Recaps

Bai Zao’s team advanced toward the dark mountains while trying to understand why Jing Jiu’s group had encountered Iron Wire Worms. Jing Jiu sensed participants under attack and went to help, while Bai Zao’s injured group faced Snow-Foot Beasts in the darkness.

• Bai Zao reassured her companions and monitored Jing Jiu’s team as it approached from more than sixty li away.
• Bai Zao’s group hunted Snow-Foot Beasts but found no Iron Wire Worms, and Jing Jiu’s team drew closer.
• Bai Zao sensed danger from the approaching dark mountain range and ordered her companions to light a fire.
• Jing Jiu sensed fellow Dao Battle participants under attack eleven li to the northeast and set out with Yin Qingmo, Wu Mingzhong, and the other cultivator.
• Bai Zao sat injured in the snow as Snow-Foot Beasts surrounded her group and signaled their attack.

Bai Zao and her companions were trapped by Snow-Foot Beasts and a deadly cold fog until Jing Jiu arrived and fought the beasts through the night. As the fog began to lift at dawn, Jing Jiu returned to the group.

• Bai Zao led her companions in a formation against a swarm of Snow-Foot Beasts, but several people were injured and the cold fog weakened their defenses.
• The fog extinguished their fire and dimmed the luminous pearl, leaving Bai Zao and the others surrounded in darkness.
• Jing Jiu's voice ordered the group to withdraw the bell, raise a shield, and prepare the Star Pot and fire.
• Jing Jiu fought the Snow-Foot Beasts outside the Star Pot's protection while Yao Songshan and the others waited through the night.
• When the fog began to disperse at dawn, Jing Jiu emerged, and Bai Zao watched him quietly.

After Jing Jiu and Bai Zao discussed the Snow-Foot Beasts and the creatures awakening beneath the Snow Nation, the cultivation world gathered at the Rain Gallery to see He Zhan paint Jing Jiu’s latest results. He Zhan covered Jing Jiu’s painting with countless blood-red plum blossoms, leaving the others stunned by how many Snow-Foot Beasts had died overnight.

• As the mist cleared, the group found dozens of dead Snow-Foot Beasts stretching far into the distance and realized Jing Jiu had hunted them during the night.
• Bai Zao challenged Jing Jiu over his actions against Shi Fengchen and the Crown Prince, then suggested the Snow-Foot Beasts and an Iron Wire Worm might be ancient creatures awakened by a major event in the Snow Nation.
• At noon, cultivators gathered at the Rain Gallery and watched a painter struggle to depict the changes to Jing Jiu’s plum blossom painting.
• He Zhan read the dossier, scattered cinnabar across Jing Jiu’s painting, and added a faint plum branch among the red marks.
• The cultivators realized the marks represented a vast number of blossoms and were left wondering what had happened overnight.

He Zhan painted Jing Jiu’s seventy-seven plum blossoms, making Jing Jiu the clear favorite to win the Dao Battle. As the dangerous trial continued, Jing Jiu’s group stopped at a gorge for two days, leaving the elders wondering what he was planning.

• He Zhan finished a striking plum painting, and the painter revealed that it represented seventy-seven monsters killed by Jing Jiu’s branch.
• Cultivators debated whether Jing Jiu’s many blossoms could win the Dao Battle, while He Zhan dismissed Luo Huainan’s chances against him.
• The Dao Battle continued despite early-awakening Snow Beasts and deadly Cold Mist causing serious casualties.
• Luo Huainan and Tonglu’s team advanced deep into the black mountain range, while Jing Jiu’s group stopped at a gorge for two days.

Jing Jiu and Bai Zao waited in a mountain gorge, where Jing Jiu explained his skill at killing Snow-Foot Beasts and said he was waiting for people. After four cultivators arrived, he led the combined group along a mountain path toward another team.

