Chapter Summaries

Xie Xiyi recognized his foreign intent as Love Threads and decided he wanted to establish a bond with Chi Yu, but Chi Yu firmly rejected becoming anyone’s Dao companion. Xie Xiyi left to sleep separately, while Chi Yu tried to persuade him to resume their intimate cultivation.

• Xie Xiyi considered arranging a bond ceremony after the Hongbao Trial because he and Chi Yu had already engaged in Spiritual Communion.
• Chi Yu described seeing Ke Boss and a book repairer having sex, then said he would never establish a Dao companion with anyone.
• Xie Xiyi asked whether Chi Yu would make an exception for him, but Chi Yu dodged the question by saying he liked Senior Brother Xuanji most.
• Xie Xiyi realized Chi Yu would not bond with him and that removing the Love Threads would be difficult, so he announced they would sleep in separate rooms.
• Chi Yu objected and asked to cultivate together again, but Xie Xiyi refused and kept Chi Yu from entering his Spiritual Realm.

Chi Yu repeatedly sought Spiritual Communion with Xie Xiyi, but Xie Xiyi refused and remained in Deep Meditation, leaving Chi Yu worried that he was being avoided. While working in the secret realm, Chi Yu shared his ideas about forgiveness and learning from ordinary people, unaware that Lianchi and Xie Xiyi were concealing their past Spiritual Communion from him.

• Xie Xiyi refused Chi Yu’s request to cultivate together and left, then entered Deep Meditation when Chi Yu approached him again.
• Chi Yu noticed the Dharma-Form Lotuses had weakened and wondered why Xie Xiyi’s cultivation did not seem to be improving.
• Chi Yu worked with Lianchi, Xiaoqiu, and Wu Yunsu, explaining that cultivators could learn from ordinary people and advocating forgiveness and collective awakening.
• Chi Yu returned to the Tavern and found Xie Xiyi still cultivating, then told Lianchi he feared Xie Xiyi was angry and avoiding him.
• Lianchi silently agreed with Xie Xiyi to conceal their Spiritual Communion from Chi Yu, believing the knowledge could harm his state of mind.

Chi Yu learned that Senior Brother Xuanji’s withdrawal into meditation stemmed from worry that their time together would be short, then joined Lianchi and the others to watch Xue Yi give birth. Xue Yi delivered a healthy girl with extraordinary ease, leaving Chi Yu concerned about the dangers the mother and daughter might face.

• Chi Yu asked Xiaoqiu why Senior Brother Xuanji had been acting unusually, and Xiaoqiu suggested he feared their time together would be brief.
• Chi Yu, Xiaoqiu, and Lianchi continued their mediation work, then went to Xue Yi’s home at midnight to witness her delivery.
• The midwife found that Xue Yi’s difficult labor had become remarkably easy, and Xue Yi quickly gave birth to a girl.
• After the midwife warned Xue Yi about living alone, Chi Yu explained that her worry for her daughter’s future came from the dangers women faced.
• Chi Yu reflected that Xue Yi might not be able to protect her daughter as she grew older and Xue Yi herself weakened with age.

Lianchi predicted that Xue Yi’s daughter would become mentally disabled and die in childbirth, but Chi Yu decided to test whether outside intervention could change her fate. As the secret realm continued, Chi Yu’s cultivation weakened and Senior Brother Xuanji’s deep meditation appeared to falter; Chi Yu sought comfort by touching Xie Xiyi and asking him to visualize him.

• Lianchi divined that Xue Yi’s daughter would suffer a high fever at five months and die in childbirth at fourteen, but Chi Yu rejected the idea that her fate had to be accepted.
• Chi Yu proposed watching over the child and intervening again to see whether an outside force could change destiny, and Lianchi agreed to let him continue the experiment.
• Chi Yu and Lianchi heard restaurant patrons discuss the resolved Qiu family massacre and the Book Repairer’s new romantic interest.
• After half a month, Chi Yu, Xiaoqiu, and Wu Yunsu found their cultivation suppressed, while fewer Dharma lotuses bloomed during Senior Brother Xuanji’s meditation.
• Worried by Xuanji’s worsening meditation and missing his closeness, Chi Yu held Xie Xiyi’s hand, climbed into his lap, and asked him to touch and visualize him.

