Chapter Summaries

Xue Fuyao finished guiding the new disciples through three days of cultivation and learned that Wen Ci had been assigned to Qi He after several senior cultivators refused to teach him. She met Qi He at the Yuanji Sect courtyard, where he recognized her as his junior brother’s disciple.

• Xue Fuyao told Gu Nian that she had helped the new disciples lay a foundation, while fewer than a third had persevered for all three days.
• Xue Fuyao said she had recorded the names of the most persistent disciples so the Sect Master could pay attention to them.
• Gu Nian told Xue Fuyao that Wen Ci had chosen the Yuanji Sect, but Ancestor Chen Yue and Grand Elder Tianxin had both declined to teach him.
• Gu Nian explained that her master had assigned Wen Ci to Qi He, Grandmaster’s second disciple, who had recently emerged from seclusion.
• Xue Fuyao met Qi He in the courtyard and greeted him respectfully, and he praised her as better behaved than Gu Nian.

Qi He agreed to take Wen Ci as his disciple after Xiao Fansheng pressured him, while Gu Nian explained that Grandmaster’s other disciples had gone out to build their own forces. At the Disciple Recruitment Assembly, Wen Ci emerged first from the Heart-Questioning Secret Realm and chose Qi He, and Xue Fuyao noticed unfamiliar qi at his waist.

• Xiao Fansheng persuaded Qi He to take Wen Ci as his sole disciple, and Qi He agreed.
• Gu Nian told Xue Fuyao that most of Grandmaster’s disciples had concealed their identities and gone out to build their own forces.
• Xue Fuyao accompanied Xie Yichu to the Disciple Recruitment Assembly and reflected that the names of the people with chaos spirit roots differed from her memories.
• Wen Ci emerged first from the Heart-Questioning Secret Realm and chose to join the Yuanji Sect as Qi He's disciple.
• Xue Fuyao noticed unfamiliar qi at Wen Ci's waist, and Wen Ci looked toward her.

Geng Xing chose to join the Yuanji Sect as Qi He’s second disciple, becoming Wen Ci’s fellow disciple. After the assembly, Xiao Fansheng celebrated gaining two Chaos Spirit Roots, then learned Gu Nian and Yun Zhe planned to enter seclusion and take on their sect duties.

• Geng Xing emerged from the Heart-Questioning Secret Realm last and chose Qi He as his master, despite the Kunlun Sect Master’s protest.
• Xiao Fansheng accepted Geng Xing into the Yuanji Sect after Qi He agreed to teach both him and Wen Ci.
• Xiao Fansheng hurried the Yuanji Sect away from the assembly, relieved once the other sects were out of sight.
• Gu Nian told Xiao Fansheng that she and Yun Zhe would enter seclusion, leaving him to handle their sect affairs.
• Xue Fuyao played with Golden Pupil and Purple Pupil, fed them meat, and wondered why they seemed to be shrinking.

Xie Yichu entrusted Xue Fuyao with secretly delivering a black token to Jimo Yunqi to help the Jimo Household fight the Demon Race. After returning to Yuanji Sect, Xue Fuyao prepared to leave and encountered Wen Ci, Geng Xing, and other new disciples struggling to find basic necessities.

• Xie Yichu explained that a traitor had weakened the Jimo Household and told Xue Fuyao to deliver a special item to Jimo Yunqi, keeping the mission secret.
• Qi He asked Xue Fuyao to teach Wen Ci and Geng Xing, then gave his disciples beginner guides to study instead.
• Xue Fuyao answered cultivation questions from disciples during the journey back to Yuanji Sect, and Geng Xing briefly spoke with her on deck.
• Xie Yichu handed Xue Fuyao a plain black token and instructed her to deliver it personally to Jimo Yunqi.
• Xue Fuyao learned her senior sister was in seclusion and saw Wen Ci, Geng Xing, and other new disciples looking for daily necessities because their master had made no arrangements for them.

