Recaps

After Liu Ci struck down the Profound Yin Ancestor, Green Mountain's sword formation searched the East Sea coast while the wounded ancestor escaped. Zhao Layue pursued Yin San and confronted him, leaving their clash unresolved as they argued about cultivation, personal Dao, and hotpot.

• Liu Ci pierced the Profound Yin Ancestor, who escaped by replacing his body with black powder, and Green Mountain's sword formation searched the coast for him.
• The sword intent passed Fruitful Accomplishment Temple and Water-Moon Convent, suppressing evil beings as the temple's monks fought a fire caused by the Ancestor's burning essence blood.
• Yin San left Chenghua Hall, and Zhao Layue pursued him while the white cat stayed behind on the eave.
• Zhao Layue chased Yin San more than seventy li to a banyan tree, where he played the Bone Flute and revealed that he could read her thoughts.
• Yin San criticized Zhao Layue for becoming like Jing Jiu, but she said she still loved hotpot and explained that Jing Jiu respected her own Dao.

Zhao Layue pursued Yin San while Jing Jiu faced Monk Du Hai’s ambush at Fruitful Accomplishment Temple. After hearing the explosions that signaled Jing Jiu’s peril, Zhao Layue began a dangerous breakthrough in flight and cut her hair short with her Sword Intent.

• Yin San revealed himself as True Person Taiping, while Zhao Layue kept him in sight and delayed him.
• Monk Du Hai used the Self-Sacrifice Technique and the Prajna World Palm against Jing Jiu, but the Divine Emperor struck Du Hai and began treating Jing Jiu’s injuries.
• Yin San told Zhao Layue that no one could help her escape the pursuit, but she saw through his attempt to make her give up.
• Zhao Layue began breaking through while pursuing Yin San, forcing her Sword Essence onward despite the danger of losing control of her Sword Pellet.
• Zhao Layue used her Sword Intent to cut off her hair, leaving it in a short style as she continued after Yin San.

Zhao Layue completed her breakthrough to Wandering the Wilds, Middle Stage, and joined Liu S sui in pursuing Yin San across the wilderness. As the New Year arrived, the chase continued beneath a sky filled with fireworks.

• Yin San struck Zhao Layue as she pursued him, but the blow helped her complete her breakthrough to Wandering the Wilds, Middle Stage.
• Zhao Layue attacked Yin San with the Nine Deaths Sword Art, but his Bone Flute wounded her and withstood her sword.
• Liu S sui arrived on the Nondual Sword and joined Zhao Layue, learning that Yin San intended to kill Jing Jiu.
• Liu S sui learned that Yin San was his grandmaster, True Person Taiping, but focused on persuading him to follow Jing Jiu's arrangements.
• Zhao Layue and Liu S sui pursued Yin San across the plains as night fell and fireworks marked the arrival of the New Year.

Zhao Layue and Liu S sui pursued Yin San for three days, but he escaped into the Turtle Shell hidden in a town beside Great Marsh. There, Emperor Xiao treated Yin San’s deteriorating body and warned that it could last only three more years, while Profound Yin Ancestor remained gravely injured.

• Yin San fought off Zhao Layue and Liu S sui throughout their pursuit, repeatedly abandoning chances to kill them because they coordinated their desperate attacks.
• Yin San reached a town beside Great Marsh and disappeared into a smithy that Zhao Layue and Liu S sui could not find with their detection methods.
• Zhao Layue concluded that someone in the town was helping Yin San, and Liu S sui recognized it as the place associated with the Sword Evader and the Turtle Shell.
• Yin San entered the Turtle Shell garden and met Emperor Xiao, a surviving blood descendant of the Former Imperial Dynasty.
• Emperor Xiao cut away Yin San’s rotting flesh and stitched his wounds, then warned that Yin San’s body would last no more than three years.
• Yin San inspected the gravely wounded Profound Yin Ancestor, whose body Emperor Xiao was treating by replacing his blood.

The Divine Emperor explained True Person Taiping’s long history of schemes and his conflict with Jingyang, while Jing Jiu lay gravely injured after Monk Du Hai’s attack. The chapter ended with the revelation that Taiping had tried to take the Previous Divine Emperor’s body and had been imprisoned by Jingyang.

