Recaps

Lin Xuan asked Qin Yan about the Sound Transmission Talisman he had sent after they parted, unaware that she remembered it as his confession of love and proposal to dual cultivate. Qin Yan weighed her attraction to him against how little they knew each other, while three Nascent Soul cultivators secretly broke through a formation inside the mountain.

• Lin Xuan tentatively asked Qin Yan whether she remembered the Sound Transmission Talisman from two hundred years earlier.
• Three Nascent Soul cultivators entered the mountain's depths and fought through a formation full of restrictions and transforming beasts.
• Qin Yan recalled receiving Lin Xuan's message proposing that they become dual-cultivation partners after reaching Nascent Soul, and remembered how she had dismissed it as a ploy to secure her silence.
• Qin Yan considered Lin Xuan's strength and her favorable impression of him, but felt that they knew each other too little for a Dao partnership.
• Lin Xuan misread Qin Yan's silence as possible shyness and called for Yue'er to ask her advice, but Yue'er did not answer.

Qin Yan and Lin Xuan wandered through the forest under the full moon while the three Nascent Soul cultivators broke through a mountain restriction and discovered paintings depicting the Underworld and a girl who looked almost identical to Yue'er. The cultivator surnamed Chen searched the paintings for the legendary treasure and noticed a round disc at their junction.

• Qin Yan and Lin Xuan strolled through the forest, each unaware that they had received a Sound Transmission Talisman sent in the other's name.
• The cultivator surnamed Chen, the white-haired old man surnamed Murong, and Fairy Liu shattered the restrictive formation and entered a passage in the mountain.
• The three cultivators uncovered paintings of a desolate wilderness, a girl playing a zither, and the same girl ruling over countless Great Demon Ghosts.
• The white-haired old man identified the creatures as inhabitants of the Underworld Realm and speculated that the girl was a powerful figure from that realm.
• The cultivator surnamed Chen searched the paintings and spotted a round disc-shaped object where they met.

Cultivator Chen revealed that the sealed object inside Xueming Mountain was a genuine Xuantian Underworld Treasure, and persuaded Liu Mei and Murong to help retrieve it. The three agreed to auction it at the coming Sky Cloud Trade Fair and divide the proceeds, then set off to claim it.

• Cultivator Chen opened the mountain wall with his compass Dharma Treasure, revealing a hall and an altar that held the Xuantian Underworld Treasure.
• Liu Mei challenged Chen over concealing the treasure’s identity, while Murong questioned why Chen had brought them along.
• Chen explained the treasure’s power, described how he found the information on an ancient Jade Slip, and said three Nascent Soul cultivators were needed to take it.
• Chen proposed selling the treasure at the Sky Cloud Trade Fair and asked for sixty percent of the proceeds, leaving Liu Mei and Murong twenty percent each.
• Liu Mei and Murong accepted the division, and Chen urged them to retrieve the treasure before Xueming Sect cultivators discovered them.

Cultivator Chen and two Nascent Soul cultivators found an ancient Demon Monster sealed beneath the Xuantian Underworld Treasure, but chose to risk taking the treasure after preparing defenses. Meanwhile, Lin Xuan returned to the VIP Building still uncertain about Qin Yan, though he kept Yue'er closest to his heart and received a jade talisman that would let him visit Horizon Sea Pavilion.

• Cultivator Chen, the white-haired old man, and the female cultivator discovered a three-headed Demon Monster sealed behind a light curtain beneath the Xuantian Underworld Treasure.
• The three cultivators worried that removing the treasure would revive the Demon Monster, but greed led them to agree to take it after concluding the million-year seal had weakened it.
• The three cultivators set restrictions, restored their magic power, and readied their Dharma Treasures before Cultivator Chen moved to act.
• Lin Xuan returned to the VIP Building confused about Qin Yan's bashful response to the Sound Transmission Talisman and considered their uncertain prospects as dual-cultivation partners.
• Lin Xuan reflected that Yue'er remained closest to his heart, then examined the jade talisman Qin Yan had given him, which would allow him to visit Horizon Sea Pavilion.

Cultivator Chen, Liu Mei, and the old man killed the Demon Monster and followed the Jade Slip’s method to retrieve the Xuantian Underworld Treasure. Just as Chen took the Jade Box, the mountain collapsed around them, trapping them in a cave whose ordinary-looking walls resisted their strongest attacks.

