Recaps

An old woman rescued the gravely injured Su Mo and Gu Yu from the Snow Domain and sheltered them in her home. While Gu Yu worried that Su Mo was near death, a mysterious phantom appeared, used the Little Stone to restore something at Su Mo’s forehead, and left to seek a way to help him.

• The old woman brought unconscious Su Mo and Gu Yu to her home in a small town in the Snow Domain.
• Su Mo and Gu Yu woke and thanked the old woman, who offered them a place to stay while they recovered.
• Gu Yu fed Su Mo porridge and watched him fall unconscious again, knowing his cultivation, vitality, and soul had been severely damaged.
• After the old woman left for the night, a phantom appeared and summoned the Little Stone from Gu Yu’s bosom.
• The phantom turned the Little Stone into starlight that vanished at Su Mo’s forehead, then flew into the Snow Domain to find a way to help him.

Su Mo and Gu Yu left the old woman’s home and settled in the vacant residence behind the town school while recovering in the Snow Domain. Su Mo agreed to teach the local children, as wind and snow swept through the region and two figures entered the Snow Domain.

• Su Mo and Gu Yu bid farewell to the old woman, who led them to the vacant residence behind the town school.
• Su Mo discovered that he still understood the books despite having lost his memories, then accompanied Gu Yu to buy household necessities.
• Su Mo bought meat from Wang Liu and agreed to teach Wang Liu’s son and the other local children at the school in three days.
• Su Mo became a teacher in the town as the Snow Domain grew colder, and two figures entered the region.

As the snowstorm worsened, Su Mo taught local children and struggled with familiar memories he could not grasp. He joined the townspeople at the eastern entrance, where they built a fence against hungry snow wolves, but feared the relentless snowfall would make the winter itself unbearable.

• Su Mo taught the children the Rules for Disciples and unconsciously recalled words about drawing close to the benevolent, leaving him bewildered after class.
• Wang Liu brought pork to the school, and later sent Hu'er with a flask of wine for Su Mo as the townspeople prepared for starving beasts.
• Su Mo escorted Hu'er home and learned that Wang Liu and the other men were building a fence at the town's eastern entrance.
• Su Mo went to the eastern entrance, where Wang Liu showed him the tall fence and several hungry snow wolves beyond it.
• Su Mo worried that if the snow continued, the townspeople would struggle to survive the winter even if the wolves could not enter.

As an unprecedented snowstorm buried the Snow Domain, Su Mo watched the town struggle with cold, grief, and dwindling supplies while his own life and Divine Soul weakened. After Wang Liu brought him a costly slab of meat, Su Mo realized the townspeople had risked their lives hunting to feed him, and he returned to the schoolhouse feeling powerless against the calamity.

• Su Mo’s body slowly recovered, but he still had no cultivation, his Divine Soul weakened, and he believed he had little time left.
• Wang Liu told Su Mo that Granny had died, and they agreed to leave her unburied until the storm passed.
• Su Mo urged Wang Liu to gather households together to conserve firewood and said the schoolhouse could be dismantled if necessary, but Wang Liu refused to sacrifice it.
• Wang Liu later brought Su Mo wine and fresh meat, concealing an injury as he left.
• Su Mo found footprints leading beyond the town and realized Wang Liu and other townspeople had risked hunting a Snow Wolf and given him a large share of the meat.
• Su Mo returned to the schoolhouse as wolves howled outside and the candle nearly went out, feeling helpless before the natural disaster.

As Su Mo’s divine soul weakened amid relentless snow, he advised Wang Liu to build sturdy Snow Huts, but the town’s food shortage and Snow Wolf hunts brought tragedy. After Hu’er delivered fresh meat and Su Mo found mourning silk at the Butcher Shop, he waited in vain for Wang Liu, then thawed and cooked the meat alone.

