Recaps

Pei Ye read Wu Dong’s final letter, which revealed that Wu Dong suspected Sui Zaihua and Qu Zhu were the same person and had risked his life to test the theory. The letter left Li Piaoqing with the task of finding evidence, beginning with the Soul-Seizing Pearl.

• Pei Ye arrived at the Sword Field and told Sui Zaihua he had come to collect his reward.
• Wu Dong’s letter explained how he investigated the Joy-in-Death Tower’s influence and reconsidered Sui Zaihua’s connection to Qu Zhu.
• Wu Dong concluded that Qu Zhu and Sui Zaihua had always been one person, with a different soul inside Sui Zaihua from the beginning.
• Wu Dong asked Li Piaoqing to investigate the origin of the Soul-Seizing Pearl and prove his conclusion.
• Pei Ye realized Wu Dong had made his final gamble alone, trusting Li Piaoqing to carry the investigation forward.

Pei Ye challenged Qu Zhu inside the Mindscape Realm, using the Dragon Immortal Secret Edict to hold back Qu Zhu’s Western Court Immortal Realm. Pei Ye surprised Qu Zhu with a sequence of refined sword techniques and broke his sword, but he knew the fight had only begun.

• Pei Ye decided to confront Qu Zhu himself rather than rely on others to judge the governor-general’s guilt.
• Pei Ye entered the pavilion and activated the Dragon Immortal Secret Edict against Qu Zhu’s Heart of the Western Court, creating a battlefield in the Mindscape Realm.
• Qu Zhu attacked Pei Ye with overwhelming swordsmanship, breaking through his opening defenses.
• Pei Ye countered Qu Zhu’s killing strike, disrupted his sword momentum, and wounded his collarbone.
• Pei Ye used Bai Yuliang’s Yellow Jadeite sword art to break Qu Zhu’s sword and claimed the first round.

Pei Ye defeated Qu Zhu in a duel by countering nearly a thousand sword styles he had learned through the Soul-Seizing Pearls. Qu Zhu then revealed his perfected third form of Snow-Collapsing Chapter, and its overwhelming light engulfed Pei Ye’s world.

• Pei Ye and Qu Zhu fought through hundreds of exchanges as Pei Ye countered every sword style Qu Zhu unleashed.
• Pei Ye realized Qu Zhu had used the Soul-Seizing Pearls to imprint swordsmen’s techniques and learn nearly a thousand schools of swordsmanship.
• Pei Ye explained that he had recognized Qu Zhu’s method after seeing him use Chasing the Sun, Surpassing the Shadow in the Scripture Repository.
• Qu Zhu used the third form of Snow-Collapsing Chapter, forged through decades of hardship, as darkness and snow filled the battlefield.
• Qu Zhu’s broken swords blazed with white light, overwhelming Pei Ye and swallowing the worlds created by the Western Court and the Immortal Edict.

Pei Ye defeated Qu Zhu in their sword contest by choosing darkness, then mastering the Heart Sword that exposed Qu Zhu’s weakness. He killed the Heart of the Western Court before the Jade Sword Pavilion and revealed his name to the Sword Field.

• Pei Ye used his sword to spread darkness through Qu Zhu’s realm of light, dissolving it despite his badly ruined body.
• Pei Ye’s clear reflection revealed the sword’s Heart Poison within Qu Zhu, and Pei Ye used the third Snowy Night Flying Goose Sword Form, [Bright Mirror, Ice Heaven Reflects Me], to defeat him.
• Pei Ye returned to the Jade Sword Pavilion and pinned Qu Zhu to a pillar with Jade Tiger.
• Qu Zhu told Pei Ye that he alone would remember him, and Pei Ye severed Qu Zhu’s neck.
• Pei Ye threw the Bronze Sparrow Token into the Sword Field and identified himself as Pei Ye of Fenghuai.

After Pei Ye’s imprisonment for killing Lord Sui, Li Piaoqing tried to establish that he had acted on Wu Hejian’s behalf and was allowed to visit him. The case was transferred to the Divine Capital, while Pei Ye awoke in his Mindscape Realm and entered a celestial palace reached through the Heart of the Western Court.

