Chapter Summaries

Xia Jue ordered an assassin to kill the Demonic Cultivators behind the Spirit-Draining Stone trade, while the enemy sect’s master and a woman plotted to conceal their remaining supply chain. Su Jiu discovered that the strange formation beneath the Zheng Household resembled the time formation from the Nightfall Secret Realm, leaving her unsettled about her path in formation arts.

• Xia Jue received a secret letter and sent Nineteen to kill the Demonic Cultivators, judging the threat too dangerous for Su Jiu.
• The enemy sect’s master argued with a woman over their losses, Meng En’s death, and the need to hide their other Spirit-Draining Stone supply chain.
• The woman suggested using the Grand Elder’s help and discussed a plan involving Xia Jue, while the sect master considered exploiting her allure.
• Su Jiu returned to the Zheng Household ruins and found a palm-sized, glowing formation beneath a bed.
• Su Jiu tried to break the formation, suffered the same reaction as when unraveling the Nightfall Cold Pool time formation, and recognized striking similarities between their patterns.

Su Jiu activated an ancient spatial seal formation that became a white domain, suppressing her spiritual qi and swallowing her. After an Enforcement Hall disciple cut away her support and she vanished beneath the ground, Xia Jue arrived too late and ordered a search.

• Su Jiu studied the formation patterns and realized they were connected to spatial power and an ancient seal formation.
• Su Jiu poured spiritual qi into the formation, completing its patterns and recording them as a white domain began to spread.
• The white domain swallowed Su Jiu, suppressed her spiritual qi, and consumed the tools she tried to use to escape.
• Su Jiu sent Xia Jue a Message Talisman asking for help, but an Enforcement Hall disciple cut away the ground she clung to and she fell into the domain.
• Xia Jue arrived to find the formation and Su Jiu gone, ordered the ground dug up, and told his people to search Jade Sun City.

While Xia Jue searched for clues about the spirit-draining stones and kept watch on Gao Yang, Su Jiu awakened in a hidden ice cavern after disappearing into a sealed white domain. She broke free from the frozen pool and encountered the mysterious person who had saved her.

• Xia Jue learned from the Heavenly Secret Sect that Su Jiu was alive, then investigated the spirit-draining stone clues at the Hundred Refinement Sect.
• Gao Yang left the Enforcement Hall, and Xia Jue burned his abandoned clothes before ordering a subordinate to keep watching him.
• Su Jiu met Little Gift in the void, where it remembered its original name, Nine-Petal Frostflow, but could not sense her location.
• Su Jiu awoke at the bottom of a frigid pool, broke through the ice sealing it, and explored the surrounding ice cavern.
• A mysterious person appeared behind Su Jiu and said they had saved her, prompting her to summon Frost-Cold Purple Ultimate and face them warily.

Su Jiu was rescued from a Seal Formation by a powerful silver-haired man who imprisoned her and saw through her secrets. After testing her in a fight and injuring her, he healed her on an ice bed, leaving her wary of his intentions.

• A beautiful silver-haired man appeared before Su Jiu and claimed she could never leave the place where he had saved her.
• Su Jiu realized she was in the Seal Grounds, but the man immobilized her and revealed he could see her spiritual roots, treasures, and Hidden Qilin.
• The man freed Su Jiu, then challenged her to fight; he easily struck her down and left her badly injured.
• Su Jiu insisted on fighting rather than passively accepting death, but the man immobilized her again and carried her to an ice bed.
• The silver-haired man treated Su Jiu's internal and external wounds, while she questioned why he had injured her only to heal her.

Su Jiu discovered that the man trapped in the Lifeless Ice Cavern was Silver Snow, a Nine-Tailed Fox demon cultivator sealed there for thousands of years. After learning that Su Jiu could create a spatial teleportation array, Silver Snow agreed to wait while she prepared a way out.

