Recaps

After the Creation Sect defeated a Devil Race force, Xiao Hua wondered whether Xu was connected to his lost memories, while Sun Jian learned that the war was going badly and committed to helping Xu’s cultivators. The Thunder Boats continued toward White Cloud Temple, where the Ten Sects of the Southwest might soon face the Devil Emperor alongside the Creation Sect.

• Xiao Hua sealed the spatial rifts with a brush, driving back the devils, and Sun Jian rallied the grieving Creation Sect disciples before they resumed their journey.
• Xiao Hua suspected Xu might be where he came from because the Misty Sect, Yue Mingxin, and a familiar Demon General seemed connected to his forgotten past.
• Xu’s local cultivators supplied Sun Jian with information and military provisions, revealing that the Devil Race had occupied nearly half of Xu and destroyed forty percent of the star.
• Sun Jian worried that Xu’s cultivators would be slaughtered, and Xiao Hua promised to provide more disciples and treasures to help them.
• Sun Jian reported that the Creation Sect had suffered losses on the way to White Cloud Temple and that the Council Hall had not acted on warnings that the Devil Emperor intended to destroy the Ten Sects of the Southwest.

Xiao Hua and Sun Jian rushed to reinforce White Cloud Temple after discovering that the Devil Race was attacking it. Their forces broke into the enemy formation, but four powerful Devil Lords appeared, and Xiao Hua suspected one might be the Devil Emperor’s incarnation.

• Xiao Hua explained why Xu's Council Hall had ignored the threat to the Ten Sects, and Sun Jian insisted they would do what they ought to do.
• After more than ten days of travel, Xiao Hua detected the Devil Race surrounding and attacking White Cloud Temple and ordered the army to reinforce it.
• Sun Jian arranged the Creation Sect disciples into two Mao Ri Demon Devouring Immortal Arrays aboard the thunder boats.
• The two thunder boats and their arrays charged into the Devil Race formation, breaking through its blood curtain and killing thousands of enemy warriors.
• Four immense Devil Lords emerged from the blood formation, and Xiao Hua warned Sun Jian that one might be the Devil Emperor’s incarnation.
• Xiao Hua assigned Sun Jian one Devil Lord and said he and the others would handle the remaining three.

Xiao Hua and his companions fought four Devil Lords, but one transformed into a nearly complete Demon Emperor and trapped green-robed Xiao Hua in a frozen domain. Demon Spirit Xiao Hua Shi summoned the Demon Blade Shi to destroy it, and Xiao Hua concluded that this Demon Realm differed from the one they knew.

• Sun Jian used his Three-Pointed, Double-Edged Blade and Five-colored True Qi to wound and kill a Devil Lord, while Xiao Hua gathered its escaping blood phantoms.
• Soul Cultivator Xiao Hua used the Ya Brush to fill a second Devil Lord with life-giving shoots that drove away its devilish qi and killed it.
• Green-robed Xiao Hua attacked a third Devil Lord with lightning and the Sea-Overturning Seal, but its frozen domain stopped his attacks and trapped him.
• The Devil Lord began transforming into a Demon Emperor and sent a bone arm toward green-robed Xiao Hua, prompting Xiao Hua to summon Demon Spirit Xiao Hua Shi.
• Demon Spirit Xiao Hua Shi unleashed Demon Blade Shi, which split the forming Demon Emperor in two and devoured its devil body.
• Xiao Hua identified the Demon Emperor as nearly a Demon Venerable and warned that this Demon Realm might differ from the one they knew.

Xiao Hua’s Creation Sect forces broke through the Devil Race’s siege and joined White Cloud Temple’s defenders, whose protective formation was close to collapsing. After meeting White Cloud Temple’s leaders, Xiao Hua left the military decision to Sun Jian as they considered how to face the far larger enemy army.

