Chapter Summaries

Di Nüfeng confronted Liu Yi with Li Xuanxiao’s accusation that he was Heavenly Fiend Hall’s Deputy Cult Master, and Liu Yi denied there was proof. Liu Yi’s memories revealed that he had been the Deputy Cult Master and had taken over Heavenly Fiend Hall, but the chapter ended with the hall’s followers naming Di Nüfeng their new Cult Master.

• Di Nüfeng played a Sound Recording Stone as Li Xuanxiao’s reasoning identified Liu Yi as Heavenly Fiend Hall’s Deputy Cult Master.
• Liu Yi challenged the accusation and demanded evidence, dismissing Li Xuanxiao’s case as speculation.
• Liu Yi remembered his master training him to conceal his identity and become anyone, then recalled rising to Peak Master of Shu Mountain.
• Liu Yi remembered betraying Heavenly Fiend Hall’s Cult Master and planning to take over the hall while keeping his place at Shu Mountain.
• Heavenly Fiend Hall’s followers declared that the dying Cult Master had given Di Nüfeng the Jade Order of Succession, and they greeted her as their new Cult Master.

Liu Yi rejected the demand that he kill himself, confident that his identity as Heavenly Fiend Hall’s Cult Master could not be exposed. Li Xuanxiao threatened to frame Wang Yushu and revealed extensive knowledge of Shu Mountain’s secrets, leaving Liu Yi shaken and her safety uncertain.

• Liu Yi claimed Di Nüfeng could not stop him from fleeing and explained that his bone-changing technique concealed his identity.
• A voice through Di Nüfeng’s transmission tube offered Liu Yi a deal: kill himself and leave Shu Mountain with dignity.
• Liu Yi recalled destroying the records of his past in Heavenly Fiend Hall’s treasure vault after becoming Cult Master.
• Li Xuanxiao threatened to forge evidence implicating Wang Yushu as Heavenly Fiend Hall’s Deputy Cult Master and described how she could be blamed for meeting Blood Prison Vajra.
• Li Xuanxiao listed possible attacks on Shu Mountain and revealed secret knowledge of its formations, frightening Liu Yi.
• Li Xuanxiao warned that even if Wang Yushu escaped suspicion this time, she might be lured into danger on a later journey.

Li Xuanxiao forced Liu Yi to sacrifice himself by threatening Wang Yushu, then swore not to harm her. Liu Yi vanished, Wang Yushu continued onward without looking back, and Li Xuanxiao discovered that his Nascent Soul and cultivation had grown again.

• Li Xuanxiao threatened to target Wang Yushu, and Liu Yi attacked him and Di Nüfeng in a fight that lasted three days and nights.
• Li Xuanxiao agreed to swear a Great Dao oath to spare Wang Yushu, and Liu Yi asked him to tell her that he loved her.
• Liu Yi dispersed his cultivation, destroyed his Purple Mansion, and vanished as his spiritual power became a wisp of Qingfeng.
• Wang Yushu sensed Liu Yi's death and started to turn back, but an inner voice told her to keep walking forward.
• Li Xuanxiao noticed that his Nascent Soul had grown stronger, while Happy Old Man sensed that someone had claimed his avatar Nascent Soul and vowed to destroy Shu Mountain.

Li Xuanxiao questioned whether good and evil truly received their due, then vowed to punish evil himself. After Chu Feng slaughtered a Li Yu Bird family, Li Xuanxiao met Di Nüfeng, who said she would soon suppress the factions that had formed after the Deputy Cult Master’s death.

• Li Xuanxiao meditated by the lake as a Li Yu Bird asked when its good deeds would let it cultivate a human form, and he reflected that the Heavenly Dao did not always reward good or punish evil.
• Li Xuanxiao vowed to punish evil himself, watched a Li Yu Bird family together, and left after receiving a message from Di Nüfeng.
• Chu Feng killed two young Li Yu Birds and one adult with his slingshot, then Zhao Ying stopped him from killing the surviving bird and knocked it into the lake.
• Chu Feng and Zhao Ying left together, and Di Nüfeng told Li Xuanxiao that the Four Heavenly Kings had formed separate factions but she would soon pacify them.

Ling Xuanxiao helped Di Nüfeng prepare to reclaim Heavenly Fiend Hall, while her growing suspicion left him wondering whether she was becoming harder to deceive. Three years later, he accepted a mission involving a demonic bird linked to an encounter from his past, just as a powerful presence called out to him.

