Chapter Summaries

Lu Qisong learned that Lu Qingwu’s death had ruined the Nether Bureau’s scheme and joined Immortal Lord Xuancong Chuirui and Immortal Lord Youhuang Miefa in targeting Zhang Yuan. As Zhang Yuan suspected Sky Mountain concealed a golden position, he realized the Mysterious Court might be preparing a Curse-Killing attack against him.

• Lu Qisong told Immortal Lord Xuancong Chuirui and Immortal Lord Youhuang Miefa that Lu Qingwu was dead and the Nether Bureau’s scheme had failed.
• Lu Qisong showed them Lu Qingwu’s portrait of Zhang Yuan, and the two Immortal Lords recognized him as a possible pawn of a Demon Realm True Lord.
• Immortal Lord Xuancong Chuirui proposed that Lu Qisong use a Curse-Killing art on Zhang Yuan before an Azure Nether Immortal Sect operative finished him off.
• In the Golden Carriage, Zhang Yuan reasoned that Sky Mountain might be the outward manifestation of an immortal golden position and wondered whether a True Lord had guided him to it.
• Zhang Yuan suspected the Mysterious Court had enlisted Lu Qisong to curse him and opened the Heaven’s Sight panel after sensing danger.

Zhang Yuan consulted [Heaven's Sight] and told Qin Jieyu about the Hengyang Lu Clan branch's curse-killing, allowing her to neutralize it with her hairpin. He then examined her life-bound treasure and showed her [Primordial Form-Converging], which she identified as a crude artifact made by the Eastern Ya Cui Clan's True Lord [Qiming].

• Zhang Yuan chose the future in which he told Qin Jieyu about the curse-killing rather than risk being gravely wounded.
• Xiao Yuanjun offered to bear the curse-killing for Zhang Yuan, but he declined and explained that it was the Hengyang Lu Clan branch's 'Karmic Debt Life-Repayment Method.'
• Qin Jieyu used her [Light-Tracing Green Lotus Hairpin] to protect Zhang Yuan and send the curse back to its source.
• Zhang Yuan decided to stay on Flying Immortal Peak and refine his Wu Earth there.
• Qin Jieyu showed Zhang Yuan her hairpin, then asked to see his life-bound flying sword, [Primordial Form-Converging].
• Qin Jieyu examined the mystic pearls and recognized that [Qiming] had made the treasure using several pre-heaven artifact treasures and [Grand White Edge].

Key plot points

• Zhang Yuan recognizes that the sword-like hairpin Qin Jieyu carries is the Life-Bound Flying Sword forged by the True Lord of the Ya East Cui. He realizes Qin has far more knowledge and history than her claim of being an ordinary mortal suggests.
• Qin admits that, during the last Chaos Calamity, she fought the True Lord—also known as the Jun Tian Night-Cutting Goddess, or Qiming—because she wanted to test the reputed strength of her swordsmanship.
• Qin claims Qiming defeated her with the technique [Grand White Edge], stripping away all her cultivation in the Qi Refining Dao. She says she is now a mortal who must depend on Zhang Yuan, though she avoids saying whether Qiming was injured.
• As they near their sect, Qin turns the conversation to Zhang Yuan’s spiritual-root restoration and offers to prepare a medicinal bath for him.
• Meanwhile, at the Mysterious Court, Immortal Lord Xuanc Cong Chuarui and Immortal Lord Youhuang Miefa enlist Lu Qisong to curse Zhang Yuan into a badly wounded state so someone else can kill him. Lu falsely claims the ritual will cost him heavily and extracts a large payment in natural treasures.
• Lu’s real circumstances are more complicated: intelligence from Lu Qingwu suggests the Hengyang Lu Principal Household has abandoned the demonic Dao and rejected Lu Qisong’s branch. Cut off from its former support, Lu Qisong is gathering resources for his disciples.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan grows more suspicious of Qin Jieyu’s apparent helplessness. He questions her about her past battle and probes whether her opponent suffered any harm, resisting the urge to take Qin’s sorrowful appearance at face value.
• Qin Jieyu reveals a bold, combative past beneath her gentle demeanor. Her claim that she is now powerless—and dependent on Zhang Yuan—may be sincere, but her evasive answer leaves the outcome of the duel uncertain.
• Lu Qisong appears cooperative with the Mysterious Court but exploits the arrangement for resources. His decision to take the job is also shaped by his branch’s growing independence and loss of support from the Principal Household.
• Xuanc Cong Chuarui recognizes Lu’s demand for payment but accepts it because he considers Zhang Yuan’s death urgent.

