Recaps

Lin Bai defeated Xiao Zong with the ninth Nine Moon Severing Swords technique and killed him despite Shui Yunmeng's plea to spare him. He carried the unconscious Shui Yunmeng to Yong'an Town, where he stabilized her injuries and opened her Storage Bag.

• Lin Bai used Eternal Night to break Xiao Zong's attack and maim his arm.
• Xiao Zong threatened Lin Bai, then tried to flee, but Lin Bai struck him down and pursued him.
• Xiao Zong begged Lin Bai and Shui Yunmeng to spare his life, and Shui Yunmeng asked Lin Bai to let him go.
• Lin Bai rejected Shui Yunmeng's request and beheaded Xiao Zong, then took his Storage Bag and carried Shui Yunmeng away.
• Lin Bai brought Shui Yunmeng to an inn in Yong'an Town, treated her injuries, and opened the Storage Bag at her waist.

Lin Bai secretly swapped the rune-covered spiritual medicine in Shui Yunmeng’s Storage Bag so he could investigate its connection to a weakness in the Eternal Sky Defense Formation. After Shui Yunmeng woke and Lin Bai fed her, powerful experts approached Yong'an Town, leaving their allegiance unknown.

• Lin Bai copied the runes onto a new spiritual medicine, returned the copy to Shui Yunmeng’s Storage Bag, and kept the original and a written copy for himself.
• Shui Yunmeng woke on the third day, checked that her Storage Bag and spiritual medicine were intact, and confronted Lin Bai about killing Xiao Zong.
• Lin Bai teased Shui Yunmeng about Xiao Zong being her “little lover” and fed her beast meat because her injuries left her unable to move.
• Lin Bai sensed powerful experts approaching Yong'an Town and prepared for trouble, uncertain whether they were friends or enemies.

Wang Ge, one of the Crown Prince’s personal guards, arrived in Yong'an Town and offered to escort Shui Yunmeng, Lin Bai, and the Yang Hall disciples to the divine capital. Shui Yunmeng remained suspicious of the Crown Prince’s motives, and she and Lin Bai planned to leave as soon as her injuries improved.

• Lin Bai sensed powerful figures approaching Yong'an Town, but their auras vanished before Wang Ge knocked on his door.
• Shui Yunmeng identified Wang Ge as a powerful Crown Prince’s guard and feared he had come to seize the spirit medicine.
• Lin Bai let Wang Ge into the room, where Wang Ge apologized for arriving too late and said he had orders to escort Shui Yunmeng and the Yang Hall disciples to the divine capital.
• Wang Ge explained that the Crown Prince wanted Shui Yunmeng to protect the spirit medicine and authorized him to eliminate anyone who tried to harm her or take it.
• After Wang Ge left, Shui Yunmeng questioned the Crown Prince’s changed stance, and Lin Bai urged her to focus on reaching the divine capital safely.

Shui Yunmeng and Lin Bai returned to the Divine Capital under Wang Ge’s protection after surviving an attack, and the chapter ended with them arriving at Dragon Court and meeting Crown Prince Zhao Zhiyu and Dragon Lord Ke Yan. Wang Ge revealed that Zhao Zhiyu had saved Shui Yunmeng to preserve the Iron Sword Marquis Estate’s neutrality and draw it away from the Seventeenth Prince.

• Shui Yunmeng thanked Wang Ge for rescuing her and Lin Bai, while Wang Ge explained that the Crown Prince wanted to keep the Iron Sword Marquis Estate from supporting the Seventeenth Prince.
• Wang Ge and his party were attacked by hundreds of fifth-stage Apex Realm warriors near the Divine Capital, but he killed them with a single palm strike and brought everyone safely to the city.
• Wang Ge’s spirit vessel landed at Dragon Court’s Sun Hall, where Crown Prince Zhao Zhiyu, Marquis Shui, and Dragon Lord Ke Yan awaited them.
• Wang Ge, Shui Yunmeng, and Lin Bai greeted Zhao Zhiyu, and Shui Yunmeng reunited with her worried father.
• Dragon Lord Ke Yan recognized Lin Bai, and Shui Yunmeng explained that Ke Yan was the master of the Sun Hall and the lord of Dragon Court.

