Chapter Summaries

Bai Ye attacked Wei Zhengran in Weak Water Pavilion despite Qin Liuyue's warning, then provoked the gathered prodigies ahead of the Qin Emperor's birthday banquet. He returned with Ying Longcheng's group and prepared to undergo the Spiritual Energy Tribulation over the next seven days.

• Qin Liuyue warned Bai Ye not to make a move in Weak Water Pavilion, but he charged past her Bright Moon and struck Wei Zhengran, binding him with the Luo River's waters and stomping away his gathered spiritual energy.
• Bai Ye confronted Qin Liuyue and the gathered prodigies, declaring that none of them were worthy of him and predicting that they would target him at the birthday banquet one week later.
• West Mist Mo and the other prodigies left, while Qin Liuyue warned Bai Ye that she would not spare him at the banquet.
• Bai Ye told Shui Jingya to seek compensation from the Divine Martial Marquis Mansion, and Shui Jingya agreed to handle the matter before asking whether he had planned the outcome.
• Bai Ye dispersed into ice crystals, then rode in a carriage with Second Yin Elder Sister, who reflected on his bond with Ling Xi and her younger sister's lost chance with him.
• As the carriage approached its destination, Bai Ye prepared to spend the next seven days getting through the Spiritual Energy Tribulation.

Bai Ye recovered in Daqi Mountain and prepared to leave, while Lin Yu and the others followed a signal from his iron shard to search the mountains for him. Before departing, Bai Ye gave Yuan Chu Nian the Bone Coffin she needed to save her mother, then took her handmade robe as a memento.

• Bai Ye visited the cliff to observe the natural rhythms, confirmed his body had recovered, and released an iron shard carrying his location into the snowstorm.
• Lin Yu, Lin Qi, Su Xuan, Su Ling'er, Li Qing, and Xue Li reached Daqi Mountain by following the shard’s signal, and Lin Yu urged them to search for Bai Ye.
• Yuan Chu Nian won her sewing wager against Bai Ye, and he handed her the Bone Coffin after learning she needed it to save her mother.
• Yuan Chu Nian accepted the Bone Coffin as repayment for having saved Bai Ye, and Bai Ye took her finished robe as his reward.
• Yuan Chu Nian let Bai Ye keep the robe as a memento of their friendship.

Bai Ye joined a group of powerful young cultivators bound for the Desert Wood Venerable’s ruins, while secretly identifying Cai Xiao as someone whose mask blocked fate. After the group dispersed for the night, he tracked down Heaven Snake’s Thousand Snake and confronted him about the death of his clone.

• Bai Ye met Du Long, Mu Qingshan, Mu Youze, Bing Yu, Ding Ze, Meng Youran, and Cai Xiao at dinner, where the strangers agreed to meet again the next morning.
• Bai Ye noticed that Cai Xiao’s mask blocked fate, then quietly vanished before most of the group dispersed for the night.
• Bai Ye left the gathering and went to Heaven Snake’s camp, where he appeared beside Thousand Snake and asked him questions.
• Thousand Snake attacked Bai Ye with pythons, but the Bai Ye they tore apart was an illusion, and the real Bai Ye calmly confronted him.

Xue Li and Lin Qi reached the treasury with the Spiritual Treasury Key, where Bai Jingliu revealed himself and confronted them. Lin Yu also faced another Bai Jingliu, while Bai Ye finished preparing and set out to act.

• Bai Ye explained the plan to use Xue Li as the hidden key-holder and lure Bai Jingliu into an ambush.
• Lin Qi found Xue Li, confirmed she still held the key, and traveled with her toward the rendezvous point.
• Bai Ye refined the Thousand Jade Yin Birth Grass Bing Yu had identified, then headed toward the others after sensing the plan was underway.
• Xue Li, Lin Qi, and Su Xuan gathered at the treasury, where the Black Iron Mask Man revealed he was Bai Jingliu.
• A white-robed masked man confronted Lin Yu and identified himself as Bai Jingliu, prompting her to unleash her spiritual energy.
• Bai Ye noticed the clash and decided it was time to make his move.

Bai Ye learned that the conflict between the new students and the Three Great Societies grew out of the Hunting War, but decided to stay out of it. While chatting with Ling Xi, he explained how Ying Longcheng saved him and why he had been given the Ying surname; the chapter ended when a visitor arrived at the courtyard.

• Yan Meng told Bai Ye that Baili Yue, He Yao, and Luo Lin led the Three Great Societies in a conflict against the new students after the Hunting War.
• Bai Ye said he would remain in the courtyard and let the students settle the conflict themselves.
• Yan Meng reported that Bai Ye had earned 2.37 million Spirit Value and left it in her care.
• Ling Xi showed Bai Ye her painting, then asked why he bore the surname Ying.
• Bai Ye explained that Ying Longcheng changed his name to Ying Bai Ye so he could justify the cost of saving him and protect him under the Ying name.
• Someone knocked at the courtyard gate, and Yan Meng announced that Bai Ye had a visitor.

