Recaps

After killing the green-robed man, Xue Fuyao followed Yueyue into Stone Mountain to find the Spirit Vein, but discovered the girl had led her toward a trap. Searching for the formation’s core, Xue Fuyao found a clearing where five drained men surrounded a young man, suggesting a snake demon was nearby.

• Xue Fuyao killed the green-robed man and demanded that the villagers reveal the Spirit Vein’s location.
• Yueyue promised to lead Xue Fuyao to the Spirit Vein if she spared the village, then guided her up Stone Mountain to a concealed cave.
• Xue Fuyao detected a trapping formation in the cave, left Yueyue behind, and flew above Stone Mountain to locate its natural Spirit-Locking Formation.
• Xue Fuyao found the formation’s core and dropped her disguise, then searched the surrounding forest for the concealed clearing.
• Xue Fuyao spotted five muscular men whose yang energy had been drained surrounding a young man in an indigo robe, and suspected a snake demon was nearby.

Xue Fuyao discovered Jimo Xiubai captive to a snake demon who was trying to force him into dual cultivation. She intervened with Shattered Star and the Black Mandala, leaving the wounded demon facing an unfamiliar curse.

• A burly man poured water over Jimo Xiubai, and Xue Fuyao recognized him beneath his wet hair.
• The snake woman restrained Jimo Xiubai and tried to make him drink from her flask so she could force him into dual cultivation.
• Jimo Xiubai killed a burly man with a sudden attack, while the snake woman used the corpse as a shield and continued to pursue him.
• Xue Fuyao saw Jimo Xiubai's pleading look and struck the snake woman with Shattered Star and the Black Mandala.
• Jimo Xiubai broke free and escaped as the snake woman was wounded and began transforming; Xue Fuyao prepared to test the Black Mandala's Darkness Withering curse.

Xue Fuyao killed the Snake Woman and rescued Jimo Xiubai, who explained how the Snake Demon Ancestor’s possession and abduction had unfolded. They discovered that the rocky mountain’s Spirit-Locking Formation had been deliberately created, and Xue Fuyao wondered whether the Snake Woman had come for it.

• The Snake Woman and her four guards were consumed by black mandala flowers that Xue Fuyao had caused to bloom.
• Xue Fuyao emerged from hiding and comforted Jimo Xiubai after he recovered from his shock.
• Jimo Xiubai told Xue Fuyao that the Snake Woman had abducted him while he was hunting the Snake Demon Ancestor, who had possessed a rogue cultivator.
• Xue Fuyao realized that in her previous life the Snake Demon Ancestor had possessed Jimo Xiubai and later used that opportunity to slaughter the Jimo Household.
• Jimo Xiubai revealed that the Spirit-Locking Formation beneath the rocky mountain had been deliberately made, and Xue Fuyao asked if the Snake Woman had come for it.

Xue Fuyao and Jimo Xiubai broke the Spirit-Locking Formation and discovered a hidden underground palace belonging to an ancient Snake King. They followed its murals deeper inside and found evidence that the palace dated back at least ten thousand years.

• Xue Fuyao healed Jimo Xiubai, and he told her that the snake woman had mentioned something sealed beneath the rocky mountain.
• Xue Fuyao and Jimo Xiubai worked together to break the deteriorating Spirit-Locking Formation.
• The ground split open, and Jimo Xiubai and Xue Fuyao jumped into the fissure.
• Xue Fuyao used a Soul-Refining Pearl to light their surroundings, revealing Snake Script and murals that recorded a Snake King's history.
• Xue Fuyao identified the clothing depicted in later murals as at least ten thousand years old, exciting Jimo Xiubai.

Xue Fuyao and Jimo Xiubai explored an ancient underground palace and pried its wall reliefs loose to sell. As they worked, Jimo Xiubai told her about the Central Continent’s Demon Race and its Rabbit, Guinea Pig, and Chinchilla Tribes, leaving them still gathering the reliefs.

