Recaps

Hou Niao spent his merit on portable goods while preparing to challenge the Quanzhen Sect’s traditions and pursue reform of the Sword Lineage. On the eve of the Annual Assembly, he told his brothers that he would act alone against the Truth-Seeking Hall’s influence.

• Hou Niao used his time in the Minister of Justice Prefecture to redeem his merit, anticipating punishment for the challenge he planned to make.
• Hou Niao embraced the Seeking Defeat Alone stance and reaffirmed his resolve to reform the Sword Lineage despite Yu Zhengxing’s warnings.
• The Quanzhen Sect announced the Truth-Seeking Hall, which would select future True Disciples by ability and drew Profound Connection and Spirit Sense cultivators away from the Natural Realm faction.
• On the day before the Annual Assembly, Hou Niao met his brothers at a restaurant and judged that their opponents had the advantage in both rank and numbers.
• Hou Niao told his brothers not to protest or organize on his behalf, declaring that the Annual Assembly’s outcome would be his responsibility alone.

Shanmen Quanzhen opened its Annual Assembly as cultivators across the continent watched for how the sect would handle the fierce struggle over True Disciple positions. The gathering began with Golden Core cultivators presenting their arts to calm the crowd before the proceedings turned to the Natural Realm disciples.

• The Shanmen Annual Assembly opened on the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, with the coming descent of Extraterrestrial Spirit Green making the True Disciple selection especially consequential.
• Thousands of Quanzhen disciples and visiting cultivators assembled before the Measure-Heaven Sword Pavilion in Jade Capital City.
• The Golden Core mistress of ceremonies rearranged the program so Golden Core and Infant Transformation displays would precede the Heaven-Connecting Realm disciples' proceedings.
• Golden Core Upper Cultivators ascended the pavilion to present their arts, beginning with a cultivator who spoke on alchemy.

At the Shanmen Annual Assembly, the Minister of War Prefecture and its allies used speeches and demonstrations to dampen support for reform, while Hou Niao urged his friends to stay focused and pursue their chance at becoming True Disciples. After days of performances, the Infant Transformation True Persons began their discourses, opening with True Person Shi’s praise of Daoist learning.

• Golden Core Upper Cultivators demonstrated their arts and expounded on the Dao, gradually calming the disciples’ reformist fervor.
• Zong Qian, Wang Mian, Rao Zongzhi, Hai Xixi, and Fang Yazi discussed the allies opposing reform and their growing influence over other provinces and sects.
• Hou Niao reassured his friends that he had a way out and urged them not to miss their chance at True Disciple positions.
• After several days of demonstrations and sword trials, the Infant Transformation True Persons began their discourses at the Measure-Heaven Sword Pavilion.
• True Person Shi of the Minister of War Prefecture opened the discourses by praising Daoist learning.

True Persons from rival factions traded sermons and poems at Shanmen's Annual Assembly, turning the gathering into a show of competing philosophies and factional strength. They stopped short of a real fight after several leaders intervened, leaving the factions to resume the assembly under the pretense of having avoided a crisis.

• True Person Shi preached moderation, then True Person Quan urged the young disciples to fight for achievement before old age.
• True Person Wu promoted a life of leisure, while Wei True Person mocked idleness and roused the disciples from their calm.
• True Person Luo, True Person Yuan, True Person Jiang, and Sea True Person each presented their views as the opposing factions escalated their public challenge.
• The spectators grew uneasy as they recognized that a clash between True Persons could destroy Jade Capital City and deepen the sects' internal divisions.
• True Persons Xu and Zong called for a halt, joined by True Persons Yan and Yang and True Person Duan, and threatened to end the Annual Assembly.
• The True Persons of the Minister of War Prefecture and the Martial Prince's Residence fell silent, while the Leisurely Clouds and Cranes of the Four Wilds returned to their places, satisfied that their staged confrontation had disrupted their opponents' preparations.

Qi Sect cultivators discussed the factions maneuvering at the Shanmen Annual Assembly and predicted that the gathering would force the Quanzhen Sect to choose a side. The Heaven-Connecting Realm presentations began, and Yu Shangjiang’s speech revealed his support for the conservative Minister of War Prefecture.

• A Qi Sect master told his True Disciple that the Quanzhen Sect’s public dispute was a calculated show and that the Annual Assembly would produce a decision about the coming changes to Heaven and Earth.
• The master warned his disciple not to read too much into True Person Duan joining the calls to halt the spectacle, since the Duan Prince’s Residence might be maneuvering behind the scenes.
• The female Golden Core master of ceremonies began the Heaven-Connecting Realm stage, introducing Yu Shangjiang, Lan Kecheng, and Hou Niao as representatives of the Three Prefectures and three realms.
• Yu Shangjiang ascended the pavilion and delivered a speech that showed his alignment with the conservative Minister of War Prefecture.
• The conservatives won the first round of the Heaven-Connecting Realm contest.