• The Shaolong Sword Dao Golden Register was finalized with Xiang Zongyuan in first place, while Pei Ye’s actions and the disappearance of Feather-Tied Books unsettled the officials.
• Li Piaoqing gave Zhang Xiaozhu a letter meant to prove Pei Ye had carried out Wu Hejian’s commission, and Zhang allowed her to visit the imprisoned youth.
• Li Piaoqing saw Pei Ye unconscious and bound in the Immortal Platform’s deepest cell, then asked Zhang whether he would be executed.
• Zhang Xiaozhu told Li Piaoqing that an order from the Divine Capital had transferred Pei Ye’s case and demanded his immediate escort there.
• Pei Ye awoke in his Mindscape Realm, saw the Heart of the Western Court suppressing the Dragon Immortal Secret Edict, and entered the pearl’s gateway into a realm of jade towers and golden palaces.

Pei Ye awakened the ancient Mysterious Fire Spirit Child Divine Palace, while Sima's body was reborn as Qu Zhu. Pei Ye then awoke in chains on his way to the Divine Capital, where his newly promoted escort agreed to help him write letters.

• Pei Ye climbed the long-abandoned immortal peak, entered a palace, and awakened the Star-Guard · Mysterious Fire Spirit Child Divine Palace.
• Sima's will revived in a rebuilt body, read the dying man's message, chose the name Qu Zhu, and set off toward Shaolong Prefecture.
• Pei Ye regained consciousness in a cage inside a carriage and learned that he was accused of killing the Governor-General of Shaolong.
• Pei Ye discovered that his cat was also in the carriage and learned that his case had been transferred to the Immortal Platform in the Divine Capital.
• Pei Ye ate red dates offered by his escort and asked him to help write letters to his friends.

Pei Ye entered the Divine Capital in chains after surviving a calamity, while letters he had written reached Li Piaoqing and Ming Qitian. The chapter ended with Pei Ye tapping the bars of his cage and preparing to speak to Yan Feiqing.

• At Crane-Retaining Terrace, Chen Lihuai traced Shaolong's sword lineages and identified Jadeite Mountain's ancient inheritance as the Feather Lineage.
• Li Piaoqing reread Pei Ye's apologetic letter, in which he urged her to restore the Emerald Feather Sword Sect and said Shaolong was clean.
• Chen Lihuai invited Li Piaoqing and Bai Fei to demonstrate their swords, and Li Piaoqing stepped into the center of the terrace.
• Ming Qitian read Pei Ye's delayed letter teaching her Chinese Chess, then read his newer note saying he was fine and would play with her in person.
• Pei Ye arrived in the Divine Capital confined in a cage, tapped its bars, and drew Yan Feiqing's attention.

After sealing off the Immortal Lord’s connection to the Edict Diagram, Pei Ye explored the Mindscape Realm and reflected on his new link to the mortal world. He remained unconscious and imprisoned after Yan Feiqing knocked him out, then began to regain awareness in an unknown place.

• Pei Ye explored the Mindscape Realm and found that the Heart of the Western Court had severed the Edict Diagram’s connection to the Immortal Lord.
• Pei Ye considered the Heart of the Western Court’s connection to the mortal world and wondered which unreachable temple was Great Liang.
• Pei Ye asked Little Cat about his condition, but Little Cat could only guess that he was still alive.
• When the carriage stopped, Yan Feiqing knocked Pei Ye unconscious before he could ask for an explanation.
• Pei Ye waited in his Mindscape Realm, then felt his consciousness being pulled back toward his heavy, sluggish body.

Pei Ye was transferred from the Immortal Platform’s dungeon to the Southern Office, where an assistant minister questioned him about assassinating the governor-general of Shaolong. The Three Offices awaited the Immortal Platform’s case file before judging him, and Pei Ye ended by asking whether their prison provided decent food and drink.

• The Immortal Platform ordered Pei Ye imprisoned indefinitely, but the Three Offices demanded custody so they could judge his assassination of the governor-general.
• Deputy Commissioner Fu handed Pei Ye over to the Three Offices, while Xing Zhi warned the officials not to be fooled by his acting.
• Pei Ye was taken to the Southern Office’s prison, where the assistant minister and clerks questioned him and recorded his details for four hours.
• The assistant minister said Pei Ye’s account still required verification and that the Three Offices would await the Immortal Platform’s case file before determining his crime.
• Pei Ye admitted that he had killed the governor-general, then asked the assistant minister whether the Three Offices provided good food and drink.

