Chapter Summaries

Su Jiu arrived in time to rescue Yun Huanling from Shu Man and her Senior Sister, who had tried to drug and entrap him. After treating his wound, Su Jiu exposed Shu Man's attempt to silence her accomplice, leaving Shu Man afraid that her scheme had been discovered.

• Shu Man dismissed her Senior Sister's doubts and urged her to strip so they could exploit Yun Huanling's weakened state.
• Su Jiu rushed to Yun Huanling's lodgings and found him injured and the two women kneeling under her pressure.
• Su Jiu ignored Shu Man's false accusation, helped Yun Huanling to bed, and gave him an All-Healing Pill.
• Yun Huanling clung to Su Jiu and begged her not to leave while she bandaged his bleeding hand.
• Shu Man and her Senior Sister tried to sneak away, but Su Jiu stopped them with Ice Spikes.
• Shu Man secretly struck her Senior Sister with a needle to make her pass out, but Su Jiu saw through the deception and confronted her.

Su Jiu exposed Shu Man’s lies and used her innate art to make her confess that she had used her senior sister as a scapegoat while favoring Tang Wuchen over Yun Huanling. After the two women left, Su Jiu discovered that Yun Huanling had been pretending to sleep.

• Shu Man claimed she alone was responsible and tried to protect her senior sister by blaming her for the scheme against Yun Huanling.
• Su Jiu revealed that she knew what had happened from the mirror and refused to believe Shu Man’s excuses.
• Su Jiu used her innate art to make Shu Man confess that she resented the mirror’s orders, had sent her senior sister to carry them out, and preferred Tang Wuchen.
• Shu Man’s senior sister woke and heard the confession, then left Yun Huanling’s courtyard; Shu Man followed after Su Jiu told them to go.
• Su Jiu prepared to leave, but noticed Yun Huanling had been pretending to be asleep.

Su Jiu forced Yun Huanling to stop pretending to sleep after finding him unharmed by the drug. As she traced the attackers’ rare talismans and potent drug to possible Black Market connections, her suspicions increasingly pointed toward the Heavenly Secret Sect.

• Su Jiu caught Yun Huanling pretending to sleep and dragged him from the bed, slamming his face into the floor.
• Yun Huanling admitted two Foundation Establishment disciples had drugged him and used high-grade Concealment Breath Talismans to approach unnoticed.
• Su Jiu questioned how the sisters obtained such rare talismans and the drug, suspecting their purchases were unlikely to be coincidental.
• Yun Huanling checked his body and found no lingering effects from the Tiger-Wolf Drug.
• Su Jiu recalled an eighth-tier spiritual drug Chu Mojin had described and worried that the evidence pointed toward the Heavenly Secret Sect.

Su Jiu discovered a lewd portrait resembling her and realized someone was using it to frame Xie Liang. She left the identity of the culprit unresolved while suspecting the scheme involved someone familiar with Ming Yun.

• Su Jiu arrived at her arena and heard disciples gossiping about her and Xie Liang, prompting Tong Qi to cut one man's cheek with a dart.
• Tong Qi tried to destroy a portrait that drifted down, but Su Jiu caught and examined it, noticing it showed a woman who resembled her beside the Frostbound Purple Ultimate Sword.
• Su Jiu pointed out that the woman's facial mark had one more petal than hers and reasoned that the painter had likely copied Ming Yun's appearance rather than using Su Jiu as a model.
• Su Jiu asked a Heavenly Dawn Sect disciple why everyone blamed Xie Liang, and learned they recognized his handwriting on the poem accompanying the portrait.
• Su Jiu concluded that someone was using her to harm Xie Liang and learned from Tong Qi that many copies of the portrait had spread.

Sect Leader Li tried to shift blame for the scandalous portrait, but Xia Jue forced her to address the truth that it did not depict Su Jiu. Before the matches, Li publicly named the real painter and apologized, though Su Jiu suspected the affair had deeper roots.

