Recaps

Jing Jiu defeated Tong Yan in a legendary game of Go, leaving the crowd stunned and earning the respect of those who watched. Tong Yan accepted the honor of the match but ended in pain at the fact that he had lost.

• Tong Yan returned his final white stone to the bowl, conceding the game to Jing Jiu.
• The spectators erupted in shock, and He Zhan, Que Niang, Shang Jiulou, and many others bowed to honor the players.
• Bai Zao noticed Guodong had left, while Xiang Wanshu felt remorseful and saw Zhao Layue smiling admiringly at Jing Jiu.
• Tong Yan watched the rainy mountain scenery and said he had no regrets about playing such a game.
• Tong Yan admitted that he could not be satisfied because he had still lost.

Jing Jiu defeated Tong Yan in Go and explained that he saw the game as simple and without any special claim on the world’s meaning. He revealed their match had fulfilled his agreement with the Zhongzhou Sect, then left Chessboard Mountain with Zhao Layue.

• Tong Yan admitted that he disliked Jing Jiu’s indifference and could not accept losing at Go to someone who seemed to care nothing for it.
• Jing Jiu told Tong Yan that the world was unfair and that Go, like music, calligraphy, and painting, was too simple to approach the Great Dao.
• Jing Jiu arranged hundreds of stones into a three-dimensional game and said cultivation meant attempting what lay beyond human capability.
• Tong Yan and Jing Jiu recalled their agreement, made at the Four Seas Banquet, to play Go at the Plum Gathering.
• Jing Jiu clarified that he had come only to play Tong Yan, declared their game over, and left with Zhao Layue as the stones fell.

After winning a celebrated Go match against Tong Yan, Jing Jiu reflected on the game and his unusual mental endurance. Tong Yan withdrew from the Plum Gathering, while rumors about Jing Jiu spread across the cultivation world and raised questions about his origins.

• He Zhan quit the Chess Battle, saying he would never play Go again because he could not beat Jing Jiu or Tong Yan.
• Jing Jiu returned to the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and offered to cover Jing Household Eldest Brother’s losses, but learned that he had bet on the single game instead.
• Jing Jiu reconstructed his match against Tong Yan and recognized that Tong Yan’s near-perfect play had been undermined by exhaustion, while his own unusual mental endurance helped him win.
• Que Niang of the Mirror Sect won the Chess Battle, and the match between Jing Jiu and Tong Yan became the subject of widespread discussion.
• Tong Yan left Chaoge City and entered secluded cultivation, while public accounts of Jing Jiu’s accomplishments spread and rumors suggested he might have come from the Fruitful Accomplishment Temple.

Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue discussed the rumors linking him to Fruitful Accomplishment Temple and her upcoming Dao Battle, while Zhao Layue agreed to meet Guodong privately. The chapter ended with Shi Fengchen telling Liang Xingcheng that Zhao Layue would die in three days.

• Rumors that Jing Jiu was connected to Fruitful Accomplishment Temple grew, but he chose not to enter the Dao Battle, leaving Zhao Layue to represent Divine End Peak.
• Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue discussed Bai Zao's calligraphy victory, the rumors about Jing Jiu, and Zhao Layue's plans for the Dao Battle.
• Mo Xi told Zhao Layue that Guodong wanted to meet her alone in Emerald-Cry Valley three days later, and Zhao Layue agreed without telling Jing Jiu.
• At a tavern, Shi Fengchen told Liang Xingcheng that Zhao Layue would die in three days.

Shi Fengchen arranged with the Never-Old Forest to kill Zhao Layue and frame the Noble Consort, acting on behalf of Prince Jing Xin. He returned to his lonely home, troubled by the thought that Zhao Layue would die in three days.

