Chapter Summaries

After four years in seclusion, Xue Fuyao emerged to find that her master had sealed Green Bamboo Peak to protect her, and the peak’s spiritual qi drew many disciples. Gu Nian told her about the Eastern Continent’s Grand Competition and the events of her absence as Jiang Xuan learned who Xue Fuyao was.

• Xue Fuyao learned that her master had sealed Green Bamboo Peak during her four years of seclusion, and the peak’s formation vanished when she emerged.
• Jiang Xuan heard that Green Bamboo Peak’s spiritual qi was spilling out and rushed there to cultivate.
• Gu Nian welcomed Xue Fuyao back and told her that Wen Ci and Geng Xing had been sent to train in a secret realm.
• Gu Nian explained that the Eastern Continent was hosting a Grand Competition and that Yuanji Sect had received thirty places.
• Xue Fuyao and Gu Nian passed the disciples cultivating at the foot of Green Bamboo Peak, and Jiang Xuan learned that Xue Fuyao was Elder Lingmu’s disciple.

Jiang Xuan considered asking Xue Fuyao for help after learning of her kindness, while her hidden master warned that Xue Fuyao might not agree. On their journey, Gu Nian told Xue Fuyao about recent events and revealed that the Enlightenment Tea Tree had resurfaced, only to learn Xue Fuyao had already obtained a tender shoot.

• Jiang Xuan asked the voice in her black stone about Xue Fuyao, and her master judged Xue Fuyao talented but warned she might refuse to help.
• Jiang Xuan's master suggested she sound out Xue Fuyao during their trip to the Eastern Continent because Xue Fuyao might be interested in Jiang Xuan's object.
• Gu Nian told Xue Fuyao about Yan Changxi, explaining that the Butterfly Demon likely took the other half of the Divine Spirit Fruit and could no longer suppress her Demon Qi.
• Gu Nian told Xue Fuyao that the Enlightenment Tea Tree had appeared, and Xue Fuyao said she had already met the person selling its leaves and obtained a tender shoot.
• Xue Fuyao offered to share some enlightenment tea with Gu Nian, who invited her to shop at the Sect's Market and promised to pay.

After Xue Fuyao and Gu Nian were ambushed in the sect’s Market, they captured their attackers and learned they were Ye Qinxuan and Ye Qinfei, sisters whose faces had been disfigured and later changed. Xue Fuyao recognized them as the women from whom she had taken the Demon-Suppressing Bracelet, revealing a likely motive for their attack.

• Gu Nian bought Xue Fuyao many expensive robes before two disguised-looking women attacked them in the Market.
• Xue Fuyao blocked the attackers with Water Silk, and Gu Nian severely injured both women.
• Gu Nian ordered the Discipline Hall disciples to imprison the attackers and investigate why they had struck.
• Xue Fuyao and Gu Nian went to the Law Enforcement Hall, where Elder Cong identified the attackers as outer sect sisters Ye Qinxuan and Ye Qinfei.
• Xue Fuyao remembered that she had taken the Demon-Suppressing Bracelet from Ye Qinxuan and Ye Qinfei and given its sealed Supreme Charm Bones to the sect.

Xue Fuyao learned that the two disciples who attacked her and Gu Nian had been responsible for spreading rumors about her, and the Punishment Hall had finished investigating them. After bringing tea to her master, she learned she would travel to the Eastern Continent in three days, while Gu Nian’s gift became the target of a chase on Sect Master Peak.

• Elder Cong explained that the two attackers blamed Xue Fuyao for their misfortunes and had spread rumors about her while she was in seclusion; the Punishment Hall would punish them and implicate the Ye Household.
• Xue Fuyao returned to Green Bamboo Peak with Gu Nian and gave her a box of enlightenment tea.
• Xue Fuyao brought enlightenment tea and camellia blossoms to Xie Yichu, who warned her not to reveal the tea and told her not to show mercy to the disciples who wanted her life.
• Xie Yichu told Xue Fuyao that she would leave for the Eastern Continent in three days with her Second Martial Uncle and Fifth Martial Uncle, and might meet her Third Martial Uncle there.
• On Sect Master Peak, Gu Nian refused to let Xiao Fansheng look inside her gift from Xue Fuyao, but he snatched the wooden box from her.

