Chapter Summaries

Nan Zheng fled the destruction of Cloud Terrace and was ambushed by Divine Guard Army cavalry led by Gu Pan. A mysterious girl in white defeated the cavalry, took their hidden flying sword, and spared Nan Zheng after learning she was Nan Wang’s enemy.

• After Cloud Terrace was destroyed, Nan Zheng descended into the mist and discovered Divine Guard Army cavalry lying in ambush.
• Gu Pan identified Nan Zheng as an assassin and demanded that she surrender, but she prepared to fight back with the Four Desolations Bottle.
• A girl in white appeared, took Nan Zheng’s Jade-Stone Zither, and used one note to destroy the cavalrymen’s talisman papers and bring down their mounts and riders.
• The girl in white took the flying sword from Gu Pan, who struggled free and demanded to know her identity.
• The girl in white learned that Nan Zheng was Nan Wang’s clanswoman and enemy, then said she hated Nan Wang too and would not kill Nan Zheng.

Nan Zheng surrendered her treasures to the White-Clad Maiden, who spared her and left, while Su Ziye recovered from poisoning in the Precious Thoroughfare Zen Monastery’s vegetable garden. He Zhan reflected on his extraordinary luck, and Tong Yan concluded that their efforts had ultimately succeeded.

• The White-Clad Maiden took Nan Zheng’s Four Desolations Bottle and Diamond Gauntlets and borrowed her zither, then departed without killing her or Gu Pan.
• Nan Zheng wondered why the White-Clad Maiden had stayed out of the battle between the orthodox cultivation world and the Never-Old Forest before disappearing into the night.
• At the Precious Thoroughfare Zen Monastery’s vegetable garden, Tong Yan said Su Ziye’s treatment should clear the remaining poison in five days.
• Su Ziye asked whether Tong Yan was still trying to accept losing to Jing Jiu, and Tong Yan said success required effort rather than luck.
• He Zhan recounted how an abandoned childhood and a series of unlikely discoveries revealed his extraordinary fortune, though he lamented that it left him no hardships to temper his Dao Heart.
• Tong Yan placed a Go stone and said that, in the end, they had succeeded.

Tong Yan tried to persuade Su Ziye to reclaim the Profound Yin Sect and lead it toward righteousness, while He Zhan questioned the compromises made by the righteous sects. The group discovered a powerful sword hidden in the vegetable plot, and Tong Yan suspected it would bring trouble.

• He Zhan criticized the elders of the righteous sects for compromising after the battle near Haizhou City, while Tong Yan defended the outcome.
• He Zhan told Su Ziye that a group of young disciples wanted to eliminate demonic cultivators, and Tong Yan offered to help him reclaim the Profound Yin Sect.
• Tong Yan argued that the Profound Yin Sect might abandon evil cultivation methods by using a spirit vein beneath Cold Mountain.
• Su Ziye pointed out that Liu S sui’s killing of Luo Huainan could provoke conflict between the Green Mountain Sect and the Zhongzhou Sect.
• He Zhan found a sword in the vegetable plot, and Tong Yan warned that it would bring trouble.

He Zhan, Tong Yan, and Su Ziye discovered that the Law Treasures in the vegetable patch had been deliberately left for He Zhan, and Tong Yan suspected an important figure—perhaps He Zhan’s mother—was guiding him. That evening, they found the unconscious Tonglu in the patch, while Pei Baifa left the No-Grace Gate and ordered Heavenly Longevity Mountain sealed.

• He Zhan showed Su Ziye and Tong Yan a Flying Sword, a bottle, and gauntlets he had found in the vegetable patch, and they concluded someone had planted them for him.
• Su Ziye identified the bottle and gauntlets as treasures connected to the Never-Old Forest, and He Zhan said he feared an unknown person had been secretly providing for him.
• Tong Yan guessed that He Zhan’s mother might be the important figure behind the gifts, and the group divided the treasures among themselves.
• He Zhan examined the First Child Sword, and Tong Yan said someone had deliberately delivered it to him.
• That evening, He Zhan found the unconscious Tonglu in the vegetable patch and asked Tong Yan what had happened.
• At the ruins of White Deer Academy, Pei Baifa ordered the No-Grace Gate to seal Heavenly Longevity Mountain, then flew west without saying when he would return.