• Cultivator Chen found a weakness in the Demon Monster’s scales, and the three Nascent Soul cultivators dismembered it and burned its remains.
• Chen, Liu Mei, and the old man poured spiritual power into the bronze vessels until they formed an emerald-green arm holding a Command Flag.
• Chen used the Command Flag’s yin wind to dissolve the barrier around the Jade Box, then agreed to let Liu Mei and the old man follow him while he kept the treasure.
• Cultivator Chen picked up the Jade Box, but the hall suddenly collapsed and sealed the three cultivators inside a smaller stone cave.
• Chen’s flying knife and Liu Mei’s strike failed to damage the ordinary-looking rock, leaving the three worried that Xueming Mountain held another strange danger.

A strange underground force attacked Xueming Mountain, devouring one Nascent Soul cultivator and razing the Xueming Sect’s main altar. Lin Xuan found Qin Yan safe, sensed something inexplicable beneath the rock, and urged them to flee.

• Liu Mei dodged a stone tongue, but a white-haired old man was dragged into a crevice and eaten whole.
• Lin Xuan escaped an unseen attack that pulverized his pavilion and destroyed the Xueming Sect’s mountaintop, killing nearly all its disciples.
• Lin Xuan located Qin Yan and saw Zhu Tianyun and other Nascent Soul cultivators survive the attack.
• Zhu Tianyun challenged the hidden attacker, then blocked two stone spikes with his blood-red shield.
• Lin Xuan searched beneath the ground with his divine sense, discovered something bizarre, and advised Qin Yan to leave immediately.

Lin Xuan and Qin Yan tried to escape Xueming Mountain, but the mountain awakened as a colossal monster and trapped the surviving cultivators. Elsewhere inside it, Liu Mei and the cultivator surnamed Chen fought giant tongues in what the monster claimed was its stomach.

• Lin Xuan and Qin Yan decided not to risk themselves for Xueming Sect, but a rumble beneath the mountain killed several cultivators and made Lin Xuan urge Qin Yan to flee.
• Liu Mei and the cultivator surnamed Chen battled giant stone tongues inside the mountain and heard a voice claim they were trapped in its stomach.
• Lin Xuan and Qin Yan attempted to escape north, but sharp beams blocked their route and forced them back to the other cultivators.
• Xueming Mountain rose and transformed into a giant with a face, arms, and legs before the horrified cultivators.
• The giant laughed that someone had freed it after a million years and demanded that the cultivators let it devour them.

Xueming Mountain revealed itself as a gigantic, self-healing monster and began devouring the Xueming Sect survivors. Lin Xuan joined forces with Qin Yan and the Jiang Brothers, then used his enormous Azure Fire Sword to wound the monster before charging at its tongue when it seized his sword.

• Zhu Tianyun and the surviving Xueming Sect cultivators attacked Xueming Mountain, but the monster shrugged off their blows and regenerated its wounds.
• Xueming Mountain snared two Core Condensation Realm cultivators with its tongues and devoured them, revealing that it intended to consume everyone nearby.
• Lin Xuan realized the monster would not let them escape, so he persuaded Qin Yan and the Jiang Brothers to join the battle alongside him.
• When Xueming Mountain struck at the four cultivators, Lin Xuan stayed in place and unleashed the Giant Sword Technique, using the Azure Fire Sword to smash apart the monster's palm and slash toward its mountaintop.
• Xueming Mountain caught the Azure Fire Sword with its unusually hard tongue, and Lin Xuan charged toward the tongue in a streak of azure light.

Lin Xuan attacked Xueming Mountain’s tongue with Azure Phantom Nether Fire and damaged its black-stone core, then teleported away with Qin Yan as the monster summoned stone puppets. The two reached halfway up the mountain, where Qin Yan asked what Lin Xuan planned to do.

• Lin Xuan ignored Zhu Tianyun’s warning and charged toward Xueming Mountain’s tongue, while Qin Yan followed him.
• Lin Xuan used Azure Phantom Nether Fire to crack the monster’s tentacles and destroy part of its tongue, damaging its black-stone core.
• Xueming Mountain summoned numerous stone monsters from its body, and Qin Yan fought several with the Nine Heavens Ice-Fire Silk.
• Lin Xuan teleported away with Qin Yan and reached halfway up the mountain, where Qin Yan asked what he intended to do.