At the Quanzhen Sect’s Annual Assembly, Hou Niao’s allies withdrew from their planned challenge while Lan Kecheng spoke in support of the Truth-Seeking Hall. The Minister of War Prefecture then offered Hou Niao a True Disciple position to keep him from speaking out and threatened him with Duan Wu Qian if he refused.

• Rao Zongzhi complained that Yu Shangjiang had compromised, while Hou Niao defended Yu’s choice.
• Lan Kecheng recited a song expressing his pursuit of truth through the sword, winning approval from the Minister of War Prefecture’s True Persons.
• Hou Niao’s friends lamented that he might have to challenge the assembly alone, and Hou Niao joked about switching sides.
• A hidden voice offered Hou Niao a True Disciple position if he followed the prevailing trend and refrained from challenging the assembly.
• The voice pointed out Duan Wu Qian and warned that he would challenge Hou Niao at the Sword Pavilion if Hou Niao refused.

Hou Niao considered accepting a favorable deal that would secure him a True Disciple position, but as he climbed the Measure-Heaven Sword Pavilion, he reaffirmed his resolve not to compromise. He awakened new heights in his sword stances and declared that he would face whatever came without bowing his head.

• Hou Niao weighed the offer to become a True Disciple and reasoned that accepting it could benefit him, the sect, and his friends.
• Hai Xixi, Zong Qian, and Wang Mian discussed the likely deal, while Fang Yazi warned that Hou Niao always left complications behind.
• As Hou Niao climbed the pavilion stairs, the crowd learned that Lin Kaoxian would relinquish his True Disciple position, clearing a place for him.
• Hou Niao reached the first platform and mastered the Sole Supremacy Stance while crossing the threshold of the Seeking Defeat Alone Stance.
• Hou Niao rejected the idea of bowing his head and declared that he would wield his sword fearlessly despite the hardships ahead.

Hou Niao refused the True Disciple position and challenged Duan Wu Qian to a duel to the death, forcing the gathered True Persons to let the fight proceed. Their clash ended with Hou Niao standing and Duan Wu Qian falling headfirst.

• Hou Niao declared that he sought the Constellation True Disciple position and formally challenged Duan Wu Qian.
• Duan Wu Qian accepted the challenge, and the True Persons allowed the two Sword Cultivators to settle the matter themselves.
• Hou Niao and Duan Wu Qian unleashed their sword techniques and collided in a battle that would decide life and death.
• Hou Niao remained standing after the clash, while Duan Wu Qian plunged headfirst.

After Hou Niao killed Duan Wu Qian in their duel, the Quanzhen Sect’s True Persons debated how to punish him while facing pressure to account for the death. Hou Niao awaited their decision, and Hai Xixi feared the sect leaders would trade his life to reform the True Disciple system.

• Duan Wu Qian’s death shocked the gathered disciples, while True Person Duan restrained his anger and True Person Wu urged him to wait for an outcome.
• Exhausted atop the High Pavilion, Hou Niao reflected on the duel and told True Person Shi that Duan Wu Qian’s death proved he was not destined to break the Heaven and Earth Shackles.
• True Person Luo questioned Hou Niao for holding an unauthorized life-and-death duel, and True Person Xu ordered him to wait for punishment as thirteen True Persons conferred by divine sense.
• Yu Zhengxing and Li Chuping blamed each other for failing to control Hou Niao, while Zong Qian explained that the sect’s rules could cost Hou Niao his life or cripple his cultivation.
• Hai Xixi warned that the Four True Persons Hai Wei Quan Yuan might use Hou Niao’s punishment to reform the True Disciple system, leaving him in grave danger.

After Hou Niao challenged a True Disciple, the Quanzhen True Persons abolished the existing True Disciple titles and opened the competition to all eligible disciples. They then stripped Hou Niao of his purple mansion sword seed and expelled him from the sect, and he accepted the punishment.

• True Person Xu announced that all True Disciple titles were abolished and that all Quanzhen disciples at Heavenly Connection could compete for the next ten years’ titles.
• The thirteen True Persons punished themselves for failing to intervene, with Xu and Zong forfeiting twice the usual hundred years of stipends and provisions.
• True Person Xu assigned Hou Niao seven parts of the blame and Duan Wu three, then ordered Hou Niao’s purple mansion sword seed taken and expelled him from the sect.
• Fang Yazi stopped Wang Mian from calling for resistance, warning him not to waste Hou Niao’s efforts.
• Hou Niao accepted the punishment, quieting those who had considered protesting.

