Chapter Summaries

Xue Fuyao and Jimo Xiubai met with Ziyan at a demon-run restaurant to negotiate over two stone tablets. After learning that Xue Fuyao was Venerable Spiritwood’s disciple, Ziyan shifted from hostility to offering to buy her tablet at the same price as Jimo Xiubai’s.

• Xue Fuyao and Jimo Xiubai entered the restaurant and discussed the demons living among humans before going to a private room.
• Jimo Xiubai told Xue Fuyao that he had brought her there to meet Ziyan and trade for the stone tablet.
• Ziyan asked Jimo Xiubai to trade, and he explained that his tablet was incomplete and demanded a separate price for the missing portion held by Xue Fuyao.
• Ziyan recognized Xue Fuyao as Venerable Spiritwood’s disciple, asked after her master, and tried to have Xue Fuyao call her Auntie.
• Ziyan offered to buy the stone tablet in Xue Fuyao’s possession for the same price as Jimo Xiubai’s.

Xue Fuyao arranged to trade a stone tablet for ancient books, delivered a letter to Xie Yichu, and asked Shadow One and the others to search for ancient texts and test a passage of runes. After a warning from the azure lotus and an intruder’s disturbance, she hid and used her Puppet Gu to create a copy of herself.

• Xue Fuyao traded a stone tablet with Ziyan for ten ancient books, and Ziyan agreed to prepare them and meet her the next day.
• Xue Fuyao returned to Wutong Valley, gave Xie Yichu a letter from Zhao Sheng’s younger maternal aunt, and said she would stay in the Central Continent with her master.
• Xue Yichu told Xue Fuyao that he would leave in two days but planned to remain in the Central Continent to visit friends, then tossed her out of his room when she teased him.
• Xue Fuyao ordered Shadow One and the others to search for ancient books and writing and sent them a passage of runes to test.
• After falling asleep, Xue Fuyao woke to heat in her dantian and the incomplete azure lotus flashing; when she sensed an intruder, she shrank, hid on a roof beam, and used her blood to make her Puppet Gu copy her appearance.

Xue Fuyao used a Puppet Gu to evade an assassin who targeted her because of her surname, then tracked him and learned that multiple forces were still searching for something left behind by the Xue Clan. She returned to Wutong Valley and questioned Xie Yichu about the threat.

• A cloaked Golden Core cultivator entered Xue Fuyao’s room, tested a talisman on the sleeping Puppet Gu, and stabbed it while saying he would kill her because of her surname, Xue.
• Xue Fuyao followed the assassin using a Tracking Gu, then sent her Gu insects to search for him while she returned to Wutong Valley.
• Xue Fuyao found Red Beauty incense on the dead Puppet Gu and realized the assassin had used it to leave her unable to resist.
• Xue Fuyao returned to Wutong Valley and told Xie Yichu that the assassin had attacked her and blamed her surname.
• Xie Yichu explained that several forces had been searching for something the Xue Clan left behind and had likely targeted Xue Fuyao after hearing her surname.

Xue Fuyao learned that the Qing City Ye Clan might be connected to the attack on her and that the Xue Clan's downfall had involved several races. After Ziyan offered a suspicious explanation for why the Ye Clan targeted her, Xue Fuyao decided to investigate the clan herself.

• Xie Yichu told Xue Fuyao that rumors about the Xue Clan's lost legacy included its ancestral grounds, a Divine Beast, or a Divine Artifact, and that the Human, Demon, and Devil Races had helped defeat the clan.
• Xie Yichu advised Xue Fuyao to investigate the Qing City Ye Clan, while warning her about becoming fixated on revenge.
• Xue Fuyao and Jimo Xiubai met Ziyan, exchanged the ancient texts for the stone slabs, and Xue Fuyao inferred that the Qing City Ye Clan was behind the attack.
• Ziyan claimed that the Ye Clan's heir-selection ceremony involved assassination and that Xue Fuyao had been chosen as a target.
• Jimo Xiubai warned Xue Fuyao not to trust Ziyan, and Xue Fuyao resolved to visit the Qing City Ye Clan.