Significant themes

• Appearances versus reality: Qin’s delicate, pitiful manner conceals a history of challenging a powerful sword expert; Lu’s stated reason for demanding supplies conceals opportunism.
• Power, dependence, and survival: Qin presents herself as a mortal reliant on her disciple, while Lu’s isolated branch must secure resources through its own efforts.
• Shifting loyalties: The Principal Household’s turn toward righteousness fractures the Hengyang Lu family’s old ties and leaves Lu Qisong’s branch to fend for itself.
• A looming crisis: With the Chaos Calamity approaching, both Zhang Yuan’s enemies and those who may help him are preparing for dangerous encounters.

Plot points and events

• Lu Qisong uses a karmic curse on Zhang Yuan, then pretends it will leave Zhang gravely wounded that night. He claims the effort caused him a serious karmic backlash and, after collecting his blood and refining it into a pill, leaves with the treasures he extorted.
• In reality, Zhang Yuan was protected by the Immortal Artifact’s Treasure Light and counterattacked through the karmic link, badly injuring Lu Qisong. The curse has not harmed Zhang.
• Immortal Lord Youhuang Miefa suspects Lu Qisong’s story, since ordinary karmic backlash should not make a Great Immortal Lord bleed. Xuanc Cong Chuarui agrees but still orders a two-pronged attempt on Zhang: a hidden agent and an Immortal Lord accompanied by true disciples. They are to observe Zhang that night and kill him if possible.
• Zhang returns safely to the Azure Nether Immortal Sect with Xiao Yuanjun. Sect Master Wenzhen Zi and Grand Elder Jiang Xinyi greet him, relieved to find him unharmed.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Qisong reveals himself as a manipulator: he exploits his supposed injury and false report to trick the Mysterious Court into attacking Zhang on his behalf.
• Xuanc Cong Chuarui and Youhuang Miefa remain wary of Lu, but their desire to eliminate Zhang outweighs their doubts.
• Wenzhen Zi is relieved and welcomes Zhang back. He is puzzled when Jiang Xinyi calls Zhang “Junior Martial Uncle,” since Zhang has become Qin Jieyu’s disciple and now outranks her in seniority.
• Jiang Xinyi acts cool and restrained toward Zhang, but her feelings remain evident: the emotional-tribulation karma she had temporarily suppressed with sword qi has returned. She addresses him formally as her junior martial uncle.

Significant themes

• Karma and its consequences: Zhang’s preparations turn Lu’s curse back on him, demonstrating that karmic arts are dangerous to their users as well as their targets.
• Deception and political maneuvering: Lu turns his injury into a weapon, while the Mysterious Court plots through both covert and overt channels.
• Duty versus emotion: Jiang Xinyi maintains formal restraint, but her unresolved attachment to Zhang persists beneath the surface.

Jiang Xinyi invited Zhang Yuan to Gorgeous Glory Peak to learn a cultivation technique, but Qin Jieyu and Xiao Yuanjun warned him against going. Zhang Yuan refined Wu Earth and used it to stabilize his Dao domain, then advanced to the celestial mid-stage and prepared to choose a new talent.

• Jiang Xinyi invited Zhang Yuan to Gorgeous Glory Peak to study a cultivation technique, but he decided to focus on refining Wu Earth instead.
• Xiao Yuanjun explained that Wu Earth could balance Zhang Yuan's Dao domain and assured him that refining it was safe.
• Zhang Yuan refined Wu Earth, expanding the land and Central Mountain in his Dao domain, then placed Ding fire in lamps inside the Immortal Palace.
• Zhang Yuan's Dao domain surged in power, and he broke through to the celestial mid-stage.
• Zhang Yuan opened the Talent Panel and tapped the plus sign to choose his second Celestial Person talent.

Zhang Yuan weighed three powerful Foundation Establishment talents against the dangers of attracting the Lords of Heaven and Earth. He rejected the first two and settled on [Ancestor of Earth Immortals], whose suppression could stack with [First Under Heaven, Past and Present].

• Zhang Yuan examined [Heaven and Earth as the Chessboard] and rejected it because controlling pieces could let True Lords trace karma back to him.
• Zhang Yuan considered [Heaven Rewards Diligence] but rejected it because helping others would entangle him in karma and draw the Lords of Heaven and Earth's attention.
• Zhang Yuan examined [Ancestor of Earth Immortals] and realized its suppression could stack with [First Under Heaven, Past and Present] for a combined eighty percent.
• Zhang Yuan favored [Ancestor of Earth Immortals] for its potential to overwhelm even powerful cultivators once he refined the required aspects.

