Chapter Summaries

Xiao Hua explored the first level beneath the black mist with Zhu Chenghe, Chen Yi, Xie Zhiqian, and Qiang Yuefeng, and discovered a strange glimmer near a spirit herb. The group found a juvenile Soaring Vine blocking their route downward, and Chen Yi gave Xiao Hua Xianglan Bamboo to use against it.

• Zhu Chenghe led the group into a hidden space filled with pure spiritual qi and explained that natural restrictions divided it into levels.
• Chen Yi searched the young spirit herbs while Zhu Chenghe, Xie Zhiqian, and Qiang Yuefeng examined the stone wall for a way down.
• Xiao Hua spotted a faint gleam beside an ordinary herb, but Chen Yi dismissed it and urged him to rejoin the group.
• The group found a juvenile Soaring Vine, and Chen Yi explained that Xianglan Insects made Xianglan Bamboo an effective way to destroy it.
• Chen Yi handed Xiao Hua a length of Xianglan Bamboo and told him to insert it into the vine as Xie Zhiqian warned him to avoid its released substances.

Xiao Hua was sent ahead to draw away the Soaring Sky Vines so Zhu Chenghe and the others could descend to the second level. After escaping the group’s sight, he revealed his sword, drove off the vines, and entered a small cave.

• Xiao Hua used the Xianglan Bamboo to trigger the Soaring Sky Vine, whose sap sprayed toward Qiang Yuefeng as the vine opened a passage in the stone wall.
• Zhu Chenghe ordered Xiao Hua to descend first, and the Soaring Sky Vine attacked him with its spiked tendrils.
• Xiao Hua evaded the vines using Misty Steps and fled across the second level while Zhu Chenghe’s group waited above.
• Xie Zhiqian confirmed that Xiao Hua had drawn the vines away, and Zhu Chenghe, Chen Yi, Qiang Yuefeng, and Xie Zhiqian descended to search for the route to the third level.
• Once out of their sight, Xiao Hua summoned the Prajna Heavy Sword, severed several tendrils, and forced the Soaring Sky Vines to retreat.
• Xiao Hua entered a small cave in the stone wall, and the Soaring Sky Vines withdrew.

Xiao Hua explored the caves, harvested artifact-refining materials, and rejoined Zhu Chenghe, Xie Zhiqian, and Chen Yi. They waited beside an Ice Spring for its ninth tremor to reveal their chance to reach the third level and find Sky Yin Grass.

• Xiao Hua discovered Li Mian Stone and other artifact-refining materials in a cave, then mined them and stored them in his space.
• Xiao Hua fought off a Soaring Sky Vine, collected part of it, and followed traces on the ground to find the others.
• Xiao Hua rejoined Xie Zhiqian and Zhu Chenghe, who said they were waiting for the entrance to the third level to appear.
• Zhu Chenghe invited Xiao Hua to follow them to the third level, where he could gather Sky Yin Grass.
• At the end of the cave, Xiao Hua saw the Ice Spring and swallowed a Fire Spirit Pill to withstand its chill.
• Chen Yi reported that the Ice Spring had trembled briefly, and Zhu Chenghe said they needed to wait for its ninth tremor.

Zhu Chenghe and the others used Xie Zhiqian’s Fire Bat King to open a passage beneath the Ice Spring, and Xiao Hua followed them into a slippery ice gorge. The group struggled toward a section of wall Zhu Chenghe identified, where they discovered the apparent barrier was only a reflection.

• Xiao Hua learned that spiritual sense and magic power could not be used near the Ice Spring, and Chen Yi warned that touching its rare spirit herbs would ruin them or cause injuries.
• The Ice Spring trembled and boiled, and Xie Zhiqian swallowed a medicinal pellet before sending his Fire Bat King toward it.
• The Fire Bat King triggered a powerful tremor that made the Ice Spring vanish, revealing a hollow, and Zhu Chenghe led the others inside.
• Xiao Hua and the others slid down a smooth ice slope into a narrow gorge lined with ice and spirit herbs.
• Zhu Chenghe searched the identical-looking gorge for a landmark, led the group to an ice wall, and found that it was only a reflection.