Xue Fuyao traded divine beast blood to Ming Cen for the Jiaowei zither and two unusual treasures, including the Gu Bell and a failed Heaven-and-Earth Spirit Treasure. The Crimson Feather Dynasty then asked to buy divine beast flesh and blood, and Xue Fuyao asked what they would offer in exchange.

• Xue Fuyao visited the Ming Household to complete her exchange with Ming Cen and met Ming Yi, Lin Yanran, Lin Changge, the Regent, and the Emperor of Crimson Feather.
• Ming Cen presented Xue Fuyao with the Jiaowei zither, a brass bell that she recognized as the Gu Bell, and a heavy black-gold failed Heaven-and-Earth Spirit Treasure.
• Ming Cen explained that the black-gold stone could ignore defenses and injure opponents several cultivation realms above its wielder, but required great strength and consumed substantial spiritual power.
• Xue Fuyao put away the three treasures and gave Ming Cen the promised divine beast blood, completing their trade.
• Lin Changge asked Xue Fuyao to sell divine beast flesh and blood to the Crimson Feather Dynasty, and she asked how much they wanted and what they would offer.

Xue Fuyao agreed to exchange Divine Beast flesh and blood with the Crimson Feather Imperial Clan for its damaged Semi-Divine Artifact, Day and Night. She began handing over the requested goods, making up for a shortfall in blood with extra flesh.

• Lin Changge asked Xue Fuyao for a hundred jin of Divine Beast flesh and blood and a thousand drops of Divine Beast blood.
• Xue Fuyao agreed, explaining that the beasts' attributes did not suit her cultivation and that she would trade what she had left for useful resources.
• The Crimson Feather Emperor offered Day and Night, a Semi-Divine Artifact passed down through the imperial clan.
• The Crimson Feather Emperor explained that Day and Night was damaged, had no bowstring, and could not be repaired.
• Xue Fuyao accepted the exchange and began handing over the flesh and blood, offering extra flesh because she had only a little over nine hundred and eighty drops of blood.

Xue Fuyao arranged to hide her presence on the Central Continent while investigating who had tried to kill her, then traveled toward Qing City disguised as her deceased sister, Xue Qinning. On the way, she encountered an unmarked city-like building surrounded by dense demon qi and learned that another traveler’s identical map showed no such place.

• Xue Fuyao told Xie Yichu she planned to go to Qing City, and he advised her to invoke his name if she encountered danger.
• Xue Fuyao asked Gu Nian to help conceal that she was staying on the Central Continent, explaining that she wanted to investigate the people who had targeted her.
• Xue Fuyao publicly announced she was entering seclusion, secretly left Wutong Valley, and disguised herself as her deceased seventeenth imperial sister, Xue Qinning.
• Xue Fuyao set out by carriage toward Qing City and discovered a vast, unmarked building beneath a sky filled with demon qi.
• Xue Fuyao met a woman who was also checking a map, and they found that both identical maps showed no building at their location.

Xue Fuyao discovered that the mysterious building was a Demon Race beast-fighting arena and entered it disguised with Demon Qi. After saving three human fighters from a Green Ox Demon, she attacked the arena’s demon spectators, leaving the arena in chaos.

• Xue Fuyao and the woman identified the building as a Demon Race beast-fighting arena and learned that the woman had sent a distress call to the Demon-Catching Bureau.
• The woman offered Xue Fuyao rabbit ears as a disguise, but Xue Fuyao killed her and revealed she knew the woman had been waiting to lure her there.
• Xue Fuyao changed her aura to resemble a powerful demon and passed the lizard demon guards at the arena entrance.
• Xue Fuyao watched a Green Ox Demon attack three human fighters and shielded them with a green turtle shell, breaking the demon’s horns.
• Xue Fuyao appeared before the arena crowd and fired silver needles into the front rows, killing many demons.

