Chapter Summaries

Xue Fuyao discovered that the Xue Clan’s formation inheritance was hidden in the dragon throne and began studying the bamboo scrolls. She shared information about other inheritance sites with her allies, while Shadow Fifty and Shadow Thirty-Six set out to pursue the formation inheritance.

• Xue Fuyao returned to the inn and stripped the gold from the dragon throne, revealing a smaller, shabby chair assembled from short wooden sections.
• Xue Fuyao used her golden eye to reveal that the sections were bamboo scrolls containing the Xue Clan’s formation inheritance and a method for inscribing formations onto discs.
• Xue Fuyao studied the inheritance and sent her allies information about it, along with locations suspected of holding other inheritances.
• Shadow Fifty and Shadow Thirty-Six expressed interest in the formation inheritance, and Xue Fuyao explained its trial and warned them to contact her if they needed help.

Xueheng and Zhang Xueyan were sent to the Mortal Realm by the Zhang Family head under the pretext of a mission, while Xue Fuyao arranged help for their escape. Their carriage stopped outside Flowing Cloud City when the horses refused to move, and Xueheng remained unaware that the Soul-Devouring Butterfly Gu had begun to stir.

• The Zhang Family head warned Xueheng and Zhang Xueyan that their Xue Clan bloodlines put them in danger and ordered them to travel to the Mortal Realm to find items stolen from the imperial family.
• Xueheng reassured Zhang Xueyan that the mission might lead them to the Xue Clan Ancestral Lands, then secretly contacted Xue Fuyao.
• Xue Fuyao told Xueheng to use the Soul-Devouring Butterfly Gu against the escorts and promised to send someone to help when they left the city.
• Xueheng and Zhang Xueyan set out from Flowing Cloud City with their escorts, but no attackers appeared along the road.
• The carriage abruptly stopped when the horses refused to move, while the Soul-Devouring Butterfly Gu on Xueheng quivered unnoticed.

Xue Fuyao rescued Xueheng from the Zhang Family’s pursuit using a swarm of gu worms, then reunited with him and took him to the Yunlan Merchant Guild. She hinted that she had poisoned the Zhang Family’s residence and planned to act the next day.

• Xue Fuyao’s Red Earth Worm Swarm attacked the group, while a gu worm larva swallowed Xueheng and carried him away.
• Xue Fuyao recalled the swarm, made the larva spit out Xueheng, and healed the burns left by its digestive fluid.
• Xueheng met the masked Xue Fuyao and recognized that their eyes were almost identical; she told him he was wearing the Crown Prince’s old clothes.
• Xue Fuyao said she had poisoned the Zhang Family’s kitchen, well, and other places, and confirmed that her targets were at the residence.
• Xue Fuyao erased the traces of their stay and took Xueheng to a private suite at the Yunlan Merchant Guild, where he questioned her choice of lodging.

Xue Fuyao used the Zhang Family Ancestor as a puppet to make him slaughter the Zhang Family and then kill himself. After leaving Flowing Cloud City with Xueheng, she parted ways with him and continued toward the Yuanji Sect, stopping at a village to rest.

• Xue Fuyao ordered the Zhang Family Ancestor, whom she had turned into a puppet, to kill himself after he massacred the Zhang Family estate.
• Xue Fuyao told Xueheng what she had done as they passed the Zhang Family estate and saw guards removing corpses.
• Xue Fuyao and Xueheng left Flowing Cloud City, and she gave him valuables and two butterfly gu to protect him and let him contact her.
• Xueheng chose to travel alone rather than join a sect or follow Xue Fuyao.
• Xue Fuyao set out for the Yuanji Sect to cultivate in seclusion, then stopped at a village to rest with Xiao Yan.

Xue Fuyao entered Rockpile Village and recognized the place from a mysterious disappearance she remembered from her previous life. She killed the men threatening the villagers and asked what they had come to do, leaving their purpose unrevealed.

• Xue Fuyao recalled that Rockpile Village had once vanished overnight and suspected its residents might have left willingly, though the truth had never been discovered.
• Xue Fuyao entered the village disguised as a young male cultivator, where she found its residents gathered in fear before a blue-robed man and his companions.
• The blue-robed man signaled a companion to kill Xue Fuyao, but she struck first and killed him.
• Xue Fuyao sent Shattered Star against the blue-robed man and his companions, killing the others and leaving the leader barely alive.
• The villagers knelt and begged for mercy, and Xue Fuyao asked what the men had come to do.

After killing the green-robed man, Xue Fuyao followed Yueyue into Stone Mountain to find the Spirit Vein, but discovered the girl had led her toward a trap. Searching for the formation’s core, Xue Fuyao found a clearing where five drained men surrounded a young man, suggesting a snake demon was nearby.

