Chapter Summaries

Lin Heng discovered a large vein of Mystic Gold Nether Iron in the dangerous Windtide Forest and persuaded Chen He and his companions to enter with him. As the group headed into the mist, Jiang Caiyan and Black Robe learned of their plan and followed after them.

• Lin Heng and the Blue-Scale Snake reached Windtide Forest, where the snake sensed a large deposit of Mystic Gold Nether Iron.
• Chen He and two companions arrived, and Lin Heng pretended to know of an innate supreme treasure to persuade them to search the forest with him.
• Chen He agreed to enter, planning to use Lin Heng to scout the dangers and seize the treasure and spirit pet if the chance arose.
• Junior Sister ignored Senior Brother Zhao's warnings and followed Lin Heng and the others, while Zhao decided to wait outside.
• Jiang Caiyan and Black Robe confronted Zhao, learned why the others were entering Windtide Forest, and followed them into the forest.

Lin Heng and his companions followed Chen He into Windtide Forest, where they found fresh tracks of the Green Qilin Beast. The beast ambushed Chen He, and Lin Heng let the Blue-Scale Snake attack it while he prepared to step in.

• Chen He and the female disciple secretly regarded Lin Heng and the Blue-Scale Snake as treasures, while the Blue-Scale Snake sensed their intentions and Lin Heng told her to wait.
• Chen He found a fresh footprint and recognized it as belonging to the Green Qilin Beast, then asked Lin Heng to help hunt it.
• Lin Heng agreed, noticed a threat approaching from behind with his Dao Eye, and warned Chen He just before the Green Qilin Beast attacked.
• Chen He fought the beast but could not break through its powerful defenses, so he called on Lin Heng for help.
• The Blue-Scale Snake proposed using her venom against the beast, and Lin Heng gave her permission to attack first.

Lin Heng fought over the Green Qilin Beast with Chen He and the Limitless Sect disciples, then learned that Jiang Caiyan had entered the dangerous Cold Nether Land. He hurried after Black Robe to find her, while Jiang Caiyan became surrounded by giant centipede-like insects as her cultivation declined.

• The Blue-Scale Snake helped Chen He kill the Green Qilin Beast, but Chen He and a female disciple refused to honor their agreement to split the spoils with Lin Heng.
• Lin Heng sent the Blue-Scale Snake to defeat Chen He and the female disciple, then ordered it to leave the Green Qilin Beast’s body untouched so he could use its Life Origin Force.
• Lin Heng encountered Black Robe, who told him Jiang Caiyan had entered the Cold Nether Land and had been missing inside for more than half an hour.
• Lin Heng left the Blue-Scale Snake behind and followed Black Robe toward the Cold Nether Land to find Jiang Caiyan.
• Jiang Caiyan’s Life-and-Death Dual-Cross Physique absorbed the death qi and caused her cultivation to fall from mid Golden Core to peak Foundation Establishment.
• Jiang Caiyan found herself surrounded by giant centipede-like insects and realized that retreat was blocked.

Jiang Caiyan struggled against poisonous centipede-like insects while weakened by her cultivation rotation, until Lin Heng arrived and burned them all with his flame. He found her injured and insisted on treating her bite, while she distrusted his intentions because of their past.

• Jiang Caiyan's Li Fire enraged the yin-soaked insects, forcing her to fight them with her Twin Blades as her strength waned.
• A centipede-like insect bit Jiang Caiyan, and her black vortex swept the surrounding insects away before she collapsed.
• Lin Heng arrived and incinerated the insects with his fire, then greeted Jiang Caiyan, who vomited from the smell of the roasted insects.
• Lin Heng approached Jiang Caiyan and noticed her wound, but she slapped him when he tore at her clothing to inspect it.
• Lin Heng explained that he wanted to suck out the poison and channel Wood Force into Jiang Caiyan so she could recover.

Lin Heng rescued Jiang Caiyan in the Cold Nether Land, found the Mystic Gold Nether Iron, and insisted she accompany him to Star Altar City while she recovered. Jiang Caiyan resisted his coercion but fell silent after he said he did not want her to be bullied by the Blood Moon Cult.

• Lin Heng carried the exhausted Jiang Caiyan into the depths of the Cold Nether Land, protected her with the Green Lotus Dao Fire, and secretly kissed her while she slept.
• Using his Dao Eye, Lin Heng located the Mystic Gold Nether Iron and dug a head-sized chunk out of the ground.
• After Jiang Caiyan woke and absorbed some death qi to cultivate, Lin Heng asked her to accompany him to Star Altar City and offered to cover her expenses.
• Jiang Caiyan suspected Lin Heng wanted to exploit her weakened cultivation and pointed out that Blood Moon Cult missions kept her busy.
• Lin Heng picked Jiang Caiyan up and insisted she stay with him so the Blood Moon Cult could not take advantage of her, leaving her quietly affected by his concern.

