Chapter Summaries

Su Jiu watched the judges favor vitality over a Gu insect’s actual strength, and Lan Xiaoxi began to doubt the fairness of the contest after losing to A Jing. A Jing confronted Lan Xiaoxi to discourage her from questioning the judges, but Lan Xiaoxi smiled back after Su Jiu explained the warning.

• A contestant challenged the judges after they declared her Gu insect the loser, and guards stripped her of her Gu Mound and Gu maiden status.
• Lan Xiaoxi faced A Jing in the next match, and the judges allowed A Jing to win despite privately recognizing the unfair draw.
• Lan Xiaoxi told Su Jiu that A Jing’s Gu insect seemed weaker, and Su Jiu led her to consider that the judges might be rigging results.
• A Jing approached Lan Xiaoxi and warned her that the judges could not be wrong, while Su Jiu let Lan Xiaoxi respond for herself.
• After Su Jiu explained A Jing’s implied threat through a voice transmission, Lan Xiaoxi blinked and smiled.

Su Jiu discovered that the Fortune-Transferring Pearl had advanced and may have helped A Jing become the new Holy Maiden, while the Enforcement Hall prepared to act during the display of the Endless-Reach Grass. At the same time, the Water Moon Sect seized the Wuyi Tribe’s Gu Worms, killed its Chieftain, and left Xie Liang unable to stop them.

• Lan Xiaoxi verbally confronted A Jing, then left after being eliminated from the competition.
• A Jing became the Holy Maiden, and Su Jiu and Chu Luohen concluded that an advanced Fortune-Transferring Pearl had bestowed fortune on her.
• The Enforcement Hall disciples began moving as Green Intent brought the Endless-Reach Grass onto the platform.
• The Liu Household Head demanded the Holy Maiden Gu from the Wuyi Tribe’s Chieftain, and Xie Liang claimed it for the Heavenly Dawn Sect.
• The Liu Household Head held a sword to Xie Liang’s throat, while two Nascent Soul cultivators killed the Chieftain.
• The Liu Household Head explained that the Water Moon Sect meant to take the Gu and destroy the Wuyi Tribe to erase evidence of its dealings.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen followed Green Intent to the Tower Pavilion’s back room, where they uncovered the Liu Household’s plan to destroy the Wuyi Tribe and silence witnesses. Green Intent realized the Liu Household intended to take the Holy Maiden Gu and eliminate her, while Su Jiu wondered whether the tribe’s gu insects had prolonged Sect Master Li’s life.

• The junior disciple persuaded Xie Liang to abandon the gu insects after recognizing that the Liu Household’s people were far stronger, and they left without a fight.
• Su Jiu identified Green Intent’s Endless-Reach Grass as fake, then saw Hong Ling charge at Green Intent and the Enforcement Hall members join the ensuing battle.
• Green Intent tried to slip away from the chaos, and Su Jiu and Chu Luohen followed her to the Tower Pavilion’s back room, where they found the Wuyi Tribe chieftain dead.
• Green Intent retrieved keys from the chieftain and confronted the head of the Liu Household, who denied their arrangement and declared that the Wuyi Tribe would cease to exist.
• Green Intent realized the Liu Household wanted the Holy Maiden Gu and planned to kill her, while Su Jiu and Chu Luohen discussed the possibility that gu insects had extended Sect Master Li’s life.

Green Intent fought the Liu Household Head and two Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivators who wanted to learn the location of the real Endless-Reach Grass. As her gu worms attacked them, Su Jiu and Chu Luohen recognized their scent as the fragrance of the Seven-Colored Flower.

• The Liu Household Head revealed that his group had a way to prolong Shui Rao'er's life, then demanded that Green Intent disclose the real Endless-Reach Grass's location.
• The Liu Household Head and two Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivators attacked Green Intent when she refused to answer.
• Green Intent used poisonous powder to injure the Liu Household Head and briefly hinder the other two cultivators, but they recovered and overwhelmed her.
• Green Intent unleashed a swarm of poisonous gu worms and activated the Sacred Gu Scripture, spreading a thick, bloody-sweet fragrance.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen shut off their senses and recognized the gu worms' scent as the one they had encountered from a Seven-Colored Flower on the road to Poison Valley.
• The gu worms swarmed toward the two Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivators.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen confronted Green Intent after her Gu Worms killed the Liu Household head and two cultivators, but Green Intent died before revealing where the Endless-Reach Grass was hidden. Su Jiu then fought three masked Nascent Soul cultivators and overwhelmed one with her sword and Ice Spikes.