Xue Fuyao traveled by Spirit Boat with her sect toward the Eastern Continent’s Grand Competition and learned how Wen Ci and Geng Xing had become inseparable rivals. As the journey continued, Jiang Xuan approached her with an orange.

• Chu Yunzhe explained that the Eastern Continent had closed its Teleportation Arrays and arranged free Spirit Boats because of the crowds traveling for the competition.
• Gu Nian arrived injured and said she had sparred with her Master; Xue Fuyao used a healing magic artifact to remove her bruises.
• Wen Ci and Geng Xing approached in matching clothes and synchronized movements, then walked off in opposite directions after denying they were close.
• Gu Nian told Xue Fuyao that Second Martial Uncle had bound Wen Ci and Geng Xing together for over three years and made them wear identical outfits to stop their constant rivalry.
• Jiang Xuan offered Xue Fuyao an orange, reminded her that they had met at Green Bamboo Peak, and left after Xue Fuyao accepted it.

Xue Fuyao reviewed her subordinates’ progress, discussed the Zhang Family and Xueheng, and warned Wen Ci about dangers at the Eastern Continent Grand Competition. The group arrived at Mopan Town, where their first trial was to kill the half-demons and investigate the town’s disappearance.

• Xue Fuyao warned Jiang Xuan that the being inside her could take over her body, then asked Shadow One and the others to report their progress after her years in seclusion.
• Shadow Three told Xue Fuyao that the Zhang Family had stayed in its Ancestral Land and that Xueheng wanted to see her; she ordered the Zhang Family watched discreetly and agreed to see Xueheng if he qualified for the competition.
• Xue Fuyao spoke with Wen Ci about killing, learned Jiang Xuan had earned a place on the trip by offering the sect a Seven-Colored Lotus, and dismissed Wen Ci’s teasing about falling out of favor.
• Wen Ci asked Xue Fuyao about the factions and cultivators attending the competition, and she warned him that enemies might target him.
• Xue Fuyao and Wen Ci reached Mopan Town, where the trial required them to eliminate the bloodthirsty half-demons and investigate what had happened to the residents.

Xue Fuyao discovered that the deserted appearance of Mopan Town concealed its ruined, bloodstained reality and its missing villagers, who remained hidden from ordinary sight. After finding and calming an old woman, she learned that the town’s disaster began when its people worshipped a deity.

• Gu Nian refused Jiang Xuan’s request to join the investigation, and the disciples scattered through Mopan Town to search for clues.
• Gu Nian, Xue Fuyao, and Chu Yunzhe noticed that the town showed no signs of the half-demons described in the report and suspected something was wrong.
• Xue Fuyao used her Heavenly Eye to see ruined buildings, blood, and corpses hidden beneath the town’s ordinary appearance.
• Xue Fuyao found the supposedly missing villagers, knocked an old woman unconscious when she panicked, and revived her with Calming Incense.
• The old woman thanked Xue Fuyao and explained that Mopan Town’s disaster began when its people worshipped a deity.

Xue Fuyao learned that Mopan Town had become dependent on a deity that granted wishes in exchange for sacrifices, then found a statue resembling the Male and Female Baleful Fiends. She suspected the missing Male Baleful Fiend was behind the town’s troubles, but the statue resisted her attack as Gu Nian and the others arrived.

• Xue Fuyao heard from an old woman that Mopan Town’s deity had brought rain and harvests, then demanded increasingly costly offerings and one child each month.
• The old woman fell unconscious when the Calming Incense burned out, and Xue Fuyao left her behind before investigating outside town.
• Xue Fuyao discovered an abandoned temple and recognized the statue’s female half as resembling the Female Baleful Fiend she had killed in Delusion City.
• Xue Fuyao summoned Gu Nian by voice transmission and tried to smash the statue with a black hammer, but it remained undamaged.
• Gu Nian explained that the group had found no clues in town, and Xue Fuyao said the strange statue was likely where the townspeople made offerings.

