Chapter Summaries

Xu Taiping refined pills, lent Lin Buyu his bracelet, and received a protective Spirit Feather from Uncle White Rainbow. Three months later, a letter from Huang Que reported that Qingxiao had disappeared in Snow Capital, leaving behind a Moonshadow Stone that recorded his final scenes.

• Xu Taiping refined his first batch of Grass Return Pills and gave one to Ping'an as a reward for watching the Pill Furnace.
• Bai Yu delivered a Spirit Feather from Uncle White Rainbow that could withstand an all-out attack from a cultivator below the transformation realm.
• Lin Buyu borrowed Xu Taiping's bracelet, insisting that it was a loan and not a gift.
• Over the next three months, Xu Taiping cultivated and refined pills, while Huang Que reported that trading houses offered up to three hundred Gold Essence Coins per Qi-Gathering Pill.
• Huang Que sent Xu Taiping a letter and a Moonshadow Stone, reporting that Qingxiao had run into trouble in Snow Capital and was missing, with his fate unknown.

Xu Taiping activated the Moonshadow Stone and watched a recording of Dugu Qingxiao, gravely wounded and despairing in a ruined palace. The recording ended after Qingxiao leapt into a pit beneath Heavenly Sound Hall and monstrous arms drove his companions away.

• Xu Taiping recognized Huang Que's rushed handwriting on the letter and decided to activate the Moonshadow Stone.
• Xu Taiping saw Dugu Qingxiao kneeling in the snow, badly wounded, with his right eye cut and sword arm severed.
• Qingxiao argued with the stone's holder, refused help, and charged into the ruined main hall.
• Qingxiao slashed at the people trying to stop him and leapt into a pit spewing black vapor and tentacles.
• Two enormous arms of mangled flesh struck away the people who rushed to the pit, and the recording settled on the Heavenly Sound Hall plaque.

After seeing the Moonshadow Stone images, Xu Taiping learned from Huang Que that Qingxiao was alive but in grave danger inside the Wilderness Thousand Buddha Kingdom, and decided to go help him. Before he could meet Huang Que, Lin Buyu arrived and begged him to save her Senior Sister.

• Xu Taiping suspected that something had happened to Xu Ziyan and wondered whether Qingxiao and Xu Ziyan had used the Jade Bracelets' final True Words.
• Huang Que sent Xu Taiping another letter explaining that the Moonshadow Stone was genuine, that the Nine Prefectures had confiscated related stones, and that it planned to seal the secret realm for ten years in seven days.
• Huang Que told Xu Taiping that Qingxiao was alive but would not survive three months without help, and warned that powerful figures might use him as a pawn.
• Xu Taiping decided to meet Huang Que and save Qingxiao, then went to answer Lin Buyu at the courtyard gate.
• Lin Buyu arrived in a panic and asked Xu Taiping to save her Senior Sister.

Xu Taiping learned that Senior Sister Ziyan was in danger and prepared to enter the Wilderness Snow Capital to rescue her and Senior Brother Qingxiao. He arrived at Setting Sun Mountain Manor, where a strange message from the Nine Prefectures' Communication Token warned him that someone was about to kill him.

• Lin Buyu showed Xu Taiping life-bound talismans that revealed Senior Sister Ziyan's vital aura had been severed, and Xu Taiping shared the Moonshadow Stone showing Senior Brother Qingxiao in danger.
• Fairy Lingyue said Qingxiao may have survived by entering a wormhole and offered to help Xu Taiping understand the Wilderness's Laws of Heaven and Earth.
• Xu Taiping decided to find Huang Que for information about the Thousand Buddha Kingdom, while Fairy Lingyue agreed to help him confront the cultivators who disregarded others' lives.
• Lin Buyu gave Xu Taiping the Taixuan Divine Generals Manual and urged him to prioritize staying alive if he could not rescue Senior Sister Ziyan.
• Xu Taiping reached Setting Sun Mountain Manor and received a strange message asking who he was, followed by a warning that someone was going to kill him.

