Chapter Summaries

Wang Xian, Li Dalu, and their dying teacher reached Misty Rain Lake, where the teacher revealed his lingering love for Bai Youyue and awakened a terrifying sword realm. As the Four Great Sects and Imperial City forces closed in, the teacher killed four attackers with a gesture, leaving the larger confrontation ahead.

• Wang Xian showed the teacher the Giant Que Sword, but the teacher refused to take it, saying no one in the world was worthy of it.
• Wang Xian told Li Dalu that the approaching forces had come to kill the teacher, and concealed his identity behind a mask.
• The teacher confessed that he had loved Bai Youyue and regretted retreating when she faced tribulation at Broken Dragon Mountain.
• The teacher's aura transformed as he spoke of living as if already dead, and Wang Xian recognized that he had reached a realm where anything could become a sword.
• Wang Xian revealed that he had saved Li Dalu with dragon's blood and a Dragon Pearl, and told him that he had dragon blood in his veins.
• When four black-clad cultivators attacked, the teacher plucked a bud from a branch and their heads flew into Misty Rain Lake.

At Misty Rain Lake, the dying teacher unleashed a swordless slaughter against the Four Great Sects, teaching Li Dalu that taking life and sparing life each had their reasons. Wang Xian then gave the teacher death-water, opening a new path beyond his dying state, and the teacher asked whether the sword was important to him.

• The teacher killed the first four intruders with an unseen sword, and Wang Xian realized the teacher could wield the lake itself as a sword.
• Dozens of cultivators from the Four Great Sects attacked, but the teacher’s Sword Qi shattered their weapons, killed many, and destroyed their Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolts.
• Wang Xian and Li Dalu watched the teacher’s sword intent sweep the shore; Li Dalu stopped resisting it and absorbed its faint breath like spring rain.
• Wang Xian explained that taking life and sparing life both had their reasons, then proposed killing the teacher’s remaining vitality because it could not be preserved.
• Wang Xian poured death-water into the teacher’s cup and fed it to him, allowing the teacher to sense a new realm and consider breaking through Heaven’s restrictions by dying to live.
• The teacher smiled at Wang Xian and asked whether the sword was very important to him.

Li Mubai faced the Four Great Sects and their assembled allies at Misty Rain Lake, where his former student demanded his death. As the elders attacked, Li Mubai finally drew his sword and killed them, leaving Wang Xian and Li Dalu to witness his long-hidden power.

• Li Mubai turned to face the gathered cultivators, while Wang Xian and Li Dalu stood behind his wheelchair.
• A young man in yellow robes knelt and called on Li Mubai to die, and the crowd joined his demand.
• Li Mubai coughed up poisoned blood, and Wang Xian tied the blackened handkerchief to a tree as a battle flag before challenging the crowd to fight.
• Six elders from the Four Great Sects and their allies drew their swords and attacked Li Mubai, while the young man and the crowd continued demanding his death.
• Li Mubai summoned seven spirit swords from the crowd and cut down the six elders, piercing their Divine Seas with their own swords.

The Teacher spent his remaining strength cutting down six elders, then faced the old eunuch’s long-awaited sword strike at Misty Rain Lake. As the old eunuch’s blade pierced his chest, the Teacher turned translucent.

• The Teacher revealed his hidden sword intent, killed six elders, and left the cultivators at Misty Rain Lake fleeing or collapsing.
• Marte told Nalan Qiuqiu and Qiu Mingyu that Li Dalu and Wang Xian were the Teacher’s students, and they feared what Wang Xian might do.
• Wang Xian condemned the young man in yellow for turning against his teacher, then challenged the assembled cultivators to fight.
• The old eunuch approached the weakened Teacher and unleashed his Wind and Thunder sword, while Wang Xian urged Li Dalu to watch the Teacher’s sword closely.
• The Teacher summoned lake water into a spirit sword and flicked a drop into the old eunuch’s brow, but the old man’s blade pierced the Teacher’s chest as the Teacher turned translucent.

Wang Xian witnessed a future in which the Teacher killed the old eunuch with a drop of water before leaving Misty Rain Lake, then learned from Dongfang Yun why the Teacher had accepted poisoned wine. Dongfang Yun gave Wang Xian a gourd that could hold vast amounts of liquid and entrusted the Lady's Sword to him for his teacher, leaving Wang Xian asking about the Gentleman's Sword.