• A Heavenly Dawn Sect disciple told Sect Leader Li that a fight had erupted over a portrait falsely linked to Su Jiu, and Li ordered every copy collected after recognizing the danger to Ming Yun.
• Xia Jue arrived with Azure Tide Sect Enforcement Hall disciples and warned Li that the portrait’s subject was not Su Jiu, whose face had six petals rather than seven.
• Li agreed to handle the matter herself, while Xia Jue said the Enforcement Hall would stay out of it if she resolved it properly.
• Before the matches, Li brought the bound artist onto the platform, identified him as the painter who had imitated Xie Liang’s work, and apologized to Su Jiu.
• Su Jiu realized Xia Jue had likely pressured Li and suspected the painter’s scheme had involved using her to harm Xie Liang.

Su Jiu faced Duan Song, a Water Moon School disciple whose cultivation appeared to have been raised through unorthodox means, in the tournament. After Duan Song used a high-tier art that exposed a possible link to stolen Misty Immortal Sect manuals, Su Jiu began forming a seemingly elementary art that made him fear her strength.

• Su Jiu suspected Xia Jue had helped Sect Leader Li catch the true mastermind, but Xia Jue did not answer her question.
• Su Jiu recognized that Duan Song's cultivation was likely built through shortcuts, then easily forced him back with a sword clash.
• Duan Song used Dragon Plays in Water, prompting Bright Moon School disciples to suspect that the Water Moon School had stolen manuals from the Misty Immortal Sect's Library Pavilion.
• Duan Song sent water dragons against Su Jiu to test her strength and make his coming defeat appear to reflect her power rather than his weakness.
• Su Jiu intercepted Duan Song's water dragons and began forming an elementary frost art, alarming him with her rapid hand seals and dense spiritual qi.

Su Jiu transformed a basic ice art during her fight with Duan Song, freezing his four water dragons and taking control of them. After the battle, she recalled the ice dragons into her body as a faint new outline appeared beside the sixth petal beneath her eye.

• Su Jiu formed a row of frost flowers at once, and Lan Fang Ziyi explained that she was modifying a basic art into a new Frost Art.
• A female cultivator secretly tried to copy Su Jiu’s hand seals but could not keep up and struggled to suppress a mouthful of blood.
• Su Jiu’s frost flowers froze Duan Song’s four water dragons into ice dragons, and Duan Song admitted defeat.
• Su Jiu melted the frost flowers into the ice dragons and controlled them as they circled the arena, astonishing the gathered cultivators and Sect Leader Li.
• A faint outline appeared beside the sixth petal beneath Su Jiu’s eye, and she used a hand seal to disperse the ice dragons into spiritual qi and draw it back into her body.

After Su Jiu’s victory, Ming Yun worried that she could not match Su Jiu’s mastery of Arts, while Sect Leader Li canceled their Arts combat and warned her not to fail the sect’s remaining plans. In the days that followed, a dispute over the Misty Immortal Sect’s missing Secret Manual ended with Shui Rao’er badly injuring Sect Leader Li.

• Su Jiu defeated Duan Song, who asked her to spare the Water Moon School’s Nascent Soul disciples if they ever did wrong; she said it would depend on the extent of their evil deeds.
• Ming Yun fretted over Su Jiu’s ability to adapt Arts and asked Sect Leader Li whether the Ghost Soul Lamp could help her win; Sect Leader Li said the leaders would see through its disguise and canceled their Arts combat.
• Sect Leader Li told Ming Yun that the other arrangements would remain unchanged and promised to manage the drawing of lots; Ming Yun privately resolved to defeat Su Jiu through Formation Arts, Talisman Arts, and pill refining.
• Over the following days, disciples affected by the Mirror fought fiercely, especially Water Moon Sect and Bright Moon School disciples, who repeatedly clashed.
• After the Bright Moon School presented evidence about the missing Misty Immortal Sect Secret Manual, Qian Ling confronted Shui Rao’er, and Sect Leader Li was struck while trying to stop their fight, leaving one shoulder shattered.