• Xiao Hua and Sun Jian watched the Creation Sect army withstand the Devil Race’s assault, form an army soul, and break through the first blood array.
• The Creation Sect disciples entered another blood array and told White Cloud Temple’s defenders that ninety thousand soldiers and ten Mahayana experts had come to aid them.
• White Cloud Temple activated its protective formation, shattered the blood array, and sent its cultivators into battle alongside the Creation Sect.
• Bai Shan, Bai Shui, and Bai Ming welcomed Sun Jian and Xiao Hua, and Xiao Hua introduced his four avatars as friends.
• Bai Shan warned that the allied forces might not defeat the several hundred thousand Devil Race warriors and asked whether the thunder boats could break the blood array so White Cloud Temple could escape.
• Xiao Hua said Sun Jian would decide military matters, and Bai Shan asked Sun Jian for his opinion.

Xiao Hua agreed to help Sun Jian and White Cloud Temple break through the devil array, and gifted Bai Ming the Mao Ri Demon Devouring Immortal Array in exchange for a chance to study White Cloud Temple’s Daoist methods. As the sects launched their escape, Xiao Hua’s incarnations attacked the array and began tearing open a path for White Cloud Temple’s disciples.

• Sun Jian and Xiao Hua decided to join forces with White Cloud Temple to break out of the devil array and rescue Light Sound Palace.
• Xiao Hua gifted Bai Ming a jade slip containing the Mao Ri Demon Devouring Immortal Array, while Bai Ming offered his own cultivation method in return.
• Bai Ming received word that his senior sect brother had led White Cloud Temple’s disciples out in force, and Sun Jian ordered the Thunder Boat and ninety thousand disciples to charge into the array.
• Xiao Hua and his incarnations joined the attack, with Dragon Vein Xiao Hua and Bone Tempering Xiao Hua blasting the array and Phoenix Body Xiao Hua opening a huge gap with the power of stars and moon.

Xiao Hua and his avatars broke the demonic formation and helped the White Cloud Temple disciples escape, but the Demon Emperor arrived and attacked them. Xiao Hua confronted the Demon Emperor inside its domain, determined to kill it despite its superior strength.

• Green-robed Xiao Hua and Xiao Hua combined their attacks to tear a wide breach through the demonic formation, and Sun Jian led the thunder boat and White Cloud Boats through it.
• Bai Shan thanked Xiao Hua as the fleeing boats escaped, but Xiao Hua sensed the Demon Emperor approaching and warned them to leave.
• Xiao Hua used thunder to break the Demon Emperor’s freezing domain and then enlarged himself and summoned his four great avatars to face the Demon Emperor.
• The Demon Emperor sent five streams of black flame against Xiao Hua and his avatars, then engulfed them in its domain.
• Xiao Hua recognized the danger of the Demon Emperor’s domain but decided to fight, and he challenged the Demon Emperor by insisting it was not a Demon Venerable.

Xiao Hua and his avatars fought the Demon Emperor inside the Demonic Blood Cave Heaven, but the Demon Emperor’s overwhelming power and nearly invulnerable body left Xiao Hua struggling to survive. The Demon Emperor prepared to press the attack with demonic weapons as Xiao Hua searched for a way to escape.

• The Demon Emperor questioned how Xiao Hua had recognized the Demonic Blood Cave Heaven, then attacked him with black radiance and demonic force.
• Xiao Hua used the Kunlun Mirror to counter, but recalled it when the Demon Emperor’s cave heaven began draining its power, and charged in with his avatars.
• Xiao Hua and Bone Tempering Xiao Hua fought the Demon Emperor with the Big Dipper Divine Fist while Dragon Vein Xiao Hua and Phoenix Body Xiao Hua joined the assault.
• The Demon Emperor injured green-robed Xiao Hua and struck Bone Tempering Xiao Hua, who counterattacked and forced him back.
• Xiao Hua struck the Demon Emperor with the Soaring Flood Dragon Scissors, but the wound immediately healed, making Xiao Hua consider escape instead of victory.
• The Demon Emperor mocked Xiao Hua and drew several demonic weapons to continue the fight.

