Chapter Summaries

Xie Xuanyi used the Pure Yang lotus to ambush Yuan Jimo on the Qu River, severing his arms and piercing him with Sword Qi before escaping toward the Azure Treasure Ship. Yuan Jimo was carried through the jade talisman gateway to the Holy Empress, while a black-robed figure arrived at the river and located the ship.

• Xie Xuanyi revealed that he had deliberately arranged for Yuan Jimo’s potential allies to be absent so they could meet alone.
• Xie Xuanyi unleashed the Pure Yang lotus’s Sword Qi, severed Yuan Jimo’s arms, and prevented him from reaching his jade talisman.
• Yuan Jimo’s Thousand Scale Armor deflected one attack, but Xie Xuanyi exhausted the lotus and pierced him repeatedly.
• Yuan Jimo’s severed hand activated the jade talisman, opening a gateway to Ren Shou Palace as Xie Xuanyi left for the Azure Treasure Ship.
• The Holy Empress received the wounded Yuan Jimo and heard a faint plea from his Soul Sea before a black-robed figure emerged at Qu River and sensed the Azure Treasure Ship.

Xie Xuanyi returned to the Azure Treasure Ship after Qian San had destroyed the Imperial City Bureau agents sent to kill the Brahma Sound Temple delegation. Martial Immortal arrived over Yuan Jimo’s death, but Xie Xuanyi and the others deflected blame, leaving Martial Immortal to consider whether Zhao Chunyang was the true killer.

• Que Qi led Imperial City Bureau agents in boarding the Azure Treasure Ship, where Qian San emerged and burned them all in his Dharma form.
• Xie Xuanyi returned to find the agents dead, then denied knowing about Yuan Jimo as Martial Immortal arrived and identified a scrap of Imperial City Bureau uniform in the ashes.
• Xie Xuanyi argued that the attackers were impostors and feigned surprise when Martial Immortal announced that Yuan Jimo was dead.
• Miao Zhen and Junshan returned to the ship, and Martial Immortal respectfully greeted Junshan as his elder brother before explaining that Yuan Jimo had crushed the jade talisman.
• Miao Zhen urged Martial Immortal to seek the true killer, pointing out that Zhao Chunyang’s sword intent had been left at the scene and suggesting Heaven had arranged Yuan Jimo’s death.

Martial Immortal arrived too late to intervene in Xie Xuanyi’s killing of Yuan Jimo, then revealed his ties to Xie Xuanyi and chose to keep the Lilan Mountain matter secret. After Yuan Jimo’s remains vanished from Qu River, Mi Yun suspected the Paper Effigy Dao, and a flicker of the Causal Dao Principles showed him fragments from upstream.

• Martial Immortal decided not to punish Xie Zhen because the evidence of Yuan Jimo’s death had disappeared, and he spoke with Junshan Zhenren about his reincarnation.
• Martial Immortal told Xie Xuanyi that two of the Holy Empress’s three jade talismans had been used to save him, and explained that he had concealed Xie Xuanyi’s connection to the Paper Effigy Dao.
• Martial Immortal praised Xie Xuanyi’s Shifu, recalled Xie Xuanyi saving Martial Sect disciples, and departed from the treasure ship.
• Xie Xuanyi searched the reed marshes and found that Yuan Jimo’s remains and all traces of blood had vanished.
• Xie Xuanyi, Junshan Zhenren, Miao Zhen, and Mi Yun considered whether the Paper Effigy Dao had taken the remains, but Xie Xuanyi doubted the theory.
• Mi Yun sensed the Causal Dao Principles flicker and saw several fragmented images from upstream of Qu River.

Mi Yun used the Causal Dao Principles and saw only dazzling light, which Xie Xuanyi identified as a clue pointing to Ren Shou Palace and the Holy Empress. Junshan hoped Mi Yun could eventually use the power to learn whether Master Xiaoyao was safe at Heaven's Origin Mountain, and Miao Zhen agreed to let him try again after recovering.

• Mi Yun awakened the Causal Dao Principles, saw only light, and exhausted himself; Xie Xuanyi sent Deng Baiyi to take him back to rest.
• Xie Xuanyi connected Mi Yun's vision of light to Ren Shou Palace, where the Holy Empress resided, and explained how the Causal Dao Principles might reach places the Heaven Monitor could not see.
• Miao Zhen warned Junshan not to harm Mi Yun, but Junshan promised to protect him and hoped the boy could investigate Heaven's Origin Mountain and Master Xiaoyao.
• Junshan pretended to be sorrowful about missing Master Xiaoyao until Miao Zhen promised Mi Yun could use the Causal Dao Principles again after recovering.
• Junshan revealed that his sadness had been an act, promised to protect Mi Yun, and left Miao Zhen exasperated.