• The Teacher destroyed the old eunuch's Divine Sea and killed him with a drop of water before departing with Li Dalu, while Wang Xian faced the remaining cultivators.
• Wang Xian returned from the future and asked Dongfang Yun about the Teacher's poisoned wine and the bonds that might lead someone to accept death.
• Dongfang Yun explained that Wang Xian would forget the future vision so he could not change it, and told him sword intent would become clearer in the Spirit Transformation realm.
• Dongfang Yun gave Wang Xian a purple gourd that could hold a lake or river.
• Dongfang Yun transformed the crystal overhead into the seven-colored Lady's Sword and gave it to Wang Xian for his teacher, and Wang Xian asked about the Gentleman's Sword.

Dongfang Yun explained the Gentleman's Sword and invited Wang Xian to leave for the great-thousand world, but Wang Xian refused because he still had unfinished business in the lower realms. Before departing, Dongfang Yun strengthened Wang Xian and gave him advice; Wang Xian returned to Azure Cloud Sect, unaware that men in black had reached his courtyard.

• Dongfang Yun revealed that his Divine Soul had been bound to Ju Ruo's chains and explained that Ju Ruo's Divine Soul had been annihilated.
• Wang Xian discussed the Gentleman's Sword and the Dao with Dongfang Yun, who invited him to travel to the great-thousand world; Wang Xian declined.
• Dongfang Yun gave Wang Xian strength and counsel, then sent him back to Azure Cloud Sect as he departed for a distant world.
• Qin Jun and Hua Yurong wondered why Wang Xian had not returned, and Qin Jun warned that Xu Baoshan and his senior brothers would face trouble when he did.
• Wang Xian dreamed of his new understanding of the Dao and planned to pick pears with Hua Yurong, while several men in black arrived outside his courtyard.

Xu Baoshan and seven fellow disciples tried to steal green pears from Wang Xian’s courtyard but were caught by Qin Jun, who let them take one each. Wang Xian woke, reunited with Qin Jun, and recounted his escape from the vampire bats before sharing a tiger demon’s remains as a gift.

• Xu Baoshan led seven senior fellow disciples to Wang Xian’s courtyard to steal the green pears with bamboo poles, but they were immobilized outside the wall.
• Qin Jun discovered the frozen pear thieves, freed them, and let the Fat Senior Brother pick one pear for each of them before the group fled after hearing Wang Xian was alive.
• Qin Jun woke Wang Xian, who rushed outside and asked about the scattered stools and bamboo poles before she questioned him about his return.
• Wang Xian gave Qin Jun a Storage Ring containing a tiger demon’s skeleton and explained how vampire bats had attacked him and how Yao Xiangyun and the others had escaped.
• Wang Xian picked up a green pear, took a bite, and offered one to Qin Jun.

Wang Xian gave Qin Jun the tiger demon’s skeleton and shared the spirit pears growing in his courtyard, then told her about Dongfang Yun and gifted her the Lady’s Sword. After explaining his encounter with Azure Cloud Sect’s founder, he left Qin Jun astonished that he had refused the founder’s invitation to the Greater Thousand Realm.

• Wang Xian gave Qin Jun the tiger demon’s skeleton and helped her gather the spirit pears, which they decided to pickle for winter.
• Wang Xian told Qin Jun that Heaven had prevented him from breaking through for nearly three years and asked about Azure Cloud Sect’s founder, Dongfang Yun.
• Wang Xian gave Qin Jun the Lady’s Sword on Dongfang Yun’s behalf, and Qin Jun bound the divine sword to herself with her blood.
• After Wang Xian provoked Heaven, lightning struck toward the courtyard, and he drew the Lady’s Sword to slash at it.
• Wang Xian recounted meeting Dongfang Yun, and Qin Jun realized he had refused the founder’s offer to ascend to the Greater Thousand Realm.

Xiaobai completed his transformation into a dragon at Dragon Valley, where Ao Qianyu and Ao Yun welcomed him and spoke of the missing Juruo. The chapter ended when Juruo’s soul plaque shattered and Ao Yun sent the Divine Dragon Sword south with a vow to cut someone down.