• Yin San told Emperor Xiao that Jing Jiu was unlikely to survive, then reflected on his own decaying body and questioned whether Jing Jiu’s way had been right.
• Zhao Layue and Liu S sui returned to Fruitful Accomplishment Temple and found Jing Jiu gravely injured, with the Divine Emperor suppressing his wounds.
• Zhao Layue pierced Monk Du Hai’s meridian, forcing him to explain that he had waited for Jing Jiu to be isolated before attacking him on True Person Taiping’s orders.
• The Divine Emperor revealed Taiping’s history, including his rise at Green Mountain, his schemes during the world’s upheavals, and his later return as the Abbot of Fruitful Accomplishment Temple.
• The Divine Emperor said Taiping had tried to possess the Previous Divine Emperor’s body and return to Chaoge City, but Jingyang had stopped him and imprisoned him in the Green Mountain Sword Prison.

Monk Du Hai explained why he had followed True Person Taiping before dying, while Jing Jiu remained unconscious under the threat of the Immortal Register. As Zhao Layue and Liu S sui waited for help, Zhao Layue understood that she had to choose her own path, and Little Lotus saw a familiar young man arrive at Fruitful Accomplishment Temple.

• Monk Du Hai told Zhao Layue and Liu S sui that True Person Taiping would prove his own beliefs, then died after explaining why he had followed him.
• Zhao Layue and the Divine Emperor realized that the Immortal Register’s remaining Immortal Sense threatened to keep Jing Jiu asleep until it killed him.
• Zhuo Rusui tried to contain the Immortal Qi with his sword intent but was blasted from the Chan Room, and Zhao Layue also failed to stop it with her Acquired Formless Sword Body.
• While waiting for the Sect Master True Person, Zhao Layue told Liu S sui about her origins and recognized that she had to disregard Jing Jiu’s intentions to become wholly herself.
• Little Lotus waited outside Fruitful Accomplishment Temple and recognized a young man approaching its gates.

Tong Yan brought the Azure Sky Mirror to Fruitful Accomplishment Temple, where Qing'er used Jing Jiu’s immortal qi to stabilize herself and entered his body. After the Zhongzhou Sect declared Tong Yan a traitor and called for his death, he prepared to leave the temple with the mirror.

• Little Lotus brought Tong Yan to Zhao Layue, and the Divine Emperor allowed him to see Jing Jiu.
• Tong Yan revealed the Azure Sky Mirror, and the Divine Emperor melted the ice sealing it so Qing'er could emerge.
• Qing'er found immortal qi in Jing Jiu’s hand, absorbed it to stabilize her spirit body, and then entered Jing Jiu’s body.
• Liu Ci learned that Jing Jiu’s condition had stabilized and turned back from the East Sea.
• Qilin discovered that the Azure Sky Mirror had been stolen from Yunmeng Mountain and howled in fury; Bai Zao was revealed as the author of the letter that redirected Tong Yan.
• The Zhongzhou Sect declared Tong Yan a traitor and urged righteous cultivators to kill him, so Tong Yan wrapped the Azure Sky Mirror and left toward the temple gates.

Jing Jiu woke after refining the Immortal Register, learned of the danger looming at the Snowfield, and reflected on his confrontation with Yin San. Still badly injured, he traveled to Water-Moon Convent, where golden light filled Guo Dong’s Quiet Room and spring arrived.

• Tong Yan left Fruitful Accomplishment Temple without Green Mountain disciples intervening, while Zhao Layue and Liu S sui waited for Jing Jiu to wake.
• Jing Jiu woke nine days after Zhuo Rusui left with the white cat, described his dream, and learned that Zen Child and Cao Yuan were watching the conflict between the Snow Nation Queen and her child.
• Jing Jiu replayed his confrontation with Yin San on a Go board, then promised Zhao Layue he would comb her hair once his injured hand healed.
• Jing Jiu sent Liu S sui to One-Thatch Studio to resolve his true-qi conflict and told him not to worry about being expelled from Green Mountain.
• Jing Jiu boarded the empty Green-Curtain Sedan and traveled to Water-Moon Convent, telling Zhao Layue he would wait for her at Divine End Peak.
• Jing Jiu entered Guo Dong’s Quiet Room through its round window, and golden light spread as spring came to Water-Moon Convent.

