Chapter Summaries

Xiao Yao remembered Zhou Qiubai’s freedom, and Zhou Qiubai replied to her letter with advice and money for her Soul Ring hunt. Tang Hao postponed confronting Zhou Qiubai after sensing danger in Heaven Dou City, while Dugu Bo suffered a far more violent poison flare-up.

• Xiao Yao told Ning Rongrong that Zhou Qiubai had made her feel proud and that she wanted to see him again.
• Zhou Qiubai wrote Xiao Yao a reply encouraging her to cultivate and live well, then sent it with several Gold Soul Coins.
• Tang Hao sensed increased patrols and powerful hidden auras in Heaven Dou City and decided not to confront Zhou Qiubai yet.
• Tang Hao considered the risks to Tang San and the Clear Sky Sect, and questioned Yu Xiaogang’s ability to guide Tang San’s Blue Silver Grass cultivation.
• Dugu Bo experienced a severe flare-up of his poison in his Study, stronger than any he had suffered before.

Dugu Bo concealed a severe flare-up of his Martial Soul’s origin poison from Dugu Yan, who tried to draw him into talking about two young Soul Masters. The chapter ended with Dugu Bo intrigued by Zhou Qiubai’s reported ability to block poison and his victories over Soul Emperors.

• Dugu Bo endured a painful poison flare-up in his study and hid his condition from Dugu Yan.
• Dugu Yan noticed Dugu Bo’s distress and reminded him that he should rest and avoid using Soul Power.
• Dugu Yan told Dugu Bo that Zhou Qiubai and a Breaking Clan fighter had completed difficult mercenary jobs and defeated two Soul Emperors at the Great Soul Arena.
• Dugu Bo questioned Dugu Yan’s account, then recalled his past test of Tang San’s poison-countering method and his conversations with Xie Ru.

Dugu Bo decided to invite Yang Guyun to Dugu Manor for advice about poison, driven by fear that his worsening condition would leave Dugu Yan vulnerable. Meanwhile, Zhou Qiubai sent a letter to Xiao Yao and prepared to discuss Dugu Yan’s invitation with Yang Guyun.

• Dugu Bo asked Dugu Yan to invite Yang Guyun to the manor so he could consult the Breaking Clan’s successor about poison techniques.
• After Dugu Yan left, Dugu Bo struggled with his worsening poison and worried about what would happen to her if he died.
• At Yuelai Old Inn, Zhou Qiubai paid a waiter to deliver a letter to Xiao Yao at the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
• Yang Guyun approved of Zhou Qiubai’s generosity, and Zhou Qiubai asked what he thought about visiting Dugu Manor the next afternoon.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun considered the invitation signed by Dugu Yan, which likely came from Dugu Bo.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun visited Dugu Manor after receiving Dugu Bo’s invitation and found the household’s reception unusually formal. Dugu Bo explained that the manor’s attendants were imperial guards assigned to watch him, though he welcomed their presence.

• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun suspected that Dugu Bo’s ailing servant had suffered long-term exposure to poison and decided to attend the invitation.
• The two arrived at Dugu Manor with Cloud Mist tea and were led through a carefully arranged formal reception by the attendants.
• Dugu Yan welcomed them and guided them through the manor’s elaborate etiquette to meet Dugu Bo in the main hall.
• Dugu Bo received Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun, and Dugu Yan’s tea helped prompt polite conversation.
• Yang Guyun noted the attendants’ strength, and Dugu Bo revealed that the imperial family had sent them to watch him.

Dugu Bo warned Zhou Qiubai about the power struggles in Heaven Dou City, then revealed that the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison was slowly killing him. He asked Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun to protect Dugu Yan after his death, and Zhou Qiubai questioned why Dugu Bo would not entrust her to Yu Tianheng.

• Dugu Bo explained that the imperial family monitored him because they feared his poison, and cautioned Zhou Qiubai that powerful forces were watching him.
• At dinner, Dugu Bo questioned Yang Guyun about choosing the spear over Alchemy and Zhou Qiubai about following his heart; Zhou Qiubai said he had drawn his sword because Shrek's people wanted his possessions and his life.
• Dugu Bo dismissed the servants and revealed that Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison was eroding his body and spreading up his arm.
• Yang Guyun recognized signs of Dugu Bo's poisoning but said he could not cure it, and Dugu Bo said he hoped to live long enough to see Dugu Yan become a Soul Emperor.
• Dugu Bo asked Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun to help Dugu Yan if she faced a life-or-death crisis after his death, and Zhou Qiubai asked why he would not rely on her lover, Yu Tianheng.

Dugu Bo asked Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun to protect Dugu Yan if he died and to invite Yang Wudi to Heaven Dou City to treat his poison. Yang Guyun sent the letter, and Dugu Bo recognized that the two had already done what they could.

