Chapter Summaries

Yanzhi agreed to merge Rouge Pass into Peach Mountain and become one of its elders because she liked peach blossoms, while revealing her grief over a long-dead person named Hongyan. Su Mo returned to Peach Mountain and told Wu Qian about the merger, leaving her to anticipate the added work of managing Rouge Pass.

• Yanzhi agreed to merge Rouge Pass into Peach Blossom Pass and join Peach Mountain without asking Su Mo for an explanation or pledge.
• Yanzhi said she liked peach blossoms, then remembered the person she had failed to save and called them Hongyan.
• Su Mo returned to the Divine Nest and found Wu Qian preparing plans for disciple selection and the Sect's future.
• Su Mo told Wu Qian that Rouge Pass had merged into Peach Mountain, and Wu Qian guessed she would have to manage it too.

Su Mo arranged for Book Sage to visit Rouge Pass and learn the details needed for Wu Qian to manage its affairs. There, Yanzhi gave Book Sage a pill that purged the poison from his Dao Foundation, restoring his strength.

• Su Mo left Wu Qian to take over Rouge Pass's secular affairs, and she happily returned to work.
• Su Mo visited Book Sage at the school and told him Rouge Pass had merged with Desolate Demon Pass.
• Su Mo asked Book Sage to consult Senior Rouge about Rouge Pass's affairs, then used the power of law to send him there.
• Book Sage arrived at Rouge Pass and greeted Yanzhi, who gave him a pill that could purge the poison from his Dao Foundation.
• Book Sage swallowed the pill, which cleansed his Dao Foundation and restored his spiritual power and vitality.

The Book Sage recovered his cultivation and found a home at Peach Mountain, giving the sect the foundations Su Mo believed it lacked. As Peach Mountain expanded its influence across Peach Blossom Pass, war drums announced the arrival of the Beast Tide.

• Yanzhi restored the Book Sage's cultivation at Rouge Pass, and he concealed his recovered aura before returning to Peach Mountain.
• The Book Sage told Su Mo that he had returned to the Border Pass because he had nowhere else to go and had come to value finding a home over pursuing immortality.
• Su Mo invited the Book Sage to retire at Peach Mountain, and the Book Sage accepted, becoming the sect's new foundation.
• Peach Mountain's disciples took charge of affairs in Rouge Pass and planted peach trees as they spread the sect's influence.
• Hong Shi secretly used Su Mo's Rain-Calling Talisman to bring rain to a drought-stricken city, then heard war drums announcing the Beast Tide.

Su Mo and the Book Sage discovered that Beast Tides were gathering outside every pass city, with Desolate Demon Pass facing the largest force. They realized the attack might threaten the Li Clan’s fortune and Floating Life Pass’s defenses, but Su Mo suspected the beasts’ true purpose remained unclear as they prepared to attack.

• Su Mo and the Book Sage saw an enormous Beast Tide massing beyond Desolate Demon Pass and learned that Ten Thousand Swords Pass and Rouge Pass were also surrounded.
• The Book Sage confirmed that the beasts outside Desolate Demon Pass were the most numerous, and Su Mo concluded that the other pass cities were being pinned down while his pass was the true target.
• Wu Qian and the Book Sage explained that Desolate Demon Pass held the Li Clan’s gathered fortune, which sustained the world’s Imperial Fortune and Floating Life Pass’s defensive formation.
• Wu Qian noted that the Li Clan’s other members remained in the Imperial Dynasty, so breaching Desolate Demon Pass alone could not erase the clan’s fortune.
• Su Mo questioned whether the beasts truly lacked intelligence as their numbers grew and the pressure of their impending assault weighed on the pass.

Su Mo learned that the Book Sage could not defend Desolate Demon Pass alone, but the Brush of All Living Beings revealed a formation that could spread his power across the entire pass. Su Mo arranged for three openings to be guarded and led the Peach Mountain disciples toward Ten Thousand Swords Pass as the formation was laid.

• The Book Sage explained that the Imperial Fortune would become ownerless if its spiritual consciousness vanished, and that the Border Pass would fall unless a new master claimed it.
• The Book Sage admitted he could not defend Desolate Demon Pass across a million li, and the Brush of All Living Beings proposed a grand formation with openings guarded by powerful defenders.
• Su Mo agreed to leave three openings, and the Brush of All Living Beings began drawing the formation across Desolate Demon Pass.
• Su Mo asked Yanzhi to defend the entrance to Rouge Pass alone, and she agreed.
• Su Mo ordered the Peach Mountain disciples to follow him to Ten Thousand Swords Pass.

Su Mo gave the Peach Mountain disciples talismans, then led them to Ten Thousand Swords Pass to help prepare for the Demon Beast onslaught. He ordered them to defend the pass alongside its soldiers, leaving his own role at Peach Blossom Pass unstated as the chapter ended.