• Silver Snow told Su Jiu about the Lifeless Ice Cavern and revealed his phasing ability and the ice sculptures he had made during his long confinement.
• Silver Snow revealed that he belonged to the Fox Tribe and teased Su Jiu by challenging her to guess his branch; she guessed Nine-Tailed correctly.
• Silver Snow released Su Jiu, introduced himself as Silver Snow, and asked how she had ended up in the cavern.
• Su Jiu recognized the sealing formation as the work of the person who had imprisoned Silver Snow and explained that she had fallen into the cavern while studying it.
• Su Jiu told Silver Snow she could make a teleportation array between spaces, and he agreed to wait while she gathered the time and resources needed.

Su Jiu discovered that the shifting Seal Formation prevented her sect from finding her, so she searched the ice chamber for a way out. She found instructions for a Spirit-Cleansing Technique in the pool’s illusion, but the exit remained hidden, and Silver Snow could not identify the healing water.

• Su Jiu’s teleportation formation failed when the spirit-banning domain appeared, and Silver Snow explained that the Seal Formation markings moved across the Nine Provinces Continent.
• Su Jiu broke the ice covering the pool and learned that Silver Snow had used its water to heal her injuries.
• Su Jiu entered the pool and saw an illusion show a woman draining the water to reveal an exit formation, along with instructions for the Spirit-Cleansing Technique.
• Su Jiu recorded the instructions, but she could not reveal the formation by searching the pool or lifting out its water.
• Su Jiu asked Silver Snow what the pool water was, and he admitted he had only discovered by chance that it could heal injuries.

Su Jiu learned about the pool’s strange properties and began practicing the Spirit-Cleansing Technique, while Silver Snow discovered that his phasing ability could affect objects. After two months, Su Jiu mastered the first layer and began cultivating the second, hoping to advance Jade Moisture, Ice Clarity as well.

• Silver Snow told Su Jiu that the pool healed wounds and replenished its water, though he had never discovered its secrets.
• Su Jiu showed Silver Snow the Spirit-Cleansing Technique, which he could not see or practice, then explained the images carved on the wall.
• Silver Snow moved the ice sculptures and used his phasing ability to make the carved woman disappear, while recalling the Three-Tail Clan that had hunted him.
• Su Jiu practiced the Spirit-Cleansing Technique for two months and broke through to its first layer.
• Su Jiu learned that the third layer could control spirit-cleansing spring water and began practicing the second layer alongside Jade Moisture, Ice Clarity.

After a year and a half of cultivation, Su Jiu broke through to the second layer and confirmed that Silver Snow was a Spirit Transformation great demon. Meanwhile, Zheng Qilong returned to his ancestral home and discovered that the Yu Household controlled the Zheng Household, leaving him with little real authority.

• Su Jiu broke through to the second layer and used her sword to shatter an ice sculpture, which melted into water.
• Su Jiu inferred from the melted ice that Silver Snow had reached Spirit Transformation, and Silver Snow acknowledged her cleverness.
• Silver Snow teased Su Jiu about eating her, but she remained calm and resumed cultivating.
• Zheng Qilong learned that his cursed Fortune-Transferring Pearl siphoned the fortune of people who stayed near him, and he left his sect to travel.
• Zheng Qilong returned to the Spiritflight Continent after learning he was a direct-line young master of the Zheng Household.
• Zheng Qilong discovered that the Yu Household had taken control of the Zheng Household and that he held no real authority in Jade Sun City.

Yu Jin exposed Zheng Qilong’s attempt to drain the fortune of those around him, forcing him to leave the Zheng Household after his father pleaded for his safety. Meanwhile, Bai Su remained imprisoned in the Heavenly Devil Palace, where Yi Feng Chen visited her and warned her not to pry into his mission.

