Chapter Summaries

Xie Xuanyi defeated the Snow Hag while Zhao Tongtian comforted Jiang Miaoyin and arranged for her protection as she entered seclusion. Zhao Tongtian then revealed that Great Chu was preparing to purge the demons in the Southern Borderlands and that Ren Shou Palace had punished Xie Zhisui.

• Xie Xuanyi battered the Snow Hag with Sword Qi until it surrendered, then dispersed his Sword Intent.
• Zhao Tongtian spoke with Jiang Miaoyin about her feelings for Xie Xuanyi and her resolve to cultivate and pass the Heart Inquiry tribulation.
• Zhao Tongtian stopped the Snow Hag from fleeing and ordered it to protect Jiang Miaoyin while she comprehended the Sword Qi stele.
• Zhao Tongtian explained that he had entrusted the Thunder Unveiling Sword Formation to Xie Xuanyi for Qi Lie and showed him a newly revealed secret realm identified as the Paper Effigy Dao's mountain gate.
• Zhao Tongtian told Xie Xuanyi that Great Chu had summoned the holy lands to discuss purging demons in the Southern Borderlands.
• Zhao Tongtian revealed Ren Shou Palace's ruling stripping Xie Zhisui of his princely title and barring him from the ancestral temple, while allowing him to shut his doors and atone through meritorious deeds.

Xie Xuanyi learned that Ren Shou Palace had pardoned Xie Zhisui and ordered him to join the Southern Borderlands campaign against the Paper Effigy Dao, and he chose to go so he could investigate Lu Yuzhen and seek revenge on Yin Mountain. He returned to Great Grain Sword Palace, reunited with Duan Zhao and Huang Su, and revealed that he had reached the Yin Spirit realm.

• Zhao Tongtian told Xie Xuanyi that Ren Shou Palace had assigned the Martial Immortal and young disciples from the sacred lands to the Southern Borderlands campaign, and had specifically named Xie Xuanyi as a participant.
• Xie Xuanyi agreed to join the campaign, saying he wanted to uncover the Paper Effigy Dao's secrets and settle old scores with Yin Mountain and anyone who meant to kill him.
• On Lotus Peak, Duan Zhao sparred with Xu Nianning and nearly turned the match around with a fierce heavy-sword strike before Xie Xuanyi caught him.
• Xie Xuanyi praised Duan Zhao's improved swordsmanship and reunited with him and Xu Nianning on the training ground.
• Huang Su confronted Xie Xuanyi for taking so long to return, then realized he had broken through to the Yin Spirit realm.

After returning to the Great Grain Sword Palace, Xie Xuanyi revealed his newly advanced strength and reunited with his fellow disciples at a victory banquet. He planned to leave for the Southern Borderlands and the imperial capital, but Zhou Zhiren opposed his departure, warning that powerful enemies were waiting for him.

• Huang Su tested Xie Xuanyi with Dusting Clouds Sword Qi, and he used his Martial Dao Divine Embryo to evade her attacks and display his dense vital energy.
• Xie Xuanyi apologized to Duan Zhao for returning without sending word, and he reflected that meeting his companions had been a true stroke of luck.
• The Sword Palace held a victory banquet for Xie Xuanyi, who said he would leave as soon as it ended to join the Southern Borderlands demon-cleansing campaign and visit the imperial capital.
• Si Qi urged Xie Xuanyi to stay away from the campaign, but Zhou Zhiren arrived at the banquet and warned that the Southern Borderlands' three great sects and other enemies would target him.
• Zhou Zhiren told Xie Xuanyi that he did not agree to his leaving the Sword Palace.

Xie Xuanyi went to the Book Tower after Sang Zheng reported that Chen Jingxuan was gravely ill and wanted to see him. He discovered Chen had only pretended to be sick, and confronted him about the reason for the deception.

• Zhou Zhiren tried to keep Xie Xuanyi at the Great Grain Sword Palace, but Sang Zheng arrived with a request from the supposedly ill Chen Jingxuan.
• Zhou Zhiren gave Xie Xuanyi a Soul-Fixing Pill, and Xie Xuanyi traveled with Sang Zheng through the Spark Gate to the Imperial City.
• Jiang Qihu told Xie Xuanyi that Tang Fengshu had visited Chen Jingxuan shortly before Chen became bedridden and stopped seeing people.
• Xie Xuanyi entered the Book Tower and concluded that Chen Jingxuan's illness was an excuse, then tore through the golden-thread screen.
• Chen Jingxuan admitted that Xie Xuanyi had seen through his ruse, and Xie Xuanyi pointed out that Chen had mistakenly taken away the apple he had been holding.