Zhang Yuan chose [Ancestor of Earth Immortals], strengthening his abilities as he advanced to the Celestial mid-stage without difficulty. After sharing a meal with Qin Jieyu and Xiao Yuanjun, the story shifted to Immortal Lord Lingxiang, who began addressing three Mysterious Court True Disciples at the Azure Nether Immortal Sect.

• Zhang Yuan selected [Ancestor of Earth Immortals], which strengthened his Dao Domain and suppressed Celestials who had refined certain strands of the Five Skandhas and Six Qi.
• Zhang Yuan left his Dao Domain and assured Qin Jieyu and Xiao Yuanjun that his breakthrough had been safe.
• Qin Jieyu invited Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun to eat spirit food at her wooden house.
• Immortal Lord Lingxiang stayed in a poor courtyard at the Azure Nether Immortal Sect after presenting Wenzhenzi with an explanation and compensation.
• Immortal Lord Lingxiang asked the three Mysterious Court True Disciples whether they understood why they had come.

Key plot points

• The Mysterious Court’s Immortal Lord Lingxiang sends its three True Disciples—Ye Guhong, Shi Erniu, and Xu Lingyin—to the Azure Nether Immortal Sect. Though the visit is presented as an apology, their real mission is to kill a Demon from the Demon Realm hidden on Soaring Immortal Peak.
• The target is said to be at the Ancient Immortal Dao’s Earth Immortal or Divine Immortal level. Xu Lingyin is alarmed by the enormous gap between that power and the disciples’ own cultivation, but Lingxiang assures her the Demon has been gravely wounded by a supreme patriarch’s secret technique.
• Lingxiang engages Jiang Xinyi in a fight, claiming he wants her instruction. His attack destroys Floating Splendor Peak and draws the Azure Nether Immortal Sect’s leaders’ attention.
• Zhang Yuan recognizes the duel as a diversion for the assassination attempt. He believes the Mysterious Court expects him to be weakened by a karma curse and vulnerable on Soaring Immortal Peak. Confident their plan will fail, he leaves the house to confront the threat.

Character developments

• Xu Lingyin shows caution and initiative by asking what the mission entails and how powerful their target is, despite risking Lingxiang’s displeasure. Her confidence falters when she learns the Demon’s supposed rank.
• Lingxiang reveals himself as a calculating leader, using both the disciples and his staged confrontation with Jiang Xinyi to facilitate the attack.
• Zhang Yuan demonstrates perceptiveness and composure, quickly seeing through Lingxiang’s stated motive and understanding that he is the true target.

Character interactions

• Lingxiang questions the three disciples, while Xu Lingyin presses him for crucial details; Ye Guhong appears confident, and Shi Erniu is unsure how much he knows.
• Lingxiang’s attack forces Jiang Xinyi into the open, while the Azure Nether Immortal Sect’s elders and patriarchs react to the destruction.
• Zhang Yuan discusses Lingxiang with Qin Jieyu, then reassures his companions before setting out. Qin Jieyu expresses concern for his safety; Xiao Yuanjun remains unaware of the danger.

Significant themes

• Deception and hidden motives: The apology and Lingxiang’s professed admiration conceal an assassination plot.
• Power and vulnerability: The disciples are assigned a seemingly impossible task, made possible only by the belief that their target is gravely wounded.
• Caution and perception: Xu Lingyin’s questions and Zhang Yuan’s ability to read the situation highlight the value of seeking information and seeing past appearances.

Summary

Key plot points and events

• Zhang Yuan leaves his wooden house on Soaring Immortal Peak and uses his mid Celestial Person senses to survey the area. He detects the hidden Outer Dao Cultivators around the peak, including ten Nascent Soul Realm agents from the Azure Nether Immortal Sect and three peak Golden Core cultivators farther away.
• Aware that his unusual Fortune makes him easy for powerful cultivators to spot, Zhang Yuan decides to act quickly rather than attack remotely. Though his Outer Qi Refinement cultivation is only at the second layer, his Celestial Person power lets him shatter space and use Void Escape.
• He appears beside Ding Ge, a covert agent ordered to help assassinate him. When Ding Ge tries to send a warning and then attack, Zhang Yuan immobilizes him with Three-Colored Radiance and iron chains, destroying his body, soul, and Nascent Soul.
• Zhang Yuan erases the karmic traces of the killing with [Severing Past and Present, Leaving No Trace]. With Immortal Lord Lingxiang’s battle drawing attention elsewhere, he feels free to act without restraint.
• Zhang Yuan heads toward a peak Nascent Soul cultivator, intending to suppress him with four supreme treasures rather than risk a prolonged fight.
• Elsewhere, Ye Guhong, Shi Erniu, and three Ye Household agents hear that the target has disappeared. They dismiss the report, assuming Zhang Yuan could not pose a threat at his apparent cultivation level.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan shows growing confidence in his Celestial Person abilities, calmly using perception, spatial movement, and overwhelming power while concealing the evidence of his actions. He also favors speed and efficiency over drawn-out combat.
• Ding Ge moves from confusion and false composure to panic when his sword and Magic Power are neutralized. His attempt to deceive and kill Zhang Yuan ends instantly.
• Ye Guhong remains cool and dismissive, trusting Zhang Yuan’s visible qi-refinement level rather than taking the disappearance seriously.
• Shi Erniu backs Ye Guhong’s assumption with an easygoing agreement, and the agents relax as a result.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus true power: Zhang Yuan looks like a weak qi-refinement cultivator, but his Celestial Person cultivation makes him vastly more dangerous than his apparent level suggests.
• Concealment and perception: Fortune, divine sense, and karmic traces shape who can be detected—and how Zhang Yuan can hide his actions.
• Underestimation and danger: The agents’ confidence in Zhang Yuan’s low cultivation blinds them to the threat he poses.
• Efficiency and control: Zhang Yuan chooses decisive, minimal-risk methods and carefully manages attention and evidence.

