Chapter Summaries

Meng Yutong confronted Saint Ye over his influence on Lin Heng and worried that he might be trying to possess her disciple. Saint Ye reassured her, then gave her the Yin-Yang Harmony Art, assuming she and Lin Heng would practice the Dual Cultivation method together.

• Meng Yutong challenged Saint Ye about whether his teachings had harmed or unnaturally accelerated Lin Heng’s growth.
• Saint Ye defended Lin Heng’s talent and explained that he had helped him survive dangerous trials, while insisting he regarded himself as Lin Heng’s teacher and friend.
• Meng Yutong questioned whether Saint Ye intended to possess Lin Heng, but Saint Ye dismissed the idea and revealed that he was a cultivator from the Upper Realm.
• Saint Ye noticed Meng Yutong’s Supreme Yin Dao Body and transmitted the Yin-Yang Harmony Art to her.
• Meng Yutong realized the art was a Dual Cultivation method and asked whom she was supposed to practice it with, while Saint Ye assumed she and Lin Heng had already begun.

Meng Yutong learned how her Supreme Yin Dao Body could benefit from Dual Cultivation with Lin Heng, then tried to calm herself in a spring before he found her. Lin Heng reunited with his Master, and they prepared to meet Dugu Zhengyuan and leave.

• Saint Ye explained that Dual Cultivation could help Meng Yutong and Lin Heng improve their cultivation, but Meng Yutong rejected the idea and fled.
• In the spring, Meng Yutong studied the technique and realized Lin Heng's Five Elements Body could safely receive her Supreme Yin power.
• Lin Heng startled Meng Yutong at the spring, took a slap, and jumped into the water after her.
• Lin Heng hugged Meng Yutong from behind after she climbed out, and she scolded him for breaking her barrier through a hole.
• Lin Heng let Meng Yutong go when he learned Dugu Zhengyuan wanted to see them before they left.

Dugu Zhengyuan berated and slapped the Dugu juniors for neglecting their studies, then questioned Lin Heng about why he had left Famous Artifacts Town during the secret realm’s final stage. Lin Heng accidentally called him “Old Deng,” provoking a dangerous silence as he prepared to challenge the old man.

• Dugu Zhengyuan scolded the Dugu juniors for scheming against Lin Heng and quizzed them on the Divine Weapon Register, slapping several of them for their answers.
• Dugu Zhengze identified the third-ranked artifact as the Wind-Listening Ancient Zither, but Dugu Zhengyuan slapped him for learning about it at an Elegant Tower.
• Lin Heng arrived at the main hall with Shen Yeting, Meng Yutong, and the others, while Dugu Xia was sent flying over their heads.
• Meng Yutong and Mu Liuxi said they planned to leave Ten Directions Hall and spend the New Year elsewhere, upsetting Shen Yeting.
• Dugu Zhengyuan asked Lin Heng why he had left Famous Artifacts Town, and Lin Heng accidentally called him “Old Deng.”

Lin Heng confronted Dugu Zhengyuan over the secret realm and the Dugu Clan, then was taken away in a burst of anger. Dugu Feng revealed that Dugu Zhengyuan had brought him to the Treasure Vault to make amends, while Yun Yao learned she had lost her bet and could not touch Lin Heng for a month.

• Lin Heng insulted the Dugu Clan juniors and argued with Dugu Zhengyuan about whether the secret realm's history could be changed.
• Dugu Zhengyuan lectured Lin Heng, who rejected his advice and declared that he and his companions would leave the next day.
• Dugu Zhengyuan angrily grabbed Lin Heng and vanished with him, alarming Shen Yeting, Meng Yutong, and the others.
• Dugu Feng told the women that Dugu Zhengyuan had taken Lin Heng to the Treasure Vault to compensate him with gifts after hearing about his experiences.
• Mu Liuxi reminded Yun Yao that she had lost their bet, so Yun Yao could not touch Lin Heng for the rest of the month.

