Recaps

Jiang Xian infiltrated Empress Dowager Guo’s hidden vault, but after a lapse in memory found its treasures had vanished. Meanwhile, Xie Jinhuan’s group discussed the danger facing Northern Zhou, and Nangong Ye secretly bound Bu Yuehua’s spirit before she woke and reunited with Xie.

• Jiang Xian entered Empress Dowager Guo’s secret vault and examined the Dragon Emperor and other treasures, then lost her memory and discovered everything in the chamber had disappeared.
• Xie Jinhuan and his companions considered how the Guo Clan crisis and suspected Demon Path plots could destabilize Northern Zhou, and decided they could not simply stand aside.
• Nangong Ye found Bu Yuehua unconscious with her divine sense sealed, used a gu curse to bind her spirit, and left after bribing Coal Ball to keep quiet.
• Xie Jinhuan returned to Parrot Alley and found Bu Yuehua awake, but she stumbled into him twice, leaving both of them confused and embarrassed.

After the Guo Clan was exposed for its ties to the Red Witch Cult, Xie Jinhuan followed a clue toward Cangyan Mountain but was summoned by Empress Dowager Guo to repair the Heavenly Pavilion’s secret-chamber door. While explaining the origins of Heavenly Gang and Earthly Sha, she opened the chamber and abruptly stopped speaking.

• Xie Jinhuan and Bu Yuehua discussed how the Guo Clan scandal had turned public opinion against Empress Dowager Guo, and Bu Yuehua recalled Guo Zihuai’s strange remark about the Gu Master fleeing toward the mountains.
• Jiang Xian summoned Xie Jinhuan to the palace on Empress Dowager Guo’s request, and he went to inspect the broken secret-chamber mechanism in the Heavenly Pavilion.
• Xie Jinhuan and Ye Hongshang located a hidden break in the formation, and Xie Jinhuan used the Zhenglun Sword to open the wall and repair it.
• Empress Dowager Guo explained that Heavenly Gang and Earthly Sha were a pair of indestructible weapons, and that she had sent Xie Jinhuan south because she believed he was a Chosen One.
• Empress Dowager Guo began offering Xie Jinhuan a Baleful-Breaking Pill, but the secret-chamber door opened with a rumble and cut her off.

Empress Dowager Guo discovered that her secret chamber had been emptied and feared the thief had taken the keepsakes her parents gave her. Xie Jinhuan promised to recover them and went to investigate, while Guo was left anxiously considering who had robbed her.

• Xie Jinhuan found Empress Dowager Guo's secret chamber bare, and Guo collapsed in shock over the loss of her treasures and family keepsakes.
• Guo flew into a rage and threatened to tear down Purple Emblem Mountain, but Xie Jinhuan persuaded her that Qixia True Person was unlikely to be responsible.
• Guo and Xie Jinhuan suspected Shang Lianbi, then found an Evil God Statue carved behind the chamber's wooden racks.
• Xie Jinhuan suggested Demon Bandits might have taken the treasures and promised to track them down, especially the Jade Pendant and Bracelet.
• Xie Jinhuan hurried off to pursue the thief, while Guo watched him leave and feared her keepsakes might be damaged.

Empress Dowager Guo faced a political crisis as court ministers and powerful sect leaders moved against her, while Xie Jinhuan discovered a hidden army at Cangyan Mountain. As forces gathered outside the Imperial City, Empress Dowager Guo ordered the Black Armor Army to prepare, and Jiang Xian’s apparent change of demeanor drew her attention toward Cangyan Mountain.

• At court, a censor accused the Guo Clan of colluding with evil beings, but Xiao Yang refused to punish the clan before an investigation.
• Xie Jinhuan and Bu Yuehua searched Cangyan Mountain and found a vast formation of black-armored soldiers near Shenshang Gorge.
• Ministers led by Lu Ce'an marched on the Imperial City, backed by Huang Songjia, Liu Danggui, and other Righteous Volunteers; Nangong Ye recognized the threat of a coup.
• Empress Dowager Guo realized Xiao Zhen, Prince of Andong, was behind the political maneuvering and ordered the Black Armor Army to capture him if his army approached Jingzhao Prefecture.
• Jiang Xian threatened the unseen thief over the stolen possessions, then appeared to change and turned her attention toward Cangyan Mountain.