Chen Jingxuan told Xie Xuanyi that Tang Fengshu had asked him to leave the imperial city with her, but he suspected her feelings had been altered by a method used by Chong Kan. He revealed that he had divined the truth before rejecting her, leaving Xie Xuanyi to challenge why he had never confessed his love to her.

• Chen Jingxuan removed the screen in the book tower and explained that he had feigned illness after Tang Fengshu left.
• Chen Jingxuan told Xie Xuanyi that Tang Fengshu had proposed abandoning their positions and leaving the imperial city together, and that he had refused.
• Xie Xuanyi questioned whether Tang Fengshu would truly have made such a proposal and wondered why Chen Jingxuan showed no sadness.
• Chen Jingxuan showed Xie Xuanyi a dossier on gu insects, leading Xie Xuanyi to suspect Chong Kan had planted one in Tang Fengshu.
• Chen Jingxuan said he had used the Celestial Globe to divine that the Tang Fengshu who visited him was not the woman he loved and that her words were not her true feelings.
• Xie Xuanyi mocked Chen Jingxuan for admitting his love only after Tang Fengshu had left.

Chen Jingxuan told Xie Xuanyi that the Southern Borderlands demon-suppression campaign concealed a deeper plot tied to the imperial-city unrest ten years earlier. Xie Xuanyi learned that Yin Mountain’s Ren Zhong may have been sent to kill him, and Chen Jingxuan warned that hidden enemies might again use others to strike during the campaign.

• Chen Jingxuan explained that he had delayed making Chong Kan pay while preparing to prevent the Great Grain Sword Palace from clashing with the imperial court over Xie Xuanyi’s appointment to lead the campaign.
• Chen Jingxuan revealed that he had been investigating the unrest that followed the Moonveil Realm assassination case, when demon beasts escaped and the Imperial City Bureau’s records were later suppressed.
• Chen Jingxuan showed Xie Xuanyi evidence that Ren Zhong appeared near the imperial city the night before the assassination case, suggesting he had been sent to kill Xie Xuanyi amid the chaos.
• Xie Xuanyi recalled hints of an attempted interception after he escaped the imperial city, though he could not recover the full memory.
• Chen Jingxuan warned that enemies hidden among Great Grain Sword Palace’s allies might use the demon-suppression campaign to kill Xie Xuanyi with a borrowed blade.

Xie Xuanyi learned that Chen Jingxuan was gravely unwell and asked Jiang Qihu to protect him from disturbances. He also heard about the Qin brothers’ struggle to become clan head, which was set to unfold during the southern demon-suppression campaign.

• Chen Jingxuan told Xie Xuanyi to stay in the imperial capital while the sacred lands prepared to send cultivators south, and Xie Xuanyi worried about Chen Jingxuan’s poor health.
• Xie Xuanyi asked Jiang Qihu to keep outsiders away from Chen Jingxuan, and Jiang Qihu promised to guard the library tower and deploy formations.
• Jiang Qihu told Xie Xuanyi that Qin Qianlian had returned to challenge Qin Baihuang and had beaten him at the Imperial City Bureau.
• Jiang Qihu said Qin Baihuang had refused help and planned to contend with Qin Qianlian for the Qin Clan headship.
• Jiang Qihu predicted that the Qin brothers would settle their contest through military merit during the coming demon-suppression campaign.

Qin Qianlian confronted Yan Xie and ordered him to leave the Imperial City, while Yan Xie claimed Xie Zhen had killed Qin Wanyang. A flurry of messages stopped Qin Qianlian from attacking, leaving Yan Xie in place and offering to help with Qin Qianlian’s plans.

• Qin Qianlian told Yan Xie that he blamed him for Qin Wanyang’s death and ordered him out of the Imperial City.
• Yan Xie identified Xie Zhen as Qin Wanyang’s killer through divination, but Qin Qianlian demanded proof and refused to believe him.
• Qin Qianlian attacked Yan Xie with a lightning-imbued palm, but the hunched figure collapsed and Yan Xie reappeared from the shadows, looking younger and stronger.
• Yan Xie explained that he had made himself appear sickly to match others’ prejudices and said Qin Qianlian could not drive him away.
• Messages from influential figures, including Qin Household and Daoist sect elders, reached Qin Qianlian and halted his next attack.
• Yan Xie let the miasma extinguish the courtyard’s lightning and offered to help Qin Qianlian with an important plan.

