Chapter Summaries

Xue Fuyao learned that the Spirit-Extinguishing Cult was behind the strange plant Ling and the disappearances in the Poison Miasma Forest. After uncovering the cult’s activities, she sensed that the Imperial Jade Seal was responding to something nearby.

• Xue Fuyao dug up twenty-five coffins and stored them before returning to Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe.
• Gu Nian explained that the Spirit-Extinguishing Cult had once opposed cultivation and had developed the spirit plant Ling, and the Sect ordered them to stay cautious and protect themselves.
• At the Poison Miasma Forest, Xue Fuyao watched cultists herd sickly teenage boys into the mist, then killed most of the group and captured two members.
• Xue Fuyao used the Soul-Seizing Technique to learn that the cult had sent people into the forest for two years and spread rumors that it led to the Immortal Realm.
• As Xue Fuyao prepared to leave, the Imperial Jade Seal glowed faintly and tugged toward something.

Xue Fuyao followed the Imperial Jade Seal’s pull toward the former Snow Dynasty Imperial City and sent her people to investigate the dynasty’s changed state. After the group dealt with ungrateful boys tied to the Spirit-Extinguishing Cult, they set out toward their next lead, while reports revealed that the dynasty had become Great Qian and moved its capital.

• Xue Fuyao followed the Imperial Jade Seal’s pull toward the former Imperial City and ordered Shadow Three, Ying Si, Ying Eight, and Shadow Three-Seven to investigate the Snow Dynasty without drawing attention.
• Xue Fuyao returned to the Cave and learned that the boys Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe had rescued blamed them for endangering their families, so she and Gu Nian decided to send them back.
• Chu Yunzhe knocked the boys unconscious with a drug and abandoned them deeper in the Poison Miasma Forest.
• Xue Fuyao told Gu Nian that the Spirit-Extinguishing Cult was trying to complete an old plan, and they agreed to pursue their next lead near the Imperial City.
• Chu Yunzhe prepared a carriage for the journey, while Xue Fuyao listened to reports that the Snow Dynasty had become the Great Qian Dynasty and moved its capital.

Xue Fuyao sent Shadow Three and the others to search the ruined former Imperial Capital for something connected to the Imperial Jade Seal, while she learned that the seal held an inheritance left by the Xue Clan Ancestors. She recognized it as the Xue Clan’s foundation for returning to the Cultivation Realm and wondered why no one had used it before.

• Xue Fuyao decided she would eventually return to the former Imperial Capital, but sent Shadow Three and the others to investigate the Imperial Palace first.
• Shadow Three and the others searched the abandoned city and palace ruins but found nothing unusual, while an old man watched Shadow Three closely.
• Xue Fuyao noticed the Imperial Jade Seal’s light growing stronger and ordered Shadow Three and the others to lie low and await further instructions.
• Shadow One and Shadow Two revealed that memories planted by His Majesty had begun resurfacing after they became cultivators, and Shadow Two told Xue Fuyao about the inheritance.
• Xue Fuyao learned the inheritance was the Xue Clan Ancestors’ last resort for returning to the Cultivation Realm and questioned why it had never been used.

Xue Fuyao learned that the Divine Spirit Sect had sparked a craze for immortal cultivation and suspected it was the Spirit-Extinguishing Cult. She and Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe remained puzzled about why the cult was sending ordinary people into the Poison Miasma Forest.

• Xue Fuyao told Gu Nian that she had learned about her lineage and needed to collect belongings it had left for her.
• Chu Yunzhe suggested stopping at a waystation, and Xue Fuyao asked him to put away the conspicuous carriage so they could continue on horseback.
• At the crowded waystation, Xue Fuyao heard travelers discussing immortals and paid a waiter to explain the Divine Spirit Sect’s recruitment of disciples.
• The waiter told Xue Fuyao that the Divine Spirit Sect promised immortal cultivation and sent its most talented disciples to the true Immortal Realm.
• Xue Fuyao connected the Divine Spirit Sect to the Spirit-Extinguishing Cult and wondered why it was sending ordinary people into the Poison Miasma Forest.
• Gu Nian cautioned Xue Fuyao not to expect the Spirit-Extinguishing Cult to act according to ordinary logic.