Ming Yun tried to get Xia Jue's attention, but he rebuffed her and left her seething with jealousy toward Su Jiu. As the arts matches ended and rumors favored Ming Yun, a procession from the Ming Household arrived at the Heavenly Dawn Sect on the day of the formation arts competition, carrying banners marked with "Ming."

• Ming Yun invited Xia Jue to play Go, but he declined and suggested she play with Lan Fang Ziyi or Yun Huanling instead.
• After Su Jiu left, Ming Yun asked Xia Jue whether he disliked her because she resembled Su Jiu, and he mocked her assumption that Su Jiu would discuss her.
• Xia Jue left Ming Yun alone, and she vowed to trample Su Jiu and prove herself the most formidable.
• Su Jiu avoided Ming Yun throughout the five arts sparring matches, while Ming Yun won all five and gained a reputation boosted by rumors about her talent flower.
• On the day of the formation arts competition, a procession from the Ming Household arrived at the Heavenly Dawn Sect carrying banners marked with "Ming."

The Ming Household’s leaders staged an awkward reunion with Ming Yun before recognizing Su Jiu as Ming Xi and publicly claiming her as their daughter. Madam Ming then revealed that the old patriarch had called Su Jiu the Demon Star, leaving the gathering in an uproar.

• A plump woman rushed to embrace Ming Yun, while her husband apologized to Sect Leader Li for her behavior.
• The middle-aged man recognized Su Jiu as Ming Xi, and Madam Ming loudly echoed the name as the crowd began speculating about Su Jiu’s connection to the Ming Household.
• Yun Huanling challenged the couple’s claim to Su Jiu, and Su Jiu insisted that her name was Su Jiu, not Ming Xi.
• Madam Ming claimed that she had given birth to twins forty years earlier and that attendants took Ming Xi away because the old patriarch considered her inauspicious.
• Madam Ming declared that the old patriarch had called Ming Xi the Demon Star, shocking the gathering and drawing piercing looks from Xia Jue.

A woman accused Su Jiu of being a Demon Star and produced a Spirit Banner that implicated the Heavenly Secret Sect. Su Jiu discovered the banner was empty of its imprisoned souls and realized the accusation was part of a larger plot, leaving her and her companions facing a hidden threat.

• Yun Huanling suspected someone had revealed Su Jiu's secret, but his elder silenced him and Lan Fang Ziyi warned him not to intervene.
• The woman claimed a Daoist had prophesied that Su Jiu was a Demon Star and had left the Spirit Banner at her home.
• The woman identified the Daoist's robes as resembling those of the Heavenly Secret Sect elder, and the elder took the banner to examine it.
• Yun Huanling and Su Jiu realized the souls imprisoned in the Spirit Banner had vanished, including dangerous demon souls.
• Su Jiu concluded that Sect Leader Li, Ming Yun, and the couple were pawns in a hidden person's scheme, and she resolved to face the plot with her companions.

Su Jiu confronted a couple claiming to be her parents and demanded that their kinship be verified, while Feng Qi and the Azure Tide Sect stood by her. The couple produced a Kinship Stone that Su Jiu inspected before the test began, leaving Sect Leader Li uneasy about the unexpected turn of events.

• Su Jiu rejected the couple’s claim that she was their abandoned daughter, and Feng Qi identified her family and sect while preventing them from taking her away.
• Ming Yun accused Su Jiu of being heartless, but Su Jiu insisted their relationship should be verified before anyone made judgments.
• The couple agreed to test their kinship, and Su Jiu dismissed blood drops as unreliable and asked to inspect the Kinship Stone.
• The couple secretly discussed how a Daoist had tampered with the Kinship Stone and their bloodlines, then handed the stone to Su Jiu.
• Su Jiu returned the stone and prepared to begin the test, while Sect Leader Li wondered where the couple had obtained it and what she had overlooked.