Xiao Hua struggled against the Devil Emperor in the Devil Blood Cave Heaven, then turned the battle by using Demon Blade Shi and unleashing his other avatars. The Devil Emperor was left under the combined assault of Xiao Hua’s Confucian and Buddhist powers.

• Xiao Hua’s Soaring Flood Dragon Scissors and As-You-Wish Staff failed to overcome the Devil Emperor, who recognized the God Slaying Staff Techniques and Great Heavenly Cycle Star Fist.
• Xiao Hua summoned Demon Spirit Xiao Hua, who struck the Devil Emperor with Demon Blade Shi and sent him flying, while Xiao Hua prepared to escape with his other avatars.
• The Devil Emperor used hidden suction holes to devour Demon Spirit Xiao Hua’s power and seized Shi, but Xiao Hua secretly controlled the blade to slash the Devil Emperor’s chest and make him flee as blood light.
• Confucian cultivator Xiao Hua appeared and used the Nine Provinces Ding and a heart-shaped petal of Vast Righteous Qi to expose and trap the Devil Emperor.
• Buddha Bodhi arrived and attacked the Devil Emperor with Buddhist power, then invoked the Great Sun Tathagata Buddha Tablet, whose finger strike made the Devil Emperor’s body crack and roll through the air.

Xiao Hua and his incarnations wounded the Demon Emperor and chased him into a strange void, where they found Star Moon Palace. Inside the palace’s dangerous approach, Xiao Hua lost access to his storage and some of his incarnations, leaving him uncertain how to face the Demon Emperor.

• Soul Cultivator Xiao Hua’s Three Corpse Yin Thunder struck the injured Demon Emperor, who fled as the Demon Blood Grotto-Heaven collapsed.
• Xiao Hua and his incarnations pursued the Demon Emperor, who entered a mountain foothill before Xiao Hua followed him through the void.
• Xiao Hua found himself before Star Moon Palace in the Ruins and met Dragon Vein Xiao Hua, Bone Tempering Xiao Hua, Phoenix Body Xiao Hua, and Demon Spirit Xiao Hua.
• Xiao Hua and the four incarnations crossed spatial turbulence to reach the palace steps, where they spotted a figure inside and suspected it was the Demon Emperor.
• Xiao Hua discovered he could not access his storage or summon Soul Cultivator Xiao Hua, Confucian cultivator Xiao Hua, green-robed Xiao Hua, or Buddha Bodhi.

Xiao Hua and his four avatars searched Star Moon Palace for the Demon Emperor, discovering that the palace disabled their powers and formed a numbered maze. After finding Xiao Hua’s missing jade slip and a strange statue, they spotted a fleeting shadow in a mirror.

• Xiao Hua led Dragon Vein Xiao Hua, Demon Spirit Xiao Hua, Phoenix Body Xiao Hua, and Bone Tempering Xiao Hua through Star Moon Palace’s gates despite their inability to use divine abilities.
• The group identified the palace halls by their ceiling markings and searched deeper, finding no treasures or trace of the Demon Emperor.
• Bone Tempering Xiao Hua found a jade slip in hall Jia Forty-Three, and Xiao Hua recognized it as the cultivation-method jade slip Bai Ming had given him.
• The group discovered a hall marked Jia Qi Yi containing wall mirrors, empty tables, spirit fruits, and a strange translucent statue.
• Phoenix Body Xiao Hua ate a spirit fruit, while Xiao Hua noticed a shadow flicker across a mirror and turned toward the nearby gate.

Xiao Hua and Dragon Vein Xiao Hua searched the palace halls for Bone Tempering Xiao Hua, while Xiao Hua realized his incarnations were becoming independent cultivators. They found bloodstains and a message directing them to Jia San Yi Yi, leaving Xiao Hua alarmed that Bone Tempering Xiao Hua had somehow gained flesh and blood.

