Recaps

Zhang Erguo explained Azure Mystic Sect’s disciple hierarchy and the lower court to Jiang Che as they descended the mountain. After Zhang left, Instructor Yan’s daughter offered to show Jiang Che to his quarters.

• Zhang Erguo explained Senior Brother Luo’s standing and how True Disciples were chosen by Foundation Establishment elders.
• Zhang Erguo described the sect’s ranks, the Verdant Mist Hall’s courts, and the fifteen-year limit for registered disciples to reach Qi Refining.
• Jiang Che thanked Zhang Erguo with ten spirit stone fragments, and Zhang accepted them as a token of appreciation.
• Zhang led Jiang Che into the lower court and introduced him to Junior Sister Yan, warning him that she was Instructor Yan’s daughter.
• Junior Sister Yan offered to guide Jiang Che to his quarters after Zhang hurried away.

Jiang Che settled into his courtyard at Azure Mystic and chose the Azure Heaven Wind Dew Embryonic Breath Method to obtain a legitimate way to practice it alongside his existing method. After Jiang Che left, Instructor Yan marked him as an unusually gifted disciple who might have powerful backing.

• Yan We iwan showed Jiang Che his quarters and explained that she was an ordinary mortal, not a sect disciple, despite being called Junior Sister.
• Yan We iwan brought Jiang Che to meet Instructor Yan, who verified his identity and offered him a cultivation method.
• Jiang Che chose the Azure Heaven Wind Dew Embryonic Breath Method so he could openly practice it alongside the Upper Azure Smoke Cloud Embryonic Breath Method.
• Instructor Yan explained that the two methods complemented each other and lent Jiang Che the manual under the sect's rules.
• After Jiang Che left, Instructor Yan added his name to a document and noted his rapid entry into the Dao, exceptional comprehension, and possible backing.

After eight months of cultivation and preparation, Jiang Che broke through to transforming force, but his resources and instance entries were nearly exhausted. As he considered how to obtain transmigration energy and find another instance, a woman called to him from outside his courtyard.

• Jiang Che spent his savings on Transforming Force Powder and prepared to use his remaining ten wisps of primordial origin first spirit for a breakthrough.
• Jiang Che swallowed the powder, circulated his spirit essence, and successfully reached transforming force.
• Jiang Che tested his new strength by practicing Azure Flow with his sword in the courtyard.
• Jiang Che reflected that he had exhausted his cultivation insights, primordial origin first spirit, and spirit stone savings, and had only two instance entries left.
• Jiang Che considered seeking enemies for transmigration energy and wondered why he had found no instances around Azure Mystic.
• A woman called to Jiang Che from outside his courtyard gate.

Jiang Che learned why Guo planned to volunteer for the dangerous Ailin County posting: his family had suffered a setback, leaving him short of cultivation resources and worried about meeting the sect’s deadline. He realized Guo had also moved back to the lower compound, and Yan We iwan was stunned by the news.

• Yan We iwan invited Jiang Che to Guo’s courtyard and asked him to help dissuade Guo from going to Ailin County.
• Jiang Che recalled that Ailin had been devastated by a demonic disaster and remained dangerous despite years of efforts to contain its remnants.
• Jiang Che guessed that Guo hoped the posting’s rewards would help him advance before his fifteen-year deadline as a nominal disciple.
• Jiang Che told Yan We iwan that Guo’s family had recently suffered a setback, leaving him with almost no cultivation resources and driving him to take more menial work.
• Jiang Che revealed that Guo had moved back to the lower compound, and Yan We iwan reacted with shock.

Jiang Che told Yan We iwan that Zhang Erguo had failed his assessment and loved her, but the revelation caused her frail health to collapse. After Instructor Yan saved her, she angrily wished Jiang Che and Zhang Erguo dead in Ailin.

• Jiang Che told Yan We iwan that Zhang Erguo had been sent back to the lower court after failing his assessment.
• Jiang Che revealed that Zhang Erguo had feelings for Yan We iwan and partly wanted to go to Ailin for her sake.
• Yan We iwan became overwhelmed and fainted, so Jiang Che carried her toward Instructor Yan's house.
• Instructor Yan intercepted Jiang Che, treated Yan We iwan with a pill and magical power, and stabilized her breathing.
• Jiang Che explained what had happened to Instructor Yan and apologized for upsetting Yan We iwan.
• Instructor Yan coldly wished that Jiang Che and Zhang Erguo would both die in Ailin.

After Yan We iwan’s danger, Jiang Che apologized to Zhang Erguo and reaffirmed that he would join him on the perilous trip to Ailin. Three days later, they arrived in Xuanxia Town and met Hu Yan, their upper-courtyard leader, as they awaited departure.