Xie Jinhuan and Bu Yuehua discovered Xiao Zhen’s army secretly marching through Shenshang Gorge and were surrounded after trying to expose his rebellion. After Bu Yuehua was gravely wounded, Xie Jinhuan used Blood Sacrifice to break through to Transcendent Grade, defeated Zhang Yanzhou, and forced the army to surrender before fleeing with her.

• Xie Jinhuan and Bu Yuehua spotted Xiao Zhen’s army in Shenshang Gorge, and Zhang Yanzhou led cultivators to surround them.
• Xie Jinhuan attacked Xiao Zhen while Bu Yuehua fought off the cultivators, but the army’s forces overwhelmed them and wounded Bu Yuehua severely.
• Xie Jinhuan carried Bu Yuehua into an underground river entrance and held off the pursuing soldiers as they tried to break through the gorge.
• Xie Jinhuan used Blood Sacrifice to heal his wounds and gain strength, then opened the bridge between heaven and earth and reached Transcendent Grade.
• Xie Jinhuan killed Zhang Yanzhou and pinned Xiao Zhen with a horse lance, forcing the surviving soldiers to surrender.
• Xie Jinhuan retrieved Bu Yuehua from the underground river and fled into the snow with her.

Xie Jinhuan saved Bu Yuehua from the battle at Cangyan Mountain, and the two acknowledged their feelings as he carried her toward Yanjing. At the palace standoff, Qixia True Person appeared in the Goddess of War’s armor, revealed that the Prince of Andong’s army had been destroyed, punished Huang Songjia, and ended the attempted coup.

• Bu Yuehua awoke in Xie Jinhuan’s arms, admitted that she was Wanyi’s master and not Hua Ruyue, and accepted his kisses before falling asleep again.
• Xie Jinhuan and Ye Hongshang flew toward Yanjing while Ye Hongshang worried that Xie Jinhuan’s choices could eventually put him at odds with the Righteous Path.
• At the palace gates, Chen and the gathered officials hesitated when the Court of Imperial Sacrifices rang its emergency bells, but a sudden Dragon Might drew everyone’s attention to the sky.
• Qixia True Person appeared in golden armor, rebuked the sect masters for ignoring demonic trouble, and announced that Xie Jinhuan had wiped out the Prince of Andong’s rebel army.
• Qixia True Person struck Huang Songjia with heavenly lightning and exposed his dealings with the Immortal Transformation Sect and his role in framing the Guo Clan.
• Qixia True Person warned the gathered officials and cultivators to return to their duties, and they dispersed from the palace gates.

Jiang Hehai recalled how Qixia True Person secretly investigated Empress Dowager Guo and uncovered that the Goddess of War was still alive, while Nangong Ye searched Cangyan Mountain for the Demoness and sensed her kissing Xie Jinhuan. He realized the pair had survived and hurried toward Yanjing after sensing the Demoness wake again.

• Jiang Hehai reflected on his century-long hunt for Yang Huaxian and concluded the Immortal Transformation Sect had used the Black Tortoise Divine Gift to set its plans in motion.
• Qixia True Person recruited Jiang Hehai to help investigate Empress Dowager Guo, and Jiang Hehai sent Jiang Xian to the Capital City under a fabricated identity.
• Qixia True Person infiltrated the Heavenly Pavilion, found proof that the Goddess of War was alive, and robbed her, leaving Jiang Hehai worried about the consequences.
• Nangong Ye rushed to Cangyan Mountain after sensing the Demoness in mortal danger and found the valley filled with corpses, but no trace of her or Xie Jinhuan.
• Nangong Ye sensed the Demoness kissing Xie Jinhuan, relaxed when he realized they were safe, and searched the mountains with Coal Ball.
• Nangong Ye sensed the Demoness wake in Yanjing and hurried toward the city.