Zhang Yuan confronted Shi Erniu and Ye Guhong’s hidden operatives after Ye Guhong abandoned them, then killed them and pursued Ye Guhong. Ye Guhong fled and encountered Xu Lingyin, who was secretly trying to compete for the Mysterious Court Daoist Heir position.

• Ye Guhong left Shi Erniu and three Nascent Soul Realm hidden operatives behind, overruling their objections and ordering them to proceed without him.
• Zhang Yuan arrived and asked where Ye Guhong was, and Shi Erniu realized Ye Guhong had used them as a shield.
• Zhang Yuan restrained and killed the three hidden operatives, then killed Shi Erniu and pursued Ye Guhong on golden light.
• Ye Guhong saw Zhang Yuan arrive at the scene and fled faster, suspecting someone in the sect had plotted against him.
• Ye Guhong stopped after spotting Xu Lingyin and called out to her, while Xu Lingyin questioned why he had returned.

Plot points and events

• Ye Guhong tells Xu Lingyin that Shi Erniu has turned the covert agents against him and urges her to hurry to Soaring Immortal Peak to compete for the Daoist Heir position. He hopes she will delay the pursuing demon while he escapes to safety.
• Xu Lingyin sees through his story, suspects Shi Erniu is already dead, and chooses to flee with her senior sister rather than pursue the position.
• Ye Guhong attacks them with a powerful Life-Saving Talisman. Xu Lingyin’s senior sister shields her but is badly injured; Xu retaliates with her own talisman, knocking Ye Guhong from the sky.
• Ye Guhong tries to attack Xu again, but her senior sister blocks his second talisman. The two juniors remain hostile and refuse to explain themselves, even as the demon draws near.
• Zhang Yuan arrives after killing Shi Erniu and the three covert agents, apparently unharmed. Ye Guhong begs for his life and offers to betray his own family—and even help the Demon Realm take half the Mysterious Court—in exchange for being spared.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Guhong is shown to be calculating and self-preserving: he tries to redirect danger toward Xu, then attacks her when she refuses, and finally offers up his family to save himself.
• Xu Lingyin proves perceptive and cautious, recognizing Ye’s deception and abandoning her ambition rather than walking into danger. She nevertheless fights back when attacked.
• Xu’s senior sister acts protectively, shielding Xu from the first talisman and stopping Ye’s second attack, though she is badly wounded.
• Zhang Yuan watches the conflict with amused interest and recognizes Ye’s ruthless opportunism as strangely familiar. His effortless arrival confirms how little the earlier fighters could threaten him.

Significant themes

• Self-preservation and betrayal: Ye repeatedly sacrifices allies and even family ties to protect himself.
• Ambition versus survival: Xu gives up the chance to compete for the Daoist Heir position when she senses the danger.
• Deception and mistrust: Ye’s schemes unravel as Xu refuses to believe him, leaving the characters in a tense, hostile standoff.

