Recaps

Xiang Yuan tended to his companions, visited the Heavenly God Realm, and questioned Jingyun about the Taixu worlds and the Celestial Emperor’s plans. He then went to Guanyin Bodhisattva’s Purple Bamboo Grove, where Lay Practitioner Bai Yue assigned him the role of Fahai in her production of The Legend of the White Snake.

• Xiang Yuan shared a bed with Xiao Lingyue and Chan'er in the Unborn Realm, then sparred with Xiao Lingyue and carried her back inside when he realized she wanted him to take the initiative.
• Xiao Lingyue left Chan'er to return to the Sect Gate for secluded cultivation, and Xiang Yuan told Chan'er she needed to reach the Nether Passage Realm or she would lose him to Xiao Lingyue.
• Xiang Yuan visited Black Tortoise Firstborn Manor, heard Baize and Guan Yan report that the Celestial Emperor had sent immortals and gods into mortal realms, and went to Kunlun Mountain to question Jingyun.
• Jingyun explained that the Heavenly God Realm was false and that seeking truth amid illusion could make it real, then warned Xiang Yuan not to become too entangled with the Supreme Elder Lord in the Ninth Heaven.
• Xiang Yuan visited Guanyin Bodhisattva at the Purple Bamboo Grove and learned that Lay Practitioner Bai Yue wanted him to play Fahai in The Legend of the White Snake.

Xiang Yuan took charge of staging the Legend of the White Snake, cast Bai Yue as Bai Suzhen and Ji Muqing as Xiaoqing, and played Xu Xian himself. The trio began filming in Yishui City, where Xu Xian met the two snake demons on a rainy day and Xiang Yuan’s improvisations stirred jealousy and confusion between his companions.

• Bai Yue explained that Jingyun had passed her the Legend of the White Snake script, and Xiang Yuan persuaded her to let him direct and cast the production.
• Xiang Yuan proposed that Bai Yue play Bai Suzhen, Ji Muqing play Xiaoqing, and he play Xu Xian, then used divine-power avatars to arrange the rest of the production.
• Xiang Yuan discovered that Bai Yue had reached Spirit Transformation cultivation and learned that Ji Muqing’s progress could make her old promise to the disciple a real concern.
• Xiang Yuan and Bai Yue cultivated together as he studied Guanyin Bodhisattva’s treasures and used them to develop his understanding of the Six-Character Mantra.
• In Baohua Realm, Xiang Yuan created Yishui City as the filming location and established his Xu Xian persona as a wealthy, virtuous local.
• Xiang Yuan arranged a rainy-day encounter with Bai Yue as Bai Suzhen and Ji Muqing as Xiaoqing, then improvised flirtatious scenes that left Ji Muqing resentful and Bai Yue intrigued.

Xiang Yuan continued directing The Legend of the White Snake while his Fahai incarnation built a reputation for subduing demons. After Fahai wiped out a demon den, he encountered the Supreme Elder Lord, who claimed Xiang Yuan shared a destined bond with Jingyun and persuaded him to stay.

• Xiang Yuan, Bai Yue, and Ji Muqing acted out a rain-soaked scene together, and Ji Muqing asked whether Xu Xian would take Xiaoqing as a concubine.
• Two months later, Xiang Yuan arranged for Xu Xian to marry Bai Yue and Ji Muqing as principal and equal wives, though their wedding-night intimacy remained make-believe because they were incarnations.
• At Golden Mountain Temple, Fahai exposed the merchant Qin Gu as a rat demon and defeated Qin Gu's tiger-demon guard, while Qin Gu escaped after sacrificing his tail.
• Fahai followed Qin Gu to a hidden underground den, where he subdued the gathered demons and then restored offerings to the ruined Daoist temple's nameless immortal.
• The Supreme Elder Lord appeared before Fahai, and Xiang Yuan recognized him; when Xiang Yuan tried to leave, the Supreme Elder Lord said he and Jingyun shared a destined bond, so Xiang Yuan stayed to hear him out.

