Chapter Summaries

After Su Jiu killed Jiang Xiaomeng, the Heavenly Dawn Sect’s Sect Master learned of his daughter’s death and chose to advance the sect’s plan rather than immediately pursue her group. Su Jiu and her companions continued safely, while Li Ran suspected she was immune to poison.

• Jiang Xiaomeng’s divine sense emerged after her death, but Su Jiu shattered it, alerting Sect Master Jiang to his daughter’s death.
• Sect Master Jiang viewed the Light Screen recording of the fight and ordered his sect to find and kill Su Jiu and her three companions.
• The Elders reminded Sect Master Jiang that the group included a Medicine King Valley disciple and that the sect needed its forces for their existing plan.
• Sect Master Jiang learned that one companion was the disguised boy the sect had rescued and decided to target the Azure Tide Sect first by advancing the plan and summoning Chong Mo.
• Su Jiu and her companions traveled on without further danger, and Li Ran concluded she likely had a constitution that made her immune to poison.

Su Jiu and her companions reached Medicine King Valley and learned that a natural composite grand array guarded its territory. Li Ran led them along the valley’s secret, changing entrance method, and they arrived after a long, winding journey.

• Su Jiu recognized the natural composite grand array surrounding Medicine King Valley and sensed that the valley’s richest spiritual qi lay to the west.
• Li Ran warned Su Jiu, Qi Song, and their companion to stay close, explaining that the arrays and poisonous plants made the valley dangerous to enter.
• Li Ran told them that Medicine King Valley kept its entrance method secret and that disciples had once disappeared while gathering herbs near the valley’s arrays.
• Li Ran guided the group through a convoluted route for two hours, explaining that the entrance method changed and could not be memorized as a fixed path.

Su Jiu and her companions arrived at Medicine King Valley, where Sect Master Yan Yan asked her to retrieve something from the Spirit-Melting Icefield. Yan Yan began explaining the danger and the valley’s long-hidden secret as the formation protecting it grew increasingly unstable.

• Su Jiu recognized Medicine King Valley’s stone gate as the Medicine Gate, and Chu Luohen confirmed it through Secret Voice Transmission.
• Li Ran exposed Yan Yan, Martial Uncle, and Elder Zhou disguising themselves as outer gate disciples to secretly observe the visitors.
• Yan Yan welcomed Su Jiu, Chu Luohen, and Qi Song into the main hall and learned they came from the Azure Tide Sect in another Azure Realm.
• Yan Yan asked Su Jiu to travel to the Spirit-Melting Icefield and retrieve something, prompting her to ask why the valley’s cultivators could not go themselves.
• Yan Yan revealed that the Spirit-Melting Icefield held a secret connected to a ten-thousand-year-old natural formation whose protection was weakening, despite objections from the other elders.

Su Jiu learned that Medicine King Valley wanted her to enter the Spirit-Melting Icefield, disable a mechanism, and open a node to Western Mountain. Sect Master Yan revealed that the area behind Western Mountain contained the Azure Realm’s dragon vein, and that he hoped to relocate his disciples there before the valley became uninhabitable.

• Su Jiu refused to swear a heart-demon oath, and Yan Yan agreed to explain the task while asking her to keep the sect’s secrets confidential.
• Yan Yan told Su Jiu that cultivators without an ice spiritual root died on the Ice-Melting Cave’s second level, and that she needed to reach the third level to open a node and shut down a mechanism.
• Su Jiu learned that Medicine King Valley intended to use the node to reach Western Mountain, and asked about the immense spiritual qi she had sensed there.
• Sect Master Yan revealed that Western Mountain concealed the Azure Realm’s dragon vein and explained that the valley’s natural formation was shrinking, leaving the sect with nowhere to remain.
• Yan Yan admitted that Su Jiu’s arrival had encouraged him to pursue relocating his disciples to the dragon vein, and Su Jiu remarked that she had asked for too little compensation.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen prepared to explore the Ice-Melting Cave, where Su Jiu had secured all the Ice-Cage Flowers they found on its second and third levels as payment. After an awkward late-night visit from Chu Luohen and a farewell to Qi Song, they reached the cave entrance with the Medicine King Sect's Sect Leader.

• Su Jiu confirmed that the Ice-Cage Flowers came from the Ice-Melting Cave, and Sect Master Yan agreed that all the flowers on the second and third levels would belong to her.
• Su Jiu pondered the two Azure Realms and her curse before Chu Luohen visited her room and awkwardly asked about Qi Song and the cave.
• Chu Luohen advised Su Jiu to prepare for the cave, then left in confusion over his own behavior.
• Su Jiu told Qi Song to stay in Medicine King Valley and cultivate, while Qi Song urged her to return if danger arose.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen said farewell to Qi Song, followed the Sect Leader to the Ice-Melting Cave, and found a thin barrier covering its entrance.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen entered the Ice-Melting Cave after Sect Master Yan gave them a map of the first level’s known nodes and mechanisms. Inside, they found a vast, icy cavern filled with possible traps, and Su Jiu began identifying threats beneath the snow.