• Xue Fuyao killed the green-robed man and demanded that the villagers reveal the Spirit Vein’s location.
• Yueyue promised to lead Xue Fuyao to the Spirit Vein if she spared the village, then guided her up Stone Mountain to a concealed cave.
• Xue Fuyao detected a trapping formation in the cave, left Yueyue behind, and flew above Stone Mountain to locate its natural Spirit-Locking Formation.
• Xue Fuyao found the formation’s core and dropped her disguise, then searched the surrounding forest for the concealed clearing.
• Xue Fuyao spotted five muscular men whose yang energy had been drained surrounding a young man in an indigo robe, and suspected a snake demon was nearby.

Xue Fuyao discovered Jimo Xiubai captive to a snake demon who was trying to force him into dual cultivation. She intervened with Shattered Star and the Black Mandala, leaving the wounded demon facing an unfamiliar curse.

• A burly man poured water over Jimo Xiubai, and Xue Fuyao recognized him beneath his wet hair.
• The snake woman restrained Jimo Xiubai and tried to make him drink from her flask so she could force him into dual cultivation.
• Jimo Xiubai killed a burly man with a sudden attack, while the snake woman used the corpse as a shield and continued to pursue him.
• Xue Fuyao saw Jimo Xiubai's pleading look and struck the snake woman with Shattered Star and the Black Mandala.
• Jimo Xiubai broke free and escaped as the snake woman was wounded and began transforming; Xue Fuyao prepared to test the Black Mandala's Darkness Withering curse.

Xue Fuyao killed the Snake Woman and rescued Jimo Xiubai, who explained how the Snake Demon Ancestor’s possession and abduction had unfolded. They discovered that the rocky mountain’s Spirit-Locking Formation had been deliberately created, and Xue Fuyao wondered whether the Snake Woman had come for it.

• The Snake Woman and her four guards were consumed by black mandala flowers that Xue Fuyao had caused to bloom.
• Xue Fuyao emerged from hiding and comforted Jimo Xiubai after he recovered from his shock.
• Jimo Xiubai told Xue Fuyao that the Snake Woman had abducted him while he was hunting the Snake Demon Ancestor, who had possessed a rogue cultivator.
• Xue Fuyao realized that in her previous life the Snake Demon Ancestor had possessed Jimo Xiubai and later used that opportunity to slaughter the Jimo Household.
• Jimo Xiubai revealed that the Spirit-Locking Formation beneath the rocky mountain had been deliberately made, and Xue Fuyao asked if the Snake Woman had come for it.

Xue Fuyao and Jimo Xiubai broke the Spirit-Locking Formation and discovered a hidden underground palace belonging to an ancient Snake King. They followed its murals deeper inside and found evidence that the palace dated back at least ten thousand years.

• Xue Fuyao healed Jimo Xiubai, and he told her that the snake woman had mentioned something sealed beneath the rocky mountain.
• Xue Fuyao and Jimo Xiubai worked together to break the deteriorating Spirit-Locking Formation.
• The ground split open, and Jimo Xiubai and Xue Fuyao jumped into the fissure.
• Xue Fuyao used a Soul-Refining Pearl to light their surroundings, revealing Snake Script and murals that recorded a Snake King's history.
• Xue Fuyao identified the clothing depicted in later murals as at least ten thousand years old, exciting Jimo Xiubai.

Xue Fuyao and Jimo Xiubai explored an ancient underground palace and pried its wall reliefs loose to sell. As they worked, Jimo Xiubai told her about the Central Continent’s Demon Race and its Rabbit, Guinea Pig, and Chinchilla Tribes, leaving them still gathering the reliefs.

• Xue Fuyao and Jimo Xiubai searched the underground palace for treasure but found nothing.
• Jimo Xiubai suggested prying the wall reliefs loose to sell, and Xue Fuyao agreed to split the proceeds.
• While collecting the reliefs, Xue Fuyao said Elder Lingmu would take her to the Central Continent Convention, and Jimo Xiubai proposed selling the slabs there.
• Jimo Xiubai explained that the Rabbit, Guinea Pig, and Chinchilla Tribes had fled the Demon Race and settled in the Central Continent.
• Xue Fuyao admired the rabbits’ red eyes, and Jimo Xiubai described their grudges, rapid breeding, and the measures humans had taken to curb their population.

Xue Fuyao and Jimo Xiubai discovered that the murals in the underground palace showed the Snake-Demon Clan’s lost Sacrificial Dance, and decided to forge altered copies to sell to the snake demons. They activated a formation to age the fakes, and the murals began to fade and grow mottled.

