Recaps

The Xiyu Alliance’s leaders secured the Iron Meteor Realm for the Dayu Gate and the Myriad Manifestations Sect, while Yu Ci faced a test of whether the Alliance considered him an insider as the Death Star came up for contention. Ao Xiu decided to challenge Yu Ci for it, pointing out something about Yu Ci’s right wrist.

• Yu Ci realized the Clear Sky Discourse had exposed a power struggle that marginalized the Lingchen Sect and tightened the Xiyu Alliance’s united front against outsiders.
• Yu Ci refused Bai Xiufeng’s renewed plea for help, and the Dayu Gate and the Myriad Manifestations Sect won their remaining matches before agreeing to split the Iron Meteor Realm’s output.
• Madam Xia announced that Heavenly Monarch Yuanxu was the sole claimant to the Death Star, and no sect stepped forward to contend with him.
• Ao Xiu urged Ao Yang to challenge Yu Ci for the Death Star, arguing that the Sea Merchant Guild was suited to managing it and that the opportunity could hurt Yu Ci.
• Ao Xiu told Ao Yang to look at Yu Ci’s right wrist, and Ao Yang instinctively turned his gaze toward it.

Ao Yang agreed to join forces with Zhang Tianji and Zhengyi Dao to challenge Yu Ci for the Death Star, with each side promised a tenth share of the Nine Qi Circle Realm. Zhengyi Dao sent Guangwei of the True Sun Altar to open the contest, and Yu Ci reacted with surprise as the first bout began.

• Ao Xiu noticed that Yu Ci's talisman beads were missing and realized the figure at the event was only an avatar.
• Ao Yang weighed the risks of challenging Yu Ci and reconsidered after Zhang Tianji offered Zhengyi Dao's support and a share in the Nine Qi Circle Realm.
• Ao Yang agreed to the alliance and asked Zhengyi Dao to send the first contestant to assess Yu Ci's strength.
• Zhang Tianji arranged for the True Sun Altar to challenge Yu Ci just before Madam Xia could announce the Death Star's ownership.
• Guangwei of Zhengyi Dao stepped forward to fight the first bout on behalf of the True Sun Altar, surprising Yu Ci.

Yu Ci answered the Zhengyi Dao and Sea Merchant Guild’s challenge by facing True Man Guangwei in a Star Array Method contest. The two took positions outside Shuxuan Tower, where the crowd waited for their first moves.

• True Man Guangwei revealed his Zhengyi Dao origins and entered the contest, leaving Zhang Tianji frustrated by the choice to expose him.
• True Lord Shiru admitted that his talisman arts mastery was inferior to True Man Guangwei’s, while Daoist Qianbao and Xue Pingzhi considered who should respond.
• Yu Ci rejected further deliberation, stepped forward, and greeted True Man Guangwei.
• Yu Ci proposed the Star Array Method despite admitting he knew nothing of the Way of Go, and True Man Guangwei agreed to a game by hand.
• Yu Ci and True Man Guangwei moved beyond the Viewing Cloud Platforms to face each other as the crowd watched.

Yu Ci and True Man Guangwei began a Star Array Method contest by creating a chessboard domain and placing stones that shaped the clouds overhead. As their moves accumulated, neither side formed a decisive talisman, leaving the crowd divided between confusion and fascination.

• Yu Ci and True Man Guangwei combined their domains to create a suspended chessboard that subdued the surrounding void.
• Yu Ci remembered playing chess with Xin Yi and Zhan Shuicheng in Xin Yi's Self-Created World, then exchanged a look with Xin Yi in the crowd.
• Yu Ci asked True Man Guangwei to move first but opened by placing two white stones on the diagonal star points, linking aperture eyes and drawing a crack through the sky.
• True Man Guangwei hesitated before placing a black stone, which created a second sky-splitting crack perpendicular to Yu Ci's.
• Yu Ci and True Man Guangwei traded several moves, shaping clouds with their qi while the crucial talisman forms remained unformed.
• Cultivators across Xi Yu Lake watched the slow contest, with experts engrossed and others struggling to understand it.