Supreme Elder Lord gave Xiang Yuan the Tao Te Ching and spoke cryptically about repairing the gaps in an incomplete world, prompting Xiang Yuan to seek Jingyun’s guidance. Back in Baohua Realm, Xiang Yuan continued playing house with Bai Yue and Ji Muqing while preparing to confront Fahai, who finished repairing the Temple of Morality and planned to tonsure Xu Xian.

• Supreme Elder Lord revealed Xiang Yuan’s connection to the Lesser Morality Temple, gave him the Tao Te Ching, and explained that passing on the Great Dao would plug gaps left by an incomplete Heaven and Earth.
• Xiang Yuan recreated Fahai’s avatar and ordered him to rebuild the ruined Temple of Morality by hand, then hurried to Kunlun Mountain to tell Jingyun about Supreme Elder Lord.
• Jingyun read the Tao Te Ching, said its opportunity belonged to Xiang Yuan, warned that she might not be able to save him from future disaster, and sent him away from Kunlun Mountain.
• At the Xu Residence, Xiang Yuan discussed Fahai’s warning with Bai Yue and Ji Muqing, agreed to keep playing along for another month, and proposed visiting a temple to pray about their lack of children.
• Fahai finished restoring the Temple of Morality and considered tonsuring Xu Xian’s actor as well as Xu Xian.

Xiang Yuan ended the staged White Snake drama by sealing Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing in a pagoda, then advanced his cultivation by comprehending the Dao of the greater tide and rebuilding his Minor Grotto-Heaven. After the Dao Lord ignored his questions at Yellow Springs Dao, Xiang Yuan learned that Daoist Ziyang had arrived with unfamiliar companions and hurried to meet him.

• Fahai took Xiang Yuan to Golden Mountain Temple, where he began tonsuring him as Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing arrived to demand his return.
• Xiang Yuan took over Fahai's role, used the Water-Subduing Iron Sword to control the flood, and sealed Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing in a golden pagoda.
• Xiang Yuan returned to Purple Bamboo Grove, then went to the Dry Abyss Realm and cultivated the Dao of the greater tide, destroying and restoring his Minor Grotto-Heaven.
• Xiang Yuan visited Yellow Springs Dao to ask the Dao Lord about the corpse wraith and Other Shore Gate, but received no reply.
• Zuo Lengxie told Xiang Yuan that Daoist Ziyang had arrived at Earth Dragon Fort with several unfamiliar people, so Xiang Yuan hurried there to retrieve the upgraded Storm Mist Blade.

Xiang Yuan received the reforged Storm Mist Blade from Daoist Ziyang but returned its elaborate case to Azure Cloud Sect, then agreed to help Southern Jin recover the Water-Subduing Iron Sword and ordered Ziyang to keep Azure Cloud Sect out of the trip. While waiting to meet Xiang Yuan, Li Jingwu, Li Zisu, and Li Ziqing misjudged his reputation and decided to endure his company for the sake of Southern Jin’s people.

• Daoist Ziyang delivered the reforged Storm Mist Blade to Xiang Yuan, who admired the weapon but returned its case so Azure Cloud Sect could give it to someone else.
• Ziyang explained that the Shangyuan Li Clan needed the missing Water-Subduing Iron Sword to prevent floods in Southern Jin, and Xiang Yuan agreed to retrieve it.
• Xiang Yuan learned that Southern Jin’s six great noble families would oppose the Li Clan’s control of the sword, then ordered Ziyang to introduce the Li Clan visitors and keep Azure Cloud Sect disciples away from his expedition.
• Li Jingwu, Li Zisu, and Li Ziqing discussed Xiang Yuan’s rumored arrogance and feared that Azure Cloud Sect and Yellow Springs Dao were secretly allied.
• Li Zisu warned Li Ziqing to stay away from Xiang Yuan, while Li Jingwu concluded that the Li Clan would have to call the devil their brother to protect Southern Jin’s people.