Xue Fuyao traveled toward Jimo City and fought off repeated attacks from the Snake Clan. After she met a group from the Jimo Household while roasting snake meat, she warned them that it was already too late to leave.

• Xue Fuyao guided Wen Ci, Geng Xing, and the other new disciples to the Market before leaving on a mission.
• Xue Fuyao rode Xiao Yan through the northwestern lands toward Jimo City and suspected the Snake Clan had targeted her.
• Xue Fuyao killed the venomous snakes that ambushed her and pinned their bodies to trees.
• A young man from the Jimo Household and his companions found Xue Fuyao roasting snake meat and warned her that the Snake Clan was active nearby.
• Xue Fuyao told the Jimo Household group that it was already too late to leave, and the young man asked what she meant.

Xue Fuyao killed a Bamboo-Scaled Snake Demon that had been stalking Jimo Jiu’s group, then learned that Jimo Xiubai was in Moon Dance City helping defend against a Beast Tide. Since Xiubai owed her Spirit Stones, she rode west to collect the debt.

• Xue Fuyao warned Jimo Jiu’s group that a Snake Clan creature had been following them, then killed the Foundation Establishment Realm snake when it attacked.
• Purple Pupil told Xue Fuyao that the dead snake had shared their nest and had bullied and tried to eat them; Xue Fuyao gave Golden Pupil and Purple Pupil its meat as an extra meal.
• Xue Fuyao gave the remaining snake skin and bones to Jimo Jiu’s group, and Jimo Jiu introduced himself and told her that Jimo Xiubai had gone to Moon Dance City with Jimo Yunqi.
• Jimo Jiu explained that Monster Beasts had gathered around Moon Dance City and that several Beast Tides had struck it, but Xue Fuyao decided to go there anyway to collect the Spirit Stones Xiubai owed her.
• Xue Fuyao rode toward Moon Dance City, while Jimo Jiu’s group decided not to report her visit to the household head for fear of Jimo Yunqi’s reaction.

Xue Fuyao reached Moon Dance City and learned that Jimo Yunqi had been poisoned by a Fierce Dice Snake. She examined him and said he could be saved, then sent Jimo Xiubai outside before beginning an unusual treatment.

• A clansman guarding the Life Tablets saw one shatter and ran off shouting that something terrible had happened.
• Xue Fuyao entered Moon Dance City after identifying herself to Chen Zhiyuan and asking for Jimo Yunqi and Jimo Xiubai.
• A youth tried to use Xue Fuyao’s arrival to approach her, but she left without engaging with him.
• Jimo Xiubai told Xue Fuyao that Jimo Yunqi was unconscious from Fierce Dice Snake venom and brought her to his room.
• Xue Fuyao examined Jimo Yunqi, said he could be saved, and made Jimo Xiubai leave before she began treatment.

Xue Fuyao saved Jimo Yunqi from deadly poison using her silver Gu Worms, then learned that a Token from Venerable Spiritwood was meant for him. When Monster Beasts attacked Moon Dance City, she used poison formations to cut down the beast tide and joined the battle.

• Xue Fuyao used silver Gu Worms to draw the poison from Jimo Yunqi, sacrificing more than half of them to save his life.
• Jimo Yunqi woke and thanked Xue Fuyao, who told him that Venerable Spiritwood had sent him a Token but that he needed to recover before receiving it.
• Jimo Xiubai asked Xue Fuyao about the Token, but a Monster Beast attack interrupted them.
• Jimo Xiubai led the defenders against the beast tide while Xue Fuyao trapped and poisoned groups of Monster Beasts with formations.
• After her poisonous herbs ran out, Xue Fuyao joined the fight, and the beast tide retreated as the defenders watched her with gratitude and wariness.

After the Beast Tide receded, Jimo Xiubai suspected it had been only a vanguard and worried that the real force was still waiting to attack. Xue Fuyao delivered Venerable Spiritwood’s blank Token to Jimo Yunqi, where it transformed into the Flood Dragon Token, leaving them to consider how to handle its dangerous power.