Tonglu woke at the Precious Thoroughfare Zen Monastery and learned that Tong Yan and He Zhan had kept the Western Sea Sword Sect’s connection to the Never-Old Forest from him. Guo Dong arrived and revealed a clue that suggested she was the person He Zhan had been searching for, leaving him stunned.

• Tonglu woke beside Su Ziye, failed to summon his broken flying sword, and learned from He Zhan that they were at the Precious Thoroughfare Zen Monastery.
• Tonglu recalled the chaos outside Haizhou City before he lost consciousness and accused Tong Yan and the others of hiding their suspicions about the Western Sea from him.
• Tong Yan explained that he had suspected the Western Sea and asked who had brought Tonglu to the monastery, but Tonglu could not remember.
• Guo Dong arrived, and Tong Yan deduced that she had come because the monastery was near Yizhou City and could cure Su Ziye’s poison.
• When He Zhan asked why she had come, Guo Dong asked whether he had used the piece of gauze beneath the rock in the stream behind the convent.

Guo Dong revealed that she had guided Tong Yan, Luo Huainan, and Guo Nanshan toward destroying Cloud Terrace, then urged them to help kill the Western Sea Sword God with Pei Baifa. The chapter ended with Guo Dong telling He Zhan that his mother had been her youngest sister, making her his aunt.

• Guo Dong told Tong Yan that she had chosen him, Luo Huainan, and Guo Nanshan and helped them act on their own beliefs.
• Guo Dong said the mastermind behind the Never-Old Forest was still alive and proposed killing the Western Sea Sword God.
• Pei Baifa arrived and said he had a chance of killing the Sword God if Tong Yan could locate him within five years.
• Guo Dong told Tong Yan to give the First Child Sword to Tonglu, then left as He Zhan followed her to ask why she had helped him.
• He Zhan asked if Guo Dong was his birth mother, and she explained that his mother had been her youngest sister.

He Zhan learned that Guo Dong was his aunt and that he belonged to the Water-Moon Convent, while Guo Dong reflected on the young cultivators she had tried to guide. At the ruins of Hanging Mountain, the Profound Yin Ancestor saw Yin San pleased with how events had turned out.

• Guo Dong told He Zhan that he was a Water-Moon Convent disciple and that Abbess Lanxi had raised him as his mother.
• He Zhan learned that Guo Dong had given him Washed Creek Gauze and a Three-Marrow Pill, which he had sold to a girl from the Hanging Bell Sect.
• Guo Dong discussed Guo Nanshan, Luo Huainan, Tong Yan, Bai Zao, and Zhao Layue with a voice at the small temple, explaining that she hoped to guide young cultivators toward becoming her kindred spirits.
• The Profound Yin Ancestor examined the fallen remains of Hanging Mountain outside Haizhou City and wondered whether another mountain had fallen there in the distant past.
• The Profound Yin Ancestor observed that everything seemed to have gone as Yin San wished, and Yin San replied that gaining something brought joy.

Yin San explained how he had manipulated the Western Prince and the Never-Old Forest to reclaim its hidden power. At the ruined Cloud Terrace, he opened a concealed compartment in a rock and retrieved a box.

• Yin San told Profound Yin Ancestor that the Western Prince was Nan Qu's disciple and Xilai's junior brother, whom he had guided after meeting the Southern Sea Sword Immortal.
• Yin San explained that he had used the Western Prince's rivalry with Jian Xilai to obtain the Never-Old Forest, while Profound Yin Ancestor recognized that Yin San had also aided him through the Nether Department.
• Yin San said the Never-Old Forest was a group of powerful people rather than a place, and that the Righteous Path Sects' destruction of its base had not reached them.
• Yin San pressed familiar points on a massive rock at the ruined Cloud Terrace, opened a hidden entrance, and took out a box.

Yin San revealed a jade book listing formal members of the Never-Old Forest, while Jing Jiu pieced together Liu S sui’s role in the campaign that destroyed it. Green Mountain’s disciples returned from the Western Sea, and Jing Jiu sent the Unthought Sword after Liu S sui, whose whereabouts remained unknown.

