Chapter Summaries

Chu Zhiyuan told Xu Suying and Xu Yingying that the Wondrous Spirit Pearl had merged into him and could no longer be removed. Xu Yingying discovered she could still use its power through him, leaving her delighted and the pearl’s whereabouts resolved.

• Chu Zhiyuan examined Xu Suying’s and Xu Yingying’s Visualization Diagrams, then admitted that the Wondrous Spirit Pearl had turned into light and merged into his head.
• Xu Suying concluded that the pearl had acknowledged Chu Zhiyuan as its master, while Xu Yingying protested that it belonged to her.
• Chu Zhiyuan and Xu Yingying pieced together how He Jiuji’s actions and mistaken assumptions had led to the pearl’s disappearance and the deaths tied to it.
• Xu Yingying touched Chu Zhiyuan’s shoulder and discovered she could still use the Wondrous Spirit Pearl through him because she had refined it before.
• Xu Yingying celebrated finding the pearl again, and Xu Suying said it was still there despite having chosen Chu Zhiyuan.

Chu Zhiyuan negotiated with Xu Yingying to help her practice, securing her promise of a rare meridian-strengthening pill in exchange for meeting her outside the capital. After learning that the Nine Li Divine Cult had secret arts and cultivation resources of its own, he wondered whether his Wondrous Spirit Pearl could also benefit Chu Yi and Xiao Ruoling.

• Chu Zhiyuan told Xu Yingying that he could rarely leave the capital, then demanded a Third Grade-or-higher meridian-strengthening pill as payment for helping her practice.
• Xu Yingying offered him a Heavenly Ganoderma Jade Foundation Pill and explained its effects and danger, then revealed she had mastered the Nine Li Divine Cult's secret art for opening another dantian.
• Xu Yingying arranged to meet Chu Zhiyuan outside the city in one month, and she and Xu Suying departed.
• Chu Zhiyuan asked Song Feiqiong about the Nine Li Divine Cult and considered that the Four Great Demonic Sects might possess their own Cave Heavens, secret lands, and powerful cultivation arts.
• Chu Zhiyuan wondered whether Chu Yi and Xiao Ruoling could use him as a Wondrous Spirit Pearl, as Xu Yingying intended to do.

Chu Zhiyuan returned to Jade Capital after learning more about the Four Great Demonic Sects and the circumstances surrounding Fuyuan Town’s fall. He told Chu Minghou that Prince Jing was the Eternal Spirit Divine Cult’s Spirit Child and warned him to stay away as tensions with the Imperial Court threatened to rise.

• Chu Zhiyuan and Li Haoyuan discussed the prodigies of the Four Great Sects and the alliance that allowed their disciples to serve in the military.
• Chu Zhiyuan questioned Li Haoyuan about the Eternal Spirit Divine Cult’s role in Fuyuan Town’s fall, but Li Haoyuan said he did not know what had happened.
• Chu Zhiyuan and the others returned to Jade Capital, where he reported the journey to Prince Zhuang and reunited with Bai Ningshuang, Chu Yi, and Chu Minghou.
• Chu Zhiyuan told Chu Minghou that Prince Jing was the Spirit Child of the Eternal Spirit Divine Cult and warned him to avoid his second brother.
• Chu Minghou agreed to keep his distance from Prince Jing and warned Chu Zhiyuan not to get involved with the Four Great Demonic Sects.

Chu Zhiyuan asked Chu Qingfeng for a sword art to match the Nine Li Sword Art, and Chu Qingfeng arranged for him to study White Cloud Sword Palace’s Sword Tablet. Later, Chu Zhiyuan’s relatives questioned him about his journey and Li Haoyuan’s return to the capital.

• Chu Zhiyuan told Chu Qingfeng that he had met Xu Yingying and Xu Suying, and Chu Qingfeng advised him to avoid entanglements with the Four Great Sects.
• Chu Zhiyuan asked for a sword art comparable to the Nine Li Sword Art, so Chu Qingfeng offered to use his favor with White Cloud Sword Palace to secure him a day with the Sword Tablet.
• Chu Zhiting, Chu Zhichuan, Chu Mingxuan, and Chu Zhiyao gathered around Chu Zhiyuan as more Princes and Heir Apparents arrived and asked about his journey.
• Chu Zhiyuan described the ambush by the Cloud-Treading Iron Cavalry and Li Haoyuan’s return to the capital without being imprisoned.
• Chu Zhiyao explained that Li Haoyuan had only been stripped of his command and could not be imprisoned until the Three Judicial Offices tried and convicted him.

