Chapter Summaries

Zhao Wanqing learned why Meng Yutong had locked the senior disciples in the Little Black Room and realized that Meng Yutong was Lin Heng’s Dao Companion. As teaching duties fell to the remaining disciples, Saint Ye warned that the academy’s schedule would soon become chaotic, while Meng Yutong reviewed the profitable accounts and welcomed Ling Fei back.

• Leng Qingyun told Zhao Wanqing that Duan Shuyun and the other disciples had rebelled against Meng Yutong and been locked in the Little Black Room.
• Zhao Wanqing discovered that Meng Yutong was Lin Heng’s Dao Companion and wondered why Leng Qingyun had escaped punishment.
• Saint Ye arrived with Black Dog and argued that the academy needed fixed teaching content, times, and locations to avoid chaos.
• Meng Yutong checked the academy’s accounts, celebrated its five-hundred-thousand-Spirit-Stone profit, and admitted to herself that she missed Lin Heng.
• Ling Fei returned from a business trip and came to see Meng Yutong.

Meng Yutong told Ling Fei that the Heavenly Profound and Heavenly Action Continents had once formed one supercontinent, then tried to hide that Lin Heng had survived his tribulation. Ling Fei saw through her lie and learned that Lin Heng was alive, while Meng Yutong agreed to explain only if she kept it secret.

• Meng Yutong told Ling Fei that the Southern Continent secret realm matched the Kingdom-Destroying Secret Realm and that the two continents had once been joined.
• Meng Yutong and Ling Fei discussed the Dugu Clan's interest in Heavenly Action Continent and the rivalry among cultivation forces.
• Ling Fei questioned whether Lin Heng had really died, then pointed out that Meng Yutong and her disciples had shown little grief.
• Ling Fei tricked Meng Yutong into admitting Lin Heng was alive and offered to take him as her disciple, but Meng Yutong refused.
• Ling Fei revealed that Mu Li had recently asked about Meng Yutong and Lin Heng, and Meng Yutong disclosed Lin Heng's survival on the condition that Ling Fei keep it confidential.

Meng Yutong took charge of the troubled Immortal Academy Hall and used Duan Shuyun’s confinement to keep the other disciples in line. After returning from seclusion as a Nascent Soul Middle Stage cultivator, Lin Heng learned that Dugu Zixuan had been injured and remained in seclusion, so he went to check on her.

• Meng Yutong calmed the dissatisfied Academy disciples by ordering those below the Qi Refining Fourth Layer into seclusion for ten days and promising rewards.
• Meng Yutong confronted Saint Ye and Leng Qingyun at Landscape Lake, then released Duan Shuyun’s fellow disciples while keeping Duan Shuyun confined.
• Yun Yao and the other disciples complained about Meng Yutong’s scheme, while Leng Qingyun lamented that Leng Qingqiu had been released.
• Lin Heng emerged from more than ten days of seclusion aboard the Cloud Boat and reached the Nascent Soul Middle Stage.
• Martial Man told Lin Heng that Dugu Zixuan had been injured during an assassination attempt and was still in seclusion, so Lin Heng hurried to see her.

Lin Heng discovered that Dugu Zixuan had been injured while pursuing the Martial Path assassin who had targeted him for a Holy Artifact. She explained how the attacker escaped, and Lin Heng found a strange, living black mark on her arm that even his Dao Eye could not understand.

• Lin Heng entered the cabin and found Dugu Zixuan seated with dried blood at the corner of her mouth, so he used Wood Force to heal her.
• Dugu Zixuan revealed that she had been awake and enjoying Lin Heng’s concern, then teased him after he called her Mom.
• Dugu Zixuan told Lin Heng that a Martial Path assassin had demanded the Holy Artifact and fled after she used her Ice Abyss Phenomenon.
• Dugu Zixuan showed Lin Heng the black marks on her arm, which had been corroded by the attacker’s Black Mist.
• Lin Heng examined the wriggling marks with his Dao Eye but could not discern what they were made of.