After the Imperial City Bureau’s failed assassination attempt, Xie Xuanyi spoke with Qian San about Li State’s powerful figures and the causes of the coming Annihilation of Buddhism. Qian San revealed that Nalan Xuance and Chen Chong were backing the Crown Prince against the Ninth Prince, and warned that their long-prepared campaign against Brahma Sound Temple was close to beginning.

• Xie Xuanyi thanked Qian San for helping protect the delegation, and Qian San explained that he would remain near the Great Chu border after his identity was exposed.
• Xie Xuanyi asked about Nalan Xuance and Chen Chong, and Qian San described Nalan as ruthless and Chen Chong as a formidable rising power whose strength and bearing recalled the Sword Immortal in Black.
• Xie Xuanyi revealed that Chen Chong and Nalan Xuance were joining forces to carry out the Annihilation of Buddhism, and Qian San explained that they supported Li State’s Crown Prince against the Ninth Prince, who had been received by The Chan Master.
• Qian San said Nalan Xuance had once tried to assassinate the Ninth Prince, then spent years gathering intelligence and preparing to target Brahma Sound Temple with help from Chen Chong and his three-province iron cavalry.

After the delegation left Qu River, Junshan Zhenren asked Xie Xuanyi about his Dao of Annihilation, and Xie Xuanyi explained that it could sever a person’s fate. The discussion turned to his slow progress with the Principle of Life, which Junshan said the Chan Master had also comprehended.

• Qian San bid farewell to Xie Xuanyi’s delegation and reported to his superior that it had safely left the river for Yuan Province.
• Junshan Zhenren asked Xie Xuanyi about Zhao Chunyang’s sword intent, but Xie Xuanyi said he had used it all against Yuan Jimo.
• Junshan explained how Lotus Revered One’s and Luo Lie’s Principles of Annihilation differed, and Xie Xuanyi revealed that his own Dao of Annihilation could sever fate.
• Xie Xuanyi demonstrated the idea by splitting a falling leaf and explained that finding and cutting a person’s fated number could kill them.
• Xie Xuanyi said his Principle of Life was progressing slowly, and Junshan told him that the Chan Master was the only cultivator he knew who had comprehended it.

Xie Xuanyi learned that saving people could deepen his Principle of Life as the delegation entered famine-stricken Yuan Province. He then learned from Chen Jingxuan that Chu Guo had fled amid a violent campaign against bandits, and the Book Tower had lost contact with Pelican.

• Junshan Zhenren told Xie Xuanyi that he could advance the Principle of Life by saving many people, much as killing had strengthened his Principle of Annihilation.
• The delegation crossed into Yuan Province, where Iron Eyes explained that years of drought, famine, and plague had driven people to become bandits.
• Xie Xuanyi and Junshan Zhenren discussed why Li State’s Yang Spirits and Chen Jingxuan would not spend their allotted fate to bring rain to Yuan Province.
• Xie Xuanyi contacted Chen Jingxuan, who apologized for the Qu River events and explained why he had arranged for Qian San to protect him.
• Chen Jingxuan told Xie Xuanyi that Chu Guo had fled his city during a violent bandit suppression campaign and that Pelican, his caretaker, had gone missing.
• Chen Jingxuan said Chu Guo’s soul lamp was still lit and believed Pelican would seek out Xie Xuanyi if he survived.

Xie Xuanyi received Chen Jingxuan’s warnings about dangers in Yuan Province before a wounded Book Tower agent named Pelican reached the delegation seeking him. After Xie Xuanyi revived her and cleared the carriage of listeners, Pelican began to trust him and prepared to explain what had happened.

• Chen Jingxuan told Xie Xuanyi that Chu Guo’s fate was uncertain and warned him to watch for Meng Kejian, Du Yunzhong, and Nalan Qiutong in Yuan Province.
• Xie Xuanyi returned from the As-You-Wish illusion and spent the journey in quiet while Junshan Zhenren chatted with Iron Eyes.
• At Qixia Mountain, a bloodied woman blocked the delegation and collapsed after asking to see Little Mountain Lord Xie.
• Xie Xuanyi used the Principle of Life to restore the woman’s consciousness, and she recognized him as Xie Zhen.
• Xie Xuanyi sent Deng Baiyi and Junshan Zhenren away, sealed the carriage against eavesdroppers, and asked Pelican what had happened.
• Pelican checked that Junshan had returned all her belongings, then asked Xie Xuanyi how he had recognized her.