After returning to the Ministry of Rites Office, Chu Zhiyuan learned that an assassination attempt on Cheng Tianfeng had sparked public anger against Great Jing and threatened its alliance with Great Zhen. He suspected a plot to inflame tensions, while Li Hongzhao told Cheng Tianfeng that she wanted to discuss Chu Zhiyuan.

• Chu Zhiyuan returned to the Ministry of Rites Office and heard from Gao Lingfeng that martial artists had tried to assassinate Cheng Tianfeng and were killed by the Frost Iron Cavalry.
• Chu Zhiyuan questioned whether the assassins had been manipulated to stir up hostility toward Great Zhen and ordered the Town Martial Division to investigate them.
• Chu Zhiyuan passed Bright Moon Tower and used Super Sensation to observe Cheng Tianfeng meeting Li Hongzhao there.
• Cheng Tianfeng accused Li Hongzhao of arranging the assassination, but she claimed someone had acted before she could and suggested others opposed the alliance.
• Li Hongzhao told Cheng Tianfeng that she had another major matter to discuss, one concerning Chu Zhiyuan.

Li Hongzhao persuaded Cheng Tianfeng to trade her a Wind-Riding Pill so she could challenge Chu Zhiyuan again. Chu Zhiyuan overheard their bargain, while Xiao Ruoyu and Xiao Ruoling spoke about their father’s many social engagements.

• Cheng Tianfeng told Li Hongzhao that Chu Zhiyuan’s speed made him difficult to defeat, and Li asked for Wentian Cliff’s Wind-Riding Pill.
• Cheng Tianfeng agreed to provide the pill in exchange for three Phoenix Undying Pills, and Li said she would remain in Yujing for about a year.
• Chu Zhiyuan observed Li Hongzhao with insight, discerned the hidden aperture where she stored Essence Blood, and overheard her bargain with Cheng Tianfeng.
• At Duke An’s Estate, Xiao Ruoyu found Xiao Ruoling cultivating in the rear garden and asked when their father would return.
• Xiao Ruoling told Xiao Ruoyu that their father would not come home for lunch and said he enjoyed his social engagements.

After returning to Duke An's Estate, Chu Zhiyuan recounted his journey and battle with the Cloud-Treading Iron Cavalry to Xiao Ruoling and Xiao Ruoyu. Xiao Ruoling accepted the Evil Slaying Sword from him, then revealed that the West Palace Consort had summoned her, possibly because they both cultivated the Nine Heavens Profound Maiden Technique.

• Duke An stayed away from home to attend social gatherings, while Xiao Ruoyu said he wanted to focus on martial arts and pursue a military post.
• Chu Zhiyuan met Xiao Ruoling and Xiao Ruoyu in the rear garden and told them about his journey, including the Cloud-Treading Iron Cavalry's attack.
• Xiao Ruoling worried that Chu Zhiyuan had led a charge, and he explained that he had been better suited to the battle than Chu Mingrui.
• Chu Zhiyuan gave Xiao Ruoling the Evil Slaying Sword, which Chu Mingrui had gifted him, and she accepted it after Xiao Ruoyu urged her to keep it.
• Xiao Ruoling told Chu Zhiyuan that the West Palace Consort had invited her to the palace, and they suspected the Consort recognized her Nine Heavens Profound Maiden Technique.

Chu Zhiyuan confronted Cheng Tianfeng and Li Hongzhao at Bright Moon Tower after suspecting they had secretly met and exchanged Wind-Riding Pills. He discovered Li Hongzhao had not arranged Cheng Tianfeng’s assassination attempt and turned his suspicions toward Cheng, who fell silent when questioned about the pills.

• Chu Zhiyuan entered Sifang Pavilion amid townsfolk shouting that Great Jing should resist Great Zhen.
• Chu Zhiyuan met Cheng Tianfeng at the Great Zhen residence and invited him to Bright Moon Tower, where Cheng suspected his secret meeting with Li Hongzhao had been exposed.
• Chu Zhiyuan invited Li Hongzhao to join them, and Cheng Tianfeng grew uneasy when Chu Zhiyuan gave her the seat she had used during her meeting with Cheng the previous day.
• Chu Zhiyuan asked whether Li Hongzhao had defeated him to drive a wedge between Great Jing and Great Zhen, and she said she had only wanted to defeat him.
• Chu Zhiyuan asked whether Li Hongzhao had arranged the assassination attempt on Cheng Tianfeng, but his Super Sensation indicated that she was telling the truth.
• Chu Zhiyuan accused Cheng Tianfeng of opposing reconciliation with Great Jing and asked whether he had given Li Hongzhao Wind-Riding Pills, leaving Cheng silent.

