Chapter Summaries

Zhang Xiaohua absorbed Primordial Qi, starlight, and life force beneath the seven-colored restriction, advancing rapidly in his cultivation as the Earth's Core was drawn into his body. He woke with his cultivation at the late stage of the ninth layer and a greatly expanded divine sense, but could not determine where the Earth's Core had gone.

• Nie Qianyu worried that Brother Ren was suffering inside the Incense-Passing Cult while Zhang Xiaohua cultivated among its ruins.
• Starlight and Primordial Qi surged into Zhang Xiaohua, helping him break through the eighth layer of the Carefree Heart Sutra as heavenly lightning began striking above him.
• The starlight drew life force from the restriction and Earth's Core toward Zhang Xiaohua, and the Earth's Core entered his forehead and vanished.
• Zhang Xiaohua's cultivation surged to the early stage of the ninth layer and then the late stage of the ninth layer, while his meridians and true qi remained stable.
• After Zhang Xiaohua woke, he found his divine sense reached fifty or sixty zhang and discovered the Earth's Core was gone.
• Zhang Xiaohua wondered whether Abbess Jingyi had taken the Earth's Core, then guessed it had hidden itself in the different space Huan Wuxin had mentioned.

Zhang Xiaohua escaped the lightning-filled restriction after his cultivation reached a bottleneck, then found Xia Qing trying to reach an imagined Incense-Passing Cult senior for immortal guidance. He rescued her from the deadly lightning and left her with her companions, where she learned that the formations had shifted and asked whether anyone had seen Baihe.

• Zhang Xiaohua found that his Carefree Heart Sutra cultivation had stalled and escaped the restriction as its opening began to close.
• Zhang Xiaohua saw Xia Qing endure heavenly lightning while pleading with an unseen senior to teach her the immortal path.
• Zhang Xiaohua decided not to give Xia Qing an essence stone, then knocked her unconscious and carried her away from the lightning.
• Zhang Xiaohua set Xia Qing down near her fellow Mocu Palace disciples, unsealed her acupoints, and left using Earth Escape.
• Xia Qing reunited with the disciples and learned that the tremors had shifted the formations and scattered spirit beasts.
• Xia Qing asked the disciples whether they had seen Baihe.

Zhang Xiaohua found the Ruins of Huan devastated and hurried to retrieve the furnaces suppressing the Five Elements Array as spirit beasts ran wild. Elsewhere, a mysterious sect’s leader ordered Dragon Soaring Manor to attack Hui Chun Valley after the Incense-Passing Cult withdrew its protection, while Xia Qing led disciples to search for Baihe; the chapter ended with an injured female disciple facing a Fire Wolf.

• Zhang Xiaohua emerged from underground, caught a Fire Wolf that attacked him, and killed it before returning underground toward Houtu Hall to retrieve the array furnaces.
• Xia Qing told the disciples that Baihe had gone to alert the guards at Ruijin Hall and led them to rescue her despite the altered array routes.
• A messenger brought the news that the Incense-Passing Cult had withdrawn its ten-year protection of Hui Chun Valley to a mysterious Sect Leader.
• The Sect Leader and Hall Master Li suspected the Incense-Passing Cult’s decision was bait and arranged for Dragon Soaring Manor to attack Hui Chun Valley.
• Zhang Xiaohua traveled through the chaotic Ruins of Huan to recover his furnaces while spirit beasts fought across the array.
• A badly wounded female disciple fought a Fire Wolf in the area that had once belonged to Ruijin Hall.

Zhang Xiaohua rescued Bai He from the Fire Wolves and encountered the Mountain-Shaking Bears, whose leader recognized him despite his disguise. He sent the bears to help Xia Qing and her companions, who were nearing the edge of the chaotic formation while pursued by spirit beasts.

• Zhang Xiaohua killed several Fire Wolves and drove the rest away, then gave the gravely injured Bai He a Jade Return Pill.
• Zhang Xiaohua discovered that the leading Mountain-Shaking Bear recognized him because of what Huan Wuxin had left in his Niwan Palace.
• Zhang Xiaohua placed Bai He on a Mountain-Shaking Bear and gestured for the bear to lead Xia Qing and her companions out of the formation.
• Xia Qing and the surviving disciples pressed toward the formation's edge, but the appearance of several Mountain-Shaking Bears made her fear they would not survive.

Xia Qing and the surviving disciples were escorted through the Ruined Basin by Mountain-Shaking Bears, which protected them from other spirit beasts but refused to return Baihe. After Zhang Xiaohua’s actions caused the formation to shake, the bears led the group near the basin’s edge, then abandoned Baihe and headed back into its depths.