• Shi Fengchen told Liang Xingcheng that Zhao Layue's death would be blamed on the Noble Consort, and Liang Xingcheng ordered him to ensure the plan succeeded.
• Grand Tutor Liang told Prince Jing Xin that the Severance Pill had been discontinued, suggesting the Emperor might be preparing to have another son; Jing Xin demanded that the plot leave no trace tying him to it.
• Shi Fengchen met the Never-Old Forest's proprietor and offered the Crown Prince as the bargaining chip for their help, while asking them to keep his involvement secret.
• The proprietor agreed that the Never-Old Forest would not expose Shi Fengchen, noting that the Crown Prince could bring them valuable benefits.
• Back at his desolate home, Shi Fengchen thought of Zhao Layue's impending death and felt sorrowful.

Shi Fengchen resolved to kill Zhao Layue because he feared she would become another True Person Taiping, while he considered how to use the Crown Prince's household. He encouraged Wang Xiaoming to cultivate so he could investigate cultivators, and the chapter ended with Zhao Layue entering an array disguised as a ruined temple in Emerald-Cry Valley.

• Shi Fengchen reviewed files on Zhao Layue and Jing Jiu and decided Zhao Layue had to die to prevent another True Person Taiping from emerging.
• Shi Fengchen noticed that the palace was using fewer Severance Pills, contacted the Crown Prince's household, and concluded that the Crown Prince could be put to use.
• Shi Fengchen recalled adopting Wang Xiaoming after a mudslide destroyed his village and learned that Wang Xiaoming wanted to study case investigation rather than cultivation.
• Shi Fengchen told Wang Xiaoming that he had strong cultivation potential and urged him to cultivate so he could face powerful cultivators.
• Three days later, Zhao Layue went alone to Emerald-Cry Valley and discovered that its ruined Daoist temple was an array.

Zhao Layue was ambushed in a hidden formation by a powerful Man in Black and fought to survive after he broke her sword defense. She sent the Unthought Sword away as a sword message, then met his crushing fist with sword intent from her bare hands.

• Zhao Layue entered a concealed formation in a dilapidated Daoist temple and used the Unthought Sword to defend herself against the Man in Black.
• The Man in Black praised Zhao Layue’s swordsmanship and taunted her while explaining that her defensive move would soon exhaust her.
• Zhao Layue struck at the Man in Black, but he evaded her sword-rays and knocked her into the temple wall with a sleeve strike.
• The Unthought Sword flew away to carry a sword message, leaving Zhao Layue without her flying sword as the Man in Black attacked again.
• Zhao Layue raised both hands against his fist, releasing pure, sharp sword intent that sliced apart the temple.

Zhao Layue survived the Man in Black’s ambush in Emerald-Cry Valley, and Guodong arrived just as he escaped. Nan Wang and the Green Mountain disciples searched the area but found no trace of him, leaving his identity unknown.

• The Man in Black battered Zhao Layue with a Law Treasure, but she held out until a zither note sounded outside the temple.
• The Man in Black sensed the newcomer and escaped using the Heaven and Earth Escape Method before the arriving Green Mountain cultivator could reach the temple.
• Guodong entered the ruins, stopped Zhao Layue’s bleeding, and spoke with her about their connection through Lian Sanyue and True Person Jingyang.
• Nan Wang arrived, searched the valley with her sword sense, and ordered Green Mountain disciples to form a sword formation to hunt for the enemy.
• The search found no trace of the Man in Black, and Zhao Layue told Nan Wang that she would not die.

Zhao Layue survived a Zhongzhou Sect assassin’s trap after Guo Dong arrived in time, and the Green Mountain Sect and Imperial Court began investigating the attack. As the Man in Black fled using the Heaven and Earth Escape Method, a mysterious figure struck him with Soul Fire.

• Guo Dong told Nan Wang that Mo Xi had used her name to lure Zhao Layue into a death trap and promised that the Water-Moon Convent would account for it.
• Attendant Jin arrived to investigate, and Zhao Layue identified the attacker as someone from the Zhongzhou Sect.
• Guo Dong said the Man in Black’s use of the Heaven and Earth Escape Method pointed to the Zhongzhou Sect, while Attendant Jin called for evidence.
• The injured Man in Black escaped through the wilderness with the Heaven and Earth Escape Method, believing he could evade pursuit.
• A black saber appeared before the Man in Black, and Soul Fire corroded his Law Treasure before he recognized the attack as belonging to a powerful figure of the Nether Department.