• Xiaobai emerged from the Dragon Transformation Pool as a snow-white dragon and joined Ao Qianyu and Ao Yun in the pavilion.
• Ao Qianyu worried about her grandfather’s absence and thought of Wang Xian in the Southern Frontier.
• Ao Yun told Xiaobai and Ao Qianyu the story of Juruo, Dragon Valley’s prodigy who had vanished eight hundred years earlier.
• An elder informed Ao Yun that Juruo’s soul plaque had shattered, signaling that his Divine Soul had been annihilated.
• Ao Yun formed hand seals and sent the Divine Dragon Sword south with a vow to cut someone down, as a thunderclap rang over Dragon Valley.

Wang Xian’s sword strikes countered divine thunder, destroying Ao Yun’s sword and pavilion and revealing that Juruo’s soul tablet had shattered. Meanwhile, Li Dalu defended the closed Wutong Academy against an assembled host demanding answers and seeking Wang Xian, until a sudden thunderclap interrupted them.

• Wang Xian’s Lady’s Sword repelled the heaven-powered strike aimed at him, shattering the Divine Dragon Sword in Ao Yun’s hands.
• Wang Xian challenged Heaven with the Giant Tower Sword, and his strike sent thunder crashing down on Ao Yun’s pavilion in Dragon Valley.
• Ao Yun learned that Juruo’s soul tablet had shattered and chose to wait for the Supreme Elder before investigating Azure Cloud Mountain.
• After the teacher’s Nirvana, Wutong Academy closed its gates for ten years, and Li Dalu inherited the teacher’s mantle and reached peak Spirit Transformation.
• The Four Great Sects, the Emperor, and the Tang Clan gathered outside the Academy; their leaders demanded answers, while Nangong Feiyan said she had come to find Wang Xian.
• A thunderclap struck as the Emperor was about to speak.

Li Dalu announced that the Academy would close for ten years and challenged the Four Great Sects and Great Zhou’s Emperor, while Wang Xian’s voice seemed to speak through him. Li Dalu defeated Nangong Feiyan’s sword with the teacher’s bamboo sword, sent the East Sea faction away, and then faced another challenger.

• Li Dalu declared that Wang Xian had gone beyond the Nine Heavens and promised the Academy would settle its debts after ten years.
• Wang Xian’s words came through Li Dalu as he warned the sects and Emperor, then said he missed his junior brother.
• Nangong Feiyan recognized Wang Xian’s presence and accepted that he and Li Dalu owed each other favors.
• Li Dalu drew the teacher’s bamboo sword and cut through Nangong Feiyan’s mountain-like strike, breaking her spirit sword.
• Nangong Feiyan withdrew with the East Sea faction, and Nangong Fei’er asked Li Dalu to tell Wang Xian she had visited.
• Li Dalu asked who else would challenge the Academy, and an aged voice answered that it would.

Li Dalu used the Academy’s bamboo sword to defeat Nalan Ming and wound Baili Wenqiu and Dongfang Feihong as the Four Great Sects demanded that Huangfu Xuanyuan answer for the conflict. Huangfu Xuanyuan intervened, threatened the sect leaders, and forced them to sheath their swords, though Dongfang Feihong questioned how long the Academy could hold out.

• Nalan Ming demanded to see Huangfu Xuanyuan, but Li Dalu refused and challenged him with the Academy’s sword.
• Li Dalu mirrored Wang Xian’s One Sword Startles Gods, pierced Nalan Ming’s defenses, and wounded him with One Sword No Trace.
• Baili Wenqiu took Nalan Ming’s place, but Li Dalu’s lingering Sword Qi injured her and forced her to retreat.
• Dongfang Feihong attacked Li Dalu, who answered with One Sword Questions Heaven and nearly split him in two before Huangfu Xuanyuan intervened.
• Huangfu Xuanyuan blamed the Four Great Sects for forcing Wang Xian to his death and warned that anyone who attacked the Academy would die.
• Dongfang Feihong gave up on fighting for the moment, sheathed his sword, and questioned whether a delay of ten years would make any difference.

Wang Xian’s sword split the ground between Wutong Academy and the imperial forces, forcing the Emperor and the Four Great Sects to retreat. Huangfu Xuanyuan defended the Academy, while Li Dalu stepped beyond the peak of Spirit Transformation without triggering a tribulation.