Jing Jiu used the Immortal Register’s immortal qi to heal Guo Dong, then returned to Green Mountain and gave Universe Edge to Gu Qing while facing his own severe hand injury. As he settled into seclusion, he considered the growing web of troubles around him and reconciled with the white cat, which admitted it had been too afraid to act.

• The immortal qi from the refined Immortal Register healed Guo Dong and caused the Water-Moon Convent’s surroundings and the Heavenly Access Well’s wards to flare with power.
• Jing Jiu visited the Heavenly Access Well, considered the Zhongzhou Sect’s remaining Immortal Registers, and decided he could not yet give Universe Edge to Gu Qing.
• Jing Jiu returned to Green Mountain and gave Universe Edge to Gu Qing, telling him to become familiar with it even though he might borrow it for a few more years.
• Zhao Layue returned to Green Mountain and asked Jing Jiu what he would do about his deformed right hand; he said he would go into seclusion to find a solution.
• Jing Jiu meditated on his injuries and the many problems demanding his attention, then heard the white cat apologize for being too afraid to act.
• Jing Jiu told the white cat he understood and admitted he was afraid of dying too, then let it settle on his lap and rubbed its head.

Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue recovered and cultivated on Sword Peak, where he revealed that Green Mountain’s swords originated from the peak itself. After half a year, the Green Mountain Sword Formation began activating, and Jing Jiu asked Zhao Layue whether she had heard of a sword technique that descended from the heavens.

• Jing Jiu healed his Sword Pellet and arm bones in a pool of liquefied spirit stones, but his deformed right hand remained damaged.
• Jing Jiu took Zhao Layue to Cloud-Traveling Peak and explained that heaven and earth had formed Sword Peak, where Green Mountain’s first sword had arisen and countless swords continued to be born.
• Jing Jiu sent Universe Edge into the cliff to nurture it, then he and Zhao Layue sat in hollows on Sword Peak to heal his injuries and stabilize her cultivation.
• Half a year later, a young disciple climbed Cloud-Traveling Peak, mistook Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue for stone remains, and fled when the peak shook.
• Green Mountain elders gathered as the mist dispersed and the Sword Formation began activating; Zhao Layue asked Jing Jiu what was happening, and he asked whether she had heard of a sword technique descending from the heavens.

Yin San and the Profound Yin Ancestor tracked down Heaven Near Person in his hidden undersea cave, where Heaven Near Person and the Old Ancestor tried to trap and kill Yin San. The Old Ancestor instead struck Heaven Near Person while the Green Mountain Sword Formation and the Western Sea Sword God clashed overhead, and Yin San took control of Heaven Near Person’s divine soul before escaping with his loyal companion.

• Yin San and the Profound Yin Ancestor followed a map from Haizhou City to a concealed passage beneath a remote island and opened its bronze door.
• Yin San saw through Heaven Near Person’s illusions, revealed the dry cave abode, and demanded answers from the former head of White Deer Academy.
• Heaven Near Person drew Yin San’s divine soul into his own and called on the Profound Yin Ancestor to attack, claiming Yin San was already linked to him.
• The Profound Yin Ancestor struck Heaven Near Person instead, while the Green Mountain Sword Formation and the Western Sea Sword God kept each other occupied overhead.
• Yin San took control of Heaven Near Person’s divine soul, praised the Profound Yin Ancestor, and fled with him to the fields, where the Old Ancestor declared his loyalty.

Yin San exposed Profound Yin Ancestor’s scheme and continued toward an unknown destination with Heaven Near Person in his custody. At Green Mountain, Jing Jiu took Zhao Layue into the Sword Prison, where they discovered that Taiping had severed his own arm to forge a flying sword.

• Yin San revealed that he had known about Profound Yin Ancestor’s trap, warned the Ancestor not to betray him again, and left with Heaven Near Person.
• The Green Mountain Sword Formation stirred and then quieted after its target disappeared, while Jing Jiu suspected his senior brother had used it against Jian Xilai.
• Jing Jiu, troubled by his badly damaged right hand and the threat of his escaped senior brother, decided to take Zhao Layue to Shangde Peak.
• Jing Jiu introduced Zhao Layue to Corpse Dog in the depths of Shangde Peak, and Zhao Layue considered keeping a dog on Divine End Peak.
• Jing Jiu led Zhao Layue through the Sword Prison to Taiping’s cell, where they found his skeleton and the severed right arm he had turned into a flying sword.