• The Beast Tide retreated with far fewer casualties than in previous battles, but Jimo Xiubai remained grim and told Xue Fuyao something had seemed wrong.
• Jimo Xiubai asked Xue Fuyao whether Jimo Yunqi could recover quickly; she said he could regain about half his strength but would need six months to a year to heal fully.
• Jimo Yunqi called Jimo Xiubai and Xue Fuyao into his room, and Jimo Xiubai explained that the Beast Tide lacked Snake Clan beasts and might have been only a vanguard.
• Xue Fuyao gave Jimo Yunqi the blank Token from Venerable Spiritwood, and it transformed into the Flood Dragon Token when he held it.
• Xue Fuyao explained that the Flood Dragon Token could transform the Snake Clan’s bloodline and recalled that its appearance had once sparked a devastating civil war.
• Jimo Yunqi warned that releasing the Token could let the Bamboo-Scaled Snake Clan suppress the news or allow one of its members to gain power, while Jimo Xiubai questioned what Venerable Spiritwood intended.

Jimo Yunqi insisted on recovering enough strength to act, despite Jimo Xiubai’s objections, and Xue Fuyao prepared a pill to restore him. The pill improved his condition but was made unbearably bitter with Stone-Brown Grass, leaving Jimo Yunqi in tears and unable to speak.

• Jimo Yunqi asked Xue Fuyao to help him recover to at least fifty percent of his strength, while Jimo Xiubai warned that doing so could harm his cultivation.
• Xue Fuyao said recovery would not damage Jimo Yunqi’s foundation if he recuperated afterward, but Jimo Xiubai argued with his brother before reluctantly letting her proceed.
• Xue Fuyao went to the City Lord’s Mansion’s Alchemy Room and refined a pill with Stone-Brown Grass to enhance its effects and bitterness.
• Jimo Yunqi swallowed the pill, and its intense bitterness made tears, snot, and saliva pour from his face.
• Jimo Xiubai saw that Jimo Yunqi’s complexion and Spiritual Power had improved, despite his brother’s suffering.

Xue Fuyao learned that her altered Snake Clan Sacrificial Dance tablets had caused seven races to destroy one another, allowing the Bamboo-Scaled Snake Clan to grow powerful and threaten the Northwestern Lands. Meanwhile, Jimo Xiubai and Jimo Yunqi caught a green snake attempting to kill the recovering Jimo Yunqi, revealing a spy in the City Lord's Mansion.

• Jimo Xiubai told Xue Fuyao that snake disciples who practiced the altered Sacrificial Dance repeatedly suffered cultivation deviation and attacked their own kind.
• The seven races that bought the tablets blamed one another for the sabotage, fought until they were badly wounded, and were swallowed up by other Demon Race forces.
• The Bamboo-Scaled Snake Clan annexed territory after the conflict and grew strong enough to threaten the Northwestern Lands.
• Xue Fuyao accepted that she could not undo the consequences and said they should look ahead.
• A green snake entered Jimo Yunqi's room at night and tried to deliver a fatal bite, but Jimo Xiubai caught it.
• Jimo Yunqi arrived with Xue Fuyao and identified the captured snake as a spy in the City Lord's Mansion.

Xue Fuyao and Jimo Xiubai used the green snake to trace the traitor who had infiltrated the City Lord's Mansion. Their pursuit led them to an abandoned house, where an old man emerged after being trapped by Xue Fuyao's Formation.

• Jimo Xiubai questioned the captured green snake, and Xue Fuyao pulled out its venomous fangs when it refused to talk.
• Xue Fuyao suspected General Zhou, but Jimo Yunqi said Zhou's family had been killed by Monster Beasts and was unlikely to collude with them.
• Xue Fuyao and Jimo Xiubai left the green snake in a Demon-Locking Cage and secretly followed it with a Compass after someone unlocked the cage.
• The green snake led them in circles around Moon Dance City before returning to the City Lord's Mansion and entering a shabby, abandoned house.
• Jimo Xiubai told Xue Fuyao that the former City Lord had died under suspicious circumstances, and she trapped the house with a Formation as a green streak tried to escape.
• An old man in ragged clothes emerged from the house and looked up at Xue Fuyao and Jimo Xiubai.

