Chapter Summaries

Xiao Hua and his companions refused Qing Liuzi’s demand that they join the Immortal Alliance, but the envoy intervened and allowed them to leave or return later for the Ten Trials. Their choice was interrupted by news that Xuntian City had fallen, Snowy Realm True Person had died, and Thunder Control Sect and Mosang Mountain disciples had been captured.

• Xiao Hua declined recruitment, and Li Zongbao and Fairy Hongxia asked to consider the offer before answering.
• Qing Liuzi attacked the four with a violent gale and pressure when they resisted, but the Immortal Alliance envoy entered and stopped him.
• The envoy said the four could leave without joining or return later, though they would have to pass the Ten Trials if they sought membership afterward.
• Xiao Hua, Fairy Hongxia, and Li Zongbao chose to leave and consider the offer, while Xiao Mao had begun to accept before the envoy arrived.
• Qing Liuzi received urgent messages reporting Xuntian City’s fall, Snowy Realm True Person’s death, and the capture of Thunder Control Sect and Mosang Mountain disciples.

After Xuntian City fell and Thunder Control Sect disciples were captured, Qing Liuzi released Xiao Hua and his companions, while Zhang Zhihao revealed that the Immortal Alliance had hoped to recruit them. Xiao Hua realized his communication talisman might have contributed to the disciples’ fate, but he left the possibility of joining the Alliance open for the future.

• Qing Liuzi ordered the Xunyan Sect disciples to return to Golden Goose Ridge and let Xiao Hua, Xiao Mao, Li Zongbao, and Fairy Hongxia leave Tongmu City.
• Zhang Zhihao told Qing Liuzi that the Immortal Alliance wanted to recruit the four for their accomplishments and influence, while Qing Liuzi admitted he had considered killing Xiao Hua over the Mo Ran Black Forest secrets.
• City guards escorted Xiao Hua and his companions to the Teleportation Array, and they escaped Tongmu City through several short-distance teleports.
• Xiao Hua suspected Qing Liuzi had released them because Li Zongbao had shared news of Xuntian City’s fall, and the group connected Xiao Hua’s communication talisman to the capture of Thunder Control Sect disciples.
• Xiao Hua told Xiao Mao that he would not return to accept the Immortal Alliance’s offer immediately, though he might reconsider after a few years.

Xiao Hua and his companions parted ways with Xiao Mao, who returned to Golden Goose Ridge, while Xiao Hua and Fairy Hongxia argued over his relationships with other women cultivators. The argument ended when Xiao Hua rushed off after spotting a familiar cultivator in a fight, leaving Li Zongbao to advise Fairy Hongxia as they continued toward the Teleportation Array.

• Xiao Mao accepted Xiao Hua's cultivation arts and insights, then left to return to Golden Goose Ridge.
• Fairy Hongxia asked whether Xiao Mao might seek out the Immortal Alliance envoy, and Xiao Hua said joining the alliance was Xiao Mao's own choice.
• Fairy Hongxia questioned Xiao Hua about Huang Mengxiang, Xue Xue, Zi Ming, and Jiu Xia, and Xiao Hua struggled to defend himself.
• Xiao Hua spotted a familiar cultivator fighting nearby and vanished before Fairy Hongxia could follow him.
• Li Zongbao advised Fairy Hongxia not to press Xiao Hua too closely, and she asked whether he had good junior sisters of his own.

Xiao Hua followed Li Zongbao and Fairy Hongxia while pondering how to refine the Three-legged Golden Crow essence soul into his Spirit Severing Primordial Light. After discovering an ambush targeting Sun Qian, he went to intervene as she confronted the Mihuan-clad cultivator, who she identified as Little Sister Yi.

• Xiao Mao decided to leave Li Zongbao and Fairy Hongxia, while Xiao Hua used Shadow Concealment Art to escape Fairy Hongxia’s divine sense lock and later followed them.
• Xiao Hua checked on the sleeping Xiaohuang and Xiaohei, considered the Three-legged Golden Crow essence soul, and came up with the idea of refining it into his Spirit Severing Primordial Light.
• Xiao Hua sensed a fight nearby and realized a Mihuan-clad Golden Core Mid-stage cultivator had set a formation to ambush an early Golden Core female cultivator.
• The wounded Sun Qian accused the Mihuan-clad cultivator of betraying her family and deceiving her with a jade slip, while the cultivator claimed to have repaid the Sun Family’s debt by avenging its slaughter.
• The Mihuan-clad cultivator told Sun Qian that the man they both cared for was well and had given her Golden Core insights, then prepared to kill her as Xiao Hua sped toward them.