• Green Intent's Gu Worms devoured the Liu Household head and two Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivators before she collapsed from exhaustion.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen emerged, took Green Intent's keys, and demanded to know where the Endless-Reach Grass was hidden.
• When three newcomers approached, Green Intent accused Su Jiu and Chu Luohen of killing the Liu Household head, and Chu Luohen slit her throat.
• The three masked Nascent Soul cultivators attacked Su Jiu and Chu Luohen, and Su Jiu fought them outside the collapsing Tower Pavilion.
• Su Jiu shattered one cultivator's Magic Treasure and struck him with two Ice Spikes, leaving his body growing stiff.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen killed the attackers while the Wuyi Tribe descended into chaos, and Yili identified the dead cultivators as likely members of a mercenary organization. Su Jiu, Chu Luohen, and Hong Ling searched the chieftain’s secret chamber for the Endless-Reach Grass, and Su Jiu’s otherworldly eyes drew her attention to a chest.

• Su Jiu killed a cultivator with her ice thread, then joined Chu Luohen after he dealt with the other two attackers.
• Yili and the Enforcement Hall disciples examined the attackers’ belongings, and Yili suspected they were specially trained assassins from an organization similar to the Shadow Pavilion.
• Hong Ling questioned Yili about the attackers and memorized the totem on one of their waist tokens.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen met Hong Ling at the chieftain’s room, where she opened a hidden chamber beneath the bed.
• Su Jiu destroyed the chieftain’s Gu Mounds, but the three found no Endless-Reach Grass among the chamber’s treasures.
• Su Jiu activated her otherworldly eyes and approached a chest near Chu Luohen’s feet.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen uncovered the Endless-Reach Grass hidden in a treasure chest, while the Enforcement Hall learned that the Wuyi Tribe served the Zhu Household and had trafficked orphan girls. Their investigation linked the mysterious Black Veil Hat man to Zheng Qilong and his Fortune-Transferring Pearl, leaving Su Jiu wondering what he planned to do next.

• Chu Luohen sensed a hidden treasure chest, and Su Jiu used Void Talisman Drawing to reveal the Endless-Reach Grass concealed inside it.
• Su Jiu told Hong Ling that Green Intent was dead, and Hong Ling said that perhaps it was for the best.
• The Enforcement Hall disciples learned that the Wuyi Tribe's Chieftain and his family belonged to the Zhu Household, which had used orphan girls and the Sacred Gu Scripture to profit from Maiden Gu.
• The Zhu Household disciples revealed that Green Intent had been abandoned as an infant by Zhu Household members and later returned with considerable skills.
• The Zhu Household disciples described a Black Veil Hat man whose Fortune-Transferring Pearl drained the Holy Maiden's life force, and Su Jiu concluded that the man was Zheng Qilong.
• Yili told Su Jiu that the Hall Master had forbidden action against Zheng Qilong because he had become too dangerous, and Su Jiu wondered what he was trying to accomplish.

After the Azure Tide Sect’s Enforcement Hall ended its investigation into the Wuyi Tribe, Su Jiu left for the Yin River Continent and gave Lan Xiaoxi the chance to see the world. Meanwhile, the Heavenly Dawn Sect’s Sect Leader Li confronted Xie Liang and his junior brother over their failed dealings with the tribe.

• Yili stopped the search for the missing Zheng Qilong after learning that he and his Fortune-Transferring Pearl had vanished.
• Su Jiu learned that the Water Moon School had secretly created Nascent Soul Assassins, then departed with Chu Luohen while Hong Ling was summoned back by her sect leader.
• Su Jiu sent Lan Xiaoxi a glowing blue slip of paper, and Yili’s explanation revealed that the Wuyi Tribe’s girls had been stolen orphans raised to cultivate gu.
• Lan Xiaoxi realized her supposed parents had been Zhu Household Members and cried after hearing Su Jiu’s farewell message.
• At the Heavenly Dawn Sect, Xie Liang blamed his junior brother for abandoning the Gu Worm trade, and Sect Leader Li rebuked him for ignoring the warning to withdraw.