• Dugu Bo explained why he distrusted the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and asked Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun to help protect Dugu Yan after his death.
• Dugu Bo asked Yang Guyun to invite Yang Wudi to Heaven Dou City, hoping the Breaking Clan’s Alchemy could cure his poison, and gave him a letter.
• Dugu Bo gave Zhou Qiubai three Poison-Repelling Pills, and the group finished their meal before Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun left with Dugu Yan.
• Zhou Qiubai promised to help Dugu Yan if she faced a life-or-death crisis, while Yang Guyun sent Yang Wudi Dugu Bo’s letter by courier.
• Dugu Bo told Dugu Yan that Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun had already helped as much as he could reasonably expect.

Dugu Bo warned Dugu Yan about the factions that would seek to control her after his death and urged her to trust Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun only if she had no other choice. Elsewhere, Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun discussed Dugu Bo’s worsening poison and considered seeking help from the Breaking Clan.

• Dugu Bo told Dugu Yan that powerful sects and the Heaven Dou Imperial Family would try to win her over after his death, and advised her to seek Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun only as a last resort.
• Dugu Bo questioned Dugu Yan about Zhou Qiubai and warned her to consider the difference between Yu Tianheng’s clan-backed life and the abilities of independent cultivators.
• Dugu Yan left Dugu Bo’s study in tears after he reminded her that she must choose her own path.
• At Yuelai Old Inn, Yang Guyun estimated that Dugu Bo had between half a year and two years to live because poison was eroding his foundation.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun discussed asking Elder Yang of the Breaking Clan for medical help and agreed that Dugu Bo had approached them because powerful factions could not be trusted.

Zhou Qiubai told Dugu Bo that he loved a gifted girl from the Shui Clan and vowed to grow strong enough to let her choose her own life. A month later, Yang Guyun’s grandfather arrived at the inn and confronted him about abandoning alchemy for the Spear Dao.

• Dugu Bo asked Zhou Qiubai about the girl he loved, and Zhou Qiubai said she was at Skywater Academy and understood him.
• Zhou Qiubai said he would become strong enough to overcome the Shui Clan’s objections and let the girl choose her own future.
• Dugu Bo urged Zhou Qiubai to remember his resolve, and the days passed until a month had gone by.
• An old man arrived at Yuelai Old Inn and went upstairs to find Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun.
• The old man told Yang Guyun he had abandoned alchemy to focus on the Spear Dao, and Yang Guyun addressed him as his grandfather.

Yang Wudi met Yang Guyun and heard Zhou Qiubai defend his grandson before examining Dugu Bo’s worsening poison. He offered a Heart Protection Pill and said he could extend Dugu Bo’s life by three to five years, leaving Dugu Yan with hope but no permanent cure.

• Yang Wudi criticized Yang Guyun’s progress, then listened as Zhou Qiubai praised how Guyun had helped him.
• Yang Wudi traveled with Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun to Dugu Manor to examine Dugu Bo.
• Yang Wudi diagnosed that Dugu Bo’s poison had reached his marrow and threatened his heart meridians.
• Yang Wudi gave Dugu Bo a Heart Protection Pill that would temporarily slow the poison.
• Yang Wudi said he could extend Dugu Bo’s life by three to five years, and Dugu Bo accepted the limited reprieve.

Dugu Bo brought Yang Wudi, Zhou Qiubai, Yang Guyun, and Dugu Yan to a hidden spiritual land in Sunset Forest, where the Ice and Fire springs suppressed the backlash of his poison. He asked Yang Wudi to safeguard the place and let Dugu Yan remain there if he died, and Yang Wudi began examining the springs.

• Yang Wudi asked how Dugu Bo had survived the poison’s expected flare-up, and Dugu Bo revealed that a hidden spiritual land had kept it at bay.
• Dugu Bo took Yang Wudi, Zhou Qiubai, Yang Guyun, and Dugu Yan to the vine-hidden entrance in Sunset Forest after making them promise to keep the place secret.
• Yang Wudi discovered that the basin’s unusual plants grew at extraordinary rates and sensed an ancient power he identified as dragon breath.
• Dugu Bo explained that the Ice and Fire springs had suppressed his Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison for thirty years and asked Yang Wudi to inherit responsibility for the land and shelter Dugu Yan if he died.
• Yang Wudi tested the crimson spring with a silver needle, saw it glow faintly gold, and placed it in his jade case for further examination.

Yang Wudi examined the herbs at Dugu Bo’s valley and discovered a garden full of legendary Immortal Herbs, including plants that had protected Dugu Bo from his poison. Dugu Bo offered Yang Wudi the chance to take the garden, but Yang Wudi refused to betray its owner, and the two reaffirmed their trust.

