Chapter Summaries

Ye Jingtang and Zhe Yunli killed Huo Zhiyun, who confessed to assassinating Thousand Crane Manor’s young master, and then captured Xing Baisheng, the Painted-Face Fox. After Xing Baisheng proposed a scheme to search the City Lord’s Residence for a Longevity Fruit, Ye Jingtang and Zhe Yunli left to plan their next move.

• Ye Jingtang and Zhe Yunli confronted Huo Zhiyun, who offered information in exchange for his life and admitted that Zhou Huaili had hired him to kill Thousand Crane Manor’s young master.
• Ye Jingtang revealed his identity and started the sword’s countdown, and Zhe Yunli killed Huo Zhiyun when he tried to draw his sabre.
• Xing Baisheng arrived at the room, where Ye Jingtang held him at swordpoint and Zhe Yunli questioned him about Bei Yunbian and the rumored Longevity Fruit.
• Xing Baisheng proposed that he distract guards at the City Lord’s Residence during the Heroes’ Banquet while Zhe Yunli searched the Cloud Pavilion and its forbidden grounds.
• Ye Jingtang and Zhe Yunli slipped away, and Zhe Yunli celebrated her successful strike before they discussed their next targets.

Yunli and Ye Jingtang finished their bounty jobs, while his attempts to demonstrate a new ability led to trouble with Xue Baijin and Hua Qingzhi. The next day, they went to scout the Heroes' Banquet and spotted Qiu Tianhe among the crowd.

• Yunli and Ye Jingtang killed two bandit targets and returned to the inn, where Ye Jingtang learned that Bei Yunbian welcomed practitioners of esoteric arts at the City Lord's Residence.
• Ye Jingtang accidentally shook Xue Baijin's breasts with a distant qi technique, then accidentally kissed her while resisting her attempt to massage his back.
• Hua Qingzhi woke from Xue Baijin's acupoint strike and pulled Ye Jingtang into an intimate encounter, while Xue Baijin took Yunli and Niao Niao out for food.
• The next day, Ye Jingtang and the women went to scout the Heroes' Banquet, where they planned for him to distract Bei Yunbian while Xue Baijin searched for the Longevity Fruit.
• Ye Jingtang spotted Qiu Tianhe arriving with a married couple, an old man, and a young girl, and told Xue Baijin he would go greet them.

Ye Jingtang arrived at Shuofeng City’s Heroes’ Gathering disguised as the Azure Dragon Society’s Dragon King and attacked Yin Shicheng to test Bei Yunbian’s abilities. After Bei Yunbian intervened and spared Yin, Ye Jingtang withdrew, and Bei Yunbian welcomed the gathered martial artists to the banquet.

• Qiu Tianhe and Xuanyuan Tiangang reached the front of the crowded plaza, where they encountered Ye Jingtang in disguise and left the front row with him.
• Fang Xinggu welcomed the arriving martial leaders, and Tian Wuliang challenged Yin Shicheng over their blood feud without starting a fight.
• The cloaked Azure Dragon Society swordsman began winding the Revolving Wheel Sword and attacked Yin Shicheng, driving him across the city lord’s residence and piercing his shoulder.
• Bei Yunbian appeared and explained that he had spared Yin Shicheng for the war against the Southern Dynasty, then asked the Azure Dragon Society to postpone its business with him.
• Ye Jingtang agreed to defer the killing, reset the Revolving Wheel Sword, and took his seat while Tian Wuliang also yielded; Bei Yunbian then welcomed the guests to the banquet.

Xue Baijin searched Bei Yunbian’s secret chamber and discovered intelligence linking him to the Green Bandits, while Ye Jingtang challenged Bei Yunbian’s call for martial artists to serve Great Liang. Ye Jingtang defeated Bei Yunbian but let him flee in exchange for a chance to lead him to the Longevity Fruit, then pursued him into the mountains.

• Xue Baijin infiltrated Bei Yunbian’s Cloud Pavilion, found a figurine representing Ye Jingtang and classified intelligence from the Green Bandits, but found no Longevity Fruit.
• At the Heroes’ Banquet, Ye Jingtang rejected Bei Yunbian’s appeal to defend Great Liang and argued that helping the Southern Dynasty unify the realm would spare the people further war.
• Bei Yunbian attacked Ye Jingtang with supernatural abilities, but Ye Jingtang countered his techniques and fought him through the city lord’s residence and into the mountains.
• Ye Jingtang subdued Bei Yunbian and demanded to know whether he had arranged the assassinations of Prince Jing and the Empress and incited the princes to rebel.
• Bei Yunbian offered to lead Ye Jingtang to the Longevity Fruit, so Ye Jingtang released him and followed him east into the mountains as Xue Baijin pursued them.
• Ye Jingtang warned the gathered martial artists to accept the coming unification, while Tian Wuliang confronted Yin Shicheng in the ruined square.