• Yu Jin’s investigation confirmed that Zheng Qilong intended to use his mutated Fortune-Transferring Pearl to siphon the Yu Household’s fortune.
• Yu Jin accused Zheng Qilong of draining the fortune of those around him, and Zheng Qilong’s relatives began distancing themselves from him.
• After Zheng Qilong cursed his clan and left with the pearl, his father swore never to harm Jade Sun City, and Yu Jin agreed to spare him.
• Bai Su remained trapped in the Heavenly Devil Palace, unable to cultivate effectively as the demonic qi weakened her and aged her appearance.
• Yi Feng Chen mocked Bai Su and refused to discuss whether he had captured the woman she asked about.
• When Bai Su teased Yi Feng Chen about falling for that woman, he grabbed her by the throat, threatened her, and left her Grain-Banishing Pills.

Gong Hao ordered Yi Feng Chen to seize Su Jiu if necessary, while Su Jiu advanced her cultivation inside the moving Seal Formation and discovered her sword could wound souls. The chapter ended with Silver Snow admitting he had planted a mark on Su Jiu to find her later.

• Gong Hao questioned Yi Feng Chen about his unfinished task and ordered him to kill anyone surrounding Su Jiu if they obstructed her capture.
• Su Jiu reached the third level of the Spirit-Cleansing Technique, advanced Ice Clarity, and attained the peak of the golden core stage.
• Su Jiu asked Silver Snow whether he could use a breakthrough tribulation to destroy the Seal Formation, and he explained the dangers of advancing inside it.
• After Silver Snow kissed her hand, Su Jiu attacked him and discovered that her Spirit-Cleansing Technique could injure souls through her sword.
• Silver Snow tested Su Jiu's strength, judged that she could contend with an ordinary early-stage nascent soul cultivator, and knocked her into the barrier.
• Silver Snow told Su Jiu he had planted a mark on her so he could find her later, and she demanded to know why demons could not contact people another way.

Su Jiu absorbed the Spirit-Cleansing Pool Water, discovered a teleportation array and twenty-four cultivation methods, and watched Silver Snow leave the sealed cavern. Meanwhile, Azure Tide Sect debated replacing the missing Su Jiu as a Far North Secret Realm candidate, while Ning Hai and Xia Jue suspected someone was manipulating the dispute.

• Su Jiu drew all the Spirit-Cleansing Pool Water into her sea of consciousness, where Little Gift also controlled it, and a teleportation formation appeared beneath the pool.
• Silver Snow entered the formation and left Su Jiu twenty-four cultivation methods, which she recorded in her jade slip.
• Azure Tide Sect disciples argued that Su Jiu should be replaced because she had been missing for five years, and the sect leader set a one-month deadline before the inner gate disciples would choose another Golden Core cultivator.
• Ning Hai asked Xia Jue who was behind the effort to replace Su Jiu, and Xia Jue said the hidden hand mattered more than who wanted to enter.
• Ning Hai worried about Su Jiu's whereabouts and acknowledged that the sect could not forfeit its place if she failed to return before the registration deadline.

Pei Zhen vowed to help Shen Qingyue claim a place in the Far North Secret Realm, unaware that she had manipulated him. After returning to the Azure Mist Continent, Su Jiu intervened when a cultivator attacked a mortal family, but he insisted the survivors would become his heart demon if he spared them.

• Pei Zhen told Shen Qingyue he would fight to secure her a place in the Far North Secret Realm if Su Jiu did not return within a month.
• Shen Qingyue revealed in her thoughts that she had fabricated the story of losing a spot and had deliberately let others hear her cry.
• Su Jiu arrived in a mortal village, learned the date and location, and left a villager a spirit stone before departing.
• A young man in the Heavenly Secret Sect saw Su Jiu's red star flare and sent a Message Talisman that finally reached its destination.
• While flying back toward her sect, Su Jiu saw a cultivator kill a mortal woman and stopped him from striking two children by piercing his wrist with an Ice Spike.
• Su Jiu warned the cultivator that killing mortals violated heaven's harmony, but he said sparing the children would make them his heart demon.

Su Jiu rescued two children from Xie Liang, a Foundation Establishment cultivator who planned to kill his descendants to cultivate the heartless Dao. As she took them toward the sect for spirit-root testing, she discovered the boy had a pure yang body.