• Bone Tempering Xiao Hua entered an empty hall alone after seeing seven-colored light at its doors, while Xiao Hua discovered that spirit fruits eased his unusual exhaustion.
• Worried about Bone Tempering Xiao Hua, Xiao Hua and Dragon Vein Xiao Hua set out to find him, leaving Phoenix Body Xiao Hua and Demon Spirit Xiao Hua behind.
• Xiao Hua and Dragon Vein Xiao Hua disagreed over their route, and Dragon Vein Xiao Hua insisted that he was an independent cultivator who did not have to obey Xiao Hua.
• Dragon Vein Xiao Hua led Xiao Hua into an unfamiliar hall, where they found a blazing artifact-refining cauldron and a sword embryo unaffected by its fire.
• Xiao Hua spotted bloodstains beside a message reading “Go to Jia San Yi Yi” and feared the blood belonged to Bone Tempering Xiao Hua, who had never had flesh and blood before.

Xiao Hua returned to Jia Qi Yi and found the incarnations in Star Moon Palace, where Bone Tempering Xiao Hua attacked him and died. In Jia San Yi Yi, a cloaked figure killed Phoenix Body Xiao Hua with a black crossbow bolt and fired at Xiao Hua as he tried to escape.

• Xiao Hua and Dragon Vein Xiao Hua disagreed over whether to return to Jia Qi Yi or search Jia San Yi Yi, and Xiao Hua went back alone.
• Xiao Hua found neither Phoenix Body Xiao Hua nor Demon Spirit Xiao Hua in Jia Qi Yi, injured his hand on the stone wall, and noticed blackened marks beneath a bloodstain.
• Bone Tempering Xiao Hua staggered into the hall, attacked Xiao Hua without answering his questions, and died after crashing into the statue.
• Xiao Hua reached Jia San Yi Yi and found Phoenix Body Xiao Hua, Demon Spirit Xiao Hua, and wounded Dragon Vein Xiao Hua on a raised platform, where Demon Spirit Xiao Hua and Phoenix Body Xiao Hua accused him of causing their deaths.
• A cloaked figure on the gallery shot Phoenix Body Xiao Hua with a black crossbow bolt, and Xiao Hua recognized it as the Demon Emperor's attack.
• The figure fired again, and Xiao Hua desperately threw himself aside to evade the shot.

Xiao Hua fled the Demon Emperor through Star Moon Palace and found a battered little sword that helped him turn the pursuit around. He drove the cloaked Demon Emperor into the deadly reverse currents, but the stranger’s identity and warnings remained unresolved.

• Xiao Hua escaped the high platform after the Demon Emperor shot Demon Spirit Xiao Hua and pursued him through the halls.
• Xiao Hua found a battered little sword, hid beside a doorway, and avoided the Demon Emperor as it rushed past.
• Xiao Hua entered the corridor leading to the palace’s second level and dodged another crossbow bolt from the pursuing Demon Emperor.
• Xiao Hua ambushed the cloaked Demon Emperor, disarmed it, and wounded it with the little sword.
• The cloaked Demon Emperor urged Xiao Hua to kill everyone to escape, but Xiao Hua kicked it into the reverse currents, where it vanished.

Injured Xiao Hua wandered through Star Moon Palace and struggled to determine whether the other Xiao Huas were real or illusions created by the Cloaked Demon Emperor. The chapter ended when Bone Tempering Xiao Hua mistook him for the Demon Emperor and attacked.

• Xiao Hua realized that the other versions of himself outside Star Moon Palace might be phantoms and fled before they could find him.
• He searched the palace, encountered the other Xiao Huas in familiar halls, and narrowly escaped being discovered.
• Xiao Hua suspected the Demon Emperor's claim that killing the others was the way out was a trap, but remained unable to find an exit.
• He left the halls and met Bone Tempering Xiao Hua in a corridor near the stairs to the second floor.
• Bone Tempering Xiao Hua accused the bloodied Xiao Hua of being the Demon Emperor in disguise and punched toward his chest.