• Mountain-Shaking Bears drove off the attacking spirit beasts and surrounded Xia Qing’s group, leading the disciples to suspect that someone was protecting them.
• Xia Qing cautiously led the disciples onward with the bears escorting them, but the bear carrying Baihe ignored her request to hand Baihe over.
• The group hurried toward the basin’s edge while the bears defeated any spirit beasts that approached them.
• Zhang Xiaohua realized that taking back the Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Furnace had destroyed the Heavenly Evolution Five Elements Array and decided to divert Abbess Jingyi’s attention.
• The formation shook again, and Xia Qing’s group found unfamiliar terrain as they neared what seemed to be the basin’s edge.
• The bears stopped, dropped Baihe on the ground, searched the area, and then returned toward the Ruined Basin’s depths.

Xia Qing and the injured Mocu Palace disciples escaped Huanxu after an unknown robed man rescued them, and they prepared to return to Yi Xiang Peak. Zhang Xiaohua emerged from Huanxu alive and met them, leaving Xia Qing to question why he had entered against her expectations.

• A floating robed man rescued Xia Qing and the disciples from the Mountain-Shaking Bear, then vanished into Huanxu.
• Ren Wufeng told Xia Qing that Huanxu had been expanding and trembling, and she ordered him to signal the Cult Master and prepare horses and a carriage.
• Xia Qing learned that Baihe carried a powerful healing medicine like the Jade Return Pill and concluded the robed man was an Incense-Passing Cult consecrated elder.
• Xia Qing’s group prepared to return to Yi Xiang Peak, but Ren Wufeng revealed that Ren Xiaoyao had entered Huanxu and left the Four Unlike behind.
• Zhang Xiaohua flew out of Huanxu, reunited with Huanhuan, and joined Xia Qing’s party.
• Xia Qing questioned Zhang Xiaohua about entering Huanxu, and he claimed he had come to receive her on the Cult Master’s orders and entered to help her.

Zhang Xiaohua traveled with Xia Qing’s group while worrying that Abbess Jingyi would uncover his secrets, so he hid his immortal artifacts and refined Huan Wuxin’s stone stele. The stele revealed the sword art Sword Manifests the World, leaving Zhang Xiaohua thrilled with his new inheritance.

• Zhang Xiaohua told Xia Qing’s group that he had fled the Huan Ruins after strange beasts appeared, and Xia Qing dismissed his account and ordered him to bring up the rear.
• As the group traveled out of the ruins, Zhang Xiaohua worried that Abbess Jingyi would discover he had caused the upheaval and feared she would detect his immortal Dao secrets.
• At camp, Zhang Xiaohua buried his immortal artifacts and placed restrictions around them, but kept his mysterious bracelet because he could not bear to leave it behind.
• Zhang Xiaohua refined Huan Wuxin’s stone stele with his natal True Essence, and Huan Wuxin’s recorded voice invited him to examine its contents.
• A transparent figure in the stele demonstrated a sword technique and passed Zhang Xiaohua the incantation for Sword Manifests the World, which he memorized before returning the stele to its hiding place.

Zhang Xiaohua discovered that he could sense the refined stele without detecting its fluctuations, then traveled with the Ruijin Hall disciples into an ambush. Abbess Jingyi defeated the attackers, and Zhang Xiaohua revealed his strength before she tried to stop his sword with her divine sense.

• Zhang Xiaohua realized that he could sense the stele's location without relying on its primordial qi fluctuations and practiced the first level of Sword Manifests the World.
• Zhang Xiaohua's Big Dipper Divine Fist advanced three levels, but the Eye of Delusion Breaking remained dormant.
• Zhang Xiaohua sensed ambushers near a mountain pass and detected Abbess Jingyi approaching as the Ruijin Hall disciples walked beneath the cliff.
• Abbess Jingyi appeared atop the cliff, killed the men preparing to roll boulders down, and descended to the Ruijin Hall group.
• An ambusher fled toward Zhang Xiaohua, who struck him with the Prajna Heavy Sword and overwhelmed him.
• Abbess Jingyi called for Zhang Xiaohua to spare the attacker and used her divine sense to coil around the Prajna Heavy Sword.

Zhang Xiaohua let an ambusher die by poison before Abbess Jingyi investigated Huanxu, while Dragon Manor Lord used a feast to turn Southern Martial World leaders against Hui Chun Valley. The chapter left Flying Fish Gang Leader Zhou probing whether the Incense-Passing Cult would truly abandon Hui Chun Valley for ten years.