Xie Xuanyi cultivated in seclusion at Chen Estate after his rise to Yin Spirit, while the city’s young cultivators rallied behind him. Yuan Yi of Hundred Flowers Valley came to visit alone, and Xie Xuanyi welcomed her warmly, recalling her past support.

• Xie Xuanyi remained at the top of the Prodigy Board while news of his breakthrough and the events at Peach Blossom Spring stayed largely hidden.
• Xie Xuanyi cultivated at Chen Estate, bringing his Martial Dao Divine Embryo to the full tenth realm and nearing the later realm of Yin Spirit.
• Sang Zheng reported that a visitor from Hundred Flowers Valley had arrived, and Xie Xuanyi asked him to bring her in.
• Yuan Yi visited alone and told Xie Xuanyi that her senior sisters were resting nearby after their journey.
• Xie Xuanyi praised Yuan Yi’s cultivation and assured her that she could visit without disturbing him.

Yuan Yi visited Xie Xuanyi to ask about the Green Vine Chapter, and he identified problems in Hundred Flowers Valley’s revised sword manual. He offered to teach her a move and began demonstrating his Dao Realm, “Destruction.”

• Yuan Yi unleashed thirty-seven streams of Sword Qi with the Green Vine Chapter, and Xie Xuanyi parried them with a branch.
• Xie Xuanyi praised Yuan Yi’s skill, and she explained that she remained confused about the Green Vine Chapter despite her master’s approval.
• Xie Xuanyi argued that the Green Vine and Thorn Chapters did not fit together and suspected Hundred Flowers Valley’s sword manual had been revised by different people.
• Yuan Yi confirmed that later Valley Masters had expanded the original four chapters into seven.
• Xie Xuanyi offered to teach Yuan Yi a move and began demonstrating his Dao Realm, “Destruction.”

Xie Xuanyi exposed Yuan Yi to the Principle of Annihilation, but she initially struggled to comprehend it. After he explained that annihilation severed connections, Yuan Yi recognized its nature and wondered whether it could attack the divine soul, leaving Xie Xuanyi startled by her insight.

• Xie Xuanyi manifested his golden divine embryo and surrounded Yuan Yi with the Principle of Annihilation so she could study it.
• After a quarter of an hour, Yuan Yi said she had seen darkness mixed with a little light and felt a swimming fish enter her Heart Lake.
• Xie Xuanyi reassured Yuan Yi that sensing even a fragment of Dao principles was a worthwhile beginning, though he believed she had gained little.
• Xie Xuanyi explained annihilation as the destruction of tangible and intangible connections and demonstrated it by snapping a tree branch.
• Yuan Yi recognized that the branch had been irreversibly severed and asked whether the Principle of Annihilation could be infused into the divine soul.
• Xie Xuanyi recalled that the Lotus Revered One had used the principle to attack the divine soul and wondered whether Yuan Yi might be a hidden genius.

Xie Xuanyi declined visiting requests from several powerful sects while allowing Yuan Yi to visit him. At Hundred Flowers Valley’s inn, Ye Qinglian questioned Yuan Yi about her feelings for Xie Zhen and approved of her affection.

• Guard Sang called Xie Xuanyi a good person, but Xie Xuanyi dismissed the label.
• Xie Xuanyi told Sang Zheng to decline the visiting cards from the Martial Sect, Qian Heaven Palace, and Jade Purity Sanctuary.
• Xie Xuanyi told Sang Zheng to let Yuan Yi visit if she returned, and Sang Zheng admitted he had already allowed her into the estate.
• Ye Qinglian questioned Yuan Yi about visiting Chen Estate and her relationship with Xie Zhen.
• Ye Qinglian told Yuan Yi there was nothing wrong with liking someone and said Xie Zhen’s willingness to see her was a good thing.

Xie Xuanyi joined the southward demon-sweeping expedition and was assigned to a treasure ship full of Hundred Flowers Valley disciples, where he encountered Ye Qinglian and Yuan Yi. His attempt to ease Ye Qinglian’s worries about Jiang Qihu worked, while Jiang Qihu continued avoiding her and began to wonder if he found her pretty.

