Chapter Summaries

Xuan Yi arrived at Northern Bulwark Pass and met the True Persons and commanders gathered for the campaign against the Northern Di. Tai Pei'er brought her clan into the pass, still worried because she had not seen Jiang Yang.

• Xuan Yi arrived above the Sea of Clouds and greeted Prince Jing Lu Xinghuai, Dongmen Wan Jing, True Person Buji, and General Zhuang Beiwang.
• Lu Xinghuai called for the gathered cultivators to enter the pass and postpone further discussion until they reached the city.
• Tai Pei'er waited aboard her Spirit Boat, worried that she had not seen Jiang Yang for several days, and prepared her clansmen when the order to move came.
• Tai Pei'er entered Northern Bulwark Pass with the other Spirit Boats and her clan received an allotted area in the newly crowded city.

Jiang Yang joined the disciples gathering for a campaign to the Zheng Kingdom’s northern frontier and was summoned aboard the central warship by Xuan Xi. There, he reunited with Jiang Junrui and Qingyan, who were astonished to discover that he had reached the late stage of cultivation.

• The second contingent gathered beside the Spirit Boats to prepare for the journey to Far-Reaching City in the Zheng Kingdom.
• Xuan Xi appeared and summoned the direct-line disciples of each peak to meet her aboard the central warship.
• Jiang Yang boarded the warship as Fushu Peak’s sole direct-line disciple and went to request an audience with Xuan Xi.
• Jiang Yang recognized Jiang Junrui and Qingyan as old acquaintances who had both formed their immortal foundations.
• Jiang Junrui and Qingyan were shocked to learn Jiang Yang had already reached the late stage of cultivation.
• Jiang Yang reminded Jiang Junrui and Qingyan that Xuan Xi had summoned them, and the three prepared to pay their respects.

Jiang Yang and the other disciples received orders from True Person Xuan Xi before departing for the Northern Frontier to drive back the enemy. On the snowy battlefield, Tai Pei'er drew the attention of four Foundation Establishment cultivators and charged into their encirclement.

• True Person Xuan Xi warned Jiang Yang, Jiang Junrui, and Qingyan to obey orders and explained that their campaign would last from a few months to a year.
• Jiang Yang asked about the enemy, and Xuan Xi described the Northern Yi's varied dao lineages and said no Purple Mansion cultivators would fight in person.
• Lian Fei left to check the disciples' preparations and arrange their departure.
• Tai Pei'er used the snow and the Dark Pearl to strengthen her taiyin techniques as she fought on the battlefield.
• Four Foundation Establishment cultivators surrounded Tai Pei'er, and she charged toward them rather than retreating.

Tai Pei'er fought four Northern Di Foundation Establishment cultivators after Lu Ji identified her immortal foundation as the Taiyin Dao lineage. She repelled their opening attacks, but the fight continued as the other three closed in on her.

• Lu Ji asked a red-robed monk to identify Tai Pei'er's moonlike immortal foundation, and the monk named it the Taiyin Dao lineage.
• Lu Ji ordered four Foundation Establishment cultivators to capture Tai Pei'er and set off with the monk to confront other Zheng Kingdom cultivators.
• Tai Pei'er used Night-Mooring Frost with the Dark Pearl to unleash dozens of spells, injuring all four attackers and interrupting their assault.
• A gray-robed cultivator sent hidden Worms toward Tai Pei'er, but her immortal foundation's pure light destroyed them and injured him through backlash.
• The Worms' delay let the other three cultivators reach Tai Pei'er and resume their attack.

Tai Pei'er fought four Foundation Establishment cultivators until Zhao Evening Glow arrived and helped her turn the battle in their favor. Three attackers fled, while the wounded Hooded Cultivator was left behind as another pursuer appeared.

• The Beast-Robed Cultivator and two Gray-Robed Cultivators attacked Tai Pei'er, but her mystic artifacts parried their strikes and her jade pot swallowed the Form-Destroying Gray Light.
• Tai Pei'er held off all four opponents while conserving her true essence and avoiding the Beast-Robed Cultivator's Calamity-Karma Spell Light.
• Zhao Evening Glow joined the fight and used her Crimson Rite, Measured Mystic Wind to freeze all four attackers for a breath.
• Tai Pei'er used the opening to badly wound the leading Hooded Cultivator with Pure Light, which spread through his body and slowed his true essence.
• A Gray-Robed Cultivator ordered the group to flee, but the wounded Hooded Cultivator could not follow, and a third voice challenged the escaping cultivators.

Tai Pei'er, Zhao Xixun, and Qin Dingying defeated two Xianyu Kingdom cultivators after a sudden attack split their enemies. They divided the spoils and discussed the enemy’s tactics, while Tai Pei’er’s greeting left Qin Dingying uneasy about their past.