As Heavenly Monarch Yuanxu’s talisman demonstration captivated the cultivators at Xi Yu Lake, Lin Shuangmu watched them unravel its intricate forms and qi circulation. True Man Guangwei finally made his long-awaited move, leaving the lake’s spectators in suspense over whether he had severed the talisman’s formation.

• Wu Jing explained to Lin Shuangmu that Heavenly Monarch Yuanxu’s chess moves openly demonstrated the structure and circulation of his talisman art.
• Wu Jing, a neighboring cultivator, and an old Daoist argued over how to interpret the talisman’s aperture nodes and layered forms.
• As Heavenly Monarch Yuanxu placed the eleventh aperture node, the cloud formation revealed more of the fire talisman, and cultivators around Xi Yu Lake praised its design.
• Lin Shuangmu realized Yu Ci’s chess formation appeared to leave an obvious opening for True Man Guangwei to sever its talisman-form veins.
• Cultivators across Xi Yu Lake begged True Man Guangwei not to break the formation, but he deliberated and placed his piece.

Yu Ci completed the twelve-aperture Grand Unity Smoke Capital Starfire Talisman, then began a new Linked Veins Talisman that built upon it as he and True Man Guangwei continued their sky-spanning demonstration over Xi Yu Lake. The spectators recognized Shangqing’s legendary technique, while observers in Shuxuan Tower debated whether Yu Ci had won Guangwei over by appealing to his love of teaching talismanic arts.

• Yu Ci completed the twelve-aperture talisman, shaping the clouds and sunlight into a magnificent vision of the Immortal Capital.
• True Man Guangwei answered with a formation of a thunderous carriage drawn by four heavenly steeds, and the crowd cheered as the two continued placing stones.
• Yu Ci’s next move began revealing a new talisman with twenty-four tiers, prompting Wu Jing to identify it as Shangqing’s secret Linked Veins Talisman.
• Cultivators recognized that the Linked Veins Talisman built upon a completed talisman and could elevate it toward divine abilities.
• Observers in Shuxuan Tower concluded that Yu Ci’s open teaching had stirred Guangwei’s heart and drawn him away from competing for victory.
• One observer complained that the match was being allowed to drift, but another rebuked him for judging others by himself.

Xin Yi explained why True Man Guangwei’s delaying move against Heavenly Monarch Yuanxu was necessary, showing that Yuanxu’s linked talisman meridians gave him a decisive advantage in a direct contest. He left the gathered cultivators convinced that Guangwei’s cautious strategy had prevented an even earlier defeat.

• Kan Xingli’s remark drew Xin Yi’s rebuke, and Xin Yi defended True Man Guangwei while pointing out Zhang Tianji’s discomfort.
• Xin Yi counted the apertures in Yuanxu’s talisman arts and explained how the linked meridians could be completed with relatively few board positions.
• When Lan Xuezheng argued that Guangwei should have attacked Yuanxu’s formation, Xin Yi recreated the board and showed that the apparent flaw would emerge too late for Guangwei to exploit.
• Xin Yi explained that Yuanxu had led Guangwei through successive moves and that a direct fight over talisman speed would have let Yuanxu win by the twelfth or thirteenth move.
• Xin Yi noted that Yuanxu had claimed the initiative from the start and joked that he himself would have disregarded appearances to take the first move.

After Yu Ci and True Person Guangwei’s talisman contest established Yu Ci’s standing, Xin Yi rebuked several spectators for their biased judgments while Madam Xia framed the display as a rare opportunity to witness talisman arts. The contest continued to enthrall the crowd, and just as Guangwei’s azure luan escaped into the clouds, a vast blaze of golden light appeared.