Hou Niao was expelled from the Quanzhen Sect after True Person Yang destroyed his flying sword and erased its reflection from his Purple Mansion. As the disciples performed a sword formation that blocked the square from view, his friends realized the display was giving him a chance to escape.

• True Person Yang pulled Nameless from Hou Niao's Purple Mansion and crushed it, severing his connection to the sword.
• True Person Xu expelled Hou Niao from the Quanzhen Sect, and Hou Niao bowed before leaving the square alone.
• Yu Zhengxing, Li Chuping, Fang Yazi, Rao Zongzhi, Zong Qian, and Hai Xixi discussed Hou Niao's future and the risks he faced.
• Hai Xixi revealed that the vote on Hou Niao's fate had been eight to five against his death, then pointed out that the sword formation would prevent anyone from seeing or following him.

The aftermath of Hou Niao’s victory overturned traditions across the Mainland Xiuzhen World, while growing fears about the opening of Heaven and Earth pushed cultivators to prioritize strength. Hou Niao was named a True Disciple and then a Constellation True Disciple, but he vanished from sight as the continent braced for change.

• After the Shanmen Annual Assembly, Shanmen abolished its True Disciple selection system and allowed disciples to challenge and replace those who lacked the title’s substance.
• Northern Anhe named Daoist Zhan and Hou Niao as its two True Disciples, recognizing Hou Niao despite his lost Flying Sword.
• Tianxin Pavilion and the Taihao Sect appointed Hou Niao to the vacant Heavenly Dog Star position among the Constellation True Disciples.
• Cultivators debated whether the opening of Heaven and Earth would bring danger from the Outer Cosmos, and some traditions began covertly preparing for conflict.
• Huxia Huncheng and Yunzhang Blood Transformation abolished their old selections and made True Disciple status an open contest of strength.
• Hou Niao disappeared while people wondered whether he could forge a new sword before the extraterrestrial spirit green descended.

Lady Bai ran her small flower shop in Year-End City while Hou Niao recovered there after the upheaval in the Jade Capital and struggled to refine a new Flying Sword. The chapter ended with Hou Niao arriving for lunch, looking thinner from the strain.

• Old Liu warned Little Six not to presume anything about Lady Bai, whose courtyard and position suggested powerful backing.
• Lady Bai tended the flowers and watched Hou Niao rest in the greenhouse, content that he had returned to her.
• Lady Bai reflected that Hou Niao’s fame had spread across the mainland, while she preferred not to ask about events beyond what he chose to tell her.
• Lady Bai prepared a simple meal and declined Third Auntie’s advice to cook more lavishly for Hou Niao.
• Hou Niao came in for lunch looking thinner after the upheaval in the Jade Capital.

Hou Niao explained why he had chosen to destroy his flying sword and attempt a new method of sword cultivation, despite the uncertainty and short time remaining. Lady Bai helped him accept that he had already made his choice and suggested he connect his new sword-nurturing path with growing orchids in the courtyard.

• Hou Niao told Lady Bai that restoring his old flying sword would be easier, but he wanted to try a new method that could overcome his weakness.
• Hou Niao recalled how Sea True Person had offered him a choice between losing his cultivation and destroying his flying sword as part of a compromise over the True Disciple rules.
• Hou Niao explained that recovering his old sword would make him stronger but leave him unable to surpass the Constellation True Disciples, while his new path might take him beyond them.
• Lady Bai told Hou Niao that he had already chosen his path and urged him to focus rather than divide his attention.
• Lady Bai reminded Hou Niao that Gu Sou had hinted he should try growing a Strange Stone Orchid and suggested that planting it might relate to nurturing his sword anew.

Hou Niao examined why he had destroyed Nameless and concluded that his Flying Sword Art might have been fundamentally flawed, especially compared with the Sword Light Division he had witnessed from Sword Three. He remained committed to rebuilding his flying sword, though he had not yet found a practical method.

• Hou Niao recalled how punishment and his dissatisfaction with the Flying Sword Art had led him to destroy Nameless rather than passively endure the loss of cultivation.
• Hou Niao compared his work on the Body Sword Technique with Duan Wu Qian's work on the Flying Sword Art, recognizing their mutual envy and desire to take each other's achievements.
• Hou Niao revealed that Duan Wu Qian's supposed five flying swords were actually five streams of Sword Qi from a single sword, produced through Sword Light Division.
• Hou Niao contrasted Quanzhen Sect cultivators' limited Sword Light Division with Sword Three's ability to create thousands of streams, and concluded that the two techniques were fundamentally different.
• Hou Niao decided he could not abandon the Flying Sword Art, but its fatal weakness might require him to destroy his sword and start over.