• Jing Jiu guided Bai Zao's group as they killed more than a dozen Snow-Foot Beasts, while his precise advice helped them fight effectively.
• Bai Zao asked Jing Jiu about his cultivation and how he knew the beasts' weaknesses, and he said he was simply good at observing and cutting things apart.
• Jing Jiu told Bai Zao that he had stopped in the gorge to wait for people.
• Four exhausted cultivators arrived, including Lei Yijing, who greeted Jing Jiu as Uncle-Master; Jing Jiu told them to rest before setting off with the others.
• Jing Jiu led the enlarged group through the gorge, and by evening they found another team preparing to rest beneath a cliff, where someone recognized Uncle-Master Jing.

Jing Jiu won the Plum Gathering's Dao Battle, delighting Green Mountain and his family, but his gathering of more than thirty young cultivators in the Snow Nation left the elders wondering what he intended to do. In a freezing canyon, the gathered cultivators watched Jing Jiu, while the great figures of the cultivation world debated his motives.

• He Zhan added red plum blossoms to the painting, and cultivators concluded Jing Jiu would win the Dao Battle.
• Gu Qing and the youth surnamed Yuan celebrated Jing Jiu's victory on Divine End Peak and planned to go meet their master.
• Jing Shang celebrated his younger brother's first place with a lavish dinner, while the Duke of Lu told his heir that Jing Jiu's success must prove their judgment right.
• The great figures studied the Thousand-Li Map and saw Jing Jiu leading more than thirty young disciples through the Snow Nation without separating from them.
• The Kunlun Sect Master criticized Jing Jiu, while Nan Wang defended him and the Zhongzhou Sect Elder urged caution.
• Jing Jiu had gathered the young cultivators for reasons beyond winning the Dao Battle, but their purpose remained unclear.

Jing Jiu gathered the Dao Battle squads in a gorge and asked that the competition be stopped because he sensed danger ahead. The sect leaders rejected his request, and the disciples in the gorge challenged his authority.

• Jing Jiu told Bai Zao to wait until all the squads had reached the gorge, revealing that he had been gathering them deliberately.
• After ten squads and forty-five disciples assembled, Jing Jiu asked Bai Zao to request an immediate halt to the Dao Battle and recall all participants.
• The sect leaders at West Mountain Residence dismissed Jing Jiu's bad feeling, and the Kunlun Sect Master demanded that he be disqualified.
• At Pure Enlightenment Temple, the Zen Child argued that Jing Jiu had broken no rules, so Duke He urged the sect leaders to let the matter go.
• Jing Jiu told the disciples that danger lay ahead, prompting an angry disciple to ask who he thought he was.

Jing Jiu ordered the Green Mountain disciples to stay behind because he believed the danger ahead was beyond their strength, but his attempt to stop them sparked defiance and conflict. As the Western Sea Sword Sect mocked him and the dispute threatened to worsen, Bai Zao brought out the Flowing Light Bell.

• Bai Zao told Jing Jiu that West Mountain Residence had rejected his request, and Jing Jiu revealed he had only meant to take the Green Mountain disciples out of the Snowfield.
• Jing Jiu ordered the Green Mountain disciples to wait, explaining that the danger ahead was beyond what young disciples could withstand; Lei Yijing refused and walked into the gorge.
• Jing Jiu sent the Iron Sword after Lei Yijing, defeated him in a brief clash, and declared that none of the Green Mountain disciples could leave without his forgiveness.
• Yao Songshan warned the Green Mountain disciples against defying their elder, while a Western Sea Sword Sect disciple mocked Jing Jiu.
• Bai Zao summoned the Flowing Light Bell as the dispute escalated.

Jing Jiu used the Dao Battle to gather Green Mountain disciples and members of allied sects, driving most other cultivators from the canyon despite their protests. As the remaining group waited for him, an enormous Flying Boat descended from the clouds.

• Bai Zao used the Southern Screen Bell to save a Western Sea Sword Sect disciple from Jing Jiu's Black Sword, then quietly asked Jing Jiu to stop; he recalled the sword.
• Jing Jiu asked the Hanging Bell Sect and Great Marsh disciples to come with him, and they agreed; he told the other cultivators they could stay or leave.
• Most cultivators, including the Zhongzhou Sect disciples, left the canyon, while Jing Jiu and the remaining Green Mountain, Hanging Bell Sect, and Great Marsh disciples stayed.
• Some of the departed cultivators camped nearby, expecting the canyon group to be unable to escape the snowfield safely.
• As twilight fell, Lei Yijing urged Jing Jiu to leave, but Jing Jiu told him to wait.
• An enormous Flying Boat emerged through the clouds and began descending into the canyon.