Xue Fuyao exposed a longtime servant of the City Lord’s Mansion as a half-demon and helped capture him, though days of interrogation produced no answers. With Moon Dance City peaceful again and its market reopened, Xue Fuyao took Big Treasure out to the lively night market.

• Xue Fuyao used specially mixed Realgar Powder to reveal Old Chen’s half-demon form, confirming her suspicions to Jimo Xiubai.
• Xue Fuyao bound Old Chen and the green snake and had them imprisoned in the City Lord’s Mansion dungeon.
• Jimo Xiubai learned that Xue Fuyao had added poison and fully ripened Heavenly Chili to the Realgar Powder to incapacitate the half-demon.
• Moon Dance City remained peaceful for several days, but interrogation of the half-demon yielded no results.
• As the reopened market grew lively, Xue Fuyao took Big Treasure to the night market.

Xue Fuyao followed Big Treasure’s guidance to buy a damaged platinum cloth artifact and asked the Brocade Spider to repair it. Before she could rest, monster beasts attacked Moon Dance City at night, and she joined Jimo Yunqi and Jimo Xiubai on the city wall.

• Xue Fuyao met Bei Que in the city, then left after Big Treasure signaled that it had found something valuable.
• Xue Fuyao bought all the wares at a stall and discovered that a filthy rag among them was platinum-colored cloth with faint patterns.
• Xue Fuyao asked the Brocade Spider to try repairing the damaged cloth, and it took the rag into the different space.
• Xue Fuyao heard beasts roaring, realized monster beasts were attacking Moon Dance City, and hurried to the city wall.
• Xue Fuyao found Jimo Yunqi and Jimo Xiubai on the wall, facing glowing eyes in the darkness below.

As a massive beast tide threatened Moon Dance City, Xue Fuyao helped prepare its defenses while Jimo Yunqi summoned ghost cultivators for reinforcements. With five Nascent Soul Realm beasts among the attackers, Xue Fuyao revealed that she had a hidden weapon ready as the siege loomed.

• Jimo Yunqi reported that other cultivation lineages had refused to reinforce Moon Dance City, leaving its defenders to rely on themselves and the ghost cultivators he had summoned.
• Xue Fuyao stayed to defend the city and explained that ghost cultivators were not the same as demon cultivators.
• Xue Fuyao's alterations to the defensive formation immobilized flying monster beasts, allowing the cultivators on the walls to shoot them down.
• Xue Fuyao warned Jimo Xiubai that five Nascent Soul Realm monster beasts were hidden in the tide, including two Bamboo-Scaled Snake Kings.
• Xue Fuyao asked about the buried Heavenly Thunder Characters, and Jimo Xiubai confirmed he had placed them before asking whether the small objects could work.

Xue Fuyao used explosives and a healing formation to help Moon Dance City's cultivators fight off the Beast Tide. After killing one hidden Nascent Soul Realm Monster Beast and badly injuring another, she called for Shadow Five to send two puppets over.

• Xue Fuyao explained that strategy mattered more than numbers and detonated a Spirit Stone to trigger the Heavenly Thunder Bombs beneath the Beast Tide.
• Xue Fuyao summoned a healing formation made from pills and spirit medicines, then charged into battle alongside the cultivators.
• Xue Fuyao found and killed one of the hidden Nascent Soul Realm Monster Beasts with the Nirvana Sword.
• The second hidden Monster Beast attacked Xue Fuyao, but her hammer struck it with unexpected force and took away half its life.
• Xue Fuyao looked into the distance and told Shadow Five to send two puppets over.

Two Spirit Transformation Realm puppets ended Moon Dance City's Beast Tide, and Xue Fuyao discussed making more Healing Array Disks with Jimo Yunqi. Jimo Xiubai then asked Xue Fuyao to help him confront the four lineages that had stayed out of the fight.