Su Jiu’s blood test initially identified her as the daughter of the Ming Household, prompting the crowd to mock her and praise Ming Yun. When the Kinship Stone’s red light began turning pink, Su Jiu challenged the result and prepared a second test, leaving Ming Yun anxious that the deception would be exposed.

• Su Jiu and the middle-aged man dripped their blood onto a Kinship Stone, which first emitted red light and appeared to confirm they were related.
• Yun Huanling and Lan Fang Ziyi questioned the result, while other cultivators mocked Su Jiu and praised Ming Yun, who believed Su Jiu’s reputation would be ruined.
• The Kinship Stone’s red light faded to pink, and the middle-aged man claimed the stone might have been sitting too long.
• Su Jiu suggested repeating the test, but the middle-aged man objected and insisted the first result was certain.
• Su Jiu took out her own Kinship Stone, and another disciple offered his stone for a new test while forbidding her from touching it.
• Ming Yun grew anxious because she knew a second test would expose the deception.

Su Jiu’s second Kinship Stone test exposed the couple’s fraud and proved she was not their daughter. Ming Yun persuaded the couple to take the blame as greedy schemers, while Xia Jue’s disciples kept their composure and later ambushed their enemies on the journey home.

• Su Jiu used her Kinship Stone and her gaze to compel the middle-aged man to take the test again.
• The stone glowed green, freeing the man from Su Jiu’s control and exposing the false claim of kinship.
• Ming Yun presented herself as a deceived daughter and threatened the couple into supporting her account.
• The couple admitted they had plotted to exploit Su Jiu’s resources because she resembled Ming Yun, and confirmed Su Jiu was not their daughter.
• Xia Jue told the Azure Tide Sect disciples to maintain their dignity in public, and they refrained from taunting their opponents.
• On the journey home, the people involved were ambushed and seriously injured, but none were killed.

Ming Yun learned that Sect Leader Li had moved the pill-refining competition to help her rebuild her reputation, while warning her that the Azure Tide Sect was on guard. After assassins killed the Ming Household couple and their followers, Yun Huanling argued that he should be allowed to search for scattered Spirit Banner souls and gain experience.

• Sect Leader Li warned Ming Yun to inform her before making further schemes and explained that the pill-refining competition had been moved ahead because Su Jiu could not refine pills.
• Ming Yun realized that the Azure Tide Sect's Enforcement Hall was watching them and that she and Sect Leader Li could no longer safely act against Su Jiu.
• Black-clad assassins intercepted the Ming Household couple, killed their tribespeople and the couple, and vanished when they learned someone was approaching.
• Yun Huanling and the Heavenly Secret Sect party found the slaughtered group, and Yun Huanling proposed searching for scattered Spirit Banner souls.
• Fourth Elder warned Yun Huanling that the resentful souls would target a Heavenly Secret Sect disciple, but Yun Huanling challenged him by asking whether the sect's other disciples deserved to be sent to their deaths.

Yun Huanling insisted that every Heavenly Secret Sect disciple shared responsibility for recovering the stolen Spirit Banner’s souls. As the pill refining competition began, Su Jiu watched the crowd turn from gossip about the absent Azure Tide Sect contestants to suspicions that the Heavenly Dawn Sect had engineered the scandal involving her and Ming Yun.

• Yun Huanling told the Fourth Elder and the others that no one in the Heavenly Secret Sect was exempt from helping recover the souls, and the Fourth Elder was moved by his growth.
• Su Jiu examined the competition platform and saw that it held more than a hundred identical, protected furnaces for the contestants.
• Su Jiu noticed that most contestants came from the Medicine Gate, the Water Moon School, and the Heavenly Dawn Sect, while the Azure Tide Sect, Heavenly Secret Sect, and Famous Sword Sect sent none.
• A Water Moon School disciple tried to disparage the Azure Tide Sect, but other cultivators recognized his attempt to steer the conversation and recalled his earlier effort to smear Su Jiu.
• The gathered disciples speculated that Ming Yun had been involved in the plot against Su Jiu and that the Heavenly Dawn Sect stood to benefit from weakening the Azure Tide Sect.