Xiao Hua and the others crossed the boundary between ice and molten rock, where Zhu Chenghe used bait and Fine Thread Jin to distract a Two-Headed Spirit Snake. After Xiao Hua gathered herbs and escaped the snake, the group continued toward a hidden entrance, while the mention of the Haotian Mirror stirred a troubling recognition in Xiao Hua.

• Zhu Chenghe warned the group about the Two-Headed Spirit Snakes and lured one toward Heavenly Silkworm Incense and Fine Thread Jin Leaves.
• After the snake swallowed the leaves, Zhu Chenghe led the crossing, and Xiao Hua gathered Sky Yin Grass and several other herbs before the snake recovered.
• Xiao Hua used Misty Steps to escape the lunging snake and handed Chen Yi one of the herbs he had collected.
• Zhu Chenghe said Xiao Hua's martial arts would be useful and asked Qiang Yuefeng to use the Haotian Mirror to locate a hidden entrance.
• Xiao Hua felt an unexplained sense that the Haotian Mirror had once belonged to him as Zhu Chenghe led the group toward the right.

Duan Yuming and Wang Xuyyao waited beside a vanished cold spring, discussing their plan to follow the Golden Core cultivators to Li Xiubai’s Sword Pellets and claim the Nine Stars Over the Sun sword intent. They left the entrance unentered, confident the cultivators would lead them to the prize.

• Wang Xuyyao urged Duan Yuming to enter the hole, but he suspected the cultivators below had prepared a trap and chose to wait.
• Duan Yuming and Wang Xuyyao discussed how their fighting in the Three Cultivation Kingdoms had advanced their sword cultivation and might have attracted Nascent Soul cultivators’ attention.
• Duan Yuming explained that they intended to let the Golden Core cultivators find Li Xiubai’s Sword Pellets first, then take the sword intent for themselves.
• Wang Xuyyao said she and Duan Yuming had tracked Zhu Chenghe after searching a Foundation Establishment woman’s soul and secretly arranging for Zhu Chenghe to learn the Sword Pellet refinement method.
• Duan Yuming praised Wang Xuyyao’s intuition, recalling how she had kept him from giving up the search during the year-long Ink Storm in Mo Ran Black Forest.

Duan Yuming and Wang Xuyyao pursued the group while planning to find the sword intent of Nine Stars Over the Sun. Zhu Chenghe used a blood-powered sword artifact to locate a hidden cave, and Qiang Yuefeng revealed its entrance with the Haotian Mirror.

• Duan Yuming voiced his suspicions about Xiao Hua, but Wang Xuyyao insisted they could kill him and the two confessed their feelings for each other.
• Zhu Chenghe searched the lava-worn ground for the site where Li Xiubai and True Person Mingjian had fought, then decided to use his sword artifact.
• Zhu Chenghe activated the octagonal disk with his heart's blood, and its little sword flew toward a narrow crevice as Xiao Hua and the others followed.
• Qiang Yuefeng used the Haotian Mirror to reveal a circular cave hidden in the lava and opened its entrance with a green light.
• Qiang Yuefeng said he had acted to repay Zhu Chenghe for the Sword Pellets, leaving Xie Zhiqian looking uneasy.

Xiao Hua and the four Golden Core cultivators entered a cave and found a sword case and eight cracked Sword Pellets, but Zhu Chenghe suspected the area was guarded. After Chen Yi threatened him and the others explained why they needed his Lightning Evasion Technique, Xiao Hua agreed to retrieve the treasures in exchange for a Sword Pellet.