• Su Jiu confronted Xie Liang and learned the two children were his blood relatives, but he insisted that killing them would help him attain the heartless Dao.
• Xie Liang invoked his ties to Sect Leader Li and the Heavenly Dawn Sect, but Su Jiu challenged his understanding of the Dao and asked whether his master had ordered him to kill his wife.
• Su Jiu took the children aboard her Flying Boat and warned Xie Liang to tell Sect Leader Li that she had taken them.
• On the way to the sect, Su Jiu examined the children and discovered that the twelve-year-old boy had a pure yang body.
• Su Jiu planned to test the children's spirit roots, while the boy remained silent and the little girl answered her questions.

Su Jiu’s return became the focus of a dispute in the Heavenly Origin Hall over who would enter the Far North Secret Realm. Pei Zhen nominated himself after his plan to hold a vote unraveled, while Su Jiu had still not returned to the sect.

• Su Jiu learned that Xie Gu and Xie Li’s grandmother had died and suspected that their missing grandfather, Xie Liang, might have followed an unorthodox path to reach Foundation Establishment.
• A month later, Pei Zhen proposed a vote to decide the Far North Secret Realm places at a meeting in the Heavenly Origin Hall.
• Su Mianmian challenged Pei Zhen’s proposal and said they should wait for Su Jiu to return.
• Su Mianmian revealed Su Jiu’s Message Talisman, which said she would return to the sect in a month.
• Pei Zhen argued that the sect should choose someone else because Su Jiu had not yet returned, then nominated himself after Shen Qingyue warned him that she would be blamed if he put her forward.
• The true disciples who had expected to vote for Shen Qingyue were stunned by Pei Zhen’s nomination.

Su Jiu returned to the Heavenly Origin Hall and then brought Xie Li and Xie Gu to the Azure Tide Sect’s outer gate for spirit-root tests. Xie Gu chose to stay with his sister and became Hong Ling’s personal disciple, while remaining at the outer gate to care for her.

• Su Jiu arrived at the Heavenly Origin Hall within the allotted time, ending Pei Zhen’s challenge and bringing the deliberations to a close.
• Su Jiu tested Xie Li and Xie Gu with a Spirit-Testing Stone, discovering Xie Li had three spirit roots and Xie Gu had an eighty-percent single fire spiritual root.
• Su Jiu offered Xie Gu the choice of joining Blazing Flame Peak or staying at the outer gate with Xie Li, and he chose to stay with his sister.
• Hong Ling appeared, offered to take Xie Gu as her personal disciple while allowing him to remain at the outer gate, and Xie Gu accepted.
• Xie Gu thanked Su Jiu and vowed not to forget her kindness as she departed.

Su Jiu reunited with Chu Luohen and Chu Mojin on Ice Veil Peak and told them about her journey through Swallowing Heaven. She learned that merfolk had left Swallowing Heaven for the Nine Nether Sea, and planned to investigate after the Far North Secret Realm while preparing for the dangers ahead.

• Su Jiu returned to Ice Veil Peak, where Chu Luohen and Chu Mojin were waiting, and surprised them with her Golden Core Great Perfection cultivation and account of Swallowing Heaven.
• Chu Luohen gave Su Jiu a jade slip containing notes on comprehending temporal force, while Chu Mojin reacted with envy to her progress.
• Chu Mojin explained that the Hidden Qilin was the most important scale on a merfolk's tail and revealed that he and A Hen knew merfolk living in the Azure Realm.
• Chu Mojin told Su Jiu that merfolk had used the Everlasting Flower ten thousand years ago to leave Swallowing Heaven, accepting limits on their lifespan, land travel, and cultivation in exchange.
• Su Jiu learned that the outside merfolk lived in the Nine Nether Sea, and Chu Luohen offered to accompany her in ten years if she reached Nascent Soul; Chu Mojin said he would need to remain at the sect.
• Chu Mojin warned Su Jiu to prioritize her safety in the Far North Secret Realm and watch out for rogue cultivators who might kill her for her treasures.