Xue Fuyao attacked the Beast Arena demons, using her silver needles and hidden abilities to overcome the slave-marked humans’ captors. After a human survivor asked how to escape the marks, Xue Fuyao explained that the marked area had to be smashed to destroy them.

• Xue Fuyao used silver needles coated with Evil to slaughter demons in the Beast Arena, while her lack of a slave mark let her attack freely.
• She spotted the human heads displayed around the arena and directed the Three Luminaries Divine Water at the three strongest demons, who were already weakened by the Black Mandala’s curse.
• As chaos spread, Xue Fuyao called on the surviving humans to help, but an injured woman explained that their slave marks would kill them if they attacked demons.
• The woman asked Xue Fuyao to leave some demons alive so they could learn how to remove the marks, and Xue Fuyao told her to smash the place where a mark had been planted.

Xue Fuyao killed the demons in the Beast Arena, freed its captives, and looted the arena before leaving. Elsewhere, the Sacred Lord of the Heavenly Secret Sacred Domain suffered a fatal backlash from divination, and news of his death made Xue Fuyao question her memories of her previous life.

• A captive woman broke her Slave Mark by striking her own chest, and Xue Fuyao gave her and her companion healing medicines.
• Xue Fuyao killed the remaining demons, including two who had pretended to be dead, and rejected a demon’s offer of allegiance and treasure.
• Shi Yi, Shi An, and Shi Jia thanked Xue Qinning for saving them, and Shi Yi offered to help release the other captives.
• Xue Fuyao looted the Beast Arena and left before Shi Yi and the others could thank her again.
• The Sacred Lord of the Heavenly Secret Sacred Domain suffered a fatal backlash after divining heavenly secrets, hid his condition from his disciples, and murmured that it was retribution.
• After news of the Sacred Lord’s death reached her, Xue Fuyao wondered why she did not remember it from her previous life.

Xue Fuyao followed a Gu Butterfly’s aura to the Nine Lakes Merchant Guild in Tianshui City, where she encountered a little fox that seemed to recognize her. She decided to buy it, and the guild’s attendant quoted a price of ten thousand taels.

• Xue Fuyao heard rumors that the Sacred Lord of the Heavenly Secret Sacred Domain had died willingly after suffering the Heavenly Dao’s backlash.
• Xue Fuyao went to the Nine Lakes Merchant Guild to search for a Gu Butterfly whose aura remained in Tianshui City.
• Xue Fuyao used her Gu Bell to keep the Gu Butterfly calm while she browsed the guild’s merchandise.
• A caged little fox noticed Xue Fuyao and frantically clawed at its cage until a guild attendant came over and threatened it.
• Xue Fuyao asked to buy the fox, and the attendant explained its owner’s terms before quoting ten thousand taels.

Xue Fuyao bought a clever Fox Cub, then found the Gu Butterfly on display at the Nine Lakes Merchant Guild and freed it during a staged demonstration. She used the ensuing chaos to search the mind of the guild employee who had handled the butterfly, then concealed her actions as the guild jolted the crowd awake.

• Xue Fuyao bought the Fox Cub and carried it away in its cage.
• She found the Gu Butterfly imprisoned in a Crystal Cover at the Nine Lakes Merchant Guild and questioned the employee about its abilities and capture.
• The employee demonstrated the butterfly’s illusion power, and Xue Fuyao used a golden Gu Worm to cut open the Crystal Cover and release it.
• Xue Fuyao directed the hallucinogenic scales away from herself, approached the employee while he was trapped in the illusion, and used the Soul-Searching Art on him.
• Xue Fuyao put away the Gu Butterfly and her other Gu Worm, then pretended to remain trapped as two powerful cultivators arrived and jolted the crowd awake.

Xue Fuyao identified Qiu Er as the man behind the attempt on her life and tried to poison him, but the Soul-Devouring Bee’s venom had no apparent effect. She approached a mysterious hooded figure in white, whose puzzled reaction matched her own.

