Recaps

Hou Niao faced Dai Xun, whose Dragon Mountain Beast-Roaming Diagram and furnace-forging star sand trapped him in a battle of attrition. As the star sand overwhelmed his defenses, Hou Niao released five rays of profound light.

• The True Disciples took turns challenging Hou Niao, and Dai Xun entered the small world for his turn.
• Dai Xun summoned an azure ape from the Dragon Mountain Beast-Roaming Diagram, and Hou Niao struck it repeatedly, causing it to grow stronger by absorbing gang qi.
• Dai Xun unleashed furnace-forging star sand that eroded Hou Niao’s protective profound gang and hemmed him in.
• Hou Niao realized ordinary attacks could not stop the star sand and sent five rays of profound light sweeping out behind him.

Hou Niao and Dai Xun fought an exhausting battle as Dai Xun attacked with furnace-forging star sand and beasts from the Dragon Mountain Beast-Roaming Diagram. After Hou Niao swept away the sand twice in succession, he urged Dai Xun to stop, leaving Dai Xun uncertain whether Hou Niao still had strength to spare.

• Hou Niao used his profound light to defeat Dai Xun’s Azure Ape, while Dai Xun attacked with star sand and three charging beasts.
• Hou Niao threw out the Small Pagoda, Small Shield, and Battle Garment to delay the star sand, then swept it away with his profound light.
• Dai Xun released two more beasts and continued the assault, while Hou Niao fought them off and sacrificed more unrefined treasures to buy time.
• Dai Xun lost three beasts to prolonged fighting and had forty percent of his star sand swept away.
• Hou Niao stopped throwing out treasures and swept away two more volleys of star sand in succession.
• Hou Niao warned Dai Xun that continuing would ruin his star sand and beasts, and Dai Xun hesitated over whether to withdraw or keep fighting.

Dai Xun stopped gambling after losing half his star sand and revealed that Good Man wielded the Five Elements Mystic Light. Cheng Kun and Lou Yue were defeated, and Gu Daozi and Huai Liangyou chose to concede while seeking Good Man’s identity.

• Dai Xun admitted defeat, explaining that he could not risk losing the rest of his star sand and beasts, and told Cheng Kun that Good Man’s Five Elements Mystic Light was strongest in water and earth.
• Cheng Kun entered the fight wary of the mystic light and was defeated in less than a quarter of an hour.
• Lou Yue fought Good Man next but was also defeated as the Five Elements Mystic Light blunted his magic.
• Gu Daozi and Huai Liangyou decided their group should concede and investigate who Good Man really was.
• Wei Gu mocked the Daoist Sect for turning the Tianxin Pavilion incident into a farce, while Yan Baiyi and Tan Xiao listened awkwardly.

Hou Niao fought Yuan Xizhi while trying to understand why the pirate chief remained composed, then discovered that the flood dragon qi had traced a Black Star illusion formation around them. As the illusion closed in, Hou Niao plunged his consciousness into the Purple Mansion Vortex and suddenly opened his eyes, facing Yuan Xizhi with a flash of sword light.

• Hou Niao evaded Yuan Xizhi’s attacks and shattered his pagoda, Colored Ring, and Cloud Shield as the battle continued.
• Yuan Xizhi used the pursuing flood dragon qi to secretly trace a Black Star formation around the battlefield.
• Hou Niao sensed something was wrong, scattered the flood dragon qi, and realized the Black Star formation was closing around him.
• Yuan Xizhi summoned a Mirage Beast, which activated the illusion and pulled Hou Niao toward the Black Star’s center.
• Hou Niao plunged his consciousness into the Purple Mansion Vortex, then opened his eyes and struck at Yuan Xizhi with a flash of sword light.

Hou Niao prepared to leave Year-End City for the Hundred Thousand Mountains, while Bai Qingqian chose to stay and open a flower shop. As he headed north with Daoist Sect True Disciples in pursuit, he discovered that one woman was following him into dangerous heights.