Key plot points and events

• Ye Guhong tries to save himself by offering Zhang Yuan the Mysterious Court’s secrets, then proposes delivering his sister Ye Yun as a concubine. When Zhang Yuan rejects both offers, Ye Guhong even hints at offering himself.
• Zhang Yuan attacks, but Ye Guhong blocks the blow with a powerful talisman. He then alerts Zhang Yuan that Xu Lingyin is escaping.
• Zhang Yuan uses his command over the Mountain-Sea Black-Yellow Realm to seize Xu Lingyin from far away and begins breaking through her hidden defenses to kill her.
• Immortal Lord Lingxiang suddenly intervenes and protects Xu Lingyin. Zhang Yuan realizes the assassination attempt was only the first stage of a larger Mysterious Court scheme: if the attackers failed, they would sacrifice Shi Erniu and several sleeper agents to provoke Zhang into pursuing the surviving disciples. Lingxiang would then appear to expose Zhang as a Demon Realm Earth Immortal who had killed sect members, forcing the Azure Nether Immortal Sect to oppose him.
• Lingxiang retrieves Ye Guhong and the other cultivator, but cannot free Xu Lingyin from Zhang Yuan’s grasp. He demands that Zhang release her and warns that refusal could lead to war with the sect.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan sees through the trap and recognizes how carefully his choices have been constrained. He remains determined not to let the Mysterious Court escape consequences, despite Lingxiang’s intervention.
• Ye Guhong reveals his extreme self-preservation and lack of scruples, bargaining with secrets, his sister, and even himself. He also helps redirect Zhang’s attention to Xu Lingyin’s escape.
• Xu Lingyin proves resourceful and quick to flee, but is recaptured. Unlike Ye Guhong, she refuses to plead, facing Zhang defiantly.
• Immortal Lord Lingxiang shifts from an apparent battle elsewhere to a direct confrontation, revealing his role in the Mysterious Court’s contingency plan. He shelters Xu Lingyin and attempts to extract the others.

Significant themes

• Manipulation and constrained choice: The Mysterious Court’s plan turns either mercy or retaliation into an advantage for itself.
• Self-preservation versus resolve: Ye Guhong will do anything to survive, while Xu Lingyin maintains her composure even when captured.
• Hidden agendas and vigilance: The apparent assassination attempt masks a broader political maneuver, reminding Zhang that his enemies’ plans extend beyond the immediate fight.

Key plot points

• Jiang Xinyi appears beside Zhang Yuan and effortlessly frees Xu Lingyin, teleporting her to Immortal Lord Lingxiang. Zhang Yuan’s attempt to resist is powerless, revealing Jiang’s overwhelming strength.
• Lingxiang urges the Azure Nether Immortal Sect to join the Mysterious Court in killing Zhang Yuan, citing his murders of several sect disciples and the True Disciple Shi Erniu. Sect Master Wenzhen Zi recognizes the political danger of appearing to protect a Demon Realm Earth Immortal.
• Jiang rejects Lingxiang’s demand and says she will take Zhang Yuan to Floating Splendor Peak for interrogation. When Lingxiang challenges her decision, she threatens to injure him.
• As Jiang reaches for him, Zhang Yuan’s apparent body dissolves: he has left behind a Past-Life Body using Severing Past and Present, Leaving No Trace, while his true form escapes on Golden Light.
• Jiang immediately pursues him. Wenzhen Zi and the others stay behind, judging Zhang Yuan too dangerous to chase and his speed too great to match.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan recognizes that he cannot face two Immortal Lords and other possible sect elders, and chooses escape over a hopeless fight. His decoy technique and extraordinary speed demonstrate his resourcefulness.
• Jiang Xinyi displays both formidable power and unusual personal urgency. Though she presents her plan as interrogation, her thoughts reveal that she intends to overcome an emotional tribulation by pursuing Zhang Yuan.
• Xu Lingyin is rescued but remains fixed on Zhang Yuan; her legs briefly weaken after being released.
• Immortal Lord Lingxiang tries to pressure Jiang into killing Zhang Yuan, but her refusal and threat leave him unable to act.
• Wenzhen Zi weighs the sect’s reputation and the risks of confrontation, ultimately deferring the pursuit to Jiang. Ye Guhong privately regrets that Xu Lingyin survived.

Significant themes

• Power and survival: Zhang Yuan’s escape underscores the gap between his strength and that of the Immortal Lords—and the value of knowing when not to fight.
• Political pressure and reputation: The sect must balance its stance toward Zhang Yuan against accusations of collusion with the Demon Realm.
• Ruthlessness versus attachment: Jiang’s outwardly cold, decisive manner conflicts with the personal motive driving her pursuit.
• Deception and appearances: Zhang Yuan’s decoy makes his apparent capture an illusion, while Jiang’s stated reason for taking him alive may conceal her true purpose.

