Chapter Summaries

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jing Jiu watched the Profound Yin Cult’s forces from hiding and realized they were searching for the Azure Sky Mirror. He found the mirror buried beneath a weed and addressed it as a door.

• Jing Jiu concealed himself above the wasteland and counted 322 Profound Yin Cult followers surrounding the area.
• Jing Jiu considered the danger of Wang Xiaoming’s Blazing Sun Banner and the Green Mountain Sect’s lack of powerful Law Treasures.
• Su Qige warned Gao Ya that the Cult Master’s growing power and ambition could bring another catastrophe, then revealed evidence that the Old Ancestor had escaped.
• Jing Jiu used the cult’s formations and a familiar scent to search the wasteland without being detected.
• Jing Jiu found the Azure Sky Mirror buried beneath a vivid green weed and tapped it, saying, “Open the door.”

Jing Jiu reunited with Tong Yan, who had survived by hiding beneath Cold Mountain with help from Qing'er and the Fire Carp King. After Jing Jiu failed to dig through the Profound Yin Cult’s fire-vein defenses, Tong Yan described the cult master’s power and brutality, leaving them facing a dangerous threat.

• Tong Yan emerged from the Azure Sky Mirror’s illusion and reunited with Jing Jiu and Qing'er.
• Tong Yan explained that Qing'er had guided him to hide beneath Cold Mountain, where the Fire Carp King concealed him from the Zhongzhou Sect.
• Jing Jiu deduced that the Profound Yin Cult had discovered Tong Yan and used the Blazing Sun Banner to drive him from hiding.
• Jing Jiu tried to scout an underground escape route but was scorched by fire veins strengthened by the Blazing Sun Banner.
• Tong Yan described the young Profound Yin Cult master’s rise and massacres, and Jing Jiu admitted he had once declined Zhao Layue’s advice to kill him.

Jing Jiu and Tong Yan escaped the Profound Yin Cult’s search through underground fire veins, but Ming Wang had anticipated their route and confronted them near the snow mountains. Jing Jiu’s question exposed Ming Wang’s fear that his rise and good fortune had been arranged by someone else.

• Tong Yan explained that he had taken the Azure Sky Mirror to save Qing'er from White True Person, who intended to destroy her.
• Jing Jiu said he had come to Cold Mountain to grind his sword and recognized the Azure Sky Mirror as the stone he had been seeking.
• Ming Wang examined the bodies of three slain cultists and ordered his followers to keep searching for Jing Jiu and Tong Yan.
• Jing Jiu used a day and night to map the underground fire veins, then led Tong Yan through a passage beneath the Profound Yin Cult’s formations.
• Jing Jiu and Tong Yan emerged near the snowfield, where Ming Wang revealed he had prepared their route and waited for them.
• Jing Jiu asked Ming Wang whether he liked the life others had prepared for him, leaving him shaken by the possibility that his fortune had been orchestrated.

Jing Jiu and Tong Yan confronted Wang Xiaoming, whose Blazing Sun Banner blocked Jing Jiu’s sudden sword strike. As Tong Yan challenged Wang Xiaoming’s claim that he remained an ordinary person despite cultivating, Jing Jiu prepared to act on a way to overcome the banner.

• Jing Jiu recognized Wang Xiaoming as the young Profound Yin Cult Master and suspected his Senior Brother was behind the young man’s string of fortuitous encounters.
• Jing Jiu’s Universe Edge struck at Wang Xiaoming, but the Blazing Sun Banner warped space and diverted the sword into the snowy mountain.
• Jing Jiu judged that the Blazing Sun Banner could overpower his sword and told Tong Yan he would use the Azure Sky Mirror to clear a path; Qing’er protested that she could not fight.
• Wang Xiaoming reasoned that his Blazing Sun Banner made him stronger than Jing Jiu and boasted that Jing Jiu’s bad luck had brought him face to face with him.
• Tong Yan questioned Wang Xiaoming about his hatred of cultivators and his refusal to heal his crippled leg, arguing that his ability to cultivate made him a cultivator regardless of how he saw himself.

Wang Xiaoming confronted Jing Jiu and Tong Yan, blaming Jing Jiu for his adoptive father’s death and trapping them in the Blazing Sun Banner’s fires. Jing Jiu used the Azure Sky Mirror and Universe Edge to shield them from the flames, leaving the pair boxed in but protected for now.

• Wang Xiaoming accused Jing Jiu of causing Shi Fengchen’s death, and Tong Yan explained that Shi Fengchen had died by suicide after his failed attempt to assassinate Zhao Layue.
• Wang Xiaoming demanded the Azure Sky Mirror, but Jing Jiu’s Universe Edge could not break through the Blazing Sun Banner’s fiery barrier or send a message out.
• Wang Xiaoming unleashed the Blazing Sun Banner, filling the area with yang gang fire and attacking Jing Jiu and Tong Yan with a pillar of flame.
• Jing Jiu raised the Azure Sky Mirror to block the attack, then enlarged it overhead to shield them from fire raining down from the sky.
• As the Blazing Sun Banner’s earthfires rose beneath them, Jing Jiu placed Universe Edge below the mirror, trapping himself and Tong Yan between the two fire-resistant treasures.