Xu Taiping discovered that Setting Sun Mountain Manor was torturing Huang Que to learn where Qingxiao had disappeared. He arranged for Bai Yu and Ping'an to prepare a rescue, then drew the manor’s attention by shooting its cultivators, leaving the manor in chaos.

• Xu Taiping used the Shentu Bow to locate Huang Que, who was bound and brutally tortured by a young woman in purple.
• Fairy Lingyue told Xu Taiping that the manor’s captors wanted Huang Que to reveal Qingxiao’s whereabouts.
• Xu Taiping sent Bai Yu and Ping'an to hide in the manor’s back courtyard and wait for his signal to rescue Huang Que.
• Xu Taiping fled and exposed his aura to lure the manor’s attackers away from Huang Que.
• Xu Taiping shot several patrolling cultivators with his Shentu Bow, throwing Setting Sun Mountain Manor into chaos.

Xu Taiping wounded the spear-wielding elder and struck the girl in purple with a Divine Arrow, giving Bai Yu and Ping'an time to rescue Huang Que. The girl pursued them with a terrifying summoned shadow, and Xu Taiping intervened just as it was about to cut down Bai Yu.

• Xu Taiping used Wind Earl to gravely wound the spear-wielding elder, prompting the girl in purple and the White-Robed Old Man to rush to the front courtyard.
• Xu Taiping shot Thunder Master at the girl in purple, cracking her heart-guarding mirror and stunning the cultivators nearby.
• Bai Yu and Ping'an rescued Huang Que as the formation barrier in the back courtyard was smashed apart.
• The girl in purple drew a blood-red rune, summoned a gigantic black shadow, and pursued Bai Yu, Ping'an, and Huang Que.
• The black shadow wounded Bai Yu's wing and trapped him with its blade force, but Xu Taiping's Cicada Cry blocked its next strike.

Xu Taiping rescued Huang Que and Bai Yu from the Purple-Robed Maiden’s party, but suffered a serious wound from the shadowy figure’s blade qi. After recovering in hiding, he took Huang Que to a concealed boat on the Black-Clothed River and asked him what had happened to Senior Brother Qingxiao.

• Xu Taiping blocked the shadowy figure’s attack, rescued Bai Yu and Huang Que, and escaped into a forest with Huang Que.
• Xu Taiping hid beneath the Concealment Cloak while the Purple-Robed Maiden’s subordinates searched, then expelled the blade qi from his meridians after they left.
• Xu Taiping gave Huang Que and Bai Yu half of a Grass Return Pill each, removed Huang Que’s Soul-Locking Nails, and asked about the Purple-Robed Maiden and the Snow Capital.
• Huang Que refused to seek help from the Nine Prefectures and took Xu Taiping south on Wooden Fish to the Black-Clothed River.
• Aboard a hidden black canopy boat, Huang Que explained how it evaded detection, and Xu Taiping asked him what had happened to Senior Brother Qingxiao.

Xu Taiping learned that Qingxiao and Ziyan had been chosen by a mysterious object and that Qingxiao might still be alive, prompting a dangerous search in the Wilderness. Huang Que gave him information about the Thousand Buddhas Kingdom and Corpse Soul Incense, then revealed that Su Su was a powerful Poison King Cult prodigy.

• Huang Que told Xu Taiping that a Silencing Curse prevented him from revealing everything, but Qingxiao might still be alive and would be hunted for three months.
• Huang Que revealed that the mysterious object had chosen Qingxiao and Ziyan, and that finding them would lead to it.
• Huang Que gave Xu Taiping a ring containing information about the Thousand Buddhas Kingdom and warned him to calm Qingxiao’s mind and keep him hidden for three months.
• Huang Que told Xu Taiping that the ring held Corpse Soul Incense, which could put even a Demon King’s physique to sleep for half a month.
• Huang Que revealed that the Purple-Robed Maiden was Su Su, a sixteen-year-old Poison King Cult prodigy who had mastered Corpse Soul Gu and could command a Spirit Refining Realm corpse soul.