After returning to the Divine Capital, Lin Bai learned that his mentor Dong Dian had trained him to face the disciple of the Divine Capital Sword Saint in the year-end Dragon Court and Phoenix Pavilion martial contest. Dong Dian explained that winning could let him practice the sword again, but he did not reveal why he had waited for Lin Bai rather than choosing another disciple.

• Dragon Lord Ke Yan recognized Lin Bai as the disciple of an old friend, and Crown Prince Zhao Zhiyu expected him to compete in the year-end martial contest.
• Lin Bai returned to Little Yuan Mountain, rested, and then visited Dong Dian at Swordless Mountain.
• Dong Dian praised Lin Bai for killing Zhu Jing and Xiao Zong, but warned him not to get involved in the succession struggle.
• Lin Bai asked why the Crown Prince and Dragon Lord anticipated his performance, and Dong Dian explained his rivalry with the Divine Capital Sword Saint and the wager that their disciples would face each other.
• Dong Dian said he had once hoped to teach a sword prodigy more than twenty years earlier, but the man’s talent exceeded his ability to instruct him.

Dong Dian told Lin Bai about Lin Duo’s past, including his defeat of the Divine Capital Sword Saint and his later surrender to the Central Sacred Nation. Lin Bai agreed to help Dong Dian defeat the Sword Saint’s disciple and began challenging Cloudsoar Tower to prepare for the upcoming competition.

• Dong Dian recounted Lin Duo’s unmatched sword talent, his betrayal by friends, and how he defeated the Divine Capital Sword Saint with a single strike.
• Dong Dian revealed that he had once secretly helped Lin Duo escape, but Lin Duo later returned to the Divine Capital and surrendered to the Central Sacred Nation; Lin Bai reasoned that his father had done so to reach Li Subai.
• Dong Dian asked Lin Bai to defeat the Divine Capital Sword Saint’s disciple at the competition in three months, and Lin Bai agreed while declaring that he could kill the Sword Saint.
• Lin Bai planned to raise his cultivation using Cloudsoar Tower’s resources and set out to challenge the tower the next morning.
• Lin Bai entered Cloudsoar Tower and began climbing from the seventh level after another challenger was defeated there.

Lin Bai repeatedly challenged Cloudsoar Tower to collect Myriad Flow Pills, then used them and a Dragon Bone Pill to break through two realms in succession. After stabilizing his cultivation, he returned to challenge the floors above the twenty-fifth and revealed his new strength to the waiting disciples.

• Lin Bai challenged Cloudsoar Tower for days, and Sun Hall elders increased the Myriad Flow Pill rewards on its first twenty floors to help him.
• Lin Bai cleared the first twenty-five floors and collected more than three thousand Myriad Flow Pills.
• Lin Bai absorbed the pills in seclusion and advanced from the fourth-stage Apex Realm to the fifth stage.
• Lin Bai used his Dragon Bone Pill to break through to the sixth-stage Apex Realm, then spent several days stabilizing his cultivation.
• Lin Bai returned to Cloudsoar Tower and let the waiting disciples challenge first, prompting one to notice that Lin Bai had reached the sixth stage of the Apex Realm.

Lin Bai reached the thirty-fifth floor of Cloudsoar Tower, defeated a Nether Earth Golem, and surged onward through the tower. As he climbed past the fifty-seventh floor, Dong Dian explained why he preferred Lin Bai over Che Zizhen as his disciple.

• Lin Bai entered Cloudsoar Tower and passed through the first thirty floors, collecting Myriad Flow Pills he no longer needed.
• On the thirty-fifth floor, Lin Bai fought and slew a Nether Earth Golem, then took the Immortal Azure Pill.
• Lin Bai rapidly defeated the golems on subsequent floors and climbed to the fifty-seventh floor, astonishing the disciples and elders watching below.
• A stubbled young man carrying a treasured sword watched Lin Bai from the plaza, then left for Swordless Mountain.
• Dong Dian told his two personal disciples that he had chosen Lin Bai over Che Zizhen because Lin Bai was calm, rational, focused, and merciless in battle.

Lin Bai’s astonishing progress through Cloudsoar Tower drew the attention of Dong Dian’s disciples and the ambitious Che Zizhen. The chapter ended with news that Lin Bai had broken through the eightieth floor.