A short old man devoured the Netherworld shadow that had killed Wei Chengzi, then met a young man fishing from a cliff and agreed to help him destroy Green Mountain. Green Mountain disciples found Wei Chengzi’s body and realized a powerful Netherworld fiend had been involved.

• The short old man seized and devoured the black mist, then traveled to a cliff north of Chaoge City to meet a young man fishing in the clouds.
• The young man explained that the Nether Master’s third disciple had sent the shadow and said he had asked the old man to intervene.
• The old man offered to help wipe out Green Mountain in exchange for protection, and the young man led him away to find people to eat.
• Nan Wang and Jin Attendant arrived at the Man in Black’s corpse and identified him as Wei Chengzi, a Nascent Soul elder of the Zhongzhou Sect.
• Jin Attendant sensed soul fire at the scene, and the Green Mountain disciples realized that a powerful Netherworld fiend had killed Wei Chengzi.

After Zhao Layue survived an assassination attempt by Wei Chengzi, Jing Jiu went to see her in the Zhao Residence while the Imperial Court and Green Mountain Sect reacted to the crisis. At West Mountain Residence, Nan Wang challenged the impartiality of the investigation because Wei Chengzi belonged to the Zhongzhou Sect and the Pure Heaven Bureau was tied to it.

• Shi Fengchen inspected Wei Chengzi's corpse at Emerald-Cry Valley and considered the complications surrounding the failed assassination and the Netherworld fiend.
• Jing Jiu learned from the Duke of Lu that Zhao Layue had been taken to the Zhao Residence under Jin Attendant's guard, then left to visit her.
• Jing Jiu entered the Zhao Residence, passed Jin Attendant, and went to see Zhao Layue's parents before entering her room.
• The Pure Heaven Bureau commander reported that Wei Chengzi had been killed by powerful Netherfire, while other clues remained under investigation.
• Nan Wang accused Duke He of relying on an investigation compromised by the Zhongzhou Sect's influence over the Pure Heaven Bureau and Imperial Court.

Nan Wang demanded that the Zhongzhou Sect take responsibility for Wei Chengzi’s actions, and Luo Huainan promised the Sect Master’s Wife would visit Green Mountain. Nan Wang said that would not be enough without Jing Jiu’s involvement, while Water-Moon Convent made its own response to the affair.

• Duke He and the others tried to prevent the dispute from becoming a war, while Nan Wang insisted the Zhongzhou Sect had to answer for its elder’s actions.
• Luo Huainan said the Zhongzhou Sect would take full responsibility and that the Sect Master’s Wife was already headed to Heavenly Light Peak.
• Nan Wang said Jing Jiu also needed to be appeased, and Yao Songshan remarked that Jing Jiu held grudges.
• Duke He reported that Mo Xi’s limbs had been broken and she had been left at Jing Jiu’s feet, a response from Water-Moon Convent.
• Jing Jiu told the Zhao Residence Steward to send Mo Xi back to Water-Moon Convent as she was, then ignored her question about why she had acted.

Bai Zao visited Jing Jiu to ask him to remain silent while the orthodox sects considered how to respond to the Never-Old Forest, and revealed a group of young disciples working together to confront larger threats. After Jing Jiu refused to join them and denied being Zhao Layue’s dao companion, Bai Zao asked him to consider her instead.