Mu Liuxi refused Yun Yao’s plea to escape her month-long punishment, while Dugu Zhengyuan brought Lin Heng to the Dugu Clan’s hidden Treasure Vault after frightening him into thinking he would be killed. Lin Heng realized the treasure was Dugu Zhengyuan’s compensation for having misunderstood his feelings about his mother and the Dugu Clan, and was left choosing a treasure.

• Mu Liuxi warned Yun Yao that sneaking food and getting caught would extend her punishment, and Yun Yao secretly resolved to do it anyway.
• Dugu Zhengyuan brought Lin Heng thousands of li away and confronted him, while Lin Heng pleaded for his life.
• Dugu Zhengyuan led Lin Heng through a dangerous tunnel into the Dugu Clan’s Treasure Vault, which held the clan’s accumulated treasures.
• Dugu Zhengyuan told Lin Heng to choose one treasure and explained that he had misunderstood Lin Heng’s feelings about his mother and the Dugu Clan.
• Dugu Zhengyuan disappeared, and Lin Heng realized the treasure was compensation before looking around to choose something.

Lin Heng searched the Dugu Clan's Treasure Vault with Xiao Lan while Dugu Zhengyuan watched, and learned about his great-grandmother's hairpins and the history of the human race's war against the Demon Race. The chapter ended with Lin Heng asking why the Dugu Clan hoarded its wealth instead of using it.

• Dugu Zhengyuan watched Lin Heng secretly pocket 20,000 Spirit Stones and chose not to stop him.
• Lin Heng woke Xiao Lan and ordered it to find the most valuable treasure in the vault.
• Xiao Lan led Lin Heng upstairs, where he admired a set of hairpins and said he wanted one for his wives.
• Dugu Zhengyuan explained that the hairpins had been awarded to Lin Heng's great-grandmother for slaying Spirit Transformation-level demons.
• Dugu Zhengyuan recounted how Martial Emperor united human cultivators and drove the Demon Race back to Demon Valley.
• Lin Heng asked why the Dugu Clan kept so many resources instead of taking them out to use.

Lin Heng accompanied Dugu Zhengyuan into the Dugu Clan’s Treasure Vault and secured rare materials to strengthen his Five Elements Body, along with twelve jeweled hairpins for his Dao companions. They returned to Ten Directions Hall, where Dugu Zhengyuan went to remind Dugu Feng about his wine cellar.

• Dugu Zhengyuan warned Lin Heng that the Treasure Vault was restricted after a trusted descendant had once tried to steal a Supreme Sword, and Lin Heng promised to keep its location secret.
• Lin Heng continued toward the fourth floor, where its Dao-powered treasures knocked the Blue-Scale Snake unconscious, so Dugu Zhengyuan healed her and warned him off.
• After refusing several weapons and techniques, Lin Heng asked for materials to improve his physique, and Dugu Zhengyuan gave him a chest of rare Five Elements resources.
• Lin Heng persuaded Dugu Zhengyuan to let him take all twelve jeweled hairpins for his Dao companions, though the old man struck him with a ruler after hearing him count them.
• Dugu Zhengyuan and Lin Heng returned to Ten Directions Hall, where Lin Heng told Dugu Feng that Dugu Zhengyuan had beaten him before Dugu Zhengyuan revealed that he wanted Dugu Feng’s wine cellar.

Dugu Zhengyuan discussed the Dugu Clan’s resources and plans with Dugu Feng before Dugu Feng caught Lin Heng stealing wine from the Back Garden. Lin Heng escaped after tricking Dugu Feng, who chased after him.

• Dugu Zhengyuan said the Treasure Vault could raise perhaps one Supreme and explained why Lin Heng had been allowed to take resources from it.
• Dugu Zhengyuan told Dugu Feng they would travel to Southern Continent’s Eight Desolations Hall in three days, while Dugu Feng and Ye Ting would guard the clan.
• Dugu Feng sensed Lin Heng sneaking into the Back Garden to steal wine and watched him dig a hole around Uncle Prison’s restriction.
• Lin Heng swapped a buried jug of thousand-year-old wine for a jug of younger wine and explained that he wanted to bring it to Saint Ye.
• Dugu Feng confronted Lin Heng, who distracted him by pretending Aunt was behind him and fled as Dugu Feng gave chase.