• Liu En told Dong Dian, Tang Shu, and Mo Ling that Lin Bai had reached the fifty-seventh floor, then a transmission reported that Lin Bai had entered the seventieth floor.
• Dong Dian praised Lin Bai’s talent and asked him to visit the next day, while Tang Shu, Mo Ling, and Liu En went to watch Cloudsoar Tower.
• Che Zizhen dismissed Lin Bai’s achievement and insisted Dong Dian would choose him, revealing his desire to learn Dong Dian’s Purgatory Seventy-Two Kills.
• The crowd at Cloudsoar Tower cried out that Lin Bai had broken through the eightieth floor.

After breaking through the eightieth level of Cloudsoar Tower, Lin Bai refused to be intimidated by Dong Dian’s disciples and returned to Little Yuan Mountain to cultivate. There, his nine intents fused into a solidified Dao Resonance, drawing Dragon Lord Ke Yan’s attention.

• Lin Bai emerged from Cloudsoar Tower after reaching the eightieth level, and Che Zizhen dismissed the achievement as Lin Bai’s limit.
• Tang Shu, Mo Ling, and Liu En stopped Lin Bai to deliver Dong Dian’s invitation to visit Swordless Mountain the next day.
• Lin Bai confronted Tang Shu’s admonishment with a surge of killing intent, then accepted the invitation and left for Little Yuan Mountain.
• Tang Shu disparaged Lin Bai, while Liu En praised his bearing and suggested he could succeed Purgatory Seventy-Two Kills; Che Zizhen then joined the three disciples.
• Lin Bai entered secluded cultivation, brought all nine intents to peak perfection, and fused them into a solidified Dao Resonance.
• Dragon Lord Ke Yan sensed Lin Bai’s breakthrough and recognized his potential to enter the Great Dao.

Lin Bai condensed a foot of Dao Resonance after leaving Cloudsoar Tower, drawing notice from Zu Wen and praise from Dong Dian. Dong Dian then began teaching him the sword technique Purgatory Seventy-Two Kills.

• Zu Wen recognized Lin Bai’s achievement and resented him for killing Zhu Jing, his disciple.
• Lin Bai wondered whether his Devouring Sword Soul could devour other martial artists’ Dao Resonance, then organized the pills he had gained from Cloudsoar Tower.
• Lin Bai visited Swordless Mountain, where Dong Dian showed him how to see the strength of Dao Resonance around others.
• Lin Bai apologized to Mo Ling for his sharp words the previous day, and she reassured him that she did not take offense.
• Dong Dian told Lin Bai about Purgatory Seventy-Two Kills and began imparting the sword technique to him.

Lin Bai emerged from three days of comprehending Dong Dian’s blood-red sword technique and declared that he would use it to defeat Gongyang Hao at the year-end tournament. Though Mo Ling doubted he could overcome Gongyang Hao’s superior cultivation, Lin Bai insisted he could win and make the top ten.

• Dong Dian showed Lin Bai a blood-red sword image, and Lin Bai comprehended its seventy-two ruthless sword forms in his mind.
• Mo Ling told Lin Bai that he had emerged from his comprehension in three days, far faster than Tang Shu, Liu En, or herself.
• Lin Bai told Dong Dian that he would use the technique to defeat Gongyang Hao at the year-end tournament, but Dong Dian urged him not to rush.
• Mo Ling explained that Gongyang Hao had reached the ninth stage of the Apex Realm, while Lin Bai was only at the sixth stage.
• Lin Bai insisted that he would compete this year and said he was confident he could defeat Gongyang Hao and enter the top ten.
• After Lin Bai left for Little Yuan Mountain, Mo Ling told Tang Shu and Liu En that Lin Bai was arrogant, while Tang Shu said he had never been wrong about people.

Lin Bai returned to the Sword Alliance after the Imperial General's Residence, the Right Prime Minister's Residence, and the Badlands Prefectural Assistant began pressuring its businesses. He ordered the alliance to resist by force and went with White Crane to confront the Prefectural Assistant.

• Lin Bai failed to advance to the seventh level of the Apex Realm but completed his mastery of the Purgatory Seventy-Two Kills.
• White Crane told Lin Bai that Drunken Dream Pavilion had been destroyed after the Imperial General's Residence demanded a share of the Sword Alliance's profits.
• Lin Bai returned to the Sword Alliance and learned that the Right Prime Minister's Residence had also demanded profits and that the Badlands Guards had sealed the alliance's businesses.
• Lin Bai ordered the Sword Alliance to reopen its sealed shops and kill anyone who interfered.
• Lin Bai sent Liu Dao and Ye Liang to Erotic Moon City and left with White Crane to confront the Prefectural Assistant.