Pei Ye was imprisoned in the Southern Office with several dangerous convicts, but a Wilderness tribesman whose true qi had not been sealed transformed into a Desolate Fiend and attacked the prisoners. Pei Ye dodged his first blows without cultivation, and Black Cat told him to use his hand restraints to block the next attack.

• Pei Ye ate millet rice and introduced himself to the prisoners, including Wen Zaizi, Bian Zhongfeng, Xie Chuantang, and Yu Hua.
• Xie Chuantang said she had been imprisoned for investigating the Phantom Tower, silencing the other prisoners.
• Officers brought a Wilderness tribesman into the prison, and Pei Ye and the other prisoners felt an unexplained sense of danger.
• The tribesman rose, broke his restraints and cell bars, and attacked Xie Chuantang and Pei Ye; Bian Zhongfeng identified him as a Desolate Fiend.
• Pei Ye dodged the tribesman's first attacks using his shackles, while Black Cat warned him that help would take time and told him to block with his hand restraints.

Pei Ye escaped the Wilderness man's attack in the Southern Office prison by using the Vermilion Lotus Flame and a forgotten sword to kill him. The next morning, the Immortal Platform transferred Pei Ye to a secure prison carriage, where he heard another carriage draw alongside.

• Pei Ye broke the Spirit-Binding Reins with the Wilderness man's punch and used the Vermilion Lotus Flame to hold him off while he ran toward the East Corridor.
• Pei Ye found Xie Chuantang striking the locked exit door and asked her for the forgotten sword nearby.
• Pei Ye used Drifting Returning Wind and the Vermilion Lotus Flame to cut through the Wilderness man's defenses and behead him.
• The court deputy and officials arrived, and Pei Ye surrendered his sword as Black Cat reassured him.
• The Immortal Platform transferred Pei Ye to a secure carriage, and he later heard another carriage traveling beside his.

The Three Judicial Authorities reviewed the assassination attempt and let the Immortal Platform retain the accused, while Pei Ye was secretly freed through a coordinated plan. After discovering he had exchanged identities with Meng Li, Pei Ye traveled with Qi Zhaohua to the Cultivation Literature Academy to meet her Benefactor.

• Li Junfu and the Three Judicial Authorities concluded that the attack on the prisoner showed he remained connected to the case, and Li Junfu ordered an official report before leaving to request an investigation into the Wilderness People Rampage Case.
• Qi Zhaohua opened Pei Ye’s carriage and helped him restore his appearance, while the real Pei Ye silently thanked him from the neighboring cage.
• Pei Ye realized that Meng Li had taken his place in prison and that he had regained his freedom, though his True Qi Ring remained in place.
• Qi Zhaohua told Pei Ye that they were going to meet her Benefactor at the Cultivation Literature Academy, who was also the great tree sheltering him.
• At the academy, Qi Zhaohua let Pei Ye go upstairs alone, and Black Cat spoke from within his belly, telling him to come up.

Pei Ye met Xu Chuo, the master of the Cultivation Literature Academy, who explained her past alliance with Yue Muzhou and declared her intention to kill King of Yan Yongbei. She promised to protect Pei Ye as he continued Yue Muzhou’s unfinished plan, then arranged for him to rest and study; afterward, Pei Ye confronted Black Cat about misleading him.

• Pei Ye found Xu Chuo in the Jade Gathering Tower and thanked her for arranging his release from prison.
• Xu Chuo told Pei Ye that she and Yue Muzhou had planned to act together, and that she had begun publishing “Broken Chivalrous Bones” as part of their undertaking.
• Xu Chuo declared that she wanted King of Yan Yongbei dead and promised to free Pei Ye from any charges and personally support him if he carried out the plan.
• Xu Chuo explained that Pei Ye’s case had effectively ended and arranged for him to recover, enter the Sword Cultivation Academy, and study at the Imperial College.
• After Xu Chuo departed, Pei Ye scolded Black Cat for telling her that he enjoyed reading and composing verse but could not read the characters.