After Jing Jiu’s warning prompted Green Mountain to withdraw many Dao Battle participants, he remained in the Snowfield with Bai Zao while the sect leaders debated the unexplained danger. The chapter then shifted to White City, where a young woman entered a temple and was greeted by a voice that recognized her.

• The Green Mountain Sect sent its Seafaring Boat to retrieve disciples after warning that something felt wrong, and thirty young cultivators left the Dao Battle.
• Duke He told the sect leaders that Jing Jiu had not returned with the boat, while the Zen Child remained unable to divine what was happening.
• Jing Jiu told Bai Zao that he intended to investigate deeper in the Snowfield, and Bai Zao chose to stay with him.
• A young woman arrived at the temple in White City and stood before its Golden Buddha.
• A deep voice in the temple told the young woman that it was she who had come.

Guo Dong spoke with the man guarding the Buddha about her journey into the human world and her concern for Jing Jiu, while he sensed agitation in a powerful being deep within the Snowfield. Jing Jiu and Bai Zao then witnessed a high-tier Snow Worm and many other monsters moving north, as something stirred in the Snow Nation.

• Guo Dong asked the man whether his centuries of guarding the temple had been worthwhile, and he said he had already proved his failure.
• Guo Dong explained that she had come to see the sun and warned that the man might have miscalculated, since Jingyang's disciple was in the Snowfield.
• The man told Guo Dong that the being deep within the Snowfield felt agitation, anger, pain, and nervousness.
• Jing Jiu sensed an unexplained nervousness and told Bai Zao that something had happened.
• A gale stripped snow from the summit, and a high-tier Snow Worm crawled between cliffs before disappearing.
• Bai Zao used the Clear Water Mirror Technique and saw numerous monsters racing north as if summoned.

Jing Jiu and Bai Zao entered the spreading Cold Mist to investigate its source and found that it endangered the Dao Battle contestants. As the orthodox sects began rescuing their disciples, Bai Zao received a distress signal but refused to leave Jing Jiu behind.

• Bai Zao realized that the Snow Nation Monsters were gathering and that Cold Mist was spreading across the mountains, while Jing Jiu warned that retreat was already becoming difficult.
• Jing Jiu carried Bai Zao on his Iron Sword toward the mist, shielding her from the cold as they traveled.
• They found the corpses of cultivators who had continued the Dao Battle, including two Western Sea Sword Sect disciples.
• Jing Jiu and Bai Zao saw the orthodox sects' guardian treasures arrive and begin evacuating the young cultivators as the Cold Mist surged.
• Bai Zao received a fellow disciple's distress signal, swallowed a pill after the cold struck her, and insisted that Jing Jiu leave without her because she had the Ten-Thousand-Li Seal.

Jing Jiu and Bai Zao flew into the deadly Cold Mist to answer Luo Huainan’s distress signal, while rescuers struggled to recover survivors. Tonglu returned from the mist but believed Luo Huainan had died saving him, and Jing Jiu and Bai Zao remained missing.

• Bai Zao told Jing Jiu that her Ten-Thousand-Li Seal had lit with Luo Huainan’s distress signal, and Jing Jiu flew with her into the Cold Mist.
• The Pure Heaven Bureau Commandant reported that forty-three Dao Battle contestants had died, while the worsening mist and Gang Wind prevented the sect leaders from advancing.
• Du Hai rescued Tonglu and another disciple, but Tonglu tried to return for Luo Huainan until the Wind Saber Sect Master knocked him unconscious.
• Du Hai, the Wind Saber Sect Master, and the Northern Pacifying Divine Army Commandant withdrew with the rescued disciples as a strange presence stirred in the mist.
• Tonglu awoke aboard the cloud ship and recalled Luo Huainan disappearing into a Snow Worm’s mouth while saving him; Jing Jiu and Bai Zao had not returned.