• Two masked Spirit Transformation Realm puppets appeared and slaughtered the Monster Beasts, killing the remaining Nascent Soul Realm beasts and ending the Beast Tide.
• Jimo Yunqi thanked the puppets, ordered the city to stay inside while the battlefield was cleaned up, and credited passing cultivators for saving Moon Dance City.
• Xue Fuyao gave Jimo Xiubai a Healing Array Disk, and Jimo Yunqi promised to supply materials for more disks.
• Jimo Xiubai told Xue Fuyao he wanted the four lineages that had avoided helping Moon Dance City to pay for their inaction.
• Jimo Xiubai proposed that he and Xue Fuyao take the fight straight to the four lineages, and Xue Fuyao asked to hear his plan before agreeing.

Jimo Xiubai recruited Xue Fuyao to seize most of the assets held by the Li, Wang, Sun, and Zhou lineages, and she prepared a formation to trap them. They arrived at the City Within a City and learned the four lineages planned to flee to the Central Continent with their wealth.

• Jimo Xiubai explained that he had long planned to demand most of the four lineages’ assets, and offered Xue Fuyao a forty-sixty split.
• Xue Fuyao accepted the plan and spent two days making a green jade Formation Disk with materials Jimo Xiubai provided.
• Jimo Xiubai and Xue Fuyao left Moon Dance City, while Jimo Yunqi ordered a guard to watch them and ensure their targets could not escape.
• Xue Fuyao activated the Formation Disk over the City Within a City, releasing spiritual qi and Bai Ling’s powder to hinder cultivators’ spiritual power.
• Jimo Xiubai told Xue Fuyao that the four lineages planned to leave for the Central Continent after arranging protection from a major lineage.

Xue Fuyao and Jimo Xiubai confronted a Central Continent Zhang Family cultivator who demanded they release the four families trapped inside the city. Recognizing the man from her past, Xue Fuyao killed him and read his memories, leaving her determined to take on the Zhang Family.

• Jimo Xiubai told Xue Fuyao that the Central Continent Zhang Family and the leaders of the four families had gathered, while Xue recognized the Zhang family flag on a Spirit Boat.
• Seven or eight cultivators attacked the Formation surrounding the City Within a City, but Xue's barrier weakened their Spiritual Power and held firm.
• A green-robed Nascent Soul cultivator demanded to know who made the Formation and claimed the Li, Wang, Sun, and Zhou families belonged to the Zhang Family.
• The green-robed man threatened Xue and Jimo, then decided to capture them, but Xue struck him with Evil-coated fists after recognizing him as the man who had hunted her in her previous life.
• Xue used the Soul-Seizing Technique to read the man's memories, then pierced his abdomen, removed his nascent soul, and crushed it.
• Xue followed Jimo while processing the memories and concluded that the Central Continent Zhang Family was doomed.

After learning that the Central Continent Zhang Family had orchestrated her kingdom’s destruction, Xue Fuyao ordered a hunt and helped Jimo Xiubai break into the Li Household. She then stopped the Zhang Family’s agents from escaping with the four families’ resources, drugged everyone below—including Jimo Xiubai—and left him cured but furious.

• Xue Fuyao examined the Man in the Blue-Green Robe’s memories, learned the Central Continent Zhang Family had arranged her kingdom’s destruction, and ordered the Dark Guards to hunt them.
• Xue Fuyao and Jimo Xiubai reached the Li Household, where Xue Fuyao shattered its protective formation and Jimo Xiubai charged inside.
• Xue Fuyao found the Zhang Family agents preparing to escape with the Li, Wang, Sun, and Zhou families’ resources, and used the Immortal-Binding Rope to stop their spirit boat.
• Xue Fuyao poisoned the people fighting below with a powdered herb and White Medicinal Powder, causing them to collapse while remaining conscious.
• Xue Fuyao gave Jimo Xiubai an antidote, and he cursed her for poisoning him during the fight.