• Xin Yi chastised Lan Xuezheng, Liu Gongyuan, and Li Daoqing for failing to judge the contest fairly and warned Li not to mislead his disciple, Gongyang Ce.
• Madam Xia praised Yu Ci and True Person Guangwei’s display as a possible contribution to talisman arts, while clarifying that spectators could not fully grasp its underlying methods from observation alone.
• Cultivators watching at Xi Yu Lake struggled to follow the evolving talisman formations, and several fainted or became overwhelmed by regret at missing important details.
• True Person Guangwei’s moves grew more fluid, but Yu Ci maintained his composure and continued arranging aperture nodes without losing a piece.
• As Yu Ci’s forty aperture nodes matched his prediction, Guangwei’s talisman form became an azure luan that failed to cross the twenty-eight gates and towers before flying into the clouds.
• Golden light suddenly blazed ten thousand zhang behind the azure luan.

Yu Ci’s forty-first move merged the Three-legged Golden Crow and the great sun with a resonant bell-like sound, leaving cultivators across Xi Yu Lake stunned and inspired. As the crowd absorbed the spectacle, Xin Yi wondered whether the sound carried the beginnings of Dao resonance and whether he had judged it correctly.

• Yu Ci fused a Three-legged Golden Crow with the great sun, while cultivators across Xi Yu Lake watched in amazement.
• A Core Formation cultivator comprehended a spell from Yu Ci’s demonstration, and Wu Jing soon entered a similar state of sudden inspiration.
• Lin Shuangmu protected Wu Jing from the surging crowd with his Severing Water sword art and urged the cultivators to study Heavenly Monarch Yuanxu’s demonstration.
• The cultivators in Shuxuan Tower recognized that Yu Ci’s vision surpassed ordinary talisman arts, while Chu Yuanxiang expressed his admiration and Yang Zhu reflected on the gap in their realms.
• Yu Ci made his forty-first move, producing a clear, bell-like resonance that led cultivators to speculate about the Supreme Unity Radiance Flowing Gold Fire Bell Talisman and the Emperor Bell.
• Xin Yi wondered whether the sound carried the beginnings of Dao resonance, then asked the watching cultivators whether he had misjudged it.

Xin Yi explained how Yu Ci used talisman arts to express his vision of the sun, while True Man Guangwei answered with an elaborate divine register and captured a stretch of stones on the chessboard. The apparent reversal left the crowd uncertain, but Xin Yi revealed that Guangwei had resorted to the impure methods he disliked because it was his only way to keep fighting.

• Xin Yi explained that Yu Ci had borrowed talisman arts to reinterpret the sun, making its light and warmth the focus rather than the talismans’ direct destructive power.
• Ao Yang urged Zhang Tianji to let True Man Guangwei concede, but Zhang Tianji decided to let the match continue rather than damage Guangwei’s reputation.
• True Man Guangwei transformed the scattered phoenix feathers into spirit-light sigils and assembled them into a complex dharma register.
• Yu Ci placed an ordinary stone, and True Man Guangwei quickly answered by capturing a whole stretch of stones on the void chessboard.
• Xin Yi told the onlookers that Guangwei had fought desperately to win, recognizing that Guangwei had used a divine register he disliked because it was his only way to hold on.

Yu Ci defeated True Man Guangwei in a Go match that revealed extraordinary talismanic arts, and the Emperor Bell he summoned destroyed Guangwei’s talismanic formation. After the first match of the best-of-five ended, Yu Ci chose his next opponent and asked his Uncle-Master to assist him.

• True Man Guangwei prolonged the match to display talismanic arts, but Yu Ci’s moves left him unable to place a stone and forced him to concede.
• The Emperor Bell formed from the sun wheel, absorbed the Three-legged Golden Crow, and destroyed Guangwei’s talismanic Dharma forms with its third chime.
• Zhang Tianji’s disciple helped the exhausted True Man Guangwei return to the Viewing Cloud Platform, where Zhang Tianji consoled him and Ao Yang said the Sea Merchant Guild would send the next contestant.
• Yu Ci returned to Shuxuan Tower with the Emperor Bell, and Xue Pingzhi and Madam Xia praised the match as a game that would be remembered for ages.
• Madam Xia declared Yu Ci the winner of the first match and invited him to choose the next contestant, so Yu Ci asked his Uncle-Master to assist him.