Xiang Yuan traveled to Southern Jin with the Water-Subduing Iron Sword, while Li Jingwu mistook Azure Cloud Sect for the force secretly controlling it. The Hundred Rivers Alliance intercepted them, but its grandmaster Qu Kuan discovered that the sword now answered Xiang Yuan alone.

• Li Jingwu met Xiang Yuan at Azure Cloud Sect and, after misreading the situation, challenged him to a game of Go that left him coughing blood.
• Xiang Yuan agreed to bring the Water-Subduing Iron Sword to Southern Jin for the Li Clan, and the party traveled south by pleasure boat before turning toward Shangyuan Prefecture.
• Qu Kuan and Shui Xianghui blocked the boat on the river and demanded that Xiang Yuan's master appear and return the sword to the Hundred Rivers Alliance.
• Xiang Yuan declared that he had brought the sword to help quell the flood calamity and refused Qu Kuan's claim that it belonged to the Alliance.
• Qu Kuan repeatedly used the Alliance's incantation to summon the sword, but it stayed beside Xiang Yuan; when Xiang Yuan called, the Water-Subduing Iron Sword responded at once.

Xiang Yuan entered Shui Xianghui’s formation diagram and defeated both her and Qu Kuan, but spared them after seeing their devotion. Outside, Li Jingwu, Li Zisu, and Li Ziqing were baffled when all three emerged battered and disheveled.

• The Water-Subduing Iron Sword refused to answer Qu Kuan’s incantation and remained loyal to Xiang Yuan, prompting Qu Kuan and Shui Xianghui to challenge him.
• Shui Xianghui trapped Xiang Yuan in her formation diagram, where he resisted its suppression and struck back with the Heavenly Blade Style: Sky in One Hue.
• Xiang Yuan shattered Shui Xianghui’s sword, badly wounded her, and defeated Qu Kuan with the Heavenly Blade Style: Thunder Shakes the Nine Heavens.
• Qu Kuan rushed to protect Shui Xianghui, and Xiang Yuan relented after seeing how devoted the couple were, though their affectionate display soon angered him again.
• Li Jingwu and Li Zisu speculated that Xiang Yuan was doomed, while Li Ziqing questioned their assumptions and defended his character.
• The formation diagram folded away, revealing Xiang Yuan, Qu Kuan, and Shui Xianghui all battered and disheveled, leaving the onlookers confused about what had happened.

Xiang Yuan’s staged victory over Qu Kuan and Shui Xianghui sent the pleasure boat north with the Water-Subduing Iron Sword, while the Shangyuan Li Clan debated how to exploit the conflict. When a red light from the Illusion Annihilation Dao seized Xiang Yuan’s Primordial Spirit, he was led to a mass graveyard, where he broke free and attacked the female zombie who had questioned him about his supposed treasure.

• Xiang Yuan and Qu Kuan exchanged scripted threats after Qu Kuan and Shui Xianghui agreed to stage their defeat and leave with their life-buying money.
• Qu Kuan and Shui Xianghui fled to a secret hideout, while the Hundred Rivers Alliance cultivators let Xiang Yuan’s pleasure boat sail away without challenging him.
• On the pleasure boat, Li Jingwu and Li Zisu persuaded Li Ziqing that the Hundred Rivers Alliance had withdrawn strategically and that other grandmasters might attack Xiang Yuan.
• Li Jingwu and Li Zisu decided to exploit the situation surrounding the Water-Subduing Iron Sword, and Li Jingwu warned Li Zisu to keep Li Ziqing away from Xiang Yuan.
• A red light from the Illusion Annihilation Dao took control of Xiang Yuan’s Primordial Spirit and led him from the boat to a mass graveyard beneath a crimson moon.
• When the female zombie questioned Xiang Yuan about his supposed treasure and reached for his brow, he broke free of the control and struck at her with the Storm Mist Blade.