• Yang Wudi told Dugu Bo that purging his poison carried only a thirty percent chance of success, and Dugu Bo agreed to gamble on the treatment.
• While examining the soil, Yang Wudi recognized legendary Immortal Herbs throughout the garden, including Lovesick Heartbreak Red and the Ice and Fire dual immortals.
• Yang Wudi explained that Aromatic Silk Beauty had helped suppress Dugu Bo’s poison and described the effects of several other herbs.
• Dugu Bo asked why Yang Wudi had not lied about the herbs and claimed the garden for himself.
• Yang Wudi admitted that he had briefly coveted the herbs but refused to steal them, and Dugu Bo praised him and reaffirmed his trust.

Dugu Bo learned that the Immortal Herbs could cure his poison and chose a treatment that would let Dugu Yan inherit the herb that might evolve her Martial Soul. Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun refused the herbs, leaving Yang Wudi to choose them himself.

• Dugu Bo asked Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun whether they wanted the Immortal Herbs, but both said they relied on their own strength rather than external aids.
• Yang Wudi explained that the Immortal Herbs could cure Dugu Bo’s poison, either by making it useful to him or by evolving his Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul.
• Dugu Bo embraced Dugu Yan, overcome with relief that he would live, and remembered his son Dugu Xin, who had died from the poison.
• Dugu Bo chose the Infernal Delicate Apricot and Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass for himself and reserved the Earth Dragon Golden Melon for Dugu Yan.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun refused Yang Wudi’s offer of Immortal Herbs, so Yang Wudi began choosing the herbs himself.

Yang Wudi gave Yang Guyun and Zhou Qiubai Immortal Herbs, then took two plants from Dugu Bo to use and began treating Dugu Bo’s poison. Yang Guyun endured the Dragon Blood Tempering Grass and strengthened his spear; Zhou Qiubai then prepared to take his turn by the spring.

• Yang Wudi gave Yang Guyun the Dragon Blood Tempering Grass and Zhou Qiubai the Glazed Heart Lotus, and both accepted them.
• Yang Wudi asked to take the Aromatic Silk Beauty and Snowy Swan Kiss, and Dugu Bo agreed because he trusted him.
• Yang Wudi collected the two herbs and turned to treat Dugu Bo’s poison.
• Yang Guyun took the Dragon Blood Tempering Grass while Zhou Qiubai and Yang Wudi watched over him.
• The Returnless Spear rang with a dragon’s roar as Yang Guyun completed his tempering and demonstrated a powerful basic thrust.
• Yang Guyun nodded to Zhou Qiubai, who sat beside the spring and prepared to take his turn.

Zhou Qiubai reached level forty and found his own path to Sword Intent while practicing with the White Clothes Sword. Dugu Bo was cured of his poison and rose to level ninety-four, and he urged Dugu Yan to take her Immortal Herb.

• Zhou Qiubai reached level forty and awakened a new sword technique as Dugu Bo, Yang Wudi, and Yang Guyun watched.
• Dugu Bo entered the medicinal tub while Yang Wudi used golden needles to help him absorb the Immortal Herbs.
• Dugu Bo’s poison was neutralized, his Martial Soul foundation stabilized, and his Soul Power rose from level ninety-one to level ninety-four.
• Dugu Bo thanked Yang Wudi, then told Dugu Yan to use her Earth Dragon Golden Melon while he watched over her.

Dugu Yan evolved her Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul into a Jade Phosphorous Flood Dragon, while Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun chose to hunt their next Soul Rings on their own. Following a mysterious wolf howl north, they found a Moon Shadow Demon Wolf beneath the moonlight.

• Dugu Yan swallowed the Golden Melon and evolved her Martial Soul into a Jade Phosphorous Flood Dragon, ending the threat of its poison backlash.
• Dugu Bo learned that Zhou Qiubai had reached level forty and Yang Guyun level fifty, then offered to help them hunt Soul Rings.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun insisted on gaining experience by hunting their Soul Rings themselves, and Yang Wudi warned them to retreat if they could not win.
• After a wolf howl rang out near the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Zhou Qiubai sensed an ancient rhythm and declared that they had found a target.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun followed the howls north and discovered a Moon Shadow Demon Wolf drawing in moonlight in a woodland clearing.

Zhou Qiubai challenged a Ten-Thousand-Year Moon Shadow Demon Wolf for its Soul Ring and fought it despite warnings from Dugu Bo and Yang Wudi. As the wolf used moonlight to vanish and strike faster, Zhou Qiubai began to understand its technique.