• Hou Niao told Bai Qingqian they needed to leave, but she refused to join him and decided to settle in Year-End City.
• Hou Niao agreed to travel alone toward the Hundred Thousand Mountains and left with Fuyao before dawn.
• Daoist Sect True Disciples chased Hou Niao as he flew north, but he climbed above their safe limits and shook off nearly all of them.
• Hou Niao noticed one pursuer still following him at extreme altitude and changed direction before dropping toward her.
• Hou Niao saw a woman struggling to fly, unable to call for help but still refusing to give up the pursuit.

Hou Niao rescued Dong Fangfei from a staged fall, then agreed to hide with her in Kangba Left Banner while the Daoist Sect searched the Northern Borderlands. She brought him to a camp where the herders knew her as Lady Suji, and he wondered who held power there.

• Hou Niao caught Dong Fangfei as she pretended to lose control in the wind, then realized she had tricked him into helping her.
• Dong Fangfei urged Hou Niao to lie low for three months, and he agreed before she took him away on a flying raft.
• Dong Fangfei brought Hou Niao to Kangba Left Banner, where she said they could stay among her local friends.
• Dong Fangfei changed into grassland clothing and greeted the herders, who welcomed her as Lady Suji.
• Hou Niao followed Dong Fangfei to a large felt tent and joked that he would kill any king who tried to compete with him for her.

Hou Niao stayed at Dong Fangfei’s camp and reflected on his recent cultivation gains, especially how the Five Elements Mystic Light benefited from treasures from the Outer Cosmos. He then welcomed Dong Fangfei into his tent in disguise and seized her as she tried to flee.

• Hou Niao explored the camp and realized that many of its children were studying and that some adults from the grasslands behaved like people from the central plains.
• Hou Niao assessed his strength against several Constellation True Disciples and concluded that he was not confident he could defeat them.
• Hou Niao reasoned that treasures from the Outer Cosmos could greatly strengthen his Five Elements Mystic Light and decided to focus first on experiencing the Earth Spirit Pearl.
• Dong Fangfei entered Hou Niao’s tent dressed in a traditional robe, and he startled her with a donkey-faced disguise.
• Hou Niao caught Dong Fangfei as she tried to run and threw her onto the fur-covered couch.

Hou Niao learned that Immortal Maiden Dong wanted his help mediating with the grasslands’ Golden Bloodline Shi Clan, whose swordsmen were pressuring her to leave Kangba Left Banner. He agreed to wait for them to return, while discovering the extent of Dong Fangfei’s decades of work among the herders.

• Immortal Maiden Dong told Hou Niao she believed he could break the Heaven and Earth Shackles and asked him to remember her if he rose to power.
• Dong Fangfei explained that Golden Bloodline Shi Clan swordsmen had repeatedly demanded she leave Kangba Left Banner, though she had avoided teaching cultivation or otherwise challenging their authority.
• Hou Niao agreed to mediate with the Shi Clan swordsmen when they appeared again.
• Hou Niao spent time around the camp and saw that Dong Fangfei supported the herders through education, trade, and disaster relief.

Hou Niao confronted the Golden Bloodline swordsmen who objected to Immortal Maiden Dong teaching in Kangba Left Banner, and defeated Shi Ye in a fair sword fight. He challenged Shi Bu’s reasons for opposing her lessons and declared that true swordsmanship should fear no challenge.

• Shi Bu questioned Hou Niao’s presence, and Hou Niao explained that he had come by chance but would not stand aside.
• Shi Bu insisted that the grassland rules required Hou Niao to defeat him, then sent Shi Ye to fight in his place.
• Hou Niao parried Shi Ye’s powerful broadsword and struck his Shanzhong acupoint with his sword hilt, leaving him unable to rise.
• Shi Bu stopped the other young swordsman from attacking and asked where Hou Niao’s sword came from.
• Hou Niao identified Quanzhen as his sword’s source and denied having any purpose in Kangba Left Banner.
• Hou Niao argued that Immortal Maiden Dong’s lessons in reading and pictures posed no threat to the Golden Bloodline’s swordsmanship, and said true swordsmanship should fear no challenge.