Xie Xuanyi exposed Nalan Qiutong as an impostor posing as the Book Tower agent Pelican, then defeated her sudden attack. Nalan Qiutong tried to persuade him to abandon the diplomatic mission and join Nalan Xuance’s effort against Buddhism, but Xie Xuanyi refused and learned that the real Pelican had died resisting interrogation over a secret mission.

• Xie Xuanyi recognized that the woman claiming to be Pelican was Nalan Qiutong, and she dropped her disguise.
• Nalan Qiutong attacked Xie Xuanyi with daggers and a blade, but he disarmed her and fractured her knee in their brief fight.
• Nalan Qiutong offered Xie Xuanyi safe passage if he left the diplomatic mission, explaining that Nalan Xuance planned to destroy Brahma Sound Temple.
• Xie Xuanyi rejected the offer and accused Nalan Qiutong’s side of killing the Book Tower’s hidden agent.
• Nalan Qiutong revealed that the Hook and Pincers Masters had interrogated Pelican with soul-secret arts but could not break her sea of consciousness.

Xie Xuanyi killed Nalan Qiutong after exposing her disguise and refusing her offer of reconciliation. When Miao Zhen offered him the chance to leave the dangerous mission, Xie chose to stay because he would not lose a friend, and Junshan Zhenren decided to remain with the delegation too.

• Junshan Zhenren and Miao Zhen discussed the dangers surrounding the delegation as it traveled along Qixia Mountain.
• Xie Xuanyi seized Nalan Qiutong, exposed her as a String Manipulation Art construct, and destroyed the strand of divine sense controlling it.
• After Nalan Qiutong turned to dust, Xie Xuanyi told the delegation that he had rejected her attempt at reconciliation.
• Miao Zhen offered Xie Xuanyi the chance to leave the mission, and Xie asked Junshan Zhenren whether he intended to leave as well.
• Xie Xuanyi said he would stay to honor his alliance with Brahma Sound Temple, and Junshan Zhenren chose to remain with the delegation.
• Miao Zhen again told Xie Xuanyi he could depart, but Xie replied that he had few friends and would not lose one.

After Xie Zhen’s Sword Qi injured Nalan Qiutong, Xie Zhisui accompanied her and Du Yunzhong to Qixia Mountain, where Li State’s forces prepared to ambush the Brahma Sound Temple delegation. The delegation stopped before Treasure Bottle Gorge when Mi Yun’s merging Buddha Bone caused his Causal Dao Principles to reveal the hidden ambush.

• Xie Zhisui gave Nalan Qiutong a Soul-Molding Pill after her String Manipulation Art and divine sense were damaged by Xie Zhen’s Sword Qi.
• Du Yunzhong arrived to escort Nalan Qiutong to Qixia Mountain, then learned from Chen Chong that Xie Zhisui was welcome to come along.
• At Treasure Bottle Gorge, Nalan Qiutong explained that the Azure Camp, Feathered Camp, and Yuan Province Iron Cavalry had surrounded the Brahma Sound Temple delegation and prepared an ambush.
• The Brahma Sound Temple delegation stopped a mile before Treasure Bottle Gorge as Mi Yun suffered while the Tanluan Buddha Bone merged with his divine soul.
• Mi Yun’s Causal Dao Principles revealed Treasure Bottle Gorge and exposed Nalan Qiutong, Xie Zhisui, Du Yunzhong, and the assembled Azure Camp iron cavalry.

The Brahma Sound Temple delegation recognized the trap at Treasure Bottle Gorge, but Yuan Province’s iron cavalry attacked as it tried to escape. Xie Xuanyi realized the ambush targeted Mi Yun, whose Tanluan Buddha Bone could threaten Nalan Xuance’s plan to annihilate Buddhism.

• Miao Zhen sensed danger and ordered the delegation to retreat from Treasure Bottle Gorge, but Du Yunzhong launched the Azure Camp cavalry after receiving Chen Chong’s reply.
• Du Yunzhong attacked the convoy, and Miao Zhen confronted him while the delegation continued forward.
• Nalan Qiutong urged Xie Xuanyi to betray the monks, but Xie Xuanyi struck her with Sword Qi and exposed her as a false person created by the Xuanwei Art.
• The Azure Camp cavalry caught the delegation, while arrows and fire blocked its route to Gut-Severing Cliff and a second force waited in ambush.
• Xie Xuanyi concluded that Nalan Xuance’s forces had trapped the delegation to kill Mi Yun and prevent Buddhism from rising.

