Chapter Summaries

Liu Qiushui agreed to ally with Jia Sidao against the Old Emperor of Great Xia and Di Nüfeng, hoping to restore Asura Hall’s strength. When she and Li Xuanxiao reached Great Sui’s capital, Jia Sidao unexpectedly revealed himself as the fortune-teller waiting outside.

• Ling Xuanxiao told Liu Qiushui that Jia Sidao, a Tribulation Crossing Stage cultivator and Ye Yunzhou’s teacher, planned to kill the Old Emperor of Great Xia.
• Ling Xuanxiao said Jia Sidao was working with Di Nüfeng, prompting Liu Qiushui to decide that Asura Hall should ally with Jia Sidao first and counterbalance Heavenly Fiend Hall.
• Liu Qiushui tied a red cord around Li Xuanxiao’s neck out of habit, then set off with his clone for Great Sui to find Jia Sidao.
• Liu Qiushui stayed outside Great Sui’s capital because its grand formation would expose her cultivation, and Li Xuanxiao prepared to enter alone.
• A Daoist fortune-teller told Liu Qiushui that he was Jia Sidao, astonishing her and prompting Jia Sidao and Li Xuanxiao to exchange a strange look.

Elder Sun met with Jia Sidao, Di Nüfeng, Liu Qiushui, and Li Xuanxiao at Ye Yunzhou’s residence, where the group’s strange alliances unsettled him. The meeting ended with Liu Qiushui and Di Nüfeng arguing over Li Xuanxiao.

• Elder Sun went to Ye Yunzhou’s residence and found Jia Sidao waiting behind a barrier instead of the prince.
• Jia Sidao introduced the concealed Liu Qiushui, and Elder Sun recognized her as the wanted master of Asura Hall.
• Jia Sidao introduced Li Xuanxiao as a Shu Mountain disciple and Di Nüfeng as the leader of Heavenly Fiend Hall, leaving Elder Sun shocked by the gathering of four Tribulation Crossing Stage cultivators.
• Di Nüfeng and Liu Qiushui argued over whether Li Xuanxiao belonged to Asura Hall or to her.
• Li Xuanxiao watched the two women fight over him and thought of himself as the male lead of a youth idol drama.

Jia Sidao recruited Liu Qiushui and Di Nüfeng into a plot to kill the Great Xia Old Emperor, while Elder Sun hesitated over Great Sui’s involvement. After learning of the plan, the Great Sui Emperor chose to secretly alert Shu Mountain.

• Di Nüfeng confronted Li Xuanxiao about his connection to Liu Qiushui, and Li Xuanxiao’s damaged soul caused him to collapse before the others could resolve their quarrel.
• Jia Sidao asked the group to join a plan against the Old Emperor, and Liu Qiushui and Di Nüfeng agreed while Elder Sun left to consult the Great Sui Emperor.
• Back at Heavenly Fiend Hall, Li Xuanxiao told Di Nüfeng he planned to have Liu Qiushui and the Old Emperor weaken each other before killing Liu Qiushui as well.
• Li Xuanxiao separately told Di Nüfeng and Liu Qiushui that he was closer to each of them and encouraged them to plot against one another.
• Elder Sun described Jia Sidao’s plan to the Great Sui Emperor, who ordered a secret letter sent to Shu Mountain.

Ling Xuanxiao secured Great Sui’s agreement to act against Great Xia and planned to destroy its Dragon Vein, while three attackers ambushed Profound Sword Sect’s returning Grand Elder. The chapter ended with the Grand Elder overwhelmed and about to be drawn into a Myriad Souls Banner.

• The Great Sui Emperor and Elder Sun received Ling Xuanxiao’s reply, which declared that Shu Mountain knew nothing of the matter, and took it as tacit approval to oppose Great Xia.
• The Great Sui Emperor chose Yunzhou as his successor, while Elder Sun pledged to support Great Sui’s rise.
• Ling Xuanxiao planned to gather four Tribulation Crossing Stage allies at Divine Grass Mountain, lure the Old Emperor to Shu Mountain alone, and destroy Great Xia’s Dragon Vein.
• A black-robed man attacked Profound Sword Sect’s returning Grand Elder, and two more Tribulation Crossing Stage cultivators joined the fight.
• The three attackers overwhelmed the Grand Elder, and the black-robed old man moved to seal him inside his Myriad Souls Banner.