Lin Heng discovered that the black mark on Dugu Zixuan was made of parasitic bugs, cut away the affected flesh, and warned her about the danger. At Green Pavilion Sect, Meng Yutong reorganized the Immortal Academy Hall around cultivation milestones and a graded lecture system.

• Lin Heng tested the black mark with Revival Force and fire True Yuan, saw it spread, and urged Dugu Zixuan to let him remove it.
• Dugu Zixuan cut the marked flesh from her arm, and Lin Heng sealed it in a vessel before healing her wound.
• The flesh in the vessel vanished and became black mist, so Lin Heng warned Dugu Zixuan that the moving bugs might parasitize cultivators.
• In Calamity City, the escaped Martial Saint told his companion he had used Insect Mist and believed it might still harm the woman who had fought him.
• Meng Yutong proposed a Graded Assessment System, making Qi Refining milestones prerequisites for advanced study at the Immortal Academy Hall.
• Meng Yutong assigned basic lectures to Miscellaneous Servant Disciples and offered Core Disciple Lectures and her own Dao lectures as rewards for attendance.

Lin Heng returned to Fairy Cloud Peak with Dugu Zixuan and reunited with Zhao Wanqing, while Dugu Zixuan and Meng Yutong discussed the disciples’ romantic prospects without realizing they misunderstood each other. The chapter ended with Meng Yutong struggling to explain that Lin Heng’s senior sisters were his Dao companions.

• Dugu Zixuan arrived at Main Peak with Lin Heng, the Martial Man, and Xiao Lan, surprising Shi Yuanzhou.
• Lin Heng reassured Shi Yuanzhou that Dugu Zixuan was not there to cause trouble, then led everyone to Fairy Cloud Peak.
• Lin Heng reunited with Zhao Wanqing, who told him she had settled in well and visited Swallow Cloud City regularly.
• Dugu Zixuan questioned Meng Yutong about Lin Heng and praised her disciples, then asked about arranging a match between a Dugu Clan junior and the Big Senior.
• Meng Yutong rejected the idea of her disciples pursuing Dao companions and privately agonized over how to reveal that they were Lin Heng’s partners.

Dugu Zixuan reunited with Meng Yutong and learned that Lin Heng had used an Imperial Token, while rumors surfaced that the Dynasty had secretly visited Great Mountain. Lin Heng joined the women and began teasing Meng Yutong with an unwanted shoulder massage.

• Dugu Zixuan told Meng Yutong that Lin Heng had used an Imperial Token and returned to Western Continent rather than stay in Northern Continent.
• Meng Yutong worried that the Dynasty would uncover Lin Heng's secret and capture him for interrogation.
• Ling Fei arrived and told Dugu Zixuan that Dynasty people had secretly visited Great Mountain, possibly with the Female Emperor.
• Lin Heng peeked at the women, then approached and patted Ling Fei's head before running behind Dugu Zixuan.
• Lin Heng noticed Meng Yutong's nervousness and forced her to sit still while he massaged her shoulders.

Lin Heng’s mother tried to draw Meng Yutong closer by offering her a place at Ten Directions Hall, then insisted Lin Heng call her his little aunt, which he eagerly accepted. After Lin Heng’s senior sisters reunited with him, he learned that First Senior Sister was still locked in the Little Black Room and promised to get Master to release her.

• Dugu Zixuan offered Meng Yutong and Ling Fei elder positions at Ten Directions Hall, but Meng Yutong declined to leave Fairy Cloud Peak.
• Dugu Zixuan proposed that Lin Heng acknowledge Meng Yutong as his little aunt, and Lin Heng agreed before Meng Yutong could object.
• Yun Yao and Leng Qingyun met Xiao Lan after she transformed, and Xiao Lan explained that she wanted to play mahjong with them.
• Mu Liuxi, Zhao Wanqing, Leng Qingqiu, Yun Yao, and Leng Qingyun joined Lin Heng in the main hall and welcomed him back.
• Leng Qingqiu told Lin Heng that First Senior Sister was still confined in the Little Black Room, and Lin Heng vowed to persuade Master to release her.