Lin Bai and White Crane confronted the Prefectural Assistant of Badlands Prefecture and uncovered records showing he had secretly sent nearly five hundred million spirit crystals to the Seventeenth Prince. Lin Bai threatened to expose the Prefectural Assistant's allegiance to the Crown Prince, leaving the official seething with killing intent.

• Lin Bai struck down guards who mocked him and forced his way into the Badlands Prefecture office with White Crane.
• Lin Bai and White Crane searched the Prefectural Assistant's empty study and found a Jade Slip documenting his payments to the Seventeenth Prince.
• Lin Bai concluded that the Prefectural Assistant had backed the Seventeenth Prince to advance his own position, and White Crane warned him against provoking the official.
• The Prefectural Assistant returned from receiving an envoy from the Right Prime Minister's Residence and admitted he had ordered an investigation of the Sword Alliance's pleasure house.
• Lin Bai offered to spare the Prefectural Assistant's life if he stopped targeting the Sword Alliance, then threatened to reveal the Jade Slip to the Crown Prince through Wang Ge.
• The Prefectural Assistant glared at Lin Bai as killing intent surged through him.

Lin Bai threatened the Prefectural Assistant into staying out of the Sword Alliance’s affairs, then ordered a purge of the Imperial General’s and Right Prime Minister’s people in the Badlands Prefecture. As the violence began, Liu Dao and Ye Liang discussed why they followed Lin Bai, while Assassination Hall carried out a killing in Erotic Moon City.

• Lin Bai told the Prefectural Assistant that he would run the Badlands Prefecture, and the Prefectural Assistant chose not to interfere with the Sword Alliance.
• Lin Bai ordered Pigeon Hall to locate the Imperial General’s and Right Prime Minister’s people and directed Assassination Hall to kill them until they fled the prefecture.
• Liu Dao and Ye Liang heard that the purge had begun and discussed their reasons for following Lin Bai and the Sword Alliance.
• Seven Assassination Hall members killed a wounded martial artist at Heavenly Sound Pavilion, and the manager let them leave after verifying their tokens.

The Night Emperor’s forces purged the hidden agents of the Imperial General and the Right Prime Minister’s Residence across Badlands Prefecture. After learning his agents had been killed and his control over the prefecture lost, the Imperial General marched there with ten thousand troops.

• Assassination Hall martial artists killed Ning Sang and other agents in Badlands Prefecture, while Benevolence Hall arranged for Ning Sang’s family to leave the divine capital.
• Assassins killed a Sword Alliance traitor and a Right Prime Minister’s Residence agent as the purge spread through the prefecture.
• A frightened agent asked Su Xiaotian how to escape, but Su returned his spirit crystals and said there was no need to run; an assassin killed the man and stayed to guard Su.
• Su Xiaotian agreed to remain silent for the night while the assassin concealed himself nearby.
• The Imperial General learned that his hidden agents had been purged and that he had lost control of Badlands Prefecture.
• The Imperial General ordered an army of ten thousand to march to Badlands Prefecture under the pretext of suppressing the remnants of Sword Lake.

Lin Bai consolidated the Sword Alliance’s control of Badlands Prefecture and prepared to confront the Imperial General’s ten-thousand-man army. He lured the general and his troops into a fog-covered ambush, ordering his allies to capture the general alive.

• Quan Guang summoned the Hanging Sword Bureau on behalf of the Right Prime Minister’s Residence after learning the Sword Alliance opposed it.
• Lin Bai received word that the Imperial General was approaching Badlands Prefecture with ten thousand troops and ordered the Sword Alliance to prepare.
• Lin Bai sent Hua Meiren to recall Liu Dao and Ye Liang, and told Si Ce to arrange to become Prefectural Assistant.
• Lin Bai confronted the Imperial General at the edge of Badlands Prefecture and told him the Black Alliance was finished and no Sword Lake remnants were there.
• The Imperial General led his troops into the fog despite Lin Bai’s warning, and Lin Bai ordered White Crane’s forces to attack and take the general alive.