Su Ziye met Bai Zao in Guiyun City and sought her help arranging a meeting with True Persons Tan and Bai over the Western Sea Sword Sect’s spirit vein. On Green Mountain, a council questioned Shangde Peak about Liu Sui’s appearance, while Jing Jiu chose Ping Yongjia as a disciple and left Divine End Peak before Yuan Qijing’s Three Feet Sword arrived.

• Su Ziye revealed his identity to Bai Zao and said he wanted the Profound Yin Sect to receive the Western Sea Sword Sect’s spirit vein after its destruction.
• Bai Zao questioned Su Ziye about Tong Yan and the events at Fruitful Accomplishment Temple, but he refused to discuss what he did not know.
• Gu Qing reported that Liu Sui had been seen at Fruitful Accomplishment Temple, prompting Green Mountain to summon a council about him.
• At the council, Zhuo Rusui argued that Shangde Peak should explain Liu Sui’s appearance, and Chi Yan promised an explanation.
• Yuan Qijing sent the Three Feet Sword to Divine End Peak, but Yuan Qu said Jing Jiu had already left.
• Gu Qing found Ping Yongjia at Sword-Washing Creek and brought him to Divine End Peak after confirming Jing Jiu wanted him as a disciple.

Jing Jiu searched for a way to heal his deformed right hand and found a piece of demon bone in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Back at the Jing Residence, he used the bone to sharpen his sword, and a crying girl discovered what he was doing.

• Jing Jiu searched for Emperor Xiao at Great Marsh and asked to borrow his turtle shell, but Emperor Xiao refused, so Jing Jiu left when a Great Marsh expert approached.
• Jing Jiu traveled north for more than ten days, searching caves and mines for a way to heal his injury without success.
• Jing Jiu asked the Duke of Lu to take him into the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, where he dug up a piece of demon bone buried beneath purple flowers.
• Jing Jiu returned to the Jing Residence and rubbed his deformed right arm against the demon bone, using it as a whetstone to sharpen his sword.
• A girl who had been crying looked through the study window, saw Jing Jiu working on his arm, and asked if he was sanding off his skin.

Jing Jiu spent three days grinding a demon bone to improve his sword understanding and rehabilitate his injured arm, while a girl from the Jing household visited him and asked for his help with her marriage to Jing Li. After finishing the bone, he looked for another whetstone and gave the Duke of Lu the bone powder to drink for his health.

• A girl watched Jing Jiu grind demon bone, mistook the glittering powder for face powder, and asked him for some.
• Jing Shang returned to the Jing Residence and invited Jing Jiu to eat; Jing Jiu told Jing Li that his progress was slow and suggested he could go to Green Mountain.
• Jing Jiu ground the demon bone without stopping for three days and nights, gaining new understanding of the Sword Dao.
• The girl brought Jing Jiu tea, revealed that she knew he was Immortal Master Jing Jiu, and heard him tell her to report to Jing Li that he had drunk her tea.
• In early autumn, Jing Jiu finished grinding the demon bone and examined his still-imperfect right arm.
• Jing Jiu used Universe Edge to summon the Duke of Lu and gave him the bone powder to drink with strong tea.

Jing Jiu visited the palace, declined to meet Jing Yao, and left the Duke of Lu to manage the court’s suspicions about Green Mountain. At the Duke’s Residence, the Lu family drank tea mixed with powdered Great Demon bone, and Lu Ming’s wife felt a strange warmth as she knelt before the duke.

• Jing Jiu told the Duke of Lu that killing Jing Xin or sending him to Fruitful Accomplishment Temple would resolve the political pressure, then agreed to visit the emperor after approving the return of the Gold Leaves to Young Master Li.
• Jing Jiu drank tea with the Divine Emperor, discussed his injured hand, and left the palace without meeting Jing Yao or Consort Hu.
• The Duke of Lu told Lu Ming that the court had misunderstood the alliance with Green Mountain and praised Jing Jiu’s act of seeming ignorant of the Curtain Rollers’ role.
• The Duke of Lu gathered his family after Aunt Chi and the servants had left, and Lu Ming and his wife served everyone tea containing powdered Great Demon bone.
• The Duke of Lu told the family the tea’s benefits would emerge over time, and Lu Ming’s wife felt warmth between her brows before suddenly kneeling before him.