Jing Jiu used earth and sand chilled in the cosmos to protect the Azure Sky Mirror and Universe Edge from the Blazing Sun Banner, then left to confront Wang Xiaoming with only a twenty percent chance of success. Tong Yan prepared to take Qing'er and the mirror away as the heat returned, while a strange snowman emerged beneath the great snowy mountain.

• Jing Jiu used Cold Cicada and earth and sand sent into the cosmos to cool the Azure Sky Mirror and Universe Edge as the Blazing Sun Banner's flames threatened them.
• Eldest Young Master Zhang saw the heat devastate the Azure Sky Mirror's world and feared his sleeping family would die before awakening.
• After sensing the Azure Sky Mirror's world could not endure the fire, Jing Jiu cooled it and Universe Edge with frozen earth and sand, then said he would go kill Wang Xiaoming.
• Jing Jiu told Tong Yan his chances were twenty percent, handed Qing'er to him, and vanished to confront Wang Xiaoming.
• As the mirror and sword heated again, Tong Yan told Qing'er he could take her out, while Cold Cicada suspected he had deceived Jing Jiu about his odds.
• A small, featureless snowman rose from the avalanche beneath the great snowy mountain and sensed the heat beyond it.

Snow Ji emerged from Snow Mountain and crossed the Blazing Sun Banner’s sea of fire to reach the Azure Sky Mirror, where she extinguished flames while seeking the cold trace in Jing Jiu’s sand and dirt. As Jing Jiu fought Wang Xiaoming, Snow Ji arrived at Snow Mountain and took the Universe Edge from Jing Jiu, studying it closely.

• Snow Ji sensed an intensely cold aura in the sand and dirt beneath the Azure Sky Mirror and leapt through the sea of fire toward it.
• Snow Ji extinguished the flames around the Azure Sky Mirror, but the Blazing Sun Banner’s heavenly fire threatened the sand and dirt, so she unleashed a torrent of snow and ice.
• Snow Ji’s soundless shriek reached the underground Fire Carp King, while Wang Xiaoming realized that much of the banner’s fire had been devoured.
• The Universe Edge appeared before Wang Xiaoming, and Jing Jiu crossed the sea of fire to reclaim it and attacked Wang Xiaoming with more than three thousand sword strikes.
• The Blazing Sun Banner burned Jing Jiu and forced him to face the approaching Snow Ji, who had forced her way through the fiery barriers.
• Snow Ji reached Jing Jiu, ignored Wang Xiaoming, and took the Universe Edge to study it.

Jing Jiu fought Wang Xiaoming while Snow Ji drew the Blazing Sun Banner’s fire away from him, then escaped with the Azure Sky Mirror. He left Universe Edge behind, but Snow Ji caught up with him on the sword in the snowy mountains.

• Snow Ji’s arrival drew the Blazing Sun Banner’s Yang Gang Fire away from the Azure Sky Mirror, allowing Jing Jiu to attack Wang Xiaoming and tear the banner with his right hand.
• Wang Xiaoming fought Jing Jiu in the sky, but both were blasted away; Wang Xiaoming survived and prepared to continue until Gao Ya and the Profound Yin Cult elders urged him to retreat.
• True Person He and the Wind Saber Sect Master arrived after the battle and found the wilderness devastated and the Snow Mountain collapsed.
• Jing Jiu left Snow Ji holding Universe Edge, picked up the Azure Sky Mirror, and departed with Qing'er and Tong Yan, leaving his sword and other belongings behind.
• Jing Jiu reached a snowy mountain cliff and saw Universe Edge float toward him with Snow Ji seated on it and Cold Cicada tucked in her hair.

Jing Jiu confronted Snow Ji on the snowy cliff after she blocked his path, while Tong Yan and Qing'er watched in alarm. Snow Ji asked to go to the same place as Cold Cicada, but Jing Jiu refused, and she eventually fell asleep.

• Jing Jiu faced Snow Ji on the cliff, and Tong Yan arrived after catching up with him.
• Cold Cicada woke, panicked at Snow Ji, and Jing Jiu picked her up and put her away.
• Snow Ji whimpered at Jing Jiu and asked to go where Cold Cicada had gone, but he explained that she was too advanced a life form.
• Jing Jiu offered Snow Ji Cold Cicada, the sword, and everything connected to that world, but refused to give himself.
• Snow Ji made the temperature plunge and stirred up the wind and snow, then closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Jing Jiu and Tong Yan realized Snow Ji had fallen into a deep sleep after being wounded by the Blazing Sun Banner, and decided they could not hand her over or leave her behind. As the Azure Sky Mirror moved on, strange weather centered on Three Thousand Courtyard hinted that Snow Ji’s presence had affected the region.

• Tong Yan explained that Snow Ji was the Snow Nation Queen’s young daughter and had been wounded by the Blazing Sun Banner because she underestimated its strength.
• Tong Yan argued that Snow Ji had saved their lives, so he and Jing Jiu should take responsibility for watching over her; Jing Jiu called the plan rotten but would not kill her.
• Eldest Young Master Zhang checked on his family and Candidate Zhao’s household, then worried that the missing red carp might have come to harm.
• The Fire Carp King surfaced in the Lava River after sensing Snow Ji’s aura recede, then worried about Brother Zhang as the Azure Sky Mirror moved away.
• A heavy snowfall and late spring cold spell covered Dayuan City and its surroundings, with the deepest snow and cold centered on the nunnery marked Three Thousand.