Chu Zhiyuan pressured Cheng Tianfeng into surrendering the Wind-Riding Pill and learned that Li Hongzhao was not behind the assassins. After wounding Li Hongzhao and revealing his advancement to the Fourth Heaven, he arranged to visit the Sword-Viewing Stele with Huang Shirong.

• Chu Zhiyuan used the threat of exposing Cheng Tianfeng and Li Hongzhao’s spirit-pill exchange to obtain Cheng Tianfeng’s promise to hand over the Wind-Riding Pill.
• Chu Zhiyuan questioned Li Hongzhao about the assassins, and she insisted that their true backer was not her.
• Chu Zhiyuan demonstrated his Fourth Heaven cultivation by striking Li Hongzhao, who crashed into a wall and later spat blood after leaving Bright Moon Tower.
• Li Hongzhao left in anger, while Cheng Tianfeng promised to give Chu Zhiyuan the Wind-Riding Pill the next day.
• Chu Zhiyuan met Huang Shirong, and they agreed to depart for her sect’s Sword-Viewing Stele after he checked in at the yamen the next day.

Chu Zhiyuan watched Xiao Ruoyu practice the Vast Sea Calming Scripture at Duke An's Estate, then waited for Xiao Ruoling to return from the palace. She told him the Nine Heavens Profound Maiden Technique prevented intimacy and childbirth, but the Nine Chapters of Qionghua Record could overcome the drawback, leaving the two delighted by their connection.

• Chu Zhiyuan watched Xiao Ruoyu train and assessed his talent for the Vast Sea Calming Scripture.
• Chu Zhiyuan reflected on his cultivation and wondered whether his rapid progress was ending as he waited for Xiao Ruoling.
• Xiao Ruoling returned and told Chu Zhiyuan that the Imperial Consort had recognized her Nine Heavens Profound Maiden Technique.
• Xiao Ruoling explained that the technique prevented childbirth and relations between men and women, even for the Emperor.
• Xiao Ruoling said the Nine Chapters of Qionghua Record could overcome the drawback, and Chu Zhiyuan revealed that he had learned it.
• Xiao Ruoling said she had declined the Imperial Consort's offer to become her disciple and join Moon Invitation Palace.

Chu Zhiyuan and Xiao Ruoling discussed the West Palace Consort’s intentions and the possibility of Xiao Ruoling competing to become Moon Invitation Palace’s Saintess, but Xiao Ruoling refused. Chu Zhiyuan then traveled with Huang Shirong to White Cloud Peak, where they reached the summit and its enormous White Jade Sword.

• Chu Zhiyuan suspected the West Palace Consort wanted more than simply to take Xiao Ruoling as her disciple, while Xiao Ruoling worried about the consequences of refusing her.
• Chu Zhiyuan suggested the West Palace Consort might claim Xiao Ruoling had secretly been her disciple all along so she could enter the contest for Moon Invitation Palace’s Saintess, but Xiao Ruoling declined.
• Chu Zhiyuan and Xiao Ruoling joked about their future together, and he released her from an embrace after she teased him about meeting another beauty.
• Chu Zhiyuan arrived at White Cloud Peak with Huang Shirong and left Zou Fang waiting at the foot of the mountain.
• Huang Shirong explained that four young White Cloud Sword Palace disciples were training before entering the Town Martial Division, then led Chu Zhiyuan to the summit.
• Chu Zhiyuan saw the enormous White Jade Sword standing in the summit square.

Chu Zhiyuan examined the White Cloud Sword Tablet and began comprehending its sword arts, discovering that its visions came from a Bronze Mirror concealed within the jade. After watching six unfamiliar swordsmen demonstrate and spar, he reflected on the differences between their techniques.

• Chu Zhiyuan inspected the White Cloud Sword Tablet and noticed a Bronze Mirror embedded at its center, while Huang Shirong explained how the tablet granted each viewer sword arts suited to their aptitude.
• Chu Zhiyuan settled on an Arhat Bed and focused on the tablet until patterns and figures appeared across its surface.
• Chu Zhiyuan used Super Sensation to see a pillar of light reaching the hidden Bronze Mirror and six strangely dressed young swordsmen and women demonstrating distinct sword arts.
• The six swordsmen paired off to spar, and each woman defeated her male opponent despite the men's techniques seeming fiercer at first.
• Chu Zhiyuan watched the figures disappear into a forest and considered how the women's sword arts were more exquisite, though he believed he might not lose in the men's place.