• Jiang Che explained Yan We iwan’s ordeal to Zhang Erguo and apologized for putting her at risk.
• Zhang Erguo insisted he would still go to Ailin, and Jiang Che revealed he had reached transforming force before agreeing they would go together.
• Zhang Erguo accepted Jiang Che’s resolve, and the two agreed to face the dangers of Ailin as brothers.
• Three days later, Jiang Che and Zhang Erguo arrived at the Immortal-Gazing Tower in Xuanxia Town, where Hu Yan told the gathered disciples they would depart in two hours.
• Zhang Erguo told Jiang Che about Hu Yan’s reputation, and Jiang Che stopped him before his gossip could cause trouble.

Jiang Che and the Azure Mystic disciples reached Ailin County, where they met Manager Du Yongchang and learned that the demonic threat had worsened. The chapter left Jiang Che startled by reports that a True Demon might appear.

• Hu Yan led eighteen disciples from Xuanxia Town toward Ailin County, and they arrived a day ahead of schedule.
• The group entered Ailin, a fortified city crowded with soldiers, after guards checked their documents and waist tokens.
• At Azure Mystic's Ailin Hall, Jiang Che recognized Manager Du as Du Yongchang, his former steward from Willow Source.
• Du Yongchang told Jiang Che that demonic creatures had grown more numerous and that signs of a True Demon had appeared.

Jiang Che learned that the Ailin lords planned to send the new disciples into a ruined temple to confront a true demon, and he agreed to cooperate with Hu Yan for their survival. The next morning, Du Yongchang led the group toward Ailin Old City and the temple.

• Du Yongchang warned Jiang Che that a true demon was hiding in a ruined temple near Ailin Old City and that the group would likely be sent to attack it.
• Jiang Che told Zhang Erguo about his history with Du Yongchang and explained why the lords might use the disciples as cannon fodder.
• Hu Yan entered Jiang Che and Zhang Erguo's room, offered to put them on her team, and proposed sharing useful information and benefits.
• Jiang Che agreed to work with Hu Yan so they could try to survive their three months in Ailin.
• Du Yongchang led the Registered Disciples out of the city the next morning toward the temple near Ailin Old City.

Jiang Che's party reached the ruined temple siege and learned that most of the previous disciples had died. As they began clearing Demon Monsters from ruined houses, Jiang Che discovered that killing them granted him transmigration energy.

• Jiang Che's party reached the encampment and learned from Hu Yan that only four of the thirteen previous Registered Disciples had survived the siege.
• Du Yongchang divided the twenty-one Azure Mystic disciples into seven groups and assigned them to clear Demon Monsters from the buildings around the ruined temple.
• Hu Yan grouped herself with Jiang Che and Zhang Erguo, and they joined Chen Mou and his armored soldiers at their assigned position.
• The soldiers set fire to a ruined house, and the group killed the Demon Monsters that rushed out, though one killed an armored soldier.
• Jiang Che saw a speck of light from a dead Demon Monster enter his body and confirmed that killing Demon Monsters granted him transmigration energy.

Jiang Che’s squad cleared houses while the soldiers bore the danger, and Officer Chen executed Chen Sanju for openly challenging the cultivators’ orders. Near the Ruined Temple, Jiang Che and his companions encountered a routed squad pursued by a huge Corpse Tide and charged in to help.

• Jiang Che realized that killing Demon Monsters yielded transmigration energy, then prepared with his squad to move on to the next target.
• A young soldier accused the Azure Mystic disciples of sacrificing soldiers, and Officer Chen executed him after the disciples refused to intervene.
• Jiang Che’s squad cleared several more houses without serious trouble as they neared the Ruined Temple.
• A nearby squad fled toward Jiang Che’s group with a large pack of Demon Monsters behind them, and the Wu Soldier officer was killed.
• Jiang Che, Hu Yan, and Zhang Erguo advanced together to aid the three overwhelmed Azure Mystic disciples.

Jiang Che used his Azure Torrent Sword Art to kill a flying Demon Monster and help turn the battle against the first wave. A second wave forced the Azure Mystic disciples and soldiers into a larger melee, where reinforcements arrived but one disciple was killed.