• Wang Liu told Su Mo that snow had crushed a house and killed several families, and Su Mo advised townspeople to build small, water-frozen Snow Huts.
• Wang Liu reported that the Snow Huts had held firm and kept residents warm, then revealed that townsmen had gone hunting Snow Wolves because food was scarce.
• After Wang Liu stopped visiting, Hu’er brought Su Mo another cut of meat and hurried away without explaining where his father was.
• Su Mo found two strips of white silk hanging outside the Butcher Shop and returned to the School without knocking.
• Su Mo waited for Wang Liu, then thawed both pieces of meat, cooked them into soup, and ate alone as two drops fell into his bowl.

Su Mo waited through a merciless winter for help, then discovered the Town’s people had died from the cold while he could not save them. A Spirit Jade released Ten Thousand Rosy Dawn Lights that restored an illusion of spring across the Town, while Su Mo remained unseen at its center.

• Su Mo waited half a month in the School before a woman came seeking firewood, and he gave her the remaining bookshelf and its books.
• Su Mo walked through the silent, snowbound Town and knocked on several doors, but no one answered.
• Su Mo entered the Butcher Shop and found Hu'er and Sister-in-law Wang frozen together beside the ashes of their burned firewood.
• Su Mo cried out over his lost cultivation and stood motionless in the Town’s center through many days and nights.
• A Spirit Jade fell from Su Mo’s robes and released Ten Thousand Rosy Dawn Lights that filled the Town with a springlike scene, though no one saw Su Mo.

A rift opened above the Northern Region as outsiders descended into the Snow Domain, and the emperor and Academy Dean prepared for the coming danger. Luo Yin and Girl arrived in Snow Domain Town and discovered its townspeople seemed to share Su Mo’s smile as they searched for the white-haired teacher.

• Several outsiders descended through a rift above the Northern Region, and some headed toward the Three Great Sect while others searched the Snow Domain.
• The emperor spoke with the golden dragon about the danger approaching from beyond the rift and said the young man was not ready.
• The Dean ordered Black Horse to gather the Academy’s wayward disciples for a meeting, then sent the bird along with him.
• Luo Yin and Girl entered Snow Domain Town and saw the townspeople showing an unsettlingly similar warmth and kindness.
• The butcher identified the white-haired young man Luo Yin sought as the town’s teacher and offered to take them to him.
• Girl tearfully told Luo Yin that she understood what was happening with the townspeople, and Luo Yin sorrowfully agreed.

Su Mo reunited with the little girl inside a Memory-River Spirit Jade illusion, where he remembered the townspeople who had cared for him before they died in the Snow Domain. As the illusion vanished and his memories and cultivation returned, a colossal figure appeared and raised the Illusory Greatsword, prompting Su Mo to challenge its attempt to sever his Mortal Intent again.

• Luo Yin and the little girl followed Wang Liu to the school, where Su Mo taught children in a town recreated by the Memory-River Spirit Jade.
• The little girl stepped into the classroom, and Su Mo recognized her and led her around to meet the people who had helped him in the Snow Domain.
• Su Mo introduced the townspeople and recounted their kindness before telling the little girl that they had all died.
• The illusion faded, revealing the deserted, frozen town, and Su Mo regained his memories and Confucian Dao cultivation.
• A colossal phantom appeared in the Snow Domain and raised the Illusory Greatsword as Su Mo roared that it would not sever his Mortal Intent a second time.

Su Mo defied the Giant God inheritance, wagering his life to preserve his Mortal Intent alongside his divine soul and bloodline, and the phantom did not strike. Meanwhile, upper-realm arrivals began seizing power in the Ninth Realm, and one Spirit Artifact chose to destroy itself rather than submit to them.