Ye Jingtang and Xue Baijin pursued Bei Yunbian across the Eastern Sea, where Bei Yunbian used the Longevity Fruit and the spiritual energy around the Immortal Isle to unleash overwhelming power. Ye Jingtang killed him with a single strike but collapsed afterward, and Xue Baijin carried him ashore; meanwhile, their companions learned they had gone to sea and set out to find the Immortal Isle.

• Bei Yunbian fled across the Eastern Sea, and Ye Jingtang and Xue Baijin followed while Niao Niao returned toward shore.
• Bei Yunbian swallowed a golden pill and harnessed the storm and sea around the Immortal Isle, injuring Xue Baijin and driving Ye Jingtang back.
• Ye Jingtang summoned the sea’s power, opened a trench through the waves, and killed Bei Yunbian with a punch to the forehead.
• Xue Baijin found Ye Jingtang alive but gravely weakened, carried him to the Immortal Isle, and confirmed that Bei Yunbian had died there.
• At Shuofeng City, its leaderless disciples and the visiting martial artists remained amid the aftermath of the battle.
• After Niao Niao returned and reported that Ye Jingtang and Xue Baijin had gone to sea, Qiu Tianhe and the others headed for the coast to seek the Immortal Isle.

After defeating Bei Yunbian, Ye Jingtang and Xue Baijin reached the Longevity Tree and took shelter in its abandoned courtyard while recovering from their injuries. As Xue Baijin cared for him, they discussed the future of the war, and she stayed by his side as he rested.

• Xue Baijin carried the badly injured Ye Jingtang beneath the enormous Longevity Tree and into an abandoned courtyard.
• Xue Baijin tended to Ye Jingtang, discovered his mind was injured, and fed him porridge made from a Grain Pill.
• Ye Jingtang told Xue Baijin he would choose the path that caused fewer deaths and less disruption, and she said she could not bow to the Empress but would return to Southern Skies Mountain after the war.
• Xue Baijin let Ye Jingtang rest against her as a pillow and promised to keep watch.

Ye Jingtang endured the White Lotus seed’s agonizing healing effects while Xue Baijin stayed to care for him. After she tasted a little of the powder and suffered the same pain, Ye Jingtang comforted her with kisses, and they became intimate; by dawn, the storm had passed.

• As Ye Jingtang’s wounds healed, the White Lotus seed’s medicinal force caused blood spots and intense pain, and he urged Xue Baijin to leave.
• Xue Baijin refused to abandon him, and Ye Jingtang admitted he wanted to kiss her while struggling through the pain.
• Xue Baijin tasted a small amount of the crushed seed, suffered its backlash, and Ye Jingtang kissed her to help distract her.
• After Xue Baijin recovered, she learned Ye Jingtang had endured the pain the whole time and let him continue comforting her despite warning him to show restraint.
• Ye Jingtang and Xue Baijin became intimate, and they remained together as the storm ended and dawn approached.

After waking on the island, Ye Jingtang found Xue Baijin gone and read her farewell letter, while she secretly watched over him as he recovered and practiced. Meanwhile, Xiang Hanshi and Zhongsun Jin weighed Northern Liang’s chances against Ye Jingtang, then received an anonymous letter that prompted them to summon Hua Junchen.

• Xue Baijin left Ye Jingtang a farewell letter and departed, but hid nearby when she saw he was too weak to fend for himself.
• Ye Jingtang woke, searched for Xue Baijin, read her letter, and used the great tree’s leaves and fruit to recover while cultivating the Dragon-Mingling Diagram.
• Xue Baijin watched Ye Jingtang practice from a hidden grove and stayed nearby as night fell.
• At the Imperial Preceptor’s Office, Xiang Hanshi and Zhongsun Jin discussed the threat Ye Jingtang posed to Northern Liang and Xiang Hanshi’s plan to stake his life in battle.
• A disciple delivered an anonymous letter to Xiang Hanshi; after reading it, Zhongsun Jin ordered Hua Junchen summoned.