Xiang Yuan fought an external body wielded by an Illusion Annihilation Dao cultivator, endured the Nine Tribulations of Illusion Annihilation, and used the battle to deepen his understanding of the laws of heaven and earth. The cultivator’s Primordial Spirit fled, leaving Xiang Yuan with the female zombie’s body as he began devising a technique of his own.

• Xiang Yuan overwhelmed the female zombie with physical attacks and repeatedly smashed through the Crimson Moon domain until its formation collapsed.
• The female zombie revealed the Nine Tribulations of Illusion Annihilation, trapping Xiang Yuan in a world of nine tribulations as he studied its laws while fighting.
• The Illusion Annihilation Dao cultivator fled from the female zombie’s body, and Xiang Yuan recreated the fading world before deducing a version of the technique for himself.
• Xiang Yuan branded the female zombie with a Primordial Spirit mark, brought her aboard the pleasure boat, and began thinking of a name for his new cultivation method.
• Li Jingwu told Li Zisu that Xiang Yuan could fight a Nether Passage grandmaster even without using a treasure, leaving both disciples astonished.

Xiang Yuan defeated the Jiangdong Sun Clan Grandmasters and turned their attempt to seize the Water-Subduing Iron Sword into a business deal, then gathered more Noble Family Grandmasters aboard his pleasure boat. As the capital tried to keep him away, Xiang Yuan went ahead to Shangyuan Prefecture, leaving Li Jingwu panicked.

• Xiang Yuan named his new divine ability the Nine Paths of Asking Heaven and sent Ah Hong to defeat the three Grandmasters blocking the pleasure boat.
• Li Jingwu recognized the attackers as Grandmasters of the Jiangdong Sun Clan, while Li Ziqing and Li Zisu watched Ah Hong overwhelm all three.
• Xiang Yuan forced Sun Hao, Sun Qian, and Sun Shanwei to surrender payment, accepted their offer to buy his protection, and promised to travel with them to Jiangdong.
• Over the next five days, Grandmasters from the Hengyang Zhao Clan, Luzhou Cao Clan, and Jingquan Yang Clan also challenged Xiang Yuan, lost, and joined the group aboard the boat.
• Li Jingwu learned the capital wanted Xiang Yuan kept away from Shangyuan Prefecture, but found that Xiang Yuan had left for the capital without warning and rushed after him in alarm.

Xiang Yuan entered Shangyuan Prefecture to deal with the floodwaters, but the Li Clan’s search led him into a confrontation with two Illusion Annihilation Dao cultivators. After turning their emotional battle against them, he discovered that his opponent, Li Yuanrong, used the peerless saber-and-sword momentum associated with Master Kang, raising the possibility that Senior Brother Clear Insight had been made an external incarnation.

• Xiang Yuan evaded the Starwatch Tower’s search and toured Shangyuan Prefecture’s streets with Ah Hong, sampling local food and buying souvenirs.
• Xiang Yuan followed the Li Clan’s agents onto an enchanted stone bridge, where an azure-robed scholar demanded to know his connection to Dao Yan.
• Ah Hong and the scholar, Yuan Rong, revealed their rivalry, and Xiang Yuan provoked them with claims about his relationship with Dao Yan until both suffered from the emotional backlash.
• Dao Yan abandoned Ah Hong’s external incarnation, and Xiang Yuan continued taunting Yuan Rong while evading his attacks with Ah Hong’s help.
• Li Yuanrong invoked the Shangyuan Grand Formation and attacked Xiang Yuan with a saber-and-sword technique resembling Master Kang’s, leading Xiang Yuan to suspect that Senior Brother Clear Insight had been made an external incarnation.