• More than two thousand cultivators gathered in the Imperial City to travel south and subjugate Paper Effigy Dao, while young cultivators praised Xie Zhen, Shang Yi, Wu Yue, and Yuwen Zhong.
• Xie Xuanyi met Jiang Qihu before boarding, and Jiang Qihu warned him to be careful while explaining that the gentleman of his Household had begun eating again.
• Xie Xuanyi boarded a treasure ship filled with Hundred Flowers Valley disciples and greeted Ye Qinglian and the embarrassed Yuan Yi.
• Ye Qinglian questioned Xie Xuanyi about Jiang Qihu avoiding her, and Xie Xuanyi claimed Jiang Qihu had wished he could travel south aboard her ship.
• Xie Xuanyi’s explanation softened Ye Qinglian’s anger, while Jiang Qihu watched her from afar and wondered if she was pretty.

Xie Xuanyi arrived in Lingqu City with the Southwestern Front and learned that its lord, Zong Bi, practiced the Joyous Union Sect’s Soul Tethering Art and preyed on children. After an assassin struck at him and fled, Xie Xuanyi caught up with the masked attacker and demanded to know who had sent him.

• Xie Xuanyi declined Lingqu City lord Zong Bi’s welcoming feast and watched the city from Bright Moon Pavilion.
• Chen Jingxuan told Xie Xuanyi that Zong Bi practiced the Joyous Union Sect’s Soul Tethering Art and asked him to keep Zong Bi alive if possible to assess the sect’s loyalty.
• Xie Xuanyi read Zong Bi’s case file and learned that he consumed children’s brain marrow to cultivate, while the Joyous Union Sect took people from the city as furnaces.
• An unseen attacker launched a flying sword at Xie Xuanyi, but he caught it and resisted the hidden assault on his divine soul.
• The masked attacker fled toward the Southern Borderlands, but Xie Xuanyi pursued and intercepted him in the sky.
• Xie Xuanyi demanded that the attacker reveal the master behind him.

Xie Xuanyi defeated a middle Yin God assassin, but the man’s hidden self-destruction destroyed the evidence and nearly killed him. Chu Man then appeared as a White Paper Avatar to warn him that Lu Yuzhen wanted him to stay out of the Southern Borderlands demon-cleansing campaign.

• Xie Xuanyi pursued an assassin from Lingqu City and discovered that the man had prepared a sword formation to test his strength and kill him in the wilderness.
• Xie Xuanyi revealed his nearly complete Martial Dao Divine Embryo and two Principles, shattered the assassin’s formation, and severed the man’s arm when he tried to kill himself.
• As Xie Xuanyi began Soul Searching, the assassin exploded, destroying the evidence and forcing Xie Xuanyi to shield himself from the blast.
• Chu Man appeared through a White Paper Avatar from within Lu Yuzhen’s array, and Xie Xuanyi recognized her and struck her avatar without effect.
• Chu Man told Xie Xuanyi that Lu Yuzhen had warned him not to join the Southern Borderlands demon-cleansing campaign and hoped he would stay safe.

Xie Xuanyi confronted Zong Bi at the City Lord's Manor and uncovered the Joyous Union Sect's tribute arrangement with Ren Shou Palace: Spirit Marrow Fruit made from children's brain marrow. After learning of the atrocities, Xie Xuanyi began using sword Qi to torture Zong Bi rather than grant him an easy death.

• Chu Man warned Xie Xuanyi that Lu Yuzhen knew the Great Chu Dynasty's battle plans and urged him to stay out of the war.
• Xie Xuanyi entered the City Lord's Manor while the city's powerful cultivators were away and subdued Zong Bi after Zong Bi tried to stab him.
• Xie Xuanyi accused Zong Bi of colluding with the Joyous Union Sect, and Zong Bi begged for mercy and revealed that Thousand-Fate Daoist was connected to Yuan Jimo and Ren Shou Palace.
• Zong Bi said the Joyous Union Sect offered Ren Shou Palace Spirit Marrow Fruit made using children's brain marrow as tribute.
• Xie Xuanyi shattered a wicker chair in anger, then pierced Zong Bi's divine sea with sword Qi and refused to let him die easily.

Xie Xuanyi controlled Zong Bi with the Soul Anchoring Art and uncovered how Thousand-Fate Daoist had forced him to refine Spirit Marrow Fruits from children for tribute. After destroying the pills, Xie Xuanyi heard Yuchi Youde’s report that a monstrous evil might be operating within Lingqu City.