Xie Liang was privately summoned by Sect Master Li as disciples speculated about their relationship, while a young disciple suspected the sect master wanted something other than Xie Liang’s looks. At the Water Moon School, Shui Rao'er learned her plans had failed and blamed Qian Ling for her condition; meanwhile, Su Jiu and Chu Luohen traveled toward the Shangyin Continent and discussed Gong Hao’s grudge against them.

• Sect Master Li dismissed Xie Liang from the hall but secretly summoned him to his room, prompting disciples to gossip about their closeness.
• A young disciple suspected Sect Master Li sought a special constitution from Xie Liang, and days later the disciple who spread the gossip was found dead.
• Shui Rao'er learned the Azure Tide Sect’s Enforcement Hall had intercepted what her people were retrieving, and that Liu was dead while the survivors had been captured.
• Shui Rao'er asked whether the Secret Realm could open early, then learned that two Thousand Moon School personal disciples had died on the Shangyin Continent and smiled as she thought of Qian Ling.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen traveled toward the Shangyin Continent, and Su Jiu told Chu Luohen that their earlier battle had cost Gong Hao part of his power and that his grudge concerned her.

Su Jiu learned Snowfall from Chu Luohen as they traveled to the Shangyin Continent, where Gu Ningyun encountered Lie Wushuang near Zen Sound Temple. After hearing gossip about Shen Qingyue, Gao Yang reflected on his time in Purgatory Peak and realized he no longer felt anything for her.

• Chu Luohen warned Su Jiu to be careful about revealing her air-moving talent and gave her the Jade Slip containing Snowfall.
• Su Jiu read Snowfall as she and Chu Luohen reached the Teleportation Array to the Shangyin Continent.
• At Zen Sound Temple, the monk Ziyin admitted his heart was unsettled, while the old monk told him that the veiled woman had left.
• Gu Ningyun met Lie Wushuang on the rainy mountain path, and Lie Wushuang said she had come for the Secret Realm due to appear in two months.
• Gao Yang overheard people gossiping about Shen Qingyue and reflected that his imprisonment had made him give up on her completely.
• Gao Yang's companion noticed his reaction and asked whether he was all right.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen found the Teleportation Array to the Yin River Continent damaged and learned repairs could take half a year. As they headed toward a nearby city, a young monk recognized Su Jiu’s clear heart, while his older companion hurried him away.

• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen reached the Shangyin Continent’s Teleportation Array and were told it had been deliberately damaged and would take about half a year to repair.
• Su Jiu offered to help repair the array, but the guards refused outside Formation Arts Artists; she warned them she would intervene if repairs were not finished in half a year.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen walked toward a nearby city, where Su Jiu noticed many Buddhist Cultivators and the Painting Spirit and Little Pearl enjoyed the Buddhist aura.
• A young monk told Su Jiu that her clear heart drew spiritual beings to her, and Su Jiu realized he could see and commune with spirits.
• The older monk hurried the young monk away, and Chu Luohen reassured Su Jiu that they did not look like villains who abducted children.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen entered Azure City to investigate why the Teleportation Array had been destroyed. They encountered Lu Shuangshuang arguing with her fiancé Shu Li, then spotted Shu Wugui in the crowd as Chu Luohen reacted to Su Jiu mentioning her friends.

• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen arrived in prosperous Azure City and bought a city map from a vendor who tried to overcharge them.
• Su Jiu recognized Lu Shuangshuang arguing with Shu Li, who demanded that she tell her father she wanted to become his concubine.
• Lu Shuangshuang refused to break off their engagement, and Su Jiu noticed a flash of killing intent in Shu Li's eyes before leaving.
• Su Jiu felt a divine sense sweep over her and recognized Shu Wugui among the crowd from their meeting in Flowing Moon City.
• Su Jiu mentioned Yun Chao and Qiao Zirong to Chu Luohen, who grew uncomfortable before telling her she did not need to explain herself.

Su Jiu avoided Shu Wugui and heard that the Zhu Household’s Gu Worm operation had been destroyed by the Azure Tide Sect’s Enforcement Hall. After learning about a Buddhist Secret Realm opening early and rumors connecting it to the Zhu Household, she decided to investigate the household because of its ties to the Wuyi Tribe.