• Yin San opened the jade book before the Profound Yin Ancestor, revealing names written in essence blood.
• The Abbot of Fruitful Accomplishment Temple and Master Du Hai ended their vigil near the Water-Moon Convent, while He Wei sensed baleful intent in Cold Mountain’s gorge.
• Yin San told the Profound Yin Ancestor that Liu S sui reminded him of his younger self, and he watched Liu S sui reading case files in Hanging Mountain.
• Jing Jiu reasoned that Liu S sui had joined the Never-Old Forest and helped set events in motion against it, but he chose to keep Green Mountain out of the affair.
• More than two hundred Green Mountain disciples returned from the Western Sea, and Gu Qing reported that Liu S sui had not come back with them.
• Jing Jiu sent Zhao Layue’s Unthought Sword after Liu S sui, then Zhao Layue explained to Yuan Qu that Sword Journey did not require the Heaven-Connecting Realm.

Giant sent a signal that reopened the sea routes, while Liu S sui and Little Lotus traveled toward Green Mountain after the Battle of Cloud Terrace. The chapter ended with news that the Zhongzhou Sect Master's daughter had arrived at Green Mountain to propose marriage, leaving Liu S sui wondering whether the proposal was meant for his young master.

• The Unthought Sword reached the Mingquan Secret Realm, where Giant greeted it, cast the Ten-Thousand-Year Ancient Tree into the Great Whirlpool, and headed east.
• After Giant's signal reached Penglai Island, treasure ships and divine ships set sail across the sea.
• Liu S sui and Little Lotus left Shangzhou City for Green Mountain, but Liu S sui secretly paused near Yunji Town to look at his parents from afar.
• In Yunji Town, Liu S sui and Little Lotus heard that the Zhongzhou Sect Master's daughter had come to Green Mountain to propose marriage.
• Liu S sui and Little Lotus wondered whether the proposed marriage was for his young master.

Liu S sui returned to Green Mountain with Little Lotus and was welcomed by disciples who had once believed he was a traitor. As Bai Zao spoke with him privately, Little Lotus asked Lin Wuzhi whether Green Mountain would accept her as Liu S sui’s dao companion, then raised the question of Immortal Master Jing Jiu.

• Liu S sui arrived at the South Pine Pavilion, where the steward and Immortal Master were shocked to see him and escorted him into the inner sect.
• At the Sword-Washing Creek, disciples gathered around Liu S sui, and their silence gave way to enthusiastic greetings when he said he had returned.
• Guo Nanshan, Gu Han, Ma Hua, and Jian Ruyun welcomed Liu S sui, while Jian Ruyun proposed that they return to the peak and pay respects to the Sect Master True Person.
• Bai Zao asked to speak with Liu S sui privately, and they went to a classroom in the Sword-Washing Pavilion while Little Lotus waited outside with Lin Wuzhi.
• Lin Wuzhi told Little Lotus that the sect had no rule against dao companions, prompting Little Lotus to ask what Immortal Master Jing Jiu would think.

Bai Zao negotiated with Liu S sui to keep the truth about Luo Huainan secret for up to ten years in exchange for compensation, while Liu S sui insisted his elders approve. After returning to Green Mountain, he went with Little Lotus to see Jing Jiu, unsure how their long separation had changed their bond.

• Bai Zao told Liu S sui that the Zhongzhou Sect would not pursue him over Luo Huainan, but asked him to keep the truth from the public for up to ten years in return for compensation.
• Liu S sui said he would consult his elders, and Bai Zao revealed that her rumored feelings for Jing Jiu were true.
• Gu Han worried that Liu S sui would remain known as Luo Huainan’s murderer, while Guo Nanshan and Gu Han reassured him that he had done nothing wrong.
• Jian Ruyun questioned Liu S sui about Little Lotus and asked him to return to Twofold Forgetting Peak, but Guo Nanshan agreed that he should visit Jing Jiu first.
• Liu S sui led Little Lotus up Divine End Peak, and told her that Jing Jiu would help them despite having not seen him in years.

Liu S sui returned to Divine End Peak and discussed his choices, cultivation, and plans with Jing Jiu. Jing Jiu agreed to help Little Lotus enter Green Mountain, while Liu S sui learned that Bai Zao would visit the next day.