Xue Fuyao, Gu Nian, and Chu Yunzhe traveled to Qian City to confront the Divine Spirit Sect at the National Preceptor Residence. After fighting their way through its disciples, they reached a man who declared them his personal disciples, leaving their response unstated.

• Xue Fuyao identified a possible location for the Spirit-Extinguishing Cult, and the three set out for Qian City without stopping to rest.
• In Qian City, Xue Fuyao led Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe away from the crowds seeking to join the Divine Spirit Sect and toward the National Preceptor Residence.
• Xue Fuyao incapacitated the guards, sealed the residence with the Formation Disk, and killed the people inside who identified themselves as Divine Spirit Sect disciples.
• As more disciples tried to stop them, Chu Yunzhe used a talisman to strike a young man with purple lightning.
• The three reached a purple-robed man, who praised their strength and announced that they would become his personal disciples.

Xue Fuyao, Gu Nian, and Chu Yunzhe questioned a Spirit-Extinguishing Cult member, who revealed the cult leader’s plans and the group’s history. The man asked them to help him cultivate, while Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe realized Xue Fuyao’s connection to the destroyed Snow Dynasty.

• Xue Fuyao threatened the man with Shattered Star, but he became excited when he realized the three were cultivators and offered information in exchange for a chance to cultivate.
• The man said the Spirit-Extinguishing Cult leader was developing poison against cultivators and wanted to destroy them, remove the barrier between the Mortal Realm and the Cultivation Realm, and rule the latter with help from a mysterious treasure.
• The man explained that the cult leader had revived the long-vanished Spirit-Extinguishing Cult three years earlier after finding its ruins, and had ordered people sent into the Poison Miasma Forest to build a bridge to the Cultivation Realm.
• The man denied that the cult had tampered with the barrier and described a deteriorated Teleportation Array once connected to the Cultivation Realm, which had come into the Qin Emperor’s possession after the Zhang Family fell.
• Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe inferred that Xue Fuyao came from the destroyed Snow Dynasty, and the man asked them to take him to cultivate.

Xue Fuyao and her companions continued investigating the Cult Leader’s scheme, then she traveled to the Snow Dynasty’s former capital to retrieve what her family had hidden in the Imperial Mausoleum. She reunited with more of her father’s Dark Guards and ordered them cared for while they waited for Shijiu to bring them to the Cultivation Realm.

• Xue Fuyao killed the man at the National Preceptor Residence, and Gu Nian insisted they keep investigating because the Cult Leader alone could not weaken the barrier between realms.
• Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe supported Xue Fuyao’s decision to visit what her family had left for her, and the three escaped the surrounded residence before she left Qian City alone.
• Xue Fuyao reached the abandoned Snow Dynasty Imperial City, where Shadow Three told her that the Imperial Mausoleum held the hidden items and needed the Imperial Jade Seal to open.
• Shadow Three explained that over a hundred retired Dark Guards had remained behind to guard the mausoleum and had waited for Xue Fuyao to return.
• Xue Fuyao thanked the Dark Guards, ordered them to accompany her to the Cultivation Realm, and told Shadow Three to settle them, test them for 'Ling,' and give each a drop of Diluted Three Luminaries Divine Water if needed.

Xue Fuyao explored the Imperial Mausoleum and discovered that its crystal coffins held powerful living puppets and fragile souls, which she sheltered in the Heavenheart Bottle before taking everything away. After concealing the ruins, she sent the Dark Guards to investigate an ancient tomb at sea that held an inheritance guarded by a hungry Black Tortoise.

• Xue Fuyao entered the Imperial Mausoleum alone after the Imperial Jade Seal activated its entrance.
• She touched the central stone stele, triggering a red force that spread through the chains and crystal coffins, and recognized the occupants as powerful puppets made while alive.
• Xue Fuyao found the occupants’ fragile souls and drew them into the Heavenheart Bottle to nourish them.
• She took the crystal coffins and other contents into the different space, then ordered Sanqi to test whether the newly settled people could cultivate and send them to the Western Continent.
• Xue Fuyao concealed the Imperial City and Mausoleum with Formation Disks before leaving to seek Senior Sister Gu Nian and Senior Brother Chu Yunzhe.
• She ordered the remaining Dark Guards in the Cultivation Realm to head toward the boundary between the Southern Continent and the Eastern Continent to explore an ancient tomb and its hungry Black Tortoise.

Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe were trapped by fellow cultivators controlled by a mortal using a strange bronze bell, but Xue Fuyao found and subdued the controller. The Sect Master arranged for the victims to be returned to their sects and warned the three disciples to stay careful while the barrier was temporarily repaired.

• Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe fought off their controlled companions inside a formation that sealed space, and Gu Nian refused to escape without Chu Yunzhe.
• Xue Fuyao arrived, knocked out the hidden controller, and showed her senior disciples the ancient bronze bell that had controlled the attackers.
• Xue Fuyao shook the silent bell, causing the fallen cultivators to rise with vacant eyes, while Chu Yunzhe determined that their sealed energy could not be safely restored.
• Gu Nian asked the Sect Master to notify the victims' sects and take the still-living cultivators back to the Cultivation Realm.
• The Sect Master agreed to handle the matter and said the barrier was being patched, though its source still had to be found for a complete repair.

Xue Fuyao suspected that the hidden force behind the attacks might be the Reclusive Aristocratic Clans, especially the Longevity Aristocratic Clan she remembered from her previous life. The investigation remained at a dead end, but she confirmed that a cultivator had secretly controlled the man through the Bronze Bell.

• Xue Fuyao suggested to the Sect Master that the incident might involve the Reclusive Aristocratic Clans and cited information about the Longevity Aristocratic Clan that she claimed to have found among her family's belongings.
• Xue Fuyao recalled that the Longevity Aristocratic Clan had used an endless supply of unpaid, expendable mine laborers and suspected they came from outside the Cultivation Realm.
• Chu Yunzhe explained to Gu Nian and Xue Fuyao that reclusive clans still sought cultivation resources, and suggested robbing them if they emerged and the disciples needed money.
• Xue Fuyao told Gu Nian that the interrogated man had been controlled and had met the masked person behind the attacks only once.
• Xue Fuyao determined that a cultivator had infused the Bronze Bell with spiritual energy, then shook the bell again after overwriting that energy with her own.

Gu Nian had Chu Yunzhe undo the seal on his exceptionally keen nose so they could try tracking the Magic Artifact’s spiritual energy, and he remained unconscious for three days while she and Xue Fuyao cared for him. After he woke, new arrivals came to the Cave and reacted with anger at the bound, unconscious people inside.

• Gu Nian proposed using Chu Yunzhe’s sense of smell to track the Magic Artifact’s remaining spiritual energy, and he reluctantly undid the seal on his nose.
• Chu Yunzhe passed out from the overwhelming scents, so Gu Nian carried him to a Cave while Xue Fuyao dragged the bound captives along behind them.
• Gu Nian and Xue Fuyao placed fresh Spirit Fruit and Spirit Flowers beside Chu Yunzhe to help him recover, and Gu Nian explained that the seal was already near its limit.
• After three days, Chu Yunzhe woke with pain in his nose but some control over his newly released ability.
• Xue Fuyao sensed approaching cultivators, who arrived at the Cave and grew furious when they saw the captives inside.

Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe protected Xue Fuyao as they investigated the bronze bell, while Sanqi revealed that the Longevity Aristocratic Clan had taken over a hundred talented children from the Mortal Realm. The chapter showed Qin Zhao enduring captivity on a hidden island and looking for a chance to escape, then ended with several youths kneeling before the Longevity Aristocratic Clan’s head and elders.

• Gu Nian rebuked the elders who had pressured Xue Fuyao, and they left with their disciples.
• Xue Fuyao preserved the bronze bell’s remaining aura, and Chu Yunzhe said he could track it despite the many scents on it.
• Sanqi told Xue Fuyao that General Qin’s children and more than a hundred other youths had been taken by people bearing a token marked “Longevity.”
• Xue Fuyao learned that the youths had been held for two years on a hidden island, where Qin Zhao watched for a chance to escape.
• Several boys and girls knelt before the head and elders of the Longevity Aristocratic Clan.