Key plot points and events

• After fleeing the Azure Nether Immortal Sect, Zhang Yuan decides not to return: the Mysterious Court’s repeated assassination attempts make staying there too dangerous. With every major sea region posing a threat, he struggles to find anywhere safe to go.
• He considers traveling to Gorgeous Glory Peak, only to discover that Jiang Xinyi has secretly joined him inside the carriage.
• Jiang, under the influence of her Heartless Dao love tribulation, asks whether she or Qin Jieyu is more beautiful. Zhang Yuan dodges by naming the unfamiliar Li Huixi, briefly easing Jiang’s emotional intensity.
• Jiang refuses Zhang Yuan’s offer to sever the tribulation’s karmic influence. She explains that she must fall in love with him and then kill him herself to overcome the tribulation and become a Great Immortal Lord.
• Realizing she intends to sacrifice him, Zhang Yuan rejects her, uses his Primordial Spirit to shake off her influence, and draws his sword. Before he can strike, someone teleports into the carriage and catches the blade.

Character developments

• Zhang Yuan remains resourceful and wary, but his escape has left him with few safe options. He acts decisively once he learns Jiang’s plan is fatal to him.
• Jiang Xinyi is affectionate and emotionally unstable under her tribulation, yet understands its purpose and accepts the lethal requirement she believes it demands.
• Qin Jieyu is absent, but her importance to Zhang Yuan is clear: even answering a beauty comparison involving her feels dangerous.

Significant themes

• No safe refuge: Zhang Yuan’s conflicts span all four sea regions, making the vast realm feel confining.
• Love as a path to power: Jiang’s tribulation turns romance into a prerequisite for advancement—and makes its conclusion deadly.
• Destiny versus choice: Jiang treats the tribulation as unavoidable, while Zhang Yuan tries to resist both its influence and its prescribed outcome.

Character interactions

• Zhang Yuan attempts to defuse Jiang’s possessive question with humor and later offers to help sever her tribulation’s karma.
• Jiang responds with intimate affection and a frank confession that she plans to kill him after they fall in love.
• Zhang Yuan turns on her with his sword, but a newly arrived figure intervenes, chastising him for speaking with Jiang and calling him “my disciple.”

Zhang Yuan reunited with Qin Jieyu and Jiang Xinyi after his Sword Qi severed the karma of Jiang Xinyi’s Tribulation of Love, then warned them that the Mysterious Court was still targeting him. He summoned Xiao Yuanjun to help investigate the reason, but she arrived believing he was being held hostage by the two women.

• Qin Jieyu caught Zhang Yuan’s [Primordial Form-Converging Sword] with her bare hand, and Zhang Yuan severed Jiang Xinyi’s Tribulation of Love karma again.
• Qin Jieyu and Jiang Xinyi argued over whether Jiang Xinyi should leave the carriage, while Zhang Yuan redirected them by explaining that the Mysterious Court had tried to kill him.
• Jiang Xinyi warned that the Mysterious Court would keep pursuing Zhang Yuan until it was destroyed, and Qin Jieyu asked why it wanted him dead.
• Zhang Yuan used [Myriad Coexistence] to summon Xiao Yuanjun so they could investigate the Mysterious Court’s motives together.
• Xiao Yuanjun arrived with a steamed bun, mistook Qin Jieyu and Jiang Xinyi’s closeness to Zhang Yuan for a hostage situation, and pulled them away before taking the seat beside him.

Plot points

• Zhang Yuan tells Xiao Yuanjun that the Mysterious Court tried to kill him, apparently fearing he had uncovered a secret tied to Sky Mountain.
• Zhang suspects the Court’s two Great Immortal Lords are secretly trying to produce a Golden Core True Lord through one of their True Disciples.
• Qin Jieyu explains that Great Immortal Lord status and Golden Core True Lord status are incompatible: a Great Immortal Lord cannot attain a metal position, nor can someone become both.
• Zhang infers that the Court likely chose among its golden-core-level True Disciples—Ye Guhong, Xu Lingyin, and Shi Erniu—to pursue the True Lord path. Shi Erniu was killed, but Ye and Xu escaped, leaving a threat.
• Xiao Yuanjun argues that the Court may not know the metal position’s true name. Without that name—and an understanding of its imago—it cannot be attained.
• Zhang briefly hopes his group might discover the name first and gain the opportunity to seek True Lord status. But neither he nor Xiao can identify it, and Zhang’s deductions fail.
• Xiao suggests the hidden metal position may emerge during the coming chaos calamity, giving them another chance to investigate.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang moves from relief at Xiao Yuanjun’s arrival to strategic analysis, then excitement at the possibility of reaching True Lord status before the Mysterious Court. His failed deductions temper that optimism.
• Xiao Yuanjun is confident and curious rather than alarmed. She both explains why the Court may be stalled and cautions Zhang against expecting an easy breakthrough.
• Qin Jieyu takes the role of teacher, explaining the rules governing the two cultivation traditions and checking that Zhang understands.
• Zhang recognizes the danger posed by the surviving True Disciples, while acknowledging that Immortal Lord Lingxiang’s presence made killing them impractical.
• The group’s formidable combined strength reassures Zhang, but the discussion reveals that knowledge—not force alone—may determine who can exploit the metal position.