• Hu Yan and Zhang Erguo joined Jiang Che in attacking the Demon Monsters and rallied the fleeing soldiers.
• Jiang Che deflected a flying Demon Monster’s ambush, wounded it with Returning Tide Rolls Leaves, and killed it with his next sword move.
• Hu Yan and Jiang Che killed the monsters threatening them, and Hu Yan admired Jiang Che’s Azure Torrent Sword Art.
• More Demon Monsters poured in from the ruins and ruined temple, overwhelming the fighters and killing one Azure Mystic disciple.
• Zhao Bo and his allied squad arrived to support the survivors as the battle spread into a large melee.

After a costly battle against demon monsters, Jiang Che’s squad continued its sweep, only to find cleared areas occupied again and realize the fighting would not end soon. Back at camp, Jiang Che calculated that the day’s kills had brought his transmigration energy to eighty-eight points, but he worried about surviving three months in Ailin.

• Jiang Che’s side killed nearly a hundred monsters, including twenty-two at the embryonic breath level, but suffered heavy casualties before collecting trophies and dividing the merit.
• Chen Mou explained that monsters had fled or returned from deeper hiding places, so the squads would have to keep clearing the area despite their losses.
• Jiang Che, Hu Yan, and Zhang Erguo let their surviving soldiers move slowly through the remaining houses as evening approached.
• The recall gong sounded, and the exhausted squads returned to camp, handed in their trophies, ate, and settled into their tent.
• Jiang Che counted sixty-eight transmigration energy from the day’s fighting, bringing his total to eighty-eight, then worried about enduring the coming months in Ailin.

Jiang Che helped Zhang Erguo recover his resolve after the previous day's brutal battle, and the group used a half day of rest and medicine to recover. As they set out again, Hu Yan explained that Ailin’s forces sent Azure Mystic disciples into danger to preserve their own local disciples.

• Jiang Che found Zhang Erguo sleepless and shaken, and Hu Yan scolded him for letting fear make him a burden to the group.
• Jiang Che reassured Zhang Erguo that the worst fighting might be over, and Zhang Erguo promised to pull himself together and told his companions to put their own safety first.
• The camp’s commanders granted the group half a day to rest and distributed medicine, and Jiang Che, Hu Yan, and Zhang Erguo used the time to recover.
• The troops reorganized after two Azure Mystic disciples had died, and Chen Mou’s armored unit was restored to twenty soldiers and assigned to Jiang Che’s group.
• Zhang Erguo asked why Ailin’s Outer Disciples were largely absent from the dangerous probing missions, and Hu Yan explained that local leaders valued their own disciples more than the Azure Mystic recruits.

Jiang Che learned that the True Demon was nearly out of demonic power, but suspected it still had dangerous tricks that the Qi Refining Cultivators feared. After several quiet days of clearing, the commanders ordered the squads to march directly on Little Seclusion Temple.

• Jiang Che spoke with Du Yongchang, who explained that the True Demon had nearly exhausted its demonic energy and might be defeated within several days.
• Jiang Che warned Hu Yan and Zhang Erguo that the True Demon could still attack personally or reveal abilities the Qi Refining Cultivators feared.
• The clearing operations remained quiet for three days, and Jiang Che noticed that fewer corpses appeared in areas they had already searched.
• On the fourth morning, County Commandant Li ordered the six squads to unite and march on Little Seclusion Temple while the remaining personnel guarded camp and the retreat routes.

Jiang Che and the soldiers entered the Little Hidden Temple, where they discovered a True Demon perched on a headless Buddha that contained an instance. The demon drew a demonic sword and struck at Jiang Che’s group, but Du Yongchang appeared and blocked the blow with an Azure Cauldron.

• Hu Yan led the force into the Little Hidden Temple, and Jiang Che noticed azure light flowing over the headless Buddha statue.
• The temple doors slammed shut, and a True Demon appeared atop the Buddha’s severed neck.
• The True Demon summoned a pitch-black demonic sword from the Buddha statue and attacked Jiang Che’s group.
• An Azure Cauldron appeared and blocked the sword qi, and Du Yongchang arrived beside Jiang Che.

Jiang Che survived the True Demon's attack and watched County Commandant Li, Steward Wei, and Du Yongchang defeat it in the temple. After the hall collapsed, he confirmed the shattered Buddha still held its azure light and thanked Du Yongchang for saving him, while Du ordered the crowd to search and burn demonic remnants.

• The True Demon escaped the headless Buddha's crushing hands, and County Commandant Li, Steward Wei, and Du Yongchang joined forces against it.
• Zhang Erguo and Hu Yan dragged Jiang Che out of the hall as the three Qi Refining masters battled the True Demon inside.
• Hu Yan explained that the masters had sent Embryonic Breath disciples in first to uncover the True Demon's tricks before confronting it.
• The temple's main hall collapsed, and the wounded masters emerged with Steward Wei holding the subdued Demon Sword, confirming the True Demon had been slain.
• Jiang Che saw that the shattered Buddha's azure light remained undiminished, then thanked Du Yongchang for saving his life with the Azure Cauldron.
• Du Yongchang ordered the crowd to search the ruins and burn everything tainted with demonic energy, and Jiang Che stepped forward to help.