• Su Mo declared that severing his Mortal Intent would also destroy his divine soul and the Divine Race’s last bloodline, forcing the Giant God phantom to choose whether to let him continue or kill him.
• A group from the upper realm discussed taking control of the Ninth Realm’s Sects and headed toward the Hua Kingdom, stopping when their young leader noticed a Spirit Artifact at the Cold Sect.
• The young leader ordered his Spirit Transformation servant to kill the Cold Sect’s four Nascent Soul cultivators and seize the Black Tortoise Sword.
• The servant slaughtered the Sect’s people and brought the sword to the young leader, but the Black Tortoise Sword broke itself rather than submit.

Su Mo defeated Yu Qi of the Rain Sect and watched the Giant God apparition destroy the Spirit Transformation old servant who threatened him. After Yu Qi revealed that the Rain Sect had used the sacred artifact Frost to break through the realm barrier, Su Mo killed him and received the complete Giant God Clan Inheritance, becoming its only Divine Son.

• Yu Qi and his old servant plotted to steal Su Mo's incomplete Divine Race Inheritance and abduct Luo Yin, then Yu Qi attacked Su Mo and Gu Yu intervened.
• Su Mo endured Yu Qi's rain-sword attacks, restrained him, and struck him down; the Giant God apparition then killed the old servant when he tried to attack Su Mo.
• Yu Qi revealed that his clan had used the sacred artifact Frost to break through the realm barrier and that the Rain Sect planned to descend into the lower realm.
• Su Mo rejected the Ninth Elder's plea to spare Yu Qi, then crushed him beneath a mountain and destroyed the mountain with ten thousand Spirit Swords.
• The Giant God phantoms granted Su Mo the complete Giant God Clan Inheritance and its Unyielding Intent, making him the clan's only Divine Son.

After Su Mo collapsed from using Confucian Dao True Words, Gu Yu revealed that his Divine Soul was irreparably shattered. Su Mo buried the people of the frozen town and set out with Girl to wander the world as turmoil spread across the mortal realm.

• Su Mo collapsed after overusing Confucian Dao True Words, and Gu Yu explained that his shattered Divine Soul could not heal.
• After waking, Su Mo asked Girl to tie up his white hair, then buried the frozen townspeople outside the town.
• Su Mo explained that he had marked one grave with his own name, and Girl insisted that he would not die.
• Gu Yu and Luo Yin returned to the Academy while Su Mo and Girl left to wander the world, beginning with Cang Mountain.
• The Dao Sect rang its Guardian Sect Spirit Artifact as Dao Twelve fought a visitor from beyond the realm, another visitor sought to marry Ning Baixue, and outsiders descended upon the mortal world.

Su Mo and the little girl took shelter from a sudden downpour in a ruined temple, where they reunited with Master Hui Kong. Hui Kong spoke of Su Mo’s suffering and tried to guide him across its sea, and the chapter ended with the monk agreeing to accompany Su Mo and the girl beneath the Bodhi Tree.

• Su Mo carried the little girl to a ruined temple after she soaked her shoe in a mountain stream, and he lit a fire to dry it.
• A sudden downpour drove several woodcutters into the temple, followed by Master Hui Kong, whom Su Mo and the girl had met before.
• Hui Kong told Su Mo he had come to guide him across the sea of suffering, then used the rain to explain the nature of life and suffering.
• Su Mo said he understood Hui Kong’s teaching but could not follow it, and invited the monk to join him and the girl beneath the Bodhi Tree.
• Hui Kong agreed to accompany Su Mo and the girl.

Su Mo drank and debated Buddhism with Master Hui Kong before learning that foreign Immortals had brought war and political turmoil to the mortal world. He set out with Hui Kong toward the Dao Sect, after taking Girl to Thousand Absolutes Peak.