• Xue Fuyao and Jimo Xiubai searched the underground palace for treasure but found nothing.
• Jimo Xiubai suggested prying the wall reliefs loose to sell, and Xue Fuyao agreed to split the proceeds.
• While collecting the reliefs, Xue Fuyao said Elder Lingmu would take her to the Central Continent Convention, and Jimo Xiubai proposed selling the slabs there.
• Jimo Xiubai explained that the Rabbit, Guinea Pig, and Chinchilla Tribes had fled the Demon Race and settled in the Central Continent.
• Xue Fuyao admired the rabbits’ red eyes, and Jimo Xiubai described their grudges, rapid breeding, and the measures humans had taken to curb their population.

Xue Fuyao and Jimo Xiubai discovered that the murals in the underground palace showed the Snake-Demon Clan’s lost Sacrificial Dance, and decided to forge altered copies to sell to the snake demons. They activated a formation to age the fakes, and the murals began to fade and grow mottled.

• Xue Fuyao and Jimo Xiubai found an altar covered in murals depicting the Snake-Demon Clan’s lost Sacrificial Dance.
• Jimo Xiubai proposed forging copies of the murals and selling them to the wealthy snake demons, and Xue Fuyao suggested destroying the originals and altering the dance poses.
• Xue Fuyao memorized the murals before she and Jimo Xiubai erased the originals and spent five days painting an altered set.
• Xue Fuyao set up a formation while Jimo Xiubai refined the fake murals, and they activated the formation to make them appear old.
• The formation accelerated the growth and decay of a blade of grass, and the murals began to lose their vivid colors and grow mottled.

After recovering treasures and dividing up the Sacrificial Dance murals, Xue Fuyao visited Nanshan Town, where people in her previous life had betrayed her to the Zhang Family. An old woman came to beg her to take in her son, and Xue Fuyao’s question about his lack of a spiritual root provoked an angry response.

• Xue Fuyao and Jimo Xiubai found a bloodline bead and a blue crystal crown, then destroyed the underground palace and divided the Sacrificial Dance murals.
• Jimo Xiubai promised to build interest in the murals so Xue Fuyao could sell her remaining pieces at a higher price.
• Xue Fuyao traveled to Nanshan Town, remembering that its residents had exposed her to the Zhang Family in her previous life.
• Xue Fuyao declined to stay at the town’s shabby inn and chose to camp outside instead.
• An old woman and her sturdy son begged Xue Fuyao to take the boy as a servant, but she questioned how he could cultivate without a spiritual root.
• The old woman angrily insisted that her son was a great talent who would blossom late, according to a fortune-teller.

Xue Fuyao killed the people of Nanshan Town with her gu butterflies, then burned the deserted town and left feeling that her cultivation had become smoother. In Colorless City, she met Zuo Ming, Shen Green-Clad, and Bai Ruoyi, and learned about a bounty to cure the city lord’s youngest son.

• Xue Fuyao rejected a mother’s request to accept her son as a disciple and sent gu butterflies after those she blamed for betraying her in her previous life.
• By dawn, the gu butterflies had returned after killing the people of Nanshan Town, and Xue Fuyao set the deserted town on fire before leaving.
• Riding Xiao Yan, Xue Fuyao reached Colorless City and took a seat at its most luxurious restaurant.
• Zuo Ming arrived with Shen Green-Clad and Bai Ruoyi, shared Xue Fuyao’s table, and introduced himself and his companions.
• Shen Green-Clad and Bai Ruoyi told Xue Fuyao that the city lord had offered more than ten thousand upper-grade spirit stones to anyone who could cure his youngest son; Xue Fuyao declined to try.

Xue Fuyao discovered that the Colorless City Lord’s replacement stalls formed part of a Sacrificial Formation and learned through an assassin’s memories that the lord planned to sacrifice stall owners and cultivators to save his youngest son. The chapter ended with the revelation that a mysterious Reclusive Expert had awakened the poisoned boy, earning the City Lord’s trust.

