Chapter Summaries

Gao Yunyi continued trapping and killing the Hezhen troops in the Clear Sky Sword Domain, resolved to wipe them out despite their pleas for mercy. After noticing Zhang Qishan shivering on the dragon’s back, he descended toward the blood-soaked watchtower, and the valley fell silent.

• Gao Yunyi watched the trapped Hezhen suffer and rejected their pleas, believing their past brutality left them no claim to mercy.
• Hezhen leaders offered their lands and possessions, while shamans prayed in vain for their heavenly god to save them.
• A Hezhen elder, a grieving mother, and soldiers begged Gao Yunyi to spare them, but he remained unmoved.
• Gao Yunyi noticed Zhang Qishan shivering as he held the swaddled infant against his chest.
• Gao Yunyi stepped down from the dragon and descended toward the watchtower, causing the surviving Hezhen to fall silent and look up at him.

Gao Yunyi stood over the defeated Hezhen army while Bai Suzhen carried Zhang Qishan and his infant brother to safety. On the snowy hilltop, Ximen Changhai recognized the Immortal Venerable he had once traveled with and approached Zhang Qishan.

• Gao Yunyi landed on the Viewing Platform and left the trembling Tie Lehun alive for the moment.
• Bai Suzhen carried Zhang Qishan and his sleeping younger brother to a distant hilltop, where Zhang resolved to protect Gao Yunyi.
• Ximen Changhai arrived carrying wild boar hides and meat after abandoning his search for a thousand-year-old ginseng to save his daughter.
• Ximen Changhai recognized Gao Yunyi as the Azure Profound Immortal Venerable and realized the senior who had taught him Sword Intent was the Immortal he had sought.
• Ximen Changhai introduced himself to Zhang Qishan, who asked whether he knew the Immortal Venerable, and Ximen confirmed that he did.

The surviving Hezhen people took the approaching blizzard as a sign that their god had come to save them, but Gao Yunyi erased it with the Light of the Three Realms. After telling them their god was useless, he prepared to end the battle with sword light and Sword Shadows.

• A massive blizzard swept toward the valley, and the surviving Hezhen people believed their heavenly god had sent it to save them.
• Gao Yunyi raised one finger and unleashed the Light of the Three Realms, tearing through the clouds and annihilating the blizzard.
• The Hezhen people’s hope collapsed when they realized the storm had been destroyed by Gao Yunyi.
• Gao Yunyi told the Hezhen people, “Your god is useless,” then declared their time was up.
• Terrifying sword light and Sword Shadows descended over the valley.

Gao Yunyi annihilated the Hezhen people at White Mountain, drove Tie Lehun mad, and killed him before using the Ten-Thousand-Souls Banner to capture the dead tribe’s souls. Ximen Changhai recoiled from Gao Yunyi’s ruthlessness, while Zhang Qishan remained devoted to the immortal who had saved him.

• Gao Yunyi used the Clear Sky Sword Domain and Thousand Illusory Sword Shadow to slaughter the hundreds of thousands of Hezhen people trapped in the valley.
• Tie Lehun broke down after watching his tribe perish, and Gao Yunyi killed him with a Sword Shadow.
• Gao Yunyi summoned the Ten-Thousand-Souls Banner, and Zhao Bufan drew the Hezhen people’s souls into it.
• Ximen Changhai watched in horror and began to question his reverence for Gao Yunyi.
• Zhang Qishan trembled at the scene but remained steadfastly grateful and devoted to Gao Yunyi.

After destroying the Hezhen tribes, Gao Yunyi decided to enter seclusion in Changbai Mountain, but first he revived Zhang Qishan’s baby brother with a Spirit-Stabilizing Pill and gave him a black blade. Seeing Ximen Changhai’s desperation to save his daughter, Gao Yunyi also gave him a pill before departing.

• Gao Yunyi absorbed the Hezhen souls into the Ten-Thousand-Souls Banner and realized their deaths had provided almost no experience or loot.
• Gao Yunyi decided to enter seclusion in Changbai Mountain to wear away his Blood Sha Qi and let the world develop.
• Gao Yunyi found Zhang Qishan grieving over his motionless baby brother and gave him a Spirit-Stabilizing Pill and a black blade.
• Zhang Qishan fed the pill to his brother, who revived, then thanked Gao Yunyi.
• Ximen Changhai begged Gao Yunyi for an elixir to save his gravely ill daughter, and Gao Yunyi gave him a pill before disappearing.

After the Immortal vanished, Zhang Qishan vowed to settle Zhangjia Village at the foot of Changbai Mountain and guard the mountain. Ximen Changhai accepted Zhang Qishan and his baby brother as disciples, founded the Magpie Blade Sect, and planned to return after treating Ximen Chuixue.

• Zhang Qishan told Ximen Changhai how his family was massacred and vowed to move Zhangjia Village to Changbai Mountain to protect the Immortal.
• Ximen Changhai demonstrated his swordsmanship by splitting a pine tree and offered to take Zhang Qishan as his disciple.
• Zhang Qishan accepted, and Ximen Changhai also made his sleeping baby brother a disciple.
• Ximen Changhai named their sect the Magpie Blade Sect after the black saber the Immortal had given Zhang Qishan.
• Ximen Changhai promised to return with Ximen Chuixue after curing her illness and teach the brothers swordsmanship and saber techniques.