• The Nine Lakes Merchant Guild found its clerk alive but mentally ruined and blamed his condition on being forcibly awakened from an illusion.
• Xue Fuyao overheard teahouse patrons claim that Qiu Er had sought Medical Sage Yun Zhongtian to treat his mother, who died during the treatment.
• After confirming Qiu Er’s role in capturing the Gu Butterfly and attempting to assassinate her, Xue Fuyao resolved to eliminate him without confronting the Qiu Family directly.
• Qiu Er entered the teahouse and later came downstairs unharmed, despite Xue Fuyao knowing the Soul-Devouring Bee had poisoned him.
• Xue Fuyao approached a hooded person in white, sat at their table, and stopped them when they tried to leave.

Xue Fuyao met Bai Ling, the newly bereaved disciple of the Medicine Saint, and learned they had both failed to kill Qiu Er with poison. They suspected their poisons had neutralized each other and began testing the theory, but an ambush near Bai Ling’s lodging forced them to experiment at Xue Fuyao’s inn instead.

• Xue Fuyao recognized Bai Ling from her past life, revealed she knew Bai Ling was Yun Zhongtian’s disciple, and learned that Bai Ling’s master had been murdered half a month earlier.
• Bai Ling and Xue Fuyao discovered they had both poisoned Qiu Er without killing him, and Bai Ling suggested their poisons might have counteracted each other.
• Bai Ling decided to test the theory and led Xue Fuyao toward her lodgings, where Xue Fuyao detected a group of Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators waiting in ambush.
• Xue Fuyao took Bai Ling to her inn room, showed her the Gu Poison she had used on Qiu Er, and watched as Bai Ling carefully began experimenting with her own poison.

After learning that the combined poisons had left Qiu Er with nonfatal but debilitating symptoms, Xue Fuyao planned to ruin his reputation and find another way to kill him. Bai Ling agreed to modify two pill formulas, while rumors about Qiu Er’s impotence and Yun Zhongtian’s murder began spreading through Tianshui City.

• Bai Ling explained that the poisons had fused into a toxin that drained vitality and damaged men’s kidneys, though it would not kill Qiu Er.
• Xue Fuyao revealed that Qiu Er had ordered an assassination against her and vowed to kill him, while Bai Ling recounted how he had murdered her master and spread false accusations.
• Xue Fuyao asked Bai Ling to improve the Sterility Pill and Love-Severing Pill formulas, and Bai Ling agreed to modify them within three days.
• Rumors spread through Tianshui City that Qiu Er could not perform and had arranged Yun Zhongtian’s murder to conceal the secret.

Xue Fuyao spread rumors about Qiu Er and the Qiu Clan, prompting the clan to retaliate against those they suspected of spreading them. When Qiu Er stopped leaving the estate, she hired Jueying to assassinate him and warned Shadow One not to reveal their identities, suspecting her earlier assassination attempt had been more complicated than she thought.

• Xue Fuyao’s rumor about Qiu Er spread through Tianshui City, and the Qiu Clan head ordered the rumor-mongers punished and the original source found.
• The Qiu Clan leaked explosive gossip about rival lineages that had secretly helped spread the rumor, while Qiu Er and the rest of the clan stayed inside.
• Unable to carry out her assassination plan while Qiu Er remained in the estate, Xue Fuyao contacted Shadow One and ordered him to hire Jueying to kill Qiu Er within two days.
• Xue Fuyao warned Shadow One not to reveal their identities or their origins in the Mortal Realm, then told him about her earlier assassination attempt and said it might not have been simple.

Xue Fuyao learned that her Fox Cub was an ordinary, docile beast, while Shadow One warned Shadow Two not to rush plans for Her Highness and ordered an assassination in Tianshui City. After Xue Fuyao’s attempt to refine Bai Ling’s new fourth-tier Pill Formula ended in an explosion, the two went to enlist Uncle Qiu, whom Bai Ling planned to lure back into the Qiu family with the formula and a prepared box.