Gu Nian and the others learned that Mopan Town’s strange worship was linked to an evil god, and that similar beings had appeared across the Southern Continent. After Qi He sealed the town, Xue Fuyao unleashed her heavenly flames, setting Mopan Town ablaze and burning away the black mist above it.

• Gu Nian led the group out of Mopan Town before nightfall and told the elders what they had discovered.
• Elder Lin and Elder Wu revealed that an evil god had appeared in the western Southern Continent a year earlier, contaminating five cities and their surrounding settlements.
• Gu Nian explained that the contaminated ultimately became nourishment for the source, while the elders said the previous evil god had been slain with a heavenly flame.
• Xue Fuyao revealed that she possessed the Wine God Heartflame, and Qi He sealed Mopan Town so the evil god could not escape.
• After night fell, Xue Fuyao activated the Wine God Heartflame and Spirit-Mind Purifying Flame, which set the town ablaze and burned away the black mist overhead.

After discovering that the Evil God's true body was not in Mopan Town, Xue Fuyao and the others continued their training expedition. Left behind at an abandoned waystation, they rested together before setting out across a dangerous wetland marsh.

• Qi He and Xue Fuyao realized that the Evil God's true body was not in Mopan Town, and the expedition continued after the disciples received pills to prevent contamination.
• Xue Fuyao told Shadow One to search for information about heavenly flames and warned that the Western Continent could not suffer further trouble.
• Second Martial Uncle left the disciples behind at an abandoned waystation, where Gu Nian organized them and Xue Fuyao and Gu Nian returned with wild vegetables and a giant catfish.
• Xue Fuyao raised a barrier around the waystation, and the disciples shared a lively meal of catfish and spirit wine around a bonfire.
• The disciples entered a vast wetland marsh, where Xue Fuyao cut a snake in half as it surfaced beside her.

Xue Fuyao and the Yuanji Sect disciples fought off a pack of Marsh Crocodiles in the swamp, then spent the night recovering while she kept watch. The next morning, Gu Nian offered to carry Xue Fuyao if she made herself smaller, but Xue Fuyao refused out of embarrassment and concern for her dignity.

• A Marsh Crocodile attacked the group, and Xue Fuyao used a golden rope to save a disciple before Gu Nian killed the beast with her sword.
• Gu Nian told Xue Fuyao that fighting the Marsh Crocodiles was part of the disciples' training, so Xue Fuyao let Wen Ci and Geng Xing lead the group in defeating more than twenty of them.
• The disciples traveled through the swamp until nightfall, then rested in trees while Xue Fuyao stood guard with a bronze lamp that drove away strange nighttime sounds.
• Chu Yunzhe teased Xue Fuyao about needing sleep, and she dismissed his claims that she might not grow taller.
• The next morning, Gu Nian suggested that Xue Fuyao use her Shapeshifting Technique to become smaller so Gu Nian could carry her, but Xue Fuyao refused because she was already fifteen and wanted to preserve her dignity.

Xue Fuyao and the Yuanji Sect arrived in Wumi City for the Grand Competition, where she grew suspicious of the city’s unusually strong residents and discovered a Nightmare Snake planted in her room. After Gu Nian’s disciples beat and expelled the people who came to accuse them of stealing a spirit pet, Xue Fuyao wondered whether the sect was acting too arrogantly.

• Qi He warned the Yuanji Sect disciples not to adopt the Eastern Continent’s customs, and Xue Fuyao explained that masters and disciples there commonly pursued romance.
• Xue Fuyao noticed that people in Wumi City seemed extraordinarily strong despite showing no spiritual power, and Shadow Six said they were unusually talented people gathered by other factions to intimidate competitors.
• Xue Fuyao discovered a Nightmare Snake in her room and killed it, taking its gallbladder.
• People arrived accusing the Yuanji Sect of stealing their spirit pet, but Gu Nian’s disciples beat them and dragged them away.
• Gu Nian ordered a disciple to throw out the Nightmare Snake’s corpse and criticized the troublemakers, prompting Xue Fuyao to ask whether they were being too arrogant.