Xiang Yuan defeated Li Yuanrong’s external incarnation, forced him to explain his ties to Ji Boli and Wang Daoyan, and learned how the pair’s fifty-year rivalry began. He left the encounter with the mystery of Southern Jin’s Illusion Annihilation Dao inheritors partly clarified, while Li Yuanrong and Wang Daoyan’s entangled past remained unresolved.

• Xiang Yuan overwhelmed Li Yuanrong with his blade, then used Killing Intent Like a Blade to stop Li Yuanrong’s Primordial Spirit from escaping before it finally fled.
• Xiang Yuan learned how the capital’s water-control system worked and went to the Water-Subduing Altar, where Li Yuanrong appeared to confront him.
• Xiang Yuan threatened to bring ten grandmasters and Zuo Lengxie into the capital unless Li Yuanrong answered his questions about Ji Boli and the Illusion Annihilation Dao.
• Li Yuanrong explained that he and Ji Boli had met through their Nether Passage Realm connections in another world and had become sworn brothers.
• Li Yuanrong revealed that Wang Daoyan came from the Liangzhou Wang Clan and that the two had been bound by a marriage contract and fought every three months for fifty years.
• Li Yuanrong explained that he and Wang Daoyan had both used Illusion Annihilation Dao techniques against each other, leaving each with the other’s incarnation art, while Wang Daoyan had refined Ah Hong from a Blood Sea Dao cultivator.

Xiang Yuan used the Water-Subduing Iron Sword to suppress Southern Jin’s floods, but its excessive power collapsed the altar and exposed an Other Shore Gate pyramid beneath the capital’s dragon vein. As Li Yuanrong summoned the Li Clan’s grandmasters, they mistook Xiang Yuan for the culprit, and Li Jingwu tried to win his help with a spatial ring.

• Li Yuanrong revealed that the Illusion Annihilation Dao had no headquarters and that Xiang Yuan had likely become one of its inheritors.
• Li Yuanrong blocked Xiang Yuan from using the Water-Subduing Iron Sword until Xiang Yuan proved his connection to Ji Boli, who confirmed it while cursing him for seducing Li Yuanrong’s sister-in-law.
• Xiang Yuan activated the Nine Dragons Water-Locking Array, and the sword suppressed five years of floods before collapsing the altar.
• Xiang Yuan and Li Yuanrong discovered an Other Shore Gate pyramid beneath the altar that was weakening Southern Jin’s dragon vein.
• Li Jingwu, Li Ruyu, and Li Yuanji arrived and prepared to seize Xiang Yuan, but Li Jingwu dropped a spatial ring at his feet to persuade him to help.

Xiang Yuan helped the Shangyuan Li Clan free Southern Jin’s fortune golden dragon, uncovering evidence that a hidden force was targeting the dragon veins of all three kingdoms. He refused to settle in the capital and continued his water-subduing tour, arriving in Liangzhou to meet Wang Daoyan, where a staged pregnancy claim left Li Yuanrong stunned.

• Xiang Yuan accepted two storage rings from the Li Clan and agreed to guide Li Yuanrong and three other grandmasters into the pyramid beneath Southern Jin’s capital.
• Xiang Yuan led the group through the pyramid’s illusion formation and helped them reach a realm unlike the Other Shore, where they found Southern Jin’s fortune golden dragon bound by a star formation.
• Li Yuanrong and the other Li grandmasters dismantled the formation and freed the golden dragon, while Xiang Yuan concluded that the mastermind behind the plot had withdrawn its guards after the Western Chu array was exposed.
• Xiang Yuan urged the three kingdoms to cooperate against the hidden force, but Li Yuanrong said the Li Clan would not warn Northern Qi, so Xiang Yuan planned to visit it himself after his water-subduing work.
• Xiang Yuan traveled through several Southern Jin regions to complete water-subduing ceremonies, then arrived in Liangzhou with Li Yuanrong and Ah Hong to meet Wang Daoyan.
• Wang Daoyan greeted Xiang Yuan with a red veil and a rounded belly, and after Li Yuanrong blamed him, Xiang Yuan admitted through a voice transmission that he was responsible.