Hou Niao befriended Shi Bu after defeating him in a sword spar, easing the Golden Bloodline’s pressure on Immortal Maiden Dong. Their discussion turned to swordsmanship and the grassland tribes’ search for a way to strengthen their tradition without adopting the Daoist Sect’s methods.

• Hou Niao defeated Shi Bu in a sword spar, then used his acquaintance with Shi Le to establish a friendship with the Golden Bloodline men.
• Shi Bu sent two juniors to fetch Shi Le, while Immortal Maiden Dong left the men to talk.
• Hou Niao asked Shi Bu about the Golden Bloodline’s efforts to purge outside influences from the grasslands, and promised to persuade Immortal Maiden Dong to scale back her activities.
• Shi Bu agreed to tolerate Immortal Maiden Dong’s work as long as she stayed within bounds.
• Hou Niao explained that Quanzhen could change its swordsmanship if new methods proved successful, warning Shi Bu not to assume the Golden Bloodline could rest on its traditions.
• Shi Bu said the Golden Bloodline had sent its best practitioners to study other traditions, but had struggled to find a path that fit without adopting too much from the Daoist Sect.

Hou Niao discussed the grassland golden bloodline’s struggle to choose a path for its cultivation legacy, then tested his sword against its gathered swordsmen. He left them with a warning that Shanmen Quanzhen would produce more Sword Cultivators like him.

• Shi Le welcomed Hou Niao and explained that grassland swordsmen had come to witness his abilities.
• Shi Le and Shi Bu described the golden bloodline’s lack of an Infant Transformation cultivator and its debate over how to preserve its legacy.
• Hou Niao advised the brothers to adopt a mature cultivation system first, while Shi Le explained their concerns about Daoist sects and body cultivation.
• Grassland swordsmen gathered outside Kangba Left Banner and challenged Hou Niao, but he defeated dozens of them with the Body Sword Technique.
• Hou Niao told the swordsmen that more Sword Cultivators like him would appear in Shanmen Quanzhen.

Hou Niao left Kangba Left Banner after teaching the grassland swordsmen, then traveled toward the Winged People Tribe. There, he learned how the Earth Spirit Pearl’s use had cost the Winged People holy maiden her life and changed the paths of three cultivators.

• Hou Niao declined Shi Le’s invitation to visit the Golden Khan Court, and they parted as friends.
• Hou Niao refused Immortal Maiden Dong’s offer to accompany him, and she left after inviting him to contact her in the Southeast.
• Hou Niao flew toward the Yaoguang Mountains, reflecting that his travels had revealed a guiding direction.
• Hou Niao reached the Winged People Tribe and recalled how the holy maiden had embedded the Earth Spirit Pearl in her forehead to transform the land.
• The holy maiden died after the Earth Spirit Pearl’s power was put to use, and Luo Yewang later told Hou Niao the full story.
• Second Brother Luo, Daoist Ying, and Monk Jia Lan changed their lives after the escort mission, while the tribe buried the pearl with the holy maiden and barred outside cultivators.

Hou Niao secretly joined cultivators beneath the Winged People’s land to study the Earth Spirit Pearl, while the chapter shifted to a Winged hunter returning home to his mother, who still grieved for her daughter and awaited a sign of her freedom.

• Hou Niao entered the soil and sensed the Earth Spirit Pearl, finding over a hundred cultivators studying its earth element power.
• Hou Niao stopped at the one-li ring and merged his yellow profound light with the pearl’s fluctuations to seek insight.
• Winged hunters returned to their village with game during the harvest season.
• Konger came home after half a month away, and his mother welcomed him and urged him to eat.
• Konger’s mother remembered her second child’s final wish and continued waiting for a kingfisher to return as a sign that her daughter had gained freedom.