The Old Emperor killed a Grand Elder of the Profound Sword Sect and continued his covert hunt for Tribulation Crossing Stage cultivators, while Li Xuanxiao suspected him but hesitated to involve Shu Mountain. Months later, Zhang Haoran pursued a mass murderer who escaped with a powerful talisman and was identified as Hou Tianlai, a relative of Consort Shu.

• The Old Emperor defeated the Profound Sword Sect's Grand Elder, captured him in the Myriad Souls Banner, and set out to hunt more Tribulation Crossing Stage cultivators.
• News of the Grand Elder's death reached Li Xuanxiao, who suspected the Old Emperor and worried about the force backing him.
• As a Thousand-Household Commander, Zhang Haoran arrived at a village where a killer had slaughtered its inhabitants.
• Zhang Haoran and the Monster Suppressing Division attacked the killer, but he used a powerful talisman to escape.
• Zhang Haoran's deputy identified the killer as Hou Tianlai, the young master of the Marquis Manor and a relative of Consort Shu.

Zhang Haoran led the Monster Suppressing Division to arrest Hou Tianlai for cultivating an evil art and massacring a village, despite the Hou family’s threats and resistance. After the family head invoked Consort Shu and refused to cooperate, Zhang ordered the mystic crossbows fired, and the bolts struck him as the Monster Suppressing Division moved to take the household into custody.

• Zhang Haoran found a lone little girl who had survived the village massacre and brought her to the Monster Suppressing Division.
• Zhang Haoran led his men to the Marquis Manor to arrest Hou Tianlai, but a gatekeeper blocked them and threatened them with the Hou family’s connection to Consort Shu.
• Zhang Haoran killed the gatekeeper when he refused to move, then entered the manor and ordered his crossbowmen to prepare.
• The Old Demon challenged Zhang Haoran’s evidence and refused to reveal where Hou Tianlai was, even after the deputy showed him an Image Stone recording.
• Zhang Haoran called in armored guards with mystic crossbows and ordered the Hou family members taken into custody after the Old Demon invoked Consort Shu and resisted.
• Zhang Haoran ordered the crossbows fired, and the bolts pierced the Old Demon’s magical robe and body.

Zhang Haoran tried to arrest Hou Tianlai, but Cliff Suppressing Temple protected him under a law that barred prosecution after someone joined the Buddhist order. Zhang Haoran was beaten by the old monk and left with a three-year challenge, then Li Xuanxiao arrived carrying Hou Tianlai’s head.

• Zhang Haoran pursued Hou Tianlai to Cliff Suppressing Temple, where Hou had shaved his head and joined the Buddhist order.
• The old monk refused to surrender Hou Tianlai, explaining that the law protected those who entered the order and that he had crippled Hou’s cultivation.
• Hou Tianlai secretly left the temple that night, but Zhang Haoran ambushed him and tried to kill him before the old monk struck Zhang down.
• The old monk proposed that Zhang Haoran return in three years to persuade him or challenge him by force, and Zhang left injured.
• Three days later, Li Xuanxiao arrived at Cliff Suppressing Temple carrying Hou Tianlai’s head and confronted the old monk.

Li Xuanxiao killed Hou Tianlai and attacked the old monk, whose Buddhist cultivation let his soul withstand a Soul Annihilation Pearl. The old monk’s fate remained unclear as Li Xuanxiao pursued him, while the criminals at Cliff Suppressing Temple died and Grand Chancellor Zhang prepared to promote Zhang Haoran.

• Li Xuanxiao confronted the old monk over his protection of Hou Tianlai and attacked him with swordsmanship and the Five Poisons Heart-Eroding Palm.
• The old monk’s soul resisted Li Xuanxiao’s Soul Annihilation Pearl, so Li Xuanxiao brought out ten more as the old monk tried to flee.
• The criminals posing as monks at Cliff Suppressing Temple discussed their pasts, then all lost their breath.
• Grand Chancellor Zhang praised Zhang Haoran’s work and explained he had delayed promoting him to protect him from jealousy.
• Grand Chancellor Zhang told Zhang Haoran that the time seemed right to advance him, and Zhang Haoran suppressed his excitement.