• Xiao Hua denied that he still had the object from beyond the heavens, and Chen Yi let the matter drop.
• Xiao Hua led Zhu Chenghe, Chen Yi, Qiang Yuefeng, and Xie Zhiqian through the quiet, heated cave to a lava-lit chamber.
• The group discovered a sword case and eight cracked Sword Pellets beside it, but Zhu Chenghe warned that the unguarded-looking site might conceal restrictions.
• Chen Yi threatened Xiao Hua, while Qiang Yuefeng revealed that the group had summoned him to use the Thunder Control Sect's Lightning Evasion Technique to seize the Sword Pellets.
• Xiao Hua examined the area with his Dharma Eye and agreed to make the attempt, demanding that Zhu Chenghe give him a Sword Pellet.

Xiao Hua was struck by the flying sword guarding the Sword Pellets and fell into a hidden radiance, while Duan Yuming and Wang Xuyyao ambushed the remaining cultivators. Zhu Chenghe and Chen Yi fled toward the cavern entrance, where an unknown envoy answered Zhu Chenghe’s plea for help.

• Zhu Chenghe gave Xiao Hua the Sword Pellets, and Chen Yi supplied him with Xianglan Bamboo marrow before he approached the sword case.
• The crimson flying sword attacked Xiao Hua; his escape failed, and he fell into the light beneath the stone after the sword struck him.
• Xie Zhiqian retrieved a Sword Pellet, but Duan Yuming and Wang Xuyyao ambushed the group, killing Xie and mortally wounding Qiang Yuefeng.
• Zhu Chenghe and Chen Yi rushed toward the Sword Pellets, then abruptly turned and fled when Duan Yuming and Wang Xuyyao moved to intercept them.
• Wang Xuyyao caught up with Zhu Chenghe and Chen Yi near the cavern entrance, and Zhu called for the envoy to save them.
• A voice outside the cave laughed and said Zhu Chenghe had done well to lead the two sword cultivators there.

Wang Xuyyao and Duan Yuming were ambushed by two Nascent Soul cultivators, who captured them and crushed their bodies. Duan Yuming’s sword attack distracted the cultivators long enough for the Rainbow Sword to escape the cave.

• A Nascent Soul cultivator seized Wang Xuyyao’s Swimming Fish Sword and struck her down as she tried to flee.
• Duan Yuming rushed out and attacked the giant hand with his Rainbow Sword, but another Nascent Soul cultivator imprisoned him.
• Duan Yuming unleashed eight Sword Pellets to break one giant hand, then was struck down while trying to summon his remaining power.
• Duan Yuming’s sword lights renewed their attack on the Nascent Soul cultivators, while the Rainbow Sword began moving toward the cave exit.
• The tall, lean Nascent Soul cultivator tried to stop the Rainbow Sword, but it flared red and shot out of the cave.

After Zhang Zhihao’s scheme left the cultivators believing Xiao Hua had died, Xiao Hua survived the Nascent Soul sword strike through his Witch Puppet and awoke in a tranquil, unfamiliar place. He discovered his divine sense worked there, but the fawn he spotted vanished into the forest.

• Zhang Zhihao revealed his Mihuan disguise and gloated that one sword cultivator’s escape had made Zhang Qingxiao’s plan more perfect.
• The cultivators left the Mo Ran Black Forest without learning that Xiao Hua had survived or that he had died in their eyes.
• Xiao Hua woke on soft grass, found his Witch Puppet split in two, and realized it had saved his life.
• Xiao Hua replaced his damaged spirit armor with Qian Tiansong’s armor and surveyed the lush landscape around him.
• Xiao Hua sensed a young deer in a stream, then discovered it had fled into the forest and could no longer be found.

Xiao Hua explored the strange fourth level, where his magic power remained frozen and the landscape ended at an unusual stone wall. He found no way out and sat waiting, watching overhead for Xie Zhiqian or Qiang Yuefeng to fall.