Pei Ye arrived in the Divine Capital, where Qi Zhaohua brought him to the Star-Plucking Tower to meet old friends. The gathering reunited him with Shang Lang, Xing Zhi, Fang Jidao, and Yan Feiqing, while Xing Zhi discussed her prospects for promotion to Purple Sash.

• Pei Ye bathed, recovered from his journey, and rode with Qi Zhaohua through the bustling Divine Capital to the Star-Plucking Tower.
• Pei Ye and Qi Zhaohua plucked Clear Body Pills from lotus blossoms and discussed how he should address Xu Chuo and seek help in the city.
• Qi Zhaohua introduced Pei Ye to Shang Lang, Xing Zhi, Fang Jidao, and Yan Feiqing, who had gathered in a private chamber.
• Pei Ye toasted Xing Zhi, learned Zhu Gaoyang was recovering and expected to visit the Divine Capital, and heard she was preparing to enter the Profound Gate and seek a Purple Sash appointment.
• Shang Lang told Pei Ye that family matters had made life difficult, then praised his victory as Bowang's Autumn Champion.

After the gathering, Qi Zhaohua told Pei Ye how she had left Bowang City, struggled to find a meaningful path in the Divine Capital, and met Xu Chuo, whose words changed her ambitions. She explained why she returned to the capital to accomplish something independently, while Pei Ye realized the Hall master's recent literary triumph suggested she was only about twenty.

• Pei Ye reunited with Fang Jidao, learned he hoped to enter the Heavenly Principles Academy, and spoke with Yan Feiqing about his swordsmanship.
• Pei Ye discovered Yan Feiqing carried a bubble of True Qi to keep the air around him clean, and Xing Zhi returned the belongings confiscated from Pei Ye.
• After the gathering ended, Qi Zhaohua told Pei Ye that she had broken off her engagement and gone to the Divine Capital seeking a life beyond marriage and literary acclaim.
• Qi Zhaohua recounted how Zheng Zhaocheng offered to recommend her as an official in exchange for sleeping with him, and how a poem by an older scholar made her question the value of her pursuits.
• Qi Zhaohua recalled meeting Xu Chuo on a rainy night, when Xu Chuo's words helped her see the limits of relying on beauty and poetry for advancement.
• Qi Zhaohua told Pei Ye she returned to the Divine Capital to pursue her own ambitions, and Pei Ye noted that the Hall master's recent literary victory suggested she was around twenty.

After spending his first night in Chang’an, Pei Ye learned he had too little money to buy a house and went to register at the Sword Cultivation Academy. At the academy’s late-autumn intake, he joined the queue and met fellow Sword Talents, while an unfamiliar woman and young girl arrived to ask about admission.

• Qi Zhaohua offered Pei Ye a loan of fifty taels after learning he had only seventy taels and wanted to find a place of his own.
• Qi Zhaohua encouraged Pei Ye to contact the Young Sect Master for his money, but he refused because of the letter he had sent her.
• Little Cat woke Pei Ye and reminded him to register at the Sword Cultivation Academy, and he headed there with his sword.
• Pei Ye found the academy holding its annual intake and joined the queue of new students.
• Pei Ye introduced himself to Wang Shousi, a Golden Crow disciple, who explained how the incoming Sword Talents were recognized.
• A poised woman and a young girl arrived and asked Pei Ye whether they were at the Dao Initiation Assembly academy.

Pei Ye entered the Sword Cultivation Academy despite arriving without the usual admission documents, because a Dao Initiator had already arranged his entry. After receiving his student sword, books, and uniform measurements, he joined the other sword practitioners on the Academy’s Sword Field.

• Pei Ye reached the registration desk without his place-of-origin documents, examination certificate, or Hero Tally, but the old man recognized his name and let him enter on Tongjun’s recommendation.
• Wang Shousi and Ning Shuhong learned that the Academy accepted Pei Ye through an alternate assessment route, though Pei Ye could not explain who had arranged it.
• Pei Ye received a black-sheathed Dao Student Sword and was measured for his sword uniform.
• Pei Ye and the others received books, including the Compendium of Six Dynasties Swordcraft and the Dao Initiation Assembly Xinsi Year Sword Treatise Selections.
• Pei Ye entered the Sword Field, where Yang Zhenbing and Zuo Qiu Longhua stood among the gathered sword practitioners, while Chu Shuiting spoke with Wen Zheng and Lu Xiu stood beside Zuo Qiu Longhua.