Xingkong and his mother rallied the tribe to oppose the Wing Court’s plan to open the Saintess’s coffin and take the Earth Spirit Pearl. Inside the Ancestral Temple, the Northern Heaven Gate’s Venerable Master prepared to deceive the gathered people so the pearl could be replaced without their noticing.

• Xingkong learned that the Wing Court’s visitors had persuaded the tribe to open the Saintess’s coffin and rushed to defend it.
• Xingkong’s mother sent Shanzi, Dazhuang, and Xiaohu to gather hunters, farmers, and women, then set off for the Ancestral Temple with her son.
• Winged People from across the valley gathered at the Ancestral Temple to protest the removal of the Earth Spirit Pearl.
• Kuji told the black-robed Wing Court envoy that no Winged person would willingly accept the plan, while acknowledging the pressure that had forced the tribe’s leaders to consent.
• A Venerable Master from the Northern Heaven Gate proposed using a treasure to fool the crowd and replace the Earth Spirit Pearl with another treasure.

Kuji persuaded the Winged People that the Northern Heaven Gate cultivators would only examine the Earth Spirit Pearl, using a projected image to ease their suspicions. Inside the ancestral temple, Huanghou and Baidou prepared to open Xinghuan’s coffin, but the tribe’s reverence for her had created a protective barrier around it.

• Kuji announced that the Earth Spirit Pearl would remain with Xinghuan and that the cultivators only intended to examine it.
• Kuji projected an image of the ancestral temple to reassure the tribe, but Xingkong demanded that a few representatives be allowed inside to watch.
• Kuji agreed to let eight people enter, and the Winged People grew curious about the coffin’s opening.
• Huanghou and Baidou revealed that they had come to collect the Earth Spirit Pearl and had repeatedly failed to open Xinghuan’s coffin.
• Huanghou and Baidou realized that the tribe’s shared reverence for Xinghuan protected the coffin, which could not be opened without everyone’s consent.

Huanghou and Baidou manipulated the Winged People into opening Saintess Xinghuan’s coffin so they could take the Earth Spirit Pearl, but someone underground stole it first. The furious cultivators pursued the thief, while the Winged People charged into the ancestral temple and killed the envoys, chief, and elders in the chaos.

• Huanghou persuaded the Winged People to honor Saintess Xinghuan and agree to open her coffin.
• Baidou opened the coffin, revealing Xinghuan’s preserved body, while Huanghou froze the image being broadcast outside.
• Baidou struck the gathered mortals with a mild soul attack as Huanghou reached for the Earth Spirit Pearl.
• The pearl vanished underground, and Xinghuan’s body and belongings turned to dust.
• Huanghou and Baidou plunged underground to chase the thief, causing the aerial mirror to disappear.
• Xingkong cried out that his sister and the tribe’s pearl had been stolen, and the Winged People surged into the temple, killing the envoys, chief, and elders.

Huanghou and Baidou chased the unclaimed Earth Spirit Pearl underground, but the pearl vanished with a minor cultivator before they could reach it. Accused of stealing it, the two Northern Heaven Gate cultivators were overwhelmed and killed by the other cultivators.

• Huanghou and Baidou accelerated toward the Earth Spirit Pearl after a Divine Sense message revealed that Northern Heaven Gate cultivators had entered the underground.
• The Earth Spirit Pearl collided with a minor cultivator and vanished along with him before Huanghou and Baidou could catch up.
• Baidou wounded an attacker, but the minor cultivator accused Huanghou and Baidou of taking the pearl, drawing the other cultivators against them.
• Huanghou and Baidou fought their way through the encirclement and tried to burrow upward as more Golden Core cultivators arrived.
• The cultivators killed Huanghou and Baidou, then divided up their storage pouches and corpses.