Lin Xuan summoned the Corpse Demon and Pangolin to help Qin Yan hold off the Stone Monsters while he searched for a cave in the Giant Monster’s body. Meanwhile, the Giant Monster’s devastating sound-wave attack killed two cultivators, and the surviving Xueming Sect and Jiang Brothers faced another wave of monsters as their forces began to consider escape.

• Lin Xuan summoned the Corpse Demon and Pangolin, then asked Qin Yan to keep the Stone Monsters away while he searched nearby with his divine sense.
• Lin Xuan found a hidden cave in the mountain wall, and he, Qin Yan, Pangolin, and the Corpse Demon entered it to evade the Stone Monsters.
• Zhu Tianyun directed the Xueming Sect cultivators and the Jiang Brothers to harass the Giant Monster and attack its face, but the monster unleashed razor-sharp sound waves that killed two Core Condensation cultivators.
• The Giant Monster devoured the two cultivators, replenished its strength, and began turning detached boulders into more stone monsters.
• Zhu Tianyun let the surviving cultivators consider fleeing, knowing the Giant Monster would likely prevent them from escaping.

Lin Xuan and Qin Yan entered the Giant Monster’s body to follow the trail of whoever had broken its seal, while Jiang Da escaped after sacrificing Jiang Er’s body to activate the Blood Flame Demon Armor. Lin Xuan continued toward the monster’s stomach, driven by Yue’er’s sense that something inside was calling to her.

• Lin Xuan found a recently destroyed Formation Flag in a cave and led Qin Yan deeper through the passage.
• The Giant Monster wounded Jiang Er as the Jiang brothers tried to flee, and Jiang Er sacrificed himself to save Jiang Da.
• Jiang Da used Jiang Er’s body as the catalyst for the Blood Flame Demon Armor, greatly increasing his strength and speed.
• The Giant Monster hesitated at the sight of the armor, allowing Jiang Da to escape.
• Lin Xuan revealed that he had entered the monster for its treasure and to investigate the object Yue’er sensed inside.

Lin Xuan and Qin Yan broke through a black mountain wall inside the Giant Monster and found a stone chamber filled with writhing tongues. After Lin Xuan retrieved the Jade Box that had stirred Yue'er, they returned to find the Xueming Sect nearly destroyed, and Zhu Tianyun asked Lin Xuan to protect his daughter, Zhu Qianru.

• Lin Xuan used the Azure Phantom Nether Fire to break the black mountain wall, and Qin Yan helped bring it down with her Sword Qi.
• Lin Xuan captured the Nascent Souls of the two cultivators who had broken the Giant Monster's seal and stored them in a Jade Box.
• Lin Xuan shielded himself with the Nine Heavens Spirit Shield and entered the chamber, where the tongues retreated as he approached.
• Lin Xuan found the Jade Box that had caught Yue'er's attention, took it, and returned with Qin Yan.
• Lin Xuan and Qin Yan found that nearly all the Xueming Sect cultivators had died, leaving Zhu Tianyun, his wife, Ji Xuansheng, and the wounded Zhu Qianru alive.
• Zhu Tianyun asked Lin Xuan to take care of Zhu Qianru in exchange for his and his wife's help in holding back the Giant Monster, but Lin Xuan agreed only to escort her out of danger.

Qin Yan agreed to take Zhu Qianru to Horizon Sea Pavilion, while Zhu Tianyun, the Red-Clad Beauty, and Ji Xuansheng stayed behind to fight the Giant Monster. After parting from Qin Yan at Mist Hidden Valley, Lin Xuan approached three low-level cultivators.

• Qin Yan offered to take Zhu Qianru back to Horizon Sea Pavilion and ask a senior sister to accept her as a disciple.
• Zhu Tianyun gave Qin Yan a wooden box, rendered Zhu Qianru unconscious, and entrusted her to Qin Yan and Lin Xuan.
• Zhu Tianyun, the Red-Clad Beauty, and Ji Xuansheng charged the Giant Monster to cover Lin Xuan and Qin Yan's escape.
• At Mist Hidden Valley, Qin Yan told Lin Xuan to visit her at Horizon Sea Pavilion, then left with Zhu Qianru after receiving a summons from her master.
• Lin Xuan landed before three Spirit Movement Stage cultivators, who bowed and asked what instructions he had for them.