Xie Jinhuan brought the badly wounded Bu Yuehua back to his courtyard and treated her injuries, but a series of awkward accidents led them into an intimate encounter. The chapter ended with them together beneath the bed curtains, while Bu Yuehua briefly felt a strange fear that Xie Jinhuan had disappeared.

• Xie Jinhuan returned to the Capital City with unconscious Bu Yuehua, gave her a Great Tonic Pill, and treated her wounds.
• Bu Yuehua woke while Xie Jinhuan was cleaning her and became embarrassed, but an accidental stretch and fall left him convinced she was making advances.
• Xie Jinhuan and Bu Yuehua kissed and grew intimate; Bu Yuehua reminded him that she was Wanyi's master and a Witch Cult Demoness.
• Bu Yuehua agreed to continue and told Xie Jinhuan to take responsibility, and he reassured her when she briefly felt as though he had vanished.
• Bu Yuehua and Xie Jinhuan traded teasing remarks about their first meeting before the room fell quiet behind the curtains.

Empress Dowager Guo, Qixia True Person, and Jiang Hehai discussed how to prepare for Yang Huaxian and the Immortal Transformation Sect, while Qixia went to urge her disciples to cultivate. Her visit caught Nangong Ye in an embarrassing situation, and a spell caused Bu Yuehua’s feelings to shift during her night with Xie Jinhuan.

• Empress Dowager Guo apologized to Qixia True Person for her apparent deception and offered to return the Heavenly Treasures, but Qixia planned to keep the Dragon Emperor and other items for now.
• Jiang Hehai and the two women judged that Shang Lianbi could not be attacked without cause, and Qixia said Yang Huaxian would have to seek his opportunity at Northern Darkness Lake.
• Empress Dowager Guo and Qixia agreed that Xie Jinhuan should be trained and rewarded for helping hold back the rebels.
• Qixia True Person found Nangong Ye pining in Parrot Alley, mistook his strange state for a Heart Demon, and gave him medicinal ingredients while telling him to cultivate diligently.
• As Qixia left, Nangong Ye sat to recite a calming mantra, while Coal Ball watched her Golden Armor in confusion.
• Bu Yuehua’s composure repeatedly overcame her desire during her intimacy with Xie Jinhuan, until she eventually relaxed into the night with him.

Nangong Ye entered Xie Jinhuan’s room at dawn and found him with Bu Yuehua, then clashed with her and struck Xie Jinhuan when he tried to intervene. Xie Jinhuan led Nangong Ye outside to talk, while Bu Yuehua and Ye Hongshang followed to watch.

• Nangong Ye soaked in ice water to suppress the feelings stirred by his soul-tether with Xie Jinhuan, then decided to confront him.
• Xie Jinhuan examined his rapid Demon Path cultivation gains and began studying the Martial Dao Divine Canon beside Bu Yuehua.
• Nangong Ye burst into the room and found Xie Jinhuan and Bu Yuehua together in bed.
• Bu Yuehua teased Nangong Ye, who drew his sword after she called him a white tiger.
• Xie Jinhuan blocked Nangong Ye, was struck by lightning, and led him outside to talk while Bu Yuehua and Ye Hongshang followed.

Guo Zhongni warned Ling Guorong that her reckless training could ruin her foundation, then assured her that the jade bracelet was hers to keep and that Chen had settled her past grievance. After meditating and visiting the main hall, he left at dawn with the Witch Cult threat temporarily contained but unresolved.

• Guo Zhongni criticized Ling Guorong for rushing her training, and she accused him of taking her bracelet and treating her unfairly.
• Zhi Gongye struck Ling Guorong for talking back, then told her that the bracelet was hers and that she must accept the consequences of her chosen path.
• Guo Zhongni led the others into the courtyard and later rested and meditated while Zhi Gongye's guards watched the area.
• Guo Zhongni offered incense in the main hall, and Zhi Gongye warned him that the Witch Cult would not give up easily.
• Guo Zhongni acknowledged the warning and walked out into the morning mist.