Lin Heng found Meng Yutong and tried to persuade her to release First Senior Sister, but she refused and the two discussed revealing their relationship to his family. The chapter ended with Lin Heng realizing that his own words about breaking an older man’s legs could apply to him and Meng Yutong.

• Lin Heng walked around the rear mountain with the women, saw Saint Ye fishing beside a dog named Little Black, and later searched for Meng Yutong.
• Lin Heng found Meng Yutong in the Disciple Palace study and asked her to release First Senior Sister from the Little Black Room, but Meng Yutong refused.
• Lin Heng reminded Meng Yutong that she had promised to stop hiding their relationship once his parents left seclusion, and she admitted she feared the Dugu Clan’s reaction.
• Meng Yutong asked Lin Heng whether he would let a man over a thousand years old marry his future daughter, and Lin Heng said he would break the man’s legs.
• Lin Heng realized that his threat could apply to him as the younger partner, and Meng Yutong wondered whether his legs would be broken.

Lin Heng persuaded Meng Yutong to use Dugu Zixuan’s uncertainty about their relationship as leverage while she considered the five disciples becoming his Dao companions. After Meng Yutong agreed to spend the night with him, she asked whether he also had a marriage arrangement.

• Lin Heng told Meng Yutong that Dugu Zixuan already knew about his relationship with the senior sister and was probing her about the disciples.
• Meng Yutong agreed to let Big Senior out the next morning and warned Lin Heng to behave while his mother stayed on Fairy Cloud Peak.
• Lin Heng reminded Meng Yutong that she owed him four promised chances, and she agreed to give him one night.
• Lin Heng and Meng Yutong went to the Back Garden Spirit Spring, where they spoke about his cultivation and the dangers he had faced in the Northern Continent.
• Meng Yutong asked Lin Heng whether he also had a marriage arrangement.

Lin Heng and Meng Yutong discussed his marriage contract and his habit of pursuing women before Dugu Zixuan nearly caught them together in the spring pool. The next morning, Meng Yutong reassured Dugu Zixuan about Lin Heng staying in the Western Continent while Dugu Zixuan planned to settle accounts with the Ye Family.

• Meng Yutong accused Lin Heng of flirting with other women, and he defended himself by insisting he had not pursued Mu Li or the Murong women.
• Lin Heng explained that he disliked his marriage-contract partner, the Saintess of Star God Temple, because of her explosive personality.
• Dugu Zixuan entered the Back Garden while Lin Heng and Meng Yutong were together, then left without discovering Meng Yutong and mistook Duan Shuyun for Lin Heng’s companion.
• The next morning, Lin Heng took a key from Meng Yutong and went to the dungeon while Meng Yutong met Dugu Zixuan in the main hall.
• Meng Yutong advised Dugu Zixuan to keep Lin Heng in the Western Continent because the Dynasty was watching him, and Dugu Zixuan vowed to deal with the Ye Family when she returned.

Lin Heng freed Duan Shuyun from the Little Black Room and later traveled with Mu Liuxi, Zhao Wanqing, and Martial Man to Swallow Cloud City after learning that the Zhao Family faced trouble. The chapter ended with Liu Feng confronting suppliers who were exploiting the family’s shortage of Spirit Seeds, suggesting that the Zhao Family had been betrayed.

• Lin Heng found Duan Shuyun chained in the Little Black Room, freed her, and carried her out as she complained about Master.
• Lin Heng spent the next few days with his Senior Sisters until Martial Man urged him to resume their search for the Right Faction of Martial Arts.
• Mu Liuxi and Zhao Wanqing joined Lin Heng and Martial Man on their trip to Swallow Cloud City after Zhao Wanqing learned that something had happened at home.
• In Swallow Cloud City, Lin Heng’s group heard that five people had died after visiting the Zhao Family Medical Hall and that the Justice Bureau had sealed the hall.
• Lin Heng and the others reached the Zhao Family Estate, where Liu Feng rejected suppliers demanding steep prices for Spirit Seeds and accused them of abandoning the Zhao Family in its time of need.