• Wang Xian cleaved the sky with Soul Devourer, and a divine sword opened a vast chasm before the Academy’s gate.
• Huangfu Xuanyuan confronted the Emperor and Right Chancellor Nalan Xuande across the chasm, revealing the Academy teacher had fought the Four Great Sects at Misty Rain Lake.
• Huangfu Xuanyuan sent the imperial army’s arrows flying back, killing the guards and cultivators who had fired them.
• The Emperor and Nalan Xuande withdrew, while Huangfu Xuanyuan and Li Dalu returned through the Academy’s gate.
• Li Dalu stepped beyond the peak of Spirit Transformation without a tribulation, stunning the cultivators watching.

After the Academy shut its gates for ten years, a heavenly sword carved a ravine before them, revealing the emperor’s failure to force his way in. The survivors discussed the upheaval and Wang Xian’s role, while Li Dalu returned to seclusion and the Academy’s elders considered his future.

• Tang Shisan, Ximen Tinghua, Meng Xiaolou, and Tang Qingyu discussed the Academy’s sealing and predicted Wang Xian would return within three years.
• Qiu Mingyu and Martai Xilan told Nalan Qiuqiu that Li Dalu had advanced to the Void Refinement realm, and Nalan urged them to stay out of the princes’ affairs.
• Baili Wenqiu recounted the sword’s ravine at the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, where Nangong Fei'er revealed that Wang Xian was the teacher’s student and Li Dalu’s senior brother.
• Hua Mantian said she would follow Wang Xian when he returned, while Nangong Feiyan invited him to visit the East Sea.
• Li Dalu went back to the bamboo grove to cultivate in seclusion, and Huangfu Xuanyuan and the blacksmith discussed Wang Xian’s power and Li Dalu’s potential to inherit the teacher’s mantle.

The Academy severed its ties with the imperial city after a cataclysmic upheaval, leaving the emperor desperate for a path to immortality. In Moon City, the crow and Blind Man waited for Moonlit Lake’s lotus pods, while the Wang family realized Furong and Haotian might benefit from remaining at the Academy.

• In Moon City, the crow complained to the Blind Man that Moonlit Lake had bloomed without producing lotus pods, and the Blind Man suggested Wang Xian had delayed them until next year.
• The crow recalled asking Wang Xian about the imperial city and hoped he might someday help it take human form; the Blind Man was shaken to learn Wang Xian had come from the sky.
• In Jinling, the emperor ordered Questioning Heaven to kill any cultivator who caused trouble in the imperial city, then admitted he might need help from the Four Great Sects to advance his cultivation.
• The Right Chancellor suggested the emperor withdraw to Nanshan Temple, while the emperor lamented that the Academy’s ten-year mountain closure would deprive the dynasty of successors.
• At the Prince of Zhenxi’s residence, Wang Donglai reminded Wang Mingquan that Furong and Haotian had stayed at the Academy, and the family decided to keep quiet about them.
• Wang Donglai asked Maertai about Wang Xian, and she said she had heard him laughing in the sky and calling someone impressive.

The emperor explained to Wang Yu'an how the dynasty had endured the Four Great Sects and why the battle at Duanlong Mountain had finally given it a chance to stand firm. With the Academy inaccessible and Wang Xian missing, Wang Yu'an agreed to remain in the imperial city and learn governance from the Left Chancellor.

• The emperor reflected that devotion to governing had weakened his cultivation and told Wang Yu'an to seek his own path to longevity.
• Wang Yu'an asked whether to return to the Academy, and the emperor told him to stay in the imperial city and study statecraft under the Left Chancellor.
• The emperor described the dynasty's long subservience to the Four Great Sects and said the battle at Duanlong Mountain had set them back by more than a century.
• The emperor explained that Li Dalu's defiance angered him because the dynasty lacked anyone strong enough to oppose the Academy's dean and Li Dalu.
• The emperor urged Wang Yu'an to follow the sages' way of benevolence, while Wang Yu'an compared Wang Xian to himself, his father, and his elder brother.
• The emperor warned that Wang Xian could restrain himself when useful and strike when the moment came, making him a dangerous enemy.

Wang Yu'an received advice from the emperor about ruling and his future ties to Wang Xian, while news of Wang Xian’s deeds reached the Kunlun temple and stirred old feelings among Tang Qingyu and Tang Shisan. The chapter ended with Tang Qingyu realizing Wang Xian had overheard her dismissing him, and Tang Shisan reflecting that they had been drawn back into the consequences of Wang Xian’s past.