Xiang Yuan helped Wang Daoyan stage a scene to provoke Li Yuanrong, then left for Northern Qi to unseal the golden dragon of fate. After arriving in Tai'an, he questioned a gang of thugs and learned that True Heart Dao was notorious across the realm, leaving him determined to keep his identity hidden.

• Xiang Yuan acted as Wang Daoyan’s lover, and Li Yuanrong declared that he would marry another woman before leaving for the capital.
• Wang Daoyan offered Xiang Yuan more money to continue their scheme, but he refused and departed for Qilin Pass.
• Xiang Yuan traveled through Northern Qi to Tai'an Prefecture, intending to unseal the golden dragon of fate discreetly.
• A gang of thugs cornered Xiang Yuan in an alley, but he hypnotized them and made their leader answer his questions.
• The thug described Northern Qi’s major powers and recounted True Heart Dao’s outrageous scandals, including its detention of Miao Qiong.
• Xiang Yuan learned the thug was an informant for Six Doors and resolved to conceal his connection to True Heart Dao.

Xiang Yuan secretly entered the Liu Clan’s imperial mausoleum to destroy the formation beneath Northern Qi’s capital, but found Liu Che and a woman waiting in an ambush. After defeating them and learning that Daoist Quexin had arranged the trap, Xiang Yuan realized he had been led into a disastrous confrontation on his first day in Northern Qi.

• Xiang Yuan found the pyramid beneath the Liu Clan’s imperial mausoleum and smashed the formation sealing Northern Qi’s luck-golden dragon.
• Liu Che appeared and trapped Xiang Yuan inside a reinforced formation, while a woman used the Mountains and Rivers Geomancy Map to suppress him.
• Xiang Yuan destroyed the teleportation array, broke through the woman’s control of the map, and defeated Liu Che after overpowering both of them.
• Xiang Yuan tried to question Liu Che, who revealed that his name was Liu Che and accused Xiang Yuan of attacking Northern Qi’s fortune.
• Liu Che explained that Daoist Quexin of the True Heart Dao had warned him about the formation and helped him prepare the ambush for Xiang Yuan.

Xiang Yuan and Liu Che discovered that Heartless Daoist had manipulated them into fighting, then learned they were martial brothers because Heartless had taken Liu Che as a nominal disciple over an old wager. After Xiang Yuan explained he had come to Northern Qi to break its Dragon-Locking Formation, Liu Che tried to recruit him into court, but Xiang Yuan revealed he was already betrothed to a princess of the Xiao family.

• Xiang Yuan told Liu Che that Dragon-Locking Formations also sealed the dragon veins in Western Chu and Southern Jin, and explained that Heartless Daoist had engineered their misunderstanding.
• Xiang Yuan revealed his true name and Daoist title, and told Liu Che that Heartless Daoist was his master; Liu Che recognized him as his senior brother.
• Liu Che recounted how Heartless Daoist had taken him as a nominal disciple after losing a wager to Huixing, the abbot who had taken Liu Che's son Liu Xiu as a disciple.
• Xiang Yuan and Liu Che met at the temporary imperial palace, where Xiang Yuan explained that he planned to leave once he broke the formation beneath the capital.
• Liu Che urged Xiang Yuan to join the Northern Qi court as a Great General, but Xiang Yuan said he was already betrothed to a princess of the Xiao family, prompting Liu Che to rise in fury.

After leaving Northern Qi’s capital, Xiang Yuan infiltrated the Great Saber Alliance’s Saber Repository, where his presence and a thunderclap triggered a tense confrontation that he resolved by posing as a Shaolin Daoist. He then reached True Heart Dao but hesitated to enter, eventually finding the peak where his master lived and recognizing a tree from Hard Drive Martial Uncle’s memories.