Xiao Hua intervened when Chen Yuming attacked Sun Qian and killed the disguised Golden Core cultivator after a fierce battle. He destroyed Chen Yuming’s corpse and turned to question the recovering Sun Qian about her ties to Chen Yi and Gen Qing.

• Sun Qian warned Xiao Hua to flee and seek help from Gen Qing, but Chen Yuming sent her green attacks after him.
• Xiao Hua evaded Chen Yuming’s attacks and struck back with the sword gourd’s Spirit Severing Primordial Light, while Chen Yuming used the Haotian Mirror to defend herself.
• Xiao Hua used the Sea-Overturning Seal and Soul Sting to overwhelm Chen Yuming, then severed her head with the Spirit Severing Primordial Light.
• Xiao Hua recognized Chen Yuming, burned her corpse, and collected her belongings and the remains of the Haotian Mirror and green box.
• Sun Qian recovered with spirit pills, and Xiao Hua asked whether she had ties to Chen Yi and Gen Qing and had taken the Youth-Preserving Grass from Burial Flower Villa.

Xiao Hua rescued the injured Sun Qian and traveled with her and his companions until she recovered, while trying to learn more about her past with Gen Qing and Chen Yi. Sun Qian left at the Teleportation Array without accepting further help, and Xiao Hua told Fairy Hongxia and Li Zongbao about the tangled history.

• Sun Qian thanked Xiao Hua for saving her and tried to leave, but Xiao Hua persuaded her to travel with him while she healed and promised not to tell Gen Qing about her affairs.
• Sun Qian pointed Xiao Hua toward a Teleportation Array, and he carried her toward Fairy Hongxia and Li Zongbao while asking her to conceal his Nascent Soul-level cultivation.
• Fairy Hongxia gave Sun Qian healing medicine, and Sun Qian continued traveling with the group as Xiao Hua tried unsuccessfully to draw out details of her history.
• After several days, Sun Qian recovered and departed at the Teleportation Array, refusing the pills Fairy Hongxia offered after Xiao Hua mentioned Gen Qing.
• Fairy Hongxia caught up with Sun Qian but failed to make her speak, so Xiao Hua recounted Sun Qian and Chen Yi's history to Fairy Hongxia and Li Zongbao.

Xiao Hua brought Li Zongbao and Fairy Hongxia toward the Cai Family estate, stopping first to revisit the stone carvings that had marked his arrival in Luyang decades earlier. After reflecting on the lives and traces people leave behind, the three continued to the estate, where the open gates and gathering crowd suggested an unexpected visitor.

• Xiao Hua, Fairy Hongxia, and Li Zongbao traveled toward Yangding Mountain using Xiao Hua's Lightning Escape.
• Xiao Hua revisited the damaged stone carvings in Luyang Town and told Fairy Hongxia and Li Zongbao about the blind old man who had made them.
• Li Zongbao said the memories he shared with Cai Zhuoxia mattered more than whether she lived or died, easing Xiao Hua's concern about his reaction.
• Xiao Hua dispersed the stone carvings into dust, and the three crossed the river toward the Cai Family estate.
• Fairy Hongxia explained that her father had abolished the Cai Family's rule about keeping the main gate shut, as people began emerging through its open gates.

Xiao Hua, Li Zongbao, and Fairy Hongxia arrived at the Cai Family of Luyang, where formal etiquette gave way to an emotional reunion between Hongxia and her father. Cai Haisong accepted Xiao Hua as the man Hongxia had chosen and received her filial gift, an unfamiliar pill.

• Cai Haisong and his clansmen greeted Fairy Hongxia, Li Zongbao, and Xiao Hua with formal bows, and the visitors returned their salutes.
• Fairy Hongxia reunited with her father and introduced Li Zongbao and Xiao Hua to the Cai Family disciples.
• Cai Haisong mistakenly assumed Hongxia would be with Li Zongbao until she clarified that Xiao Hua was the one she had chosen.
• Cai Haisong told Xiao Hua he entrusted Hongxia's future to him, and Xiao Hua respectfully promised to care for her.
• Fairy Hongxia presented Cai Haisong with a jade box containing an ugly pill, which he gladly accepted.