• Yuchi Youde found Zong Bi bleeding and questioned him about his cultivation, but Zong Bi gave him no answers.
• Xie Xuanyi revealed himself after Yuchi Youde left and questioned the controlled Zong Bi about the Spirit Marrow Fruit tribute.
• Zong Bi admitted he had killed 314 people and explained that Thousand-Fate Daoist had selected the victims and sent monthly rosters.
• Xie Xuanyi ordered Zong Bi to report any contact from the Joyous Union Sect and destroyed the Spirit Marrow Fruits he found.
• Yuchi Youde visited Xie Xuanyi, knelt before him, and presented case files about strange incidents in Lingqu City, warning that a monstrous evil might be inside the city.

Yuchi Youde asked Xie Xuanyi for help investigating Lingqu City's missing children and suspected collusion with the Joyous Union Sect, while Xie Xuanyi concealed the political truth behind the campaign. After Ye Qinglian questioned him about a Yin Spirit's death, Xie Xuanyi revealed only his initial Yin God cultivation and concluded that Yuan Yi had kept his Martial Dao Divine Embryo secret.

• Yuchi Youde brought Xie Xuanyi his thorough investigation into the disappearances and described finding traces of Joyous Union Sect evil cultivators.
• Xie Xuanyi told Yuchi Youde that the Book Tower would investigate the case and urged him to keep their meeting secret, without saying whether his adoptive father was innocent.
• Ye Qinglian visited Xie Xuanyi to ask whether he had killed the mid-stage Yin Spirit who self-destructed outside the city, and Xie Xuanyi blamed the Paper Effigy Dao.
• Ye Qinglian tested Xie Xuanyi with a sudden flying-sword strike, and he calmly stopped the blade before revealing his initial Yin God cultivation.
• Xie Xuanyi inferred from Ye Qinglian's reaction that Yuan Yi had not disclosed his Martial Dao Divine Embryo.

After an unidentified attacker tried to kill Xie Xuanyi, Chen Jingxuan told him to enter the Southern Borderlands the next day. Xie Xuanyi arrived with the Great Chu forces and saw that the Paper Effigy Dao’s Pure White Mountain was a vast, sacred-looking stronghold whose paper scraps could interfere with the mind.

• Xie Xuanyi told Chen Jingxuan that he had killed the attacker but could not identify him, and Chen Jingxuan said Qian San would take over Zong Bi’s divine soul in Lingqu City.
• Xie Xuanyi said he hoped Yuchi Youde would live, and Chen Jingxuan promised that he would survive before warning Xie Xuanyi to take care in the Southern Borderlands.
• Xie Xuanyi arrived at a Zhanjiao Mountain with Ye Qinglian and Jiang Que, while the forces of the holy lands and clans established their camps for the demon-cleansing campaign.
• Thousand-Fate Daoist arrived as the Joyous Union Sect’s welcoming envoy and led Xie Xuanyi, Ye Qinglian, and Jiang Que toward Pure White Mountain.
• The group saw Pure White Mountain emerge beyond the thinning miasma, and Xie Xuanyi warned Ye Qinglian and Jiang Que to guard their minds against the Dao Master’s paper scraps.

Xie Xuanyi, Jiang Que, and Ye Qinglian scouted Pure White Mountain and learned that Lu Yuzhen’s Eight Trigrams formation guarded the Paper Effigy Dao’s stronghold. After an Immaculate Revered One ambushed them, Xie Xuanyi led the others back toward Zhanjiao Mountain, then said he still had something to do.

• Thousand-Fate Daoist explained that Lu Yuzhen was a genuine Yang Spirit powerhouse and described how the Eight Trigrams formation could collapse if breached at one point.
• Thousand-Fate Daoist showed Jiang Que and Ye Qinglian footage of an Immaculate Revered One killing a twelfth-level Yin Spirit with overwhelming force.
• An Immaculate Revered One emerged from a void gateway and struck Jiang Que’s azure tower, while Thousand-Fate Daoist trapped him beneath a torrent of blazing fire.
• Xie Xuanyi seized Jiang Que and Ye Qinglian and carried them nearly a hundred zhang away, then hurried them toward Zhanjiao Mountain.
• Near Zhanjiao Mountain, Xie Xuanyi released Jiang Que and Ye Qinglian and said he would return after dealing with something; Ye Qinglian suspected he planned to go back for Thousand-Fate Daoist.