Chapter Summaries

Xue Fuyao proposed that Yuanji Sect let four rival sects compete among themselves before its disciples faced the winner, and Gu Nian agreed to seek her master's approval. As Xue Fuyao reviewed the sects’ histories and strengths, she grew uneasy about how much her rebirth had changed the course of events.

• Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe paused when Xue Fuyao asked about the Azure Cloud Sect and Luofu Sect’s grudges with other sects.
• Gu Nian explained that the Azure Cloud Sect had formed from survivors abandoned by the Kunlun Sect, while Chu Yunzhe and Gu Nian described the Luofu Sect as a provocative group skilled at escaping capture.
• Xue Fuyao suggested Yuanji Sect avoid a direct contest and let the four visiting sects compete first, with the winner facing Yuanji Sect’s disciples.
• Gu Nian decided to present the plan to her master, and Chu Yunzhe followed her while Xue Fuyao stayed behind to organize the documents.
• Xue Fuyao read the gathered intelligence, learned Heavenly Sword Manor had absorbed the resources of the fallen Heavenly Sword Sect, and worried that the changes in this life made her memories less reliable.

Xue Fuyao met with Nineteen, a Dark Guard serving undercover as a Kunlun Sect disciple, and ordered him to enter a hidden secret realm and claim its core. When Xie Lin insulted them, Nineteen struck him, and Xue Fuyao revealed her identity as Venerable Spiritwood’s sole disciple before leaving with Nineteen.

• Xue Fuyao sent copies of the sect documents to Shadow One and the other Dark Guards in the Southern Continent.
• Xue Fuyao met Nineteen, who told her the Kunlun Sect had removed him from the competition and replaced him with the Sect Master’s new disciple.
• Xue Fuyao ordered Nineteen to get into the confinement water dungeon, enter the hidden secret realm, and refine its core.
• Xie Lin insulted Xue Fuyao and Nineteen, so Nineteen slapped him into a human-shaped pit.
• Xue Fuyao revealed that she was Venerable Spiritwood’s sole disciple, warned she would report Xie Lin, and left with Nineteen as he froze in fear.

The four-sect platform competition began, and Xue Fuyao learned that the Kunlun Sect had used Xie Lin to build his reputation while keeping its strongest disciples out of the matches. After the Kunlun Sect won and withdrew rather than face Yuanji Sect in the final, Gu Nian was left furious at the sect for taking Yuanji Sect’s hospitality and dodging the real contest.

• Xie Lin resolved to settle accounts with Shi Jiu after returning to Kunlun Sect and hoped to secure his own path to becoming its next Sect Master.
• Xue Fuyao watched the matches with Gu Nian and learned that Kunlun Sect had sent mostly ordinary disciples while Xie Lin scored a long string of victories.
• Xue Fuyao suspected Kunlun Sect’s Sect Master was using Yuanji Sect to promote Xie Lin, while Gu Nian explained the struggle over Kunlun Sect’s succession.
• Kunlun Sect took first place, with Xie Lin earning 125 consecutive victories, then withdrew instead of facing Yuanji Sect in the final.
• Gu Nian grew angry that Kunlun Sect had accepted Yuanji Sect’s food and hospitality before conceding, and Chu Yunzhe warned that trying to calm her would endanger his own health.

Xue Fuyao prepared Shijiu to enter a secret realm from the Kunlun Sect’s Water Prison of Confinement, then transformed her different space into a grotto-heaven blessed land while waiting for him. After Shadow Five, Ying Qi, and Shadow Twenty-One arrived with stolen resources, she sent them to help Shijiu deal with Xie Lin.

• Xue Fuyao gave Shijiu the Heavenly Eye, Water Silk, and Starry Sky before he returned to the Water Prison of Confinement to enter the secret realm.
• Xue Fuyao purified demon crystals into spirit stones, buried some in the different space, and filled the space with spiritual energy, lighting, and spirit medicines.
• Xue Fuyao cultivated until the spirit stones around her became powder, then summoned her spirit pets and began inscribing Formation Disks.
• Shadow Five, Ying Qi, and Shadow Twenty-One arrived after faking their deaths, bringing a large haul of cultivation resources and magic artifacts.
• Xue Fuyao confirmed they had covered their tracks and ordered them to help Shijiu deal with Xie Lin before going to the Western Continent.