Lin Heng cared for the weakened Jiang Caiyan and prepared to cook the Green Qilin Beast for her. After Black Robe fetched water, Lin Heng purified it with his Water Element Body, which Jiang Caiyan recognized.

• Black Robe waited beside the Green Qilin Beast while the Blue-Scale Snake guarded it, then greeted Lin Heng when he appeared carrying Jiang Caiyan.
• Lin Heng asked Black Robe to bring a pill cauldron and fetch water so he could make nourishing soup for Jiang Caiyan.
• After Black Robe left, Lin Heng teased Jiang Caiyan and offered her the Green Qilin Beast as a gift, but she refused to accept it without paying him.
• Black Robe returned with water from a polluted stream, and Lin Heng purified it with his Water Element Body.
• Jiang Caiyan explained Lin Heng's Water Element Body and recalled her intimate experience with it.

Lin Heng shared Green Qilin Beast soup with Jiang Caiyan, then arranged for her to travel with him while Black Robe returned the beast’s body to the Blood Moon Cult. After they left, a colossal Green Qilin Beast appeared and swore revenge on the human who killed his son.

• Lin Heng cooked Green Qilin Beast meat, and Jiang Caiyan overcame her reluctance to drink the soup.
• Lin Heng gave the Green Qilin Beast’s body to the Blood Moon Cult and planned to take Jiang Caiyan to Star Altar City while she rested from her weakening cultivation.
• Black Robe agreed to manage the Blood Moon Cult and told Lin Heng not to make Jiang Caiyan cry.
• After Lin Heng and Jiang Caiyan departed, Black Robe spat black blood and reflected on his failing vitality and his wish that Jiang Caiyan would be cared for.
• A colossal Green Qilin Beast found his son’s remains, transformed into a burly man, and vowed to track down the killer using Lin Heng’s scent on a scrap of clothing.

At Hidden Sword Manor, Duan Shuyun comforted Yun Yao and advised Mu Liuxi before revealing that she knew both junior sisters had feelings for Lin Heng. Yun Yao and Mu Liuxi agreed to remain close and confront Lin Heng together, but Duan Shuyun proposed that all three of them deal with him.

• Duan Shuyun comforted Yun Yao over losing her match and advised Mu Liuxi to conceal her strongest moves.
• Duan Shuyun discussed Ye Tian's cultivation skills, but Yun Yao asked her to stop talking about him.
• Duan Shuyun brought up Lin Heng and urged Yun Yao and Mu Liuxi to be honest with each other.
• Yun Yao revealed her relationship with Lin Heng, and Mu Liuxi said she was angry at him rather than her junior sister.
• Yun Yao and Mu Liuxi agreed to confront Lin Heng together when he returned, and Duan Shuyun suggested that all three join in.

Duan Shuyun revealed to Yun Yao and Mu Liuxi that she and Lin Heng had become Dao companions, easing the tension among the three senior sisters. They agreed to speak with their Master about Ye Tian, while Lin Heng returned to find Leng Qingqiu waiting to confront him over trouble Little Senior Sister had caused.

• Duan Shuyun told Yun Yao and Mu Liuxi how she met Lin Heng and became his Dao companion, and explained that she wanted to prevent conflict among them.
• Yun Yao and Mu Liuxi accepted Duan Shuyun and joined her in planning to teach Lin Heng a lesson.
• Duan Shuyun revealed that Lin Heng had stayed behind to help Qingqiu look after Qingyun, prompting Yun Yao and Mu Liuxi to worry about the situation.
• The three senior sisters decided to speak with their Master about Ye Tian the next day.
• Lin Heng returned to the inn in Star Altar City, where Leng Qingqiu ordered him into the room as she scolded someone inside.

Lin Heng returned to find Leng Qingyun in trouble after gambling away his 2,000 Spirit Stones and accruing another 5,000 in debt. He agreed to repay it, then kissed her and coaxed her into kissing him back before she realized she had lost her first kiss.

• Lin Heng entered to find Leng Qingyun clinging to Leng Qingqiu’s leg and begging her to punish him instead.
• Leng Qingqiu explained that Leng Qingyun had lost Lin Heng’s 2,000 Spirit Stones gambling and owed another 5,000, then asked Lin Heng to help repay the debt.
• After Leng Qingqiu left, Leng Qingyun told Lin Heng she had kept betting in hopes of winning back her losses.
• Lin Heng agreed to cover the 5,000 Spirit Stone debt, and Leng Qingyun kissed his cheek in thanks.
• Lin Heng kissed Leng Qingyun on the lips and persuaded her to kiss him back before she realized he had taken her first kiss.