Ye Jingtang completed the Nine Phoenixes Facing the Sun technique while meditating on the island, then persuaded Xue Baijin to stay so he could teach her to cultivate. In Northern Liang’s capital, Hua Junchen visited Cao Aning in prison after the Imperial Preceptor’s Office ordered his arrest over suspicions that he was a Southern Dynasty agent.

• Ye Jingtang finished creating the Nine Phoenixes Facing the Sun technique and discovered that Xue Baijin was secretly cultivating nearby.
• Ye Jingtang buried Bei Yunbian, caught fish, and lured Xue Baijin into revealing herself when she came to take a roasted fish.
• Xue Baijin said she planned to leave, but Ye Jingtang persuaded her to stay for a day so he could teach her cultivation.
• Hua Junchen visited Cao Aning in the Heavenly Prison after arresting him on orders from Zhongsun Jin.
• Cao Aning protested his innocence to Hua Junchen and complained about Ye Jingtang, while Hua Junchen left the prison worried.

Ye Jingtang explained that he had created the Nine Phoenixes Facing the Sun Art and offered to teach it to Xue Baijin through hands-on guidance. After she struggled to concentrate, he helped her relax, and she learned the first diagram before agreeing to continue cultivating with him.

• Xue Baijin returned to the fenced garden and asked Ye Jingtang to teach her, and he explained how his Nine Phoenixes Facing the Sun Art differed from the Dragon-Mingling Diagrams.
• Ye Jingtang began guiding Xue Baijin through the art by touch, but she could not remember the pathways because his closeness distracted her.
• Ye Jingtang persuaded Xue Baijin to relax and accept his touch, then guided her through the first diagram again until she memorized it.
• Ye Jingtang proposed using a Daoist dual-cultivation method, and Xue Baijin agreed without fully considering his meaning.
• Ye Jingtang and Xue Baijin cultivated together, and she followed his guidance without resisting as they joined.

Zhe Yunli and the others survived a storm at sea, while Niao Niao spotted a gigantic sea creature and flew onward to search for Ye Jingtang. On an island, Xue Baijin woke beside Ye Jingtang, recalled that she had willingly practiced dual cultivation with him, and agreed to learn more diagrams while insisting their intimacy end when they left.

• Zhe Yunli steered the ship through the storm with Niao Niao's guidance as the others struggled to secure it and prepare for a possible wreck.
• After the storm eased, Niao Niao spotted a huge blue-bodied sea creature, and then flew off to find Ye Jingtang.
• Xue Baijin woke beside Ye Jingtang, drew her blade, and accused him of taking advantage of her during the night.
• Xue Baijin remembered that she had initiated their dual cultivation and discovered that the method had greatly advanced her cultivation.
• Ye Jingtang warned Xue Baijin that Xiang Hanshi might block their return, and she agreed to learn more diagrams while demanding that he forget their intimacy once they left the island.
• Ye Jingtang caught fish while Xue Baijin cleaned the courtyard and secretly leafed through the dried book Chivalrous Woman's Ill-Fated Love.

Ye Jingtang and Xue Baijin practiced the cultivation art together on the island until Niao Niao and Zhe Yunli arrived. Ye Jingtang reunited with Yunli and Hua Qingzhi, then used his qi to guide their ship toward the island.

• Ye Jingtang explained that Xue Baijin would need to refine spirit and develop her own understanding of the art to cultivate faster, then guided her through several diagrams as they practiced together throughout the day.
• Ye Jingtang spotted a boat and Niao Niao approaching, and Xue Baijin hurried to dress and clean up before Zhe Yunli reached the island.
• Zhe Yunli reunited with Ye Jingtang, checked that he was unharmed, and ran off to see the enormous tree while he went to meet the ship.
• Ye Jingtang greeted Hua Qingzhi and the others aboard the pirate ship, then used the qi of heaven and earth to fill its sails and move it toward the island.
• Ye Jingtang and Qiu Tianhe talked about Ye Jingtang's cultivation and the Two Princes of Yanzhou as the ship sailed toward the island.

Zhe Yunli and the others reached the Immortal Isle, where Xue Baijin struggled to hide her recent intimacy with Ye Jingtang while Hua Qingzhi teased her about it. Ye Jingtang promised to teach Yunli his saber-drawing cultivation method later, and the group discovered a sea turtle bearing a poem carved by Bei Yunbian as they settled on the island.