Xue Fuyao tested Puppet Art on a wooden double, then used it to confront the soul possessing Shijiu. She offered the intruder her own body to save him, but the soul possession remained unresolved.

• Xue Fuyao carved and disguised a wooden figure, but found that Puppet Art made its movements stiff.
• Shijiu appeared in the Different Space, wounded and struggling against a soul that was trying to possess him.
• Xue Fuyao controlled the wooden figure to surround Shijiu with Spirit Stones while the two souls fought for his body.
• Xue Fuyao offered her body to the possessing soul and revealed her Creation Spirit Root and Creation Green Lotus Body.
• The intruder considered her offer, while Xue Fuyao wagered that the weakened soul inside Shijiu could not hold on much longer.

Xue Fuyao lured the sinister voice into leaving Shijiu and sealed his soul inside a formation before capturing him in the Heavenheart Bottle. After checking Shijiu’s injuries, she considered finding a treasure or spirit plant to protect her soul and recalled one might be in the Azure Heavens and Yellow Springs.

• Xue Fuyao distracted the sinister voice with an apparent offer, and he rushed out of Shijiu to possess her.
• Xue Fuyao trapped the sinister voice inside a soul-targeting formation and confirmed that Shijiu was alive but had suffered some soul damage and hidden injuries.
• The sinister voice offered Xue Fuyao a secret about the Xue Clan in exchange for his freedom, but she ignored him and pulled him into the Heavenheart Bottle.
• Xue Fuyao summoned the Heavenly Eye, Water Silk, and Starry Sky back to her and wondered whether Shijiu had refined the Secret Realm’s core.
• Xue Fuyao decided to seek a soul-protecting treasure or spirit plant and remembered one might be in the Azure Heavens and Yellow Springs.

Xue Fuyao learned how Shijiu refined a secret realm core despite a soul attack, then assigned him to use the realm for the border forces. After her guards reported Xie Lin had been dealt with, she prepared to move against the Buddhist Temples in the Western Continent.

• Shijiu woke and reassured Xue Fuyao that he had no other injuries before recounting his mission.
• Shijiu explained that he used the Heavenly Eye to locate the secret realm entrance and core, then refined it despite a divine sense attack.
• Xue Fuyao warned Shijiu not to take such risks again and told him to keep the secret realm, contact Ying Jiu and Fifteen, and clear out its monster beasts.
• Shadow Five, Ying Qi, and Shadow Twenty-One reported that Xie Lin had been dealt with and no one would suspect Shijiu.
• Xue Fuyao told Shijiu to return to the Kunlun Sect and cautioned the others that the Buddhist Temples would be difficult to challenge.

Xue Fuyao sent Shadow Five and the others out to reveal their mysterious force to the Western Continent, then traveled to Anyang City. There, Purple Pupil sensed a faint, unsettling scent, renewing Xue Fuyao’s suspicion of the city.

• Xue Fuyao considered exploiting divisions among the Western Continent’s powers while keeping their group’s existence hidden no longer.
• Xue Fuyao instructed Shadow Five and the other two to control the Gu Butterflies and act freely after leaving the Different Space.
• Xue Fuyao entered Anyang City and learned from a young man that its residents spent much of each day cleaning because of the nearby Pure Heart Temple.
• Golden Pupil and Purple Pupil emerged from Xue Fuyao’s Spirit Beast Pouch, and Purple Pupil reported sensing a strange, faint scent.
• Xue Fuyao asked Purple Pupil to alert her if the scent returned and grew wary of Anyang City again.

Xue Fuyao stayed in Anyang City to target Pure Heart Temple, while a boy sent his gray rat to scout her and received urgent messages. After she caught the rat and staged its apparent death, she identified the boy as its owner and returned to her room, where someone knocked at her door.