• Sect Master Yan explained the cave’s dangerous cold and showed Su Jiu and Chu Luohen a map marking tested harmful nodes, harmless nodes, and mechanisms.
• Sect Master Yan opened the barrier, and Su Jiu and Chu Luohen passed through before it closed behind them.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen followed a snowy path into the vast Ice-Melting Cave, where Chu Luohen removed his disguise.
• Su Jiu spotted cracked icicles overhead and suspected the blue mechanism markings might trigger them to fall.
• Su Jiu spread her divine sense and found more than a thousand icicles above them, along with formation-friendly pebbles buried beneath the snow.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen discovered that hidden sealing nodes in the snowy cave had been destroyed, releasing something powerful that was no longer there. They followed spiritual qi fluctuations to an unmarked crevice and questioned why the Medicine King Valley map omitted such an obvious feature.

• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen examined the cave’s glowing ore, and Chu Luohen stopped Su Jiu from stepping onto a faded sealing node hidden under the snow.
• Chu Luohen uncovered more damaged nodes, and Su Jiu realized they had once sealed something formidable that likely caused the cave’s ice and snow.
• Chu Luohen offered to teach Su Jiu about node seals after they left, and Su Jiu quietly accepted his promise.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen reached a crevice with strong spiritual qi fluctuations and found that it was absent from the map.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen discussed how the Medicine King Valley map could have omitted the crevice and other hidden nodes despite its generations of research.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen discovered that the mapped entrance to the second level of the cave was a deliberate deception and entered a chamber where a blizzard trapped them. They used Talismans to stop the storm, revealing ancient Talismans and skeletal remains.

• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen suspected the marked entrance concealed the real entrance to the second level and went to investigate it.
• They entered the icy chamber, but the door vanished and a powerful blizzard attacked them.
• Su Jiu recognized something familiar in the storm and, with Chu Luohen, threw Talismans into its center.
• The storm froze and dissipated, revealing old Talismans and skeletal remains as the ice and snow receded.
• Su Jiu examined the ancient Talismans and said they confirmed her suspicion.

Su Jiu uncovered that the supposed second level was an illusion created by ancient talismans and used a Spatial Expansion Formation to enter the true second level with Chu Luohen. There, she found an Ice-Cage Flower concealing a seal node and realized harvesting it would break the seal.

• Su Jiu identified the storm-filled cavern as a talisman-created illusion, using the remains, the storm's lack of vitality, and the unusual ice spiritual qi as clues.
• Su Jiu explained her reasoning and the talismans to Chu Luohen, then examined the dozens of remains and wondered why the ancient talisman maker had killed them.
• Su Jiu sensed pure, concentrated ice spiritual qi beyond the rift and fixed a Spatial Expansion Formation Disk in it so she and Chu Luohen could pass through.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen arrived on the true second level, where they found a tranquil, colder cavern filled with spirit herbs and concealed mechanisms.
• Su Jiu approached an Ice-Cage Flower and discovered that it hid a seal node that would shatter if she disturbed the flower.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen investigated the cave’s paths and discovered that an earlier cultivator had broken a seal to trap a powerful Demon Beast. They found evidence the cultivator had been killed, and Chu Luohen suspected the beast was sealed inside the final Ice-Cage Flower.

• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen split up to explore the two paths, agreeing to meet again in two hours.
• Su Jiu found that the densest ice spiritual qi came from an Ice-Cage Flower that appeared to be the seal’s final node.
• Chu Luohen found a skeleton and an old Record describing how a Spirit Transformation Stage cultivator broke the seal and lured the Demon Beast into another level.
• Su Jiu inferred that the Demon Beast had likely killed the cultivator in a single strike, matching the crack in his skull.
• Chu Luohen reported semicircular scrape marks near a Stone Table that he suspected was the exit to the Fourth Level.
• Chu Luohen concluded that the Demon Beast might have been sealed inside the unusual Ice-Cage Flower.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen uncovered the entrance to the Third Level and met the soul of Medicine King Valley’s predecessor, who explained that he had sent the misleading instructions to his descendants. The chapter ended with Su Jiu stunned to learn that the trapped predecessor had communicated with the outside world through his innate gift.