Lin Heng escaped Dugu Feng’s punishment after Shen Yeting intervened, then stole a kiss from Meng Yutong before she sent him to gather the others. The group prepared to leave for Blue Scale City, with Saint Ye joining them.

• Lin Heng hid behind Meng Yutong when Dugu Feng caught him stealing wine, and Shen Yeting stopped Dugu Feng from whipping him.
• Meng Yutong and Shen Yeting left Lin Heng alone with his Master, and he hugged Meng Yutong and teased her about freeloading.
• Meng Yutong told Lin Heng to find Yun'er and the others while she and Shen Yeting discussed their shopping list.
• Lin Heng kissed Meng Yutong, then ran off after teasing her about how much he liked her kissing.
• Lin Heng found his senior sisters playing mahjong, and Saint Ye agreed to join the group on their trip to Blue Scale City.

Lin Heng and Saint Ye headed to Blue Scale City for the New Year while Jiang Caiyan and the Blood Moon Cult prepared to celebrate in their remote northern home. Jiang Caiyan chose to keep the cult’s location hidden as she pursued her own Demonic Path and planned to protect Lin Heng if he ever faced danger.

• Lin Heng and Saint Ye joined Meng Yutong and Shen Yeting at the south gate, then set out in carriages to experience Blue Scale City as ordinary people.
• Saint Ye asked about Lin Heng’s plans, and Lin Heng said he would keep cultivating because Ye might soon reach the Nascent Soul Realm.
• Black Robe and the Blood Moon Cult disciples killed a Demon Beast that had destroyed their spirit-field seedlings and decided to serve it as their New Year meal.
• Jiang Caiyan reflected that the Blood Moon Cult had survived and improved, though she regretted that Lin Heng was not there to celebrate with them.
• Jiang Caiyan decided not to tell Lin Heng where the cult was until its new home was stable, saying she wanted to grow stronger on her own and might one day protect him.

At the last court before the New Year, Jiang Jingyi secured support for expanding the Garrison Command and spoke with Jiang Yan about the imperial family, the Zhao mother and daughter, and a long-unresolved betrayal. The chapter left Jiang Jingyi still hoping the traitor from sixty years ago was dead.

• Xu Shiqi and the imperial grand councillors supported Jiang Jingyi's plan to expand the Garrison Command Vanguard Army, and she approved the year's final arrangements.
• Jiang Yan told Jiang Jingyi that their eldest brother might rebel if given command of the Garrison Command, prompting her to rebuke him and warn him not to speak carelessly about rebellion.
• Jiang Jingyi explained that she had brought the Zhao mother and daughter to the Imperial Capital to protect them and vowed to eliminate the disaster tied to Hedong Land.
• Jiang Jingyi said she could not rest while the traitor behind the Northern Pass disaster sixty years earlier remained missing, and Jiang Yan recalled how the squad had been led into Demon Forest and slaughtered.

Lin Heng and Duan Shuyun attended a lyric gathering in Azure-Scale City, where they reunited with Chen Bingyi and Su Lian'er. Chen Bingyi shared news of Lady Zhao’s likely whereabouts, and the chapter ended with Chen Bingyi and Su Lian'er slipping away after Duan Shuyun completed the gathering’s poem.

• Lin Heng and the senior sisters arrived in Azure-Scale City and split up to explore, while Duan Shuyun invited Lin Heng to walk with her and Saint Ye followed.
• Lin Heng and Duan Shuyun watched a lyric gathering at Forgetting River Tower, where Su Lian'er wrote a striking line of poetry.
• Chen Bingyi and Su Lian'er recognized Lin Heng and Duan Shuyun, and Chen Bingyi said Lady Zhao might be in Beginningless City or attend the Medical Assembly in Dingyang.
• Chen Bingyi said Su Lian'er’s illness had improved slightly but was not cured, and Duan Shuyun completed the gathering’s final line to acclaim.
• Lin Heng praised Duan Shuyun, then the two noticed Chen Bingyi and Su Lian'er had disappeared into the dusk.