Jing Jiu took Bai Zao across the frozen Snow Nation border to find her Senior Brother, Luo Huainan. When Jing Jiu answered a distant Sword Intent, a powerful being in the North targeted him and the storm swallowed him.

• Jing Jiu protected Bai Zao from the deadly cold as they flew across the snowfield on the Iron Sword.
• Bai Zao confirmed that Luo Huainan was alive and explained how close they were, while Jing Jiu urged her to leave with the Ten-Thousand-Li Seal.
• Jing Jiu and Bai Zao crossed the cliff into the Snow Nation border and followed the bamboo token toward a cave where Luo Huainan was believed to be.
• Snow Worms unleashed a raging blast of Cold Mist, and Jing Jiu's sword technique faltered, leaving Bai Zao exposed to the cold.
• Jing Jiu sensed a powerful Sword Intent from far away and responded with his own, drawing the attention of the being in the North.
• Jing Jiu's Sword Bracelet flung Bai Zao into the cave, while the storm swallowed him.

Bai Zao rescued Luo Huainan from the dead Snow Worm, but after she revived him, he betrayed her to take her Ten-Thousand-Li Seal and escape the far north. The chapter ended with Bai Zao wounded and stranded in the cave, stunned by her Senior Brother’s betrayal.

• Bai Zao entered the cave and found Luo Huainan trapped inside the dead Snow Worm.
• Bai Zao used the Unthought Sword to cut open the Snow Worm and freed Luo Huainan.
• Bai Zao poured True Essence into Luo Huainan until he regained consciousness.
• Luo Huainan asked Bai Zao for the Ten-Thousand-Li Seal, then struck her and used the Northern Dipper Bell to disable the Southern Screen Bell.
• Luo Huainan told Bai Zao he would take the Ten-Thousand-Li Seal and leave her behind, while Bai Zao stared at him in disbelief.

Bai Zao confronted Luo Huainan about his betrayal and learned why he had avoided marrying her, while he tried to take the Ten-Thousand-Li Seal. After she handed it over, Jing Jiu appeared on the cliff, leaving Luo Huainan facing the man Bai Zao loved.

• Bai Zao accused Luo Huainan of planning to kill her and questioned whether he could face her parents; Luo Huainan admitted he no longer wanted to die and had acted to survive.
• Luo Huainan said he resented being treated as an outsider and revealed that he and Tong Yan had avoided marrying Bai Zao because they believed the match was meant to help her overcome her congenital weakness.
• Luo Huainan confessed that his promises to Bai Zao about the Human Race and the Snow Nation had been lies, while Bai Zao said she loved Jing Jiu and had never liked him.
• Bai Zao and Luo Huainan recovered in the cave; Luo Huainan discovered she had learned the Hidden Treasury Scroll and demanded the Ten-Thousand-Li Seal, which she gave him.
• Luo Huainan hesitated at the cave entrance, wondering whether Jing Jiu might be nearby, as Bai Zao prepared a final attack.
• Jing Jiu climbed the sheer cliff through the blizzard and silently met Luo Huainan's gaze.

Luo Huainan attacked Jing Jiu with the Northern Dipper Bell, then abandoned Bai Zao and fled, leaving Jing Jiu to rescue her from the storm. Trapped in a freezing cave with her Golden Core badly cracked, Bai Zao revealed she had another Ten-Thousand-Li Seal that might get them out.

• Luo Huainan struck Jing Jiu with the Northern Dipper Bell, then entered the cave and used a Ten-Thousand-Li Seal to leave.
• Jing Jiu survived the fall, carried Bai Zao into the cave, and sheltered her inside the Snow Worm's corpse.
• Jing Jiu gave Bai Zao a Mysterious Herb Pill, and she fell asleep after confirming he was alive.
• Jing Jiu recovered from the fall and realized Bai Zao's Golden Core had deep cracks that threatened her cultivation.
• Jing Jiu told Bai Zao that the cold and his weakened true essence made escape uncertain.
• Bai Zao revealed she had a second Ten-Thousand-Li Seal and tossed it to Jing Jiu.