• Su Jiu found the hollow beneath the stone table and opened the passage to the Third Level, then Chu Luohen followed her inside.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen sensed a nearby consciousness and cautiously approached the Green-Robed Soul.
• The Green-Robed Soul recognized them as cultivators with ice spiritual roots and revealed that he was the Medicine King Valley predecessor their descendants had mentioned.
• Su Jiu questioned how the predecessor had provided information about the Third Level, since he had been trapped there for over ten thousand years.
• The Green-Robed Soul explained that his innate gift let him communicate despite the barrier and that he had required ice-rooted Nascent Soul cultivators to enter because others might freeze before reaching him.

Green-Robed Soul explained how he sealed the monster in the Ice-Melting Cave but died there after his injuries and lack of spiritual qi left him unable to escape. He also told Su Jiu and Chu Luohen what he knew of the Azure Realm’s ancient split, leaving Su Jiu wondering about the war’s true scale and the mysterious force behind it.

• Green-Robed Soul recounted how he discovered the spirit vein behind Western Mountain, sealed the monster with spirit-herb nodes, and was left gravely wounded.
• Green-Robed Soul explained that he froze to death after he could not replenish his spiritual qi or activate the mechanisms needed to escape, and that he had sent his sect information in a scroll before dying.
• Green-Robed Soul recognized Chu Luohen’s resemblance to an old acquaintance and learned that Chu Luohen had come from the other Azure Realm.
• Green-Robed Soul told Su Jiu that powerful cultivators had split the Azure Realm during the war against the Heavenly Demons, with a mysterious power rumored to have helped.
• Su Jiu reflected on Green-Robed Soul’s warning that the truths behind the ancient war would remain beyond her reach until she grew stronger.

The Green-Robed Soul explained how his Life-Bound Treasure had preserved his fading soul and revealed that the creature sealed on the cave’s second level was a demonized Snow Sprite. Su Jiu and Chu Luohen left the seal untouched, while the Green-Robed Soul remained bound to the area near his remains.

• The Green-Robed Soul told Su Jiu and Chu Luohen that his Life-Bound Treasure had saved his soul, but its power was waning after ten thousand years.
• Su Jiu recalled a folktale about a cultivator whose soul had been preserved by a treasure and wondered whether a supposed deity had taken him for another purpose.
• The Green-Robed Soul identified the second-level creature as a demonized Snow Sprite and admitted he had sealed it because he could not kill it.
• Little Pearl urged Su Jiu to subdue the Snow Sprite, but Su Jiu pointed out that she and her contracted treasure could not overcome a Spirit Transformation Stage foe.
• The Green-Robed Soul warned Su Jiu and Chu Luohen not to touch the seal node, and explained that his soul could not stray far from his remains.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen opened the Ice Cavern’s mechanism after stabilizing its node, allowing the Green-Robed Soul to see the outside world before he faded away. As they left, Su Jiu heard a spirit vein’s dragon roars calling to her and discovered she could understand its dragon language.

• The Green-Robed Soul explained that the node had to be stabilized before the mechanism was activated to prevent the Cavern’s unstable nodes from triggering together.
• He gave Su Jiu and Chu Luohen two Storage Bags as thanks, and Su Jiu decided to return the Medicine Gate’s contents to the sect.
• Su Jiu activated the node and opened the mechanism, letting sunlight and warm air into the Ice Cavern.
• The Green-Robed Soul thanked Su Jiu and Chu Luohen before dissolving into motes of light.
• Su Jiu heard dragon roars that Chu Luohen and Little Pearl could not hear, then followed the sound toward the spirit vein.
• Little Pearl explained that the spirit vein might be summoning Su Jiu, and that her ability to understand its roars meant she could learn dragon language.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen followed the dragon roar into a dangerous forest, where Su Jiu felt the sound had been waiting for her. They fought and killed a venomous giant snake, then continued their search.

• Su Jiu decided to follow the dragon roar through the Dense Forest, and Chu Luohen went with her rather than let her enter alone.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen sensed a powerful demon beast approaching and summoned their Life-Bound Treasures.
• A venomous giant snake lunged at Su Jiu and Chu Luohen.
• Su Jiu used her Snowfall Swordsmanship while she and Chu Luohen attacked the snake together.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen killed the snake within a quarter of an hour, unharmed by its poison.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen fought a swarm of White-Scaled Flower Snakes, then faced an unusually intelligent survivor that offered to guide them to the Spirit Vein Grounds. The snake admitted it could not enter the spirit vein itself, leaving its motives and the terms of its deal unresolved.