Lin Heng planned to reforge Senior Brother Ye’s short sword with Mystic Gold Nether Iron and took Jiang Caiyan around Star Altar City. Their teasing conversation was interrupted when Leng Qingyun spotted them together and mistook their closeness for flirting.

• Lin Heng examined the Mystic Gold Nether Iron and the Nine Heavens Sword, then decided to reforge Senior Brother Ye’s short sword and visit Maple Leaf Town for an expert’s help.
• Lin Heng took Jiang Caiyan to South Street for breakfast and teased her outside a hot spring bathhouse.
• Lin Heng invited Jiang Caiyan to visit Maple Leaf Town with him and explained why he had come to Star Altar City.
• Leng Qingyun secretly saw Lin Heng and Jiang Caiyan walking together, assumed they were flirting, and watched them from the shadows.

Jiang Caiyan struggled against the Evil Karma urging her to kill Lin Heng and left after telling him not to seek her out for several days. Lin Heng then teased Leng Qingyun about her first kiss and brought her to Shi's Gambling House to settle trouble from her earlier gambling debt.

• Jiang Caiyan resisted the Demonic Heaven Scripture's influence, told Lin Heng to leave her alone for a few days, and walked away.
• Leng Qingyun confronted Lin Heng about his morning date, but he turned the interrogation around by threatening to reveal that she had lost her first kiss.
• Lin Heng took Leng Qingyun away to settle her trouble, and she grabbed the leftover soup buns before following him.
• After Leng Qingyun splattered soup bun juice on her pink dress, Lin Heng accompanied her to find a secluded place to change.
• Lin Heng and Leng Qingyun arrived at Shi's Gambling House, where onlookers recognized her as the woman who had lost thousands of Spirit Stones.

Lin Heng paid Leng Qingyun’s gambling debt, then left with her after Shi Tianyuan took the money and invited him to play. At the City Lord’s Mansion, an attendant accused Xu Erque of planning to use unrest around the Shi Family to keep his troops from marching to Northern Pass, and claimed Xu would raid the family in two days.

• Lin Heng paid the gambling house five thousand Spirit Stones, but Shi Tianyuan snatched the pouch and accepted the money despite the shopkeeper’s objections.
• Lin Heng left the gambling house with Leng Qingyun and explained that the shopkeeper had been afraid to accept payment because the wager may have been tampered with.
• Leng Qingyun tried to make Lin Heng accompany her to see her sister, and he agreed after she offered to dance for him privately that night.
• At the City Lord’s Mansion, an attendant told Prince Qi, Jiang Yan, and Leng Qingqiu that Xu Erque planned to provoke unrest involving the Shi Family to avoid moving his troops to Northern Pass.
• The attendant claimed Xu Erque would lead troops to raid the Shi Family in two days, and Jiang Yan and Leng Qingqiu realized that Xu was likely behind the gambling-house scheme.

Jiang Yan considered how to stop Xu Erque from stirring up trouble among the clans and asked Leng Qingqiu to keep producing Spirit-Soothing Pills for the Vanguard Army. At the Alchemy Chamber, Leng Qingqiu sent Leng Qingyun to fetch ingredients, then kept Lin Heng behind to help refine pills and spend time with her.

• Jiang Yan and Leng Qingqiu discussed Xu Erque's plan to provoke the clans and agreed the clans could not be touched yet.
• Jiang Yan asked Leng Qingqiu about the Spirit-Soothing Pills, and she explained that the alchemists were working continuously but lacked a good flame.
• Leng Qingqiu gave Leng Qingyun a prescription, a Storage Ring with two thousand Spirit Stones, and one hour to buy ingredients.
• Leng Qingqiu stopped Lin Heng from leaving, grabbed his ear, and challenged him about why he feared her more than Leng Qingyun.
• Leng Qingqiu asked Lin Heng to help her refine pills and spend time together.

Lin Heng revealed his Green Lotus Dao Fire while helping Leng Qingqiu refine Spirit-Soothing Pills, and agreed to lend it so she could finish her military assignment and avoid the Northern Expedition. Leng Qingyun danced for him, shared her frustrations, and kissed him, leaving Lin Heng wondering whether she could read his mind.

• Leng Qingqiu asked Lin Heng to help refine Spirit-Soothing Pills for the army, and he produced four good pills and one ruined pill by adding all the ingredients to the furnace at once.
• Leng Qingqiu recognized Lin Heng's Green Lotus Dao Fire as an Otherworldly Flame and pleaded to borrow it to improve her pill-making speed and avoid marching to Northern Pass.
• Lin Heng agreed to lend the flame and asked Leng Qingqiu not to object if he punished Leng Qingyun while watching over her; Leng Qingqiu happily approved.
• Leng Qingyun returned with ingredients and told Leng Qingqiu she had promised to dance privately for Lin Heng, but Leng Qingqiu encouraged her to keep the promise.
• Leng Qingyun danced for Lin Heng, then confided that others dismissed her interests, and Lin Heng comforted her by affirming that she should do what she liked.
• Leng Qingyun kissed Lin Heng twice and claimed she had simply wanted to kiss someone, while Lin Heng wondered if she could read minds.