Fairy Hongxia returned to the Cai Family of Luyang and offered Cai Haisong a Rejuvenation Pill, while Xiao Hua presented the family with a storage bag of valuable supplies. The Qingyang Cai Family patriarch Cai Yang and Great Elder Cai Hongfeng arrived, and Cai Yang greeted Li Zongbao.

• Fairy Hongxia gave Cai Haisong a Rejuvenation Pill and promised to obtain more for the family within half a year.
• Xiao Hua offered Cai Haisong a storage bag of spirit stones, weapons, magical artifacts, and cultivation arts on behalf of himself and Li Zongbao.
• Cai Haisong learned that Patriarch Cai Yang and Great Elder Cai Hongfeng of the Qingyang Cai Family had come to Luyang.
• Cai Yang and Cai Hongfeng arrived, and Cai Yang congratulated Li Zongbao on his military achievements in the Dao Sword Great Battle.

Cai Yang met Li Zongbao, Xiao Hua, and Fairy Hongxia in Luyang, setting aside Xiao Hua’s old dispute with the Qingyang Cai Family while asserting that Hongxia should return to the Huanhua Sect. He then pressed Cai Haisong to move the Cai Family of Luyang to Qingyang, but Cai Haisong refused, and Cai Hongfeng argued that the family’s bloodline gave it a chance to rise amid the changing spiritual qi.

• Cai Yang invited Li Zongbao to visit the Qingyang Cai Family, and Li accepted his communication talisman while remaining eager to leave.
• Cai Hongfeng challenged Xiao Hua over Cai Yingxia’s death, but Xiao Hua accepted responsibility alone, and Cai Yang declared the matter settled.
• Cai Yang praised Fairy Hongxia’s military achievements, questioned her return to Luyang, and told her to go back to the Huanhua Sect.
• Cai Yang and Cai Hongfeng established that the sect disciples would not interfere in the Cai Family’s affairs before Cai Yang asked Cai Haisong about relocating the Luyang branch.
• Cai Haisong rejected the proposal to merge his family into the Qingyang Cai Family, and Cai Hongfeng argued that their Ice Phoenix bloodline could prosper as spiritual qi changed.

Cai Yang tried to force the Cai Family of Luyang to relocate to Qingyang, then invoked the Phoenix Token to remove Cai Haisong as family head. Xiao Hua revealed his Nascent Soul cultivation, stopped Cai Yang’s show of authority, and sent him and Cai Hongfeng away, leaving Cai Haisong to recognize Xiao Hua’s concealed role in the Dao Sword Great Battle.

• Cai Shansong and Cai Haisong rejected Cai Yang’s demand that the Cai Family of Luyang relocate to Qingyang.
• Cai Yang used the Phoenix Token to strip Cai Haisong of his position and appoint Cai Shansong, but Cai Shansong refused the appointment.
• Cai Yang’s Phoenix Token released a Phoenix Dharma Body and forced several Luyang disciples to their knees.
• At Fairy Hongxia’s urging, Xiao Hua revealed Nascent Soul cultivation and seized Cai Yang and Cai Hongfeng with a spiritual hand.
• Xiao Hua warned Cai Yang to keep his identity secret, then hurled him and Cai Hongfeng away with the Phoenix Token.
• Cai Haisong concluded that Xiao Hua was the true force behind the Council Hall First Squad’s achievements and likely the key to the Dao Sword Great Battle.

Xiao Hua and Li Zongbao returned to the Cai Family with Fairy Hongxia, where Hongxia revealed that Cai Zhuoxia might still be alive. The family rushed to the Spirit Tomb to investigate, where an unfamiliar female disciple stared at Xiao Hua in recognition.

• Cai Haisong and the Cai Family disciples learned of Xiao Hua’s cultivation and welcomed him and Li Zongbao into the family.
• Fairy Hongxia explained Li Zongbao’s connection to Cai Zhuoxia and their discovery in Million Meng Mountain that Zhuoxia was not dead.
• Cai Haisong ordered the family to go to the Spirit Tomb, and Li Zongbao hurried ahead with the others.
• The group followed the Cai Family’s rule and walked the final mile to the Spirit Tomb without flying.
• A female disciple guarding the tomb stared at Xiao Hua, who did not recognize her.

Xiao Hua recognized Cai Mei from his past visit and learned how her life had unfolded in the Cai Family before entering the Spirit Tomb with Li Zongbao and the others. Xiao Hua uncovered Cai Zhuoxia’s coffin, and Li Zongbao opened it, leaving everyone stunned by what they saw inside.