Chu Zhiyuan entered the world within the mirror and learned sword arts by observing and practicing them, discovering how the principle of change suited his enhanced mind. As he repeatedly studied new sword displays, the White Jade Sword Tablet grew brighter until it sent a beam of light into his brow.

• Chu Zhiyuan entered the mirror world, lost his Super Sensation, and mastered the first young man's sword art before dueling a young woman and passing her test.
• Chu Zhiyuan returned to his body, practiced the sword arts he had learned, and realized that adapting through constant change was his greatest gain.
• The Sword Tablet dimmed and then displayed a battle in which six women defended themselves against thirty men, allowing Chu Zhiyuan to memorize nine sword arts at once.
• The old man watched the White Jade Sword Tablet blaze brighter each time Chu Zhiyuan studied it, until a beam of white light struck Chu Zhiyuan's brow.

Chu Zhiyuan gained a powerful sword art from the sword stele and discovered he could control his Gang Qi with unprecedented precision. He negotiated a reward from Gu Qingshan before being sent away from the White Cloud Sword Palace.

• Chu Zhiyuan endured a painful flood of sword arts and awoke with a new sword art and greater control over his Gang Qi.
• Gu Qingshan asked Chu Zhiyuan to demonstrate the art, and Chu Zhiyuan refused unless he received Dragon Fat Incense.
• Chu Zhiyuan and Gu Qingshan negotiated fifty portions of Dragon Fat Incense and a favor in exchange for seeing the sword art.
• Gu Qingshan demonstrated the sword art himself, then agreed to the bargain after praising Chu Zhiyuan's skill.
• Gu Qingshan stopped Chu Zhiyuan from continuing to study the sword stele and ordered Huang Shirong to send him back.

Chu Zhiyuan left the White Cloud Sword Palace after gaining an extraordinary experience from its sword tablet, then investigated an assassination case and reviewed negotiations between Great Jing and Great Zhen. He discovered that Great Zhen was insisting he be included among the people sent to the Imperial City, and resolved that he must not go.

• Chu Zhiyuan left Gu Qingshan after obtaining fifty pieces of Dragon Fat Incense, while he and Huang Shirong discussed the sword tablet and his unusual ability to practice the sword arts within it.
• Chu Zhiyuan finished the Violet Sun True Scripture and learned from Gao Lingfeng that the assassination investigation had reached a dead end.
• Chu Zhiyuan gave Ma Tianhe the names and portraits of three people who had stirred up the crowd at Sifang Pavilion for the Supervisory Department to investigate.
• Chu Zhiyuan read the Great Jing–Great Zhen negotiations, which proposed that heirs, princes, and princesses stay in each other's capitals for a year and choose their own spouses.
• Chu Zhiyuan discovered that Great Zhen insisted he be included on the list bound for the Imperial City and decided he could not afford to go.

Chu Zhiyuan reviewed the Supervisory Department’s dossiers on Li Hongzhao but found no useful clues about her possible dealings with Secret Agents. After taking the Wind-Riding Pill Cheng Tianfeng sent him, Chu Zhiyuan discovered it had broken the limits of his bone refinement and made the Dragon Transformation Technique’s formula incomplete.

• Ma Tianhe told Chu Zhiyuan that the Supervisory Department had learned of his strength and showed him dossiers on Li Hongzhao.
• Chu Zhiyuan noticed Li Hongzhao visited Linglong Bookstore every day but found no evidence of her secret dealings in the dossiers.
• Chu Zhiyuan returned to his residence and received a jade-green bottle sent by Cheng Tianfeng.
• Chu Zhiyuan checked the Wind-Riding Pill for poison and swallowed it, while Zou Fang watched nervously.
• The pill settled into Chu Zhiyuan’s bones, making him feel lighter and faster, and he realized it had broken the Dragon Transformation Technique’s bone-refinement limit.

Chu Zhiyuan advanced his Bone Refining and explored the sword arts he had comprehended from the White Cloud Sword Tablet. After receiving Dragon Fat Incense from Gu Qingshan, he agreed to help Huang Shirong examine a secret sword manual that evening.