• The emperor advised Wang Yu'an to trust his uncles cautiously, consider his enemies carefully, and remember that he was not an Academy Daoist.
• Dongfang Nishang told the Old Daoist and Donghuang Shuyu about the teacher’s death and Wang Xian’s startling appearance above Wutong Academy.
• Dongfang Nishang warned that the conflict between the Academy and dynasty could bring the consequences of Duanlong Mountain down on Wang Xian, then revealed that his Academy senior brother had nearly killed the Kunlun Sword Sect’s grand elder.
• At South Mountain Temple, Tang Qingyu asked Tang Shisan where Ximen Tinghua had obtained his golden sword, and Tang Shisan explained how Wang Xian had saved them on the Heavenly Road and given Ximen the sword.
• Tang Qingyu recalled promising to marry whoever brought her the sword, then realized Wang Xian may have withdrawn after overhearing her say he was not good enough for her and Long Qingmei.
• Tang Shisan realized that both sisters had benefited from Wang Xian’s help and lamented that their visit to Duanlong Mountain had entangled them in his karma.

Wang Xian remained hidden while cultivators across the world searched for him, and Duanmu Xi returned to seek him out. A divination at the Academy suggested he had gone to the Ninth Heaven, and Huangfu Xuanyuan summoned Duanmu Xi to the library.

• Wang Xian secluded himself in the Azure Cloud Sect, refined Rejuvenation Pills, and remembered his past as snow fell.
• Duanmu Xi visited the Kunlun Daoist temple and learned that Wang Xian had vanished again and was being hunted by cultivators across the world.
• Duanmu Xi went to the ruined Academy to ask about Wang Xian, where Li Dalu agreed to divine for her after she promised the blacksmith use of her Divine Sword.
• Li Dalu read a hexagram matching one previously read for Wang Xian and concluded that Wang Xian was somewhere in the Ninth Heaven.
• Duanmu Xi said her own master could not divine Wang Xian's location, and Huangfu Xuanyuan summoned her to the library.

Duanmu Xi learned more about Wang Xian’s past from Huangfu Xuanyuan and Old Sun, then invited Li Yu and the Wang siblings to leave with her. She planned to return to Huiwen City and then go to the Goddess Palace, where she would wait for Wang Xian.

• Duanmu Xi handed the Divine Sword to the blacksmith, then left with Li Yu and Tang Tian.
• Duanmu Xi told Huangfu Xuanyuan she wanted to fight Wang Xian and learned about his past, his teachers, and the unresolved ties that might bring him back.
• Duanmu Xi asked Huangfu Xuanyuan to tell Wang Xian she would wait for him at the Goddess Palace in Dongsheng Divine Continent.
• Duanmu Xi returned to the blacksmith’s shop, met Wang Furong and Wang Haotian, and invited them and Li Yu to travel with her.
• Tang Tian protested when Duanmu Xi’s invitation threatened to separate him from Li Yu.

Duanmu Xi took Wang Haotian and Li Yu on a journey toward their hometown after restoring the Wang family’s cultivation and changing several people’s fates. Meanwhile, Li Dalu’s dragon pearl and the gentleman’s legacy awakened, and he became a sage as spiritual rain fell over the Academy and imperial city.

• Duanmu Xi left the abyss with Wang Haotian and Li Yu, while Wang Furong stayed with Li Dalu and sent her parents a letter asking them to support her brother’s cultivation.
• At the Prince of the West’s manor, Duanmu Xi raised Wang Donglai and Maertai Xilan to Spirit Transformation and restored Qiu Mingyu’s, Nalan Qiuqiu’s, Murong Ruyu’s, and Wang Mingquan’s cultivation without a heavenly tribulation.
• As Duanmu Xi traveled with Wang Haotian, Li Yu, and Yun Yiluo, Wang Haotian revealed that Wang Xian had once caught a little divine dragon at the Academy and released it.
• After drinking spirit wine, Li Dalu’s dragon pearl ignited, and he endured a fiery rebirth that reforged his body and established his Dao foundation.
• At sunrise, Li Dalu spoke his first words as a sage, bringing purple qi, golden light, incense, and spiritual rain to the Academy and imperial city.