• Zhang Xiaohua withdrew the Prajna Heavy Sword, and the captured ambusher bit down on poison and died before the Ruijin Hall disciples could question him.
• Abbess Jingyi asked Xia Qing about the disturbance in Huanxu, then ordered the injured group to stay behind as she flew there to investigate.
• Dragon Manor Lord hosted leaders from more than a dozen factions and steered their conversation toward Hui Chun Valley's handling of its martial contest to select a husband.
• Dragon Manor Lord claimed the Incense-Passing Cult's ten-year refusal to aid Hui Chun Valley was punishment for the valley's conduct, and Cult Master Xu agreed that Hui Chun Valley deserved blame.
• Flying Fish Gang Leader Zhou asked Dragon Manor Lord whether the Incense-Passing Cult would truly leave Hui Chun Valley to fend for itself for ten years.

Dragon Manor Lord and Cult Master Xu incited southern sects to join forces against Hui Chun Valley by presenting the marriage contest as a fraud and promising the victors its resources and the Incense-Passing Cult’s favor. Meanwhile, the Jade Standing Alliance leaders gathered at Hui Chun Valley, where they argued over the Incense-Passing Cult’s order and Ren Xiaoyao’s role in the crisis.

• Dragon Manor Lord suggested that other herb-growing sects could replace Hui Chun Valley as the Incense-Passing Cult’s partner if Hui Chun Valley fell out of favor.
• Flying Fish Gang Leader Zhou and Jingtao Gang Leader Yuan recounted their sons’ claims that Hui Chun Valley had rigged its martial contest for marriage to promote Marshal Nie and Ren Xiaoyao.
• Valley Master Peng and other sect leaders grew angry at Hui Chun Valley, and Dragon Manor Lord proposed they unite to take it down, with the sect contributing most receiving the Cult’s partnership and the valley’s spoils.
• Cult Master Xu supported Dragon Manor Lord’s plan, and the gathered leaders agreed to expose Hui Chun Valley and began making detailed preparations.
• At Hui Chun Valley, Yue Yan and Ying Zhezhu blamed the mishandled medicine-child matter on the decision to help Ren Xiaoyao, while Si Yakong defended the assistance and urged them not to assign blame before learning what happened.

Valley Master Nie gathered Jade Standing Alliance leaders to prepare Hui Chun Valley’s defenses against threats following the loss of the Incense-Passing Cult’s protection. Nie Qianyu revealed that she had built a Great Evolution Five Elements Formation from Ren Xiaoyao’s instructions, and her father reacted with alarm when she shared his advice on maximizing its power.

• Nie Qianyu defended Ren Xiaoyao, while Valley Master Nie said he had invited the alliance leaders to help Hui Chun Valley face the coming danger.
• Si Yakong proposed that the alliance’s elites reinforce the valley and recalled that the Weapon Forging Gate had relied on the Five Elements Array in a past crisis.
• Nie Qianyu led the group to the formation she had assembled at Hui Chun Valley’s entrance, and Si Yakong praised her work and urged them to expand it.
• Nie Qianyu explained that Ren Xiaoyao had taught her details beyond the manual, and Si Yakong agreed to ask Ren Xiaoyao about them if he returned.
• Nie Qianyu told Valley Master Nie how Ren Xiaoyao said the formation could reach its greatest power, and her father exclaimed that he would never have sent Ren Xiaoyao to the Incense-Passing Cult if he had known.

Valley Master Nie revealed Hui Chun Valley’s hidden Five Elements Qi Stones and prepared to use them in the Great Evolution Five Elements Formation. Meanwhile, Abbess Jingyi questioned Zhang Xiaohua about Huanxu after hearing of a figure resembling Senior Huan, and she noticed something hidden in his robes.

• Valley Master Nie told the Jade Standing Alliance leaders that Hui Chun Valley’s Valley Protecting Treasure was real and that Nie Qianyu’s jade pendant could lead to it.
• Valley Master Nie used Nie Qianyu’s pendant to open a hidden chamber and uncovered five Brocade Boxes containing the Five Elements Qi Stones.
• Nie Qianyu recognized the Qi Stones as the objects Ren Xiaoyao had described, and Valley Master Nie prepared to set up the Great Evolution Five Elements Formation.
• Abbess Jingyi heard Xia Qing’s account of Huanxu and was shocked to learn that someone resembling Senior Huan had flown through the air.
• Abbess Jingyi asked Zhang Xiaohua why he had entered Huanxu, then demanded to know what he was hiding in his robes.

