Arc 28Chapters 676–700
No recap yet.
No recap yet.
After the rain erased Li Xizhou from the Divine Capital, Pei Ye sought help from Li Jian and was summoned into Lu Wu’s dream gathering. There, the gathered strange beasts linked the disappearances and vanishing memories to the authority of [White Water], leaving them to investigate whether the Mirage Realm itself was contracting.
Pei Ye learned that the Mirage Dragon had awakened as White Water and entered the Western Court to search for Li Xizhou. He found Yong Ji, who admitted he had trapped her and offered to trade her life for the Heart of the Western Court or the Shenxing Authority, but Pei Ye refused.
Pei Ye searched for a way into the sealed Spirit Realm at Dragon Lake, where Li Xizhou was trapped and Yong Ji remained inside. His attempts failed, leaving negotiation with Yong Ji as perhaps his only way to affect events within the realm.
Pei Ye tried to find a way into the fading Mirage Realm so he could reach Li Xizhou, but every attempt had failed. After swallowing shavings of the Water Master’s white rhinoceros horn brought no useful effect, he accepted that his search might be the only thing separating him from a world that had already moved on, yet vowed to keep trying.
Pei Ye discovered that the blood ribbon linking him to Li Xizhou let him find a way back into the sealed Spirit Realm. He followed the ribbon through the fading realm, consuming the blossoms it left behind, and continued toward two immense trees with no response from Li Xizhou.
Pei Ye followed the blood trail to find Li Xizhou trapped in a mountain hollow, barely holding back Yong Ji’s Scale Demons with a water curtain. As Yong Ji prepared to kill her, Pei Ye approached through the enemy ranks and confronted him through the Western Court.
Pei Ye battled Yong Ji in the Spirit Realm, where Yong Ji’s water authority overwhelmed Pei Ye’s flames and left him exposed to a final attack. Li Xizhou pulled Pei Ye to safety with Merfolk Silk, and he reunited with her behind a curtain of reverse-flowing water.
Pei Ye found Li Xizhou gravely wounded in the Mirage Realm after fighting Yong Ji and General Chan, and the two confronted their anger, trust, and friendship. Li Xizhou revealed that she had obtained the mirage dragon true blood but had kept it unused, then began asking Pei Ye about their “Swinging Rope.”
Li Xizhou told Pei Ye how Zhao Baibi tried to save Li Yao from Heaven’s Will and why she planned to use the Mirage-Qilin Knot to oppose Qilin. She entrusted Pei Ye with the mirage dragon true blood and asked him to join her path, and he accepted it.
Pei Ye confronted Li Xizhou for binding the Mirage-Qilin Knot without discussing it with him, then agreed to an alliance based on their shared goals and mutual obligations. After forgiving her and kissing her, he listened as she acknowledged her mistakes and asked how she should have told him about entering the Mirage Realm.
Pei Ye fought through the Scale Demons outside the curtain of water and discovered that Mirage Blood let him move and sense the underwater world with extraordinary ease. As Endowed Fortune rapidly grew from the spring water, he realized it might keep growing by consuming the Scale Demons and returned inside the shelter.
Li Xizhou wove Merfolk Silk and prepared to trade places with Pei Ye, who said he might reach ninth growth by eating larger Scale Demons. Meanwhile, Yong Ji considered why Pei Ye had entered the sealed Mirage Realm and recognized that Li Xizhou had stirred a powerful force within it.
Li Xizhou trapped Yong Ji inside a Merfolk Hall so Pei Ye could fight him again, while Monk remained outside with her. In the Divine Capital, Li Jian arranged for Li He and another swordsman to deal with the underwater threat; the chapter ended with Li Xizhou surrounded by demons as Pei Ye discovered he could steal the White Water within Yong Ji.
Pei Ye used Mirage Dragon True Blood to fight Yong Ji for control of [White Water], while Li Xizhou forced General Chan to choose whether to intervene in their battle. Yong Ji unleashed [White Water] to overwhelm Pei Ye, but Pei Ye invoked the Immortal name Fire Official Yanbo, leaving the battle's outcome uncertain.
After the Mirage Realm accepted its new sovereign and returned to the present world, General Chan fought Li He’s Ghost Realm and encountered Li Tishui, who held him at swordpoint. He then remembered that he had parted from a bloodied woman less than fifteen minutes earlier, though he had nearly forgotten her.
After passing Li Xizhou’s test, Pei Ye became the Mirage Realm’s new Water Lord and toured his domain with her. They set out to deal with the rampaging great Scale Demons, finding the Great Water Hui attacking a turtle in the northern waters.
Pei Ye and Li Xizhou hunted the three rebel Scale Demons in the Mirage Realm, where Pei Ye fed Endowed Fortune and learned why the realm had chosen him as its Water Lord. He killed the great softshell turtle and began absorbing it, leaving Endowed Fortune on the verge of another breakthrough.
Pei Ye broke through to ninth growth, while Li Xizhou said farewell to the Mirage Realm and gave him the last of her Mirage Blood. As she and Pei Ye shared their grief and memories, she revealed that Yue Muzhou had called Pei Ye his beloved disciple and successor.
Pei Ye and Li Xizhou shared an intimate reconciliation in the Mirage Realm before planning their next steps, and Pei Ye left to report for duty at the Immortal Platform. After the rain cleared over the Divine Capital, Zhu Gaoyang came to pick him up and teased him about Li Xizhou.
Pei Ye returned to the Divine Capital, reported the linked cases to Zhang Siche, and met Li Jian to discuss Yong Ji, the Western Court’s Immortal Authority, and Fate Hounds. Li Jian explained the plan to capture Yong Ji, while Pei Ye described the limits of his fire abilities and began explaining the power of [Fire Official Yanbo].
Pei Ye learned how his Divine Name and immortal authority worked, agreed to join [Fate Hounds], and returned to the Sword Cultivation Academy. He reunited with Yan Feiqing and Yang Zhenbing, settled their courtyard dispute, and resumed lessons on Daoist Sword.
Pei Ye returned to the Sword Cultivation Academy, learned that the Kunlun Sunlit Palace had been provoking the academy’s students, and sought out Jiang Yiner before her sword trial. He gave her a white-cat jade pendant and promised she would not have to face danger alone.
Jiang Yiner prepared to face Chen Mishuang of the Kunlun Sunlit Palace, and Pei Ye advised her to meet his aggressive swordsmanship with equal resolve. The duel began with Chen Mishuang unleashing a blinding, fiercely lethal attack, leaving the crowd to watch how Jiang Yiner would respond.
Jiang Yiner defeated Chen Mishuang by risking a fatal wound, then challenged Xu Wensang’s defense of Yannri Palace. Pei Ye stepped in to face Xu Wensang, and the Sword Field recognized him as the legendary swordsman ranked third on the Teal List.
Pei Ye defeated Xu Wensang with one strike, then spent the afternoon sparring with the Sword Talents and discussing swordsmanship with Jiang Yiner. He encouraged her to pursue the Sword Dao without fixating on victory, but she realized she had disobeyed her master's warning and worried about being punished.