• Jing Jiu reheated his cold tea with Sword Flame and received Bai Zao at the Jing residence.
• Bai Zao warned that the Never-Old Forest had deeper connections than expected and asked Jing Jiu not to inflame the investigation into Zhao Layue’s attempted assassination.
• Bai Zao revealed a coalition of young disciples from several sects, including Guo Nanshan and other Green Mountain disciples, who wanted the Human Race to take action against the Snow Nation.
• Jing Jiu refused to join the coalition, saying he would not act against the Never-Old Forest and had no interest in cooperation with an expanded Twofold Forgetting Peak.
• Bai Zao asked Jing Jiu whether he and Zhao Layue were dao companions; when he denied it, she presented herself and asked him what he thought of her.

Jing Jiu rejected Bai Zao’s direct confession and decided to avoid her. The next morning, he secretly left his residence and confronted Shi Fengchen at home, asking who had ordered the attempt on Zhao Layue.

• Bai Zao told Jing Jiu that she liked him, and he replied that a relationship between them was impossible.
• After Bai Zao left, Jing Jiu reflected on the trouble caused by such feelings and resolved to avoid her.
• Jing Jiu slipped past the watchers around his residence and went to an ordinary home in Chaoge City.
• Jing Jiu found Shi Fengchen asleep over case files and asked who had told him to arrange the attack on Zhao Layue.
• Shi Fengchen recognized Jing Jiu and realized that Jing Jiu suspected him, though others had blamed Consort Hu, the Never-Old Forest, or the Netherworld.

Jing Jiu confronted Shi Fengchen, who confessed to arranging Zhao Layue’s assassination and explained why he feared her. Before Jing Jiu could learn whether someone had manipulated him, Shi Fengchen killed himself, leaving Jing Jiu to pursue the wider conspiracy.

• Jing Jiu deduced that Shi Fengchen had participated in the assassination, and Shi Fengchen admitted hiring Wei Chengzi through an intermediary.
• Shi Fengchen denied being instructed by anyone, while Jing Jiu identified Jing Xin as the person behind the plot.
• Shi Fengchen explained that he feared Zhao Layue might become another True Person Taiping and described the devastation that had once brought silence to the human world.
• Jing Jiu questioned whether anything unusual had happened before Shi Fengchen formed his plans, but Shi Fengchen denied it and said he hoped for a different world.
• Shi Fengchen severed his meridians and crushed hidden poison between his teeth, and Jing Jiu left after finding him dead.

After Shi Fengchen killed himself, Wang Xiaoming mourned him and left Chaoge City with the cultivation method his master had left behind. Jing Jiu explained to Zhao Layue why cultivators often kept their distance from mortals, while Wang Xiaoming began reading the method through his grief.

• Jing Jiu let Shi Fengchen die after recognizing his resolve, and Wang Xiaoming found his master's body when he returned home.
• Wang Xiaoming held a quiet funeral for Shi Fengchen as officials used the death to pressure the Green Mountain Sect and blame Jing Jiu.
• Wang Xiaoming left Chaoge City, and Seventy-Two later said he had claimed he was returning to a hometown in the northwest.
• Jing Jiu told Zhao Layue that Shi Fengchen had feared her power and that cultivators and mortals belonged to different worlds.
• Wang Xiaoming opened the Pure Profound Method Shi Fengchen had left him, but his tears kept him from reading it.

Jing Jiu explained to Zhao Layue how cultivators governed and exploited ordinary people, including a radical plan to strengthen humanity against the Snow Nation. At West Locust Mountain, a young man arranged for the Third Patriarch of the Profound Yin Sect to teach a lame boy, despite the old man’s desire to kill him.

• Jing Jiu told Zhao Layue that cultivators depended on ordinary people while doing little for them, and that the continent’s order was established after the Plum Gathering.
• Jing Jiu explained that some cultivators wanted to enslave ordinary people and screen them for cultivation talent to accelerate humanity’s growth against the Snow Nation.
• At West Locust Mountain, the young man and the Third Patriarch of the Profound Yin Sect watched a lame boy struggle up the cliff.
• The Third Patriarch said he wanted to kill the young man because he resented being ordered to pass on his cultivation methods to the boy.
• The young man insisted that the Third Patriarch teach the boy, then looked at the old patriarch with pity.