After leaving Chaoge City, Jing Jiu traveled into Cold Mountain to seek demon bones that could help heal his right hand. He entered the Netherworld through a hidden lake passage and bored through the earth, where he emerged beside an Evil Sect cultivator and damaged the cultivator’s law treasure.

• Young Madam Lu asked the Duke of Lu to persuade the Jing Household to stop Li from meeting her niece, Little Seven.
• Jing Jiu walked northwest from Chaoge City and kept more than a thousand li away from the Snowfield.
• After meditating beside a wild lake in Cold Mountain, Jing Jiu entered an underground passage connected to Soul-Gathering Valley.
• Jing Jiu traveled through the rock using his right hand as a sword and broke into a cavern more than ten li underground.
• Jing Jiu picked up and scorched an Evil Sect law treasure, prompting its owner to shout at him.

Jing Jiu took the evil cultivator’s Life-bound Law Treasure by sending it into a distant space, then escaped a lava trap and killed the cultivator. He left the cavern after scattering the man’s remains into the lava.

• Jing Jiu used sword intent to fend off the evil cultivator’s vengeful spirits and sent his Life-bound Law Treasure to the space where Cold Cicada watched it.
• The evil cultivator pursued Jing Jiu and triggered a formation that collapsed the cavern, apparently burying him in lava.
• Jing Jiu burst through the lava and a demonic artifact’s red jade barrier, then seized the evil cultivator’s wrists and wounded him.
• Jing Jiu’s Universe Edge cut off the evil cultivator’s head, and he used sword intent to fragment the body and send the remains into the lava.

Jing Jiu recovered from killing an Evil Cultivator, destroyed the spirits trapped in the man’s Law Treasure, and continued underground in search of Demon Bones. He found that tens of thousands of years had reduced the battlefield’s enormous skeletons to dust, then returned to the lava river to contemplate eternity.

• Jing Jiu replenished his Sword Essence and reflected on how his calculations had secured the Evil Cultivator’s death.
• Jing Jiu examined the scale Law Treasure, ground it down over several days, and released the Vengeful Souls and Yin Spirits trapped inside.
• Jing Jiu used Universe Edge and a passage of Buddhist scripture to destroy the Yin Spirits and release the Vengeful Souls before continuing deeper underground.
• Jing Jiu reached the ancient battlefield and discovered that the Great Demon skeletons he had sought crumbled into powder at his touch.
• Jing Jiu left the ruined battlefield, returned to the lava river, and calmly considered the passage of time and eternity.

Jing Jiu followed the underground lava river to the Zhongzhou Sect’s seal and pierced it with his sword intent, then summoned the Nether Master. He demanded that the Nether Master choose an heir for the Nether Emperor and proposed that they join forces against Taiping, revealing that he knew the Nether Master was Taiping’s disciple, Little Third.

• Jing Jiu bathed in the lava and drifted along the river, reflecting on his debt to the Nether Emperor and his hesitation to enter the Netherworld.
• Jing Jiu reached the transparent seal beneath Soul-Gathering Valley, softened his damaged index finger in the lava, and pierced the barrier with his sword intent.
• Jing Jiu recovered as a powerful Nether Department figure appeared beyond the seal in response to his summons.
• Jing Jiu identified the figure as the Nether Master and refused to surrender the Nether Emperor’s Seal unless the Nether Master chose a suitable heir to the throne.
• Jing Jiu proposed that the Nether Master join forces with Green Mountain against Taiping and revealed that the Nether Master was Taiping’s disciple, Little Third.

Jing Jiu encountered a mysterious golden carp in the Netherworld after the Nether Master left to consider his request. At Green Mountain’s Sword Inheritance Assembly, Divine End Peak’s appearance sparked a contest over Ping Yongjia, whom Jing Jiu had apparently chosen in advance.