Lin Xuan settled in Mist Hidden Valley to open a cave residence and prepare to condense his Demon Core. Far away, Fairy Ruyan summoned Qin Yan and ordered her to destroy the Hundred Phoenix Blade, while Qin Yan questioned why her powerful master had disguised herself as a frail, low-level cultivator.

• Lin Xuan used a Jade Slip provided by a young woman to learn about Mist Hidden Valley, then gave her and her companions a cultivation technique in return.
• Lin Xuan told Yue'er that the Giant Monster was unlikely to pursue them and decided to stay in Mist Hidden Valley until he condensed his Demon Core.
• Yue'er killed a second-rank demonic snake, and Lin Xuan opened a cave residence beside a lake.
• Fairy Ruyan summoned Qin Yan and ordered her to kill Chen Bao, the young master of the Hundred Phoenix Blade, and wipe out his sect for molesting her.
• Qin Yan recognized that Fairy Ruyan's appearance and cultivation had changed drastically and asked why she had disguised herself, but Fairy Ruyan insisted she was well.

Fairy Ruyan explained the Vajra Mountain Monster to Qin Yan and ordered her to destroy the Hundred Phoenix Blade sect, while Lin Xuan and Yue'er investigated the Jade Box and uncovered a mysterious link between Yue'er and a woman in Liu Mei’s memories. Yue'er reaffirmed that she would stay by Lin Xuan’s side, and they turned their attention to opening the Xuantian Underworld Treasure.

• Fairy Ruyan told Qin Yan that the Vajra Mountain Monster was a powerful Nascent Soul Realm creature from the Underworld Realm and refused to hunt it herself.
• Fairy Ruyan agreed to bring Zhu Qianru to Horizon Sea Pavilion, then sent Qin Yan to destroy the Hundred Phoenix Blade sect.
• Lin Xuan and Yue'er used the Soul Searching Technique on Liu Mei and the cultivator surnamed Chen, learning that the Jade Box held a Xuantian Underworld Treasure and finding three pictures of a woman who looked like Yue'er.
• Lin Xuan worried that Yue'er might be taken from him, but Yue'er said she knew nothing about the woman and promised to remain by his side.
• Lin Xuan set aside his fears and focused on opening the Jade Box with Yue'er.

Yue'er awakened the Mysterious Yin Treasure Box, which transformed into the Illusion Moon Profound Light Sword and allowed her to wield power far beyond her cultivation. After testing the sword with Lin Xuan, she gained confidence that she could help him, while he kept the surrounding valley open to low-level cultivators except for a small forbidden area.

• Yue'er opened the box and transformed its seemingly ordinary stone into the Illusion Moon Profound Light Sword, while Lin Xuan's attempt to touch it triggered a powerful backlash.
• Yue'er used the sword in a spar with Lin Xuan and released an attack that drew on the vital energy of heaven and earth; Lin Xuan estimated her combat strength had reached the Nascent Soul Early Stage level.
• Lin Xuan warned cultivators to avoid a ten-li area around his cave residence, but spared the rest of Mist Hidden Valley for low-level cultivators who depended on it.
• Lin Xuan and Yue'er reflected on the sword's power, and Yue'er felt glad that she could finally help protect him.
• Yue'er blushed and hurried out of the cave residence when Lin Xuan mistook her flustered mood for a possible cultivation problem.

Lin Xuan used the Demon Eye Relic and a Spirit Gathering Array to condense a fourth-level Demon Core after months of seclusion. The process also transformed his spiritual power into five-colored energy, leaving him with new abilities and the possibility of surpassing Mystic Phoenix Fairy in the Phoenix Dance Nine Heavens Art.

• Lin Xuan arranged a Spirit Gathering Array with high-grade Spirit Stones and used it to fill his cave with Demon Qi from the Demon Eye Relic.
• Lin Xuan absorbed the Demon Qi and compressed it in his dantian for months while Yue'er waited anxiously outside his cave.
• Lin Xuan combined the Demon Qi with the Phoenix formed from his spiritual power, eventually condensing a five-colored fourth-level Demon Core.
• Lin Xuan discovered that his spiritual power had become five-colored and tested its stronger Sword Qi across all Five Elements.
• Lin Xuan considered that his new five-colored energy might let him cultivate the Phoenix Dance Nine Heavens Art beyond Mystic Phoenix Fairy's achievements.