Lin Heng and his companions returned to the Zhao estate, where Liu Feng explained that villagers were exploiting the Zhao family's troubles by demanding inflated prices for Spirit Seeds. After hearing about a series of suspicious deaths at Zhao Family Medical Hall, Lin Heng suspected one mastermind was behind both crises and warned that an unseen king might be targeting the Zhao family.

• Zhao Wanqing led Lin Feng and the others into the estate through its hidden back door to avoid the crowd outside.
• Liu Feng told them that villagers the Zhao family had helped cultivate spiritual fields were demanding half a Spirit Stone per Spirit Seed while the family faced a human-death scandal.
• Xin Shao told Lin Heng that five people had died in incidents linked to Zhao Family Medical Hall within two months, causing customers to avoid it.
• Lin Heng and Mu Liuxi reasoned that the deaths and the Spirit Seed protest were connected and likely orchestrated by the same person.
• Lin Heng linked the threat to Western Continent medical clans and warned Xin Shao that an unseen king might be behind the plot.

Lin Heng returned to Mu Manor and joined the Zhao and Mu families for a planned dinner while discussing the Zhao Family’s troubles with Martial Man. As Martial Man revealed his late master’s criticism of the Medical Ancestor and the split between alchemy and medicine, Hua Qi arrived in Swallow Cloud City and tracked down Lin Heng’s trail.

• Mu Xuting welcomed Lin Heng and proposed a family dinner with the Zhao Family, and Lin Heng agreed.
• Martial Man told Lin Heng that his late master, Lin Ziqing, had called healers frauds and criticized Medical Ancestor Xiao Juming for separating the Medical Dao from the Alchemy Dao.
• Lin Heng asked Martial Man to watch the Zhao Family for unusual activity and not to act rashly.
• The Zhao and Mu families held their evening banquet as planned.
• Hua Qi transferred from Eastern Continent to Western Continent and found traces of Lin Heng in Swallow Cloud City.

Lin Heng discussed recruiting allies and helping Mu Liuxi advance her cultivation before learning that troublemakers had staged a death outside the Zhao Family estate. He arrived at the gates and confronted the crowd, determined to uncover who was directing them.

• Lin Heng told Mu Liuxi that he had sought Martial Man and other helpers because hidden lineages were emerging, and promised to help her reach the Nascent Soul Realm by year's end.
• Lin Heng and Mu Liuxi agreed to practice swordsmanship, and the next morning Lin Heng met Martial Man over mutton soup.
• Martial Man reported that a man had died outside the Zhao Family gates after the crowd demanded entry, prompting the Justice Bureau to take away the body.
• Lin Heng and Martial Man arrived at the Zhao Family estate, where Liu Feng faced accusations from the gathered troublemakers over the man's death.
• Lin Heng used his pressure to force the troublemakers to their knees and vowed to find the person directing them.

Lin Heng exposed Li Family Village’s attempt to frame the Zhao Family after Li Zhu died outside Zhao Mansion. Li Tie confessed that he had poisoned his sick uncle at the village chief’s urging, and then died from Lin Heng’s Soul Search.

• The village chief accused the Zhao Family of causing Li Zhu’s death and demanded an explanation, while the Martial Man and Lin Heng challenged his account.
• The proprietor of Drunk Fragrance Pavilion told the crowd that Li Family Village had started the disturbance outside Zhao Mansion.
• Lin Heng questioned Li Tie and used Soul Search after Li Tie denied knowing why his uncle had died.
• Li Tie revealed that a masked man had promised payment if the villagers forced the Zhao Family to buy their Spirit Seeds, and said the village chief had dealt with that man.
• Li Tie confessed that the village chief had asked him to poison his incurably ill uncle, Li Zhu, so they could frame the Zhao Family.
• Lin Heng withdrew his gaze, and Li Tie died after enduring the Soul Search.