• Xue Fuyao settled at an inn near Pure Heart Temple and planned to stir trouble without confronting its two Nascent Soul Realm guards directly.
• A boy ordered his gray rat to scout Xue Fuyao, then received messages warning him to be careful and decided to act.
• In a hidden chamber, the Grand Elder and his people debated finding an antidote for Yanqing's Silent and Unseen condition while staying concealed from Pure Heart Temple.
• Golden Pupil caught the gray rat, and Xue Fuyao took it downstairs, staged a complaint, and noticed the boy react to it.
• Xue Fuyao crushed the rat in front of the inn's guests, returned to her room, and heard someone knock at the door.

Xue Fuyao freed Yan Zhen’s spirit beast, Little Gray, after asking Yan Zhen for his name, then began preparing to weaken the Devil Race at Pure Heart Temple with Demon-Dispelling Pills. She sent a Gu Worm into the temple to observe its residents and used the Jade Glass of the Azure Moon to rapidly grow the spirit medicines needed for her plan.

• Xue Fuyao confronted Yan Zhen while holding Little Gray and asked for his name before releasing the rat to him.
• Yan Zhen identified himself, and Xue Fuyao explained to Golden Pupil and Purple Pupil that she had wanted to get acquainted with him and make a friend.
• Xue Fuyao searched her Portable Medicinal Garden for ingredients to refine Demon-Dispelling Pills that could disrupt the Devil Race’s demonic qi.
• Xue Fuyao sent a golden-cicada Gu Worm into Pure Heart Temple to observe its residents and considered how many pills would be needed to dose them all.
• Xue Fuyao used the Jade Glass of the Azure Moon to make the spirit medicine seeds in her different space grow to maturity immediately.

Xue Fuyao refined Demon-Dispelling Pills and planned to expose the Devil Race and Demon Race members hidden in Western Continent temples. She sent Shadow Five, Ying Qi, and Twenty-One to establish Heaven-Seeking Tower, then traveled to Cave Flood-Dragon Marsh to find the Water Mirror; as she reached the dark marsh center, the water began to churn.

• Xue Fuyao finished refining a large supply of Demon-Dispelling Pills and decided to use them openly to reveal hidden Demon Cultivators.
• Shadow Five, Ying Qi, and Twenty-One reported that people they had contacted did not believe them, so Xue Fuyao called them back and said she would make the truth impossible to ignore.
• Xue Fuyao ordered the three men to establish Heaven-Seeking Tower, capture people identified by the Gu Butterflies, and keep the captives hidden and alive.
• Xue Fuyao left for Demon Race territory to seek the Water Mirror, which could show images in the sky and draw people's attention to them.
• Xue Fuyao reached the center of Cave Flood-Dragon Marsh in search of the ten-thousand-year-old turtle, and the dark water began to churn before she could enter.

Xue Fuyao obtained the Water Mirror from an old turtle in exchange for seeking permission for it to move to Sky Dome Marsh, though she had no intention of honoring that promise. After returning to her different space, she studied the Water Mirror and sensed that she was close to a breakthrough from Golden Core to Nascent Soul.

• Xue Fuyao met the giant turtle in Cave Flood-Dragon Marsh and told it she had come for the Water Mirror.
• Xue Fuyao revealed her white flood dragon form and claimed to come from Sky Dome Marsh, prompting the turtle to ask her to secure permission for it to live there in exchange for the Water Mirror.
• Xue Fuyao took the Water Mirror and promised to ask for the turtle, while privately deciding that the white flood dragon's promise had nothing to do with her.
• Xue Fuyao removed the turtle's tracking attempt from the Water Mirror, bound the treasure to herself, and scolded the trembling Demon-Suppressing Bracelet.
• Xue Fuyao returned to her different space, waited for Shadow Five and the others to finish their task, and began familiarizing herself with the Water Mirror.
• Xue Fuyao sensed her Golden Core cultivation had reached perfection and considered the possibility of breaking through to Nascent Soul before the operation.

Xue Fuyao publicly exposed and executed hundreds of Devil Race spies across the Western Continent through a water-mirror broadcast. The executions ended after a day, while the Heaven-Seeking Tower warned that many more spies remained.