Jing Jiu gave up the Ten-Thousand-Li Seal Bai Zao offered and sent Sword Intent into the Snowfield to negotiate with the powerful being there. As the Zhongzhou Sect Master and Yuan Qijing arrived, the Blade Sage blocked their way, and Guo Dong heard that entering the Snowfield could provoke the being to attack.

• Bai Zao gave Jing Jiu her Ten-Thousand-Li Seal and asked him to tell her parents what Luo Huainan had done and have him executed.
• Jing Jiu considered how Senior Brother had arranged the events to bring him into contact with the being deep in the Snowfield, then sent Sword Intent to negotiate.
• The being answered with overwhelming pressure, throwing the wind and snow into chaos and leaving Jing Jiu pale.
• The Zhongzhou Sect Master and Yuan Qijing arrived outside White City, but the Blade Sage blocked their entrance to the Snowfield with Blade Qi.
• Guo Dong learned that Luo Huainan had returned to Yunmeng Mountain using a Ten-Thousand-Li Seal but was gravely wounded and unconscious.
• A voice warned that the being was sensitive and might kill anyone who entered the Snowfield, and the two Heaven-Connecting True Persons trusted its judgment.

Yin San discussed his fear of Jingyang and his suspicions about Jing Jiu while dining with the Profound Yin Sect’s Third-Generation Patriarch. Far away in the Snow Nation, Jing Jiu’s exchange with the Ice and Snow Queen ended with a clear warning: any action she considered a threat would start a war.

• The Profound Yin Sect’s Third-Generation Patriarch asked Yin San why the Blade Sage’s saber aura frightened him, and Yin San explained that the Ice and Snow Queen was about to have a child.
• Yin San admitted he feared Jingyang because he could never understand his desires, and said he wanted Jing Jiu dead while questioning whether Jing Jiu was truly Jingyang.
• The Ice and Snow Queen sensed a distant consciousness and sent a furious wave of snow south, accusing the human of threatening her.
• Jing Jiu emerged from the exchange exhausted, with a crack in his Sword Pellet, but having exchanged information with the Ice and Snow Queen.
• Jing Jiu understood that any action she judged threatening would begin a war.

Jing Jiu and Bai Zao remained trapped in the snowfield because the Ice and Snow Queen was preparing to give birth, so Jing Jiu taught Bai Zao the Danzhu scripture while she recovered. Meanwhile, Zhao Layue learned that Jing Jiu had disappeared and set out for White City.

• The Ice and Snow Queen's watchful will forced the Unthought Sword back, preventing Jing Jiu from leaving the snowfield.
• Jing Jiu told Bai Zao they might have to wait years for her to recover, and explained that the Ice and Snow Queen's impending childbirth had caused the strange cold and sealed the exits.
• Jing Jiu transmitted the Danzhu Ancient Scripture to Bai Zao so she could heal and endure the cold, then continued cultivating beside her.
• Jing Jiu told Bai Zao that Zhao Layue would surpass Luo Huainan within ten years and that he had wanted to send her a message to kill him if he failed to return.
• Zhao Layue heard that Jing Jiu had taken first place in the Dao Battle, removed the Green Mountain disciples, and then disappeared; she ordered the Sword Boat to go to White City.

Zhao Layue and Gu Qing learned what happened during the Dao Battle and tried to understand Jing Jiu’s fate in the Snowfield. After hearing Luo Huainan’s account, they concluded that his story did not sound like something Jing Jiu would do.

• Zhao Layue arrived in White City, questioned the Green Mountain disciples about the Dao Battle, and dismissed them after hearing Yao Songshan’s account.
• Gu Qing visited the Zhongzhou Sect’s quarters and learned that Luo Huainan had awakened long enough to recount how Jing Jiu and Bai Zao fought Snow Worms before an avalanche buried them.
• Gu Qing returned to the Green Mountain courtyard and told Zhao Layue and the youth surnamed Yuan what Luo Huainan had said.
• Gu Qing said he did not believe Luo Huainan’s description of Jing Jiu as brave and fearless, and Zhao Layue agreed that Jing Jiu was too lazy and afraid of dying to act that way.