Bai Ye and Ling Xi visited Flourishing Flowers Town during its annual festival, where the arrival of the three great merchant guilds brought familiar faces to town. Xia Youran left the Tian Yuan Merchant Guild convoy after spotting Ling Xi and approached her and Bai Ye.

• Bai Ye and Ling Xi explored Flourishing Flowers Town during the Flourishing Flowers Festival, and Ling Xi teased Bai Ye about his childhood mishap with sticky candy.
• The three great merchant guilds arrived to negotiate for the town’s Flower Honey supply rights, and Bai Ye recognized their representatives as acquaintances.
• Inside a Tian Yuan Merchant Guild carriage, Yuan Chu Nian worried about the negotiations while Xia Youran teased her and offered her a place at the Nine Summers Merchant Guild.
• Xia Youran spotted Ling Xi from the carriage, left Yuan Chu Nian behind, and secretly hurried to find her.
• Bai Ye and Ling Xi noticed Xia Youran following them, and Xia Youran greeted Ling Xi after Ling Xi’s cheerful expression turned cool.

Bai Ye met Si Qingyu at a node outside time and learned how she reshaped the Yan Tian Sect to influence the Ancient Era’s struggle for the Heavenly Dao. After he answered her final question with “Stand by and watch coldly,” the inheritance’s judgment reached its decisive point.

• Bai Ye crossed the time-space node, recognized the laws of Heaven and Earth, and learned that Si Qingyu had summoned him through the Yan Tian Scripture.
• Si Qingyu explained that she had created the simplified Yan Tian Art and suppressed the sect members’ emotions to expand the sect’s power during the Great Thousand War.
• Si Qingyu admitted that she later destroyed the Yan Tian Sect and asked Bai Ye what he had understood from her choices.
• Bai Ye answered “Balance,” and Si Qingyu asked how he would respond if the scales tilted again.
• Bai Ye replied, “Stand by and watch coldly.”

Bai Ye destroyed Demon Dao Yuan’s Dragon Devouring Blood Array and subdued him, but a Demon Dragon intervened before Bai Ye could kill him. Demon Xing Tian appeared in the sky and escaped with the wounded Demon Dao Yuan, leaving Bai Ye and the watching experts facing him.

• Demon Dao Yuan ordered dozens of Heaven Piercing Realm experts to form the Dragon Devouring Blood Array against Bai Ye.
• Bai Ye severed the Blood Dragon’s claw, tore off its wings, and destroyed its remnant shadow in five breaths, incapacitating the array’s cultivators.
• Demon Dao Yuan attacked Bai Ye in a rage, but Bai Ye trapped him in a Water Serpent using Luo God Hundred Rivers Vast.
• A Demon Dragon appeared and rescued Demon Dao Yuan, while Bai Ye crushed his right arm with forty-nine Ice Wheels.
• Bai Ye and the watching experts recognized the figure in the sky as Demon Xing Tian.

Bai Ye explained Yan Meng’s choices to Hong Lingyue, but Ling Xi exposed that his account was mostly a lie. After Hong Lingyue fled, Bai Ye decided that the conflict with the Great Wilderness Society should end soon.

• Hong Lingyue asked Bai Ye whether he planned to help Yan Meng, and he said Yan Meng had made her own choices.
• Bai Ye described Yan Meng’s choices and said she had barely passed by acting to please him.
• Hong Lingyue sensed that Bai Ye’s story touched a secret of hers and hurriedly left.
• Ling Xi pointed out Bai Ye’s finger movements and revealed that he had lied about more than ninety percent of his account.
• Bai Ye admitted he had given Yan Meng one opportunity to choose and decided to drive off those who threatened what he considered his.

Ling Xi tried to reach Bai Ye through a dangerous route beneath Chilling Cold Lake, while Bai Ye used the Calculation Skill to open a sealed passage inside the Cold Pool. The chapter ended with Ling Xi controlling part of the lakebed’s Spirit Arrays and the white light around Bai Ye erupting.

• Ling Xi told Bing Xueran she could control part of the Ancient Spirit Arrays to find a safe way into the Cold Pool, but Bing Xueran refused to let her proceed.
• Bai Ye recognized a familiar Mark in the Cold Pool, restored his spiritual energy with Jin Chong’s help, and used the Calculation Skill to open a passage through a towering wall.
• Bai Ye asked Jin Chong to lower his head to receive the promised Calculation Skill cultivation method, then a light suddenly flared.
• Bai Ye mentally contacted Yan Meng, who relayed his request to Ling Xi and learned that Ling Xi could control some of the Spirit Arrays using his Formation Diagram.
• Bing Xueran guarded Ling Xi as she took control of the surrounding Spirit Arrays, and Ling Xi signaled Yan Meng when she was ready.
• Yan Meng relayed Ling Xi’s signal to Bai Ye, and the white light within the Cold Pool grew brighter before erupting.