• Su Jiu recognized the dead demon beast as a White-Scaled Flower Snake, and Chu Luohen explained that its descendants would eat its remains to inherit its strength.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen fought off the attacking snakes, while a fifth-tier snake devoured its kin and nearly advanced to the sixth tier.
• The surviving snake spoke to Su Jiu and Chu Luohen, offering to lead them to the Spirit Vein Grounds in exchange for an even share of what they found.
• Su Jiu questioned how the snake had gained intelligence, and it claimed it had once reached the seventh tier before setbacks forced it to regress.
• Su Jiu realized the snake could not enter the spirit vein itself, and it admitted that was why it needed their help.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen killed the White-Scaled Flower Snake after discovering it had controlled Big Flower and planned to use them to find the spirit vein. After they left the Dense Forest, the demons watched them and discussed Su Jiu, whom Lord Azure Dragon had summoned.

• Little Pearl told Su Jiu that the White-Scaled Flower Snake bore heavy sin because it had commanded its descendants to devour prey.
• Su Jiu rejected the snake's offer to guide them to the spirit vein and attacked it, while the snake tried to bite her with its concentrated venom.
• Su Jiu used a paper substitute, froze the White-Scaled Flower Snake, and destroyed it after Chu Luohen warned that its former Spirit Transformation Stage cultivation might have left it with dangerous innate arts.
• Su Jiu took the snake's Snake Gallbladder and Poison Pouch, then left the Dense Forest with Chu Luohen without being attacked by the nearby demon beasts.
• A red-haired woman and other great demons watched Su Jiu and Chu Luohen leave, discussing her status as the Nine-Star World-Cleansing Pearl's chosen master and the White-Scaled Flower Snake's defeat.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen began advancing after discovering the mountain range’s immense spiritual qi, and their meditation lasted six years. Back at Medicine King Valley, Li Ran defended Qi Song from disciples who wanted him to leave, while Su Jiu and Chu Luohen had still not returned.

• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen reached a mountain range rich in spiritual qi and felt their Nascent Soul bottlenecks loosen.
• Su Jiu began her breakthrough inside Chu Luohen’s formation, while Chu Luohen moved away and prepared to advance separately to avoid a more dangerous shared heavenly tribulation.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen meditated for six years as Medicine King Valley’s disciples assumed they had died and questioned why Qi Song remained there.
• Several disciples criticized Qi Song for staying at the valley and receiving Li Ran’s attention and resources.
• Li Ran angrily challenged the disciples for trying to drive Qi Song away, frightening one who had hoped to test his response.

The Medicine King Valley disciples apologized to Li Ran and Qi Song for gossiping about Su Jiu and Chu Luohen, but an earthquake and gathering clouds soon drew everyone’s attention to Western Mountain. Sect Master Yan realized that a cultivator there was undergoing the Four-Nine Tribulation Lightning to advance to the Spirit Severing Stage, and the chapter left him wondering how Su Jiu and Chu Luohen had reached Western Mountain despite the Ice-Melting Cave remaining cold.

• The Medicine King Valley disciples apologized to Li Ran and Qi Song, and Qi Song asked Li Ran to let them go with a warning.
• The ground shook, and Qi Song ran outside as clouds gathered over Western Mountain.
• Sect Master Yan and the elders identified the clouds as tribulation clouds and raised the Sect-Protecting Grand Formation when the lightning harmed Qi Refining disciples.
• Sect Master Yan recognized the lightning as the Four-Nine Tribulation Lightning and concluded that a cultivator was advancing to the Spirit Severing Stage.
• The elders realized Su Jiu and Chu Luohen might be alive, while Sect Master Yan wondered how they had reached Western Mountain from the Ice-Melting Cave.

Su Jiu endured a month of maximum-number tribulation lightning and successfully advanced to the Spirit Severing Stage, while Chu Luohen was also associated with the tribulation. The chapter left Su Jiu discovering that her Ice Soul Origin Pearl had merged into her dantian and that her nascent soul could leave her body.

• Demon beasts in the Western Mountain forest recognized the tribulation as the extreme fourth-tier lightning of a Spirit Severing advancement and discussed Su Jiu and Chu Luohen.
• Su Jiu endured the tribulation, found its pain less severe than before, and felt her Ice Soul Origin Pearl dissolve into her dantian without facing a heart-demon tribulation.
• After a month, the clouds cleared and a celestial image of the Nine-Petal Frostflow and a blade of jade grass appeared above the spirit vein, confusing the Medicine King Valley cultivators.
• An aged demon beast in the forest briefly opened its eyes as the celestial image appeared, then closed them again.
• Su Jiu explored the spirit vein with her nascent soul, returned it to her body, and realized she had reached the Spirit Severing Stage.