Xie Xuanyi emerged from the delegation’s besieged convoy to draw Azure Camp’s forces away while Junshan and Deng Baiyi searched for a way to break the Cage Immortal Array. He charged into the cavalry and disrupted its formation, then appeared to identify Nalan Qiutong’s true body.

• Junshan recognized the Cage Immortal Array, and Xie Xuanyi explained that he would hold off the cavalry while Junshan protected Deng Baiyi and helped her find the formation’s weakness.
• Xie Xuanyi killed an Azure Camp rider who attacked the carriage, then left the Golden Light Array as the monks’ defenses crumbled.
• Meng Kejian waited for the formation to finish draining the delegation’s strength, while Nalan Qiutong called for Xie Xuanyi to surrender.
• Xie Xuanyi ignored Nalan Qiutong’s taunts and charged into the iron cavalry with Spring Breeze and Wild Grass, cutting down horses and breaking the right flank.
• Xie Xuanyi struck at a rider who remained upright as her horse fell and recognized the pale-faced woman as Nalan Qiutong’s true body.

Xie Xuanyi fought Nalan Qiutong as she used Xuanwei Island’s String Manipulation Art to control the battlefield and trap him inside the Cage Immortal Array. As arrows rained down, he braced himself with his body, while Deng Baiyi worked to identify the formation’s weakness.

• Xie Xuanyi broke through the Azure Camp cavalry and clashed with Nalan Qiutong, who used armor fragments and silver threads to counter his sword strikes.
• Meng Kejian completed the Cage Immortal Array while Junshan Zhenren helped Deng Baiyi study its formation patterns and search for a flaw.
• Nalan Qiutong invoked her String Manipulation Art, assembling slain warhorses and controlling Azure Camp soldiers to surround Xie Xuanyi.
• Xie Xuanyi realized the art could dismantle and reassemble lifeless objects, and Nalan Qiutong sent arrows and reassembled warhorses against him.
• Xie Xuanyi resisted the array’s pull and suppression as hundreds of arrows struck his iron-bright skin.

Xie Xuanyi used his Golden Body to fight through Nalan Qiutong’s String Art-controlled forces inside the Cage Immortal Array, turning the battle into an opportunity to advance his Principle of Life. As Nalan Qiutong realized he might break through, Meng Kejian continued watching from Gut-Severing Cliff, confident he could capture Xie Xuanyi even if he reached the Yin Spirit Realm.

• Nalan Qiutong formed another layer of the Cage Immortal Array and sent String Art-controlled cavalry and warhorses charging at Xie Xuanyi.
• Xie Xuanyi abandoned his sword and smashed the attackers with his fists, relying on his Golden Body as the battle became an opportunity to cultivate the Principle of Life.
• Xie Xuanyi’s punches destroyed soldiers and warhorses beyond the String Art’s ability to repair, while the snowy-white radiance between his brows restored his declining blood vitality.
• Nalan Qiutong realized Xie Xuanyi’s strength was not fading and demanded that Meng Kejian join the fight, but he mocked her for underestimating her opponent and refused to act.
• Meng Kejian revealed that Xie Xuanyi had comprehended the Principle of Life as well as the Principle of Annihilation, and said he could still capture him even if he broke through to the Yin Spirit Realm.

Xie Xuanyi endured Nalan Qiutong’s siege long enough for Deng Baiyi to find the Cage Immortal Array’s core and Junshan Zhenren to break it. As Junshan and the others fled and Xie Xuanyi took his chance to escape, Nalan Qiutong launched a blood-forged sword at his back, revealing her Principle of Annihilation.

• Xie Xuanyi’s battle against the Azure Camp cavalry advanced his Principle of Life beyond seventy percent, while Junshan Zhenren warned him that Deng Baiyi had found a flaw in the array.
• Deng Baiyi located the Cage Immortal Array’s core talisman, and Junshan Zhenren pierced it with Violet Sky, breaking the array and blasting Nalan Qiutong away.
• Junshan Zhenren carried Mi Yun and Deng Baiyi away, while the Brahma Sound Temple monks and Iron Eyes’s forces scattered to escape.
• Xie Xuanyi chose to flee rather than attack Nalan Qiutong, but she pursued him with a blood-forged flying sword imbued with the Principle of Annihilation.

Xie Xuanyi escaped the broken Cage Immortal Array and reunited with Junshan Zhenren and Deng Baiyi, but Qixia Mountain remained shrouded in a deadly formation. As they fled south, Meng Kejian pursued at an unhurried pace and told Xie Zhisui that Xie Xuanyi would not escape the Grand General’s grasp.