Lin Wanyi learned that Bu Yuehua had become involved with Xie Jinhuan and was being pushed into a higher role in Missing Moon Manor. After Bu Yuehua revealed that Linghu Qingmo also posed a threat to Wanyi’s place in the household, Wanyi weighed the protection her master and Lin Zisu could offer.

• Lin Zisu teased Lin Wanyi about Xie Jinhuan, while Coal Ball indicated that someone was waiting in the neighboring bedroom.
• Lin Wanyi entered the bedroom expecting Xie Jinhuan and found Bu Yuehua instead, who said Xie Jinhuan was at the Yamen.
• Bu Yuehua proposed promoting Lin Wanyi to lead Missing Moon Manor’s Guanzhong Branch and making her a third-generation disciple.
• Bu Yuehua admitted that Xie Jinhuan had treated her while she was unconscious and that they had become involved, then offered to make Wanyi the manor’s Holy Maiden and successor.
• Bu Yuehua warned Lin Wanyi that Linghu Qingmo could threaten her standing as Xie Jinhuan’s wife and argued that the manor could provide support.
• Lin Wanyi accepted that Bu Yuehua would decide her own future and privately considered relying on the manor and Lin Zisu to preserve her position.

Xie Jinhuan returned to the Eldest Princess's Residence and asked Lin Zisu about pills to address his Demon Path Bloodthirst Addiction. Lin Zisu proposed a costly remedy, while Lin Wanyi later gave Zisu spending money and became interested in one of her unusual pills.

• Xie Jinhuan returned to the residence and avoided interrupting Lin Wanyi and the officials discussing the unrest in Yanjing.
• Xie Jinhuan found Lin Zisu testing Abacus-Spirit Pills and gave her rare medicinal ingredients to study.
• Lin Zisu examined Xie Jinhuan and proposed a Righteous-to-the-Point-of-Evil Pill to dispel his murderous nature, but said it required scarce ingredients.
• Ye Hongshang supported Lin Zisu's proposal, and Xie Jinhuan agreed to ask around for the ingredients.
• Lin Wanyi gave Lin Zisu a thousand-tael banknote and asked her to make a Concubine's Self-Awareness Pill, leaving Zisu baffled by her sudden generosity.

Xie Jinhuan took Lin Wanyi and Linghu Qingmo flying over Yanjing, where Linghu Qingmo spotted his master, Nangong Ye, shopping in a cloth store. Nangong Ye fled after being unexpectedly discovered buying provocative underwear, leaving Xie Jinhuan worried that he would avoid them.

• Lin Wanyi joined Xie Jinhuan, Linghu Qingmo, and the others in the Tea Room as Xie Jinhuan planned to seek ringing gold sand for a pill.
• Xie Jinhuan took Lin Wanyi and Linghu Qingmo on an airborne tour of Yanjing, and Linghu Qingmo spotted someone suspicious through his Thousand-Li Telescope.
• Nangong Ye secretly shopped for provocative underwear as a gift for Ye Hongshang when Xie Jinhuan and Linghu Qingmo arrived at the store.
• Linghu Qingmo recognized Nangong Ye as his master and introduced him to Xie Jinhuan, who greeted him without judgment.
• Nangong Ye claimed he had urgent Sect business, refused to discuss it, and hurried away from the shop.
• Xie Jinhuan reassured Linghu Qingmo and took him and Lin Wanyi back home, worrying that Nangong Ye might avoid them.

Xie Jinhuan persuaded Nangong Ye to accept their relationship after his identity was exposed, while Jiang Xian received new orders to investigate the Northern Border. In Luojing, Zhao Ling’s troubling dream prompted Xu Tong to summon Wei Wuyi.