Bai Ye dismissed concerns about Sun Cheng and left the Colorful Clouds Chamber, where Jiu Yin realized he was thinking of someone she resembled. Back at the City Lord's Mansion, Bai Ye brought Yan Meng into his service, advanced to the Heaven Merging Realm, and unexpectedly found himself somewhere familiar.

• Bai Ye told Jiu Yin that Sun Cheng's family would not interfere in a matter between juniors, then left the Colorful Clouds Chamber to return home.
• Ba Yin teased Jiu Yin about Bai Ye, but Jiu Yin said he had been looking at someone she resembled.
• At the City Lord's Mansion, Bai Ye told Yan Meng to reach the Divine Soul Realm within half a month and then dismissed her.
• Bai Ye used the Cold energy and his understanding of heaven and earth to advance from the late Divine Soul Realm to the Heaven Merging Realm.
• After Bai Ye's Divine Soul returned to his body, an unexpected change transported him to an endless white expanse he recognized.

Bai Ye confronted Guo Huai and the other Northern Azure Spiritual Academy students at Qin Lian Opera House, but a mysterious zither melody stripped the audience of their emotions and memories. After escaping its influence with Yue Ziqing, Bai Ye grew curious about the opera house and asked Yue Ziqing to help him with his mission.

• Bai Ye struck Guo Huai with Yue Ziqing's folding fan after Guo Huai questioned him, and Guo Huai concealed his anger while returning the fan.
• A zither melody from the opera house's hidden third floor emptied the listeners of emotion, and Bai Ye withdrew his spiritual power and fled with Yue Ziqing.
• Bai Ye paid for the damage and escaped beyond the melody's range, while the other listeners forgot the music and Guo Huai led his companions away.
• Bai Ye recovered his emotions outside Qin Lian Opera House, but Yue Ziqing woke with no memory of how they had left.
• Bai Ye told Yue Ziqing he wanted his help with a favor connected to his mission upstream on Ice Lake.

After discovering that someone inside the Northern Azure Spiritual Academy had falsified the mission details to steal the key, Bai Ye proposed reaching Nether Sea Supreme’s treasury first and waiting for Bai Jingliu. As Lin Qi began telling Bai Ye a tragic story, Lin Yu revealed to Su Xuan that she had a younger sister.

• Lin Yu displayed the jade plaque’s information, and the group learned that Nether Sea Supreme’s treasury was Supreme-grade and that the mission details had been swapped.
• Bai Ye and Su Xuan concluded that someone at the Northern Azure Spiritual Academy had arranged the ambush to obtain the unique key, and Su Xuan vowed not to forgive whoever was responsible.
• Bai Ye proposed that the group memorize Yuan Chu Nian’s map, reach the treasury quickly, and use it as a meeting point while preparing for a battle with the Bone God Hall.
• Li Qing thanked Bai Ye for saving her, though he insisted that he had genuinely tried to kill her in the valley.
• Lin Qi thanked Bai Ye for staying and asked whether he wanted to hear their story, calling it a tragedy filled with irreversible regret.
• Su Xuan asked Lin Yu why she was so intent on finding Bai Jingliu, and Lin Yu answered that she had a younger sister too.

Xia Youran tried to secure Bai Ye’s interest in a ruin before he left Flourishing Flowers Town, but he departed with Ling Xi for Chain Star City to hunt Demon Xing Tian. Yuan Chu Nian arrived too late to tell Bai Ye that Dong Yuan had not been injured, and she feared a larger conflict was unfolding.

• Xia Youran waited with Hua Ruoran for Bai Ye and Ling Xi so she could confirm their agreement about the Dragon Demon Palace ruin.
• Bai Ye declined to visit the ruin before hunting Demon Xing Tian, while Xia Youran agreed to discuss it after his hunt.
• Bai Ye and Ling Xi ate breakfast with Xia Youran and Hua Ruoran, then left Flourishing Flowers Town for Chain Star City.
• Yuan Chu Nian arrived after Bai Ye had departed and privately worried that false news about Dong Yuan’s injury concealed something dangerous.

At Luo Xiu’s welcome banquet, Bai Ye was drawn into a staged confrontation with Luo Ziwen and challenged to withstand three of Luo Xiu’s moves. Bai Ye recognized the challenge as a threat about the Princess and refused, leaving the conflict unresolved.