• Zhe Yunli arrived at the Bamboo Fence Garden and found Xue Baijin in Ye Jingtang's room, but Xue Baijin claimed she had only cared for him while he recovered.
• Ye Jingtang brought Hua Qingzhi, Qiu Tianhe, Xuanyuan Tiangang, and the others ashore, and the reunited group explored the enormous tree and prepared food.
• Hua Qingzhi taunted Xue Baijin about her feelings for Ye Jingtang and claimed the bed, prompting Xue Baijin to leave in anger.
• Zhe Yunli confronted Ye Jingtang about his distant saber-drawing art, and he promised to teach her once he could transmit the technique through her clothes.
• Ye Jingtang, Zhe Yunli, and Niao Niao found an old sea turtle with a poem carved into its shell, which Ye Jingtang believed Bei Yunbian had written.

Ye Jingtang continued practicing with Xue Baijin while she insisted that their island affair must end when they left, and she urged Zhe Yunli to marry him to make up for what she had done. The chapter left Xue Baijin fleeing the room after hearing Ye Jingtang and Hua Qingzhi together next door.

• Ye Jingtang teased Hua Qingzhi in Xue Baijin's room, and Xue Baijin called him outside to practice.
• Xue Baijin urged Zhe Yunli to marry Ye Jingtang, but Yunli questioned her sudden concern and encouraged her to consider marriage herself.
• Xue Baijin told Ye Jingtang to forget what had happened between them after they left the island, then continued learning the Nine Phoenixes Facing the Sun Art with him.
• Hua Qingzhi worried that she had not become pregnant, and Ye Jingtang tried to teach her a cultivation method before they kissed.
• Xue Baijin heard Ye Jingtang and Hua Qingzhi fooling around next door and left the room in anger.

Zhe Yunli grew suspicious of Ye Jingtang’s night in Hua Qingzhi’s room, while Bian Yuanlie visited Fengguancheng at Guancheng. The chapter ended with Fengguancheng’s disciple Li Yiliang leaving Yang Mountain to return to Northern Liang despite the danger.

• Zhe Yunli found Ye Jingtang emerging from Hua Qingzhi’s room and questioned him, but he evaded her suspicions and said Hua Qingzhi’s master was practicing by the sea.
• Zhe Yunli asked Qiu Tianhe how to guard against being tapped unconscious, and he advised her to circulate qi before an attack.
• Bian Yuanlie discussed Ye Jingtang and Fengguancheng’s long vigil at Dragon Gate Cliff, learning that Fengguancheng feared what might emerge after he was gone.
• Li Yiliang told Fengguancheng and Bian Yuanlie that Xiang Hanshi had summoned him back to Yanjing as Northern Liang faced ruin.
• Despite Fengguancheng warning that he might die, Li Yiliang thanked his master, kowtowed, and left Yang Mountain for home.

Ye Jingtang and Xue Baijin discussed Yunli’s parents, the Dragon-Mingling Diagram, and the threat posed by Fengguancheng before resuming their cultivation on the island. Meanwhile, the Southern Dynasty’s fortunes rose after Ye Jingtang’s victory, and Perfected Person Xuanji and Fan Qinghe rode into the Snowfield to find him.

• Ye Jingtang brought Xue Baijin lunch, and she told him that Yunli’s father, a disciple of Zhang Henggu, had been killed with Soul-Severing Needles.
• Ye Jingtang reasoned that records of Yunli’s parents’ deaths might be held by the Secret Guard and said he would investigate when he returned.
• Ye Jingtang estimated that matching Fengguancheng could require years of cultivation, while Xue Baijin considered the Dragon-Mingling Diagrams and the Son of Heaven Sword’s possible role.
• Ye Jingtang and Xue Baijin bathed together and resumed practicing the cultivation method.
• Ye Jingtang’s victory over Bei Yunbian weakened Northern Liang’s morale and drew martial artists to join the Southern Dynasty’s forces.
• Perfected Person Xuanji and Fan Qinghe rode out of the Northern Wasteland toward Shuofeng City to find Ye Jingtang and scout a possible invasion route.

Ye Jingtang spent the day cultivating with Xue Baijin, then returned to Bamboo Fence Garden, where Hua Qingzhi deliberately seduced him while Zhe Yunli eavesdropped. The next morning, Yunli asked when they would leave the island, and Xue Baijin watched them together while worrying over the tangled relationships between them and their elders.