Jing Jiu explained to Zhao Layue that mortals’ buried resentment toward cultivators could erupt if cultivators lost their power. The chapter showed ordinary people suffering and losing faith in immortals, while Jing Jiu reflected on the dullness of endless life.

• Jing Jiu and the old man discussed fear of death, and Jing Jiu said eternal life was meaningless if one lived like a creature at the bottom of a well.
• Jing Jiu told Zhao Layue that mortals had their own ambitions and that centuries of cultivator oppression had left them harboring deep resentment.
• A Flying Whale’s passage capsized a fishing boat, and two women divers died while collecting Origin Qi Pearls for the Western Sea Sword Sect’s quota.
• A gambler saw sword light and cursed the immortals, recalling how he had once dreamed of becoming one.
• A young man begged the Green Mountain Sect for help for his dying father, then left town after a resident warned that the immortals would not come.

Jing Jiu explained to Zhao Layue why mortals resented cultivators and admitted that he now feared being killed, while considering whether to take part in the Dao Battle. Meanwhile, suspicion over Shi Fengchen’s death fell on Consort Hu, who sought a way to speak with Zhao Layue or Jing Jiu.

• Jing Jiu told Zhao Layue that cultivators could not resolve mortals’ resentment, which arose from envy of their long lives and freedom from ordinary hardship.
• Jing Jiu said he had sensed the person he was seeking had appeared and seen him, and admitted he now avoided risks because many people could kill him.
• Zhao Layue urged Jing Jiu to seek the person rather than wait, and Jing Jiu agreed that she had a point.
• Although Shi Fengchen’s death was ruled a suicide, suspicion of the Green Mountain Sect persisted, while Chaoge City’s Imperial Court suppressed the resulting unrest.
• Consort Hu complained that people blamed her for Zhao Layue’s attempted assassination and worried that the Emperor had stopped visiting her.
• Consort Hu asked to meet Zhao Layue or Jing Jiu, but her matron said Zhao Layue was recovering and Jing Jiu had gone to take part in the Dao Battle.

At the Plum Gathering, the Dao Battle rankings showed Luo Huainan leading while the Green Mountain Sect struggled without its top Twofold Forgetting Peak disciples. As cultivators questioned Jing Jiu’s ability, his group’s painting remained completely blank after more than ten days of battle.

• The Zen Child received a letter from the Blade Sage asking whether Jing Jiu was Fruitful Accomplishment Temple’s successor to Treading the Mortal World, but gave no definite answer.
• The Zen Child declined to secretly watch over Jing Jiu, saying he had inherited the caution of an old friend and would likely be fine.
• Cultivators at West Mountain Residence examined the Treading Through Blood in Search of Plum Blossoms rankings, where Luo Huainan’s group had accumulated the most blossoms.
• The Left Rain Envoy of Great Marsh observed that the Green Mountain Sect’s Dao Battle results were unusually poor because few Twofold Forgetting Peak disciples had entered.
• Cultivators criticized Jing Jiu and doubted his strength while his group’s painting remained blank after more than ten days of battle.

Jing Jiu’s Dao Battle team debated whether to keep following his cautious advice, then left their mountain refuge and began crossing the snowfield. After Yin Qingmo encountered a Snow Worm egg sac, Jing Jiu examined it closely, leaving the team’s progress just beginning.

• Dai Yin urged his companions to abandon Jing Jiu if he refused to leave the mountain, but Jing Jiu agreed that the group could depart the next morning.
• Jing Jiu reflected on why he had joined the Dao Battle and on the hidden purpose behind the threats involving Zhao Layue and the snowfield.
• Jing Jiu, Dai Yin, Lu Jin, Wu Mingzhong, and Yin Qingmo left the solitary mountain and cautiously entered the snowfield.
• Yin Qingmo dodged a Snow Worm egg sac, and Dai Yin explained that it was harmless and did not count toward their results.
• Jing Jiu picked up the egg sac and studied its appearance and faint suction, while Yin Qingmo watched in disgust.