• Luo Xiu and Luo Qingya began the banquet, while Bai Ye enjoyed the food beside Luo Lingxi and Luo Ningyue.
• Luo Ziwen attacked Bai Ye, but Luo Xiu stopped him and accused Bai Ye of causing trouble at the banquet.
• Bai Ye and Luo Ziwen gave the same account of the incident, exposing the farce and provoking Luo Xiu.
• Luo Xiu offered to let the matter go if Bai Ye withstood three moves, implying that Bai Ye had no right to threaten the Princess.
• Bai Ye refused Luo Xiu’s challenge.

Bai Ye endured the Snowy Plains’ extreme cold as he followed a mysterious presence, while Ling Xi used spirit arrays to draw cold energy out of his body. He reached an enormous statue of the Ice Spirit Emperor.

• Bai Ye entered a vast snowy space and pushed onward through cold that threatened to freeze his spirit.
• Ling Xi climbed Spiritual Mountain and found Bai Ye meditating as cold energy froze the summit.
• Ling Xi repeatedly used spirit arrays to draw cold energy out of Bai Ye and disperse it.
• Bai Ye sensed a presence calling to him, followed footprints across the Snowy Plains, and found a statue of the Ice Spirit Emperor.

Bai Ye took Ling Xi to a private flower field in Flourishing Flowers Town, where they watched the flowers bloom at sunrise. He confessed his love, and Ling Xi answered with a kiss, leaving them embracing among the flowers.

• Bai Ye led Ling Xi out of the inn before dawn, keeping their destination a secret as they walked through Flourishing Flowers Town.
• Bai Ye brought Ling Xi to a flower field he had reserved using a favor from the town head, fulfilling their promise to see the flowers after the snow melted.
• Bai Ye and Ling Xi watched the sun rise as the flowers opened across the field.
• Bai Ye told Ling Xi that he adored, loved, and longed for her.
• Ling Xi kissed Bai Ye, and they embraced in the flower field.

Bai Ye’s Ice Crystal Arrow nearly killed Saint Sun, who survived by burning his lifespan before retreating. Bai Ye revealed that Saint Sun was not his intended target and anticipated a more interesting opponent connected to the Yan Tian Sect, then went to Kong Wenshan’s meeting.

• Bai Ye fired an Ice Crystal Arrow at Saint Sun, whose techniques failed to stop it and whose body and soul were consumed by its freezing power.
• Saint Sun used a golden Mark and dark-golden thunderflames to break the arrow, but the effort cost him much of his lifespan, and he retreated after Bai Ye mouthed “Fake.”
• Bai Ye explained that Saint Sun was not the person he had prepared the arrow for and reflected on the casualties he had left below to shake the trial’s participants into taking the contest seriously.
• Bai Ye told Bing Yu that the Yan Tian Scripture seemed to be guiding him toward an eventual opponent, whom he suspected was connected to the Yan Tian Sect and the ancient struggle over the fortune of the two worlds.
• Cai Xiao told Bai Ye that Kong Wenshan had called a meeting, and Bai Ye went with her while someone in the Extraterrestrial Evil Clan’s camp sensed the name “Yan Tian.”

Bai Ye screened the six suspected prison sites in Suppression Dragon City and found that the Punishment Hall captives were being held aboard a guarded cargo ship at the port. He left the rescue for later and suspected that someone had targeted him while using Demon Xing Tian’s name.

• Bai Ye used the Yan Tian Scripture to identify seven possible sites and decided to investigate the six hidden locations before the Dragon Demon Palace Branch.
• Bai Ye ruled out the City Lord’s Mansion, a concealed private residence, a cramped alley, and a crowded brothel as places that could hold the captives.
• Bai Ye recognized that the sixth location, a port, matched the conditions for a hidden prison.
• Bai Ye observed sixteen ships and concluded that a guarded cargo ship in their midst held the Punishment Hall members.
• Bai Ye postponed the rescue to consider how to free the captives and evade any restrictions, then wondered who had arranged the trap aimed at him.

Qing Yanjing took in Bai Ye after he said he had no family or home, bringing him to an inn with Ling Xi. As the children struggled to get along, Qing Yanjing resolved to care for all three of them as a new family.

• Bai Ye told Qing Yanjing he had no family, and she invited him to follow her with Ling Xi.
• Bai Ye learned the names of Qing Yanjing and Ling Xi, while Bing Yu warned him that Qing Yanjing was stronger than her in her current state.
• At lunch, Bai Ye comforted Qing Yanjing by telling her to be happy, and Ling Xi grew jealous of their closeness.
• Qing Yanjing rented a room so the children could spend time together, but Ling Xi and Bai Ye sat in silence until Ling Xi admitted she disliked him.
• Qing Yanjing stopped their awkward exchange and imagined that she, Ling Xi, and Bai Ye could form a new family.