• Di Nüfeng grew wary of Ling Xuanxiao after he drove Liu Yi to his death, and she silently considered whether he was plotting against her.
• Ling Xuanxiao told Di Nüfeng to follow the plan in his pouch, and she left to reclaim Heavenly Fiend Hall after Liu Yi's death.
• Ling Xuanxiao returned to Silver Sword Peak and inspected the candy Di Nüfeng had given him, confirming it was ordinary as he recalled her asking whether he would lie to her.
• Three years later, Ling Xuanxiao sensed a connection between a Sword Holding Pavilion mission called the Demonic Bird Murder Case and the Li Yu Bird he had met years earlier, so he accepted it.
• A voice called out to Ling Xuanxiao as he left to handle the mission, and he sensed pressure comparable to a Tribulation Crossing Stage mighty expert.

Ling Xuanxiao accompanied Su Wan to Shunping Township to hunt a demon bird that had abducted villagers and slaughtered everyone in Honggu Village. Su Wan tracked the creature with a talisman-infused sword, which struck into its mountain cave as it threatened a kidnapped child.

• Su Wan confronted Ling Xuanxiao about his mission, and he nervously admitted nothing was wrong.
• Ling Xuanxiao and Su Wan arrived in Shunping Township and learned that a demon bird had abducted villagers, killed more than two hundred people in Honggu Village, and taken a child the day before.
• Su Wan refused the township chief's banquet and explained that Shushan rules forbade accepting food or gifts while on a demon-hunting mission.
• Su Wan sensed the demon's concealed aura and launched a talisman-infused sword toward it in the mountains.
• In a cave, the demon bird prepared to attack its bound child captive, but Su Wan's sword pierced into the cave and a scream followed.

Li Xuanxiao and Su Wan rescued a boy from the Li Yu Bird, who had become a demon after losing his family and killing innocent people. Before facing execution, the bird explained how powerful clans escaped justice for murdering his wife and children, leaving him resolved to seek revenge through strength.

• Li Xuanxiao wounded the Li Yu Bird and stopped it from escaping with the boy, then sent it crashing away with a talisman.
• Su Wan found a cave filled with bones and brought the rescued boy outside before demanding that Li Xuanxiao kill the bird.
• Li Xuanxiao stopped Su Wan and asked the Li Yu Bird why it had turned to murder.
• The Li Yu Bird recounted how Chu Feng and Zhao Ying killed his wife and children, while the Government Office refused to punish them because they belonged to powerful clans.
• The Li Yu Bird said he began cultivating through human blood to avenge his family, gradually abandoning his old restraint as he pursued greater strength.

Li Xuanxiao taught Li Yu Bird that good and evil would be repaid, but Li Yu Bird learned that Chu Feng and Zhao Ying had killed his family and took revenge on them. After Li Yu Bird died, Li Xuanxiao wondered whether the Heavenly Dao was mocking his teachings.

• Li Yu Bird questioned Li Xuanxiao about why his family’s killers had escaped punishment despite his good deeds.
• Li Xuanxiao explained the purpose of the Path of Ruthlessness, and Li Xuanxiao listened in silence.
• Chu Feng became an inner disciple of the Xuantian Sword Sect and left the mountain on a mission.
• Li Yu Bird confronted Chu Feng and Zhao Ying, then killed them after they failed to recognize him.
• Li Yu Bird thanked the young Daoist for avenging him, but understood from the Daoist’s silence that he had to die and cut his own throat.
• Li Xuanxiao burned the cave clean and wondered whether the Heavenly Dao was opposing or mocking him.

Li Xuanxiao developed Divine Grass Mountain’s Spiritual Rice farming and cultivated with the Sword Spirit, who helped him refine a trace of sword intent into his body. He left the session feeling safer and more content, then slapped himself to shake off thoughts of comfort and idleness.

• Li Xuanxiao designed terraced Spiritual Rice fields with drip irrigation, arrays, and nearby Sword Grass to improve cultivation and pest control.
• Li Xuanxiao planned to sell his Spiritual Rice through Great Sui’s merchant guilds with a connection provided by Jia Sidao.
• The Sword Spirit examined the strange flying sword in Li Xuanxiao’s Purple Mansion and helped him refine it for half a month.
• Li Xuanxiao refused to reveal the flying sword’s true name, joking that it was called Have You Eaten when its real name was One of Us.
• Li Xuanxiao refined a trace of sword intent into his body, then slapped himself for indulging thoughts of a comfortable life.

Li Xuanxiao reviewed the Central Continent’s powers and marked the Mysterious Yin Cult as a threat, while Shu Mountain Sect Leader Lingxu sought Gou Shengzi’s divination about a brewing danger. Gou Shengzi recognized that the danger had already arrived and warned himself to proceed carefully.

• Li Xuanxiao studied the Central Continent’s powers, noting Shu Mountain’s overwhelming strength and the shifting balance among the demonic cults.
• Li Xuanxiao marked the Mysterious Yin Cult as a likely future enemy of the Heavenly Fiend Hall.
• Gou Shengzi received Lingxu, who voiced his unease that someone was plotting against Shu Mountain and asked him to calculate the danger.
• After Lingxu left, Gou Shengzi concluded that danger had already reached them and resolved that they must act cautiously.