• Su Jiu declined Shu Wugui’s invitation to stay with the Shu Family and left after he admitted he had sincerely wanted to host her.
• Shu Yi learned that Su Jiu had visited and realized she had left because she disliked Shu Wugui.
• At an inn, Su Jiu overheard two Si Family disciples say the Azure Tide Sect’s Enforcement Hall had wiped out the Zhu Household’s Gu Worm operation after its young granddaughter captured True Lord Hong Ling.
• Su Jiu heard that Gu Ningyun and Lie Wushuang had come to Azure City for a Buddhist Secret Realm that Zen Sound Temple planned to open two years early because a seal had loosened.
• The Si Family disciples discussed the Zhu Household’s bitter history with their family, and Su Jiu left to investigate the Zhu Household because of its connection to the Wuyi Tribe.

Su Jiu rushed toward the Zhu Household, which she suspected of destroying the Teleportation Array, while Gu Ningyun recognized her passing ice spiritual qi and followed. At the Zhu estate, Su Jiu found its powerful protective Barrier and secretly cast runes on two disciples as they left.

• Su Jiu used spiritual qi to speed toward the Zhu Household, and Gu Ningyun sensed her ice spiritual qi flash past.
• Lie Wushuang guessed that the passing cultivator was Su Jiu, and Gu Ningyun walked after her.
• Shu Li ordered his attendants to watch Lu Shuangshuang and investigate Gu Ningyun and Lie Wushuang after seeing them leave.
• Su Jiu inspected the Zhu Household's powerful protective Barrier and concluded that breaking in would alert its creator.
• Su Jiu cast two runes onto departing Zhu Household disciples and emerged from concealment after they walked away.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen questioned Gu Ningyun, Lie Wushuang, and Si Lin about the damaged Teleportation Array and strange events in Azure City. After learning the Si Family was repairing the array, Gu Ningyun and Lie Wushuang left when Si Lin revealed he was Si Que’s cousin.

• Lie Wushuang, Gu Ningyun, Su Jiu, and Chu Luohen discussed the Teleportation Array, and Gu Ningyun said she had arrived two months earlier while Lie Wushuang said the array was damaged about half a month ago.
• Lie Wushuang explained that two Soulguiding Sect disciples had fought at the array, and a man said they had been pursuing a traitor who died there.
• Su Jiu asked the man about strange events, and he told her that many Zhu Household Soul Tablets had shattered a month earlier.
• The man identified himself as Si Lin and said the Si Family’s Formation Arts Artists were repairing the array.
• Gu Ningyun asked Si Lin about Si Que, and after learning Si Lin was his cousin, Lie Wushuang took Gu Ningyun and left.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen paid for the tea and departed, leaving Si Lin to wonder what he had done wrong.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen discussed evidence suggesting the Zhu Household was involved in a scheme connected to the Soulguiding Sect and the Teleportation Array. As they considered their next steps, Chu Luohen told Su Jiu that the Zen Sound Temple’s Secret Realm would open in a month and hinted that time flowed strangely within it.

• Si Lin watched Su Jiu and Chu Luohen leave, then found the Spirit Stones they had left on the table and quietly accepted them.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen returned to the inn, set up a Barrier, and compared what they had learned about Azure City.
• Chu Luohen explained that the Zhu Household and several other families were helping repair the formation, despite the Zhu disciples’ poor Formation Arts skills, and said the Soulguiding Sect was connected to the Zhu Household.
• Su Jiu suggested that the Zhu Household might be using the repair effort to erase evidence and wondered whether the Heavenly Dawn Sect and Water Moon School were involved; Chu Luohen said the theories needed proof.
• Chu Luohen told Su Jiu the Zen Sound Temple’s Secret Realm would open in a month and asked whether she wanted to enter; he said it resembled the Nightfall Cold Pool, prompting her to ask whether time flowed differently inside.

Su Jiu chose to wait for the Teleportation Array to reopen rather than enter the Secret Realm, since she could not risk delaying her search for the Netherworld Flower needed to save Su Mianmian. Chu Luohen rented a courtyard and began preparing to teach her Snowfall, while Su Jiu studied its forms and discovered how difficult the technique was.