Chi Yu eagerly sought Divine Sense cultivation with Xie Xiyi after he awoke, but Xie Xiyi tried to restrain their intimacy and used a mental art to guide Chi Yu’s cultivation instead. Chi Yu’s Divine Sense advanced to Foundation Establishment Stage Ninth Layer, and Xie Xiyi ended their session while struggling against his attachment to him.

• Chi Yu told the awakened Xie Xiyi about his recent discoveries and pleaded to cultivate Divine Sense with him.
• Xie Xiyi resisted Chi Yu’s advances, then allowed their Divine Senses to connect while keeping his own out of the heart of Chi Yu’s Spiritual Realm.
• Xie Xiyi recited a mental art that helped Chi Yu assimilate the golden Spiritual Resonance and nourish his Spiritual Realm and meridians.
• Chi Yu advanced to Foundation Establishment Stage Ninth Layer, and Xie Xiyi said their Divine Sense cultivation had to end because he could not help Chi Yu improve further.
• Chi Yu took Xie Xiyi’s hand and called to him, drawing Xie Xiyi’s attention as he struggled to hold back.

Xie Xiyi struggled with the way his love for Chi Yu was disrupting his Buddhist cultivation, while Chi Yu urged him to focus on the present. The next day, Xie Xiyi chose to stay out of the secret-realm search, and Chi Yu joined Lianchi and the others while remaining distracted by him.

• Xie Xiyi asked whether Chi Yu wanted to stay with him forever, but Chi Yu said he could not promise what he would want after ascension.
• Xie Xiyi accepted Chi Yu's plea to enjoy the present, then left alone to walk and wrestled with the damage his affection was doing to his cultivation.
• The next morning, Xie Xiyi declined to join Chi Yu, Lianchi, Xiaoqiu, and Wu Yunsu, saying the secret realm might take a fancy to him and that he would visit a bookshop instead.
• Chi Yu told Xie Xiyi he wanted to spend every day with him, and Xie Xiyi suppressed his desire to bind Chi Yu to him as his wife before promising to return early.
• Chi Yu and Lianchi continued searching the city for the secret realm's Core Eye, and Lianchi said Chi Yu had kept him from being trapped there indefinitely.

Chi Yu sensed growing distance between himself and Xie Xiyi and tried to restore their closeness during a walk together. After Chi Yu pleaded for them to return to how they had been, Xie Xiyi put a hand around his neck and recognized that Chi Yu’s apparent dependence concealed a steadfast heart.

• Chi Yu took the day off and found Xie Xiyi admiring a landscape painting in a West Street bookshop.
• Xie Xiyi initially did not take Chi Yu’s hand, but then unclenched his fist and held it when Chi Yu asked him to look over.
• As they walked by the river, Xie Xiyi asked whether Chi Yu had missed him and learned that Chi Yu’s mortal grandparents were nearing eighty.
• Xie Xiyi said his Dharma Lotus had weakened because his meditation had gone poorly and that he would stop practicing Visualization.
• Chi Yu embraced Xie Xiyi and promised to stay with him or take him home, asking them to return to how they had been.
• Xie Xiyi gripped Chi Yu’s shoulders, then moved his hand to Chi Yu’s neck and considered how Spiritual Communion let him see through Chi Yu.

Xie Xiyi’s Love Poison and Demonic Heart drove him to demand that Chi Yu become his wife, but he stopped and later erased Chi Yu’s memories of the outburst. As they walked together through the secret realm, Xie Xiyi realized the Love Threads were causing his memory lapses and intensifying his Demonic Heart.

• Xie Xiyi demanded that Chi Yu become his wife and tried to kiss his tongue, then regained control and asked what he had done.
• Chi Yu described Xie Xiyi’s alarming behavior, and Xie Xiyi erased the past half month of unhappy memories from Chi Yu’s Spiritual Realm.
• Chi Yu forgot the incident and happily took Xie Xiyi’s hand to walk through the spring scenery toward a peach grove.
• Chi Yu told Xie Xiyi he liked him and kissed his knuckles, while Xie Xiyi concealed his feelings and urged him to show affection through actions.
• Xie Xiyi realized that the Love Threads had absorbed part of his Demonic Heart and caused his Love Poison to make him lose his memories.