• Zhou Qiubai chose the Moon Shadow Demon Wolf as his target, and Dugu Bo and Yang Wudi agreed to let him attempt the dangerous challenge.
• The Moon Shadow Demon Wolf attacked Zhou Qiubai, who dodged its pounces and wounded it with White Clothes Sword.
• The wolf created three afterimages, but Zhou Qiubai used Listen to Rain to identify its true body and strike it repeatedly.
• The Moon Shadow Demon Wolf used Moon Attraction to disappear into moonlight and slash Zhou Qiubai, leaving cuts on his cheek.
• Zhou Qiubai smiled as the wolf reappeared thirty feet away, saying he understood how its technique worked.

Zhou Qiubai defeated the Moon Shadow Demon Wolf and absorbed its Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring despite his injuries. Afterward, the group continued onward, and he declared that Yang Guyun was next.

• Zhou Qiubai wore down the Moon Shadow Demon Wolf by interrupting its moonlight ability until it tried to flee.
• Zhou Qiubai wounded the demon wolf with the White Clothes Sword and killed it in a final close-range struggle.
• Despite Yang Wudi's warning to treat his injuries, Zhou Qiubai began absorbing the black Soul Ring while Yang Guyun, Yang Wudi, and Dugu Bo stood guard.
• Zhou Qiubai endured the Soul Ring's spiritual assault and completed the absorption, then told Yang Guyun that he was next.
• As the group continued onward, Dugu Bo asked about Zhou Qiubai's fourth Soul Skill, and Zhou Qiubai named it Invite the Moon.

Zhou Qiubai demonstrated his fourth soul skill, Invite the Moon, before the group encountered a powerful Earth-Splitting Dragon Rhino. Yang Guyun challenged the beast alone and, despite being wounded, refused to retreat.

• Zhou Qiubai showed Dugu Bo, Yang Wudi, and the others how Invite the Moon could draw on the moonlight and lock onto an opponent's aura.
• A massive Earth-Splitting Dragon Rhino emerged from the forest, and Yang Wudi judged it to be over twenty thousand years old.
• Yang Guyun chose to test his spear against the beast despite Yang Wudi's warning about its formidable defenses.
• Yang Guyun attacked the Earth-Splitting Dragon Rhino, but his spear only marked its scales as the beast countered with its horn, tail, and detachable back spikes.
• Two spikes wounded Yang Guyun, but he steadied himself and continued facing the beast, which regarded him with newfound seriousness.

Yang Guyun killed the twenty-thousand-year Earth-Splitting Dragon Rhino and absorbed its Soul Ring, gaining a fifth Soul Skill. He refused the beast’s Spirit Bone and gave it, along with an eight-thousand-year Spirit Bone he already owned, to Yang Wudi.

• Yang Guyun defeated the Earth-Splitting Dragon Rhino with a spear thrust through a crack in its throat, then collapsed from his wounds as Zhou Qiubai and Yang Wudi tended to him.
• Dugu Bo discovered an Earth-Splitting Dragon Rhino Right Leg Bone, but Yang Guyun refused it and offered it and his Ice Crystal Pangolin Right Arm Bone to Yang Wudi.
• Yang Wudi accepted the two Spirit Bones for safekeeping after Dugu Bo and Zhou Qiubai explained that Yang Guyun and Zhou Qiubai relied on their own methods rather than external power.
• Yang Guyun absorbed the Earth-Splitting Dragon Rhino’s Soul Ring and gained the fifth Soul Skill, Slaughter, which heightened his awareness of killing intent and damage against injured targets.
• Yang Guyun tested Slaughter by shattering a thick tree with an ordinary spear strike, earning Yang Wudi’s approval.

After Dugu Yan gained her fifth Soul Ring, Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun prepared to leave the mountains with Dugu Bo, whose poison was cured and whose concerns for Yanyan had eased. Back in Heaven Dou City, Dugu Bo joined Yang Wudi, Zhou Qiubai, and Yang Guyun on a visit to Tai Tan, the Strength Clan’s leader, after revealing the clan’s past ties to the Clear Sky Sect.

• Dugu Yan absorbed a ten-thousand-year Purple Lightning Flood Dragon Python Soul Ring, reached level fifty-one, and became a Soul King.
• Dugu Bo decided to leave the mountains with Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun, mentioning that he still had debts to settle in Heaven Dou City.
• At Yuelai Old Inn, Zhou Qiubai learned that Young Master Chen had left books for him and a young woman in white had left a letter.
• Yang Wudi announced he would visit his old friend Tai Tan before departing for the Star Luo Empire the next morning.
• Dugu Bo, Zhou Qiubai, and Yang Guyun accompanied Yang Wudi, and Dugu Bo explained that the Strength Clan had once served the Clear Sky Sect.