After learning that the Azure Profound Immortal Venerable had appeared in Liaodong, Xiao Zhaohuang issued a decree making him the only deity permitted to be worshipped and ordering other temples and Daoist practitioners abolished. She left the Immortal-Worshipping Sect untouched for now, wary of its leader, the Myriad Flowers Fairy, whose devotion to the Immortal rivaled her own.

• Xiao Zhaohuang received a secret report that the Azure Profound Immortal Venerable had destroyed hundreds of thousands of Hezhen troops at Changbai Mountain, and she took comfort in knowing he remained in the mortal world.
• Xiao Zhaohuang issued a decree banning worship of all other gods, ordering temples torn down, and requiring Daoist practitioners to return to secular life.
• Officials and troops enforced the decree across the Liang Kingdom, demolishing temples and crushing resistance as worship of the Azure Profound Immortal Venerable spread.
• Wang Yanan asked Xiao Zhaohuang how to handle the Immortal-Worshipping Sect, whose teachings honored the Immortal but differed from the court’s rules.
• Xiao Zhaohuang recalled the Myriad Flowers Fairy’s intense devotion to the Immortal and ordered Wang Yanan to set the sect aside for now.

Zhang Qingyan led troops to Baijia Town to destroy its River God Temple, but the townspeople resisted fiercely and insisted their god had saved them from a Demon Beast. When Zhang Qingyan saw the River God’s portrait, he recognized a striking resemblance to his big brother.

• Zhang Qingyan received orders to destroy the River God Temple in Baijia Town and force the people to worship the Azure Profound Immortal Venerable.
• Zhang Qingyan surrounded Baijia Town and offered to spare the townspeople if they tore down the temple, but a woman in a red bridal gown and the townspeople refused.
• Zhang Qingyan ordered an attack, but the townspeople fought back for half a day and prevented the soldiers from entering the town.
• A local soldier told Zhang Qingyan that the River God had appeared two years earlier and slain a Demon Beast in the Canglan River.
• Zhang Qingyan had guards bring out the River God’s portrait and froze when he saw that the blue-robed deity resembled his big brother.

Zhang Qingyan halted the attack on Baijia Town and learned that its River God was his big brother, the Azure Profound Immortal Venerable. He was stunned to discover that Lady Baijia had been married to the River God for more than two years, making her his sister-in-law.

• Zhang Qingyan ordered his troops to retreat and asked Baijia Town to send out whoever was in charge.
• Lady Baijia calmed the townspeople and walked alone through the gate to meet the imperial army.
• Zhang Qingyan invited Lady Baijia into the River God Temple and asked her to recount the River God's arrival and departure.
• Lady Baijia's story convinced Zhang Qingyan that the River God was his big brother, so he apologized and called off the temple's destruction.
• Zhang Qingyan asked why Lady Baijia wore wedding robes, and she told him she was the River God's bride.
• Zhang Qingyan realized Lady Baijia was his sister-in-law and marveled that his big brother had been married for over two years.

Zhang Qingyan discovered that Lady Baijia had declared herself the bride of his big brother, Azure Profound Immortal Venerable, without the Immortal’s knowledge. He stopped the planned demolition of the River God Temple, ordered the troops to withdraw, and left Baijia Town to continue worshipping.

• Zhang Qingyan learned that Lady Baijia had offered herself as the River God’s Bride and had waited in the temple since a sacrificial ceremony a year earlier, though Azure Profound Immortal Venerable had never agreed to marry her.
• Zhang Qingyan reassured Lady Baijia that the Immortal might know of her devotion and declared that the temple could remain open and worship could continue.
• Zhang Qingyan told the troops that Baijia Town worshipped Azure Profound Immortal Venerable, ordered them to withdraw, and warned them not to disturb or steal from the townspeople.
• Lady Baijia said she would welcome the Immortal with tea and incense if he ever returned, then told the townspeople that he had protected them.
• Zhang Qingyan instructed his guard to report the truth about the town and insisted he would answer anyone who challenged the decision.

After learning that the Azure Profound Immortal Venerable had taken a bride in Baijia Town, Xiao Zhaohuang prepared to march there but stopped when Wang Yanan warned that the woman was connected to him. She dismissed Zhang Qingyan from the Pacification Investigation Office and wondered what else the Immortal was hiding from her.

• A secret dispatch informed Xiao Zhaohuang that Zhang Qingyan had concealed the news of a woman in Baijia Town who claimed to be the Azure Profound Immortal Venerable's bride.
• Xiao Zhaohuang ordered an imperial procession to Taian Prefecture and threatened to kill the woman, but Wang Yanan confirmed the local River God was the Immortal Venerable and warned that harming his bride could anger him.
• Xiao Zhaohuang abandoned her plan to attack Baijia Town and accused Zhang Qingyan of deceiving his sovereign.
• Xiao Zhaohuang teased Wang Yanan about her feelings for Zhang Qingyan, and Wang Yanan's flustered denial convinced her there was affection between them.
• Xiao Zhaohuang ordered Wang Yanan to tell Zhang Qingyan to leave the Pacification Investigation Office, then wondered how much more the Immortal was hiding from her.