Daoist Qianbao recognized that factions within the Xiyu Alliance were maneuvering to isolate Yu Ci and accepted a deliberately unfavorable talisman contest against Wandering Cultivator Tianfeng. As the contest was about to begin, Qianbao felt Yu Ci’s lingering warmth easing his injuries and wondered whether Tianfeng received the same benefit.

• Daoist Qianbao offered to help Yu Ci for free, ruling out Li Chen Sect’s participation in the void-world distribution.
• Daoist Qianbao reasoned that Zhengyi Dao and the Sea Merchant Guild were aiding an insider faction in cutting off Yu Ci’s share, and suspected that faction was allied with Flying Soul City.
• Daoist Qianbao left Shuxuan Tower to face Wandering Cultivator Tianfeng, whose strength made Qianbao’s chances of winning slim.
• Wandering Cultivator Tianfeng chose the Single Hue Method and claimed sky hue, leaving Daoist Qianbao to take water hue in conditions favoring his opponent.
• Daoist Qianbao prepared to fight despite his injuries and felt Yu Ci’s lingering warmth nourishing him, then wondered whether Tianfeng felt it too.

During the talisman duel, Daoist Qianbao used a Cloudwater Talisman while Wandering Cultivator Tianfeng built a powerful Great Sun Talisman formation. Qianbao then disrupted Tianfeng’s patterns with an artifact-refining technique, and Xin Yi explained how refinement could be applied beyond artifacts.

• Daoist Qianbao experienced the sensation of becoming one with heaven and earth and began the round by drawing a Cloudwater Talisman that gathered a single cloud over the sun.
• Wandering Cultivator Tianfeng drew a Great Sun Talisman and rapidly added subsidiary patterns, building up the wind and clouds as Qianbao’s talisman worked slowly.
• A beam of light struck Tianfeng’s formation and collapsed several patterns, prompting Ao Xiu to nearly accuse Qianbao of foul play.
• Xin Yi identified Qianbao’s hand seal as the Earth Baleful Hand Seal and explained that he had used artifact-refining methods to interfere with the talisman formation.
• Yu Ci declined to explain the technique, so Xin Yi described artifact refinement as joining one’s mind and spirit with a structure of heaven and earth’s laws.

Daoist Qianbao used his Qianbao Pool to turn the contest against Wandering Cultivator Tianfeng, drawing on the inner void to make heaven and earth manifest as his talisman. As his advantage grew, Lu Jiujie accused Heavenly Monarch Yuanxu of interfering, and Madam Xia challenged him to explain why he had spoken up.

• Xin Yi explained ritual refining and praised Daoist Qianbao’s ability to treat illusory talismanic forms as physical implements.
• Wandering Cultivator Tianfeng intensified his attack, forcing the duel into a direct contest between the two talismanic structures.
• Daoist Qianbao swept pure light onto his own collapsing talisman, rebuilding it and revealing the water-light technique he called Qianbao Pool.
• Daoist Qianbao’s water light joined the sky and lake, while his talisman rapidly developed and pushed Wandering Cultivator Tianfeng into an increasingly unfavorable position.
• Ao Xiu urged Ao Yang and Zhang Tianji to stir up opposition to Yu Ci, and a tall, thin cultivator interrupted the crowd by accusing Heavenly Monarch Yuanxu of meddling.
• Madam Xia identified the accuser as Lu Jiujie of the Zidu Sect and questioned why he had intervened in the duel.

A public outburst by Lu Jiujie nearly turned the Clear Sky Discourse into a political crisis, but the leading factions suppressed the matter and resumed the contests. Yu Ci learned that Liu Mingzhi, an elder of the Chiqi Sect, was present, while Xue Pingzhi explained how Flying Soul City might distribute the coming Taishi Star contest’s gains.