Lin Heng kissed Leng Qingyun, then played a moving piece on her bamboo sheng and offered to teach her how to express musical artistic conception. He left her considering his suggestion to gain more emotional experience, concluding that she was missing love.

• Lin Heng kissed Leng Qingyun, but stopped before taking advantage of her because he did not want their relationship to begin with deception.
• Leng Qingyun pushed Lin Heng away, scolded him for kissing her, and wondered why she felt unusually drawn to him.
• Lin Heng played Leng Qingyun’s bamboo sheng, adapting the Long Zither Lyric, and explained that its artistic conception came from the intimate companions behind the music.
• Leng Qingyun asked Lin Heng to teach her how to express artistic conception through music.
• Lin Heng advised Leng Qingyun to enrich her experience of friendship, family affection, and love, and she decided she was missing love.

Lin Heng persuaded Leng Qingyun to treat their relationship as dating tuition for her debts, though she rejected his suggestion of dual cultivation. Meanwhile, strange fires and unexplained deaths troubled Star Scout City, where Jiang Caiyan escaped after being confronted by a commander.

• Lin Heng urged Leng Qingyun to acknowledge her feelings, and she insisted she did not like him despite their closeness.
• Leng Qingyun agreed to date Lin Heng to repay her debt and receive lessons, while privately comparing herself with her elder sister.
• Leng Qingyun slapped Lin Heng after he suggested improving her cultivation through dual cultivation.
• Leng Qingqiu stayed busy managing the Green Lotus Dao Fire while Lin Heng focused on ideological lessons and the weaving workshop.
• Jiang Caiyan took Life Origin Force from three drunken louts, then escaped by crushing a talisman when a commander tried to arrest her.

Luo Feng sealed off East Street and ordered a house-by-house search for Jiang Caiyan, whose evil karma was making her urge to kill. Lin Heng found her at the Vast Light Inn, where she nearly attacked him before the Jade Origin Vine warned that her evil karma was becoming a karmic hindrance.

• Luo Feng ordered the Vanguard Army Third Battalion to seal East Street and search for a woman in a black dress, despite having few details about her appearance.
• Jiang Caiyan resisted the evil karma urging her to kill and crushed the Life Origin Force she had gathered, but she felt her killing intent growing harder to control.
• Lin Heng heard that someone from an evil sect had committed murder on East Street and hurried there, suspecting Jiang Caiyan was involved.
• Lin Heng sneaked into the Vast Light Inn and entered Jiang Caiyan's room, where she pressed a saber to his neck before regaining her clarity and telling him to leave.
• The Jade Origin Vine warned Lin Heng that the evil karma on Jiang Caiyan was showing signs of becoming a karmic hindrance.

Lin Heng gave Jiang Caiyan a Karma-Breaking Pill and concealed her from the Garrison Command while she recovered from karmic evil. After she regained her senses, she thanked him, but their relationship remained guarded.

• Lin Heng recognized the karmic evil affecting Jiang Caiyan and made her swallow a Karma-Breaking Pill.
• When Garrison Command soldiers searched the inn, Lin Heng changed Jiang Caiyan into a white dress and convinced them she was his Dao companion.
• The soldiers questioned the shopkeeper about Lin Heng’s presence, then left to report the matter to Commander Luo.
• After about an hour, Jiang Caiyan cleared the karmic evil and discovered Lin Heng had changed her clothes.
• Lin Heng repeatedly kissed Jiang Caiyan and was slapped until she warned him to stop.
• Jiang Caiyan thanked Lin Heng for the pill, while the two remained quiet and uncertain about their relationship.

Luo Feng suspected Lin Heng of helping the wanted Jiang Caiyan and gathered soldiers to confront him. Meanwhile, Lin Heng and Jiang Caiyan walked through East Street, where they spoke candidly about their past and growing attachment, and left their relationship unresolved but closer.

• A soldier told Luo Feng that Lin Heng had appeared at Vast Light Inn without entering or leaving East Street through the guarded checkpoints.
• Luo Feng concluded that Lin Heng had sneaked in to warn the black-dressed woman and led his men to confront him and his supposed Dao companion.
• Lin Heng and Jiang Caiyan walked through East Street, and he persisted until he was holding her hand.
• Jiang Caiyan asked whether Lin Heng feared being implicated by her crimes, and he said he judged people by their actions rather than whether they belonged to orthodox or evil factions.
• Lin Heng admitted he should have treated Jiang Caiyan better, while she pushed away his advances and rejected his claim that she could be his wife.