Xu Taiping learned that Huang Que was afflicted with Merfolk Gu and resolved to find a way to save him, despite Huang Que’s warnings about Su Su. When Su Su threatened the people along the Black-Clothed River, Xu Taiping drew her attention away and sent out a clone.

• Huang Que told Xu Taiping that Su Su had planted Merfolk Gu in his body, and Fairy Lingyue explained that killing the Gu’s planter would keep the poison dormant.
• Huang Que refused Xu Taiping’s Grass Return Pill and warned him that Su Su was a dangerous Gu poison cultivator with a Flood Dragon Token.
• Su Su called for Huang Que from the riverbank, and Huang Que admitted he had fallen for her honey trap.
• Su Su threatened to kill the nine hundred people living along the Black-Clothed River unless Huang Que and his companion came out.
• Huang Que told Xu Taiping how to enter the Wilderness Thousand Buddha Kingdom Secret Realm, and Xu Taiping sent out a clone as a colossal Sword Shadow struck it.

Xu Taiping fled the demoness Su Su and her black shadow for three hundred li, using clones and Endless Horizon to evade their attacks until he reached the giant rock near the Wilderness secret realm. Exhausted and wounded, he faced Su Su again as she tried to stall him while the black shadow gathered strength.

• Su Su and the black shadow discovered that Xu Taiping had used a phantom clone, then tracked his true body heading north toward the Wilderness secret realm.
• The black shadow repeatedly attacked Xu Taiping, but he used wind defenses, Endless Horizon, clones, and the Azure Luan Ring to escape.
• Xu Taiping reached the giant rock after fleeing three hundred li, nearly depleted and suffering wounds filled with blade qi and sword qi.
• Xu Taiping refused Fairy Lingyue's offer to act, took Qi-Gathering Pills and Dragon Gall Wine, and continued toward the rock.
• Su Su and the black shadow caught up with Xu Taiping, and Su Su offered to let him go if he answered a question while he recognized that she was stalling.

Xu Taiping tricked Su Su and escaped through the enormous rock with a Flood Dragon Token, arriving in a perilous snowfield. As night approached, a mysterious arm descended from the sky, leaving him facing a new threat.

• Xu Taiping deceived Su Su with a destroyed Moonshadow Stone and escaped her dark figure's attack using Endless Horizon and the Flood Dragon Token.
• Su Su ordered the dark figure to search the Thousand Buddhas Kingdom and vowed to turn Xu Taiping into a human puppet.
• Xu Taiping emerged in a freezing snowfield and discovered that releasing the Flood Dragon Token plunged his surroundings into chaos.
• Fairy Lingyue explained that the token's entrance led to countless paths and warned that dangerous things would target them after dark.
• A long, slender arm reached from the sky to the ground, startling Xu Taiping.

Fairy Lingyue explained that strange manifestations in the Wilderness grew powerful at night, especially if someone described their appearance, and Xu Taiping reached a ruined temple for shelter. There, he overheard two cultivators searching for Dugu Qingxiao, one of whom described seeing an enormous eye in the sky.

• Fairy Lingyue warned Xu Taiping not to describe the enormous hand he had seen, explaining that such manifestations could target people and become stronger at night.
• Fairy Lingyue told Xu Taiping that the Wilderness's Yin Gods were believed to be remnants of fallen gods and that travelers had to shelter before dark.
• Xu Taiping arrived at a ruined temple and hid in its loft when he heard two cultivators approaching.
• The two cultivators entered the hall, lit a fire, and discussed their experiences while Xu Taiping listened from above.
• One cultivator described seeing a huge, pupil-less eye covered in blood vessels and golden runes, then said he and Brother Liu would continue searching for Dugu Qingxiao the next day.

Xu Taiping learned more about the deadly beings haunting the Wilderness as he waited in a ruined temple, where the demoness Su Su arrived and bewitched two cultivators. A freezing wind announced the arrival of one of those beings, and an enormous eyeball appeared at the temple entrance.