• Xie Jinhuan found Nangong Ye preparing to flee, confessed that he had wanted to marry him since childhood, and persuaded him to continue their relationship in private.
• Bu Yuehua suffered strange sensations that Lin Wanyi suppressed with a Dead Still Heart Pill, while Xie Jinhuan and Nangong Ye resumed their intimacy.
• Jiang Xian read the Xian'er Diary’s new objectives and learned that the Empress Dowager had promoted her and ordered her to investigate the Immortal Transformation Sect in the north.
• Xie Wen and Shen Cang teased Jiang Xian about marrying Xie Jinhuan, but she insisted they focus on the case.
• Xu Tong received Zhao Ling’s warning dream about three unidentified people harming Empress Xu and sent word for Wei Wuyi to visit.

Xie Jinhuan, Zhao Ling, and Linghu Qingmo traveled to Fengshan, where they learned that Duan Yuechou’s young granddaughter was suffering from a mysterious possession. After meeting Wei Lu, Xie Jinhuan agreed to visit the Fengshan Sect and investigate the girl’s condition.

• Xie Jinhuan, Zhao Ling, and Linghu Qingmo stopped at a teahouse and discussed Duan Yuechou’s gathering and the prospect of organizing the Jianghu under Wei Wuyi’s authority.
• Nangong Ye secretly followed Xie Jinhuan with Bu Yuehua and gave her revealing undergarments and Grain-Avoidance Pills while pretending to heed Xie Jinhuan’s request to care for her.
• Xie Jinhuan discussed the vacant place among the Seven Martial Dao Heroes with Zhao Ling and Linghu Qingmo as they traveled toward Fengshan.
• Xie Jinhuan met Wei Lu in town, and Wei Lu told him that Duan Yuechou’s granddaughter had resisted physicians and attempts at exorcism.
• Xie Jinhuan agreed to visit the Fengshan Sect’s rear mountain and investigate the girl, while asking Wei Lu to keep his arrival private.

Wei Jili’s plan to use Duan Yuechou’s granddaughter as leverage was interrupted when Wei Lu brought Xie Jinhuan to Beacon Mountain. Xie Jinhuan found that the girl’s missing souls were tied to a bell hidden near Hidden Dragon Pool, leaving him poised to investigate it.

• Wei Jili and He Tianqi discussed their plans to pressure Duan Yuechou and exploit the trouble in Northern Zhou.
• Wei Lu brought Xie Jinhuan to Beacon Mountain, where Wei Jili learned that Xie had come to investigate Duan Yuechou’s granddaughter’s condition.
• Xie Jinhuan met Duan Yuechou and learned that his granddaughter had lost three of her Seven Po Souls.
• Ye Hongshang said the girl could be saved if her missing souls were found, and Xie Jinhuan used her art to follow their connection.
• Xie Jinhuan’s divine sense reached a locked cabinet near Hidden Dragon Pool and found a bell that swayed in response to the summons.

Xie Jinhuan found Duan Yuechou's granddaughter's missing soul sealed inside a Nether Bell Lock in Dharma Master Mingxin's room, raising suspicion against the Buddhist monk. He offered to restore the girl himself, and Duan Yuechou eagerly accepted his help.

• Han Quan burst through a window and flew away, prompting Xie Jinhuan and the gathered experts to pursue him to a courtyard near Hidden Dragon Pool.
• Xie Jinhuan searched the courtyard and found a Nether Bell Lock containing Miss Duan's soul in Dharma Master Mingxin's wardrobe.
• Duan Yuechou confronted Mingxin, but Xie Jinhuan noted that the timing and circumstances made it unclear whether Mingxin or another person had planted the bell.
• Xie Jinhuan ordered Mingxin to cooperate with an investigation and urged the sect leaders to search Fengshan for the culprit.
• When no one present could safely restore Miss Duan's soul, Xie Jinhuan said he could do it and promised she would recover completely after resting for a little over a month.
• Duan Yuechou accepted Xie Jinhuan's offer and led him onward.