• Liu Che complained to Empress Jiang Wang that Xiang Yuan had refused his offer to become Grand General, and Jiang proposed introducing her younger sister Jiang Yingjun to drive a wedge between Xiang Yuan and the Xiao Clan.
• Xiang Yuan dug up nine nested chests at the imperial villa, found a note from Que Xin telling him to visit his master, and agreed to escort Jiang Yingjun to Overlord Tower in exchange for Liu Che dropping an old misunderstanding.
• Xiang Yuan entered the Great Saber Alliance’s Saber Repository and set off a thunderclap while opening a hidden empty chest, drawing alliance leader Pang Wanjun and his saber wielders to confront him.
• Xiang Yuan claimed to be a Shaolin Daoist who had warned the alliance about its lax defenses, and Pang Wanjun accepted the excuse, dismissed his men, and saw Xiang Yuan off.
• Xiang Yuan avoided entering Shaolin Temple because he expected an ambush, passed Mingzhou three times, and finally traveled to True Heart Dao’s mountain grounds.
• Xiang Yuan found his master’s peak and recognized an ancient tree from Hard Drive Martial Uncle’s memories of Que Xin perched above him.

Xiang Yuan entered a hidden heavenly realm and fought Sect Leader Miao Qiong after she tested his cultivation. He overpowered her, but her defeat triggered a powerful demonic transformation, leaving him facing a towering demon.

• Xiang Yuan entered the courtyard outhouse and discovered a small heavenly realm hidden inside it.
• Sect Leader Miao Qiong confronted Xiang Yuan, and he provoked her into attacking him with her sword.
• After his sword sheath was sealed, Xiang Yuan fought Miao Qiong with the Rouge Sword and forced her to retreat with repeated blows.
• Miao Qiong unleashed the Six Stars of the Southern Dipper, but she had to withdraw the attack after Xiang Yuan's black-and-white swimming fish held it back.
• When Xiang Yuan approached the exhausted Miao Qiong, she fell into demonic transformation and summoned a towering demon; Xiang Yuan responded with Dharma Manifestation and Three Heads, Six Arms.

Xiang Yuan defeated demonized Sect Master Miao Qiong, reunited with Old Daoist Quexin, and explored the eccentric True Heart Dao. The chapter ended with Miao Qiong joining them to hear Quexin teach and Quexin deciding to help Xiang Yuan reach the Nether-Connecting Realm that day.

• Xiang Yuan destroyed Miao Qiong’s demon domain with the Heavenfall Sword Strike, then battered her until she fell unconscious.
• The Bagua Treasure Mirror restored the shattered minor realm, and Miao Qiong was carried away through a starry portal to recover.
• Old Daoist Quexin appeared, questioned Xiang Yuan’s identity, and accepted his proof after Xiang Yuan repeated Senior Brother Clear Insight’s insult about him.
• Quexin punished Clear Insight after Xiang Yuan claimed the senior brother had insulted him further, then took Xiang Yuan around to visit their absent martial uncles and collect their greeting gifts.
• Quexin brought Xiang Yuan to his mountain to offer cultivation guidance, where Miao Qiong arrived and asked to listen despite lacking a master-disciple bond with him.
• Quexin asked when Xiang Yuan could reach the Nether-Connecting Realm, and Xiang Yuan said he could do it anytime, so they agreed to start that day.

Xiang Yuan broke through to the Nether Passage Grandmaster realm at True Heart Dao, received a mysterious wisp of light from Old Daoist Quexin, and spent time consolidating his strength. He then arrived in Tai'an Prefecture to escort Jiang Yingjun, realizing that he had become a member of the Liu Clan’s imperial kin.

