After the Second Sword Duel on Yellow Mountain, Grandmaster Taiyi Hunyuan's Primordial Spirit had been wounded by the Invisible Sword. He returned to Mount Wutai and quietly divined the causes and consequences surrounding the event, only to discover that his destined lifespan should have ended in that duel!
He was someone fated to face the tribulation. If he divined his own fate beforehand, all manner of confusing signs would inevitably arise, preventing an accurate reading. He had always hoped that human resolve could conquer Heaven, that he could stir variables within fixed destiny and find a chance to turn the tables.
Before the duel, he had calculated that his tribulation was upon him. But with the Five-Poison Immortal Sword and the Taiyi Five-Mist Gauze, he believed himself invincible. There was no reason he should succumb to it.
After the duel, although he was injured, he believed he had weathered the calamity through his own abilities, surviving a frightening ordeal without disaster.
Only when Xu Feiniang reviewed the events afterward did she divine a clue. She had long recognized Zhu Hong's rebellious nature and warned Grandmaster Taiyi Hunyuan beforehand that Zhu Hong had treachery in his bones and rebellion in his heart, and would sooner or later turn against him.
Xu Feiniang had originally been Grandmaster Taiyi Hunyuan's disciple. Later, they fell in love, but she disliked the status of a "favored concubine." Grandmaster Taiyi Hunyuan therefore accepted her as a disciple on his own master's behalf, making her his junior martial sister. His other disciples found this very difficult to accept, especially Master Tuotuo and the others who had joined early and held considerable seniority. Their junior martial sister had become their master's wife—no ordinary person could accept that. Thus, they shared Zhu Hong's resentment and joined him in opposing