Lin Bai used mist and Yi Ersan’s disguises to split the Imperial General’s army into ambushes, then called Daoist Tianxin to confront Pang Bai. Tianxin revealed that Pang Bai had slaughtered their temple and argued that their master had altered the heavens to help Pang Bai, leaving Pang Bai in disbelief.

• Lin Bai ordered Yi Ersan to infiltrate the Imperial General’s formation and lead soldiers into alleys where Sword Alliance warriors ambushed them.
• Pang Bai exhaled a gale to disperse the mist, but Daoist Tianxin restored it with the Grand Heaven Cloud Mist Art.
• Daoist Tianxin confronted Pang Bai and accused him of slaughtering their temple to curry favor with the Imperial General.
• Pang Bai said the temple had been destroyed for harboring rebellious intentions and claimed he had spared Tianxin’s life.
• Daoist Tianxin said their master had altered the celestial phenomena to help Pang Bai prosper, and Pang Bai screamed that it was impossible.

Daoist Tianxin confronted Pang Bai over their master's fate-changing spell, while Lin Bai led the Sword Alliance in defeating the Imperial General’s army in the mist. The Imperial General fled, only to find Drunken Monk, Liu Dao, Hua Meiren, and Yi Ersan waiting to block his escape.

• Daoist Tianxin told Pang Bai that their master had used the Great Mystic Art to place Pang Bai’s star beside the Ziwei Emperor Star, but Pang Bai rejected his claims and attacked him.
• Lin Bai ordered White Crane to send the Sword Alliance’s hidden martial artists into the mist, where they overwhelmed the weakened soldiers.
• Yi Ersan, disguised as a soldier, tricked the Imperial General into fleeing with the First Regiment and Second Regiment, then reported the escape to Lin Bai.
• Lin Bai had Pigeon Hall announce that the Imperial General had abandoned his troops, prompting many of the remaining soldiers to surrender.
• The Imperial General escaped the mist and vowed to return with a hundred thousand troops, but Drunken Monk, Liu Dao, Hua Meiren, and Yi Ersan confronted him in the street.

The Sword Alliance defeated the Imperial General’s forces in Badlands Prefecture, captured Hua Zu, and took control of the prefecture. Lin Bai arranged for Hua Zu and the Prefectural Assistant to meet in Son of Heaven Palace, where Ye Qingxue appeared before them.

• The Imperial General threatened revenge, but Lin Bai ordered the Sword Alliance to kill everyone except him and captured him alive.
• By dawn, the Sword Alliance had killed three thousand enemy soldiers, received the surrender of seven thousand, and Daoist Tianxin avenged his fellow disciples by killing Pang Bai.
• Lin Bai declared Badlands Prefecture under the Sword Alliance’s control, ordered rewards for the fighters, and told White Crane to reopen the alliance’s businesses.
• That night, Hua Zu awoke in a tavern in Son of Heaven Palace and discovered the Prefectural Assistant there, then mistook their location for Badlands Prefecture.
• When Hua Zu and the Prefectural Assistant tried to leave, Ye Qingxue appeared and greeted them.

Ye Qingxue staged a conversation with the Imperial General and the Prefectural Assistant of Badlands Prefecture, pretending they had helped Sword Lake plot against Bai Xiao. Bai Xiao overheard the exchange as the Imperial General tried to use Ye Qingxue to gather Sword Lake’s remnants, leaving the General’s fate sealed in her eyes.

• Bai Xiao and Si Ce arrived at the restaurant and stopped outside the private room where Ye Qingxue met the Imperial General and the Prefectural Assistant of Badlands Prefecture.
• Ye Qingxue claimed the officials had helped Sword Lake’s failed attempt to assassinate Bai Xiao and asked them to arrange another attack.
• Bai Xiao overheard Ye Qingxue accuse the officials of betraying him, while the Imperial General questioned why Sword Lake had targeted him.
• Ye Qingxue explained that Sword Lake wanted to strike at Grand Tutor Bai Ye through his son and claimed more than three hundred Sword Lake martial artists remained in Divine Capital.
• The Imperial General told Ye Qingxue to gather the remnants and wait for his instructions, planning to capture them all, while Ye Qingxue saw his words as sealing his death sentence.

Si Ce’s plan exposed the Imperial General and the Prefectural Assistant of Badlands Prefecture to Bai Xiao as conspirators, while Ye Qingxue escaped. Si Ce later revealed that Lin Bai had arranged the operation, leaving the two officials facing severe punishment.