Zhao Layue learned that the mist over the Snowfield came from the Snow Nation Queen’s blood energy as she prepared to give birth, and the Blade Sage refused to risk provoking her. After months of waiting in White City for Jing Jiu, Zhao Layue cut off her long braid and left when he still had not returned.

• Zhao Layue visited the temple and learned from Guo Dong that the Snow Nation Queen was giving birth and that the mist was her blood energy.
• Guo Dong explained that the Queen’s vulnerable state made an attack too dangerous, and the Blade Sage said he would fight her later despite knowing he could not win.
• Zhao Layue asked whether Jing Jiu was dead, but insisted he would survive even if everyone else died.
• As the sects departed White City, Zhao Layue sent Gu Qing and the youth surnamed Yuan away on Green Mountain’s Sword Boat and stayed behind.
• After winter passed and pear blossoms filled the city, Jing Jiu had still not returned, so Zhao Layue cut off her braid and left.

Three years after Jing Jiu disappeared, Green Mountain remembered his deeds while Zhao Layue secluded herself on Divine End Peak and cultivated. As Luo Huainan’s public tributes to Jing Jiu grew fainter, Zhao Layue and Gu Qing concluded that his story about the past was fabricated, and she decided it was time to kill him.

• Green Mountain disciples and visiting cultivators recalled Jing Jiu’s achievements and mourned his disappearance as they gathered for the Sword Inheritance Assembly.
• Guo Nanshan rebuked Lei Yijing for dismissing Luo Huainan’s good fortune, and Gu Han praised Luo Huainan’s resolve to hunt demons.
• Tong Yan arrived from the Zhongzhou Sect and watched the deserted terrace while Green Mountain disciples speculated about Zhao Layue and Jing Jiu.
• Zhao Layue spent three years cultivating on Divine End Peak as Gu Qing reported that Luo Huainan had again invoked Jing Jiu after slaying a monster.
• Zhao Layue and Gu Qing suspected Luo Huainan had invented his account of Jing Jiu, and Zhao Layue declared it was time to kill him.

Zhao Layue and Gu Qing continued planning to kill Luo Huainan, while Tong Yan visited Green Mountain and paid his respects to Jing Jiu on Divine End Peak. The chapter ended with Zhao Layue leaving the peak to seek a rare herb for her attempt to enter the Wandering the Wilds Realm.

• Zhao Layue and Gu Qing discussed how long it might take them to surpass Luo Huainan and why they could not wait to seek vengeance.
• Tong Yan visited Twofold Forgetting Peak, where he and Guo Nanshan discussed cooperation between Green Mountain and the Zhongzhou Sect and the effort in the Never-Old Forest.
• Tong Yan announced he would visit Divine End Peak to pay his respects to Jing Jiu, while Ma Hua proposed a plan that Guo Nanshan decided to discuss directly with Luo Huainan.
• Tong Yan visited Divine End Peak, toured Jing Jiu's rooms with Gu Qing, and spoke briefly with Zhao Layue.
• More than ten days later, Zhao Layue and Gu Qing left Divine End Peak so Zhao Layue could seek a rare medicinal herb for her breakthrough attempt.

Zhao Layue and Gu Qing went to Precious Tree Residence to search for the Three Purities Grass needed for her cultivation of the Nine Deaths Sword Art. Precious Tree Residence identified the herb and mobilized its resources, while Zhao Layue already had a specimen in a sealed case.

• Zhao Layue and Gu Qing traveled through Yunji Town and Shangzhou City to South River Province in search of medicine.
• Precious Tree Residence canceled its auction and asked its staff to identify a drawing Gu Qing supplied.
• The proprietor recalled Precious Tree Residence’s ties to Divine End Peak and ordered its attendants to search for the herb at any cost.
• An attendant found an account in the Youyang Miscellaneous Examination describing the Three Purities Grass, an immortal-grade herb once taken by True Person Jingyang.
• The proprietor ordered every branch to focus on finding the grass, expecting Green Mountain to claim it if they found a lead.
• Zhao Layue examined a sealed case containing a vivid, three-leaved blade of grass.