• Xiao Hua buried the bones, found a plum-blossom token among them, and deduced that another passage into the space had once let living people enter and leave.
• Xiao Hua questioned whether this was truly the fourth level and decided he needed an exit but could not face Zhu Chenghe and the other Golden Core cultivators alone.
• Xiao Hua transplanted patches of common spirit herbs, then waded barefoot through the freezing stream and recalled Huang Tianle’s advice to walk with his own feet.
• Xiao Hua uprooted several kinds of trees in the forest and found a stone wall marked with nine stars, which his Dharma Eye could not explain.
• Xiao Hua searched the opposite side of the grassland, found only an impassable restriction, and returned to wait beneath the place where he had fallen.

Xiao Hua discovered that his nine Sword Pellets and Meng opened a hidden doorway in the stone wall, where he found Li Xiubai and True Person Mingjian seated beside a sword case. After retrieving Meng and the flying sword, he left the deeper chamber’s mysteries unresolved.

• Xiao Hua tested Zhu Chenghe’s Sword Pellet against the stars and found that it was rejected, while his own Sword Pellets and Meng entered the stone wall.
• The nine stars spun into a sword formation, which Xiao Hua memorized before a little deer led him through the newly opened doorway.
• Xiao Hua found Li Xiubai and True Person Mingjian seated beside eight Sword Pellets, a sword case, and Meng, and his divine sense perceived them as sharp swords.
• The little deer leaped into the sword case, and Xiao Hua cautiously opened it and took out a flying sword identical to the one that had killed him earlier.
• Meng became movable again, and Xiao Hua summoned it into his hand and sent it into his Buddha Heart.

Xiao Hua collected the Sword Pellets, the flying sword, and a hidden jade slip from the sealed cave. The jade slip revealed why Li Xiubai and True Person Mingjian had been forced to duel, leaving Xiao Hua reflecting on their friendship and predicament.

• Xiao Hua took the remaining eight Sword Pellets after treating Li Xiubai's silence as consent.
• The little deer led Xiao Hua to a hidden jade slip concealed in the boulder.
• Xiao Hua read the jade slip, collected True Person Mingjian's flying sword, and bowed farewell to Li Xiubai and True Person Mingjian before the cave vanished.
• Xiao Hua learned from the jade slip that True Person Mingjian had challenged Huan Kingdom sword cultivators under pressure to defend his sect's prestige, while Li Xiubai had pursued him to restore the honor of Huan Kingdom sword cultivators.
• Xiao Hua learned that Li Xiubai and True Person Mingjian had become close friends and advanced their sword Dao together, but the Changbai Sect's elders had ordered them to produce a victor and a loser.

Xiao Hua learned the truth about True Person Mingjian and Li Xiubai’s duel and discovered their Sword Heart Seed Origin method for strengthening and controlling the Primordial Spirit. He found a way out of the fourth level, but emerged into a freezing pool with his true essence sealed.

• Xiao Hua read True Person Mingjian’s jade slip and learned that Li Xiubai and Mingjian had fought a genuine duel to the death for the Sword Dao.
• Xiao Hua discovered that the fourth-level flying sword held Mingjian’s sword intent and that the jade slip explained how Mingjian and Li Xiubai had developed the Sword Heart Seed Origin method.
• Xiao Hua decided to keep the inheritance rather than give it to the Changbai Sect or Yanzhu Sword Sect, and vowed to pass it on to worthy successors.
• Xiao Hua realized the stream could lead him out, followed it to a flaw in the restriction, and used Concealment of Heaven’s Guise to pass through.
• Xiao Hua was struck by a powerful force that froze his true essence and fell with the icy current into a deep pool.

Xiao Hua discovered that the fourth level contained several separate spaces and recognized the pool chamber as the one True Person Lu Peng had once entered. Unable to use his Dharma power or escape through the sealed walls, Xiao Hua found a hidden spindle-shaped object and began draining the pool to reach it.

