Recaps

At a council on Past Arrival Peak, Green Mountain’s elders argued over Gu Qing’s use of Shiyue Peak’s sword technique, unresolved deaths on Jade Lake Peak, and the mysteries surrounding Jing Jiu. The chapter ended with Chi Yan suspecting Jing Jiu came from Fruitful Accomplishment Temple.

• Several peak masters stayed away from the council because Zhao Layue had become their peer after Divine End Peak reopened.
• Chi Yan announced an investigation into how Gu Qing had learned Shiyue Peak’s Six Dragons Returning Sun technique, while the Shiyue Peak elder urged the peaks to preserve harmony.
• Elder Cheng demanded answers about the deaths of Jade Lake Peak’s Lei Poyun and Junior Brother Zuo, and Chi Yan said Shangde Peak had leads but no certainty.
• The elders questioned Jing Jiu’s origins and how he had brought Junior Brother Mo’s sword down from Sword Peak; Chi Yan said Jing Jiu was from Chaoge City and had no suspicious origins.
• Chi Yan suggested Jing Jiu had played a major role in reopening Divine End Peak, prompting the elders to wonder whether Yuan Qijing had entered the Heaven-Connecting Realm.
• After the elders raised more doubts about Jing Jiu’s cultivation and ascent, Chi Yan said he suspected Jing Jiu came from Fruitful Accomplishment Temple.

Chi Yan and Yuan Qijing discussed suspicions that Jing Jiu had ties to the Fruitful Accomplishment Temple, while Yuan Qijing ordered the investigation into Zuo Yi’s death to continue and criticized the elders for avoiding questions about the Unthought Sword. On Divine End Peak, Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue spoke about secrets and their shared aims, and Zhao Layue tried on one of Jingyang’s robes.

• Chi Yan suggested that Jing Jiu might have come from the Fruitful Accomplishment Temple, citing his family’s hidden imperial connection, the temple’s visit, and his ability to reach Divine End Peak.
• The elders of Green Mountain debated the theory, and the Peak Master of Past Arrival Peak said they would continue raising Jing Jiu regardless.
• Chi Yan told Yuan Qijing that the elders had mostly dismissed his suspicions, and Yuan Qijing ordered him to continue investigating Zuo Yi’s death through Twofold Forgetting Peak.
• Yuan Qijing asked whether anyone had mentioned the Unthought Sword, and Chi Yan said they had not; Yuan Qijing remarked that everyone had a ghost in their heart.
• Zhao Layue asked Jing Jiu whether he was angry about rumors that she had helped him reach the summit, and he said he preferred less trouble.
• Zhao Layue changed into one of Jingyang’s robes, and the Unthought Sword shortened its sleeves and hem after Jing Jiu said the robe was too big.

Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue discussed her admiration for Jingyang while resting on Divine End Peak, and Jing Jiu examined his cultivation progress. When monkeys from Shiyue Peak invaded the returning monkeys’ territory, Jing Jiu went to help defend them.

• Zhao Layue told Jing Jiu she admired Jingyang and felt happy to be living on his peak.
• Jing Jiu examined his Dao Tree and Sword Fruit, noting that his progress toward the Mind-Bearing Realm depended on waiting.
• Zhao Layue meditated with the Unthought Sword and was expected to reach the Wuzhang Realm within two years.
• Jing Jiu quieted the monkeys returning to Divine End Peak, then explained that they were moving back home.
• Monkeys from Shiyue Peak attacked the returning monkeys, and Jing Jiu headed down the mountain to help them fight.

Jing Jiu wrote Zhao Layue a sword manual, while Gu Qing was expelled from Twofold Forgetting Peak and returned to Sword-Washing Creek. As Gu Qing considered abandoning cultivation, Liu S sui suggested he try going to Divine End Peak.