Lin Xuan restored the Black Gold Dragon Scale Shield, mastered the first level of the Treasure-Controlling Formula, and left Mist Hidden Valley with Yue'er to seek a way for her to form a Nascent Soul. As they followed the trail of the Mountain Monster’s destruction, they learned that the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect and Heavenly Ingenuity Sect had mobilized powerful cultivators to hunt it.

• Lin Xuan spent a day refining the damaged Black Gold Dragon Scale Shield until he had restored it completely.
• Lin Xuan studied the ancient jade slip for several months and mastered the first level of its Treasure-Controlling Formula.
• Yue'er accidentally wounded Lin Xuan when her Mysterious Yin Treasure Box warned her of his stealthy approach, and Lin Xuan reassured her before promising to help her form a Nascent Soul.
• Lin Xuan and Yue'er left Mist Hidden Valley and traveled east, finding nine towns and cities destroyed by the Mountain Monster.
• Lin Xuan concealed his cultivation and followed the Mountain Monster’s trail, where a Liao Clan disciple told him that the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect and Heavenly Ingenuity Sect were leading the hunt with Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivators.

Lin Xuan learned that the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect and Heavenly Ingenuity Sect had rallied Cloud Province’s cultivators against a rampaging Giant Monster. He reached Chaoyun Prefecture as the monster, now at the Nascent Soul Late Stage, fought a huge force led by the monk Kong Xuan.

• Lin Xuan heard that the Giant Monster had devastated Cloud Province and that the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect and Heavenly Ingenuity Sect were summoning cultivators to destroy it.
• Lin Xuan warned the Foundation Establishment cultivator surnamed Liao to leave, then flew onward as more cultivators gathered.
• Lin Xuan heard that the Giant Monster had been surrounded in Chaoyun Prefecture and that Kong Xuan was leading the attack.
• Lin Xuan arrived to find over ten thousand cultivators facing the Giant Monster and recognized Kong Xuan as an exceptionally powerful Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivator.
• Lin Xuan hid among the crowd and joined the fighting with an ordinary flying-sword Dharma Treasure as the Giant Monster attacked with overwhelming force.

After the Giant Monster was slain, cultivators scrambled for its treasures while Lin Xuan suspected Kong Xuan of provoking future disputes. Lin Xuan discovered top-grade Sky Moon Crystal in the rubble, but Kong Xuan had spotted it too.

• Kong Xuan, Lei Yin Boy, and the assembled cultivators killed the Giant Monster after it charged into the weaker fighters, leaving thousands dead.
• Kong Xuan declared the monster’s remaining treasures ownerless and invited the lower-level cultivators to claim them, while the Nascent Soul cultivators held back.
• Zhang Dazhu took a high-grade Spirit Tool from the rubble, prompting other cultivators to rush in and search for treasures.
• Lin Xuan told Yue'er that Kong Xuan’s promise of first come, first served could spark violence once the powerful cultivators left.
• Lin Xuan spotted top-grade Sky Moon Crystal beneath the rubble and realized Kong Xuan had discovered it as well.

Lin Xuan took the Sky Moon Crystal from Divine Monk Kong Xuan, then exposed the monk’s plan to kill him and claim the treasure. After revealing that he had reached the Nascent Soul Middle Stage, Lin Xuan challenged Kong Xuan, who attacked him with his Vajra Demon-Subduing Divine Ability.

• Kong Xuan raced toward the Sky Moon Crystal, but Lin Xuan reached the crevice first and took it.
• Kong Xuan offered three thousand Spirit Stones, then proposed accompanying Lin Xuan to save his supposedly injured brother in exchange for the crystal.
• Lin Xuan agreed to leave with Kong Xuan, and they flew away from the gathered cultivators.
• In a desolate area, Lin Xuan confronted Kong Xuan about intending to kill him and seize the treasure, then revealed his Nascent Soul Middle Stage cultivation.
• Kong Xuan dismissed Lin Xuan as an inferior opponent and unleashed his Vajra Demon-Subduing Divine Ability, while Lin Xuan drew a short azure sword.