The Longevity Aristocratic Clan discovered that the Kongtong Seal had vanished after a group of young disciples tried to take it, leaving the barrier between the Mortal Realm and Cultivation Realm unstable. Meanwhile, Xue Fuyao, Gu Nian, and Chu Yunzhe followed a trail through the mist and reached the Cultivation Realm.

• The patriarch and elders reprimanded the youths for trying to seize the Kongtong Seal and endangering the Longevity Lineage.
• A chubby youth explained that the Kongtong Seal had turned into golden light and disappeared as they attempted to take it.
• Elder Qi suggested the Xue Clan might be involved, but the patriarch ordered the lineage to find the seal before outside powers learned what had happened.
• Xue Fuyao and Gu Nian followed Chu Yunzhe through the mist to a quiet stretch of sea, where their cultivation returned.
• Gu Nian recognized that they had arrived in the Cultivation Realm.

Xue Fuyao, Gu Nian, and Chu Yunzhe tracked a vanished scent to the Dead Sea and discovered a hidden formation concealing a possible reclusive clan. After knocking out five youths who mentioned the Kongtong Seal, Xue Fuyao turned Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe into spirit mice and prepared to use the youths’ identities to enter.

• Gu Nian recognized the sparse, lifeless region as the Dead Sea, and Chu Yunzhe said the scent they followed had vanished there despite signs that people had recently been present.
• Gu Nian could not contact the Sect, but Xue Fuyao and Chu Yunzhe learned that their Master was reinforcing the barrier and would be unreachable, so they decided to investigate alone.
• The three disguised themselves as rogue cultivators and searched until Chu Yunzhe located a Sect-Guarding Grand Array over the sea.
• Xue Fuyao sensed a fluctuation in the formation, and the three followed it to five youths who complained about Mo Yun and said they planned to find the Kongtong Seal.
• Xue Fuyao and the others knocked out the five youths, then Xue Fuyao transformed Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe into spirit mice so she could try to enter through the formation.

Xue Fuyao infiltrated the Longevity Aristocratic Clan by impersonating Li Ming and staging an attack that left her injured and the others apparently dead. After the Punishment Hall questioned her, she began using Gu Worms to investigate the clan while Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe agreed to act in her place as she recovered.

• Xue Fuyao destroyed Li Ming's body, staged the scene as an ambush, and wounded herself with her Spirit Sword before drawing the clan's patrols with talismans.
• Xue Fuyao woke in a crude hut and recalled choosing Li Ming because his lack of family and connections made him easy to impersonate.
• Members of the Punishment Hall questioned Xue Fuyao, and she claimed Senior Brother Xiao had led them to search for the Kongtong Seal before they were attacked.
• The Punishment Hall accepted her account, postponed her punishment for one month, and told her to recover.
• Xue Fuyao planned to use Gu Worms planted on the investigators to learn about the clan, then let Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe out of her pouch.
• Gu Nian scolded Xue Fuyao for injuring herself, while Chu Yunzhe offered to investigate the clan with Gu Nian as Xue Fuyao healed.

Xue Fuyao kept her disguise while investigating the Longevity Aristocratic Clan and its connection to the Kongtong Seal. She encountered the missing Qin Zhao and gave him a bottle of pills laced with Black Mandala Fragrance, then watched as he examined it in a bamboo grove.

• Xue Fuyao gave Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe Broken Jade fragments to conceal their auras, and they left her room.
• Xue Fuyao stayed hidden while the Punishment Hall investigated the disciples’ deaths and blamed a passing rogue cultivator after finding no clues.
• Xue Fuyao went to the dining hall, learned more about the Longevity Aristocratic Clan, and reflected on its changed behavior and the Kongtong Seal.
• Xue Fuyao spotted Qin Zhao on a secluded path, called him over, and left him a bottle of pills infused with Black Mandala Fragrance.
• Qin Zhao took the bottle to a bamboo grove and inspected it, noticing the character "Qin" on its base.