• Jing Jiu offered to handle the peak’s preparations and swordsmanship instruction, then wrote and bound a sword manual for Zhao Layue.
• Zhao Layue recognized the manual as the Nine Deaths Sword Manual and wondered whether Jing Jiu had received it from Jingyang.
• Gu Han and Guo Nanshan discussed Shangde Peak’s investigation and accepted Gu Qing’s expulsion as the sacrifice needed to protect Twofold Forgetting Peak.
• Gu Qing returned to Sword-Washing Creek, endured the Sword-Washing Disciples’ mockery, and asked Liu S sui what sort of person Jing Jiu was.
• Gu Qing said he planned to leave because waiting three more years could prevent him from reaching the Wuzhang Realm in time, and Liu S sui suggested he try going to Divine End Peak.

Gu Qing went to Divine End Peak seeking a place as a steward, but Jing Jiu offered him the chance to live there instead. Meanwhile, Liu S sui faced questioning about his whereabouts on the night Uncle-Master Zuo was killed and refused to give a more specific answer.

• Liu S sui advised Gu Qing to stay in the Green Mountain Sect and consider joining Jing Jiu on Divine End Peak.
• Gu Qing visited Divine End Peak and asked Zhao Layue whether they needed a steward, but she refused to take him on in that role.
• Jing Jiu told Gu Qing that Divine End Peak was too empty with only the monkeys living there, suggesting Gu Qing could build a house and live on the mountain.
• Duan Liantian questioned Liu S sui about leaving his room on the night Uncle-Master Zuo was killed, and Liu S sui said he had gone for a walk.
• Duan Liantian warned Liu S sui that he remained under suspicion and would be questioned again, while Ma Hua waited for him outside.

Gu Han warned Liu S sui to prepare for unfair treatment as Shangde Peak investigated him, while Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue discussed the inquiry and her memories of True Person Jingyang. At the place where Zhao Layue had heard a mysterious sigh, Jing Jiu examined a preserved Nether Department corpse and discovered a small hollow behind its brow.

• Gu Han told Liu S sui that Shangde Peak would likely investigate him and warned him to expect unfair treatment later.
• Jing Jiu told Zhao Layue that Liu S sui had visited him on the night in question and that he had confessed to killing the man.
• Zhao Layue recalled hearing a sigh when her granduncle ascended and wondered whether he had left her a message; Jing Jiu asked why she thought True Person Jingyang had failed to ascend.
• Zhao Layue led Jing Jiu to the grove where she had buried a Nether Department disciple, and Jing Jiu uncovered the preserved corpse.
• Jing Jiu examined the corpse and found a smooth, ginseng-fruit-shaped hollow deep behind its brow.

Zhao Layue explained her investigation into Yin San, Master Meng, and the missing thunder soulwood, but Jing Jiu destroyed Yin San’s corpse and told her to stop. After returning to Divine End Peak, he found Zhao Layue still determined to continue investigating because Yin San had not appeared.

• Zhao Layue told Jing Jiu that she could not find Yin San in the Nether Book and had begun investigating Master Meng and Shangde Peak.
• Zhao Layue said the Curtain Rollers had traced two missing pieces of thunder soulwood from Jade Lake Peak, but she had alerted the peak before she could investigate further.
• Jing Jiu urged Zhao Layue to stop investigating, then burned Yin San’s corpse to ashes; Zhao Layue flew away in anger.
• Jing Jiu reflected on Yin San’s false death and left the restaurant, hoping they would meet again.
• Jing Jiu returned to Divine End Peak, gave a healing pill to the injured apes, and passed Gu Qing building a house.
• Zhao Layue told Jing Jiu she would keep investigating because Yin San still had not appeared.

Jing Jiu tried to persuade Zhao Layue to focus on cultivation rather than investigating what might have happened to Jingyang, while Zhao Layue remained concerned. Gu Qing struggled with his place at Divine End Peak until Gu Han confronted him, and Gu Qing accepted that admitting his wrongdoing did not mean accepting all the blame.