• Xue Fuyao left her new acquaintances and noticed the City Lord replacing vendors’ stalls for free.
• Xue Fuyao mapped the new stalls and realized their arrangement around the City Lord’s Mansion resembled a formation.
• Assassins attacked Xue Fuyao, who killed them all but one and used the Soul-Searching Art on the survivor.
• Xue Fuyao learned that the Colorless City Lord planned to use the stall owners and cultivators as sacrifices in a formation.
• Xue Fuyao discovered that the City Lord sought to save his youngest son, who had been poisoned by a black snake, and trusted a Reclusive Expert after the man appeared to revive him.

Xue Fuyao discovered that the formation in Colorless City was an extraction formation, not a sacrificial formation, and suspected the expert had deceived the City Lord's Mansion. She secretly warned the city by distributing maps and tampering with the formation, then left as visiting cultivators uncovered the plot and moved to stop it.

• Xue Fuyao learned from the memory that the expert had persuaded the lord of Colorless City and his wife to sacrifice others' lifespans to save their son, then questioned the expert's motives.
• After marking the remaining stalls, Xue Fuyao recognized the completed formation as something other than a sacrificial formation and decided the expert was likely using the City Lord's Mansion for her own ends.
• Xue Fuyao copied the formation map onto over a thousand bamboo slips, scattered them around Colorless City, and subtly sabotaged the formation before leaving.
• Visiting cultivators gathered around the slips, and Physician Li identified the formation as an extraction formation capable of draining cultivation, blood essence, lifespan, bloodlines, and spirit bodies.
• The cultivators reported the City Lord's Mansion to their sects, then armed themselves to destroy the formation nodes and confront the lord of Colorless City.
• People whose stalls were smashed began to understand the warning as the cultivators explained the plot, and their confidence in the City Lord's Mansion faltered.

The furious residents of Colorless City confronted Wu Xiao over his failed lifespan-extraction scheme, and he died without revealing the mysterious being who had manipulated him. Elsewhere, Xue Fuyao witnessed that being possess a little boy and realized the Demon-Suppressing Bracelet was drawn to it.

• The crowd found Wu Xiao waiting alone in the deserted City Lord's Mansion and demanded answers about the formation that would drain their lifespans.
• Wu Xiao admitted he had acted to save his five-year-old son, begged the crowd to spare his family, and refused to identify the expert behind the plan.
• The furious crowd hacked Wu Xiao to death while he made no resistance.
• By a stream, Xue Fuyao hid as Nan Xue brought a fainting boy to a male cultivator, whose body collapsed after black smoke left it and entered the boy.
• The possessed boy cursed the failure of his plans, and Xue Fuyao recognized the body possession as the Demon-Suppressing Bracelet stirred toward the black smoke.

Xue Fuyao captured a weasel who had possessed the Colorless City Lord’s youngest son, then searched his belongings and memories. She learned that the Snake Clan had split into hostile factions and was still embroiled in civil war.

• Xue Fuyao bound the child-shaped weasel with the Immortal-Binding Rope and searched his Storage Bag, finding Spirit Stones, ores, and Snake Brocade.
• Xue Fuyao used the Soul-Searching Art on the weasel and discovered that he was a Weasel Demon Cultivator who had repeatedly possessed other bodies.
• Xue Fuyao learned that the weasel had stolen treasures during the Snake Clan Civil War and later possessed the Colorless City Lord’s youngest son.
• Xue Fuyao discovered that the Snake Clan had split into factions that continued fighting despite appearing to coexist peacefully.

Xue Fuyao uncovered the Snake Clan’s secret about the Dragon Gate, then hurried back to Yuanji Sect after Gu Nian warned that someone had come to seek her master as a disciple. She arrived at the sect and headed for Green Bamboo Peak, determined not to show how uneasy she felt.

