strange insect using his own Dao arts.

Murong Xu explained how he had helped Feng Weiran at the academy, while He Shuping and Zi Mo teased them about their closeness. After the four Northwest cultivators fought through the aberrant insects and reached safety, He Shuping shared the He Family’s healing pills and a flower that nourished divine sense.

• He Shuping and Zi Mo teased Feng Weiran and Murong Xu about their past at the academy.
• Murong Xu explained that he and Feng Weiran had been classmates and that he had answered her questions with help from his learned guard.
• After resting, the four resumed crossing the Gobi and endured four increasingly large aberrant insect attacks over two days.
• The four coordinated to break through a final swarm of more than a hundred insects, escaping the sea of sand with injuries.
• He Shuping gave the others healing pills and a flower to nourish their divine sense, then recounted the He Family’s growing resources and connections.

Shi Ying introduced herself to He Shuping and the others as a disciple of the Scent-Seeking Pavilion, sent by a force under the Dongfang Clan to join the Yang Clan’s selection. Her history revealed that the pavilion hoped the Yang Clan could cure her unstable mental state, which stemmed from the poisonous miasma she survived as an infant.

• Shi Ying greeted He Shuping and three other cultivators, who relaxed after learning she was backed by the Dongfang Clan.
• He Shuping recognized the Scent-Seeking Pavilion’s incense arts and recalled its ties to the He Family.
• The Scent-Seeking Pavilion had declined after the death of its Mystic Insight Venerable and the destruction of many of its teachings during the Incense Burning.
• The pavilion had taken shelter under the Dongfang Clan, but it still hoped to restore its former standing and find a gifted incense-arts successor.
• Fourteen years earlier, a pavilion cultivator had found Shi Ying as a baby in poisonous fragrant miasma and brought her back to the sect.
• The pavilion discovered Shi Ying had a Fragrant Incense Variant Body, but the miasma had also left her with unpredictable mental fluctuations; it agreed to send her to the Yang Clan in hopes of a cure.

Shi Ying explained the intelligent spirit puppets guarding Grotto Valley and joined He Shuping and the others to attempt the trial, hoping to reach the summit and cure her spiritual disturbances. As they entered the maze, the Ascendant Will’s three Treading-Void Split Souls planned to possess one of the Northwest cultivators, unaware that a powerful Yang Clan member was waiting for them.

• Shi Ying told He Shuping and the others that the valley’s coordinated, intelligent spirit puppets were creations of Rainbow Spirit Fairy and shared what she had learned during her probe.
• Shi Ying joined the five Northwest cultivators because she hoped to reach the summit and find a Yang Clan cultivator who could cure her spiritual ailment.
• The three Treading-Void Split Souls decided to target one of the talented cultivators in the group and possess whoever survived the trial.
• He Shuping and the others formed a strategy and entered Grotto Valley, where a powerful Yang Clan member was secretly waiting for the split souls.
• The group discovered that the valley was a maze of stone grottoes with blocked routes that forced them to explore dangerous passages.

Shi Ying used her incense arts to disable four spirit puppets and escape, then unleashed her Spirit Control Method to face the trials ahead. At the same time, young cultivators at the other four locations brought out their full strength against the spirit puppets.

• Shi Ying blasted open four spirit puppets’ defenses and sent Turbid Incense into them, causing them to fight one another.
• Shi Ying withdrew while another personality briefly took over, then returned to normal after the drowsiness passed.
• Shi Ying cast Hundred Turns of Fragrant Incense and released dozens of compatible incense techniques through her Variant Body.
• The young cultivators of the Northwest at the other four locations activated their Spirit Control Methods and battled the spirit puppets.
• Feng Weiran used her Spirit Control Method, Little Mountains and Rivers, drawing on the same lineage of arts as her father, Feng Lan.

He Shuping used her repaired Azurewood method to control and defend the valley, while Murong Xu advanced through it faster than the other young cultivators. At the valley’s end, Yang Yuanzhen offered him a chance to draw a reward from a strange circular drum.

• He Shuping used the Azurewood Spirit Control Method to block and suppress spirit puppets in the stone-cavern region.
• He Shuping’s father had sent her to the Yang Clan to study water methods under Yang Lingshu.
• Murong Xu used his Radiant Yang Method and Bright and Upright technique to reach the end of the valley first.
• Yang Yuanzhen greeted Murong Xu and told him to turn the circular drum’s wooden handle three times to draw a reward.
• Murong Xu examined the refined drum and wondered if it was a magical treasure with the power of space.