• Jing Jiu told Zhao Layue that cultivators had to keep their distance from worldly affairs and seek to fly higher, but she said she could not ignore what might have happened to Jingyang.
• Jing Jiu woke to find Gu Qing tending the stove, and Zhao Layue warned that Gu Han would be angry about Gu Qing serving them.
• Gu Qing worked alone to build a house, reflected on his low standing in the Gu Household and his recent punishment, and felt sad about his situation.
• Gu Han found Gu Qing and accused him of using privately taught sword arts to avoid losing.
• Gu Qing admitted he had been wrong, but said he had already paid the price by confessing, being expelled from Twofold Forgetting Peak, and losing the right to inherit a sword for three years.

Gu Han failed to take Gu Qing from Divine End Peak, while Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue discussed the possibility of intrigue within the Green Mountain Sect. During a midsummer thunderstorm, Jing Jiu decided to investigate Jade Lake Peak and seek answers from a ghost.

• Gu Han threatened to punish Gu Qing under family rules, but Gu Qing challenged his authority and Gu Han left for the summit.
• Jing Jiu summoned Zhao Layue, who refused Gu Han’s request to take Gu Qing away because he was staying at Divine End Peak temporarily.
• Gu Han grew jealous after seeing Zhao Layue speak closely with Jing Jiu and released sword intent that split a tree, which the apes later carried off.
• Zhao Layue wondered whether Gu Qing was a spy, and Jing Jiu warned that the Nine Peaks’ internal problems could eventually erupt.
• During a midsummer thunderstorm, Jing Jiu recalled the missing thunder soulwood and Lei Poyun’s role, then decided to go to Jade Lake Peak and ask a ghost for answers.

Jing Jiu infiltrated Jade Lake Peak to confront White Ghost, the white cat guarding the palace where Green Mountain nurtured soulwood with lightning. He challenged White Ghost over the Thunder Soulwood and the disaster four years earlier, and White Ghost’s bristling tail and the storm’s intensifying power left their confrontation on the verge of violence.

• Jing Jiu crossed Jade Lake Peak’s defenses and entered the lake, sinking to its bed to approach the island without being seen.
• He reached the island and sensed a powerful presence near the guardian’s palace, then realized someone had detected him.
• Lightning revealed White Ghost, a white cat resting on the palace windowsill, and Jing Jiu greeted it and asked who Lei Poyun had given the Thunder Soulwood to.
• Jing Jiu said he had come to confirm his answer and accused White Ghost of watching his disaster four years earlier without considering what would happen if he survived.
• White Ghost’s tail rose and its fur bristled as lightning and rain intensified around them.

During a violent storm over Jade Lake, Jing Jiu confronted the white cat, who tested him with a claw strike combined with lightning. Jing Jiu survived unharmed, called the cat Liu A'da, and left after learning he would remain neutral; the cat watched him go with a trace of nostalgia.

• Cheng Youtian watched the storm over Jade Lake Peak and worried that the lightning might be heavenly punishment for Jade Lake Peak's past deeds.
• Jing Jiu warned the white cat that he would face consequences if he refused to stand with him, and the cat swiped at him from a distance.
• The cat's cold gleam struck Jing Jiu at the same moment a massive bolt of lightning hit him, blasting him into Jade Lake.
• Jing Jiu emerged from the lake unharmed, approached the uneasy cat, and called him Liu A'da while petting him.
• Jing Jiu learned that Liu A'da intended to remain neutral, then returned beneath the lake; Liu A'da watched him go and remembered the comfort of his hand.

Jing Jiu revealed that he was badly injured while investigating what had happened to True Person Jingyang, and he urged Zhao Layue to focus on cultivating. As Jing Jiu spent the months recovering, Yuan Qijing continued to watch the well on Shangde Peak, and Jing Jiu’s repaired Sword Pellet became more harmonious.

• Jing Jiu admitted to Zhao Layue that he was badly injured after taking White Ghost’s claw strike, and he urged her to stop investigating and cultivate.
• Jing Jiu told Zhao Layue that True Person Taiping had once cultivated on Shangde Peak, where Yuan Qijing and others had also lived.
• Jing Jiu wondered how Lei Poyun had escaped the Sword Prison and where the person he sought was now.
• Yuan Qijing stood at the mouth of the well on Shangde Peak while Chi Yan watched him, unsure what troubled his senior brother.
• Jing Jiu remained ill and barely cultivated through early autumn, but he thought White Ghost’s strike had left his repaired Sword Pellet more harmonious.