Zhang Xiaohua returned Mo Qingshan’s Grass Returning Pill and Bloody Letter to Abbess Jingyi, who recalled their past bond and returned to Yi Xiang Peak. As the cult debated the mysterious Immortal Dao senior in the Huan Ruins, a sword radiance suddenly shot toward Zhang Xiaohua.

• Abbess Jingyi questioned Zhang Xiaohua about the jade box, and he gave her Mo Qingshan’s Bloody Letter and Grass Returning Pill.
• Zhang Xiaohua claimed he had found Mo Qingshan’s body in the Huan Ruins, taken the items, and buried him, while denying that he meant to keep the pill.
• Abbess Jingyi led the group back to Yi Xiang Peak, where she unleashed a long howl and then laughed before ascending the mountain.
• At Mocu Palace, Xia Qing reported what had happened in the Huan Ruins, and Abbess Jingyi said the mysterious Immortal Dao senior might have been Senior Huan.
• Peacock and Abbess Jingyi suggested the senior’s actions and pill marked him as an extraordinary ally of the Incense-Passing Cult.
• A faint strand of divine sense swept over Zhang Xiaohua, and a sword radiance shot toward him.

Zhang Xiaohua avoided Abbess Jinggang’s attack and defended himself against her accusation that he killed Yue Zhuoqun in Licu Valley. Abbess Jingyi questioned the witnesses and exposed contradictions in the claim that Yue entered the valley, leaving the mystery unresolved.

• Zhang Xiaohua evaded Abbess Jinggang’s sword attack, and Abbess Jingyi stopped her and demanded an explanation.
• Abbess Jinggang accused Zhang Xiaohua of killing Yue Zhuoqun during his martial arts test, but Zhang denied seeing anyone else in Licu Valley.
• Zhang Xiaohua recounted his history with Yue Zhuoqun and described finding a ghost-faced mushroom alone in the valley.
• Abbess Jingyi summoned Mei Suhua, who admitted that Yue had instructed her to arrange Zhang Xiaohua’s test as an ambush, then contradicted herself about Yue’s clothing.
• Zhang Ping'er and Shui Linglong testified that Zhang Xiaohua entered Licu Valley alone and that they saw no one else enter.
• Abbess Jingyi pointed out that no one could enter Licu Valley except through its guarded mouth, challenging the claim that Yue had gone inside.

Abbess Jingyi rejected Abbess Jinggang’s unsupported accusation that Ren Xiaoyao had harmed Yue Zhuoqun, punished Mei Suhua for conspiring with Yue, and ordered Ren to investigate spies after recovering. Ren spent three days refining his sword-control skills, then received an Internal Energy Cultivation Method from the Cult Master while preparing to descend the mountain.

• Mei Suhua admitted that she had helped Yue Zhuoqun create a diversion but had not seen him enter Licu Valley, and Abbess Jinggang demanded that Ren Xiaoyao be tortured.
• Abbess Jingyi found no evidence linking Ren to Yue’s disappearance, warned the cult against infighting, and sent Mei Suhua to receive punishment for violating its rules.
• Abbess Jinggang proposed that Ren investigate spies within the cult, and Abbess Jingyi ordered him to descend the mountain once his injuries had healed.
• Ren learned that Zixia had entered closed-door cultivation and left Mocu Palace without seeing her.
• Ren spent three days studying sword control, then used his divine sense to spot a hidden Ruijin Hall disciple and noticed faint Primordial Qi fluctuations among the cult’s disciples.
• A disciple delivered Ren an Internal Energy Cultivation Method on Abbess Jingyi’s orders as a reward for returning Mo Qingshan’s belongings.

Zhang Xiaohua left Yi Xiang Peak and returned to the remote place where he had hidden his belongings, only to find an old man in a black robe investigating them with mysterious black insects. After Zhang Xiaohua recovered his things, the old man challenged his claim to them, leaving the two facing off.

• Zhang Xiaohua left Yi Xiang Peak on Four Unlike, then used shapeshifting and the Riding the Wind Technique to travel faster while a veiled woman searched for him.
• Zhang Xiaohua reached the place where Xia Qing and the others had been attacked and sensed someone examining his buried belongings.
• A black-robed old man detected Zhang Xiaohua with tiny black insects, which Zhang Xiaohua recognized as the insects he had removed from Ou Yan’s Niwan Palace.
• Zhang Xiaohua evaded the insects underground, reinforced his restriction, retrieved his belongings, and rose to confront the old man.
• The old man questioned Zhang Xiaohua’s claim to the buried items, and Zhang Xiaohua insisted that he had hidden them there himself.