• Bai Xiao overheard Ye Qingxue and the Imperial General discussing a plot against him, then confronted them with the Prefectural Assistant of Badlands Prefecture present.
• Ye Qingxue attacked Bai Xiao, but a ninth-level Apex Realm elder wounded her and drove her out the window before pursuing her.
• Bai Xiao left to report to the Crown Prince, while Si Ce blocked the Imperial General and the Prefectural Assistant and left them to realize they had fallen into a Sword Alliance trap.
• The elder returned without capturing Ye Qingxue, who had escaped with help from several dozen experts.
• Si Ce met Ye Qingxue that night and explained that the Night Emperor had arranged the Sword Alliance’s aid and the scheme against the Imperial General and the Prefectural Assistant.

Lin Bai’s plan led to the arrest and execution of Imperial General Hua Zu and the death of the Prefectural Assistant of Badlands Prefecture. The Sword Alliance seized treasures from Hua Zu’s residence, and Si Ce took office as the new Prefectural Assistant.

• Si Ce told Ye Qingxue that Bai Xiao had alerted the Crown Prince, prompting the Hanging Sword Bureau to arrest Hua Zu and pursue the Prefectural Assistant.
• Lin Bai approved the Sword Alliance’s rewards for its fighters, ordered captured soldiers released, and quietly gave White Crane further instructions.
• The Hanging Sword Bureau arrested Hua Zu and killed the resisting Prefectural Assistant; five days later, Hua Zu was sentenced to death and executed the following day.
• Yi Ersan revealed that he had emptied Hua Zu’s treasury, and Lin Bai took eight thousand Immortal Azure Pills while assigning the rest to the Twelve Crows.
• Lin Bai dismissed concerns about the Right Prime Minister’s Residence and predicted that Si Ce would become the next Prefectural Assistant.
• Si Ce took office as the new Prefectural Assistant of Badlands Prefecture after Lin Bai returned to the Dragon Court.

Lin Bai arranged for Cold Sword to avenge his sister by killing the Prefectural Assistant of Badlands Prefecture, then returned to Dragon Phoenix Estate and advanced to the seventh level of the Apex Realm. With the Dragon Court Phoenix Pavilion tournament approaching, Lin Bai visited Dong Dian and was met with Tang Shu’s mockery.

• Lin Bai thanked Cold Sword for killing the Prefectural Assistant of Badlands Prefecture and told him to watch over the Sword Alliance while he was away.
• Cold Sword had taken his revenge for his younger sister, whom the Prefectural Assistant had abducted and whose corpse he later found in Flower River.
• Lin Bai used eight thousand Immortal Azure Pills to reach the seventh level of the Apex Realm, then practiced the Purgatory Seventy-Two Kills and other sword techniques.
• Lin Bai recalled that placing in the tournament’s top ten would let him enter the Heavenly Surveillance Bureau and seek information about his parents and Black Hell.
• Lin Bai visited Dong Dian at Swordless Mountain, where Tang Shu sarcastically suggested Lin Bai was not talented enough to watch his and Liu En’s sparring.

Lin Bai clashed with Tang Shu after Tang Shu mocked his swordsmanship, and challenged Dong Dian to guide him in the Purgatory Seventy-Two Kills. Dong Dian discovered Lin Bai had already reached minor mastery and agreed to let him spar with Tang Shu, who would suppress his cultivation to Lin Bai’s level.

• Tang Shu mocked Lin Bai for lacking talent, and Lin Bai retorted by calling Tang Shu a clown and criticizing the instructors’ failures against the Divine Capital Sword Saint’s disciple.
• Tang Shu’s anger flared as his sword intent surged toward Lin Bai, but Lin Bai warned him not to bring humiliation upon himself and revealed his own murderous aura.
• Dong Dian recognized that Lin Bai had cultivated the Purgatory Seventy-Two Kills to minor mastery, astonishing Mo Ling, Liu En, and Tang Shu.
• Tang Shu accused Lin Bai of using an improper method and asked Dong Dian for permission to fight him with his cultivation suppressed.
• Dong Dian permitted the spar and ordered Tang Shu to match Lin Bai’s realm, while Lin Bai warned that Tang Shu might die if he failed to hold back.