Jing Jiu gave Gu Qing the Heaven-Bearing sword manual and later recovered from his illness as news arrived of a monster attack near Chaonan City. The chapter ends with Gu Qing rushing to Divine End Peak to report that Liu S sui has been injured.

• Gu Qing visited Jing Jiu with bananas, and Jing Jiu invited him to look inside the cave abode.
• Jing Jiu gave Gu Qing a sword manual, which Gu Qing discovered was titled Heaven-Bearing rather than Nine Deaths.
• Jing Jiu recovered as Twofold Forgetting Peak sent disciples, including Liu S sui, to slay a great monster near Chaonan City.
• Gu Qing passed on a question about whether Divine End Peak would take disciples at the next Sword Inheritance Assembly, and Zhao Layue said it would.
• After winter snow blanketed Green Mountain, Gu Qing arrived in haste and told Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue that Liu S sui was injured.

After Liu S sui returned gravely wounded from a demon-slaying expedition, Jing Jiu refused to visit him and went to Jade Lake Peak instead. There, he told White Ghost that a nearly identical incident had happened centuries earlier, leaving the cause of Liu S sui’s injury unresolved.

• Gu Qing reported that Liu S sui had returned from the Turbid River unconscious and burning with fever, while Jian Ruyun had been sentenced to six months of reflection.
• Jing Jiu declined to visit Liu S sui, saying the incident was his own choice, and told Zhao Layue he planned to leave the mountain.
• Zhao Layue revealed that she had broken through to the Wuzhang Realm, and Jing Jiu said the Nine Deaths Sword Art suited her.
• Jing Jiu descended the mountain and went to Jade Lake Peak, where he crossed the lake during a storm and found White Ghost in the hall.
• Jing Jiu told White Ghost that Liu S sui’s demon-slaying mishap closely resembled an event from several hundred years earlier.

Jing Jiu decided to leave Green Mountain with Zhao Layue, while Gu Qing chose to stay and cultivate. Their departure reached a Green Mountain council already arguing over Liu S sui’s condition, leaving the elders unsure where the pair had gone or when they would return.

• Jing Jiu asked White Ghost to accompany him, but the cat refused and warned him through gestures to be careful.
• Jing Jiu told Gu Qing that he and Zhao Layue were leaving and would return before the Sword Inheritance; Gu Qing stayed at Divine End Peak to cultivate.
• At the Green Mountain council, Bai Rujing and Shi Mingxuan argued over Liu S sui’s illness and Jian Ruyun’s punishment.
• News arrived that Zhao Layue and Jing Jiu had left Green Mountain without saying where they were going or when they would return.
• The Peak Master of Past Arrival Peak said he would report their departure to the Sect Master, while Mei Li wondered how long they would be gone.

Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue struggled with ordinary travel customs before sneaking into Shangzhou and booking a room at the city’s finest inn. After washing away the dust of their journey, they startled the waiter with their extraordinary appearances.

• Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue traveled from Divine End Peak to Shangzhou, then realized they had no travel permits to enter the guarded city.
• They flew over Shangzhou’s city wall and chose to stay at an inn rather than an immortal lodge.
• Zhao Layue bought bamboo hats to hide their faces, and Jing Jiu paid for the best room with a gold leaf at the Exiled Immortal Abode.
• Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue cleaned themselves with cultivation techniques, and the waiter was stunned when he saw their faces.

After a waiter mistook Jing Jiu for someone extraordinarily beautiful, Zhao Layue and Jing Jiu discussed their journey, cultivation, and mortal customs in Shangzhou City. Later, they watched a brothel from the Star-Catching Tower, where Zhao Layue saw what happened inside for the first time.