Xie Jinhuan restored Duan Yuechou’s granddaughter after discovering the Nether God Sect’s plot, while He Tianqi and Wei Jili began planning to kill him. With the girl safe, Xie Jinhuan set out to find Singing Gold Sand in Western Rong.

• Ye Hongshang used the Nether Bell Lock to help restore the girl’s souls while Xie Jinhuan called them back with an incantation.
• He Tianqi and Wei Jili discussed how Xie Jinhuan had foiled their scheme to manipulate Duan Yuechou and learned that their superiors wanted Xie Jinhuan stopped from returning to Capital City.
• He Tianqi proposed recruiting the Northwest Branch Altar’s second-in-command and asking Shen Jinyu to assassinate Xie Jinhuan, while Wei Jili agreed to keep a low profile.
• The girl awoke and reunited with Duan Yuechou, and Xie Jinhuan explained that her Divine Soul would need time to recover fully.
• Xie Jinhuan told Duan Yuechou he planned to search Western Rong for Singing Gold Sand, and Duan Yuechou offered to prepare his research on the treasure.

Xie Jinhuan, Linghu Qingmo, and Zhao Ling opened a legendary wine jar and got so drunk that they woke in an awkward heap. Meanwhile, Ye Hongshang used a crystal ball to uncover the Cold Pool’s ancient history, and the morning ended with Coal Ball beating Xie Jinhuan over the night’s chaos.

• Duan Yuechou gave Xie Jinhuan a jar of Number One Under Heaven, and Xie Jinhuan opened it so he, Linghu Qingmo, and Zhao Ling could taste it.
• The wine gradually intoxicated the three, who danced and partied until they collapsed before reaching their room; Coal Ball fled with a roast leg of lamb.
• Ye Hongshang used her crystal ball to trace the Cold Pool’s history, witnessing how it aided a child who became a great patriarch and later appeared in a vision to a young scholar nearly two thousand years afterward.
• Xie Jinhuan woke beside Linghu Qingmo and Zhao Ling, while Ye Hongshang showed him images of their drunken antics from the previous night.
• Zhao Ling and Linghu Qingmo questioned Xie Jinhuan about what had happened, then sent him out to let them get dressed.
• Coal Ball attacked Xie Jinhuan with a series of martial-arts moves after he offered her leftover dried fish.

Xie Jinhuan, Linghu Qingmo, and Zhao Ling searched Western Rong for ringing-gold sand and encountered an elderly priest whose story hinted at a troubled witch doctor from a century earlier. Meanwhile, He Tianqi recruited Monk Xuyin to help assassinate Xie Jinhuan, who had traveled into the region.

• Xie Jinhuan flew across Western Rong with Linghu Qingmo and Zhao Ling, consulting Duan Yuechou’s map while Coal Ball sulked over their earlier rock-paper-scissors game.
• Xie Jinhuan and his companions landed near a Zheluo Tribe village, where the priest warned them against entering the mountains in winter and recounted how a young witch doctor had rescued a malformed child a century earlier.
• Xie Jinhuan noticed unsigned calligraphy in the priest’s home, then left; the priest visited a nearby grave marked as the resting place of his mother, Wei Shan.
• He Tianqi confronted Monk Xuyin at Jing'an Temple and admitted the monk had supplied the Nether God Sect with intelligence and helped its schemes.
• He Tianqi offered Monk Xuyin the Lingguang Divine Gift and the Illuminating Bodhi Sutra in exchange for killing Xie Jinhuan, and said helpers were already on their way.

Xie Jinhuan and his companions searched a Western Rong valley for Ringing-Gold Sand, then fought an ancient armored monster drawn by Zhao Ling’s Jianbing Divine Gift. The monster escaped into the snowy mountains, and Xie Jinhuan followed it to discover where it had been hiding.