Jing Jiu’s group encountered and killed a low-tier Snow-Foot Beast, only to discover a Listening Ear hidden inside it. Dai Yin chased the fleeing creature despite Jing Jiu trying to stop him, and then screamed as he fell from the sky.

• Jing Jiu sensed a newborn Snow Nation Demon Beast inside an egg sac, recognized that it feared his consciousness, and put it away.
• Tonglu’s companions discussed Jing Jiu’s lack of victories while Tonglu remained uncertain about his intentions.
• Jing Jiu’s group spotted a Snow-Foot Beast beneath the snow, and Jing Jiu identified it as a six-legged specimen.
• Dai Yin struck the Snow-Foot Beast with his Azure Rope while Wu Mingzhong and Yin Qingmo shielded the group from its corrosive green blood.
• A Listening Ear escaped from the beast’s broken shell, and Jing Jiu tried to stop Dai Yin from pursuing it.
• Dai Yin chased the Listening Ear and lashed at it with the Azure Rope, but he suddenly screamed and fell from the sky.

Jing Jiu’s team found Dai Yin dead after a mysterious creature destroyed the Azure Rope and escaped underground. At West Mountain Residence, Dai Yin’s death was recorded on the Dao Battle painting, and the Kunlun Sect Master resolved to demand an accounting from the Green Mountain Sect.

• Yin Qingmo and the others rushed to find Jing Jiu and discovered Dai Yin’s mutilated corpse, the shattered Azure Rope, and a hole where the creature had fled.
• The Zen Child praised Bai Zao’s leadership in the Dao Battle paintings and called Jing Jiu lazy when he saw Jing Jiu’s still-blank painting.
• A painter added a plum blossom to Jing Jiu’s painting, then drew a black line through Dai Yin’s name to mark his death.
• The Kunlun Sect Master learned that Dai Yin, a disciple Kunlun had nurtured, had died and decided to demand an accounting from the Green Mountain Sect.

Nan Wang worried that Jing Jiu might be implicated in the death of a Kunlun disciple, while the Zen Child investigated the unusual Iron Wire Worm and prepared for a possible beast tide. On the Snowfield, Jing Jiu continued traveling without explaining his destination, leaving Yin Qingmo and the others uncertain about his purpose.

• Nan Wang scolded her disciples over the Dao Battle and worried that Jing Jiu might have caused the Kunlun disciple’s death.
• Shi Hai told the Zen Child that an Iron Wire Worm likely killed the Kunlun disciple, and they discussed the possibility of another beast tide.
• The Zen Child said Du Hai had gone north to investigate, ordered preparations, and chose to wait for Cao Yuan’s letter before ending the Dao Battle.
• The Cold-Calling Bird watched Jing Jiu and the three cultivators as they crossed the Snowfield, puzzled by Jing Jiu’s spotless, untroubled appearance.
• Jing Jiu ignored Snow Nation Monsters and kept traveling until he stopped as daylight dimmed.

Jing Jiu reflected on the strange dangers appearing in the Snowfield and experimented with the newly hatched beetle from the Egg Embryo. Elsewhere, Bai Zao prepared her team for the approaching Snow Nation Forbidden Zone.

• Jing Jiu established a defensive camp with Yin Qingmo, Wu Mingzhong, and Lu Jin, then considered why an Iron Wire Worm had appeared and whether the Snowfield's changes were connected to him.
• Jing Jiu opened the Egg Embryo, revived the tiny white beetle inside, and tested its reactions before examining its vulnerable points.
• Bai Zao warned her team that they were nearing the Snow Nation Forbidden Zone and arranged for the Hanging Bell Sect disciple to use her bell to detect enemies.
• Bai Zao instructed her companions to let Senior Brother Mo restrain any Snow Worm before striking, and Yao Songshan and the others agreed.