• A waiter told his companion he had seen the most beautiful face of his life, then prayed for an immortal to take him away.
• Zhao Layue asked Jing Jiu how the waiter had recognized them, and Jing Jiu indicated that his face had given him away.
• Zhao Layue insisted that Jing Jiu follow her arrangements as Peak Master, then resumed cultivating while Jing Jiu slept.
• After waking, Jing Jiu watched the quiet city and explained to himself that he had to wait patiently before entering the Wuzhang Realm.
• Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue stood atop the Star-Catching Tower and watched a brothel, leaving Zhao Layue astonished by what she saw.

Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue encountered a woman being beaten in an alley, and Zhao Layue killed her attackers with one sword strike. After walking through the night and discussing cultivation and flight, they reached the Turbid Waters and saw Chaonan City across the river.

• Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue heard a woman being beaten and debated whether cultivators should intervene.
• Zhao Layue sent the Unthought Sword into the alley and killed four men, then trembled as she took in her first killing.
• Jing Jiu comforted Zhao Layue, and they left without learning whether the woman would escape her circumstances.
• Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue walked in silence for two hours before Zhao Layue said she wanted to fly by sword.
• Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue reached the Turbid Waters at sunrise and saw Chaonan City, a major stronghold, on the opposite bank.

Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue crossed Sky-reaching Bridge and entered the Precious Tree Residence in Chaonan City while cultivators pursued them. The steward explained the auction house’s rules, then mocked Jing Jiu’s offer of gold leaves as payment for a guest token.

• Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue crossed Sky-reaching Bridge, where Zhao Layue pointed out damage caused by a Ghost-Eyed Ling.
• Jing Jiu wondered why the Ghost-Eyed Ling had returned and considered whether demons were being driven from the Netherworld.
• Zhao Layue led Jing Jiu over Chaonan City’s western wall, alerting the city’s authorities and cultivators.
• Zhao Layue revealed that the Precious Tree Residence was an outlying business of the Green Mountain Sect and brought Jing Jiu inside.
• The steward explained that guests needed to pay for a wooden token and that the residence only protected them within the building.
• Jing Jiu offered the steward a handful of gold leaves, and the steward responded with a trace of mockery.

Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue entered Precious Tree Residence to investigate its connection to Jade Lake Peak and the events surrounding Lei Poyun. At the auction, physician-monks from Fruitful Accomplishment Temple sought Spirit-Calming Borneol for people harmed by the Ghost-Eyed Ling, but a hostile voice objected when the item was offered to them as a gift.

• Jing Jiu offered a Mysterious Herb Pill to gain entry to Precious Tree Residence, and the steward led him and Zhao Layue to a private room.
• Zhao Layue explained that Lei Poyun's grandnephew ran Precious Tree Residence and that she wanted to look for clues linking the residence to the loss of Thunder Soulwood and Lei Poyun's death.
• Jing Jiu said he believed the person behind the events would eventually come looking for him, allowing him to ask them directly.
• During the auction, two physician-monks from Fruitful Accomplishment Temple asked for Spirit-Calming Borneol to treat people affected by the Ghost-Eyed Ling.
• The auction steward announced that Precious Tree Residence would give the Spirit-Calming Borneol to the monks, but an unseen speaker objected that the auction rules should be followed.

At the Precious Tree Residence auction, Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue won the Spirit-Calming Borneol with a Mysterious Herb Pill, disrupting a contest between the Fruitful Accomplishment Temple and the Three Capitals Sect. As they left, the Three Capitals Sect stopped them, and Zhao Layue asked if they wanted to die.

• A man from the Three Capitals Sect demanded the Spirit-Calming Borneol, revealing that his young master needed it after contracting flower poison in Ying City.
• The Fruitful Accomplishment Temple sought the medicine for treating sick people, and the Three Capitals Sect refused to yield it despite the competing bids.
• Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue offered a Mysterious Herb Pill, and the Three Capitals Sect stopped bidding as the auction awarded them the Spirit-Calming Borneol.
• The steward delivered the medicine and warned Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue to wait for the proprietor, but they left without meeting him.
• People from the Three Capitals Sect stopped Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue nearby, and Zhao Layue asked them, “Do you want to die?”

Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue killed the Three Capitals Sect members who attacked them, then went to eat hot pot while the Fruitful Accomplishment Temple monks received the medicine. The chapter ended as an official entered the monks’ temple with soldiers and a crowd outside.

• The Three Capitals Sect disciples attacked Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue, but Zhao Layue shattered their swords with the Unthought Sword.
• Zhao Layue killed the middle-aged man and the disciples, searched their bodies, and burned them; she said she had wanted to spare children from seeing the corpses.
• Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue discussed the traces left behind, then ate at Hongmao Studio, where Zhao Layue ordered lamb and Jing Jiu ate greens.
• The old monk recognized the medicine delivered to the temple as Spirit-Calming Borneol and told his martial nephew that the visitors were fellow travelers on the path.
• The young monk praised Liu S sui and worried about why he had fainted, then an official entered the temple with soldiers as a crowd gathered outside.

Shi Fengchen questioned the monks about the deaths of the Three Capitals Sect cultivators and the Spirit-Calming Borneol, but the old monk concealed what they knew. Meanwhile, Jing Jiu found the dead Ghost-Eyed Ling beneath the river and discovered that its demon core was missing.

• Shi Fengchen told the old monk and the young monk that the Three Capitals Sect cultivators had been killed and their bodies burned to ashes.
• Shi Fengchen asked whether the monks knew the two masked people who had bought the Spirit-Calming Borneol, and the old monk claimed the young monk was practicing the meditation of silence.
• The old monk hid the Spirit-Calming Borneol and sent Shi Fengchen away without giving him any leads.
• Jing Jiu dived beneath the Sky-reaching Bridge and found the dead Ghost-Eyed Ling chained inside a secluded cliff in the river.
• Jing Jiu opened the Ghost-Eyed Ling's head and found its core chamber empty, confirming that its demon core was gone.

Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue discussed the failed ascension and the possibility that the Smoke and Clouds Disperse formation had been flawed from the start. Back at Green Mountain, Liu S sui was imprisoned on suspicion of swallowing a Demon Core, then unexpectedly released after Gu Qing secretly sought help from the monkeys; Liu S sui returned to Heavenly Light Peak feeling isolated and missing Jing Jiu.

• Jing Jiu told Zhao Layue that the ascension failure might have stemmed from the formation True Person Jingyang had learned being wrong from the start.
• Shangde Peak imprisoned Liu S sui and tortured him over suspicions that he had swallowed the Ghost-Eyed Ling's Demon Core, but investigators found no direct evidence.
• Gu Qing, convinced Liu S sui would not have swallowed the Demon Core, asked the monkeys to carry a plea for help to an unknown recipient.
• Shangde Peak released Liu S sui the next day without explanation, and he returned to Heavenly Light Peak to unfamiliar, distrustful gazes.
• Gu Han told Liu S sui that the Sect Master had ordered his release and that Eldest Brother had wanted to visit, while Liu S sui sat alone missing Jing Jiu.

Two years after the last great battles, Shi Fengchen gathered cultivators in Haizhou City to enlist help investigating two murderous fiends. The meeting ended with Green Mountain disciple Lin Yingliang confronting Zhu Jie after he accused the Green Mountain Sect.

• Shi Fengchen warned the gathered cultivators that he could influence the court's resource quotas if they refused to help him catch the two fiends.
• Shi Fengchen described the fiends' killings across Shangzhou, Chaonan City, and elsewhere, and said one had slain Master Zhu Gui and likely reached the Wuzhang Mid-Realm.
• The Left Rain Envoy suggested the sword-wielding killers might belong to the Never-Old Forest, the No-Grace Gate, or the Western Sea, while Shi Fengchen rejected the first two possibilities.
• Zhu Jie accused the Green Mountain Sect of being suspect because the killings began in its territory.
• Lin Yingliang threatened Zhu Jie as Yao Songshan watched in silence.