Hou Niao used his bond with the Earth Spirit Pearl to help it escape the Northern Heaven Gate cultivators, then spent several more months learning from it. He released the pearl into the Brocade Continent’s earth element law and left Yaoguang as Xinghuan returned home.

• Hou Niao guided the Earth Spirit Pearl away from Huanghou and concealed it while cultivators fought underground, and Xinghuan’s remains turned to dust.
• Most cultivators left after the fighting, and Northern Heaven Gate searched for months before accepting that two Golden Core cultivators and the pearl had vanished.
• Hou Niao awakened from his stillness, told the Earth Spirit Pearl to return to the continent, and released it into the land.
• Hou Niao emerged from the ground and flew away, ending his three-year journey through Yaoguang.
• A kingfisher came to the courtyard where the old woman and Xingkong were, and they wept as Xinghuan came home.

Hou Niao returned to Jade Capital for Shanmen’s gathering and learned he would represent the Minister of Justice Prefecture in a speech. Judge Cheng revealed that pressure from other True Persons had prompted the change to let ordinary disciples speak, in part because Hou Niao’s challenge to Tang Yan had exposed the True Disciples’ failure to step forward.

• Hou Niao returned to Jade Capital on the third day of the third month and reported to the Minister of Justice Prefecture, where Li Biejia was absent.
• Judge Cheng told Hou Niao he would give remarks as the Minister of Justice Prefecture’s representative among cultivators of the Three Heavens Realms, citing his merits.
• Hou Niao learned that each of the Three Prefectures had chosen an ordinary disciple to speak instead of reserving the opportunity for True Disciples.
• Judge Cheng said pressure from multiple True Persons had driven the change and warned that Hou Niao’s troublemaking could destabilize the Minister of Justice Prefecture.
• Hou Niao argued that flaws in Shanmen’s rules could become dangerous when threats came from beyond the Daoist Sect.
• Judge Cheng explained that Hou Niao’s confrontation with Tang Yan had highlighted the True Disciples’ failure to take responsibility, helping bring about the change.

Judge Cheng warned Hou Niao that his actions had drawn hostility from two princely prefectures and that he would face the challenges of his position at the upcoming Annual Assembly. As Hou Niao prepared to address the assembly, his friends celebrated his return and discussed the speech and the coming changes to the True Disciple positions.

• Judge Cheng told Hou Niao to prepare for the Annual Assembly and explained that powerful cultivators were using him to test the path toward reform, though they expected him to pay a heavy price.
• Fang Yazi, Wang Mian, Zong Qian, Rao Zongzhi, and Hai Xixi welcomed Hou Niao back at a restaurant and celebrated his survival of the encounter with a Constellation True Disciple.
• Wang Mian named Yu Shangjiang and Lan Kecheng as speakers representing the Three Heavens Realms cultivators at the Annual Assembly.
• Hou Niao insisted he wanted to change unfair practices rather than take benefits from his fellow disciples, while Rao Zongzhi argued that reform required seizing power.
• Hou Niao asked his friends to help draft his speech, and Fang Yazi cautioned that he might speak too recklessly at the assembly.

Hou Niao and his companions discussed how to build support for changing Quanzhen’s True Disciple selection process ahead of the Shanmen annual gathering. They decided to approach other influential cultivators, while recognizing that the gathering might be their last meaningful chance to affect the coming upheaval.

• Hou Niao dismissed the idea of devising a grand plan and urged his companions to stop worrying about overturning centuries of rules.
• Zong Qian, Rao Zongzhi, and Wang Mian proposed spreading their ideas carefully through fellow disciples and private contacts, while Fang Yazi warned against attending too many gatherings.
• Hai Xixi said the annual gathering would bring back more ancestors than any in Quanzhen’s history and might be the last chance to change the selection process before Heaven-Sent Lingqing.
• The group agreed that Hou Niao needed Yu Shangjiang and Lan Kecheng to speak alongside him, so Rao Zongzhi and Wang Mian offered to approach them.