• Su Mo shared wine and a Zen debate with Master Hui Kong and the woodcutters, while Girl worried about how quickly he drank.
• A woodcutter told Su Mo that foreign Immortals had attacked the Dao Sect, sought influence over mortal kingdoms, and killed people in the Dao Sect's subordinate Sects and nearby villages.
• Su Mo connected the invaders' interest in mortal nations to National Fortune Power and wondered how Dao Hua had fared after the Dao Sect battle.
• Hui Kong told Su Mo that the people's suffering was connected to him, and said he would ferry Su Mo out of the sea of suffering to save them.
• After the rain stopped, Su Mo invited Hui Kong to visit the Dao Sect, then discovered he had burned Girl's shoe while drying it.
• Su Mo carried Girl to Thousand Absolutes Peak and, after she was satisfied, departed with her and Hui Kong for the Dao Sect.

Ning Baixue was summoned before the Holy Sect's Elder Council, where the elders asked her opinion on an alliance and marriage proposal from the Cloud Sect. She rejected making a decision while First Elder Ning Wuya remained in seclusion.

• Ning Baixue received a summons to the Elder Council and learned from Jiang Yue that the Cloud Sect's young Sect Master had come to seek a marriage alliance.
• Ning Baixue asked Jiang Yue whether she wanted to be the Holy Maiden, and Jiang Yue admitted that she did.
• Ning Baixue entered the Elder Council and met the Cloud Sect's young Sect Master, who watched her closely.
• Third Elder told Ning Baixue that the Elder Council had agreed to an alliance with the Cloud Sect and asked what she thought.
• Ning Baixue reminded the elders that Ning Wuya had not awakened and urged them to wait before deciding, calling their plan bargaining with a tiger for its skin.

Ning Baixue resisted the Holy Sect elders’ plan to marry her to Yun Yi as part of an alliance with the Cloud Sect. She declared that she had already chosen Su Mo as her husband, leaving the hall stunned as she embraced the name Yunxue if he would not accept her.

• Ning Baixue publicly challenged the Holy Sect’s plans to entangle itself with the Cloud Sect, and the elders rebuked her.
• The Third Elder introduced Yun Yi and explained that the alliance required a marriage between the sects.
• Ning Baixue refused to marry Yun Yi and suggested the Cloud Sect choose another female disciple, but its attendant and the elders insisted that only the Holy Maiden would suffice.
• The Third Elder and several elders supported the demand, while the others remained silent, and Ning Baixue realized the Grand Elder was unavailable to protect her.
• Remembering her life with Su Mo in the Divine Realm illusion, Ning Baixue said she refused and named him as the only husband she would have.
• Ning Baixue said she could remain Ning Baixue if Su Mo accepted her, or be Yunxue if he did not.

Su Mo, the little girl, and Master Hui Kong reached a ruined city beneath Dao Xuan Mountain and learned that Immortals had slaughtered its people to pressure the Dao Sect. After Master Hui Kong directed a refugee family south, Su Mo gave them his blood to protect them from beasts, and they continued toward the mountain.

• Su Mo asked Master Hui Kong about his thoughts on their journey through devastated lands, and they discussed whether the world was merely an illusion.
• An old man told Su Mo that Immortals had destroyed the city and killed the young people they took to force the Dao Sect to submit.
• Master Hui Kong advised the old man and his family to seek hope in the south, though a woman warned that the Primordial Mountain Range was dangerous.
• Su Mo placed a drop of his divine blood in a bottle of pills and gave it to the old man to protect the family from wild beasts.
• Su Mo, the little girl, and Master Hui Kong headed toward Dao Xuan Mountain as the old man and his family knelt and called them kindhearted Immortals.

Su Mo sent a sparrow to Dao Hua at the Dao Sect, then used his power to arrive there with Little Girl and Master Hui Kong. He found the sect on edge amid a standoff with outsiders, while Dao Hua’s master remained injured and the sect’s leaders waited for events to unfold.