• A sudden gale of snow separated the four Xianyu Kingdom cultivators, allowing Tai Pei'er, Zhao Xixun, and their new ally to trap and kill the beast-robed cultivator and his wounded companion while two enemies escaped.
• The three introduced themselves, and Tai Pei'er recognized Zhao Xixun and Qin Dingying from her previous life.
• Tai Pei'er reminded Qin Dingying of their past encounter, stirring her grief over her sister and her despair at the gap between herself and Jiang Yang.
• Zhao Xixun proposed dividing the fallen cultivators' possessions, and Tai Pei'er insisted Qin Dingying take a share for her help.
• The three exchanged observations and concluded that the Xianyu Kingdom cultivators were alert, quick to retreat, and not inclined to protect their wounded.

Tai Pei'er and her companions returned to Northern Defense Pass after a battle, where she suspected the fighting was tied to the ancient Southern Peak Abbey and an impending plan. Elsewhere, Lu Yuzheng awakened among the dead and realized the pass was under attack again.

• Zhao Xixun and Qin Dingying questioned why the enemy had committed so many Foundation Establishment cultivators, while Tai Pei'er considered the possibility that the conflict centered on Southern Peak Abbey.
• Tai Pei'er warned Zhao Xixun to rest because she expected the Di Yi to attack again soon, then headed to her camp to check on her people.
• Lu Yuzheng awoke in a cave surrounded by corpses and discovered his legs were frozen to the ground by spilled blood.
• Lu Yuzheng gathered his companions' remaining talismans and mystic artifacts and made his way to the cave entrance.
• Lu Yuzheng saw another battle raging above Northern Defense Pass and lamented that this was the third attack in half a month.

Lin Xi Yu arrived at the Heavenly Pass as the True Persons questioned the escalating Di attacks and the hidden Xianyu Purple Mansion cultivators. She proposed forcing Xianyu to reveal itself and gave Jiang Yang the choice of how to proceed.

• Lin Xiuyi, Dongmen Wan Jing, and True Person Buji questioned Prince Jing Lu Xinghuai about the mounting casualties and Xianyu Purple Mansion's absence.
• Lin Xi Yu arrived and told True Person Buji that Buhui would soon come with disciples.
• After hearing Lu Xinghuai's account, Lin Xi Yu suggested sending their disciples into battle to force Xianyu to emerge.
• Lin Xi Yu summoned Jiang Yang, who descended from the Spirit Boat and greeted the True Persons.
• Lin Xi Yu secretly winked at Jiang Yang and told him he could choose his own course.

Jiang Yang joined the forces defending the Zheng Kingdom and went alone to face the approaching assault at the gate pass. As Lu Ji’s army charged, Jiang Yang summoned a jade-green blade outside the city.

• Jiang Yang accepted Lin Xi Yu’s plan, and Lu Xinghuai ordered the Spirit Boats to proceed toward the gate pass.
• Jiang Yang left the main force, flew toward the pass, and the True Persons watched the battle without intervening.
• Lu Ji learned that the third prince was still away, then ordered his troops to attack without waiting.
• The defenders sounded the drums, activated the spirit array, and began closing the gate as Lu Yuzheng recognized Jiang Yang.
• Jiang Yang stopped the gate from closing until he had gone out, then formed a jade-green blade in his hand.

Jiang Yang stopped the Wu army at the Pass Gate with a single sword stroke, drawing a blood boundary that no ordinary soldier dared cross. Lu Ji sent nine cultivators to surround him, then revealed a disturbing omen from his divination.

• Lu Yuzheng recognized Jiang Yang as the extraordinary man he had met before and kept working to open the gate.
• Jiang Yang cut down the charging Wu Soldiers with one sword stroke, leaving a ring-shaped furrow of blood before the Pass Gate.
• Lu Ji urged the troops to attack, but those who crossed the blood line fell dead, and the surviving soldiers refused to advance.
• Pei Zhao volunteered to test Jiang Yang, but Lu Ji ordered nine cultivators to attack together and said he and a monk would support them.
• After the nine cultivators flew to surround Jiang Yang, Lu Ji showed the monk his unnaturally twisted finger joints and spoke of his ominous divination.

Jiang Yang faced nine Foundation Establishment cultivators alone and unleashed a sword technique that froze them and stirred every sword in Northern Defense Pass. The True Persons watched in shock as he began to reveal the power of his sword principles.