Li Xuanxiao searched for a way to restrain the Old Emperor’s spatial abilities and decided to seek a Space Gu in the Southern Border. He assembled a five-person team and reached Shu Mountain’s Southern Border office, where they began learning about the region’s ferocious beasts.

• Li Xuanxiao found that a Space Gu from the Southern Border could help with his plan, but using it would require a powerful Gu Master, so he decided to travel there.
• Li Xuanxiao accepted a group mission to clear ferocious beasts and recruited Su Wan, Qin Wenke, and Jiang Luoshui, along with his junior sister Zhao Lu.
• The five boarded a Flying Ship and arrived in the Southern Border half a month later.
• Li Xuanxiao recalled his past entanglement with Di Nüfeng and Liu Qiushui near Mount Wu Wang as the group traveled onward.
• A Shushan Disciple at Shu Mountain’s Southern Border office welcomed the group and began explaining the dangers posed by ferocious beasts.

Ling Xuanxiao met Di Nüfeng in the Southern Border and explained their plan to use a Space Gu to suppress Liu Qiushui. A month later, at the Blackwater Cavern Cave Master's birthday gathering, an attendant delivered news that made the Cave Master leap to his feet.

• Shushan Disciples warned Su Wan and Qin Wenke about the deadly effects of the Southern Border's improved love Gu worms.
• Ling Xuanxiao encountered an old granny who revealed herself as Di Nüfeng after he praised Di Nüfeng and insulted Liu Qiushui.
• Ling Xuanxiao told Di Nüfeng that they needed a Space Gu controlled by the Gu King's bloodline to suppress Liu Qiushui, then explained Blackwater Cavern's history and their plan.
• The Blackwater Cavern Cave Master hosted a birthday gathering attended by Fifth Prince Ye Yunzhou and the old Taoist Jia Sidao.
• An attendant whispered urgent news to the Blackwater Cavern Cave Master, who sprang to his feet while Jia Sidao remained unmoved.

The Blackwater Cavern Cave Master learned that Di Nüfeng had kidnapped his daughter, the Saintess, and demanded an exorbitant ransom. After negotiations failed and he prepared for war, he asked Jia Sidao to mediate, and Jia Sidao agreed to find Di Nüfeng.

• The Blackwater Cavern Cave Master learned that Di Nüfeng of Heavenly Fiend Hall had kidnapped his daughter and demanded ten billion high-grade spirit stones.
• Di Nüfeng raised her ransom demand to twenty billion spirit stones, then lowered it to an amount that would still drain Blackwater Cavern.
• The Blackwater Cavern Cave Master grew furious and mobilized Blackwater Cavern to prepare for war against Heavenly Fiend Hall.
• A subordinate told the Blackwater Cavern Cave Master that Jia Sidao had known Di Nüfeng in his early years.
• The Blackwater Cavern Cave Master asked Jia Sidao to mediate, and Jia Sidao agreed to go find Di Nüfeng.

Jia Sidao accompanied the Blackwater Cavern Cave Master to confront Di Nüfeng over the kidnapping of his daughter. Di Nüfeng released the Saintess after recognizing Jia Sidao, who left having warned her to stop extorting and abducting people.

• Jia Sidao and the Blackwater Cavern Cave Master reached a Heavenly Fiend Hall cave, where its guards mocked them and refused to summon Di Nüfeng.
• The Blackwater Cavern Cave Master attacked the guards, but Di Nüfeng appeared and demanded his cavern’s treasure vault in exchange for his daughter.
• Jia Sidao told Di Nüfeng to stop, and she recognized him, apologized, and ordered the Saintess released.
• Jia Sidao scolded Di Nüfeng for kidnapping the Saintess, and she pleaded with him to forgive her.
• The Blackwater Cavern Cave Master thanked Jia Sidao on their way back and gained new respect for his influence over Di Nüfeng.