• Xue Baijin used what Ye Jingtang had taught her to disrupt his qi and blood, then returned to Bamboo Fence Garden and practiced with Zhe Yunli.
• Hua Qingzhi staged a leg stretch to tease Ye Jingtang and spent the night with him while Xue Baijin and Zhe Yunli listened from the next room.
• Xue Baijin put Zhe Yunli to sleep with tapped acupoints, then left the garden with Niao Niao as the sounds from the Main House grew louder.
• The next morning, Zhe Yunli told Ye Jingtang she wanted to leave the island soon and asked him to take her to Yangguan Temple after they went ashore.
• Xue Baijin watched Ye Jingtang carry Zhe Yunli through the woods and reflected on how her relationship with Ning'er had complicated their hopes for the young pair.

Qiu Tianhe’s group left the isolated island, and Xue Baijin tried to end her relationship with Ye Jingtang as they returned to sea. Meanwhile, Fan Qinghe and Perfected Person Xuanji learned that Cao Aning had been captured and hurried toward Yanjing to warn Ye Jingtang of a possible trap.

• Qiu Tianhe and the others prepared to leave the island, and Xue Baijin shared a final kiss with Ye Jingtang before insisting they return to being elder and junior.
• Xue Baijin accepted Ye Jingtang’s carved pendant and said she would escort him back to the Western Sea before returning to Southern Skies Mountain.
• In Liaobei Prefecture, Fan Qinghe and Perfected Person Xuanji heard that Cao Aning had been exposed and imprisoned in Yanjing.
• Perfected Person Xuanji suspected Northern Liang might use Cao Aning as bait to lure Ye Jingtang into a trap, so she and Fan Qinghe rode toward Yanjing to warn him.
• Aboard the ship, Xue Baijin struggled to meditate without the island’s abundant energy, and Ye Jingtang entered her cabin to massage her and help her fall asleep.

Tian Wuliang reclaimed his authority in Pin'an Prefecture and met with Ye Jingtang, who learned that Cao Aning had been arrested and might be bait for a trap. In Yanjing, the Liang Emperor welcomed Li Yiliang back and revealed that he had summoned him to ensure Xiang Hanshi’s plan to kill Ye Jingtang succeeded, even if it cost Li Yiliang his life.

• Tian Wuliang wiped out Juntian Prefecture’s remaining forces and demanded doubled tribute from Pin'an Prefecture’s shipping and escort business owners.
• After spotting Ye Jingtang in a teahouse, Tian Wuliang pretended to mourn Thunder God Island’s dead, then met Ye Jingtang privately and offered to contact the Azure Dragon Society.
• Tian Wuliang told Ye Jingtang that Cao Aning had been arrested and placed on death row, warning that Northern Liang might be setting a trap for him.
• Ye Jingtang chose to investigate Cao Aning’s situation and invited Zhe Yunli, Hua Qingzhi, and Xue Baijin to eat and drink before resting at an inn.
• The Liang Emperor met Li Yiliang in a tavern and asked what he thought of Ye Jingtang; Li Yiliang praised Ye Jingtang’s talent.
• The Liang Emperor explained that Xiang Hanshi intended to risk his life against Ye Jingtang and that Li Yiliang had been summoned to ensure the plan succeeded; Li Yiliang offered his own life in Xiang Hanshi’s place.

After Xue Baijin struggled with her feelings for Ye Jingtang, she entered his room to talk and ended up giving in to their intimacy. Hua Qingzhi woke and discovered them, then teased Xue Baijin while Ye Jingtang continued with both women.

• Ye Jingtang and the women ate and drank at a restaurant, where Xue Baijin drank to forget her troubles and Yunli accidentally rubbed her foot.
• At the inn, Ye Jingtang washed Hua Qingzhi's feet while Xue Baijin lay awake next door, dwelling on her feelings for him.
• Xue Baijin entered Ye Jingtang and Hua Qingzhi's room, knocked Hua Qingzhi asleep, and questioned Ye Jingtang about his ambitions and Ning'er's place in his household.
• Ye Jingtang massaged Xue Baijin and guided her through the Eighth Diagram, but their closeness led to them becoming intimate.
• Hua Qingzhi woke beneath the same quilt and discovered Ye Jingtang and Xue Baijin together, then teased Xue Baijin while Ye Jingtang continued with both women.