• Jiang Yang’s swordsmanship impressed the True Persons, and Dongmen Wan Jing admitted that Jiang Yang surpassed him in his youth.
• Lin Xi Yu spotted nine Foundation Establishment cultivators moving to attack Jiang Yang and asked Lu Xinghuai to call him back, but Lu Xinghuai reassured her that reinforcements and General Xiaoyuan would protect him.
• Jiang Yang ignored the retreating Wu Soldiers and advanced toward the nine cultivators, eager to test his sword against opponents of his own realm.
• Pei Zhao called Jiang Yang a senseless sword maniac and ordered the others to kill him, but Jiang Yang’s sword intent left all nine cultivators unable to move.
• Jiang Yang drew his sword and invoked Mysterious Palace Autumn Toad Imperial Supreme Sword, using Autumn’s Arrival as every sword in Northern Defense Pass trembled.

Jiang Yang revealed his sword intent and killed nine Foundation Establishment cultivators with one strike, transforming the snowy battlefield into an autumn landscape. The stunned survivors looked to the Purple Mansion cultivators and the approaching third prince for protection from him.

• Jiang Yang unleashed his new sword intent, [Autumn's Arrival], and Lin Xi Yu took Xuan Yi away while keeping watch over him.
• Jiang Yang killed all nine pursuing Foundation Establishment cultivators with a single sword strike and directed the resulting spirit vigor into the earth.
• Jiang Yang transformed the snow-covered battlefield into a clear autumn landscape, leaving soldiers and cultivators stunned.
• Lu Ji panicked when Jiang Yang looked toward him, and Xinlian reassured him that the Purple Mansion cultivators were watching and the third prince was coming.

Jiang Yang’s sword strike turned the tide at Northern Defense Pass and astonished allies and enemies alike. In the Great Void, Lin Xi Yu discovered a hidden gray-robed figure who envied Rain Xiang Mountain’s two Sword Immortals.

• Jiang Yang replenished his true essence in the apricot grove while Lu Ji and Xinlian held back and waited for reinforcements.
• Tai Pei'er watched Jiang Yang’s sword strike and reflected that events had changed, though they had largely stayed on course.
• Jiang Yang’s strike lifted the Zheng Kingdom cultivators’ morale, while Zhang Yunbai, Qin Dingying, and Dongmen Shu reacted to the display.
• Lin Xiuyi praised Jiang Yang’s potential, and Zhuang Beiwang congratulated Lin Xi Yu and Lin Xiuyi on their sect gaining a Sword Immortal.
• Lin Xi Yu sensed someone hidden in the Great Void, revealed him with her rain divine power, and heard the gray-robed man express envy of Rain Xiang Mountain.

Lu Boyan and Lu Xinghuai confronted each other before their forces withdrew from Northern Defense Pass. Jiang Yang returned to Far-Reaching City, where he rewarded Lu Yuzheng with a Foundation Establishment Pill.

• Lin Xi Yu challenged Lu Boyan’s accusations, and he fell silent when she offered to summon her senior brother.
• Lu Xinghuai arrived and discussed the monks’ involvement and the Chu Kingdom’s ambitions with Lu Boyan before both sides withdrew.
• Jiang Yang recovered in the woods, but True Person Xuan Xi ordered him back to Far-Reaching City before he could confront his opponent.
• Lu Ji grew angry when Third Prince Kui Shuyue arrived late, then left after Xinlian stopped him from provoking the prince.
• Jiang Yang entered Far-Reaching City, praised Lu Yuzheng for standing by his choice, and gave him a box containing a Foundation Establishment Pill.

After the battle, Jiang Yang met with Lin Xi Yu, who reprimanded him for hiding his sword intent and warned him to stay within the spirit array. He received a Heavenly Directorate Token for his military merits, then went to keep his appointment with Tai Pei'er and was recognized at the Tai Residence.

• Jiang Yang returned to Rain Xiang Mountain's quarters and paid his respects to Lin Xi Yu.
• Lin Xi Yu scolded Jiang Yang for not telling her he had attained sword intent and warned him not to leave the spirit array's range when he was alone.
• Lin Xi Yu gave Jiang Yang a Heavenly Directorate Token containing the merits for the Xianyu cultivators he had killed.
• Jiang Yang remembered Tai Pei'er's request to meet him and used his spirit sense to locate the Tai Residence.
• A young man at the entrance recognized Jiang Yang, nearly called him son-in-law, and awkwardly greeted him as Senior.

Jiang Yang met Tai Pei'er at the Tai clan residence, where she warned him to stay cautious after his battle with the Xianyu cultivators. She then revealed the hidden history of the Southern Heng Mountain Foothills and left Jiang Yang suspecting that the Cold Qi True Lord's fall had transformed the region into a frozen wasteland.