• Xiao Hua recognized Cai Mei as the girl who had once brought him to the Cai Family, and she asked him to help her and her husband exchange assignments.
• Cai Haisong explained that Cai Mei had struggled with poor cultivation and vanity, and Xiao Hua declined to interfere in the Cai Family’s internal affairs.
• Xiao Hua and the others entered the Spirit Tomb and saw that Cai Mei and her husband had carefully tended the graves.
• Xiao Hua recalled Cai Zhuoxia and used Earth Evasion to raise her bluestone coffin from the grave.
• Li Zongbao opened the coffin himself, and he and the others were shocked by what they found inside.

Xiao Hua discovered Gan Qinghuo in Cai Zhuoxia’s coffin and recovered Cai Zhuoxia’s body and severed arm. The sight drove Li Zongbao to form his Golden Core atop Yangding Mountain, and after weeks of heavenly signs, he emerged changed but with his emotions returning.

• Xiao Hua recognized Gan Qinghuo in Cai Zhuoxia’s coffin, retrieved him, and searched nearby for Cai Zhuoxia’s remains.
• Xiao Hua recovered Cai Zhuoxia’s corpse and severed right arm, prompting Li Zongbao to howl and begin forming his Golden Core.
• Xiao Hua carried Li Zongbao to Yangding Mountain as his Golden Core pressure overwhelmed nearby mortals and the Cai Family cultivators.
• Xiao Hua moved affected mortals to safety and sheltered the Cai Family cultivators while Li Zongbao’s Golden Core formation continued.
• After the pressure weakened and the dark clouds dispersed, Li Zongbao opened his eyes with pale pupils before his black pupils and emotions gradually returned.

Li Zongbao awoke after forming his Golden Core and rushed to learn Cai Zhuoxia’s fate. Xiao Hua discovered that a mysterious Buddhist artifact was sustaining her fragmented soul, but he could not revive her, leaving the Cai family to wait and protect her body.

• Li Zongbao asked whether Cai Zhuoxia was alive or dead and went to the Council Hall, where she lay in a crystal coffin.
• Fairy Hongxia and Cai Haisong explained that Cai Zhuoxia had no breath or heartbeat but that her body and hair remained intact; Xiao Hua said she was neither alive nor dead.
• Xiao Hua examined Cai Zhuoxia’s soul and encountered a vision of a Netherworld Sea and a shattered three-colored rainbow bridge when his soul thread touched the watery radiance around it.
• Xiao Hua placed the willow branch in the Pure Water Vase and realized it was a Buddhist artifact, but waving it over Cai Zhuoxia produced no change.
• Xiao Hua told Li Zongbao and the Cai family that he could not revive Cai Zhuoxia and that they would have to guard her body until her destined chance arrived.

Li Zongbao took Cai Zhuoxia’s crystal coffin and vowed to seek a way to revive her, while Xiao Hua and Fairy Hongxia left the Cai Family. As Xiao Hua tried to be intimate with Hongxia during their journey, she confronted him about refusing to call her his wife, and his silence left her hurt.

• Cai Haisong allowed Li Zongbao to take Cai Zhuoxia’s crystal coffin, and Li Zongbao demanded the soul-cultivation record from Xiao Hua.
• Li Zongbao took the copied jade slip and departed, declaring that he would search for a way to revive Cai Zhuoxia, even if it meant venturing into Million Meng Mountain.
• Xiao Hua promised that he could revive Cai Zhuoxia someday, while Fairy Hongxia warned her family to keep the matter secret and gave Cai Haisong the Duotian Star Array control method.
• Fairy Hongxia left for the Huanhua Sect, and Xiao Hua gave Cai Haisong rice seeds to distribute or sell, with some to be given freely to the poor.
• Xiao Hua caught up with Fairy Hongxia and tried to embrace her, but she questioned why he had not called her his wife before Li Zongbao and Xiao Mao; Xiao Hua could not answer.

Fairy Hongxia asked Xiao Hua to separate from her so they could test their feelings and focus on their cultivation, and he left for Lin Yu Town after promising to prove his love. There, he met Zhang Qingxiao, who brought up Jiang Liuer and listened to Xiao Hua’s troubles before dismissing Hongxia’s decision as a foolish risk.