Xiao Hua tried to convince his incarnations that the Demon Emperor had been impersonating him, but his attempts to alter events in Star Moon Palace only caused more confusion and death. He armed himself with a crossbow and fled with Phoenix Body Xiao Hua and Demon Spirit Xiao Hua after the Demon Emperor attacked them.

• Xiao Hua fought Bone Tempering Xiao Hua, accidentally impaled him on the corridor's protective spikes, and watched him stagger away despite his explanations.
• Xiao Hua found a crossbow and arrows in Jia Er Ba Ba, then returned to Jia Qi Yi to try to change what had happened there.
• Xiao Hua persuaded the second Xiao Hua to leave Jia Qi Yi, but Bone Tempering Xiao Hua collapsed and died from his wounds.
• Xiao Hua rushed to Hall Three Eleven of Sector A and tried to warn Phoenix Body Xiao Hua and Demon Spirit Xiao Hua that the Demon Emperor had attacked them.
• Xiao Hua shot at a shadow on the second-floor pavilion, then fled with Phoenix Body Xiao Hua and Demon Spirit Xiao Hua when another crossbow bolt nearly hit them.

Xiao Hua tried to reunite with his incarnations, but the Cloaked Demon Emperor impersonated him and lured Phoenix Body Xiao Hua and Demon Spirit Xiao Hua into a trap. After the Cloaked Demon Emperor killed Phoenix Body Xiao Hua and gravely wounded Demon Spirit Xiao Hua, Xiao Hua followed the blood trail to the second floor of Star Moon Palace and approached the survivor.

• Xiao Hua failed to convince Phoenix Body Xiao Hua and Demon Spirit Xiao Hua to trust him, so he went to fetch Bone Tempering Xiao Hua.
• The Cloaked Demon Emperor returned disguised as Xiao Hua, claimed Bone Tempering Xiao Hua was dead, and led Phoenix Body Xiao Hua and Demon Spirit Xiao Hua to Jia Er Ba Ba.
• Xiao Hua found Bone Tempering Xiao Hua’s body missing and realized the Cloaked Demon Emperor had deceived the others, but he arrived too late to stop the attack.
• The Cloaked Demon Emperor stabbed Demon Spirit Xiao Hua and killed Phoenix Body Xiao Hua, while the wounded Demon Spirit Xiao Hua escaped.
• Xiao Hua followed Demon Spirit Xiao Hua’s blood trail up to the second floor of Star Moon Palace and heard him pleading not to be killed.

Xiao Hua discovered that Star Moon Palace was trapped in a repeating illusion populated by countless versions of himself, and concluded that killing the later arrivals might be the only way out. As the second Xiao Hua fought his way through the repeating events, the wounded Xiao Hua moved to intercept him and encountered Bone Tempering Xiao Hua.

• Xiao Hua entered a hall filled with the corpses of countless Demon Spirit Xiao Huas and watched the last survivor die.
• Xiao Hua saw the second Xiao Hua kill Cloaked Xiao Hua, whose corpse was revealed to be another version of himself.
• Xiao Hua realized that the later arrivals and their encounters were repeating illusions, and decided he must kill the newcomers to escape.
• The second Xiao Hua mistook Bone Tempering Xiao Hua for the Demon Emperor and attacked him, after which Bone Tempering Xiao Hua fled.
• Xiao Hua descended to the first level and passed a wary Bone Tempering Xiao Hua as he hurried through the palace.

Xiao Hua killed several of his clones in Star Moon Palace, but the third Xiao Hua defeated him and cast him into the chaotic current. He emerged somewhere near Qiang He Sea, where he found Xue Xue and Helpless confronting True Person Du'e.