• Xue Fuyao learned from the weasel’s memories that the Snake Clan was fighting over the Dragon Gate, a divine artifact said to transform any creature that crossed it into a True Dragon.
• Xue Fuyao cleaned and inspected the scaly Storage Bag she had found, kept it, and spent the night meditating in the wilderness.
• Gu Nian urgently told Xue Fuyao that a woman from the Central Continent had come to become her master’s disciple.
• Xue Fuyao rode Xiao Yan back toward Yuanji Sect and had him fly through the sky to travel faster.
• Xue Fuyao passed through Yuanji Sect’s Mountain-Guarding Grand Array, greeted the gate guards, and headed to Green Bamboo Peak after notifying Gu Nian of her return.

Xue Fuyao confronted Wenqin and the young woman accompanying her, then complained to Xie Yichu that he should not accept the woman as his disciple. Xie Yichu promised that Xue Fuyao would remain his only disciple, and Xiao Fansheng agreed to turn Miss Feng down.

• Xue Fuyao knocked Wenqin to the ground after Wenqin insulted her upbringing, then argued with the young woman in the goose-yellow ruqun.
• Xue Fuyao recognized the young woman as the prime minister’s granddaughter from the Central Continent and went to lodge a complaint with her master.
• Gu Nian said Miss Feng had persisted in pursuing Xiao Fansheng despite his refusal and suspected she wanted to become Xie Yichu’s wife rather than his disciple.
• Xue Fuyao told Xie Yichu that Miss Feng had let her maid insult her and would bully her if accepted as a disciple.
• Xiao Fansheng agreed to turn Miss Feng down, and Xie Yichu reassured Xue Fuyao that she would remain his only disciple.

Xiao Fansheng refused Qin Mengwan’s request to become Xie Yichu’s disciple and placed her with Changqingzi at Pill Peak, warning her against relationships between masters and disciples. Qin Mengwan accepted the arrangement and asked him to save her gravely injured maid, while Xiao explained that Xue Fuyao had only taught the maid a lesson.

• Xie Yichu told Xiao Fansheng to return to his sect duties, so Xiao went to meet Qin Mengwan at the foot of Green Bamboo Peak.
• Xiao told Qin Mengwan that Xie Yichu would take no more disciples and offered to find her another master or let her return home.
• Qin Mengwan agreed to become Changqingzi’s disciple at Pill Peak, and Xiao warned her that master-disciple romances were forbidden in the Yuanji Sect.
• Qin Mengwan asked Xiao to save her wounded maid, and he directed her to take the maid to Qingyunzi for treatment.
• Xiao told Qin Mengwan that Xue Fuyao had not used her full strength and ordered her to keep the maid cautious in her words and actions.

After Qin Mengwan left the Yuanji Sect, Gu Nian and Xue Fuyao went to watch the Sect Competition. Xue Fuyao recognized Qin Mengwan as the future Dreamwan Empress and Blood Demoness, then wondered whether their paths might eventually conflict.

• Xiao Fansheng dismissed Qin Mengwan's complaint and judged that Xue Fuyao had shown mercy, while Qin Mengwan left with Wenqin.
• Gu Nian and Xue Fuyao went to the Sect Competition using the reserved seats Xie Yichu had arranged.
• Gu Nian explained that Qin Mengwan had come south to seek refuge after becoming unable to survive in the Central Continent.
• Xue Fuyao recalled that Qin Mengwan would become the Dreamwan Empress, seize the throne, and massacre the former imperial family and court officials.
• Xue Fuyao decided not to target Qin Mengwan without cause, then lost interest in the competition's restrained matches.

Xue Fuyao entered seclusion to consolidate her cultivation and began widening her meridians, successfully completing the painful first step. After she rested in her pool, a disciple delivered several new Daoist robes arranged by Elder Lingmu.

• Xue Fuyao declined Gu Nian's invitation to watch the finals and returned to Green Bamboo Peak to tell Xie Yichu she would enter seclusion.
• Xie Yichu gave Xue Fuyao a Storage Bag of robes inherited from his master after noticing her old Daoist robe no longer fit.
• Xue Fuyao used the spiritual energy drawn in by the Five Elements Spirit Pearls to widen her meridians, enduring the pain until her first attempt succeeded.
• Xue Fuyao rested in her pool with Spirit Flower petals, then left when her formation was triggered.
• An Inner Sect Disciple told Xue Fuyao that Elder Lingmu had arranged for Elder Xu to make robes in several sizes, and delivered them to her.