• Fairy Hongxia told Xiao Hua that his relationships with other female cultivators had left her feeling insecure and asked him to part from her for a while.
• Xiao Hua agreed to the separation, embraced Fairy Hongxia, and flew toward Lin Yu Town, while she wept after he left.
• After emerging from a Teleportation Array, Xiao Hua was ambushed by Zhang Qingxiao’s divine sense and recognized his Second Senior Brother.
• Zhang Qingxiao asked to see Jiang Liuer, and Xiao Hua explained that an expert could not awaken him until after the Dao Sword Great Battle.
• Xiao Hua asked about the battle at Xuntian City, but Zhang Qingxiao refused to discuss it and instead asked what had troubled him.
• After hearing about Fairy Hongxia, Zhang Qingxiao criticized her for letting Xiao Hua go and said many female cultivators would seek him once his identity became known.

Xiao Hua met Zhang Qingxiao, who gave him cultivation techniques and spiritual herbs before explaining the dire situation at Xuntian City. Xiao Hua headed back toward the Thunder Control Sect as Dao Sect forces surrounded the city, whose formidable sword formation remained intact.

• Zhang Qingxiao teased Xiao Hua about Fairy Hongxia and Xue Xue, then gave him Nascent Soul and Spirit Severing cultivation methods.
• Xiao Hua filled three storage pouches with spiritual herbs for Zhang Qingxiao and asked about the battle at Xuntian City.
• Zhang Qingxiao told Xiao Hua that the sword formation had killed Snowy Realm True Person, captured four Nascent Soul cultivators, and resisted the Dao Sect army.
• Xiao Hua decided to return to the Thunder Control Sect, while Zhang Qingxiao offered to rescue him with the Heavenly Demon Sect if necessary.
• Dao Sect cultivators surrounded Xuntian City, intercepted a flying sword, and watched the city remain encased in an expanding azure sword formation.

The Dao Sect leaders struggled to find a way to break Xuntian City's sword formation, while Jiang Feiyan argued that the sword cultivators were vulnerable and holding the captured disciples of the Thunder Control Sect and Mosang Mountain as hostages. Xunyunzi ended by asking how the Dao Sect should respond if the sword cultivators used those hostages to prevent a decisive victory.

• The Dao Sect's attacks on Xuntian City dwindled, and its leaders assembled a vast formation under True Person Pin Xuan and Xuan Jing's direction.
• Xunyunzi and True Person Liukong questioned the Dao Sect strategists about their failure to overcome the sword formation, while True Person Yuqing and True Person Heping defended their preparations.
• Jiang Feiyan argued that the sword cultivators lacked confidence, had exaggerated their victory, and were relying on the captured disciples as hostages.
• Xunyunzi recalled that he and Zhu Chenghe had recognized Xiao Hua's communication talisman as a trap, but True Person Miyou and True Person Kuangtian had insisted on reinforcing Xuntian City.
• Xunyunzi asked how the Dao Sect should act if the sword cultivators threatened the captured disciples despite the Dao Sect being able to defeat them.

Pan Dongmin, Zhu Chenghe, and the others debated how to respond after Xuntian City fell, while Xunyunzi urged them to learn from the battle and prepare for Demon Subduing Valley. The assembled leaders discussed the Qiankun Liangyi Seal Demon Great Formation and its weaknesses, then turned to the possibility that lost immortal artifacts might lie in dangerous lands across the kingdoms.

• Pan Dongmin argued that the Dao Sect should strike quickly before Huan Kingdom's sword cultivators could reinforce Xuntian City, while Zhu Chenghe believed the enemy was holding out to negotiate.
• Guyun, Zhu Chenghe, Pan Dongmin, and Jiang Feiyan admitted fault for their performance, and Xunyunzi told them to learn from the battle because its outcome remained undecided.
• Xunyunzi asked about Xuan Jing's progress with the Qiankun Liangyi Seal Demon Great Formation, and True Person Liukong said Xuan Jing and True Person Pin Xuan should be able to set it up.
• True Person Yuqing warned that the incomplete immortal formation could have serious flaws when activated by vast numbers of cultivators, while True Person Zhuoming argued that its power still rested on its immortal origins.
• Xunyunzi and True Person Liukong discussed searching dangerous lands for immortal artifacts and formations, and True Person Heping suggested Qiong Lei Peak might hold an immortal lightning object.
• True Person Liukong doubted that Ganlei Zi possessed such an object, saying he would have used it to rescue the Thunder Control Sect disciples at Xuntian City.