• Xiao Hua found Phoenix Body Xiao Hua's corpse and evidence accusing the main body, then erased the accusation, hid the body, and discarded it with Bone Tempering Xiao Hua's corpse.
• Xiao Hua shot Dragon Vein Xiao Hua with a crossbow, then killed Phoenix Body Xiao Hua and Demon Spirit Xiao Hua as they confronted the third Xiao Hua.
• Xiao Hua chased the third Xiao Hua through Star Moon Palace, but the third Xiao Hua disarmed him and defeated him with a little sword.
• The third Xiao Hua kicked Xiao Hua into the chaotic current, where Xiao Hua drifted until he emerged in an unfamiliar place.
• Xue Xue urged Xiao Hua to fly deeper into Qiang He Sea, while True Person Du'e appeared and Helpless arrived to face him.

Xiao Hua realized that his repeated visions of Xue Xue and Wu Nai were an illusion created by a Heavenly Demon King to consume his vital essence. Though he had accumulated power across countless cycles, he used the brief moment of clarity to reach for Xue Xue and confess his love.

• Xue Xue and Wu Nai self-destructed in the illusion, and Xiao Hua rushed toward the Star Moon Palace with his four avatars.
• A black shadow revealed that it was a Heavenly Demon King trapping Xiao Hua in repeated karmic illusions to harvest his vital essence and attain demonic fruition.
• The Heavenly Demon King restarted the cycle, and Xiao Hua again witnessed Xue Xue preparing to sacrifice herself.
• Xiao Hua used his accumulated soul cultivation to clear his mind briefly and told Xue Xue he knew she was an illusion.
• Xiao Hua reached for Xue Xue's hand and confessed that he loved her.

Xiao Hua reunited with Yue Mingxin inside the Heavenly Demon’s illusion and revealed that he had secretly accumulated power to strike back. As his avatars arrived and trapped the wounded Heavenly Demon, it vanished after losing another portion of its body.

• Xiao Hua’s hand and Xue Xue’s phantom joined through their glowing marks, and Yue Mingxin appeared as moonlight broke into the devil kingdom.
• Xiao Hua split the illusion and wounded Wu Qing, explaining that he had recognized the Heavenly Demon hiding inside his master’s phantom and had gathered strength across repeated awakenings.
• Xiao Hua told the Heavenly Demon he was waiting for his avatars, then drew power from Yue Mingxin and used his Demon Blade to collapse the devil kingdom.
• Phoenix Body Xiao Hua, Dragon Vein Xiao Hua, Bone Tempering Xiao Hua, and Demon Spirit Xiao Hua emerged as Soul Cultivator Xiao Hua, Confucian cultivator Xiao Hua, and Buddha Bodhi surrounded the Heavenly Demon.
• The Heavenly Demon tried to flee but was repelled by the nine cauldrons and struck by a Lotus Platform phantom before it vanished.

Xiao Hua and his avatars trapped and refined the Heavenly Demon, recovering their essence before sealing the remaining black mist in his space. They searched the surrounding area and headed for the Soaring Dragon Mountain Range, unaware that the Heavenly Demon's ninth avatar had escaped.

• Soul Cultivator Xiao Hua, Buddha Bodhi, and Xiao Hua formed arrays that trapped the Heavenly Demon and refined it for eighty-one days, restoring Xiao Hua and his avatars.
• Xiao Hua sealed the weakened Heavenly Demon inside his space and warned his avatars not to become enemies while the danger of their divided Primordial Spirits remained unresolved.
• Confucian cultivator Xiao Hua gave Xiao Hua the legacies of eight sects rescued during the fight against the Devil Race and explained that the Creation Sect had settled in the Ruins.
• Xiao Hua and his avatars searched the surrounding area, and Demon Spirit Xiao Hua devoured eight hidden Heavenly Demon avatars before they found no more nearby.
• Xiao Hua and the others flew toward the Soaring Dragon Mountain Range, while the Heavenly Demon's ninth avatar escaped through a dewdrop into the void.

After returning to the Soaring Dragon Mountain Range, Xiao Hua learned how Sun Jian and the Creation Sect had spent more than ten years rescuing eight sects from the Devil Race. He reinforced Sun Jian’s army and prepared to enter seclusion, ending the chapter as he examined the unusual bamboo in his grove.