Zhang Xiaohua confronted Lei Hong, demonstrated his sword control, and learned that Lei Hong belonged to Qingmu Hall before leaving him behind. After collecting the seventeenth of eighteen hidden alchemy furnaces across the Incense-Passing Cult’s peaks, Zhang Xiaohua paused near Mount Kuanglu and considered visiting Jinghai Lake before heading to Mount Jiuhua.

• Zhang Xiaohua used Chasing Dream, the Beast-head Paperweight, and his other abilities to fend off Lei Hong’s jade ruyi and spirit locusts.
• Lei Hong accepted Zhang Xiaohua’s claim to the hidden items and identified himself as Lei Hong of Qingmu Hall, while Zhang Xiaohua gave the false name Pan An.
• Zhang Xiaohua departed, and Lei Hong gathered his spirit locusts and planned to report news of the powerful stranger to the Cult Master.
• More than ten days later, Zhang Xiaohua found an Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Furnace on Mount Kuanglu, bringing his collection to seventeen.
• Zhang Xiaohua wondered about the purpose of the identical furnaces and considered visiting nearby Jinghai Lake before proceeding to Mount Jiuhua.

Zhang Xiaohua discovered and detonated a dangerous gray bead beneath the ground near Jinghai Lake, then lured Abbess Jinggang into the forest and revealed that he had both Purple Phoenix Hairpins. Abbess Jinggang recognized them as evidence that he killed Yue Zhuoqun and prepared to attack him.

• Zhang Xiaohua visited the woods by Jinghai Lake and found a gray bead buried near his former campsite.
• Zhang Xiaohua threw the bead into the lake, where it exploded and sent up huge waves.
• Abbess Jinggang arrived disguised and chased Zhang Xiaohua into the forest after recognizing his Misty Steps.
• Zhang Xiaohua revealed Abbess Jinggang's identity, and she admitted she had secretly left the cult to kill him over Yue Zhuoqun's death.
• Zhang Xiaohua showed Abbess Jinggang one Purple Phoenix Hairpin, then revealed a second, enraging her and prompting her to raise her sword.

Zhang Xiaohua confronted Abbess Jinggang, who learned that he had killed her disciples Yue Zhuoqun and Xi Mujun and attacked him with Incense-Passing Cult techniques and artifacts. Zhang Xiaohua overwhelmed her defenses with four flying swords, and Zhuimeng struck her body.

• Abbess Jinggang recognized the two Purple Phoenix Hairpins Zhang Xiaohua held and realized he had killed her disciples Yue Zhuoqun and Xi Mujun.
• Abbess Jinggang attacked Zhang Xiaohua with her sword, but he countered with Zhuimeng, splitting it into two flying swords and blocking her strike with a pale-red barrier.
• Zhang Xiaohua rose into the air with the Floating Technique and divided Zhuimeng into four swords, while Abbess Jinggang used her divine sense and Galana Plate to resist him.
• Zhang Xiaohua sent the Dragon Binding Ring at Abbess Jinggang, but she stopped it with a seal activated by a yuan stone.
• Zhang Xiaohua pressed his advantage with four flying swords against Abbess Jinggang's three streams of divine sense, and Zhuimeng struck her body.

Zhang Xiaohua battled Abbess Jinggang, whose Galana Plate unleashed waves of deadly Innate True Water that stymied his attacks. He tricked her with the small mirror and sent Chasing Dreams around her defenses, but as the flying sword threatened her nape, Abbess Jinggang unleashed another wave at him.

• Zhang Xiaohua’s Chasing Dreams weakened Abbess Jinggang’s protective barrier, but her Galana Plate drew in Primordial Qi and formed a powerful wave.
• Abbess Jinggang’s Innate True Water wave chased Zhang Xiaohua and forced him to retreat, while its waves also kept Chasing Dreams from attacking her.
• Zhang Xiaohua distracted Abbess Jinggang by charging with a small mirror while secretly sending Chasing Dreams around her divine-sense range.
• Chasing Dreams struck Abbess Jinggang from behind, broke through her barrier, and threatened her nape despite her protective robe.
• Abbess Jinggang spat out vital blood and sent another surging wave toward Zhang Xiaohua before Chasing Dreams could strike her nape.