Significant themes

• Knowledge and access: A metal position’s true name and imago are essential to attaining it; proximity and power are not enough.
• Limits and incompatible paths: Great Immortal Lord and Golden Core True Lord status represent mutually exclusive destinies.
• Opportunity amid danger: The Mysterious Court’s scheme is a threat, but its hidden metal position could also become a rare chance for Zhang’s side.
• Concealment and emergence: Metal positions can hide their names, yet may reappear during periods of extreme upheaval.

Key plot points and events

• After Zhang Yuan escapes, Immortal Lord Lingxiang reports back to the Mysterious Court. Immortal Lord Xuanc Cong Chuarui concludes that trying to kill Zhang again would provoke the powerful figure backing him—possibly a familiar Golden Core True Lord connected to the Demon Realm’s Devil Lord.
• Unable to eliminate Zhang, the Mysterious Court appoints Ye Guhong and Xu Lingyin as Daoist Heir and Daoist Heiress, granting them status, resources, and the chance to study the Ancient Immortal Dao. The elders hope to cultivate rivals capable of competing with Zhang.
• Xu Lingyin accepts her new position calmly. Ye Guhong loudly pledges loyalty, though Xu Lingyin knows he recently tried to save himself by offering both his family and the Mysterious Court to Zhang. She keeps quiet because she expects to need Ye as a shield against the Court’s elders.
• Outside the hall, Ye and Xu reveal their mutual hostility. Ye considers killing Xu or manipulating her into fighting Zhang, then taking advantage if they weaken each other.
• Ye visits his half-sister, Ye Zhenshu, who plays the zither. He boasts of his new rank and demands that she give him most of her resources, reversing their former arrangement. He then claims he used her as leverage when begging Zhang for mercy, and tells her Zhang wants her as a concubine and may destroy the Ye Household if she refuses.

Character developments and interactions

• Xuanc Cong Chuarui is cautious and politically astute: he sees Zhang’s escape as evidence that a greater power protects him and chooses cultivation over another direct attack.
• Xu Lingyin shows composure and pragmatism. Though she distrusts Ye and recognizes his hypocrisy, she tolerates him for strategic reasons.
• Ye Guhong remains opportunistic and self-serving. He performs loyalty when useful, secretly plots against Xu, and now uses his new authority to pressure Zhenshu.
• Ye Zhenshu is introduced as Ye’s poised but cool half-sister. Her reaction to his demand and threat is not yet shown.

Significant themes

• Power and survival: characters adapt their loyalties and plans to whoever holds the advantage.
• Political maneuvering: the Mysterious Court responds to Zhang’s protection by grooming rivals, while Ye plots to turn others against him.
• Hypocrisy and betrayal: Ye’s public devotion contrasts sharply with his private schemes and his treatment of his family.
• Gendered coercion: Ye weaponizes the threat of Zhang’s supposed desire for Zhenshu to intimidate her and advance his own position.

Plot points and events

• Ye Guhong tries to provoke Ye Zhenshu by warning that a Demon Realm cultivator may target her, hoping she will act against Zhang Yuan. Ye Zhenshu stays composed and refuses to be drawn in.
• The Ye siblings are locked in a ruthless succession struggle: only one of the generation’s surviving three—Guhong, Zhenshu, or their eldest brother, Guzhi—can inherit the household leadership.
• After Guhong leaves, Ye Zhenshu’s hidden ally, Hu Ying, appears. He offers to kill Guhong and investigate the Demon Realm cultivator. Ye Zhenshu agrees, and Hu Ying sets off after Guhong.
• Hu Ying is a strange, extremely powerful Demon Realm being whom Ye Zhenshu once encountered on an isolated island. Though she initially feared him, she found him simple-minded, useful, and loyal; he has helped eliminate her rivals.
• Hu Ying attacks Guhong with a silent hand of Black Wind. Guhong’s powerful talisman only barely holds it back, convincing him that his attacker may be a Tribulation Transcendence expert.
• Fleeing, Guhong realizes he has badly underestimated Zhenshu. He changes course toward the newly appointed Mysterious Court Daoist Maiden, Xu Lingyin, hoping to exploit the crisis to kill her and turn the household ancestor against Zhenshu.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Zhenshu remains controlled and politically cautious. She recognizes that her extraordinary spiritual gifts make her valuable—and potentially vulnerable—to Demon Realm forces, so she takes Guhong’s warning seriously even while doubting it.
• Ye Guhong shifts from scheming provocateur to desperate fugitive. His fear quickly gives way to opportunism as he devises a plan to use Xu Lingyin’s death against Zhenshu.
• Hu Ying is revealed as Zhenshu’s formidable, obedient confidant. Despite his demonic origins and immense strength, he appears guileless and readily follows her orders.
• The siblings’ rivalry is reinforced: Guhong tries to manipulate Zhenshu, while Zhenshu responds by using Hu Ying to remove threats.