• Su Mo explained that his blood carried the Giant God Clan’s aura, then decided to visit the Dao Sect because cultivators there faced a coming calamity while remaining divided.
• Su Mo enchanted a sparrow and sent it to tell Dao Hua to dress properly and wait somewhere suitable to receive guests.
• At the Dao Sect, Dao Hua’s mistress treated his master’s injured Dao foundation and explained that the sect was waiting rather than rushing into battle against the outsiders.
• Dao Hua’s mistress questioned him about Su Mo’s message, and Dao Hua told the sparrow that he understood.
• Su Mo, Little Girl, and Master Hui Kong appeared before Dao Hua.

Su Mo reunited with Dao Hua after escaping the Divine Realm, but revealed that his Divine Soul was shattered and he was dying. Dao Twelve offered to take him to the Dao Sect’s Divine Spring, giving Su Mo a chance to seek help as the Upper Realm clan’s descent loomed.

• Su Mo reunited with Dao Hua and introduced the little girl as his maid, while the old woman recognized that Su Mo was dying.
• Dao Hua told Su Mo that Dao Twelve had fought an Upper Realm expert above Spirit Transformation, and they realized the enemy was waiting for their entire clan to descend.
• Su Mo revealed that his Divine Soul was shattered and that only the Flower of the Other Shore could save him, though none remained.
• Dao Hua offered to take Su Mo to the Dao Sect’s Divine Spring, but Su Mo initially refused to avoid burdening him.
• Dao Twelve appeared, said he had recovered, and offered to take Su Mo to the Divine Spring because he owed Mo Shangao a favor.
• At the little girl’s urging, Su Mo accepted Dao Twelve’s offer, and Dao Twelve took him away.

Dao Twelve brought Su Mo to the Dao Sect Ancestral Ground and sent him into the Dao Steps, despite knowing the Divine Spring could not heal his shattered Divine Soul. After he entered, a mysterious woman revealed that only the poisonous Flower of the Other Shore could save him, then vanished.

• Dao Twelve led Su Mo through the bamboo grove of the Dao Sect Ancestral Ground and explained that its unmarked mounds held the remains of Dao Sect Sages.
• At the bamboo gate, Dao Twelve told Su Mo that he would face the Dao Steps’ tests and might reach the Divine Spring, though Su Mo was not a Dao Sect member.
• Su Mo questioned the point of the trials because his Divine Soul was shattered, but Dao Twelve said he had promised someone to bring him there and urged him to follow his heart.
• After Su Mo entered the Dao Steps, a woman in white appeared beside Dao Twelve and said she had asked him to bring Su Mo to the ancestral ground.
• The woman in white said the Divine Spring could not save Su Mo and that only the poisonous Flower of the Other Shore could; she then vanished.

Su Mo discussed the nature of Confucianism, Buddhism, and the Dao with a mysterious white-haired elder, then reflected on their teachings as he climbed an endless mountain path. He reached the mountaintop after realizing that he was the Dao, though sorrow and reluctance remained in his smile.

• Su Mo met a white-haired old man on the stone steps, who asked him to compare Confucianism and the Dao.
• Su Mo explained how a Buddhist, Confucian, and Daoist might cross a river, and the old man corrected his understanding of nonaction and nature.
• Su Mo watched fallen bamboo leaves and connected their cycle to the teachings of Buddhism, Confucianism, and the Dao.
• The old man vanished, and Su Mo found himself unable to reach the mountaintop until he understood that the steps reflected the movement of his heart.
• Su Mo accepted that he was the Dao and took one step to the mountaintop, looking back with lingering sorrow and reluctance.

Su Mo entered the Divine Spring to nourish his shattered divine soul and reflected on the people who had shaped his life. As he remembered those he loved and felt indebted to, he wondered whether he could return to Prince Ying and his wife before he died.

• Su Mo entered the Divine Spring, where its power slowly nourished his shattered divine soul.
• Su Mo remembered his parents from his previous life and felt guilty for never visiting Prince Ying and his wife, who had treated him as their son.
• Su Mo recalled how the Great Calamity had helped him and trusted him, though he wondered what their relationship might have become if he had lived longer.
• Su Mo thought of Luo Yin and Ning Baixue, recognized his feelings for both, and concluded that he had to leave them be because he was dying.
• Su Mo remembered Gu Yu, the Dean, and his fellow Academy students, and felt crushed by the debts he believed his impending death would leave unpaid.