Lin Heng and Duan Shuyun exchanged a token while Saint Ye sensed danger nearby. Elsewhere, a stranger urged Chen Bingyi to obtain a living saint heart to save his wife, while Yun Yao persuaded Leng Qingyun to buy skin-repairing spirit liquid.

• Duan Shuyun took a token from Lin Heng, then gave him her own and explained that exchanging tokens showed an exchange of feelings.
• Lin Heng caught Duan Shuyun when she pretended to trip, while Saint Ye followed them and sensed a trace of killing intent in an alley.
• A white-clad middle-aged man told Chen Bingyi that only a fresh saint heart could save his wife and offered to arrange an exchange of her blood if Chen dug one out.
• Chen Bingyi rejected the man's proposal and left, while the man disappeared after warning that Chen might reconsider when desperate.
• Yun Yao encouraged Leng Qingyun to buy spirit liquid for repairing skin damage, and Leng Qingyun silently took two boxes after understanding her hint.

Leng Qingqiu sold her pills at an apothecary before Mu Li abducted her and Mu Liuxi from the street. Mu Li confronted them about what Mengmeng had said about her, leaving the two juniors to ask why she had brought them there.

• Yun Yao paid for Leng Qingyun’s cosmetics, and the two went off to look around for the others.
• Leng Qingqiu explained that she earned money by selling pills, then took Mu Liuxi to an apothecary to sell her White Jade Blood-Nourishing Medicine.
• Feng Cai bought Leng Qingqiu’s pills for five hundred Spirit Stones each, giving her more than six thousand Spirit Stones in total.
• As Leng Qingqiu and Mu Liuxi spoke about going home, Mu Li suddenly abducted them and carried them away.
• Mu Li teased Leng Qingqiu, who told her that their Master, Mengmeng, had warned them about Mu Li’s sexual orientation.
• Mu Li angrily denied the accusation, and Mu Liuxi asked why she had brought them there.

Mu Li parted from Mu Liuxi and Leng Qingqiu after saying she would meet them in Dingyang, while Meng Yutong’s group learned of the encounter on their way back. Lin Heng’s private admiration for Mu Li provoked murderous hostility from the women who could hear his thoughts, though he remained unaware.

• Mu Li said she had come to repay Lin Heng for healing her and announced she would wait for the group in Dingyang.
• Mu Liuxi rejected Mu Li’s offer and returned with Leng Qingqiu to the gathering point.
• Meng Yutong grew furious after hearing that Mu Li had taken Leng Qingqiu and feared the sect leader would try to abduct her disciples again.
• Lin Heng privately praised Mu Li’s alluring personality and envied her Dao companion, unaware that Meng Yutong and the others heard him.
• Saint Ye sensed powerful killing intent from the women ahead and wondered whether his perception was failing.

Lin Heng and Shen Yeting visited a restaurant while Sun Chongzhi’s group investigated the White Mystic Brush’s trail, which led them to Duan Shuyun’s writing but not to her. Back at the Ye Family, Ye Tian brooded over his humiliation and resented Lin Heng’s happier life.

• The restaurant Shop Assistant mistook Saint Ye for food, and Lin Heng asked for two bottles of strong liquor to be brought upstairs.
• Sun Chongzhi and five others examined Duan Shuyun’s signed poem and concluded that a powerful figure had been nearby, but they could not trace the White Mystic Brush.
• Sun Chongzhi ordered the group not to search the city or publicize their discovery, insisting they wait for another clue.
• Ye Tian remained isolated in a shabby room at the Ye Family after returning with a severed arm, while Ye Nantian sought a replacement for it.
• Ye Tian sweated and trembled as he wondered why Lin Heng’s life was so good and why people kept helping him.