• Xue Fuyao arranged for the captives to be punished in Shijiu's secret realm, where Shadow One and the others prepared a raised platform.
• Xue Fuyao activated a Token from a teahouse, causing a scroll and water-mirror scene to appear across the sky.
• Shadow One introduced himself as the Heaven-Seeking Tower's Punishment Pavilion master and announced the public execution of the alleged Devil Race spies.
• Shadow One tested a Demon-Dispelling Pill on himself and a captive monk, whose human skin fell away to reveal demonic markings.
• Shadow One announced each captive's name, faction, and crimes before the group executed them, and Xue Fuyao later ordered the executions sped up.
• The execution of the captives lasted a day, and Shadow One said they were only a small portion of the Devil Race spies in the Western Continent.

Xue Fuyao ordered the Heaven-Seeking Tower to expose and destroy sects that supplied people and rogue cultivators to the Demon Race. The revelations enraged the Western Continent, while observers debated the Tower’s motives and power.

• Xue Fuyao watched the Western Continent panic over Devil Race spies and ordered Demon-Dispelling Pill formulas shared with sects opposed to the Buddhist Sect.
• Xue Fuyao directed Shadow Five to destroy sects colluding with the Demon Race and publish evidence that they sent people and cultivators as tribute.
• Xue Fuyao fed Shijiu’s monster beast corpses to the trembling Demon-Suppressing Bracelet.
• Three days later, the Heaven-Seeking Tower revealed that the Demon Race had been eating people and cultivators delivered by human sects, provoking public fury.
• An old man and a young man discussed the Heaven-Seeking Tower’s intervention, and the old man warned against opposing a force capable of wiping out sects overnight.

Xue Fuyao used the Heaven-Seeking Tower’s spoils to aid ordinary people and rogue cultivators while purging corrupt sects across the Western Continent. She ordered Twenty-One to stay alert for a Buddhist Sect retaliation and insisted that the purge continue until the continent was free of Demon and Devil Race influence.

• Xue Fuyao had Shadow Five and his companions learn the Puppet Art so they could use corpses from destroyed sects to address the Heaven-Seeking Tower’s shortage of manpower.
• Shadow Five’s group distributed gold, silver, medicines, and cultivation supplies to villagers and rogue cultivators, and helped children test for cultivation talent.
• The villagers learned that their relatives had been sent to the Demon Race rather than dying in mine tunnels, and they burned the guilty sect to the ground.
• Xue Fuyao told Twenty-One to have the Gu Butterflies monitor the Buddhist Sect and continue clearing out corrupt forces.
• Twenty-One noted that the Buddhist Sect was already under scrutiny from other sects, while Xue Fuyao warned that it might still retaliate and demanded a spotlessly clean Western Continent.
• Other sects secretly observing the Heaven-Seeking Tower noticed its activities.

Xue Fuyao returned to the Yuanji Sect after being summoned and learned that a crack had appeared in the barrier between the Mortal Realm and the Cultivation Realm. She was assigned to investigate the damage with Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe and prepare to travel to the Mortal Realm.

• A young man and a middle-aged man discussed the Heaven-Seeking Tower’s lavish distribution of resources, which they suspected had been taken from destroyed sects.
• Xue Fuyao stopped cultivating Gu worms in the Western Continent and returned to the Yuanji Sect when her master summoned her.
• Xie Yichu told Xue Fuyao that the barrier’s damage had likely originated in the Mortal Realm and that the sect’s elders were too powerful to cross it safely.
• Xiao Fansheng assigned Xue Fuyao, Gu Nian, and Chu Yunzhe to investigate the barrier and uncover the cause of its damage.
• Gu Nian told Xue Fuyao and Chu Yunzhe to gather supplies and meet at the sect entrance before departing for the Mortal Realm.

Xue Fuyao traveled with Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe to the Mortal Realm to investigate the failing barrier amid a war between ten remaining nations. They reached Stone Town and joined cultivators from across the Southern Continent at the edge of the Poison Miasma Forest, preparing to enter.