Xiao Ran mastered a technique and set out for Shu Mountain to fulfill his old promise to Su Wan, prompting Li Xuanxiao to turn his attention to their impending reunion. Meanwhile, Fox Face arrived in the Central Continent on his master's orders and chose the Golden Thunder Sect as his first destination, where a dispute over a marriage and succession was brewing.

• Xiao Ran mastered his technique, reflected on his past resentment toward Su Wan and Shu Mountain, and headed for Shu Mountain to fulfill his promise.
• Li Xuanxiao examined the glowing chess pieces representing people connected to him and wondered about the missing black pieces and Di Nüfeng’s unusual piece.
• Happy Old Man sent Fox Face to the Central Continent to train, and Fox Face told Gou Shengzi that he planned to begin at the Golden Thunder Sect.
• The Golden Thunder Sect leader decided to marry Ayao to Wuming and pass him the sect leadership, leaving Wuxiu jealous.
• Wuxiu confronted Ayao in a grove and asked why she had chosen Wuming.

At Ayao’s wedding to Wuming, a disciple exposed her affair with Wuxiu, triggering a deadly fight between the two senior brothers. Ayao and Wuming died, and Wuxiu went on a rampage, trapping the wedding guests inside the Golden Thunder Sect’s grand formation.

• At the wedding, a disciple showed the Golden Thunder Sect Master an Image Stone revealing Ayao and Wuxiu’s intimacy before the ceremony.
• Wuming attacked Wuxiu, and the two fought with swords while the wedding guests scattered.
• Ayao stepped between their blades and was killed; Wuming then stabbed himself, and the Golden Thunder Sect Master collapsed in grief.
• Wuxiu killed the disciple who had exposed them and began slaughtering people around the hall.
• Wuxiu activated the Golden Thunder Sect’s grand formation and declared that the wedding guests would die there with Ayao.

After slaughtering the Golden Thunder Sect, Fox Face watched the Immortal Cloud Sect fall into chaos as opportunists preyed on its disciples. Months later, he encountered Li Xuanxiao and Lu Ziyin, who questioned him about his presence near the Immortal Cloud Sect.

• Wuxiu massacred the Golden Thunder Sect and its wedding guests, then killed himself while holding Ayao’s corpse.
• Fox Face sat among the Golden Thunder Sect’s ruins, drank its wine, and hummed a song.
• Rumors of the Immortal Cloud Sect Master’s failed breakthrough and Shu Mountain’s withdrawal of support drew attackers to the sect, where they abducted and assaulted its disciples.
• Fox Face recorded the Immortal Cloud Sect’s downfall and smiled as its disciples were seized.
• Li Xuanxiao introduced himself as a Shushan Disciple, identified Lu Ziyin as Silver Sword Peak’s Peak Master, and asked Fox Face whether he had passed near the Immortal Cloud Sect.

Li Xuanxiao and Lu Ziyin investigated the destruction of the Immortal Cloud Sect with Wei Shenme and Fox Face, uncovering that thirteen sects had attacked it for its female cultivators. Lu Ziyin led the investigation to Qingcheng Sect, whose members objected to Shushan searching their grounds.

• Fox Face recognized Li Xuanxiao and Lu Ziyin as Shushan Disciples and introduced himself as Wei Shenme of the Golden Thunder Sect.
• Wei Shenme recounted how he had survived the Golden Thunder Sect massacre, and Lu Ziyin confirmed that he cultivated its techniques.
• Fox Face accompanied Li Xuanxiao and Lu Ziyin to the Immortal Cloud Sect ruins and identified traces from multiple sects and rogue cultivators.
• After several days of investigation, Li Xuanxiao and Lu Ziyin learned that thirteen nearby sects had destroyed the Immortal Cloud Sect to seize its female cultivators.
• Lu Ziyin led Li Xuanxiao to search Qingcheng Sect first, but its members challenged Shushan's right to search without evidence.

Lu Ziyin and Li Xuanxiao left the protesting sect leaders to eat while Fox Face dismissed them as too timid to act. Half a month later, several sects suffered massacres blamed on demonic forces, while rumors spread that Shu Mountain had secretly carried out the killings and its reputation for ruthless strength kept potential enemies in check.

• Xiaoyao Sect and Five Peaks Mountain cultivators accused Shu Mountain of bullying them, and Lu Ziyin left without responding.
• Lu Ziyin agreed with Li Xuanxiao to eat at the First Tower before considering how to handle the dispute.
• Fox Face rode away, diverted the ladybugs following him, and failed to notice a tiny creature hidden in his horse.
• Half a month later, Five Peaks Mountain, Qingcheng Sect, and Xiaoyao Sect suffered deadly attacks that left many disciples dead.
• People blamed Heavenly Fiend Hall or accused Shu Mountain of disguising itself as a demonic sect, while Shu Mountain denied involvement and rumors of its thunderous measures deterred potential enemies.