After discovering that Eastern Continent factions had tampered with their courtyard, Gu Nian led Xue Fuyao and the others out to confront the suspected culprits. They headed first to the Bright Light Sect, where their arrival immediately drew attention.

• Gu Nian asked Xue Fuyao to secure their courtyard with formations, and they found several dirty tricks hidden there.
• Gu Nian told Xue Fuyao to fetch Wen Ci and Geng Xing so they could retaliate against the factions responsible.
• Gu Nian explained that five Eastern Continent sects were scheduled to face Yuanji Sect in the preliminaries and had likely planned to weaken them beforehand.
• Wen Ci agreed that they might as well cripple their opponents, since people would gossip regardless.
• Gu Nian led the group to the nearby Bright Light Sect, and onlookers recognized them and suspected they had come to pick a fight.

Gu Nian and Xue Fuyao confronted the Bright Light Sect over its attack on their lodgings and let the Yuanji Sect disciples beat the responsible sects’ members in place of tomorrow’s competition. They learned the other factions had fled, while Shadow Six had blocked their pleas for help, and the group set out for the remaining Wushen Sect.

• Xue Fuyao bound Bright Light Sect disciples who tried to flee and used them to lead the group to the sect’s lodgings.
• Gu Nian warned Elder Guangming that the Yuanji Sect would retaliate unless the Bright Light Sect let them vent their anger; he stood aside as they beat the disciples without causing lasting injuries.
• Elder Guangming told his disciples to avoid offending the Yuanji Sect, then learned Ming Ming had gone out to discuss how to deal with them and had not returned.
• Xue Fuyao and the others found three more factions had fled, while Wen Ci condemned them for running away.
• Xue Fuyao said the group would go to the Wushen Sect, and revealed that Shadow Six had suppressed its plea for help to the Sky Firmament Sect as well as the other factions’ pleas.

Xue Fuyao and her companions broke into the Wushen Sect, beat the sect members and the three powers hiding there, then returned to their lodgings. The next morning, a mysterious woman in white appeared to Xue Fuyao, prompting her to ask her master who the woman was.

• Xue Fuyao used the golden eye on her forehead to shatter the Wushen Sect's Sect-Guarding Grand Array, while Qi He and Qingyunzi's auras cowed the sect.
• Xue Fuyao and her companions found the three sects that had fled hiding in the Wushen Sect and beat them along with its people.
• Xue Fuyao declined to take anything from the Wushen Sect's treasury, and she later wondered why the Eastern Continent's other powers had not reacted to the commotion.
• The next morning, Xue Fuyao stayed behind while Gu Nian and the others went to the preliminaries, then practiced sword techniques in the courtyard.
• A veiled woman in white appeared and said Xue Fuyao reminded her of her master, but Xue Fuyao refused to hear her story and asked her master through a Communication Talisman who she was.

Xue Fuyao learned why Dong Chanyi held a grudge against her master, Xie Yichu, and discovered that she and her master cultivated the true ruthless Dao. After warning her senior uncles about Dong Chanyi, Xue Fuyao told Jiang Xuan that the sect’s One Qi Transforms into Three Pure Ones method was incomplete and its first half had been lost.

• Xue Fuyao asked Xie Yichu about Dong Chanyi, and Xie Yichu explained that Dong had tried to make her fall in love before killing her to perfect her ruthless Dao.
• Xie Yichu revealed that she and Xue Fuyao cultivated the true ruthless Dao, then warned Xue Fuyao to stay away from Dong Chanyi because the past had left Dong with a heart demon.
• Xue Fuyao told Qi He and Qingyunzi that Dong Chanyi had visited, and they warned her to avoid going anywhere alone because the Piaomiao Holy Land might target her.
• Jiang Xuan asked Xue Fuyao to help her learn One Qi Transforms into Three Pure Ones, but Xue Fuyao explained that the sect had banned the incomplete method and that its missing first half had been stolen.