• Xue Fuyao and Jimo Xiubai found an altar covered in murals depicting the Snake-Demon Clan’s lost Sacrificial Dance.
• Jimo Xiubai proposed forging copies of the murals and selling them to the wealthy snake demons, and Xue Fuyao suggested destroying the originals and altering the dance poses.
• Xue Fuyao memorized the murals before she and Jimo Xiubai erased the originals and spent five days painting an altered set.
• Xue Fuyao set up a formation while Jimo Xiubai refined the fake murals, and they activated the formation to make them appear old.
• The formation accelerated the growth and decay of a blade of grass, and the murals began to lose their vivid colors and grow mottled.

After recovering treasures and dividing up the Sacrificial Dance murals, Xue Fuyao visited Nanshan Town, where people in her previous life had betrayed her to the Zhang Family. An old woman came to beg her to take in her son, and Xue Fuyao’s question about his lack of a spiritual root provoked an angry response.

• Xue Fuyao and Jimo Xiubai found a bloodline bead and a blue crystal crown, then destroyed the underground palace and divided the Sacrificial Dance murals.
• Jimo Xiubai promised to build interest in the murals so Xue Fuyao could sell her remaining pieces at a higher price.
• Xue Fuyao traveled to Nanshan Town, remembering that its residents had exposed her to the Zhang Family in her previous life.
• Xue Fuyao declined to stay at the town’s shabby inn and chose to camp outside instead.
• An old woman and her sturdy son begged Xue Fuyao to take the boy as a servant, but she questioned how he could cultivate without a spiritual root.
• The old woman angrily insisted that her son was a great talent who would blossom late, according to a fortune-teller.

Xue Fuyao killed the people of Nanshan Town with her gu butterflies, then burned the deserted town and left feeling that her cultivation had become smoother. In Colorless City, she met Zuo Ming, Shen Green-Clad, and Bai Ruoyi, and learned about a bounty to cure the city lord’s youngest son.

• Xue Fuyao rejected a mother’s request to accept her son as a disciple and sent gu butterflies after those she blamed for betraying her in her previous life.
• By dawn, the gu butterflies had returned after killing the people of Nanshan Town, and Xue Fuyao set the deserted town on fire before leaving.
• Riding Xiao Yan, Xue Fuyao reached Colorless City and took a seat at its most luxurious restaurant.
• Zuo Ming arrived with Shen Green-Clad and Bai Ruoyi, shared Xue Fuyao’s table, and introduced himself and his companions.
• Shen Green-Clad and Bai Ruoyi told Xue Fuyao that the city lord had offered more than ten thousand upper-grade spirit stones to anyone who could cure his youngest son; Xue Fuyao declined to try.

Xue Fuyao discovered that the Colorless City Lord’s replacement stalls formed part of a Sacrificial Formation and learned through an assassin’s memories that the lord planned to sacrifice stall owners and cultivators to save his youngest son. The chapter ended with the revelation that a mysterious Reclusive Expert had awakened the poisoned boy, earning the City Lord’s trust.

• Xue Fuyao left her new acquaintances and noticed the City Lord replacing vendors’ stalls for free.
• Xue Fuyao mapped the new stalls and realized their arrangement around the City Lord’s Mansion resembled a formation.
• Assassins attacked Xue Fuyao, who killed them all but one and used the Soul-Searching Art on the survivor.
• Xue Fuyao learned that the Colorless City Lord planned to use the stall owners and cultivators as sacrifices in a formation.
• Xue Fuyao discovered that the City Lord sought to save his youngest son, who had been poisoned by a black snake, and trusted a Reclusive Expert after the man appeared to revive him.

Xue Fuyao discovered that the formation in Colorless City was an extraction formation, not a sacrificial formation, and suspected the expert had deceived the City Lord's Mansion. She secretly warned the city by distributing maps and tampering with the formation, then left as visiting cultivators uncovered the plot and moved to stop it.

• Xue Fuyao learned from the memory that the expert had persuaded the lord of Colorless City and his wife to sacrifice others' lifespans to save their son, then questioned the expert's motives.
• After marking the remaining stalls, Xue Fuyao recognized the completed formation as something other than a sacrificial formation and decided the expert was likely using the City Lord's Mansion for her own ends.
• Xue Fuyao copied the formation map onto over a thousand bamboo slips, scattered them around Colorless City, and subtly sabotaged the formation before leaving.
• Visiting cultivators gathered around the slips, and Physician Li identified the formation as an extraction formation capable of draining cultivation, blood essence, lifespan, bloodlines, and spirit bodies.
• The cultivators reported the City Lord's Mansion to their sects, then armed themselves to destroy the formation nodes and confront the lord of Colorless City.
• People whose stalls were smashed began to understand the warning as the cultivators explained the plot, and their confidence in the City Lord's Mansion faltered.