Shu Mountain's leaders argued over the massacre of cultivators blamed on their sect while Li Xuanxiao tested Fox Face's strength. As Fox Face pondered why an apple fell downward, Li Xuanxiao realized he might uncover a profound principle of the world.

• Shu Mountain's Peak Masters and elders debated who had killed hundreds of cultivators, with Wushangzi worrying about the sect's reputation and Qingshi and Yuyangzi arguing over the deaths.
• Feng Liuli showed Li Xuanxiao a chess trap, and he praised her before ordering her to copy scriptures after she compared his skill to Qingshi's.
• Li Xuanxiao lured four rogue cultivators to Fox Face to gauge his strength, and Fox Face swiftly killed three before dispatching the last one as well.
• Fox Face waited for Xiao Ran beneath an apple tree while Li Xuanxiao prepared to test him, but a falling apple led Fox Face to question why objects fell downward.
• Li Xuanxiao realized Fox Face might discover a principle of heaven and earth and urged himself to act before Fox Face achieved enlightenment through physics.

Fox Face was ambushed by Li Xuanxiao’s hidden weapons, poison, Sword Insects, and chains. The attacks left Fox Face incapacitated and screaming as the chains restrained him.

• Fox Face destroyed a flying sword and puppet, then cut down venomous snakes whose bodies released corrosive smoke.
• Li Xuanxiao’s Sword Insects swarmed Fox Face and devoured his Sword Qi, forcing him to retreat.
• Fox Face destroyed a hidden weapon but was struck by Crane-Top Silver Needles, which carried tiny venomous insects that slipped through his armor and poisoned him.
• The poison caused Fox Face’s body to swell painfully, and black chains wrapped around him as he cried out.

Li Xuanxiao tortured Fox Face for a month without getting him to reveal his secret, so he and the Sword Spirit trapped Fox Face in an illusory world built from memories and fears. Fox Face relived choices that led to disaster and death, then woke to realize the nightmare was continuing.

• Li Xuanxiao bound and captured Fox Face, then tortured him for a month while Fox Face refused to speak.
• Li Xuanxiao told the Sword Spirit that Fox Face had been professionally trained and proposed using the Sword Spirit’s Heart Questioning Bureau to break his will.
• Fox Face imagined himself as Li Xuanxiao, a Shu Mountain disciple who abandoned a mission to kill the Heaven Devouring Demon Lord and died when disaster struck Shu Mountain.
• In another imagined scenario, Fox Face threw the box containing the Heaven Devouring Demon Lord into the Three Lights Divine Water, sacrificing the Old Sect Leader to save Shu Mountain.
• Fox Face imagined neglecting Su Wan when Jiang Luoshui framed her, and years later Su Wan killed him during a mission.
• Fox Face woke from the visions, unaware that his nightmare had only just begun.

Li Xuanxiao endured thousands of deaths and revivals as he tried to survive the people and disasters around Shu Mountain. Broken by the endless cycle, he heard a voice offer him the chance to change everything in exchange for the secret buried in his heart.

• Fox Face repeatedly revived after Su Wan killed him, but even destroying her body and soul did not keep her from returning to kill him.
• After Fox Face finally resolved the crisis involving Su Wan, Lin Wanqing sacrificed Silver Sword Peak for Fanyue, and Fox Face died repeatedly before eventually defeating them.
• Fox Face continued to die at the hands of Feng Liuli, Zhao Lu, Ye Yunzhou, and others, reaching thousands of revivals in total.
• Overwhelmed by the deaths he could not prevent, Fox Face considered leaving Shu Mountain but rarely survived more than five years.
• A voice in Fox Face's mind offered him a chance to change everything in exchange for the secret buried in his heart.

Li Xuanxiao tried to learn who was behind Fox Face, but Fox Face’s hidden contingency killed him before he could reveal a name. Meanwhile, Xiao Ran challenged Su Wan at Shu Mountain to fulfill their old appointment, and their first clash showed that he was her equal.

• Fox Face began to reveal that his backer was outside Central Continent, but illusory characters in his Purple Mansion dantian triggered an explosion that destroyed him and the area around the cave.
• Li Xuanxiao escaped the blast and concluded that the words “outside Central Continent” were an important clue about the force targeting Shu Mountain.
• Xiao Ran arrived at Shu Mountain’s martial arena, where Shushan Disciples gathered to watch him challenge Su Wan over their old engagement and oath.
• Su Wan resolved to win for herself, Little Bamboo Peak, and Shu Mountain, while Xiao Ran stood by his vow to wash away his humiliation.
• Xiao Ran teleported toward Su Wan and struck with his greatsword; she blocked, and the elders and disciples realized his strength matched hers.