• Su Mo distributed talismans containing Sword Qi and Law Power that could teleport the disciples to Peach Blossom Pass.
• The Brush of All Living Beings completed a great formation that covered the million-li region around the passes.
• At Ten Thousand Swords Pass, two elders recognized that Peach Mountain had strengthened their defensive formation, though they doubted it would last.
• Su Mo arrived with tens of thousands of Peach Mountain disciples and explained his plan to channel the Demon Beasts toward three gateways.
• Su Mo told the Peach Mountain disciples to stand with Ten Thousand Swords Pass's soldiers and hold the pass, and they realized he intended to defend Peach Blossom Pass alone.

Su Mo and the Peach Mountain disciples prepared to defend Desolate Demon Pass as countless demon beasts gathered beyond the Border Pass. When the beasts attacked the Book Sage’s golden-script formation, Su Mo asked for the gate to be opened and stepped outside alone to face them.

• Su Mo ordered the Peach Mountain disciples to return alive, and they knelt to obey as he left with Wu Qian.
• Su Mo and Wu Qian returned to Desolate Demon Pass, where the Book Sage explained that the demon beasts awaited their Beast King’s command.
• The demon beasts charged, and the Book Sage activated the Border Pass formation, covering its defenses in a vast scroll of golden script.
• The Emperor and Minister Li discussed the crisis at the Border Pass and Li Wudi’s death, while Minister Li said Su Mo had lived up to his son’s trust.
• Su Mo drew the Star Sword and asked the Book Sage to open the gates; he walked outside alone as the demon beasts surged toward him.

Su Mo held the breach at Peach Blossom Pass while Yanzhi defended Rouge Pass from the Beast Tide with her fragrance and blood-red threads. As the fighting continued, Yanzhi’s rouge dress was revealed to be stained with blood.

• Su Mo wielded the Star Sword to slaughter Demon Beasts at Peach Blossom Pass while Wu Qian beat the war drum from the walls.
• The Book Sage poured his cultivation into the pass formation as Su Mo stayed at the breach instead of fighting his way out.
• Peach Mountain disciples and cultivators from Ten Thousand Swords Pass charged into battle beneath the opened breach.
• Yanzhi sat on Rouge Pass’s battlements and used her fragrance and fine red threads to kill the Demon Beasts pouring through the formation.
• Yanzhi combed her hair as the threads continued slaughtering the horde, and her rouge dress grew increasingly blood-red.
• Someone realized that the rouge on Yanzhi’s dress was blood.

After half a month of defending Ten Thousand Swords Pass, Su Mo grieved as Peach Mountain disciples died without using their talismans to return, then unleashed tens of thousands of Punishment Two techniques outside Peach Blossom Pass. When a powerful surge rose from Ten Thousand Swords Pass, he ordered the Book Sage to close its gap, accepting that Peach Blossom Pass would face the added assault.

• Ten Thousand Swords Pass’s exhausted defenders held back the Beast Tide for half a month, while more than half of its tens of thousands of cultivators were killed or wounded.
• Peach Mountain disciples died defending the pass without using their return talismans, and Su Mo felt their Soul Incense enter his Divine Sense.
• Overcome by grief and fury, Su Mo left the formation and used tens of thousands of Punishment Two techniques to sweep away Demon Beasts, exhausting himself.
• Wu Qian stopped the war drum and went to support Su Mo, warning him not to use the Spell again.
• After sensing a surge of resolve from Ten Thousand Swords Pass, Su Mo ordered the Book Sage to close its gap, knowing Peach Blossom Pass would then bear the greater pressure.

Su Mo sealed Ten Thousand Swords Pass and alone held back the combined Beast Tide at Peach Blossom Pass, refusing to let the exhausted disciples aid him. Three months into the battle, the Peach Mountain disciples obeyed his order to return inside the pass, leaving him still defending the border as autumn covered the land.

• At Ten Thousand Swords Pass, a woman charged toward the Beast Tide, but the formation shut its breach and the beasts turned south toward Peach Blossom Pass.
• Su Mo asked the Book Sage to seal Ten Thousand Swords Pass, then stood alone before Peach Blossom Pass to face the oncoming Beast Tide while Wu Qian beat the war drum.
• The Divine Maiden wanted to intervene, but remembered Su Mo's warning not to act because her involvement might bring calamity upon the Border Pass.
• Three months passed as Su Mo continued defending the pass, and the land beyond it rose seven feet beneath the accumulated remains of the battle.
• Wu Qian relayed Su Mo's order that all Peach Mountain disciples stay inside the pass, and the disciples bowed to him before returning within the walls.