Su Mianmian confronted Su Jiu about their growing cultivation gap and the fear Su Jiu was hiding, but their talk was interrupted when they found the injured Gao Yang on Blazing Flame Peak. After Su Jiu and Su Mianmian brought him to the Enforcement Hall, Xia Jue dismissed accusations that they had attacked him, while Shen Qingyue warned Pei Zhen not to challenge Xia Jue.

• Su Mianmian told Su Jiu she feared their cultivation differences would eventually separate them and pressed her to explain what she was afraid of.
• Su Jiu kept her fears about the book and the Heavenly Dao to herself, then sensed blood and led Su Mianmian to an unconscious, badly wounded man.
• Su Jiu recognized Gao Yang as the man who had refused to save her in Jade Sun City, and Su Mianmian arranged for Zhang Liang to carry him to the Enforcement Hall.
• At the Enforcement Hall, Shen Qingyue treated Gao Yang while Pei Zhen suggested Su Jiu and Su Mianmian were responsible for his injuries.
• Xia Jue said they would wait for Gao Yang to wake, rejected Pei Zhen's accusations, and Shen Qingyue privately told Pei Zhen not to resist him.

Pei Zhen was punished after Xia Jue exposed his attempt to frame Su Jiu, while Gao Yang recovered and gave Shen Qingyue the Love Gu. The Far North Secret Realm opened, and Su Jiu joined Xia Jue and Tong Qi at its entrance, where Tong Qi warned her about Shen Qingyue.

• Xia Jue showed a recording that cleared Su Jiu and cited Enforcement Hall rules to sentence Pei Zhen to two months on Purgatory Peak.
• Shen Qingyue watched over the unconscious Gao Yang until he woke, then heard about his escape and received the Love Gu from him.
• Shen Qingyue rejected Gao Yang, who admitted he had once considered using the Love Gu on her but chose not to.
• Nearly ten thousand cultivators gathered when the Far North Secret Realm opened, and Su Jiu noticed several familiar faces among them.
• Tong Qi questioned Su Jiu's rapid cultivation progress, then warned her to keep her distance from Shen Qingyue and Xia Jue.

Su Jiu watched Shen Qingyue try to join Xia Jue’s group, while the rogue cultivators who had brought her into the secret realm resisted traveling with him. Shen Qingyue left with them, and Xia Jue rebuked Tong Qi for teasing him.

• Su Jiu and Tong Qi discussed Shen Qingyue’s influence as she spoke with Xia Jue and her two rogue cultivator companions.
• Shen Qingyue invited Xia Jue’s group to travel with her, and Tong Qi asked how they would divide the spoils.
• One of Shen Qingyue’s companions objected, saying they had a different objective and would not be heading the same way.
• Shen Qingyue realized she could not abandon the men who had brought her into the secret realm without damaging her reputation, while Xia Jue remained silent.
• Shen Qingyue left with the two rogue cultivators, and Xia Jue called Tong Qi indiscriminate for teasing him.

Su Jiu, Xia Jue, and Tong Qi entered the Far North Secret Realm, where the entrance scattered cultivators across different locations. Using a partial map, they headed into the Carefree Forest to find a hidden sacred artifact, but two fifth-tier demon beasts confronted them.

• The secret realm opened, and Su Jiu, Xia Jue, and Tong Qi used red cords to stay together after being transported into the forest.
• Xia Jue led Su Jiu and Tong Qi past low-tier spirit herbs and flowers, and Su Jiu inferred their location from his partial map.
• Xia Jue revealed that they were searching for a sacred artifact hidden by an Azure Tide Sect predecessor, and that others knew about it.
• Su Jiu realized the artifact's secret could draw hostile cultivators, while Xia Jue avoided flying by sword to keep their movements concealed.
• Xia Jue stopped when Su Jiu sensed two fifth-tier low-tier demon beasts ahead, and Tong Qi prepared for battle.