Chi Yu and Lianchi found the secret realm’s Core Eye, Xue Yi, and debated whether to refine her. Lianchi’s words helped Chi Yu accept that he could not change Senior Brother Xuanji’s destined path, but could still guide him toward salvation; Chi Yu entered Enlightenment, leaving Xie Xiyi astonished that thoughts of him had triggered it.

• Chi Yu and Lianchi confirmed that Xue Yi was the secret realm’s Core Eye, while Lianchi argued that they should refine her rather than keep testing the realm.
• Lianchi told Chi Yu that his intervention had helped Zhao survive an attack, prompting Chi Yu to rethink how his actions affected fate.
• Chi Yu decided that he could not change Senior Brother Xuanji’s destiny but could shape their relationship, and he entered Enlightenment.
• Xie Xiyi arrived and sat beside Chi Yu while he meditated, then heard that Chi Yu’s Enlightenment had been about him.
• Chi Yu woke after absorbing the Top-Grade Spirit Stones and said he had advanced one realm, and Xie Xiyi asked whether thinking about him had caused it.

Chi Yu witnessed Xue Yi’s life and learned why she created the secret realm. Xue Yi offered him the chance to become its master, explaining that the realm could eventually grow into an Immortal Artifact.

• Chi Yu saw visions of Xue Yi’s past, from avenging her family to raising Xue Qi and destroying the Immortal Sect that had betrayed him.
• Chi Yu learned that Xue Yi created the secret realm because she had wanted an ordinary life with her daughter and grandson.
• Xue Yi appeared to Chi Yu as a wisp of divided consciousness and explained that the secret realm allowed entry but not escape unless it accepted someone as its master.
• Xue Yi chose Chi Yu because of his sincere and caring nature, and told him that mastering the realm had no drawbacks.
• Xue Yi revealed that the treasure artifact could grow into an Immortal Artifact capable of imprisoning immortals.

Chi Yu bound Xue Yi’s secret realm to himself and learned he could control and observe everyone inside it. After leaving with Xie Xiyi and Xiaoqiu, he tried to persuade Xie Xiyi to visit Great Xia, but Xie Xiyi repeatedly refused.

• Xue Yi explained that the secret realm’s master could control anyone inside it, and Chi Yu bound the realm with a drop of his heart’s blood.
• Chi Yu discovered he could sense everyone and everything within the secret realm, and Xue Yi asked him to care for her family and let them live well.
• Xiaoqiu and Xie Xiyi found Chi Yu, and he told them that he had become the secret realm’s master before joking that he could imprison Xie Xiyi.
• Chi Yu informed Lianchi about the binding, then left the secret realm with Xie Xiyi and Xiaoqiu after a final meal.
• Chi Yu and Xiaoqiu asked Xie Xiyi to visit Great Xia, but Xie Xiyi refused even when Chi Yu offered a spirit stone and pretended he would cry.

Chi Yu persuaded Xie Xiyi to take him to Great Xia, and they completed their demon-killing mission before flying toward the dynasty. Along the way, Chi Yu wondered whether Xie Xiyi’s lack of questions about his secrets meant he cared less, while Xiaoqiu looked forward to going home but insisted on returning to the Mind-Certifying Terrace.

• Chi Yu teased Xie Xiyi into agreeing to visit Great Xia for three days, refusing to accept payment for the favor.
• Chi Yu, Xie Xiyi, and their companions killed demons until their mission token reached 300, then headed toward Great Xia by Flying Artifact.
• Xiaoqiu explained that imperial relatives from collateral branches served the main family and could later seek official posts or titles.
• Chi Yu told Xie Xiyi that his lack of curiosity about Chi Yu’s past made him wonder if Xie Xiyi liked him less, but Xie Xiyi changed the subject to Wu Yunsu’s transformation.
• At the Great Xia border, Xiaoqiu said he would not go home because he still planned to enter the Mind-Certifying Terrace, then imitated Chi Yu’s pleading smile and laugh until Xie Xiyi threatened him with the Ruler.

Chi Yu and Xie Xiyi accompanied Xiaoqiu back to Great Xia, where Xiaoqiu reunited with his family and showed Chi Yu around. At the Imperial Palace, Xie Xiyi’s cold treatment of his younger siblings revealed the strained state of their relationships.