For half a year, Su Mo fought alone beyond Pass City as the people of Peach Blossom Pass prayed for him at temples bearing his likeness. On New Year’s Eve, their incense power sustained him, and more than a hundred Trapped Beasts appeared before the beast tide abruptly retreated.

• Su Mo continued fighting outside Pass City while Wu Qian beat the war drums and the Book Sage watched from the walls.
• The people of Peach Blossom Pass gathered at Eternal Life Temples to offer incense and wish for the beast tide to retreat so Su Mo could return.
• The incense wishes reached Su Mo, and the Book of Life and Death transformed their power into a force that sustained him and connected him to the temple statues.
• Su Mo, Wu Qian, and the Book Sage saw more than a hundred Trapped Beasts in the distance.
• The Trapped Beasts howled and vanished into the night, and the beast tide that had besieged the city for half a year retreated.

After the Beast Tide retreated, Su Mo questioned why it had withdrawn and learned that the Li Clan's fortune in Desolate Demon Pass had vanished. The Book Sage led him to a hidden chamber in the former Pass Lord's Residence, where they found a dusty picture bearing the character “Li.”

• The Beast Tide retreated, and Wu Qian joined Su Mo atop the mountain of corpses as the pass celebrated.
• Su Mo doubted the retreat was natural and considered possible reasons the Demon Beasts had withdrawn.
• After Su Mo asked, the Book Sage withdrew the Pass-Guarding Formation and sensed that the Li Clan's fortune had vanished.
• The Book Sage told Su Mo he knew how the fortune had disappeared and brought him to Li Wudi's former residence.
• The Book Sage opened a concealed door to an underground chamber, where Su Mo saw a dusty picture bearing the character “Li.”

The Book Sage explained that Li Wudi guarded Desolate Demon Pass so the Li Clan’s fortune would endure through the people’s remembrance, but Su Mo’s worship had shifted that fortune to the Su surname. As the Book Sage discussed the uncertain protection fortune offered, Wu Qian reported that Floating Life Pass had fallen to three Saint Beasts.

• The Book Sage told Su Mo that Li Wudi had stayed at Desolate Demon Pass because only someone surnamed Li could preserve the Li Clan’s fortune there.
• The Book Sage explained that the Li Clan had returned to the Imperial Dynasty to protect its fortune, while Li Wudi guarded Desolate Demon Pass so its people would remember the clan.
• The Book Sage revealed that the people’s worship of Su Mo had transferred Desolate Demon Pass’s fortune from the Li Clan to the Su surname.
• The Book Sage described fortune as protection granted by the thoughts of all living beings, though he admitted such claims were rumors.
• Su Mo questioned how fortune could have saved the Pei Clan when its bloodline supposedly ended, then Wu Qian reported that three Saint Beasts had caused Floating Life Pass to fall.

After Floating Life Pass fell to three Saint Beasts, the Imperial Dynasty summoned six sects to defend it. At Peach Mountain, Su Mo suspected a hidden scheme and questioned the Book Sage about the Imperial Dynasty’s Saint Realm figures and its influence over the world’s powers.

• The Emperor learned that three Saint Beasts had arrived and Floating Life Pass had fallen, then ordered Saddle Mountain, the Demon Pagoda, the Yan Household, the Ji Clan, Hanging Temple, and Qingliang River to send forces.
• Su Mo returned to Peach Mountain with the Book Sage and considered whether the Beast Tide was part of a scheme to force the Immortal Gate open or enable someone to ascend to immortality.
• Su Mo learned that the Emperor, Li Yunbai, and Wu Nian were the Imperial Dynasty’s three Saint Realm figures.
• The Book Sage said only one or two supreme powers would answer an Imperial order, then revised his estimate to probably only one after Su Mo said it mattered.

Su Mo and the Book Sage deduced that the Beast Tide's breach of Desolate Demon Pass might be a scheme targeting the Li Clan's fortune, with a hidden threat waiting at Floating Life Pass. Yanzhi agreed to help hold the pass, and the Divine Maiden told Su Mo to go ahead with his plans.

• Su Mo told the Book Sage that the Beast Tide's retreat might be part of a scheme forcing the Imperial Dynasty to send the Li Clan to its deaths.
• Su Mo showed the Book Sage the Immortal-Slaying Net and explained that Demon Beasts might know about the Forbidden Land and the Imperial Dynasty's strength.
• Su Mo and the Book Sage concluded that Floating Life Pass could have a fourth Saint Beast or hidden Sages waiting for the Li Clan.
• Yanzhi arrived at Peach Mountain and revealed she was in the Saint Realm and willing to hold Floating Life Pass.
• Su Mo went to the Back Mountain and asked the Divine Maiden for help, and she told him, "Go. I'm here..."