• Liu S sui and Little Lotus climbed to Jing Jiu's cave abode, where Liu S sui greeted Jing Jiu after many years away.
• Jing Jiu asked whether Liu S sui would make the same choices again, and Liu S sui said he would still do what needed to be done.
• Liu S sui offered Jing Jiu the Immortal Sword bracelet, but Jing Jiu told him to keep it and criticized his mixed cultivation.
• Jing Jiu advised Liu S sui to live on Cloud-Walking Peak to resolve the mixed auras in his body, and Liu S sui agreed.
• Liu S sui asked Jing Jiu to help Little Lotus enter Green Mountain, and Jing Jiu said he would handle it.
• Liu S sui told Jing Jiu that Bai Zao had arrived, and Jing Jiu said she would visit him the next day.

Liu S sui left Little Lotus on Divine End Peak with Gu Qing and Yuan Qu after Jing Jiu agreed to help resolve her problem. He then went with Guo Nanshan and the others to meet his former master, Bai Rujing, but a heated argument inside Bai Rujing’s cave abode left them waiting outside.

• Liu S sui told Jing Jiu that elders in the sect seemed to have questions for him, and Jing Jiu advised him to deal with them when they came.
• Gu Qing suggested that Little Lotus stay on Divine End Peak, and Liu S sui agreed before leaving her there with Gu Qing and Yuan Qu.
• Gu Qing reminded Little Lotus that sincerity had won Consort Hu the Divine Emperor’s favor, and Little Lotus criticized how he had brewed the tea.
• Liu S sui joined Guo Nanshan and the others on their way to see Bai Rujing, his former master, while Guo Nanshan said Bai Rujing had felt remorse for his past treatment of him.
• At Bai Rujing’s cave abode on Heavenly Light Peak, Guo Nanshan and the others heard a heated argument from inside.

After Liu S sui left Bai Rujing’s cave abode, Cheng Youtian and the Elder of Jade Lake Peak agreed not to reopen the old murder case involving Zuo Yi. Meanwhile, Bai Zao visited Green Mountain amid rumors about her and Jing Jiu, and she arrived at Divine End Peak to meet him and his companions.

• Liu S sui left Bai Rujing’s cave abode, and Gu Han led him down the peak after Guo Nanshan and Gu Han checked on him.
• Cheng Youtian asked the Elder of Jade Lake Peak about a proposal to investigate Zuo Yi’s murder, and they agreed to ignore the matter.
• Cheng Youtian and the Elder discussed Bai Zao’s visit and Jing Jiu’s possible future with her.
• Yue Qianmen led the Zhongzhou Sect’s visit to Green Mountain, while rumors spread that Bai Zao had come to propose marriage to Jing Jiu.
• Bai Zao toured Green Mountain with Twofold Forgetting Peak Disciples and then went to Divine End Peak, where Jing Jiu, Zhao Layue, Gu Qing, Yuan Qu, and Little Lotus were present.

Bai Zao visited Divine End Peak amid a rumor that she intended to marry Jing Jiu, and explained why she had allowed the rumor to spread. After Jing Jiu rejected the possibility of becoming dao companions, Bai Zao left with Zhao Layue, who observed that Bai Zao had been competing with Jing Jiu's belief that life must be lived alone.

• Gu Qing welcomed Bai Zao to Divine End Peak, where the formal reception and her mention of the marriage rumor left Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue puzzled.
• Bai Zao told Jing Jiu that she had encouraged the rumor to avoid becoming Tong Yan's dao companion and to ease pressure on Jing Jiu within Green Mountain.
• Bai Zao suggested that becoming dao companions could benefit their sects and the Righteous Alliance, but Jing Jiu reminded her that he had already said in White City that it was impossible.
• Bai Zao invited Jing Jiu to the Zhongzhou Sect's thirty-thousandth anniversary celebration on behalf of her parents, and Jing Jiu said he would decide when the time came.
• Bai Zao proposed taking a walk through the clouds, but Jing Jiu said that clouds and the feelings they inspired were illusory.
• Bai Zao joined Zhao Layue beside the cliff, where Zhao Layue said Bai Zao had been competing with Jing Jiu himself because he believed that living was something one did alone.