• Ao Yang tried to distance the Sea Merchant Guild from Lu Jiujie’s accusations, and Quan Du identified himself as the Zidu Sect’s representative.
• Lu Jiujie accused Madam Xia of secretly meeting Heavenly Monarch Yuanxu, and Cang You captured and crippled him with Shuxuan Tower’s restrictions.
• Meng Du urged Madam Xia to treat Lu Jiujie as a lone plotter, while Kan Xingli and Xue Pingzhi redirected attention toward Yu Ci’s lingering influence and the ongoing duel.
• Madam Xia consulted leading sect representatives, who accepted leaving the lingering influence in place, and the gathering moved on while remaining uneasy.
• Ao Yang demanded that Zhang Tianji reveal who had requested their involvement, and Zhang Tianji privately gave him a name that left Ao Yang and Ao Xiu baffled.
• Yu Ci asked Xue Pingzhi about Liu Mingzhi and the Taishi Star contest, and she explained which factions might receive shares of its gains.

Yu Ci chose Xusheng, a middle-stage ghost cultivator, to face Zhang Tianji in the Myriad Manifestations Method, while the chapter also revealed Daoist Qianbao's victory and the political tensions surrounding Flying Soul City. Xusheng invoked a powerful force from the heavens, and his display left the gathered cultivators stunned as the sky cleared.

• Wandering Cultivator Tianfeng lost control of his talisman when Daoist Qianbao used a technique that made their talismans collide, and Madam Xia declared Daoist Qianbao the winner.
• Daoist Qianbao's qi surged toward a breakthrough, but the Xi Yu Lake seal suppressed him before he could break through.
• Chu Xiangyuan and Yang Zhu discussed the Li Chen Sect's recent rise in Longevity cultivators and the challenges it would face after the Great Tribulation.
• Zhang Tianji decided to fight for Zhengyi Dao and stepped forward to face an opponent in the talisman competition.
• Yu Ci sent Xusheng to compete against Zhang Tianji using the Myriad Manifestations Method, prompting surprise because Xusheng was a ghost cultivator.
• Xusheng invoked the Three Privals, Four Sovereign Emperors, and Dao Lords, drawing down a tremendous force that filled him with yang qi and shook heaven and earth.

Yu Ci reclaimed the Death Star after Xusheng used the Myriad Manifestations Method to overwhelm Zhang Tianji, and the falling fragments revealed that the blazing sky had been an illusion. As the other realm contests continued, Madam Xia summoned Yu Ci to the sealed second floor of Shuxuan Tower.

• Xusheng's display of a blazing sun and clear sky drove Zhang Tianji to concede, and Madam Xia declared the Death Star the dominion of Heavenly Monarch Yuanxu.
• Fragments of talisman forms fell like snow, revealing that Xusheng had created the apparent sunshine and sky through the Myriad Manifestations Method.
• The cultivators discussed Xusheng's power, while Yu Ci maintained his position and the contests for the Feipuo Realm, Nine Qi Circle Realm, and other worlds proceeded.
• Xue Pingzhi won the Feipuo Realm after taking three of four rounds and agreeing to provide resources and protection arrangements for three hundred years.
• Great Wizard Cang You summoned Yu Ci to the sealed second floor of Shuxuan Tower, where Madam Xia was waiting for him.

Yu Ci met Madam Xia, who thanked the Later Sage for helping suppress a rebellion in Flying Soul City and sought Witch Sect cooperation in Heaven-Measuring and Yuan-Stabilizing. Xin Yi then drew Yu Ci into negotiations with Eight Sceneries Palace, warning that the Shangqing Later Sage’s Divine Path could unsettle Mystical Gate unity as the threat of the Zhaoxuan Sacred Realm loomed.