Xue Fuyao studied formations and practiced pill refinement while waiting for the Central Continent Assembly, but repeated explosions on Green Bamboo Peak exasperated Xie Yichu. He banished her to Pill Peak to learn from Changqingzi, where she arrived convinced that her master was tired of her.

• Xue Fuyao finished reading the first volume of the Jade Slip and decided to master its contents before moving on to the next volume.
• Xue Fuyao's attempt to refine a third-tier pill caused an explosion, and Xie Yichu hauled her up from the mountainside as she promised to succeed next time.
• Xie Yichu tossed Xue Fuyao and her battered pill furnace out of Green Bamboo Peak and sealed the peak with a golden formation.
• Xie Yichu told Xue Fuyao to stay at Pill Peak and learn pill refinement from Changqingzi, then cast a Cleansing Spell on her before she left.
• Changqingzi welcomed Xue Fuyao to Pill Peak and took her to quarters next to his residence.

Xue Fuyao learned that her careless alchemy habits caused her furnace explosions, so she agreed to relearn pill refining from scratch on Pill Peak. Meanwhile, Qin Mengwan struggled to cultivate because her troubled thoughts kept her from achieving Qi Gathering.

• Xue Fuyao saw Qin Mengwan cleaning Changqingzi’s room, and Changqingzi rebuked Qin Mengwan for failing to achieve Qi Gathering before the Central Continent Assembly.
• Changqingzi explained that Qin Mengwan’s restless mind prevented her from guiding spiritual energy into her body, then advised Xue Fuyao to cultivate a steadfast Dao heart.
• After observing Xue Fuyao’s repeated furnace explosions, Changqingzi identified her habitual mistakes and warned that her flawed methods would make higher-tier pill refining dangerous.
• Xue Fuyao agreed to relearn alchemy from scratch and studied the Yuanji Sect’s Basic Alchemy Method in Introduction to Alchemy.
• Xue Fuyao practiced refining first-tier pills again and produced higher-quality pills, increasing her yield by thirty percent with the same ingredients.

After preparing pills for the Central Continent trip, Xue Fuyao joined Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe at a crowded night market. She wandered off on her own and bought a large supply of monster beast flesh and bones after her Demon-Suppressing Bracelet reacted to it.

• Xue Fuyao finished refining the pills she needed and returned to Green Bamboo Peak two days before the group’s departure for the Central Continent.
• Gu Nian invited Xue Fuyao to the annual night market, where Chu Yunzhe carried her through the crowd.
• Gu Nian briefly disappeared, then returned with flower crowns and rabbit lanterns for Xue Fuyao and Chu Yunzhe.
• Xue Fuyao asked Chu Yunzhe to put her down and slipped away to browse the market by herself.
• The Demon-Suppressing Bracelet led Xue Fuyao to a stall selling monster beast remains, and she paid the owner thirty thousand upper-grade Spirit Stones for all his flesh and bones.

Xue Fuyao bought flesh and bones for the Demon-Suppressing Bracelet, then followed the Silver-Thread Gu Bracelet’s urging to purchase a beehive at the night market. After reuniting with Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe, she went with them to a Spirit Plant shop to find seeds for hardy wild Spirit Flowers.

• Xue Fuyao accepted the flesh, bones, and a mysterious box from a stall owner, then stored the flesh and bones in the Demon-Suppressing Bracelet.
• The Silver-Thread Gu Bracelet led Xue Fuyao to a stall selling Monster Beast cubs, where she bought an overlooked beehive.
• A woman bought the white fox cub for ten thousand mid-grade Spirit Stones after the seller named his price.
• Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe found Xue Fuyao, teased her for leaving them alone, and asked what she wanted to buy.
• Xue Fuyao explained that she needed seeds from hardy wild Spirit Flowers, so the three visited a Spirit Plant shop.