Lin Xuan fought Monk Kong Xuan, the formidable head of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect’s Arhat Hall, and revealed a Heaven-Reaching Spirit Treasure that nearly killed him. Kong Xuan survived the strike and unleashed powerful Buddhist techniques, leaving both cultivators still battling as Lin Xuan mocked his opponent.

• Monk Kong Xuan tested Lin Xuan’s strength, and Lin Xuan’s Azure Fire Sword could not harm Kong Xuan’s Vajra Indestructible Body.
• Lin Xuan used the Broken Sword, a Heaven-Reaching Spirit Treasure, and cut Kong Xuan in half while also destroying a distant mountain.
• Kong Xuan survived by sacrificing an arm, then summoned a wrathful vajra and attacked Lin Xuan with the Tathagata Thousand-Leaf Palm, a Buddhist staff, and a golden wheel.
• Lin Xuan’s Broken Sword shattered Kong Xuan’s vajra manifestation, but its enormous magic-power cost prevented him from using it continuously.
• Kong Xuan urged Lin Xuan to surrender after seeing him put the Broken Sword away, and Lin Xuan taunted him instead.

Lin Xuan fought Monk Kong Xuan with the help of his Corpse Demon, Pangolin, and Yue'er, turning the monk’s attacks against him and overwhelming his defenses. Kong Xuan was left trapped and bleeding beneath Pangolin’s punches.

• Monk Kong Xuan attacked Lin Xuan with a great roc, but Lin Xuan defended himself with the Black Gold Dragon Scale Shield and summoned a Corpse Demon.
• Kong Xuan sent a Buddhist seal and Jade Bowl toward Lin Xuan, but Lin Xuan countered with nine Gourd Artifacts and destroyed the bowl’s attack.
• Lin Xuan pretended to fear the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect, then vanished and drew Kong Xuan’s Tathagata Palm onto Pangolin.
• Pangolin clashed with Kong Xuan while Yue'er appeared and used the Illusion Moon Profound Light Sword to destroy a tiny Buddha summoned against her.
• Lin Xuan’s Azure Phantom Nether Fire overwhelmed Kong Xuan’s Jinlan Kasaya as Yue'er and Pangolin kept him occupied.
• Kong Xuan activated his Vajra Indestructible Body, but Pangolin pummeled him until the technique failed and he spat blood.

Lin Xuan forced Monk Kong Xuan to abandon his body and flee as a golden Nascent Soul, but failed to catch him. Knowing the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect would seek revenge, Lin Xuan fled and killed witnesses, while Kong Xuan rallied cultivators to search for him.

• Monk Kong Xuan emerged from his body as a crimson-gold Nascent Soul and escaped Lin Xuan using a Buddhist mantra and a powerful teleportation technique.
• Lin Xuan returned from the pursuit without catching Kong Xuan, then took the monk’s Storage Bag and destroyed his body.
• Lin Xuan recalled Pangolin and the Corpse Demon and hurried away, killing seven or eight cultivators he encountered to keep his whereabouts secret.
• Monk Kong Xuan sent word to the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect and vowed revenge, prompting thousands of cultivators to search the region for Lin Xuan.

After escaping Monk Kong Xuan, Lin Xuan found no cultivation manual among the Buddhist scriptures in the Storage Bag, but suspected their study might help his unstable Dao heart. Elsewhere, Meng Ruyan hid her identity and endured humiliation among low-level cultivators to temper her state of mind and overcome a bottleneck in her cultivation.

• Lin Xuan escaped tens of millions of li from Monk Kong Xuan and examined the Sky Moon Crystal, the monk's Storage Bag, and its treasures.
• Lin Xuan read the handwritten Buddhist scriptures, but found they contained no manual for the Vajra Indestructible Body divine art.
• Lin Xuan reflected on how his rapid, pill-fueled cultivation had left his Dao heart unstable and made his future breakthrough to the Lihe Realm more difficult.
• Meng Ruyan, disguised as a low-level cultivator in a market, recalled that her own extraordinary rise had left her state of mind too weak to break through to the middle stage of Lihe.
• Meng Ruyan continued enduring orders and humiliation from junior cultivators because she hoped the hardship would temper her state of mind.