• Xue Fuyao told Shadow One to keep himself and the others safe, then recognized her pet as the Fox Cub she had encountered in the Southern Continent and found it had no great demon bloodline.
• Shadow One told Shadow Two that Xue Fuyao had survived an assassination attempt, rebuked him for raising a forbidden matter, and ordered him to have Qiu Er of the Qiu family assassinated.
• Bai Ling gave Xue Fuyao her modified Pill Formula, but Xue Fuyao’s attempt to refine its fourth-tier pill caused another furnace explosion.
• Bai Ling proposed bringing the formula to Uncle Qiu, an estranged Qiu family member who wanted to return, and Xue Fuyao agreed to go with her.
• Xue Fuyao and Bai Ling arrived at Uncle Qiu’s courtyard just after his furnace exploded, and Bai Ling told him that her master had died and left him a box.
• Uncle Qiu recognized the seal on Bai Ling’s prepared box and eagerly accepted it.

Bai Ling gave Qiu Buren two pill formulas, but recognized that he wanted the Medicine Saint’s legacy and stayed nearby to watch him. Meanwhile, Qiu Er learned that two poisons had left him alive but seriously weakened, and suspected Yun Zhongtian’s disciple had targeted him.

• Qiu Buren examined the Worry-Free Pill and Intent-Congealing Pill formulas and resolved to bring them back to the Qiu Family while coveting Bai Ling’s inheritance.
• Xue Fuyao warned Bai Ling that Qiu Buren had set his sights on her, and Bai Ling said she would stay to observe what he did with the formulas.
• Qiu Er learned that two poisons had counteracted each other but left him weak and potentially unable to have children.
• Qiu Er suspected Yun Zhongtian’s disciple had poisoned him for revenge and wondered whether his eldest brother had been responsible for the second attack.

Xue Fuyao witnessed Jueying assassins kill Qiu Er in the street and decided to leave Tianshui City rather than hire the unreliable organization against the Qing City Ye Clan. Before departing, she bought an old spirit grapevine and planted it in her Medicinal Garden.

• Qiu Er spread rumors blaming his eldest brother and, after the gossip died down, set out to seek help from the Nine Lakes Merchant Guild.
• Jueying assassins ambushed Qiu Er and killed him with a single strike in the street.
• Xue Fuyao used the Heavenly Eye to search for the assassins, found two places where they had hidden, and realized Qiu Er was dead.
• Xue Fuyao considered hiring Jueying against the Qing City Ye Clan but rejected the idea because its assassins might betray her, then decided to handle the clan herself.
• Xue Fuyao bought an old, apparently barren grapevine from a stall owner and planted the living spirit plant in her Medicinal Garden.

After learning that Qiu Buren was preparing to send the pill formulas to the Qiu Family, Xue Fuyao traded for Bai Ling’s medicines and left Tianshui City to pursue her other enemies. She reached Qing City wary of a mysterious Gu master and found an orderly city whose markets sold ordinary forest produce.

• Bai Ling told Xue Fuyao that Jueying had killed Qiu Er and that Qiu Buren was preparing to send the pills to the Qiu Family.
• Xue Fuyao said she would leave to find her other enemies, then bought medicines from Bai Ling and exchanged Communication Talismans with her.
• After summoning Xiao Yan and leaving Tianshui City, Xue Fuyao sensed that a mysterious Gu Worm had devoured several of hers and worried that a Gu master might discover her Silver-Thread Gu Bracelet and Gu Bell.
• Xue Fuyao traveled to Qing City on Xiao Yan and decided she would need to keep a lower profile there.
• At Qing City’s gate, a guard questioned a woman carrying mushrooms and wood ear fungi, but let Xue Fuyao pass after a brief glance.
• Xue Fuyao entered Qing City and saw orderly buildings, a marble-paved road, and vendors selling ordinary forest produce.