• Xiang Yuan entered the Nether Passage Grandmaster realm, and Old Daoist Quexin sent a mysterious wisp of light into his brow that transformed his Primordial Spirit.
• Xiang Yuan discovered that he could not find another version of himself in the other worlds and asked Old Daoist Quexin about his unusual fate and the Jambu Gate.
• Xiang Yuan sparred with Miao Qiong to practice controlling his new strength, then spent over half a month consolidating his cultivation at True Heart Dao.
• Xiang Yuan explored True Heart Dao’s Scripture Repository and found the original copies of Shaolin Temple’s Seventy-Two Peerless Skills.
• Xiang Yuan arrived in Tai'an Prefecture and learned that Jiang Yingjun’s concert tour was being escorted by a member of the imperial family, prompting him to realize he had become a member of the Liu Clan’s imperial kin.

Xiang Yuan entered the imperial residence to meet Jiang Yingjun, whom he was assigned to escort to Western Chu, and immediately clashed with her over manners and rank. He left her convinced he was an uncultured but astonishingly talented Grandmaster, while she considered whether she could ever be moved by him.

• Xiang Yuan pushed past the crowd gathered outside the imperial residence and vaulted over its wall, prompting the Imperial Guard to arrest several men who tried to charge the gates.
• Xiang Yuan met Jiang Yingjun in the rear garden, dismissed her formal greeting, and established that he would escort her to Shendu in Western Chu.
• Xiang Yuan confronted Liu Che about arranging the escort and jokingly accused him of setting up a honey trap, while Liu Che mocked Xiang Yuan's claims of literary talent.
• Jiang Yingjun learned from Jiang Wang that Xiang Yuan was eighteen and a Grandmaster, and briefly considered whether he could make a suitable husband.
• Jiang Yingjun admitted that Xiang Yuan's talent might move her if he had any refinement, but she and Jiang Wang agreed his crude speech made that unlikely.

Carefree Valley’s touring concert convoy was ambushed near Huai Prefecture by Stellar Palace assassins, but their leader fled when he recognized Xiang Yuan. Xiang Yuan caught Pang Wanjun and forced him to reveal that the Tai'an Liu Clan had commissioned the attack.

• The convoy left Tai'an Prefecture’s capital, and Xiang Yuan rode in Jiang Yingjun’s carriage as her bodyguard.
• After the convoy shifted to a point near Huai Prefecture, Chai Tong found the road eerily deserted and was trapped by a formation.
• Stellar Palace assassins surrounded the convoy, but their leader recognized Xiang Yuan and fled, prompting Xiang Yuan to pursue him.
• Xiang Yuan caught the leader, Pang Wanjun of the Great Saber Alliance, and defeated him after Pang tried to fight back.
• Pang Wanjun revealed that the Tai'an Liu Clan had placed the order for the assassination.

Xiang Yuan exposed the Liu Clan’s staged assassination attempt, then accompanied Carefree Valley’s convoy to the border between Northern Qi and Western Chu. When Western Chu challenged the convoy to three scholarly contests, Jiang Yingjun drew in calligraphy and Xiang Yuan secretly turned the chess match against Xiao Feng; the painting contest remained ahead.

• Xiang Yuan spared Pang Wanjun after learning that the Liu Clan had hired Stellar Palace assassins to stage a rescue opportunity, then broke the formation blocking Carefree Valley’s convoy.
• Xiang Yuan told Jiang Yingjun that Liu Che had arranged the ambush and warned her that Grandmasters often led double lives, leaving her unsettled by his stories about the martial world.
• Carefree Valley’s convoy reached the Northern Qi–Western Chu border, where Xiao Feng, Wu Rui, and Chen Suhe challenged the Northern Qi scholars to contests in calligraphy, chess, and painting.
• Jiang Yingjun faced Wu Rui in calligraphy and forced a draw by writing the Song of Righteousness.
• Xiao Feng pressured Jiang Yingjun during their chess match, but Xiang Yuan secretly guided her moves and defeated him, leaving him injured and demanding to know who had beaten him.
• Jiang Yingjun said she was too exhausted to compete in painting, and Xiang Yuan promised to handle the final contest with his painting and poetry.