After the battle at Little Hidden Temple, Jiang Che secretly absorbed the ruined Buddha statue’s green light and returned to Ailin with the surviving disciples. During his days off, he recovered his strength and entered the Buddha statue’s dream instance, awakening in a bamboo grove near the temple.

• Jiang Che covertly absorbed the green light from the ruined Buddha statue while helping clear the battlefield.
• Four days after the True Demon’s death, the cultivators returned to Ailin after finishing the cleanup and killing the remaining Demon Monsters; six of the seventeen Azure Mystic Registered Disciples had died.
• Jiang Che declined Hu Yan’s invitation to celebrate and spent two days meditating to restore his internal force.
• Jiang Che entered the Buddha statue instance in his consciousness space and heard its prologue about Master Chunji founding Little Hidden Temple.
• Jiang Che’s spiritual body shrank by about thirty percent as he entered the instance, and he awoke in a bamboo grove with Little Hidden Temple in view.

Jiang Che entered an instance dungeon set at the newly built Little Hidden Temple fourteen years before its ruins, where he met Master Chunji and his novice disciple Puxin. After accepting Chunji’s offer to stay overnight, Jiang Che grew anxious that he had yet to discover anything unusual about the dungeon.

• Jiang Che saw the Little Hidden Temple as it had been fourteen years earlier and met Master Chunji and Puxin on the mountain path.
• Puxin suspected Jiang Che of being a criminal, but Chunji defended him and invited him to stay at the temple for the night.
• Jiang Che accepted Chunji’s invitation and accompanied him and Puxin to the temple.
• Jiang Che ate a simple dinner, then followed Puxin to a western wing room and heard another warning not to wander at night.
• Jiang Che lay awake wondering how the instance dungeon would unfold and whether Chunji’s gentle manner was a clue.

Jiang Che discovered that Master Chunji was suppressing a demonic sword beneath the main hall, whose energy could eventually cause a Demon Calamity. As the sword erupted and monsters swarmed the temple’s protective boundary, Puxin rushed in and accused Jiang Che of bringing trouble.

• Jiang Che followed a golden light to the main hall and saw a demonic sword bound beneath the central Buddha statue.
• The sword’s influence briefly drew Jiang Che toward it, but Master Chunji shouted him back to his senses.
• Master Chunji explained that he had found the sword in a bamboo grove and was suppressing it to prevent a future Demon Calamity.
• The demonic sword began struggling, while monsters formed from the surrounding demonic energy and attacked the temple’s protective boundary.
• Puxin burst into the hall, warned Master Chunji about the monsters, and blamed Jiang Che for the trouble.

Jiang Che reasoned that he needed to help Master Chunji suppress the demon sword to improve the dungeon outcome, so he went outside the protective boundary to fight the demon monsters. He battled the growing horde near the barrier, and when a flying Transforming Force monster attacked, he was already prepared for it.

• Master Chunji shrank the protective boundary around the main hall as demon monsters attacked and the demon sword struggled against his suppression.
• Jiang Che concluded that he could improve the dungeon outcome by reducing Master Chunji’s burden, and persuaded him to let him fight outside the barrier.
• Jiang Che stepped outside and killed two ordinary demon monsters and an Embryonic Breath monster with his sword.
• More demon monsters, including several at Embryonic Breath and one at Transforming Force, swarmed Jiang Che as he fought with the barrier at his back and retreated inside when pressured.
• A Transforming Force monster with crippled wings launched an aerial ambush, but Jiang Che had spotted its wings and prepared for the attack.

Jiang Che fought demon monsters from within Master Chunji’s protective boundary until exhaustion forced him to stop, while the monsters steadily wore down Chunji’s power. Near dawn, the boundary and Buddha light suddenly dimmed, leaving the Demon Sword glowing in the darkness as Chunji’s suppression faltered.

• Jiang Che used the demon monsters’ momentum to kill the pouncing Transforming Force monster, then slew seven more before retreating behind the boundary.
• He repeatedly fought from the boundary’s edge for an hour, killing at least thirty monsters, including seven at the Embryonic Breath level, but suffered serious wounds and depleted nearly all his internal force.
• Master Chunji urged Jiang Che not to fight again, and Jiang Che chose to rest and observe while Puxin gave him half a flatbread.
• Over the next two hours, Jiang Che watched Chunji’s magical power waver and the Demon Sword struggle more fiercely, while Puxin grew anxious about his master.
• Just before dawn, the golden boundary, Buddha light, and oil lamps abruptly went dark, leaving only the Demon Sword’s eerie purple glow.