Su Mo learned that the Divine Spring could not repair his shattered Divine Soul, so he decided to spend his remaining time traveling with Little Girl. He hid the truth from her, but she realized he was lying and privately resolved to find another way to save him.

• Su Mo discovered that the Divine Spring’s healing could not keep pace with the damage to his Divine Soul and decided to use his remaining time to travel with Little Girl.
• Dao Twelve took Su Mo out of the Dao Sect’s Ancestral Grounds, and Su Mo thanked him for letting him try the Divine Spring.
• Little Girl anxiously asked whether the Divine Spring had worked, and Su Mo falsely assured her that he felt much better.
• Su Mo suggested that he and Little Girl visit the Snow Domain and Jiangnan before returning to the Academy, and Little Girl agreed.
• Little Girl realized Su Mo was lying about recovering and silently decided to seek the flower of the other shore.

Su Mo brought Little Girl and Master Hui Kong to the breach at the End of Heaven and learned that the realms would merge within two months, with a devastating snowfall to follow. He asked Master Hui Kong to help protect the mortals, then visited Snow City, where Prefect Liang Yi recognized him as the Peerless Marquis.

• Su Mo, Little Girl, and Master Hui Kong reached the breach in the Snow Domain, where Su Mo confirmed it was the passage used by people from the outside world.
• Master Hui Kong said the breach would open completely in two months and that no one could stop the realms from merging.
• Su Mo feared a heavier snowfall would endanger the surviving mortals and asked Master Hui Kong to help them before taking Little Girl to play in the snow.
• Su Mo and Little Girl arrived at Snow City and asked the guards to bring them to Prefect Liang Yi.
• Liang Yi came to the city wall, recognized Su Mo, and knelt to pay his respects to the Peerless Marquis.

Su Mo warned Liang Yi that another devastating snowfall would soon make Snow City uninhabitable and urged him to evacuate its people. Liang Yi refused to abandon his post without an imperial command, just as Eunuch Ji appeared with an imperial edict.

• Liang Yi recognized Su Mo as the Peerless Marquis and explained that the emperor had granted him the title after he solved the West City Case.
• Liang Yi told Su Mo that Snow City's supplies were nearly gone and its people could not survive another snowfall like the last one.
• Su Mo warned Liang Yi that another heavy snowfall was coming and urged him to lead the people out of the Snow Domain.
• Liang Yi believed Su Mo but refused to leave without an imperial command, insisting that the soldiers would defend Snow City to the death.
• Su Mo released his Core Formation pressure after Liang Yi stood firm, and Liang Yi offered to let the townspeople evacuate on their own.
• Eunuch Ji appeared atop the wall holding an imperial edict and ordered Liang Yi to receive it.

Su Mo received an imperial edict granting him authority over Liang Yi and heard the emperor’s explanation for the West City bloodshed. The emperor gave him a Fate Token that could command national fortune power, leaving Su Mo uncertain of the emperor’s intentions as he returned to Snow City to carry out his plans.

• Liang Yi and the soldiers knelt as Eunuch Ji read an edict ordering Liang Yi to obey Su Mo as though the emperor himself were present.
• Su Mo refused to kneel, then agreed to hear the emperor’s private message from Eunuch Ji outside Snow City.
• Eunuch Ji gave Su Mo a Fate Token and relayed the emperor’s denial that he had directed the West City bloodshed, adding that the token could command national fortune power and even kill him.
• Eunuch Ji vanished, and Su Mo wondered whether the emperor was testing him or trying to entangle him in national fortune power.
• Su Mo put away the Fate Token, returned to the city wall, and ordered Liang Yi to listen to his command.