• Xiaoqiu showed his identification token to Great Xia’s border guards, and the group flew on to Prince Yi’s Manor.
• Xie Xiyi told Chi Yu that his family might fear him because his demonic heart had gone out of control before, and promised not to lose control again.
• Xiaoqiu introduced Chi Yu to his family, including his two younger siblings, then took him to see his home.
• Xiaoqiu gave Chi Yu a Jade Pendant that could kill a Golden Core Realm cultivator and said he had ten more.
• Xie Qingning ran to greet Xie Xiyi at the Imperial Palace, but he stopped her with his Ruler and reprimanded her for losing control.
• Xie Xiyi met Xie Qingjing and told Chi Yu that their strained family relationships were why he had not wanted to return.

Xie Xiyi returned to the palace with Chi Yu and reunited awkwardly with his family, whose fear and distance stemmed from his demonic heart going out of control. Chi Yu offered him reassurance and charmed the empress, while Xie Xiyi remained at his side.

• Xie Xiyi ignored Xie Qingjing and rebuffed Xie Qingning’s request for concern about her forbidden romance, while Chi Yu urged him to be more patient with his siblings.
• Xie Xiyi brought Chi Yu to meet the emperor, who asked about his junior brother after noticing their clasped hands; Xie Qingning told the emperor that Xie Xiyi had changed.
• Xie Xiyi told Chi Yu that his parents feared him because his demonic heart had once gone out of control, and he mentioned Ruoku’s prophecy that he would establish a demonic kingdom.
• Chi Yu insisted that Xie Xiyi would never fulfill the prophecy and said he trusted him to suppress his demonic heart.
• Xie Xiyi and Chi Yu visited the empress, where Chi Yu praised her and the emperor, explained that Xie Xiyi had wanted to come home, and said he would not take the Buddhist precepts.

After returning to the palace, Xie Xiyi refused to meet his family, while Xie Qingning confided her worries to Fu Ze, who secretly sought the Xie Clan's hidden secret. Chi Yu explored Xie Xiyi's former Eastern Palace and teased him about the books he might have hidden there.

• Xie Qingning learned that Xie Xiyi had taken Chi Yu to the Eastern Palace and would not receive visitors, then told Fu Ze that her eldest brother had grown cold toward her.
• Fu Ze recalled abandoning Dong Sheng, discovering his gruesome death, and learning that Xie Xiyi was the Chan cultivator responsible; he decided to stay close to Xie Qingning while suppressing his urge to flee.
• Fu Ze continued trying to uncover the Xie family's secret, but Xie Qingning revealed nothing, so he planned to retreat into seclusion at home.
• Chi Yu followed Xie Xiyi into his preserved Eastern Palace and admired the spiritual plants that Xie Xiyi liked to tend.
• Chi Yu sat at Xie Xiyi's desk, returned the books and writing brush to their places, and then searched the bookshelf for books Xie Xiyi was not supposed to read.

Chi Yu toured Xie Xiyi’s former quarters in the Eastern Palace and happily accepted an embroidered screen as a gift. After Chi Yu kissed his cheek, Xie Xiyi gave him his first kiss, leaving Chi Yu shocked and insisting that a first kiss should only be shared with someone one likes.

• Chi Yu teased Xie Xiyi about keeping erotic illustrations, but Xie Xiyi said he had no such books.
• Chi Yu explored the Eastern Palace and told Xie Xiyi that seeing his former quarters let him feel closer to his past.
• Chi Yu admired an embroidered screen depicting a dragon and tiger, and Xie Xiyi let him take it without payment.
• When Chi Yu said he would make the screen a family heirloom, Xie Xiyi restrained his urge to control him and told him he could take anything he liked.
• Chi Yu kissed Xie Xiyi’s cheek to thank him, and Xie Xiyi responded by kissing Chi Yu deeply on the mouth.
• Chi Yu called it his first kiss and told Xie Xiyi that a first kiss was something shared only with someone one liked.

Chi Yu and Xie Xiyi stayed in the Eastern Palace, where Chi Yu collected several of Xie Xiyi’s belongings and struggled with his craving to cultivate their divine sense. After watching Chi Yu practice swordsmanship beneath the moon, Xie Xiyi reflected on the cultivator he had raised, while Chi Yu began to wonder whether Xie Xiyi’s future demonic-heart crisis was connected to the Xie Xiyi he knew.