• Xue Fuyao gathered spirit fruit and wine, then met Elder Xing, who gave her supplies and urged her to stay safe.
• Gu Nian explained that a poisonous, maze-like passage connected the Mortal Realm and the Cultivation Realm, and Xue Fuyao learned that ten nations were fighting after the others had been conquered.
• Chu Yunzhe warned Xue Fuyao and Gu Nian not to underestimate the Mortal Realm or the other sects, since their strength would be suppressed there.
• Two days later, Xue Fuyao, Gu Nian, and Chu Yunzhe passed through Stone Town and went to the edge of the Poison Miasma Forest.
• Xue Fuyao spotted Jimo Yunqi among the assembled sects, and Gu Nian told her to use Detoxification Pills and Chu Yunzhe to bring up the rear as they entered.

Xue Fuyao and her companions crossed the Poison Miasma Forest, where they found evidence that many Mortal Realm people had died trying to reach the Cultivation Realm. After emerging, they discovered that most cultivators had been weakened by the Mortal Realm’s restriction, while Xue Fuyao and her Dark Guard were unaffected, and they fled when a crowd hailed them as immortals who had come to save them.

• Xue Fuyao pretended to take a Detoxification Pill before entering the Poison Miasma Forest with Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe.
• The group found countless remains, and Xue Fuyao, Chu Yunzhe, and Gu Nian suspected that many of the dead Mortal Realm people had been injured and forced into the forest.
• A cultivator gave a dying man a Detoxification Pill, but he died with blood pouring from his seven orifices, so Xue Fuyao stored his body to investigate.
• After the group left the forest, the Mortal Realm’s restriction weakened the cultivators, but Xue Fuyao and her Dark Guard remained unaffected.
• A crowd hailed the newcomers as immortals who had come to save them, and Xue Fuyao urged Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe to leave; they used a Teleportation Talisman to escape.

Gu Nian, Chu Yunzhe, and Xue Fuyao investigated the barrier’s failure and returned to Lingjiu Mountain to examine a corpse from the Poison Miasma Forest. Xue Fuyao discovered that an extremely potent poison had liquefied the man’s insides, but she still had no clue how he had been poisoned.

• Gu Nian, Chu Yunzhe, and Xue Fuyao discussed investigating the barrier and finding clues in the Poison Miasma Forest while waiting for others to leave.
• Xue Fuyao recalled that she knew where the mighty figure who separated the realms had died, but that she had already searched the site and found no way to repair the barrier.
• Chu Yunzhe suggested that they examine the corpse Xue Fuyao had taken from the Poison Miasma Forest, and the three went to Lingjiu Mountain to study it.
• Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe left Xue Fuyao to examine the corpse after Chu Yunzhe admitted he knew little about medicine.
• Xue Fuyao used her Heavenly Eye to inspect the corpse and found that its insides had turned into black liquid from a potent poison.
• Xue Fuyao withdrew her spiritual energy when it cracked the corpse’s skin, learning the man’s cause of death but not how he had been poisoned.

Xue Fuyao learned that the poison Ling threatened cultivators and warned Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe to protect themselves while preparing to report it to their Sect. She then returned to her family’s burial place and found the outer area disturbed, but the formation still intact, and spoke to her deceased relatives.

• Shadow Five relayed Bai Ling’s explanation that Ling poisoned anyone exposed to spiritual energy and warned Xue Fuyao to avoid even slight contact with it.
• Bai Ling told Shadow Five that Ling’s ingredients grew in places without spiritual energy and that its appearance in the Mortal Realm suggested someone possessed a large supply.
• Xue Fuyao told Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe about Ling, and they agreed to keep their Spiritual Energy Shields raised and report the poison to their Sect.
• Xue Fuyao used three Formation Disks to conceal the mountaintop while they prepared to send a message to the Sect.
• Xue Fuyao found trees cut down and traces of an altar near her family’s burial place, but discovered that her protective formation remained intact.
• Xue Fuyao entered the formation and told her deceased father and siblings that she had avenged them.