• Madam Xia told Yu Ci that the Later Sage’s displayed might had frightened the conspirators in Flying Soul City, giving her time to respond, and she proposed cooperation between the Witch Sect and Mystical Gate in Heaven-Measuring and Yuan-Stabilizing.
• Madam Xia identified elders of the Ancestral Witch Hall and their juniors as the rebels, said You Huang had detained them, and denied that Crane Sorcerer was involved.
• Yu Ci questioned Madam Xia about her motives and detected an unusual incense scent, but learned little from her reactions before heading upstairs.
• Xin Yi intercepted Yu Ci, revealed that he had overheard the discussion, and took him aside to discuss Eight Sceneries Palace’s position on Heaven-Measuring and Yuan-Stabilizing.
• Xin Yi warned that the Shangqing Later Sage’s leadership through the Divine Path could disrupt the Mystical Gate’s traditional reliance on cultivators and qi arts, while Eight Sceneries Palace’s main concern was containing the Zhaoxuan Sacred Realm before the two realms collided.

Yu Ci learned that the looming Heaven-Measuring and Yuan-Stabilizing could reshape the True Realm, while Xin Yi offered the Eight Sceneries Palace’s help in exchange for changes to Shangqing’s Spirit Preservation art and a chance for Yu Ci to loosen the vows restraining his cultivation. After You Rui reported unrest in Flying Soul City and a rumor that Madam Xia was pregnant, Yu Ci confronted Xue Pingzhi when her reaction suggested she had already known.

• Madam Huanyong explained that the Blood Prison Ghost Mansion had once caused catastrophic damage to the True Realm, and Yu Ci suspected the Great Brahma Demon King and Rakshasa Ghost King might welcome a similar upheaval.
• Xin Yi offered the Eight Sceneries Palace’s support for Shangqing’s restoration and proposed using Heaven-Measuring and Yuan-Stabilizing to give Yu Ci room to break the Great Vow and Great Oath’s remaining shackles.
• Yu Ci realized that his vow to the Ten Directions Ci Guang Buddha had blocked his advancement, but Shadow Ghost was in seclusion, so he asked Tie Lan to have Shadow Ghost contact him when possible.
• You Rui reported that Murong Qingyan had helped Madam Xia suppress a rebellion in Flying Soul City and passed along a rumor that Madam Xia was pregnant through the Embracing Jade technique.
• Yu Ci decided to discuss the rumor with Xue Pingzhi, then asked whether she had known about Madam Xia’s pregnancy after her expression suggested she had.

Yu Ci learned that Madam Xia had used Witch Dao methods and Xue Pingzhi’s Two Forms Circle to conceive a child from You Can’s bloodline, while the Clear Sky Discourse was upended by Xin Yi’s proposal to exchange the Zhaoxuan Sacred Realm for the Pingdu Xuanyang Realm. The meeting ended without a resolution, the Three Northern Lakes’ attention shifted toward the East Sea, and an unexpected visitor approached Yi Shui Ju.

• Xue Pingzhi explained that Madam Xia had secretly used her Two Forms Circle in an Embracing Jade ritual, extracting You Can’s bloodline to conceive a child.
• Xin Yi announced that the Eight Sceneries Palace would exchange the Pingdu Xuanyang Realm for the Zhaoxuan Sacred Realm, then vowed to seal the latter and cut off contact with it.
• Xin Yi argued that the Zhaoxuan Sacred Realm posed a danger to the True Realm, and the Clear Sky Discourse ended amid uproar without resolving the dispute.
• Madam Xia and Su Shuanghe returned to Flying Soul City as the Three Northern Lakes’ attention shifted toward the East Sea Coast.
• Cultivators gathered outside Yi Shui Ju hoping to join the rebuilding Shangqing Sect, while Xiao and Lu Ya noticed an unexpected visitor and Xiao let her enter.

Yu Ci explored how proper measure and the interaction of laws governed life and death while speaking with Madam Hua in the cold spring. He challenged her for the harm she had caused, and she accused him of favoring personal loyalties over concern for all under heaven.