• Xie Xiyi let Chi Yu take his jade bed and other keepsakes from the Eastern Palace, and Chi Yu joked that Xie Xiyi could sleep with him on the bed.
• Chi Yu struggled to settle into meditation, then went outside to practice his sword; Xie Xiyi watched him through the window and admired his progress.
• Xie Xiyi and Chi Yu spent three quiet days in Great Xia because the imperial family feared Xie Xiyi and rarely visited.
• Chi Yu considered how Xie Xiyi’s relatives felt about him and wondered whether the Xie Xiyi he knew was connected to the state Xie Xiyi entered when his demonic heart went out of control.

Chi Yu asked Xie Xiyi how he could be saved if his demonic heart completely lost control, and Xie Xiyi named Venerable Shangshan as a possible recourse while explaining the prophecy might concern another lifetime. As they prepared to leave for Zizai Continent, Xie Xiyi comforted his sister Xie Qingning, then discovered her suitor Fu Ze had given her artifacts taken from corpses.

• Chi Yu pressed Xie Xiyi for a plan to save him if his demonic heart fully lost control, and Xie Xiyi said Chi Yu could seek Venerable Shangshan, though the venerable might not intervene.
• Xie Xiyi told Chi Yu that Venerable Shangshan had confirmed Chan Master Ruoku's prophecy for another lifetime, easing Chi Yu's immediate worry.
• Xie Xiyi's family came to see him and Chi Yu off to Zizai Continent, and Xie Xiyi reluctantly hugged his tearful sister Xie Qingning after Chi Yu urged him to comfort her.
• Xie Xiyi found armlets and a jade hairpin from Fu Ze in Xie Qingning's Sumeru Ring and told her the artifacts had been stripped from dead bodies.
• Xie Qingning accepted Xie Xiyi's criticism as proof that he cared about her and asked him to investigate Fu Ze.

Xie Xiyi discovered Fu Ze was an Unorthodox Cultivator and cleared Xie Qingning’s bewitchment before pursuing him. Fu Ze escaped into the Wasteland, where Xie Xiyi tracked him to a cave, but the chapter ended with Fu Ze still concealed and Xie Xiyi believing he had fled.

• Xie Qingning led Xie Xiyi and Chi Yu to Fu Ze’s empty courtyard, where Xie Xiyi identified him as an Unorthodox Cultivator.
• Xie Xiyi gave Xie Qingning Dharma Lotus to dispel Fu Ze’s bewitchment, then set off to pursue him.
• Fu Ze fled Great Xia and hid underground in a Wasteland cave after replenishing his spiritual energy with Human Pills.
• Fu Ze spotted two Chan cultivators near his hiding place and chose not to attack them, fearing their sect would retaliate.
• Xie Xiyi arrived, burned through the earth around the cave with lotus-infused spiritual energy, and entered after the other Chan cultivators left.
• Fu Ze endured the attack without moving, while Xie Xiyi sensed his aura but failed to locate him and concluded he had escaped.

Xie Xiyi pursued the badly injured Fu Ze, who tried to hide in a cave, while Mingxin and Qingxuan unwittingly captured Fu Ze’s Nascent Soul Spirit and looted his belongings. Xie Xiyi confirmed Fu Ze’s death, then returned to Chi Yu and argued that Great Xia had to defend itself.

• Fu Ze hid underground for hours after Xie Xiyi left, but a voice found him just as he prepared to recover.
• Mingxin complained about Xuanji while Qingxuan warned him that his resentment could harm their cultivation and standing at Luo Po.
• Mingxin and Qingxuan found a bloodied cultivator asking for help, and Mingxin captured his Nascent Soul Spirit in a protective artifact while Qingxuan destroyed the body and took his Storage Bag.
• Xie Xiyi arrived, let the two disciples keep the dead cultivator’s belongings, and watched nearby until he confirmed Fu Ze was dead.
• Xie Xiyi returned to Chi Yu and said Fu Ze was dead; Chi Yu warned that more unorthodox cultivators might come, and Xie Xiyi dismissed Great Xia’s need for help.