Ling Xuanxiao learned that the Cave Master of Blackwater Cavern was using living people to refine Gu Worms, but chose to preserve his plan against the Old Emperor rather than expose the crime. As the Cave Master prepared to distribute Heart-Linking Blood Fiend Gu, Shu Mountain elders burst into Blackwater Cavern.

• Su Wan, Qin Wenke, and Jiang Luoshui returned and told Ling Xuanxiao that the Cave Master of Blackwater Cavern was sacrificing people to refine gu.
• Su Wan showed Ling Xuanxiao an Image Stone documenting Blackwater Cavern’s horrific human experiments and explained that the Cave Master had deliberately allowed beast tides to worsen.
• Ling Xuanxiao weighed exposing the Cave Master against his plan to deal with the Old Emperor and decided to suppress the evidence and preserve the larger plan.
• The Cave Master of Blackwater Cavern gathered the leaders of the seventy-two caverns and introduced the Heart-Linking Blood Fiend Gu, explaining that torturing a mother and child would serve as its catalyst.
• A subordinate cut the child, and the Cave Master declared that the family’s anguish would make the Gu Worm more powerful as the gathered leaders praised him.
• Shu Mountain elders suddenly attacked Blackwater Cavern with Sword Qi and activated the Shushan Sword Formation.

Li Xuanxiao abandoned using Gu Worms for the spatial formation and resumed searching for another way to obtain its core. Xiao Ran met True Person Hongyun and traveled with him to investigate his missing younger sister, while Li Xuanxiao prepared to use a new divination art.

• After Shu Mountain attacked Blackwater Cavern, Li Xuanxiao left without a way to use Gu Worms and returned to researching alternatives.
• Half a year later, Li Xuanxiao learned from Xiao Ran that True Person Hongyun had offered him a cultivation technique and wanted to take him as a disciple.
• Li Xuanxiao told Xiao Ran to seek out True Person Hongyun, whose Golden Gourd he hoped to use for the spatial formation.
• True Person Hongyun told Xiao Ran that his younger sister had fled after learning she was not their father's biological daughter, and Xiao Ran offered to help find her.
• True Person Hongyun brought Xiao Ran home, where Xiao Ran entered the missing sister's bedroom and asked Elder Soul for guidance.
• On Silver Sword Peak, Li Xuanxiao raised his hand in concert with the mysterious Nascent Soul and prepared to use its divination art.

Xiao Ran used Ling Xuanxiao's formation to reveal that True Person Hongyun's missing sister was his stepmother, and Sun Chengshan confessed that she was his biological daughter. The revelation left the family reeling as the stepmother explained that Sun Chengshan had hidden the truth because Hongyun had fallen in love with her.

• Ling Xuanxiao used Shu Mountain's formation to reveal images of Hongyun's family, and Xiao Ran discovered that Hongyun's sister was among those present.
• Xiao Ran pointed to Hongyun's stepmother as his missing sister, prompting her to weep and Sun Chengshan to admit that the truth had come out.
• Hongyun demanded an explanation from Sun Chengshan, while Sun Miaozhen and Sun Chengmai questioned the family secret.
• The stepmother said she was Sun Chengshan's biological daughter and that he had pretended she was adopted.
• The stepmother revealed that Sun Chengshan had hidden her identity because Hongyun had fallen in love with her.

Sun Miaozhen and the Sun family revealed a chain of hidden adoptions, marriages, and parentage that left everyone confused about their relationships. The chapter ended with the hall and Ling Xuanxiao struggling to sort out who was related to whom.

• Sun Miaozhen revealed that Sun Chengshan had staged her death and married her to help Person Hongyun give up his feelings for her.
• Sun Miaozhen tried to kill herself, but her aunt stopped her and claimed that Sun Miaozhen was her own daughter, switched at birth with Sun Chengshan's child.
• Sun Chengmai learned that Sun Chengshan was actually his father and had been presented as his elder brother to conceal his birth.
• Sun Chengmai's wife revealed that Sun Miaozhen was not Sun Chengmai's biological daughter and had been born before she entered the Sun residence.
• Everyone in the hall tried to untangle the newly revealed relationships, while Ling Xuanxiao reacted in disbelief from Silver Sword Peak.