• Xie Jinhuan, Linghu Qingmo, and Zhao Ling found an old battlefield and traced the Jianbing Divine Gift’s traces to a dry riverbed containing Ringing-Gold Sand.
• Zhao Ling used her divine gift to gather the sand while Xie Jinhuan and Linghu Qingmo waited; elsewhere, Nangong Ye and Bu Yuehua searched for them and noticed a strange figure in the mountains.
• Coal Ball sensed an approaching creature, and a roar announced an armored, ape-like monster that charged into the valley.
• Xie Jinhuan fought the monster, learned from Ye Hongshang that it was a naturally mutated being, and noticed it carried an old Former Qi military token.
• After Xie Jinhuan overwhelmed it, the monster fled toward the mountains, and he followed it with Coal Ball watching from above.

Xie Jinhuan pursued the Strange Man into Gold Mother’s tomb and discovered the history behind the malformed warrior and the origins of Western Rong’s ill-omened children. He found ringing-gold sand and learned that the Strange Man could be sealed to spare him from seeking the Jianbing Divine Gift again.

• Xie Jinhuan followed the Strange Man into a deep tunnel while Nangong Ye and Bu Yuehua arrived outside with Coal Ball.
• Xie Jinhuan’s group reached an underground cavern and found murals depicting Gold Mother, whom Linghu Qingmo identified as one of the Ten Ancestral Witches.
• Xie Jinhuan knocked out the Strange Man and read Li Lan’s account of raising his malformed son, who had once been saved by a transformed child that might have been Wei Wuyi.
• Xie Jinhuan found ringing-gold sand inside Gold Mother’s tomb, while Ye Hongshang explained that Gold Mother’s merger with the world caused malformed children to be born in Western Rong.
• Ye Hongshang explained that the Strange Man sensed the Jianbing Divine Gift because ringing-gold sand had accumulated in his body, and Xie Jinhuan began sealing it inside him.

Xie Jinhuan studied the half-demon outside the Nine-Zhang Stone Gate and began removing the ringing-gold sand from his body, but distant thunder suggested that Big Ice Lump had encountered someone outside. Meanwhile, Monk Xuyin and Shen Jinyu pursued Xie Jinhuan, while He Tianqi and Wei Jili followed behind them, unaware that two powerful women were secretly trailing the group.

• Xie Jinhuan examined the unconscious half-demon and asked Ye Hongshang to help seal and extract the ringing-gold sand from his body.
• Thunder sounded outside the cavern, and Ghost Wife told Xie Jinhuan that Big Ice Lump had run into someone, prompting him to hurry out.
• Monk Xuyin and Shen Jinyu found signs of Xie Jinhuan and his companions, and Xuyin offered Shen the spoils and a reward for extra protection.
• Shen Jinyu proposed helping Monk Xuyin escape the Nether God Sect's control in exchange for his fortune, and Xuyin reluctantly agreed to consider the deal.
• He Tianqi and Wei Jili tracked Xie Jinhuan through the snowy mountains, confident their group could kill him, while two Transcendent Grade women secretly followed them.

Monk Xuyin and Shen Jinyu lured Nangong Ye and Bu Yuehua away so Shen could ambush Xie Jinhuan, but Xie survived the sword strike by using a Demon Path technique. Facing Shen on the snowy cliff, Xie learned that the Nether God Sect had hired the assassins and prepared to fight.

• Bu Yuehua spotted Monk Xuyin approaching the cliff, and Nangong Ye joined her in hiding before Xuyin attacked Coal Ball and was confronted by the two women.
• Monk Xuyin fled after striking at Nangong Ye and Bu Yuehua, drawing them away from the tunnel while Xie Jinhuan emerged and Shen Jinyu ambushed him through the cliff wall.
• Shen Jinyu wounded Xie Jinhuan across the chest, but Xie used the Demon Path to heal himself and halted Shen's attempt to finish him.
• Wei Jili moved to intercept Nangong Ye and Bu Yuehua as Xie faced Shen, while Zhao Ling and Linghu Qingmo stayed back at Xie's signal.
• Xie Jinhuan learned from Shen Jinyu that the Nether God Sect had hired the attackers and challenged Shen to fight.