Zhao Layue and Bai Zao discussed affection, dao companions, and the choices binding Bai Zao to the Zhongzhou Sect. After Bai Zao left, Jing Jiu explained that powerful cultivators who feared they could not ascend were preparing successors, a choice that meant accepting defeat.

• Bai Zao asked Zhao Layue whether walking partway along the road to Heavenly Access would be enough, and Zhao Layue said she had once wondered about wanting more but was content to cultivate with Jing Jiu.
• Zhao Layue invited Bai Zao to consider joining Green Mountain, but Bai Zao left with Gu Qing because she could not abandon her responsibilities to the Zhongzhou Sect.
• Jing Jiu told Zhao Layue that affection brought the pain of being unable to part or leave, and said the Zhongzhou Sect had invited him to its thirty-thousand-year founding celebration.
• Jing Jiu explained that major sect leaders who saw their own ends had begun raising successors, and Zhao Layue realized that they were preparing to leave behind their karma after losing hope of ascension.

Jing Jiu rejected the Zhongzhou Sect’s proposal, while Green Mountain’s internal conflict over Liu S sui and Little Lotus deepened. Fang Jingtian secretly confronted a hidden presence and demanded to know where One was, after confirming Two was with Liu S sui.

• Jing Jiu told Zhao Layue that a hundred years was the limit, leaving only a few decades for Guo Nanshan.
• Elder Yue Qianmen departed, and a rumor spread that Jing Jiu had rejected the Zhongzhou Sect’s proposal outright.
• At a Hundred Flowers Banquet, Qingrong Peak’s disciples grew melancholy while discussing Jing Jiu and Bai Zao, and Nan Wang called Jing Jiu heartless.
• Gu Qing learned that Past Arrival Peak had blocked Liu S sui’s reward and his request to keep Little Lotus at Green Mountain, and he told Jing Jiu about the situation.
• Liu S sui left Past Arrival Peak without seeing Fang Jingtian, who then crossed a hidden stone bridge and asked a mysterious presence what had happened to One.

Fang Jingtian tried to enlist Yin Phoenix in a plot against Jing Jiu, but Yin Phoenix refused unless Fang proved Jing Jiu was not True Person Jingyang. Jing Jiu learned of the exchange and was surprised Fang Jingtian had acted again so soon.

• Fang Jingtian asked Yin Phoenix to help him, but Yin Phoenix refused and warned him against relying on illusions.
• Fang Jingtian argued that conflicts between the Sect Master and Sword Law could give him an opportunity to kill his enemies.
• Yin Phoenix demanded proof that Jing Jiu was not True Person Jingyang, citing White Ghost's docile behavior as evidence that Jing Jiu might be Jingyang.
• Fang Jingtian agreed to establish Jing Jiu's origins, a task made his highest priority by a recent message from his master.
• Zhao Layue told Jing Jiu about what happened at Past Arrival Peak, and Jing Jiu wondered why Fang Jingtian had made another move so soon.

Jing Jiu told Zhao Layue how True Person Taiping reclaimed Green Mountain with the help of his disciples and two Guardians, while they considered the brewing conflict with Fang Jingtian. After admitting he felt lonely, Jing Jiu found comfort in Zhao Layue’s reminder that he had companions at Divine End Peak.

• Jing Jiu explained that True Person Taiping had taken disciples early and enlisted Lord Corpse Dog and Lord Yin Phoenix by promising that when one man attained the Dao, even his chickens and dogs would ascend to heaven.
• Jing Jiu told Zhao Layue that Liu Ci and Yuan Qijing had helped him and his Senior Brother reclaim Green Mountain, leaving Taiping’s lineage in control of the Nine Peaks.
• Jing Jiu told the white cat that someone wanted to kill him, and the white cat said people were jealous of him.
• Jing Jiu explained that Liu Ci and Yuan Qijing would not stop Fang Jingtian from merely wanting to avenge True Person Taiping, though they would intervene if he acted.
• Jing Jiu admitted he felt lonely, and Zhao Layue reminded him that he had her and the growing community at Divine End Peak.