• Chu Luohen explained that Zen Sound Temple had suppressed the Secret Realm entrance for ten thousand years, and Su Jiu learned that the Yin River Continent had no such entrance because Ghost Cultivators had discovered it first.
• Su Jiu declined to enter the Secret Realm and decided to wait for the Teleportation Array to reopen so she could avoid risking a delay in saving Su Mianmian.
• Chu Luohen rented a courtyard nearby and told Su Jiu to spend two days studying Snowfall before he formally instructed her on the third day.
• Chu Luohen explained that Snowfall could be layered over her domain and controlled to avoid harming the courtyard’s plants.
• Su Jiu studied Snowfall’s seven forms, understood the first four, and struggled with Snow Penetration, which affected meridians, and the sixth form, which attacked the divine soul.

Su Jiu studied Snow Domain and practiced Snowfall under Chu Luohen’s guidance, learning to control its spiritual qi and form a domain efficiently. Jin Chen asked her to join the effort to retrieve the Pure-Ice Snow Lotus, and she agreed to enter the Secret Realm.

• Su Jiu read that Snow Domain could conceal its cultivator and overwhelm powerful enemies, but demanded immense spiritual qi.
• Jin Chen told Su Jiu that the Zen Sound Temple required him to retrieve an item from the Secret Realm in exchange for the Pure-Ice Snow Lotus, and breaking its formation required eight different single spirit roots.
• Jin Chen said Gu Ningyun had a wind spirit root and Qin Ming was expected to arrive with a lightning spirit root; he told Su Jiu the Secret Realm would open in twenty-seven days.
• Su Jiu demonstrated her ice-and-snow domain to Chu Luohen, who praised her talent and explained that her fast hand seals consumed too much spiritual qi.
• Su Jiu slowed her hand seals and formed a smaller, three-zhang Snow Domain as Chu Luohen instructed her to practice turning snowflakes into blades.

Su Jiu improved her Snow Domain techniques while disputes between the Shu and Lu families and the Zhu and Si families stirred the city. The Zhu and Si families’ feud worsened after Zhu Jie pursued Si Lin, and the chapter ended with Zhu Jie brawling with her sisters.

• Su Jiu mastered Snow Congealing and Snow Blade and made progress with Snow Dance and Snowmelt, while her Junior Granduncle advised her not to rush the remaining moves.
• The Shu and Lu families broke off their alliance after the Shu family’s young master tried to have the Lu family’s young lady assassinated, and Madam Shu began seeking a new fiancée for her son.
• Zhu Jie became infatuated with Si Lin and sent four guards to seize him, but he escaped to the Si Family residence.
• Madam Si rejected the Zhu Household’s betrothal gifts, and the Zhu Household retaliated with rumors that Si Lin had taken advantage of Zhu Jie.
• The Si Family punished Si Lin but refused the marriage, while rumors damaged Zhu Jie’s reputation and fueled hostility from her sisters.
• Zhu Jie fought with her sisters, and the Zhu Household patriarch arrived after they had torn into one another.

Su Jiu and her companions encountered Si Lin on the way to Zen Sound Temple, where Su Jiu’s Jade Beads resonated with the temple and the abbot sensed their arrival. As the group split up around the temple and Secret Realm entrance, Su Jiu and Chu Luohen explored the forest and saw signs of its spiritually rich life.

• Su Jiu, Gu Ningyun, and Lie Wushuang discovered Si Lin following them after they left Azure City, and Lie Wushuang mocked him over a scandal involving a Zhu Household girl.
• Si Lin continued following the group up the mountain despite Lie Wushuang’s objections, until Gu Ningyun warned him to stop speaking nonsense.
• Su Jiu noticed her Jade Beads glowing in response to Zen Sound Temple, while the abbot sensed the approaching item and reflected that it was returning to its rightful owner.
• Little Pearl recognized a familiar presence near Zen Sound Temple and went inside after Su Jiu told her to return by noon.
• Lie Wushuang and Gu Ningyun headed toward the Secret Realm entrance, Si Lin entered Zen Sound Temple, and Su Jiu and Chu Luohen strolled through the forest.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen saw two squirrels accept nuts from a monk and bow to him, suggesting the animals were developing awareness.