• Xiao Hua struggled out of the deep pool and realized that the chamber was one of several spaces on the fourth level.
• Xiao Hua searched for an exit, failed to break the sealed rock wall, and used his Eye of Delusion Breaking to locate a hidden object beneath the water.
• Xiao Hua tried to strike the object with demon hammers, but the pool water weakened his blows.
• Xiao Hua activated his puppets to dig a large pit in his space, then began transferring the pool water into it.

Xiao Hua struggled to extract a strange, weightless object from a rock wall in the forbidden land, then triggered the deep pool to rise. He escaped through a briefly revealed cave entrance and found a cultivator’s corpse before continuing down the passage.

• Xiao Hua repeatedly chiseled the rock wall and used the Prajna Heavy Sword to pull out an object that shrank into a small, weightless lump.
• The pool water rose and flooded the space, so Xiao Hua climbed onto a high slope and waited for it to reach the stream.
• A cave entrance appeared behind Xiao Hua, and he struck a cultivator who emerged from it, realizing the person was already dead.
• Xiao Hua leaped through the entrance before it vanished and concluded that the level had a pattern for entering and leaving.
• Xiao Hua found no storage pouch on the corpse, then took out the Demonic Spear Tip and cautiously continued through the cave passage.

Xiao Hua reached Haoming City and stopped nearby to study the Sword Heart Seed Origin Method. He split off a thread of his Nascent Soul and joined it with the sword intent inside Zhù Meng, successfully beginning the method.

• Xiao Hua flew toward Haoming City after its Teleportation Array restricted entry to Golden Core cultivators and above.
• Xiao Hua found a secluded place near the city, where his puppet carved a cave and he set down the Rabbit Formation.
• Xiao Hua decided to use the Nine Stars Over the Sun Sword Pellet Zhù Meng and True Person Mingjian's method to cultivate sword control.
• Xiao Hua endured the agony of splitting his Nascent Soul and sent a thread of it into Zhù Meng.
• Xiao Hua bound the Nascent Soul thread to the sword intent, which began to nourish it.

Xiao Hua recovered the poisoned Youth-Preserving Grass and tended to the spirit beasts and plants in his space. As he flew toward Haoming City for its Bidding Convention, he reconsidered bringing Xue Xue into danger and came upon a fight involving a city guard.

• Xiao Hua used Green Python venom to remove most of the beast poison from the Youth-Preserving Grass, then replanted it in his space and warned Little Silver not to touch it.
• Xiao Hua arranged the Water Pattern Butterfly eggs, Rainbow Bloom, and Xianglan Bamboo around the pool in his space, and returned the Divine Strength Centipede there.
• Xiao Hua worried that his enemies might endanger Xue Xue, and decided to help her establish her foundation before sending her back to the Thunder Control Sect.
• Xiao Hua concealed his cultivation and flew toward Haoming City, where he hoped to attend the Bidding Convention with Huo Furong.
• Xiao Hua spotted three eleventh-layer Qi Cultivation cultivators fighting, including a Haoming City guard, after passing Foundation Establishment cultivators had ignored the conflict.

Xiao Hua intervened when Haoming City guard Liu Cheng and Li Minji captured Bai Fengliang over his Ruiming Gold and tried to seize his belongings. After freeing Bai Fengliang, Xiao Hua said he had a request for him, leaving their dispute unresolved.

• Liu Cheng captured Bai Fengliang with a rope artifact, and he and Li Minji confronted him over his refusal to trade Ruiming Gold for their offer.
• Liu Cheng tortured Bai Fengliang for information about the sect that had invited him, then tried to take his storage pouch.
• Xiao Hua stopped Liu Cheng and Li Minji, freed Bai Fengliang, and warned them against bullying Qi Refining cultivators.
• Bai Fengliang explained that he wanted a Foundation Establishment Pill for his Ruiming Gold, while Li Minji argued that the material was not worth one.
• Xiao Hua told Bai Fengliang he had a request and said he would have Liu Cheng and Li Minji release him if he agreed.