• The Nether Master promised to consider Jing Jiu’s request and told him to wait for news by the Heavenly Access Well in ten years.
• A massive surge of magma struck the transparent wall, and a golden carp emerged and devoured the Nether Master’s lingering shadows.
• The golden carp approached Jing Jiu and asked what he was.
• Ping Yongjia attended Green Mountain’s Sword Inheritance Assembly without a sword, having waited for arrangements after Gu Qing’s letter told him not to fetch one yet.
• Mei Li and Lin Wuzhi both invited Ping Yongjia to inherit their peaks’ swords, and Yuan Qu announced that Jing Jiu had chosen him first.

Ping Yongjia joined Divine End Peak after Gu Qing explained that his climb on Sword Peak revealed exceptional Sword Dao talent, while the Green Mountain disciples faced growing dangers in the North. A powerful presence stirred the Snowfield, and Zen Child ordered the cultivators to retreat as the Blade Sage prepared to face it.

• Ping Yongjia chose Divine End Peak, and Gu Qing told him his height on Sword Peak showed he had great Sword Dao talent before advising him to nurture his intent.
• Guo Nanshan and the Twofold Forgetting Peak Disciples returned from hunting monsters on the Snowfield, while Gu Han argued that Green Mountain should strike the Evil Path forces in Cold Mountain.
• He Zhan emerged from the Snowfield injured, and Se Se asked him to attend Old Madam's birthday celebration before he revealed that he had found Jiang Rui's body.
• Zen Child and the Blade Sage discussed the Snowfield, Cold Mountain, and Taiping before a tremendous earthquake shook White City and the Black Mountains.
• Zen Child sensed a powerful aura in the Snowfield, ordered the cultivators to retreat, and the Blade Sage prepared to fight the approaching threat.

Zen Child pursued the Ice and Snow Queen’s gravely wounded child across the snowfield and used Buddhist rites to drive it back from the human defenses. He returned from the battle carrying a single flake of unusually deep white snow.

• Zen Child investigated the earthquake’s devastation and sensed the Queen’s wounded child hiding among the Snow Worm corpses.
• Zen Child exposed the child’s white-smoke disguise and tried to stop it from escaping southeast toward the human world.
• The human forces prepared to defend White City as Zen Child sat among the corpses and joined the medical monks in chanting sutras for the Queen.
• Zen Child channeled the monks’ enormous golden mirror of light into a beam that struck the child and sent it fleeing into the snowfield.
• Zen Child walked back from the snowfield with a deep-white snowflake resting on his robe.

Zen Child and the Blade Sage discussed the threat posed by the Ice and Snow Queen and her powerful daughter. Deep in Soul-Gathering Valley, Jing Jiu encountered the Fire Carp King, which tried to kill him, and he left the Fire Carp uneasy by revealing Cold Cicada’s hidden ability.

• Zen Child returned to the little temple injured after driving the Ice and Snow Queen’s daughter back into the Snowfield, and he and the Blade Sage discussed the danger of two queens.
• Jing Jiu met the Fire Carp King in the lava beneath Soul-Gathering Valley and learned it guarded the Netherworld passage for the Zhongzhou Sect.
• The Fire Carp King decided to kill Jing Jiu because it believed he was colluding with the Nether Department, and it attacked him with a blast of lava.
• Jing Jiu used the Universe Edge to defend himself, then showed Cold Cicada and claimed it was the most terrifying being in the Snow Nation.
• The Fire Carp King dismissed Cold Cicada as a weak Snow Armored Beetle, but its buzzing made the Fire Carp King sense an unseen threat and ask Jing Jiu to talk.

Jing Jiu negotiated his way out of a confrontation with the Fire Carp and discovered its scales had been used to make an Evil Cultivator’s Law Treasure. After leaving the earth’s core, he emerged at Cold Mountain and began killing the Profound Yin Cult followers searching for him.

• The Fire Carp proposed that Jing Jiu treat its injured back so they could part without fighting, and Jing Jiu removed its damaged scales.
• Jing Jiu recognized the scales as the material used in the Law Treasure he had taken from an Evil Cultivator, then left the Fire Carp and headed toward the surface.
• The Profound Yin Cult searched Cold Mountain for Jing Jiu while its followers chatted through their Law Artifacts.
• Jing Jiu emerged from a hole in the wilderness, and Qiao Shen recognized him and tried to warn the others.
• Jing Jiu killed Qiao Shen and Meng Laosi with the Universe Edge, then continued on his way.