After spending six months studying Duan Wu Qian’s sword art without success, Hou Niao chose a new approach: cultivating a Strange Stone Orchid while nurturing a sword seed through his Five Elements power. He began the work in the courtyard’s Stone Formation, leaving the time and outcome uncertain.

• Hou Niao realized that Duan Wu Qian’s flying sword had been an energy mass inside his Purple Mansion, and decided to carry forward the dead cultivator’s innovation.
• Hou Niao considered growing a Strange Stone Orchid and mirroring its growth in his Purple Mansion, though the process might take longer than the twenty years he had before the Extraterrestrial Spirit Green fell.
• Hou Niao told Lady Bai he would enter a long period of seclusion and asked her to manage the flower shop and stop tending to his daily needs.
• Hou Niao entered the Stone Formation, sat down with a Strange Stone Orchid seedling, and began using his Five Elements power to grow it and nurture a sword seed.

Two years after the Shanmen Annual Assembly, Daoist sects across the continent changed how they selected their True Disciples, while the Duan Prince's Residence continued searching for a missing man. The old man refining Dragon-Returning Pills suspected the man was hiding and recovering, but the search had found no trace of him in nearly ten years.

• The Wu Sect announced a grand competition to reassess its nineteen True Disciples, hoping to counter Shanmen Quanzhen and find successors among its grassroots cultivators.
• The Guo Sect followed the Wu Sect's example, while two other Southeast Daoist sects opened half their True Disciple positions to competition and the Chu Sect refused to change its selections.
• A Golden Core cultivator reported that the Duan Prince's Residence had searched across the continent for nearly ten years without finding the missing man, while avoiding the Minister of Justice Prefecture's scrutiny.
• The old man in the Duan Prince's Residence refined five superior-grade Dragon-Returning Pills from materials for twenty-four, but said he needed transcendent-grade pills.
• The old man rejected the possibility that the missing man was dead and ordered the search to continue, noting that the man might be hiding while he recovered his strength.
• The Golden Core cultivator explained that the man had no family, and that his dao companion from the Bai Trading Company had not been seen since the Lizhi Sea.

Fang Yazi secured his place among Shanmen Quanzhen's three undefeated True Disciple candidates, with the final six places to be decided at the Annual Assembly in three months. He returned to his post in the Jade Capital and reflected on Hou Niao's influence and the controversy surrounding his Body Sword Technique.

• Fang Yazi won his sixty-first match and became one of three undefeated candidates certain to qualify as a True Disciple.
• Fang Yazi considered the fifteen contenders still competing for six places and noted that several of his friends, including Rao Zongzhi, Zong Qian, and Hai Xixi, had been eliminated.
• Fang Yazi returned to his home in the Jade Capital after his friends congratulated him on his victory.
• Fang Yazi recognized that the Minister of Justice Prefecture was watching over him because of his loyalty to Hou Niao.
• Fang Yazi noted that other Sword Cultivators wanted to learn Hou Niao's Body Sword Technique, but he refused to teach it because he had only mastered its basics.

Fang Yazi celebrated his likely elevation to True Disciple with Yan Zhu and his friends, while they discussed the continued search for his expelled senior brother. The chapter left his whereabouts unknown, with Fang Yazi confident that he would remain hidden and survive.

• Fang Yazi returned home to Yan Zhu, who congratulated him on his victories and asked him to visit her relatives.
• Fang Yazi agreed to visit Yan Zhu's family but warned her not to use his senior brother's name to claim protection for the Yan Clan.
• Wang Mian arrived, and Fang Yazi's friends gathered to congratulate him and share a meal.
• Zong Qian reported that searches for Fang Yazi's senior brother had spread across much of the continent, backed by underground factions, the Daoist Sect, and a figure in the city.
• Fang Yazi said searches were also underway around the Li Sea, but argued that many people admired his senior brother and that the searches had found nothing in ten years.

Wang Shanchang confirmed that the flower shop’s proprietress matched the wanted woman’s portrait and reported the clue, setting underground cultivation groups in motion. As cultivators gathered in Year-End City, Zhang Hancheng arrived to hunt Hou Niao on behalf of the Duan Prince’s Residence.

• Wang Shanchang learned from a flower merchant’s assistant that the flower shop’s proprietress resembled the woman in the portrait.
• Wang Shanchang secretly visited the flower shop and confirmed the proprietress was the woman being sought.
• The report spread through the underground cultivation organizations and reached Shanmen, whose members hesitated to act openly in Shangyu Kingdom because of the Tianxin Pavilion.
• Zhang Hancheng entered Year-End City as the Duan Prince’s Residence’s chosen Golden Core cultivator to pursue Hou Niao.