After restoring his right arm, Ye Tian apologized to Hua Qi but revealed that he still planned to use the Ye Family for power and secretly kill Lin Heng. Hua Qi challenged his suspicions about her techniques, leaving their exchange tense.

• Ye Tian restored his right arm with the blood sac and summoned the Heaven-Slaying Sword.
• Ye Tian called Hua Qi Senior Hua, apologized for blaming her, and admitted that he had been arrogant and overconfident.
• Ye Tian told Hua Qi he planned to gain his father's support, remove the legitimate madam and Ye Guang, seize control of the Ye Family, and eventually kill Lin Heng.
• Ye Tian insisted Lin Heng had taken the Senior Sisters who should have belonged to him and asked Hua Qi to help him learn more Upper Realm arts.
• Hua Qi rebuked Ye Tian for suspecting that the Thousand Soul-Annihilating Palms was not an Upper Realm technique just because Lin Heng had used it.

Ye Tian learned from Hua Qi that Lin Heng may have replicated a divine technique or received guidance from an Upper Realm expert, and they decided to confront Ye Tian’s father. As New Year celebrations unfolded across the continent, Chen Bingyi and Su Lian'er faced thoughts of loss, while the Blood Moon Cult welcomed the badly injured Jie and a disciple hinted that he knew what had happened.

• Hua Qi told Ye Tian that Lin Heng may have copied a technique or had an expert guiding him, and Ye Tian agreed that they should confront his father.
• Across the Heavenly Profound Continent, people celebrated the New Year beneath flying lanterns while Su Lian'er and Chen Bingyi shared wishes and feared her decline.
• Jiang Caiyan and Black Robe celebrated New Year with the Blood Moon Cult disciples, and Black Robe teased Jiang Caiyan about thinking of someone.
• Jie arrived at the gathering covered in wounds, and Jiang Caiyan ordered disciples to give him medicine and take him to the main hall.
• A tall, thin disciple told Jiang Caiyan and Black Robe that he could guess what had happened to Jie.

At the Ten Directions Hall’s New Year gathering, Lin Heng’s wine swap was discovered after Dugu Feng served Dugu Zhengyuan the wrong vintage. Dugu Feng tried to punish Lin Heng, but Shen Yeting caught him in the act and left him numb with fear.

• A former Corpse Nurturing Sect disciple told Black Robe that Jie had joined the sect while badly injured and seeking revenge for his parents.
• Jiang Caiyan criticized Jie for attacking his enemies without investigating first, and the Blood Moon Cult continued its group meal.
• Dugu Feng served Dugu Zhengyuan wine he claimed was a thousand-year brew, but Dugu Zhengyuan recognized it as hundred-year wine.
• Dugu Feng realized Lin Heng had swapped the wine, and Lin Heng admitted it after Dugu Feng coaxed him into confessing.
• Dugu Feng grabbed Lin Heng and threatened to whip him, but Shen Yeting appeared and caught them together.

During the New Year festivities, Lin Heng gave Mu Liuxi a Gold Hairpin that preserved memories from their relationship, and she kissed him in public. Meanwhile, Yun Yao learned that her senior sisters were planning to keep her away from Lin Heng, and Duan Shuyun had joined their alliance.

• Shen Yeting caught Dugu Feng plotting against his nephew and dragged him away by the ear while Dugu Zhengyuan watched.
• Yun Yao asked Leng Qingyun to report what the senior sisters were planning and suspected Leng Qingqiu had turned Mu Liuxi against her.
• Duan Shuyun reflected that Mu Liuxi, not Leng Qingqiu, was truly dissatisfied with Yun Yao and admitted she had joined the alliance against her.
• Lin Heng gave Mu Liuxi a Gold Hairpin that could preserve memories and placed it in her hair.
• Lin Heng recalled the beginnings of their relationship, and Mu Liuxi kissed him as the other senior sisters watched.