Xiao Ran helped True Person Hongyun and the Sun family reconcile their tangled family relationships, then borrowed the Purple Gold Gourd. Li Xuanxiao secretly secured the treasure and returned to Shu Mountain, where his plan stood at eighty-five percent completion, with a formation and a Nascent Soul breakthrough still ahead.

• Sun Chengshan revealed the family’s relationships, and the Sun family gathered to make dumplings after the shocking revelations.
• Sun Chengshan, Sun Chengmai, Auntie, Sun Miaozhen, True Person Hongyun, and the fake Sun Miaozhen reconciled over dinner and welcomed the fake Sun Miaozhen into the family.
• True Person Hongyun offered to take Xiao Ran as his disciple and lent him the Purple Gold Gourd after Xiao Ran swore a Great Dao oath.
• Li Xuanxiao secretly used a clone and puppet to retrieve the Purple Gold Gourd, seal it against detection, and take it back to Shu Mountain.
• Li Xuanxiao reviewed his remaining tasks: setting up the formation and breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage so he could face the Old Emperor.

Li Xuanxiao prepared to break through to the Nascent Soul Stage, arranging safeguards and leaving contingency plans for Zhao Lu before choosing a remote ice field for his tribulation. Three days after taking a Nascent Soul Breaking Pill, the lightning tribulation began to gather.

• Li Xuanxiao reviewed the conditions and treasures needed to break through to the Nascent Soul Stage and submitted a request to the sect.
• After receiving approval, Li Xuanxiao misled more than thirty fellow disciples about when and where he would enter seclusion, then halted the operations of his avatars.
• Li Xuanxiao entrusted Zhao Lu and Feng Liuli with guarding Shu Mountain and gave Zhao Lu instructions for accessing his hidden chambers if he failed to return.
• Li Xuanxiao chose a remote ice field instead of Divine Grass Mountain and deployed Mechanical Puppets to watch for intruders.
• Li Xuanxiao activated his concealed grand formation, swallowed a Nascent Soul Breaking Pill, and circulated spiritual power through his body.
• Three days later, the winds and clouds changed as the lightning tribulation gathered.

Li Xuanxiao faced his Nascent Soul Tribulation, using an array of safeguards to survive its lightning before confronting a barrage of inner demons. The chapter left him caught in the tribulation’s illusions as Di Nüfeng fought a mysterious black-robed enemy and her Deputy Cult Master, who had betrayed her.

• Li Xuanxiao used Lightning Devouring Fire Silkworms, Fire Lightning Wood, substitute puppets, and a Mother-Child Gu to blunt the first three bolts of tribulation lightning.
• When the fifth bolt passed harmlessly through him, Li Xuanxiao saw Di Nüfeng appear and realized she was an inner demon.
• Li Xuanxiao fought illusions of Di Nüfeng, Liu Qiushui, Zhao Lu, and Su Wan while repeating that everything he saw was fake.
• Zhao Lu and Liu Qiushui’s illusions confronted Li Xuanxiao with a string of fabricated disasters and claims, while his heart-lake formation helped him resist them.
• In another vision, Di Nüfeng battled a black-robed man carrying the Myriad Souls Banner and her Deputy Cult Master, who declared she had betrayed Heavenly Fiend Hall and challenged Di Nüfeng’s leadership.

Ling Xuanxiao’s tribulation escalated into a devastating heavenly lightning attack that pursued him wherever he fled. As the giant lightning sword descended, Di Nüfeng appeared and took the strike for him.

• Ling Xuanxiao realized the lightning tribulation was far beyond a normal Golden Core tribulation and pleaded with the Heavenly Dao to spare him.
• When the tribulation clouds formed a giant sword, Ling Xuanxiao suppressed his aura and tried to escape, but the sword followed him.
• Ling Xuanxiao turned back to keep the descending tribulation from reaching an uninhabited region, but the sword locked onto him and pinned him beneath its pressure.
• Di Nüfeng appeared between Ling Xuanxiao and the lightning sword after escaping an attack by the black-robed man and the Deputy Cult Master of Heavenly Fiend Hall.
• Di Nüfeng took the lightning strike, and a blood lotus bloomed between her brows.