• Jiang Yang waited in the Tai clan garden until Tai Pei'er returned from beyond the pass and told him his sword strike had made his name known among the sects and Immortal Race clans.
• Tai Pei'er warned Jiang Yang that the Xianyu cultivators he had slain would target him, and he agreed to heed the True Person's advice.
• Tai Pei'er sealed the room with formation flags, talismans, and a jade ruyi scepter before asking Jiang Yang whether he knew of the Southern Peak Abbey.
• Tai Pei'er explained that the Xianyu Di had once been the Southern Heng Mountain Foothills, where the Ancient Jin Kingdom and Southern Peak Abbey vanished after a great battle.
• Tai Pei'er said later generations believed a True Lord had fallen there, possibly the Cold Qi True Lord, and Jiang Yang connected that theory to the region's unnatural cold and snow.

Tai Pei'er told Jiang Yang that Southern Peak Abbey inherited the ancient Peach Immortal's Longevity Qi Dao Lineage and explained why powerful factions sought the vanished abbey. She began revealing that Zheng, Chu, and Xianyu had planned for centuries around the abbey's return, leaving Jiang Yang waiting for the details.

• Jiang Yang questioned Tai Pei'er about the ancient upheaval, and she argued that Southern Peak Abbey's continued existence proved it had not been destroyed in a battle between True Lords.
• Tai Pei'er asked Jiang Yang to keep her revelations secret, then told him Southern Peak Abbey was once known as Longevity Peak and was connected to his Dao Lineage.
• Tai Pei'er recounted how a Peach Immortal slew the Divine Turtle, established heavenly longevity and the Celestial Court, and founded a Dao Lineage rooted in Peach Radiance.
• Tai Pei'er explained that Southern Peak Abbey had cultivated Longevity Qi through the ages and that the gathered cultivators sought the abbey after its withdrawal from the world.
• Tai Pei'er said True Persons Xuan Xi and Xuan Yi did not know the secret, while Prince Jing knew it, and began explaining that Zheng, Chu, and Xianyu had planned for centuries around the abbey's return.

Xianyu’s leaders discussed the failed assault on Pass Gate and the ruler’s plan to attain the position through Tribulation Qi amid the region’s disasters and warfare. Tai Pei’er explained to Jiang Yang that the ruler was being maneuvered into an attempt that would bring down Southern Peak Abbey whether he succeeded or failed.

• Xianyu cultivators gathered hundreds of Zheng Kingdom dead, confirming that they had been killed in a single, devastating attack.
• Lu Boyan rebuked Lu Ji for losing the chance to seize Pass Gate, while the First Prince assigned the Third Prince to deal with the Sword Immortal from Rain Xiang Mountain.
• The First Prince told Lu Boyan that the King’s practice was nearly complete and that he awaited heaven’s appointed hour; Lu Boyan also learned that nineteen Masters and over a thousand monks had arrived as reinforcements.
• Tai Pei’er told Jiang Yang that Xianyu’s ruler intended to attain the Dao through Tribulation Qi, using the calamities and warfare at the Southern Heng Mountain Foothills.
• Tai Pei’er explained that someone wanted the ruler to attempt attainment but not succeed, and that either outcome would bring down Southern Peak Abbey.

Jiang Yang learned that the factions planned to use the ruler of Xianyu Kingdom and the interplay of fortune and calamity to open Southern Peak Abbey. Tai Pei'er revealed that the abbey held the only two remaining pieces of longevity qi golden nature, the true prize sought by the factions.

• Tai Pei'er explained that the ruler might gain leverage if he attained the Dao, while his failure could be used to shake Southern Peak Abbey loose.
• Tai Pei'er said opening the abbey required fortune, prosperity, and longevity, and explained how the Zheng Kingdom supplied prosperity while the ruler's Tribulation Qi could replace fortune.
• Jiang Yang realized that the ruler of Xianyu Kingdom was being used as Tribulation Qi to fulfill the conditions for opening Southern Peak Abbey.
• Tai Pei'er explained that modern cultivators' lifespans had fallen to less than half those of high antiquity, making longevity exceptionally precious.
• Jiang Yang concluded that the factions sought the abbey's life-extending treasures, and Tai Pei'er revealed that it contained the only two pieces of longevity qi golden nature left beneath the heavens.

Jiang Yang learned why the powers coveted Southern Peak Abbey and realized Tai Pei'er might have been reborn, but chose to accept her without demanding answers. After returning to the palace, he reunited with Zhou Yanwei, the senior brother who had once guided him.

• Tai Pei'er explained that Southern Peak Abbey held the world's only two strands of golden nature, which could offer great benefits and the chance to reincarnate and restore longevity qi.
• Jiang Yang was startled by how much Tai Pei'er knew and concluded that she might have been reborn.
• Tai Pei'er realized Jiang Yang suspected her secret and grew anxious about how he would respond.
• Jiang Yang told Tai Pei'er he would not pry into her secrets, reassuring her that she should remain as she had always been.
• Jiang Yang returned to the palace and joyfully reunited with Zhou Yanwei, who praised his growth and confessed he had worried Jiang Yang might no longer recognize him.