Xue Fuyao's group learned that the Longevity Aristocratic Clan might soon send its forces to the Mortal Realm to search for the Kongtong Seal. Chu Yunzhe proposed sneaking into the clan and looting it after its people left, while Qin Zhao took the pills Xue Fuyao had sent.

• Qin Zhao recognized the character on a bottle of pills, wondered whether his imperial father had sent help, and took one after finding its quality unusually high.
• Xue Fuyao returned to her quarters and reunited with Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe, who had returned from scouting the area.
• Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe told Xue Fuyao that the Longevity Aristocratic Clan had five ruling lineages and might soon send a large force to the Mortal Realm to search for the Kongtong Seal.
• Gu Nian said she had sent their findings to her master but had received no reply, while Chu Yunzhe asked when the clan would set out.
• Xue Fuyao said she could see through the clan's Mountain-Guarding Grand Array but could not break it with their current strength.
• Chu Yunzhe told Xue Fuyao to find a way inside so they could damage the grand array and loot the clan after its people left.

Xue Fuyao used Li Ming’s connection to Fang Yin to infiltrate the inner grounds of the Longevity Aristocratic Clan, claiming that she had succeeded in alchemy. Fang Yin brought her to his courtyard and offered her a pill furnace if she could refine pills for him.

• Xue Fuyao agreed that Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe would gather information while she assumed another identity and examined the Mountain-Guarding Grand Array.
• Xue Fuyao recalled that Li Ming’s parents had been Alchemy Masters and that Fang Yin had tried to cultivate Li Ming’s alchemy talent.
• Xue Fuyao approached the inner courtyard guards and claimed she had succeeded in the matter she had discussed with Fang Yin.
• Fang Yin hurried to meet Xue Fuyao, then took her to his courtyard and dismissed the others so they could speak privately.
• Fang Yin offered Xue Fuyao his bronze pill furnace and promised to make her his exclusive Alchemy Master if she refined pills for him.
• Xue Fuyao judged the pill furnace’s materials mediocre and recognized that it could explode if used for more demanding recipes.

Xue Fuyao disguised herself as Fang Yin and brought Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe into the Fang Clan's inner courtyard. When Fang Yin's family questioned her about the Kongtong Seal, she revealed a Token bearing the character “Zhang,” leaving the family to consider the Zhang Family's possible connection to the Snow Dynasty.

• Xue Fuyao knocked Fang Yin unconscious, disguised herself in his clothes, and hid him in a Pill Furnace before leaving his room sealed.
• Xue Fuyao met Chunyi, learned that Fang Yin's mother would soon visit the Mortal Realm, and instructed Chunyi to keep people away from his room.
• Xue Fuyao collected Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe, who declined to disguise themselves, and brought them back to the inner courtyard.
• After Chunyi summoned Xue Fuyao to meet Fang Yin's mother and brothers, Gu Nian warned her to escape at once if her disguise was exposed.
• Xue Fuyao met Fang Yin's mother, his two older brothers, and his younger siblings, then revealed a Token engraved with “Zhang.”
• Fang Sheng and Fang Cheng discussed the Zhang Family's past attack on the Snow Dynasty, while Fang Yin's mother asked whether Mo Yun knew about the Token.

Xue Fuyao and her companions planned to wait for the Longevity Aristocratic Clan’s strongest members to leave before sabotaging the clan’s grand array and searching for the Kongtong Seal. Meanwhile, the Seal appeared to Xie Yichu but refused to let him touch it, and its awakening seemed connected to the trembling barrier.

• Xue Fuyao learned that several people planned to leave the Longevity Aristocratic Clan that night and told Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe about the situation.
• Gu Nian and Chu Yunzhe revealed that many people were sneaking out to search for the Kongtong Seal, and Chu Yunzhe said he could bring down the clan’s complex grand array.
• Xue Fuyao, Gu Nian, and Chu Yunzhe decided to wait three days until the clan’s top fighters had departed before acting.
• After the clan members left, Gu Nian told Xue Fuyao that the Kongtong Seal chose its own master and would not choose people like the clan members.
• Xie Yichu watched the Kongtong Seal dart out of reach and realized that its awakening was connected to the trembling barrier; Xiao Fansheng asked whether he could soothe it.