Lin Heng helped resolve the Zhao family’s immediate crisis and learned that Medical World Hall had been plotting against them. That night, Hua Qi found him, and Lin Heng trapped her with a Stone Disk after pretending to lower his guard.

• The Justice Bureau arrested the people from Li Family Village after Lin Heng denied killing Li Tie, leaving the Zhao family’s crisis temporarily resolved.
• Lin Heng told Xin Shao that Medical World Hall appeared to be behind the attacks and planned to confront it the next day.
• Lin Heng cultivated his Dragon Qi and considered combining it with the five elements before sensing someone outside his room.
• Hua Qi appeared and said she had not come to avenge Ye Tian, then reacted with surprise at Lin Heng’s Nascent Soul Middle Stage cultivation.
• Lin Heng sprang a Stone Disk trap on Hua Qi and revealed that he had prepared to capture her.

Lin Heng questioned Hua Qi about her origins and her connection to Ye Tian, learning that she came from the Third Epoch and had awakened in a jade pendant. Hua Qi explained the Great Collapse of Time and her journey to the Fifth Epoch, while the mystery of why she skipped the Fourth Epoch remained unresolved.

• Lin Heng told Hua Qi he had suspected an expert was helping Ye Tian and asked how she had met him.
• Hua Qi said she had awakened as an injured remnant soul inside a soul-nurturing jade pendant that Ye Tian happened to find.
• Lin Heng questioned Hua Qi about why she had come to the lower realm, and she said she had forgotten her purpose and might have arrived before the Starry Sky Ancient Road was sealed.
• Hua Qi revealed that she came from the Third Epoch, not the Fifth, and described how the Great Collapse of Time had made the future eternal.
• Hua Qi speculated that a Divine King had reversed time to investigate the collapse, but she could not explain why she had arrived in the Fifth Epoch instead of the Fourth.

Lin Heng captured Hua Qi’s remnant soul in his stone disk and planned to have Saint Ye examine her after he finished in Swallow Cloud City. At Fairy Cloud Peak, Dugu Zixuan praised Duan Shuyun and mistook her for the woman she had seen with Lin Heng in the garden, leaving Duan Shuyun to realize the woman had actually been her Master.

• Lin Heng connected Hua Qi’s history to several epochs and concluded the Immortal Realm was entangled in their conflicts.
• Lin Heng refused to release Hua Qi, sucked her remnant soul into the stone disk, and decided to take her to Saint Ye later.
• Dugu Zixuan invited Duan Shuyun for tea, praised her as a suitable household manager, and warned her to think carefully about cultivation and having children.
• Dugu Zixuan claimed she had seen Duan Shuyun with Lin Heng in the garden, but Duan Shuyun realized she had been locked away then and that Lin Heng had been with her Master.

Duan Shuyun escaped Meng Yutong after threatening to reveal who had been with Junior Brother in the Disciple Palace's Back Garden. Lin Heng, Martial Man, and Mu Liuxi confronted Medical World Hall on behalf of the Zhao Family, and Lin Heng left one of its stewards needing to explain himself.

• Duan Shuyun told Meng Yutong that Dugu Zixuan had mistaken her for the person with Junior Brother in the Back Garden, then slipped away to the rear mountain.
• Lin Heng, Martial Man, and Mu Liuxi found Medical World Hall's headquarters north of Swallow Cloud City and demanded to see its stewards.
• The Li and Zheng Family stewards came downstairs after hearing that visitors were causing trouble.
• Lin Heng said the Zhao Family had come to ask why Medical World Hall was secretly using Li Family Village to trouble them.
• The Zheng Family steward denied the accusation, and Lin Heng struck him through a wall before demanding an explanation from the Li Family steward.