At the Sword Academy, Duan Yu explained the students’ pursuit of the Sword Dao, their five-year graduation requirements, and the assessments ahead. After the Sword Talents introduced themselves, Chu Shuiting defeated Han Xiuben in a sword duel, revealing the gulf between their abilities.

• Duan Yu told the Sword Talents that the academy taught Sword Knowledge, Sword Practice, and Sword Use, and that students had five years to fulfill the requirements for the title of Sword Dao Student.
• Pei Ye read the requirements for Sword Dao Student and the rarer Sovereign Armament Wielder, then learned that students would enter the Hidden Sword Tower for assessment the next day and attempt to build Sword Ladders the day after.
• Han Xiuben introduced himself as a direct-line inheritor of the Southern Sect, and the Sword Talents exchanged names and backgrounds.
• The students discussed the major sects and their representatives, including Zuo Qiu Longhua, the young [Sword Demon], and Lu Xiu.
• Han Xiuben challenged Chu Shuiting to a duel, and Chu Shuiting stopped Han’s sword at his wrist on the seventeenth exchange and won.

Pei Ye left the Sword Field and challenged Yang Zhenbing, a fellow young swordsman from White Deer Palace, to a spar. Though Yang defeated him quickly, he patiently pointed out flaws in Pei Ye’s technique, and their meeting ended with Yang admiring Pei Ye’s black cat.

• Pei Ye found Yang Zhenbing reading in a bamboo garden and persuaded him to spar.
• Pei Ye attacked with a sequence of sword moves, but Yang bypassed his techniques and held a blade to his throat.
• Yang told Pei Ye that his opening strike was poorly practiced, and Pei Ye questioned him about its details.
• Pei Ye accepted Yang’s criticism and thanked him for patiently explaining the flaws in his swordsmanship.
• Yang asked where Pei Ye had found his black cat, then tentatively petted it while Pei Ye explained that he had rescued it in the mountains.
• Pei Ye suggested continuing their sword practice and reminded Yang that the cat was his.

Pei Ye explored Pingkang Ward after sparring with Yang Zhenbing, then watched Zhang Piaoxu defend an eagle and perform a fishing trick that pulled fish from the lake through a water vat. The chapter left Pei Ye applauding as Zhang Piaoxu caught a carp, while the black cat watched the nearby entertainment.

• Pei Ye sparred with Yang Zhenbing seven times and lost each bout, then learned about the three swords Yang Zhenbing used.
• Pei Ye left Holy Front Ward with the black cat and explored Pingkang Ward, where he saw a dancer performing on a lotus platform.
• Zhang Piaoxu explained that he had promised to keep the eagle tied up all night, then fought off the bald man and four men who came to take it.
• Zhang Piaoxu demonstrated that his water vat could connect to the lake, nearly hauling up a huge fish before the willow branch snapped.
• Zhang Piaoxu cast again and pulled a blue-green carp from the lake, and Pei Ye applauded.

Pei Ye encountered the injured street performer Zhang Piaoxu, then returned to the Sword Cultivation Academy and began practicing in earnest. The chapter ended as Duan Yu started the Sword-Hiding Pavilion assessment and Pei Ye questioned why Recommendation Letters were needed again.

• Pei Ye watched Zhang Piaoxu perform a trick and learned that the boy was nearly sixteen and had no family.
• Zhang Piaoxu asked Pei Ye to lend him fifty taels, but Pei Ye refused; Pei Ye helped him empty the water vat and learned he lived on Weeping Willow Street.
• Zhang Piaoxu discovered Pei Ye was a new student at the Sword Cultivation Academy and left with his belongings and two fish.
• Pei Ye returned to the Sword Cultivation Academy the next morning, watched the Sword Talents practice, and began working on his sword arts.
• Duan Yu explained the Sword Repository assessment and called for Sword Talents to submit Recommendation Letters, prompting Pei Ye to ask Wang Shousi why they were being checked again.

Pei Ye learned how recommendation letters shaped access to the Sword-Hiding Pavilion, then completed his Sword Report Sword Manual and waited for the final assessments. The assessments began with Zhang Chao and reached Ning Shuhong, whose letters earned him access to the White Deer Palace’s eighth-floor swords.