Zhang Hancheng met Tang Yan to plan an assassination of Hou Niao, whose location they believed was a flower shop in Year-End City. They agreed Zhang would strike in three days while Tang kept Hou Niao’s dao companion occupied.

• Zhang Hancheng traveled to Horseshoe Town to meet Tang Yan, the Wu Sect Daoist who had traced Hou Niao’s location.
• Tang Yan said he was certain Hou Niao was staying at his dao companion’s flower shop, though the pair had not investigated closely enough to alert Tianxin Pavilion.
• Tang Yan explained that nearby cultivators complicated an attack, but the two Golden Core Daoists in the area had been persuaded to leave.
• Zhang Hancheng questioned whether Tang Yan would join the attack and raised the risk posed by Hou Niao’s dao companion.
• Tang Yan said he would keep the woman occupied while Zhang struck, and they agreed to act in three days.

Zhang Hancheng and Tang Yan carried out a plan to seize Bai Qingqian and draw Hou Niao into an ambush. Zhang Hancheng found Hou Niao’s aura inside the Stone Formation and suspected he would escape underground, but the chapter ended before the attack began.

• Zhang Hancheng waited for Tang Yan’s signal, intending to strike Hou Niao when the opportunity came.
• Bai Qingqian went shopping while worrying about her family and how long she had remained in Year-End City.
• Tang Yan used his footsteps to control Bai Qingqian and led her into a building, where he told her she would be released after his business was finished.
• After receiving Tang Yan’s message, Zhang Hancheng approached the Flower Shop and concealed his Golden Core aura until he was ready to act.
• Zhang Hancheng sensed Hou Niao inside the Stone Formation and concluded that he was likely preparing to escape using Earth Escape.

Zhang Hancheng attacked Hou Niao in the courtyard but became trapped in its mysterious Five Elements forces. As Zhang Hancheng’s law power deepened the danger, both men faced a threat from the courtyard itself rather than from each other.

• Zhang Hancheng entered the Five Elements formation, found Hou Niao, and tried to break through with his cultivation and law power.
• Hou Niao remained overwhelmed by his years-long struggle to cultivate the Strange Stone Orchid and form a sword seed in his Purple Mansion.
• Hou Niao realized that the courtyard’s strange force had trapped him for three years and that a cultivator’s life force might serve as fertilizer for the orchid.
• Zhang Hancheng pushed his law power toward Hou Niao, sank deeper into the formation, and discovered that the courtyard—not Hou Niao—was the real danger.

Tang Yan waited anxiously for news from the flower house, while Bai Qingqian challenged his confidence in the assassination and warned him of the consequences if it failed. As the attack remained silent, Cheng Qianli and another Daoist arrived above the flower house and entered the Stone Formation from opposite sides.

• Tang Yan sensed that the lack of disturbance from the flower house was suspicious and summoned an older Daoist to investigate.
• Bai Qingqian taunted Tang Yan about the stalled attack and his growing unease, while he insisted the Daoist Sect would protect her if the hunt succeeded.
• Bai Qingqian warned Tang Yan that if the attack failed, he would have to send her safely home rather than let the Wu Sect's Daoists die alongside her.
• Cheng Qianli arrived above the flower house and encountered another Daoist, though both pretended not to know why the other was there.
• Cheng Qianli and the Daoist dropped into the Stone Formation at the same time, entering from the south and north.

Hou Niao remained inside the mysterious courtyard as more people arrived, while Tang Yan hesitated outside after three Golden Core cultivators vanished without a trace. Bai Qingqian tried to keep Tang Yan from entering by sowing doubt about Tianxin Pavilion, and the standoff continued with Hou Niao’s fate unknown.

• Hou Niao focused on finding a way to turn the three people’s variables to his advantage inside the courtyard.
• Tang Yan grew alarmed when Zhang Hancheng and two Golden Core cultivators failed to return or send word.
• Bai Qingqian taunted Tang Yan and urged him to consider making peace, while he released her restraints and tried to learn what she knew.
• Tang Yan questioned whether Tianxin Pavilion had approved Bai Qingqian and Hou Niao’s presence in Year-End City, but she gave him no clear answer.
• Tang Yan decided not to enter the courtyard, reasoning that four Golden Core cultivators would fare no better than three.
• Tang Yan offered to release Bai Qingqian so she could check on Hou Niao, but she refused and claimed she would find another companion if he died.