• Sun Jian reported that Creation Sect and allied disciples had rescued eight sects, though more than half of the original Creation Sect force had fallen, and the Demon Emperor had not reappeared.
• Xiao Hua thanked Sun Jian, declined the Council Hall’s summons, and entrusted him with another one hundred thousand disciples to help rescue Snow Slash Sect and Yongan Mountain.
• Xiao Hua told Sun Jian to command the army during his seclusion and summoned Liu Yi, Fu Zhiwen, Wu Tian, his other disciples, and the three spirit beasts.
• Xiao Hua heard how his disciples had endured years of battle, gave them medicinal pills and personal cultivation guidance, then bestowed concealed sorcerous puppets upon them.
• After the disciples left, Xiao Hua entered the bamboo grove and studied its unusually long, thick nodes and small leaves.

After surviving the Heavenly Demon’s illusion, Xiao Hua recovered in a bamboo grove and reflected on the ordeal that had tempered him across five kalpas. He reunited with Yue Mingxin, who confessed her feelings for him, but he doubted that her affection was genuine.

• Xiao Hua realized that his avatars’ experiences had compounded the ordeal of the karmic cycles, and that his hidden techniques had helped him trap the Heavenly Demon.
• Xiao Hua listened to the bamboo grove, restrained his newly awakened killing aura, and used Ya Bi to restore the moonlit bamboo.
• Xiao Hua summoned Yue Mingxin with the Kunlun Mirror and recognized the Moon God’s favor on her, linked to the Moon Beast marks that had saved them.
• Xiao Hua offered Yue Mingxin treasures and essence as repayment, but she stopped him and asked him to hear her thoughts instead.
• Yue Mingxin confessed that she had thought of Xiao Hua since their first meeting and believed their mutual longing had activated the Moon Beast mark.
• Xiao Hua replied that he did not believe her feelings were what people called affection.

Xiao Hua rejected Yue Mingxin’s confession and explained his devotion to Xue Xue, but Yue Mingxin refused to reclaim the vital essence she had given him and chose to leave with her feelings intact. At dawn, she identified their location as Coiled Dragon Mountain and took her leave, while Xiao Hua remained behind.

• Yue Mingxin confessed that she wanted to remain by Xiao Hua’s side, but Xiao Hua told her that her feelings were infatuation rather than true love and recounted his story with Xue Xue.
• Xiao Hua explained that he and Yue Mingxin had no fate together, and Yue Mingxin insisted she would rather stay near him than forget him.
• Xiao Hua offered Yue Mingxin her vital essence back, but she refused, hoping he would remember her and their bond.
• Yue Mingxin covered her head with a veil and said she would remove it only after the knot in her heart was gone.
• Yue Mingxin identified their location as Coiled Dragon Mountain and said she could return to the Incense-Passing Cult through a nearby Teleportation Array.
• At dawn, Yue Mingxin took her leave of Xiao Hua.

Xiao Hua arranged a hidden Teleportation Array and discussed with Green-robed Xiao Hua how cultivation in the Void differed from that in the lower realms. They concluded that the Void’s cultivation methods and abundant essence might let Xiao Hua’s incarnations gain the foundation to become living, independent people.

• Xiao Hua asked Green-robed Xiao Hua to escort Yue Mingxin, who refused his offer to see her off and flew away on her own.
• Xiao Hua traveled to an isolated wilderness, selected a site underground, and set up the Duotian Star Array so he could construct a Teleportation Array unseen.
• Green-robed Xiao Hua returned after seeing Yue Mingxin join disciples from the Incense-Passing Cult and the Divine Blade Sect, including Huan Wuxin, who were traveling to Qinghe.
• Xiao Hua showed Green-robed Xiao Hua the lineages of the eight southwestern sects, and they discussed how Void cultivators cultivated the Primordial Spirit using Primordial Qi.
• Xiao Hua explained that essence might be the basis that allowed his incarnations to develop emotions, desires, and independent personhood.