• Wang Shousi and Ning Shuhong explained recommendation letters, and Pei Ye discovered Miss Ming’s letter only recommended him for admission.
• Duan Yu gave the sword talents an hour to complete their Sword Report Sword Manuals, which would inform their final assessments.
• Pei Ye recorded his sword training and the sword arts he had studied, including Jadeite Sword and the five-form Snowy Night Flying Goose Sword Form.
• Pei Ye submitted his booklet last, after the other sword talents had finished.
• Duan Yu announced Zhang Chao’s fifth-floor assessment and explained the Sword-Hiding Pavilion’s levels.
• Duan Yu announced Ning Shuhong’s seventh-floor assessment, granting him access to the White Deer Palace’s eighth-floor swords.

Pei Ye received the Sword Repository’s highest assessment after a letter from Qitian of Yunlang granted him permission to study every sword, including the Heart Sword Butterfly. After the assessments, Duan Yu explained the tower’s restrictions and led the Sword Talents toward their new residence, where they would begin their studies after the academy head built their Sword Ladders.

• Duan Yu announced that Yang Zhenbing’s ninth-floor Sword Account assessment qualified him to study the pavilion’s highest-ranked swords, and that the academy would ask Yunlang to open its ninth floor to him.
• The pavilion keepers argued over Pei Ye’s assessment until a message arrived, then Duan Yu announced that Pei Ye had received ninth-floor access and could study Yunlang’s Heart Sword, Butterfly.
• Duan Yu read Qitian of Yunlang’s recommendation, gave Pei Ye a private letter, and kept a second letter addressed to academy head Qiu Yuanzhu Jizi.
• Duan Yu explained the Sword-Hiding Tower’s rules and said the academy head would build each Sword Talent a Sword Ladder the next day.
• Wang Shousi and Ning Shuhong asked Pei Ye about Ming Qitian, and Pei Ye promised to pass along Ning Shuhong’s regards.
• Duan Yu led the Sword Talents through the academy to a quiet area beyond the Sword Fields.

Pei Ye and Yang Zhenbing were assigned to Courtyard G in Lane Seven, where they found Yan Feiqing already living. After the three settled into the courtyard, Pei Ye prepared his room while Yan Feiqing and Yang Zhenbing talked about Black Cat.

• Duan Yu assigned Pei Ye and Yang Zhenbing the two vacant places in Courtyard G and warned the Sword Talents not to injure Imperial College students while practicing.
• Pei Ye and Yang Zhenbing walked to the secluded Lane Seven and discussed Yang Zhenbing's Sword Ladder and the academy head's guidance.
• Pei Ye and Yang Zhenbing found Yan Feiqing relaxing in their courtyard, and Yan allowed them to stay after Yang swept away his muddy footprints.
• Yan Feiqing and Yang Zhenbing calmly argued over how to hold and care for Black Cat while Pei Ye added all three names to the courtyard plaque.
• Pei Ye inspected his clean, furnished room and put his quilt out to sun in the courtyard.

Pei Ye read Yun’s letter, which reassured him about his safety and offered guidance on his Heart Sword studies, then attended the Sword Academy’s Dao Initiation Assembly. As Qiu Jizi began constructing the students’ Sword Ladders, he called Pei Ye aside because his path was unusually difficult, and was astonished to learn Pei Ye had no sword inheritance.

• Pei Ye read Yun’s letter, which praised his progress with the Heart Sword, advised him to study patiently at the Sword Academy, and said she hoped to meet him at Yulin next year.
• Pei Ye joked with Wang Shousi and Ning Shuhong about sharing a courtyard with Yan Feiqing and Yang Zhenbing.
• Qiu Jizi explained that a Sword Ladder mapped a swordsman’s path toward the Dao Sword and asked the students to be truthful as he refined theirs.
• Pei Ye admitted that he had learned the sword to defeat enemies rather than for the sword’s own sake, and Qiu Jizi accepted that the academy could still guide him.
• Qiu Jizi constructed Sword Ladders for the other students, then took Pei Ye aside to work on his unusually difficult path.
• Pei Ye apologized for having no inheritance, and Qiu Jizi stared at him in surprise.