• Fairy Lingyue warned Xu Taiping not to meet the gaze of the strange beings or describe their appearance, and explained that no one could defeat them.
• A woman seeking shelter called from outside the ruined temple, and Xu Taiping recognized her as the demoness Su Su.
• The two cultivators let Su Su inside and soon fawned over her, while Xu Taiping prepared for a possible confrontation and Fairy Lingyue said she had found a way for him to borrow the Wilderness's power.
• Fairy Lingyue noticed that Su Su was injured, though Xu Taiping wondered what could have hurt her.
• An icy wind swept through the temple, Su Su ordered the bewitched cultivators to guard the entrance, and the blocking treasures melted as an enormous eyeball appeared in the doorway.

Xu Taiping watched an enormous Yin God’s eye lure and kill two cultivators inside the Ruined Temple. The eye remained and searched the temple for another victim.

• Xu Taiping noticed Su Su wore special gauze over her eyes while the cultivators surnamed Wu and Liu stared at the enormous eye.
• The cultivator surnamed Wu walked toward the eye, and the cultivator surnamed Liu tried to stop him.
• The cultivator surnamed Liu’s body boiled into a blister and burst apart inside his Golden Body Talisman.
• The cultivator surnamed Wu kowtowed before the eye, then burst apart as green fire rose from his remains and joined the eye as a pupil.
• The eye split its pupil into hundreds and searched the Ruined Temple while Xu Taiping and the others remained silent.

After the ancient deity Fei vanished, Su Su ambushed Xu Taiping inside the ruined temple. As he hid from her attacks, Fairy Lingyue taught him a Heavenly Dao precept of the Thousand Buddhas Kingdom, but Su Su released Bloodthirsty Fireflies to expose his position.

• The destructive aura and cold receded after Fei's enormous eye disappeared, and Fairy Lingyue explained the difference between ancient deities and Demonic Beasts.
• Su Su attacked Xu Taiping in the loft, but he dodged her Blade Shadow and concealed himself inside the temple.
• Fairy Lingyue taught Xu Taiping how to invoke a Heavenly Dao precept established by Ancient Buddha Kasyapa, which required him to avoid using his saber for three days.
• Xu Taiping hid and let Su Su expend her limited True Essence while he learned to use the precept.
• Su Su released Bloodthirsty Fireflies that could detect fluctuations in Xu Taiping's aura and sent them toward the loft.

Xu Taiping invoked the All Beings Are Equal precept in the ruined temple, suppressing Su Su and her Corpse-Soul Puppet to the Nether Gazing Realm. As Su Su brought out three powerful corpse puppets, Xu Taiping raised his Wild Lion Physique to the Raging Lion Realm.

• Su Su sent her Corpse-Soul Puppet to attack Xu Taiping, who invoked All Beings Are Equal and shattered a Buddhist prayer bead to activate the precept.
• Xu Taiping used Heaven-Beating to smash apart the puppet’s attack and then used Heaven-Shaking to strike the Corpse-Soul Puppet into a stone pillar.
• Su Su realized that the precept had suppressed both her cultivation and the Corpse-Soul Puppet’s strength to the Nether Gazing Realm.
• Su Su summoned three puppets made from Hairy Jiangshi Corpse Wraiths, whose bodies were as tough as Martial Dao Supremes.
• Xu Taiping raised his Wild Lion Physique from Awake Lion to the Raging Lion Realm.

Xu Taiping drove Su Su from the ruined temple, but his protective All Beings Are Equal beads soon ran out. After hearing that sect disciples were gathering at Heavenly Sound Hall on Wolf-Howling Ridge to capture Dugu Qingxiao’s friend, Xu Taiping planned to seek a wormhole and reach the ridge in time.