Xue Fuyao traveled with Xie Yichu and the Yuanji Sect disciples to Central Continent for the assembly and the opening of the Qiming Secret Realm. As they arrived, Xie Yichu warned that the vast realm held unknown dangers and that the disciples would face assigned tasks inside.

• Gu Nian bought common spirit flower seeds at the Night Market and gave them to Xue Fuyao.
• Xue Fuyao boarded the Spirit Boat with Xie Yichu and the Yuanji Sect delegation, including Qin Mengwan, who had reached the qi refining first layer.
• Gu Nian told Xue Fuyao that the Crimson Feather Dynasty's Chancellor and his family had been imprisoned on charges of treason, though Qin Mengwan did not know.
• After several days of travel, the group neared Central Continent, where Xue Fuyao spotted flocks of Hongfujin spirit birds.
• Xie Yichu explained that the Central Continent Assembly would include exploration of the Qiming Secret Realm, where disciples would undertake tasks and could withdraw by calling for help.
• Xie Yichu warned Xue Fuyao that the Qiming Secret Realm had no cultivation restrictions and might contain unknown monster beasts.

Xue Fuyao recalled a devil’s notebook that pointed her toward a secret involving the Ming Household, then arrived in Beidou City with the Yuanji Sect for the Central Continent Assembly. She planned to visit the Ming Household through her master’s connection, but her arrival at Wutong Valley also caught the attention of Princess Lin Yanran, who ordered Hu Santian to find her so they could become friends.

• Xue Fuyao remembered that a notebook from her previous life listed treasures, secret realms, and people targeted by the Devil Race, and realized its contents matched a rumor about the Central Continent.
• Xue Fuyao asked Xie Yichu about Beidou City and learned he was friends with the head of the Ming Household, so he offered to take her there.
• Xie Yichu and the Yuanji Sect arrived in Beidou City and were escorted to Wutong Valley, their lodging for the Central Continent Assembly.
• Lin Yanran tried to enter Wutong Valley, then calmed down after attendants told her Venerable Spiritwood was staying there.
• Lin Yanran saw Xue Fuyao leave the valley and ordered Hu Santian to find her so she could make friends with her.

Xue Fuyao learned that the Central Continent Assembly could put Su Yang and Yang Tianqi in danger, since the Rabbit Tribe would later target the two sects that had oppressed it. After two snake demons entered the restaurant and discussed stone slabs, she listened for clues.

• Xue Fuyao avoided a snake demon boy being chased as a thief and went to a restaurant to gather information.
• Restaurant patrons discussed the increase in male snake demons and debated whether Su Yang or Yang Tianqi would win the Central Continent Assembly.
• Xue Fuyao recalled that the Rabbit Tribe would later kill Su Yang and Yang Tianqi in revenge against the Heavenly Mystery Sect and Saint Sun Sect.
• Xue Fuyao considered warning Su Yang and Yang Tianqi if she found them agreeable.
• Two cloaked snake demons entered the restaurant and quietly discussed their failure to discover where some stone slabs came from.

Xue Fuyao watched Central Continent cultivators expose and hunt disguised Snake Demons, then used Spirit Plants to neutralize a venomous Snake Demon’s poisonous mist and Bloodthirsty Vines to restrain the fleeing demons. As the chaos subsided, talk of a powerful Two-Headed Snake Demon in the Northern Suburb Forest left his existence and purple treasure as a looming mystery.

• Xue Fuyao realized the people in the restaurant had recognized disguised Snake Demons and coordinated a hunt, then followed the spectators outside.
• People across the street discussed a Two-Headed Snake Demon in the Northern Suburb Forest and a purple bead that could absorb poisonous gas.
• A Snake Demon tried to escape through a window, then transformed and spat poisonous mist at two cultivators, sending the crowd into a panic.
• Xue Fuyao summoned Spirit Plants with the Jade Glass of the Azure Moon, and their flowers absorbed the poisonous mist.
• Xue Fuyao used Bloodthirsty Vine tendrils to trap the Snake Demons who tried to escape amid the chaos.