Significant themes

• Survival through ruthless competition: The Ye Household’s succession system rewards ambition and eliminates the weak.
• Power and vulnerability: Zhenshu’s exceptional gifts grant her status but also make her a coveted target.
• Misjudgment and hidden strength: Guhong assumes he can pressure Zhenshu, only to discover she has a powerful ally he never anticipated.
• Political opportunism: Even while fleeing for his life, Guhong turns danger into a possible strategy against both Zhenshu and Xu Lingyin.

Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun set out to infiltrate the Mysterious Court and kill Ye Guhong and Xu Lingyin. Near Xuan Zu Island, they encounter the two fleeing a mysterious black wind, leaving Zhang Yuan’s revenge within reach.

• Zhang Yuan decided the Mysterious Court’s Great Immortal Lords were not constantly watching their territory and planned to enter unseen to kill Ye Guhong and Xu Lingyin.
• Xiao Yuanjun agreed to accompany Zhang Yuan, while Qin Jieyu returned to the peak to watch through her Immortal Artifact and stand ready to help.
• Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun disguised themselves as local cultivators and flew toward Xuan Zu Island, where Zhang Yuan considered investigating Sky Mountain if it proved safe.
• Near Xuan Zu Island, Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun spotted an island beset by strange black winds and decided to investigate.
• The island exploded, and Xu Lingyin and the wounded Ye Guhong fled from the black wind as Xu angrily blamed Ye for their predicament.

Chapter Summary

• Xu Lingyin and Ye Guhong flee a mysterious pursuer. Ye Guhong’s actions have drawn the pair into a relentless chase by a powerful black figure. Their communications are blocked, and the Black Wind destroys the island where they tried to hide. Xu Lingyin, furious at being caught up in the danger, curses Ye Guhong continuously.
• Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun encounter them. The fugitives fly directly toward Zhang Yuan, who recognizes them. He initially decides not to interfere and to continue toward the Mysterious Court’s treasury. But the pursuer, Hu Ying, recognizes Zhang Yuan as another target and traps all four in Black Wind.
• Ye Guhong and Xu Lingyin plead their cases. Hu Ying claims to be a reincarnated True Lord sent to kill Zhang Yuan. Ye Guhong blames his second sister, Ye Zhenshu, and tries to persuade Zhang Yuan to protect him by offering information about the Mysterious Court’s treasury and Ye Zhenshu’s residence. Xu Lingyin counters that Ye Guhong cannot be trusted and offers the same help herself. Zhang Yuan suspects Ye Guhong has manipulated events, but postpones dealing with him until Hu Ying is handled.
• Zhang Yuan tests Hu Ying. His sword and powerful divine abilities pass straight through the black figure without harming it. This is expected: the strike also sets up Yellow Springs Arrival, while Xiao Yuanjun uses her divine wonders, Dusk Veil and Myriad Forms Change, to strip away Hu Ying’s disguise.
• The chapter ends with a revelation: the fearsome black figure’s true form is simply a hand.

Character Developments and Interactions

• Xu Lingyin drops her usual refined restraint, venting her anger at Ye Guhong and treating him as more hateful than Zhang Yuan.
• Ye Guhong remains manipulative and quick-thinking, shifting from blaming his sister to presenting himself as useful to Zhang Yuan.
• Zhang Yuan is cautious and pragmatic: he questions Hu Ying’s identity, recognizes Ye Guhong’s likely involvement, and uses the encounter to investigate the pursuer.
• Xiao Yuanjun supports Zhang Yuan and uses her abilities to expose Hu Ying’s hidden form.
• Hu Ying presents himself as an avenging reincarnated True Lord, but his true nature remains a mystery.

Significant Themes

• Deception and hidden identity: Hu Ying’s claimed status and appearance are both called into question.
• Self-preservation and opportunism: Ye Guhong and Xu Lingyin compete to secure Zhang Yuan’s protection by offering information.
• Appearance versus reality: The chapter’s final reveal sharply contrasts Hu Ying’s terrifying presentation with his unexpected true form.