The Emperor sent Li Yunbai and Wu Nian to Floating Life Pass to aid the Demon Sage against three Saint Beasts, leaving the Imperial Dynasty without its two Sages. Meanwhile, the Divine Maiden agreed to stay on Peach Mountain while Su Mo went to the pass, and warned him to call on her if he faced danger.

• A scout reported that five sects had sent only ordinary disciples, while the Demon Sage had already gone alone to Floating Life Pass.
• Li Yunbai and Wu Nian requested permission to fight, and the Emperor ordered them both to join the Demon Sage and kill the Saint Beasts.
• Li Yunbai warned the Emperor to beware of the Ji Clan before he and Wu Nian left the Imperial Dynasty.
• The Emperor remained alone in the palace and felt isolated after his two Sages departed.
• The Divine Maiden agreed to guard Peach Mountain while Su Mo went to Floating Life Pass, told him not to overexert himself, and promised to bring him whatever he wanted.

Su Mo, the Book Sage, and Yanzhi found the missing defenders of Floating Life Pass hiding in an ancient temple near the Jade Water Cold Pool. As the others went to confront the three Saint Beasts, Su Mo recognized a stone statue and called it “Imperial Father.”

• Su Mo, the Book Sage, and Yanzhi reached the ruined Floating Life Pass and found that its soldiers and the three Saint Beasts were gone.
• Yanzhi sensed survivors hidden in the mountains and led Su Mo and the Book Sage through the mist to an ancient temple beside the Jade Water Cold Pool.
• Several dozen defending generals told the Book Sage that the Saint Beasts had broken through the pass and charged in the direction of the Imperial Dynasty.
• The Book Sage and Yanzhi heard the Saint Beasts fighting two Sages nearby and led the generals away to join the battle, leaving Su Mo behind.
• Su Mo remained in the temple, approached a stone statue, and called it “Imperial Father.”

Su Mo discovered that the statue in the ancient temple was his father from the Divine Realm illusion, and a Divine Soul Projection revealed a letter meant for him. The letter explained that his father had left him Peach Blossom Haven as a home and ended with a message about Pei Hongyan’s beloved.

• Su Mo recognized the statue as the father from his dream, knelt before it, and called himself his son returned.
• A Divine Soul Projection emerged from the statue, and the Brush of All Living Beings explained how such projections preserved messages for specific people.
• Su Mo read his father’s letter, which identified him as Pei Min’an and said the Forbidden Land’s reincarnation could reveal his origins.
• Pei Min’an’s father revealed a hidden passage behind the temple leading to Peach Blossom Haven, a grotto-heaven that could connect and control all of Floating Life Pass.
• The letter said Pei Hongyan’s beloved had been allowed to leave and that the Pei family had never blamed her.

Su Mo received Emperor Pei’s Parting Letter and concluded that he truly had been Pei Min'an in an ancient era, though the Divine Realm’s power remained a mystery. He entered the Peach Blossom Haven his father had left him, then returned to watch the Saint Realm battle as a fourth Saint Beast appeared and an uncanny voice addressed him.

• Su Mo read Emperor Pei’s Parting Letter and realized it confirmed that he had truly lived as Pei Min'an in the distant past.
• Su Mo wondered whether others who entered the Divine Realm’s illusion had also become people in its ancient world, and suspected the Ghost Gate connected the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths to that world.
• Su Mo opened a hidden gate in the ancient temple and entered a beautiful haven containing two facing mountains, which gave him control over Floating Life Pass.
• The Brush of All Living Beings explained that the haven was an independent world and praised its scenery.
• A fourth Saint Beast appeared near the battle, and Su Mo flew to the temple roof to watch four Sages fight four beasts.
• An uncanny, seductive voice called Su Mo bold for watching the Saint Realm battle from so close.

Su Mo met the Demon Sage at the Jade Water Cold Pool and resisted her bewitching fragrance. He explained how he had recognized her and inferred why she had come, leaving the Demon Sage increasingly puzzled by him.

• The Demon Sage appeared before Su Mo and tried to bewitch him with her demonic fragrance, but the Book of Life and Death restored his clarity.
• Su Mo deduced that the woman was the Demon Sage because she was observing the Saint Realm battle without joining it.
• Su Mo said the Book Sage had told him the Demon Sage would come, then denied that he had anything to do with the Book Sage's recovery.
• The Demon Sage questioned Su Mo about the Book Sage, Yanzhi, and the fourth Saint Beast, while Su Mo claimed he had come with the Book Sage and Yanzhi.
• Su Mo inferred that the Demon Sage had come to investigate his aura and was waiting to see whether a fifth Saint Beast would appear, leaving her speechless.