• Yu Ci relaxed in the cold spring as Madam Hua secretly replaced the maid and tended to him.
• Xue Pingzhi noticed Madam Hua and Yu Ci, then left them alone.
• Yu Ci reflected that measure defined the boundary between life and death and questioned Madam Hua about whether she would forgive his actions.
• Yu Ci pulled Madam Hua into the spring and explained that life-and-death transformations required exchanges with other laws, making true resurrection exceedingly difficult.
• Madam Hua dismissed Yu Ci as a chivalrous man who valued small affections and righteousness but lacked the ambition to help everyone.

Yu Ci confronted Madame Yellow Springs in the cold spring, suspecting her identity and probing her ties to Lu Chen and Ye Bin. He asserted control over the meeting and left her pinned close to him.

• Yu Ci recognized the woman in the cold spring as Madame Yellow Springs and weighed the danger she posed despite her apparent weakness.
• Yu Ci challenged Madame Yellow Springs about Lu Chen's restriction on her body and asked whether she was close to Island Master Ye.
• Madame Yellow Springs responded calmly, acknowledging Yu Ci's suspicions and reacting to his mention of Ye Bin.
• Yu Ci forced Madame Yellow Springs beneath the spring water, pinned her when she tried to rise, and pulled her arm close to his face.

Madam Yellow Springs revealed that she had deduced Yu Ci was impersonating the Post-Sage and explained the clues behind her conclusion. She left him facing the danger that others, especially Empress Pingzhi and the Eastern Sea figure, might uncover his secret.

• Yu Ci greeted Madam Yellow Springs after recognizing her scent, and she proposed exchanging secrets to advance their interests together.
• Madam Yellow Springs threatened to reveal that the Post-Sage was fabricated, then listed Yu Ci’s conduct at Xi Yu Lake as her first clue.
• She cited Xusheng’s talisman illusion, which imitated Yu Ci’s abilities and relied on the momentum of human hearts, as her second clue.
• She pointed to Yu Ci’s lack of cooperation with the supposed Post-Sage during the Eastern Sea battle and warned that the Eastern Sea figure might notice.
• Madam Yellow Springs said she had encountered Yu Ci in the Donghua Void and could infer his identity from his unmasked traits in the Realm of Truth.

Yu Ci used a hidden name to bargain with Madame Yellow Springs for the name of the person she was scheming to benefit, but she avoided answering directly. He rejected her attempt to unsettle him and shifted the conversation to his other identity in the Donghua Void.

• Yu Ci recreated Madame Yellow Springs's study and hinted that he knew a secret name of hers, offering to trade it for another name.
• Madame Yellow Springs accepted the exchange, and Yu Ci asked whom she intended to benefit through her schemes.
• Madame Yellow Springs responded with teasing questions and said she was speaking frankly because she considered Yu Ci one of her own.
• Yu Ci called her a poisonous woman with a vicious heart, stood and left the spring pool, then asked whether she knew his other identity in the Donghua Void.

Yu Ci confronted Madame Yellow Springs over the disasters she had helped set in motion, then weighed the danger of taking her in against the value of her knowledge. Madame Yellow Springs asked him to accept her and began assessing his efforts to restore the Shangqing Sect, ending by asking him to identify his advantages.

• Yu Ci accused Madame Yellow Springs of manipulating events that harmed Donghua Palace, her daughter, and others, and threatened to punish her.
• Yu Ci admitted that his true body had not returned, while Madame Yellow Springs said she had anticipated his hostility after he disrupted her ties with the Sea Merchant Guild.
• Madame Yellow Springs rose from the spring pool and begged Yu Ci to take her in so she could establish herself and avert the coming tribulation.
• Yu Ci recognized that Madame Yellow Springs was dangerous but valuable for uncovering the forces behind the True Realm’s turmoil, and decided he needed to keep her close.
• Yu Ci asked Madame Yellow Springs to advise him on his predicament and his next move toward restoring the Shangqing Sect.
• Madame Yellow Springs praised Yu Ci’s clear goal, criticized his lack of preparation, and asked him what advantages he possessed.