• Xie Xuanyi shattered Nalan Qiutong’s blood-Qi sword in a clash of the Principle of Annihilation, then fled while both of them suffered injuries.
• Meng Kejian ordered the Feathered Camp to seal Qixia Mountain and kill every surviving monk from the Brahma Sound Temple delegation.
• Junshan Zhenren carried Deng Baiyi away on his flying sword, and Xie Xuanyi caught up with them as she anxiously searched for him.
• Xie Xuanyi chose to flee south through the fog with Junshan Zhenren and Deng Baiyi, hoping to escape Meng Kejian’s pursuit.
• Meng Kejian rode beside Xie Zhisui and dismissed Revered White Jade’s criticism, saying his mission was to kill Xie Xuanyi.
• Meng Kejian assured Xie Zhisui that Xie Xuanyi could not escape Qixia Mountain or the Grand General’s grasp.

Xie Xuanyi and his companions fled through Qixia Mountain while Meng Kejian pursued them and Mi Yun blamed himself for the delegation’s peril. They encountered a mysterious young scholar offering wine in the fog, and Junshan Zhenren drank all three bowls before demanding directions.

• Mi Yun awoke as Xie Xuanyi and Junshan Zhenren carried him away from the Cage Immortal Array, then asked about Miao Zhen and the other monks.
• Junshan Zhenren explained that Nalan Xuance’s forces had trapped Qixia Mountain and that the delegation had been scattered, prompting Mi Yun to offer himself up so the others could escape.
• Xie Xuanyi refused to abandon Mi Yun and stopped him from using the Causal Dao Principles again, warning that another deduction could destroy his sea of consciousness.
• Deng Baiyi sensed a candle flame ahead with her Miasma-Breaking Talisman, and the group found a young Confucian scholar seated beside a bamboo table in the fog.
• Xie Xuanyi asked the scholar for directions, but Junshan Zhenren sat down and drank all three bowls of wine before demanding to know the way out.

Xie Xuanyi faced a mysterious Azure-Robed Scholar’s offer to free his companions by drinking Drunken Immortal Brew, which was actually a powerful poison. After drinking five cups, he earned the right to take Mi Yun and Deng Baiyi, then risked a sixth cup to secure Junshan Zhenren and probe his lost memories.

• The Azure-Robed Scholar drugged Junshan Zhenren with three cups of Drunken Immortal Brew, leaving him unconscious, then invited Xie Xuanyi to drink.
• The scholar offered to withdraw Qixia Mountain’s forces for an hour if Xie Xuanyi drank three cups, with each additional cup allowing him to take another person.
• Xie Xuanyi drank four cups despite the poison igniting the primordial fire in his apertures, then drank a fifth and was overwhelmed by memories of his former life and death in the North Sea.
• The scholar allowed Xie Xuanyi to take Mi Yun and Deng Baiyi after five cups, and Xie Xuanyi traded a sixth cup for Junshan Zhenren’s safety.
• The Azure-Robed Scholar revealed that Drunken Immortal Brew was a potent interrogation poison called Viscera-Piercing Powder, but Xie Xuanyi still demanded the sixth cup.

After drinking the sixth cup of Drunken Immortal Brew, Xie Xuanyi relived a memory of the imperial capital’s upheaval ten years earlier and learned that Chi Lin had helped him escape. Meanwhile, Meng Kejian led Revered White Jade and the Prince of Jiangning through Qixia Mountain, where they discovered the Azure-Robed Scholar was the famed Great Li general Chen Chong.

• Xie Xuanyi drank the sixth cup and saw a memory of the imperial capital in flames ten years earlier, where Imperial City Bureau guards hunted him as a fugitive.
• Chi Lin led the weakened Xie Xuanyi through the alleys and arranged a straw-covered carriage to smuggle him out of the northern gate.
• Xie Xuanyi awoke in the bamboo grove, and the Azure-Robed Scholar let him leave with his companions while promising the Yuan Province cavalry would not pursue them for an hour.
• Meng Kejian explained that Nalan Xuance’s trapping arrays made the route through Qixia Mountain treacherous, but Xie Xuanyi had escaped along a safe path without entering any array.
• Revered White Jade tried to seize Junshan Zhenren, but the Azure-Robed Scholar stopped him with a bamboo leaf and Meng Kejian addressed the scholar as Grand General.
• Revered White Jade recognized the Azure-Robed Scholar as Chen Chong, the celebrated Great Li general.