• Xu Taiping destroyed one of Su Su’s corpse puppets and shattered her Flying Sword Talisman, forcing her to flee while threatening to return.
• The final Buddhist Prayer Bead broke, ending All Beings Are Equal, and Xu Taiping resolved to reach the Mystic Understanding Realm and considered Fairy Lingyue’s suggestion of Star-Plucking Terrace.
• Xu Taiping heard a Voice Transmission Jade Slip announce that sect disciples were gathering at Wolf-Howling Ridge to capture a friend of Dugu Qingxiao within ten days.
• Xu Taiping realized the journey would take eight or nine days and asked Fairy Lingyue about finding a wormhole; she said she was skilled at locating them.
• Xu Taiping asked Fairy Lingyue what treasure had been planted in his Second Senior Brother’s body.

Shang told a little girl about the Bodhi Heart and agreed to find her a Bodhi Fruit, then rescued Su Su from the snow. Su Su poisoned him and robbed him, but he recovered and stopped her from taking a red wooden box.

• Shang explained that the Bodhi Heart possessed cultivators to produce Bodhi Fruits, which granted extraordinary benefits but required a living victim’s heart.
• The little girl asked Shang for a Bodhi Fruit, and he agreed to find one after admitting he had eaten one himself.
• Shang and the little girl heard Su Su calling for help and brought her into their pavilion.
• Su Su claimed she was a Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion disciple who had escaped villains and savage beasts, then secretly sent an insect into Shang’s sleeve.
• The insect poisoned Shang, and Su Su threw the little girl into the snow before taking Shang’s belongings.
• Shang stopped convulsing, pinned down the red wooden box, and warned Su Su that she was being greedy.

Shang Jiu defeated Su Su, discovered her lead to Dugu Qingxiao, and revealed his identity as the Blade Demon of the Heavenly Blade Sect. At the Star-Plucking Terrace, Xu Taiping and Fairy Lingyue discussed using a Yin God to counter the Otherworldly Heavenly Demons as he prepared to break through to the Mystic Understanding Realm.

• Shang Jiu destroyed Su Su's corpse puppets, captured her, and overpowered her with his blade qi.
• Su Su offered a lead on Dugu Qingxiao in exchange for her life, and Shang Jiu searched her soul to confirm she was telling the truth.
• Shang Jiu identified himself as the former Heavenly Blade Sect cultivator known as the Blade Demon, and Su Su recognized him.
• Xu Taiping reached the Star-Plucking Terrace with Fairy Lingyue and began preparing for his breakthrough to the Mystic Understanding Realm.
• Fairy Lingyue suggested using the Yin God Xu Taiping had encountered to deal with the Otherworldly Heavenly Demons.

Xu Taiping learned that cultivators were gathering at the Star-Plucking Terrace to find a Moonshadow Stone and planned to use the arriving Savage Beasts to hinder them while he prepared to break through. Nearby, Shang Jiu and Su Su watched a growing stream of cultivators head toward the terrace, while Shang Jiu remained wary of Xu Taiping’s ability.

• Fairy Lingyue told Xu Taiping to lure an Otherworldly Heavenly Demon into a fight with a Yin God during his breakthrough, and said Bai Yu and Ping'an could use the recovered Flood Dragon Tokens.
• Xu Taiping received a message saying sect cultivators were heading to the Star-Plucking Terrace to seek a Moonshadow Stone linked to Dugu Qingxiao, and he and Fairy Lingyue realized their location had been exposed.
• Fairy Lingyue explained that releasing the Flood Dragon Token during Xu Taiping’s breakthrough would attract Savage Beasts from far away, and Xu Taiping decided not to hold back against the cultivators seeking the Bodhi Fruit.
• Near the Star-Plucking Terrace, Shang Jiu told Su Su he would not confront Xu Taiping until he understood Xu Taiping’s cultivation-suppressing Divine Ability.
• Xiao Yuan bit Su Su, and Shang Jiu told her to wait until they had picked the Bodhi Fruit before eating her.
• A large number of cultivators raced toward the Star-Plucking Tower, astonishing Su Su.