Hou Niao met with his companions in Jade Capital and agreed to stay inside the Minister of Justice Prefecture before the Annual Assembly. He then met Yu Zhengxing, who had returned with four True Persons to press the True Disciple issue, and learned that their plan would require replacing all nine current slots.

• Zong Qian warned Hou Niao to avoid causing trouble before the Annual Assembly, and Hou Niao said he would remain inside the Minister of Justice Prefecture.
• Hou Niao wandered through Jade Capital and reflected on the city's crowded spiritual energy and his own uncertain path.
• Hou Niao encountered Yu Zhengxing in a tavern, where Yu Zhengxing explained that he had returned to put True Disciples on the Annual Assembly's agenda.
• Yu Zhengxing said the four True Persons—Hai, Wei, Quan, and Yuan—could not secure a place by persuading one current True Disciple to yield.
• Yu Zhengxing concluded that they would have to replace all nine True Disciple slots to overcome the entrenched factions.

Hou Niao and Yu Zhengxing discussed how to use the Annual Assembly to push for reform in Shanmen, including the nine True Persons relinquishing their places. Yu Zhengxing warned Hou Niao that publicly leading the effort could cost him a chance to become a True Disciple, but Hou Niao remained willing to put Shanmen’s future first.

• Hou Niao considered why the nine True Persons might be persuaded to surrender their places together, and recognized that they and he were using each other to advance reform.
• Yu Zhengxing explained that Hou Niao’s address at the Annual Assembly would be the best chance to rally disciples and make the case for changing the rules.
• Yu Zhengxing warned that the reform campaign might prevent Hou Niao from securing a True Disciple’s position and that rival Sword Cultivators could exploit his public role.
• Yu Zhengxing challenged Hou Niao to reconsider speaking at the assembly, arguing that Shanmen’s factions would not sincerely support him.
• Hou Niao told Yu Zhengxing he was prepared to sacrifice his personal interests for Shanmen’s future, and Yu Zhengxing angrily left after tossing silver onto the table.

Hou Niao accepted Yu Zhengxing’s warning and agreed to challenge the established order at the Annual Assembly. Yu Zhengxing then reported to True Persons Yuan and Wei, who explained that their plan served the Quanzhen Sect as a whole, leaving him troubled but committed to carrying it out.

• Hou Niao entered the Minister of Justice Prefecture after reflecting on his seniors’ advice and his own willingness to stand up for himself.
• Yu Zhengxing met True Persons Yuan and Wei and told them Hou Niao had agreed to raise the challenge publicly at the Annual Assembly.
• Wei True Person questioned why Hou Niao had accepted so readily, and Yu Zhengxing suggested the opportunity had clouded his judgment.
• Yu Zhengxing asked the True Persons to spare Hou Niao’s future, but Wei True Person insisted their reforms served the whole Quanzhen Sect, not one disciple.
• Yu Zhengxing accepted the True Persons’ decision and guaranteed that Hou Niao would not disrupt their arrangements.

Zong Qian’s overwhelming performance secured the Yingtai Trade Route leadership for the Silver Sword Firm and stirred speculation about his origins. Bai Qingqian and Xiangfei Bamboo recognized him as Senior Brother Hou and agreed to wait for him while he pursued his plans.

• After no one else answered Xiang Anshi’s calls, he announced that the Silver Sword Firm would lead the Yingtai Trade Route, with five other firms following.
• Cultivators crowded around the Silver Sword Firm to learn about Zong Qian, while two sisters mocked Guan Ruyu after he ignored them.
• Bai Qingqian challenged the sisters’ praise of Zong Qian, and Guan Ruyu signaled her to stop arguing.
• Bai Qingqian told Xiangfei Bamboo that Zong Qian was Senior Brother Hou and that he had helped the Silver Sword Firm to prevent the Bai Firm from leading the route.
• Bai Qingqian and Xiangfei Bamboo decided not to acknowledge Senior Brother Hou yet and to wait for him to approach them.