The furious residents of Colorless City confronted Wu Xiao over his failed lifespan-extraction scheme, and he died without revealing the mysterious being who had manipulated him. Elsewhere, Xue Fuyao witnessed that being possess a little boy and realized the Demon-Suppressing Bracelet was drawn to it.

• The crowd found Wu Xiao waiting alone in the deserted City Lord's Mansion and demanded answers about the formation that would drain their lifespans.
• Wu Xiao admitted he had acted to save his five-year-old son, begged the crowd to spare his family, and refused to identify the expert behind the plan.
• The furious crowd hacked Wu Xiao to death while he made no resistance.
• By a stream, Xue Fuyao hid as Nan Xue brought a fainting boy to a male cultivator, whose body collapsed after black smoke left it and entered the boy.
• The possessed boy cursed the failure of his plans, and Xue Fuyao recognized the body possession as the Demon-Suppressing Bracelet stirred toward the black smoke.

Xue Fuyao captured a weasel who had possessed the Colorless City Lord’s youngest son, then searched his belongings and memories. She learned that the Snake Clan had split into hostile factions and was still embroiled in civil war.

• Xue Fuyao bound the child-shaped weasel with the Immortal-Binding Rope and searched his Storage Bag, finding Spirit Stones, ores, and Snake Brocade.
• Xue Fuyao used the Soul-Searching Art on the weasel and discovered that he was a Weasel Demon Cultivator who had repeatedly possessed other bodies.
• Xue Fuyao learned that the weasel had stolen treasures during the Snake Clan Civil War and later possessed the Colorless City Lord’s youngest son.
• Xue Fuyao discovered that the Snake Clan had split into factions that continued fighting despite appearing to coexist peacefully.

Xue Fuyao uncovered the Snake Clan’s secret about the Dragon Gate, then hurried back to Yuanji Sect after Gu Nian warned that someone had come to seek her master as a disciple. She arrived at the sect and headed for Green Bamboo Peak, determined not to show how uneasy she felt.

• Xue Fuyao learned from the weasel’s memories that the Snake Clan was fighting over the Dragon Gate, a divine artifact said to transform any creature that crossed it into a True Dragon.
• Xue Fuyao cleaned and inspected the scaly Storage Bag she had found, kept it, and spent the night meditating in the wilderness.
• Gu Nian urgently told Xue Fuyao that a woman from the Central Continent had come to become her master’s disciple.
• Xue Fuyao rode Xiao Yan back toward Yuanji Sect and had him fly through the sky to travel faster.
• Xue Fuyao passed through Yuanji Sect’s Mountain-Guarding Grand Array, greeted the gate guards, and headed to Green Bamboo Peak after notifying Gu Nian of her return.

Xue Fuyao confronted Wenqin and the young woman accompanying her, then complained to Xie Yichu that he should not accept the woman as his disciple. Xie Yichu promised that Xue Fuyao would remain his only disciple, and Xiao Fansheng agreed to turn Miss Feng down.

• Xue Fuyao knocked Wenqin to the ground after Wenqin insulted her upbringing, then argued with the young woman in the goose-yellow ruqun.
• Xue Fuyao recognized the young woman as the prime minister’s granddaughter from the Central Continent and went to lodge a complaint with her master.
• Gu Nian said Miss Feng had persisted in pursuing Xiao Fansheng despite his refusal and suspected she wanted to become Xie Yichu’s wife rather than his disciple.
• Xue Fuyao told Xie Yichu that Miss Feng had let her maid insult her and would bully her if accepted as a disciple.
• Xiao Fansheng agreed to turn Miss Feng down, and Xie Yichu reassured Xue Fuyao that she would remain his only disciple.

Xiao Fansheng refused Qin Mengwan’s request to become Xie Yichu’s disciple and placed her with Changqingzi at Pill Peak, warning her against relationships between masters and disciples. Qin Mengwan accepted the arrangement and asked him to save her gravely injured maid, while Xiao explained that Xue Fuyao had only taught the maid a lesson.

• Xie Yichu told Xiao Fansheng to return to his sect duties, so Xiao went to meet Qin Mengwan at the foot of Green Bamboo Peak.
• Xiao told Qin Mengwan that Xie Yichu would take no more disciples and offered to find her another master or let her return home.
• Qin Mengwan agreed to become Changqingzi’s disciple at Pill Peak, and Xiao warned her that master-disciple romances were forbidden in the Yuanji Sect.
• Qin Mengwan asked Xiao to save her wounded maid, and he directed her to take the maid to Qingyunzi for treatment.
• Xiao told Qin Mengwan that Xue Fuyao had not used her full strength and ordered her to keep the maid cautious in her words and actions.