• Chu Zhiyuan circulated the Dragon Transformation Technique through Bone Refining and watched new patterns form on his violet-gold bones, wondering whether they could let him fly.
• Chu Zhiyuan told Chu Qingfeng that Gu Qingshan had received a sword art, and Chu Qingfeng agreed Gu Qingshan would honor his promises and help Chu Zhiyuan comprehend the sword tablet again.
• Chu Zhiyuan demonstrated four sword arts to Chu Qingfeng, who was impressed by the chance to study them.
• Huang Shirong delivered fifty sticks of Dragon Fat Incense from Gu Qingshan, and Chu Zhiyuan told her he planned to return to the sword tablet after becoming a Grandmaster.
• Chu Zhiyuan invited Huang Shirong to bring her sword manual to Bright Moon Tower that evening, and she accepted his offer to examine it.

Chu Zhiyuan used Dragon Fat Incense to strengthen his Meridians and helped Huang Shirong understand a fragmentary sword manual, which they named the Azure Tide Sword Art. After a lively meal at Bright Moon Tower, he went to Duke An's Estate and found Xiao Ruoling waiting in the rear garden.

• Chu Zhiyuan used Dragon Fat Incense and the Meridian Washing Art to temper his Meridians as he sought to advance his cultivation.
• Chu Zhiyuan recognized that the twelve sword forms in Huang Shirong's fragmentary manual were variations of one move and demonstrated how to link them in a spar.
• Chu Zhiyuan, Huang Shirong, Wen Qianqian, and Xu Mengyu named the sword technique the Azure Tide Sword Art and shared stories about strange happenings in Yujing City.
• Feng Xi told Chu Zhiyuan that the Young Duke of Duke An's Estate had asked him to visit, so Chu Zhiyuan went there that night.
• Xiao Ruoyu guided Chu Zhiyuan to the rear garden, where he found Xiao Ruoling reading aboard the Painted Barge.

Xiao Ruoling told Chu Zhiyuan that the West Palace Consort had offered her a slot in Moon Invitation Palace’s Secret Realm, where candidates would compete to become Saintess. Chu Zhiyuan encouraged her to go, and learning the Saintess’s legacy could greatly extend her life made him eager for her to pursue the opportunity.

• Xiao Ruoling told Chu Zhiyuan that the West Palace Consort wanted her to take a slot in Moon Invitation Palace’s Secret Realm and become her disciple.
• Xiao Ruoling explained that nine Xiantian Realm candidates could enter the Secret Realm and gain treasures, while Chu Zhiyuan questioned why the West Palace Consort was so determined to send her.
• Chu Zhiyuan encouraged Xiao Ruoling to take the opportunity, and she joked that she would serve as Saintess for ten years before returning to be his principal consort.
• Xiao Ruoling said she planned to take the West Palace Consort as her master to learn the Nine Heavens Profound Maiden Technique and seek treasures in the Secret Realm.
• Xiao Ruoling revealed that the Saintess could inherit Great Yin Refinement, which preserved youth and extended lifespan, and Chu Zhiyuan urged her to contend for the position.

Chu Zhiyuan agreed with Xiao Ruoling to pursue the Moon Invitation Palace Saintess position despite its ten-year ban on marriage, hoping she could gain the Great Yin Refinement. He asked Bai Ningshuang to seek Grandmaster Song’s secret protection for Xiao Ruoling and explained the situation to Chu Yi and Li Suyue, leaving him worried about how his mother would react.

• Chu Zhiyuan persuaded Xiao Ruoling to compete for the Saintess position and proposed postponing their wedding for ten years while they continued to see each other.
• Chu Zhiyuan asked Bai Ningshuang to tell the Imperial Consort that he wanted Grandmaster Song to secretly protect Xiao Ruoling as she went to Moon Invitation Palace.
• Chu Yi brought Chu Zhiyuan to Ten Thousand Green Courtyard, where Li Suyue arrived, and pressed him to explain what was happening.
• Chu Zhiyuan told Chu Yi and Li Suyue that Xiao Ruoling secretly studied under the West Palace Consort, cultivated at Innate Perfection, and had been ordered to enter the Saintess selection.
• Li Suyue explained that the Saintess was Moon Invitation Palace’s second-ranking figure, while Chu Zhiyuan said she could not marry during her ten-year tenure.
• Chu Zhiyuan asked Chu Yi to prepare Bai Ningshuang for the news and worried that his mother might confront the Emperor in anger.