Jiang Che and Puxin watched Master Chunji sacrifice himself to suppress the demon sword and end the demon calamity. After the instance dungeon ended, Jiang Che received a seventh-rank Buddhist finger technique and resolved that what he could do for the dead monk lay in the years ahead.

• Jiang Che resisted the demon sword’s call and pulled Puxin away from it until Chunji returned and drove back the darkness.
• Chunji embraced the demon sword, sacrificing himself, and asked Jiang Che to seek reinforcements and look after Puxin.
• At dawn, the demon monsters and demonic qi vanished, and Jiang Che picked up the damaged sword as Puxin mourned Chunji.
• The instance dungeon ended, and Puxin cried out as Jiang Che’s figure disappeared.
• In the Consciousness Space, Jiang Che reflected on Chunji and Puxin before receiving the Candlelight Thousand-Jin Finger as his reward.

After receiving the Candlelight Thousand-Jin Finger from the instance, Jiang Che assessed its uses and considered how to explain possessing it. He then connected the Little Hidden Temple’s history to Ailin’s prophesied seven-year Demon Calamity, which might strike again this year.

• Jiang Che considered the D-Rank reward and recognized the Candlelight Thousand-Jin Finger as a powerful complement to the Azure Torrent Sword Art.
• Jiang Che noted that the instance had granted him preliminary mastery of the Buddhist technique, though his limited understanding of Buddhism would make further training difficult.
• Jiang Che concluded that the finger technique was not an Azure Mystic inheritance, so possessing it should not violate the sect’s rules.
• Jiang Che reconstructed how Chunji’s death in Xianxi Year Twenty-Two led to the Little Hidden Temple’s destruction and wondered what had happened to Puxin after being sent to seek help.
• Jiang Che realized that Xianxi Year Twenty-Nine marked the next seven-year interval and suspected that removing the Demon Sword had not prevented another Demon Calamity.
• Jiang Che recalled Du Yongchang’s warning that Ailin’s situation was becoming abnormal and wondered whether instances appeared before disasters that threatened him.

Jiang Che suspected another Demon Calamity might strike Ailin and recruited Hu Yan and Zhang Erguo to investigate the previous calamity and Little Hidden Temple. He sought Du Yongchang’s support, but after warning him about the True Demon’s sword, he angered the lord, who demanded to know who gave him the right to advise him.

• Jiang Che asked Hu Yan and Zhang Erguo to research the Demon Calamity seven years earlier, Little Hidden Temple, and any survivors or strange events.
• Jiang Che went to the Hall Department to seek Du Yongchang’s help and presented him with a copy of the Candlelight Thousand-Jin Finger cultivation method.
• Du Yongchang praised the method but told Jiang Che that its Buddhist foundation made it unsuitable for Azure Mystic cultivators.
• Jiang Che learned that Steward Wei had taken the True Demon’s sword to refine into a magic sword.
• Jiang Che warned Du Yongchang that the sword was dangerously evil and urged him not to use it, prompting Du Yongchang to rebuke him.

Jiang Che’s attempt to question Du Yongchang about Steward Wei and the Demon Sword failed, so he continued investigating the Little Hidden Temple and the True Demon. The clues suggested that someone had deliberately orchestrated the incident, while the people of Ailin were bound to remain and fight, leaving Jiang Che no choice but to keep investigating.

• Jiang Che apologized to Du Yongchang after being reprimanded, then concluded he needed concrete proof and learned that Steward Wei had the Demon Sword and planned to refine it into a Dharma sword.
• Hu Yan reported that the Little Hidden Temple had been founded by the missing Dharma master Chunji, later taken over by the Wang Clan, whose forty-seven members were killed in the year before the Demon Calamity.
• Jiang Che asked Hu Yan whether the county gazetteer mentioned Puxin, but she had never seen the name.
• Zhang Erguo reported that the soldiers who had supposedly spotted the True Demon and reported it were all dead, and that the informant had seemed dazed before making his report.
• Jiang Che and Hu Yan realized that the clues could mean someone had deliberately guided events surrounding the True Demon and the Little Hidden Temple.
• Zhang Erguo explained that the informant’s family were Ailin Military Household members who could not leave the county, and Jiang Che recognized that he, too, could not simply flee.