The pill-refining disciples took their places in the competition while Lie Wushuang, Su Jiu, and other cultivators watched and discussed them. Ming Yun appeared alongside Li Yishi, who comforted her after the crowd’s reaction to the incident two days earlier.

• Gu Ningyun took her assigned place as Lie Wushuang cheered her on and dismissed her fellow disciples’ chances in the competition.
• Tang Wuchen joined the contestants, drawing admiration from female cultivators who debated his appeal and whether anyone could pursue him.
• Su Jiu noticed an ambitious woman in pale orange robes openly declaring her interest in Tang Wuchen.
• Ming Yun took the stage with Li Yishi, a Water Moon School disciple, to soften the awkward reaction to her appearance.
• Li Yishi reassured Ming Yun that he blamed her parents for what she had said two days earlier.

Li Yishi recalled how he had met Ming Yun and agreed to enter the pill competition at her request. The first round tested herb identification, and Tang Wuchen earned the first token after correctly naming every herb in his box.

• Li Yishi remembered saving Ming Yun from a horde of Demon Beasts and later joining the Heavenly Dawn Sect delegation to see her again.
• Ming Yun asked Li Yishi to compete beside her, and he agreed despite his limited pill-refining skill.
• The judges began the competition with a two-hour test identifying more than a thousand medicinal herbs, prompting some contestants to withdraw.
• Su Jiu wondered why their sect's pill-refining disciples were not competing, and Xia Jue said they were still far behind Gu Ningyun and Tang Wuchen.
• Tang Wuchen finished first, and the Heavenly Music Pavilion judge confirmed that every herb in his box was correctly identified and awarded him the token marked one.

Tang Wuchen excelled in the herb-identification round, while Gu Ningyun also outperformed Ming Yun and Li Yishi was eliminated. In the second round, Tang Wuchen used his Spring Renewal Innate Art to revive the medicinal herbs, and the judges debated whether his ability gave him an unfair advantage.

• Tang Wuchen identified the herbs successfully, while Gu Ningyun made two mistakes and Ming Yun made three.
• Li Yishi failed to identify enough herbs and left the platform, drawing curious looks from the other competitors and spectators.
• Ming Yun watched Tang Wuchen and Gu Ningyun, while Lie Wushuang silently encouraged Gu Ningyun from below the platform.
• Tang Wuchen quickly sorted the herbs in the second round and used his Spring Renewal Innate Art to restore their vitality.
• A Heavenly Dawn Sect Elder objected to Tang Wuchen using his innate gift, but the Medicine Gate Elder pointed out that the rules had not forbidden it.
• Su Jiu watched the herbs revive, and Xia Jue explained that Tang Wuchen had comprehended Spring Renewal at Core Formation.

Gu Ningyun finished preparing her herbs just before time ran out and matched Ming Yun's score, while Tang Wuchen earned the highest result. In the final pill-refining round, all three chose to improve existing formulas, drawing attention as they began their work.

• Gu Ningyun struggled with herb preparation but finished before the deadline, while Ming Yun completed her work earlier.
• The judges eliminated disciples for unfinished or inadequate herbs, and Tang Wuchen scored highest by preserving nearly all of his herbs' medicinal potency.
• Ming Yun and Gu Ningyun both received scores for retaining nearly ninety percent of their herbs' potency, though Gu Ningyun's looked better.
• The competition moved into pill refining, and Gu Ningyun, Ming Yun, and Tang Wuchen chose to modify existing pill formulas.
• Onlookers watched the three contestants work and debated Gu Ningyun's and Ming Yun's appearance and bearing.