Chapter Summaries

Qiaoqiao persuaded Qiongqi and Hundun to leave and attack the Devil Realm, defusing the immediate crisis at the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda. When Commandant Feng and Protector Cheng accused her and her companions of treason and attacked her, an unseen sword strike pierced both men.

• Qiaoqiao explained that conquering the Devil Realm would benefit Qiongqi, and Hundun agreed with her reasoning.
• Qiongqi rushed off toward the Devil Realm to expand its territory, with Hundun following, and the Yao Qi around the ruins dispersed.
• Commandant Feng and Protector Cheng arrived with sect elders and accused Qiaoqiao and the Flowing Cloud Sect of conspiring with demons.
• Qiaoqiao challenged Commandant Feng and Protector Cheng about their confinement, while Xiao Tingyu, Tu San, and some demons defended her.
• Commandant Feng and Protector Cheng attacked Qiaoqiao, but a flash of sword light pierced both men's chests and shattered their meridians.

After Bai Fu killed Protector Cheng and Commandant Feng with slaughter sword intent, the western Divine Pillar began to hum and sway. Qiaoqiao heard a voice calling her to come find it as the earth shook, leaving humans and demons staring in fear at the pillar’s movement.

• Protector Cheng and Commandant Feng died instantly from a sword strike, and the accompanying elders realized they could not identify the attacker.
• The elders recognized the strike as slaughter sword intent, while the disciples of Ethereal Peak realized Bai Fu had used it and feared what it meant for him.
• Xiao Tingyu saw the words “[Qiaoqiao, Darkening Value 75]” above Qiaoqiao, who clutched her head as a voice from the Divine Pillar called to her.
• The western Divine Pillar hummed, drawing the attention of humans and demons as cultivators argued over whether it could collapse.
• The earth shook, and the western Divine Pillar visibly swayed and hummed louder, leaving the crowd stunned and frightened.

The Divine Pillar collapsed, revealing a divine sword that flew into Qiaoqiao’s arms and made her its master. Qiaoqiao formed her Nascent Soul, but after her cultivation surged, she fainted in Bai Fu’s arms as humans and demons surrounded them.

• Cracks spread across the Divine Pillar, and humans and demons fled as fierce winds and lightning swept the land.
• The Divine Pillar collapsed, revealing a golden divine sword that Qiaoqiao caught in her arms.
• The divine sword returned to Qiaoqiao, and she formed her Nascent Soul as her cultivation soared.
• Qiaoqiao sheathed the sword and impressed Xiao Tingyu with her newfound power, then fainted from the rapid cultivation rise.
• Bai Fu caught Qiaoqiao, and Xiao Tingyu noticed that humans and demons had surrounded them, staring at Qiaoqiao.

After Qiaoqiao caught the divine sword, a mysterious formation transported Ethereal Peak and the Xiao Household elders underground beneath the Divine Pillar. As they searched for a way out, they discovered an ancient mural about the goddess, the Demon God, and the collapse of the pillar, but sword energy destroyed the mural before they could see the rest.

• A blue formation swallowed Xiao Tingyu, Qiaoqiao, Bai Fu, and the others as a crowd rushed to seize Qiaoqiao's divine sword.
• Xiao Tingyu woke in an underground cave, where Qiaoqiao rested in Bai Fu's arms and the Xiao Household elders determined they were beneath the Divine Pillar.
• Qiaoqiao checked Bai Fu with the Zhaowu Mirror and saw black Qi nearly engulfing him.
• The group found a mural showing a goddess defeating the Demon God, the Divine Pillar collapsing, and the Demon God later returning to rampage through the Three Realms.
• Sword Qi struck the stone wall and shattered the remaining mural before the group could learn more.

After escaping the underground passage, Qiaoqiao and the others learned that the Cultivation World believed she was the goddess reincarnated and was searching for her. In Youzhou City, news of the Xiao Household’s eldest young lady becoming the Fox King’s Demon Queen had already stirred concern.

• Bai Fu destroyed the mural before it could reveal how the goddess had repaired the Divine Pillar, and the group wondered whether the Demon God had survived.
• The group followed a light through the passage and emerged in the Human Realm, where A-Qi and A Xue were arguing over who should hatch A-Qi’s egg.
• A-Qi and A Xue reunited with Qiaoqiao and told the group they were ten li from Youzhou City.
• A-Qi said rumors identified Qiaoqiao as the divine sword’s master and the goddess reincarnated, and that cultivators across the Cultivation World were searching for her.
• The chapter recounted how Youzhou City had learned that the Xiao Household’s eldest young lady was to become the Fox King’s Demon Queen, prompting locals to worry about the Xiao Household’s ties to the Demon Realm.

After the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda and Divine Pillar collapsed, Qiaoqiao took the divine sword and was declared by rumor to be the divine maiden. As the realms fell into turmoil and cultivators demanded that she save them, Qiaoqiao insisted she was the Heavenly Dao's emissary and prepared to return to the Flowing Cloud Sect.

• The Demon-Suppressing Pagoda collapsed during the wedding, then the Divine Pillar fell and revealed a divine sword that Qiaoqiao took before she and her companions escaped by teleportation array.
• Cultivators learned that the wedding had failed, the Fox King was dead, the Demon Realm had a new ruler, and a great demon had invaded the Devil Realm.
• The Jade Slip Forum linked Qiaoqiao's divine sword to the prophecy of the divine maiden and demanded that the Flowing Cloud Sect explain itself or hand over the sword.
• Xiao Tingyu worried about the strange “Darkening Value” text that had appeared above Qiaoqiao, but Qiaoqiao said she felt fine and called herself the Heavenly Dao's emissary.
• Bai Fu led the group back toward the Flowing Cloud Sect, while A Xue picked up A-Qi's egg and offered to carry Qiaoqiao home.

The Xiao Household brought Qiaoqiao back to the Flowing Cloud Sect, where rival sects gathered outside demanding answers about her. Welcomed by her fellow disciples, Qiaoqiao admitted she had obtained the divine sword, while Ning Shuang worried about rumors that she was the divine maiden’s reincarnation and refused to let her face the Demon God alone.

• The Xiao Household elders used a heaven-tier jade flying shuttle to return to the Flowing Cloud Sect with Qiaoqiao and brought Spirit Stones and Law Artifacts as thanks for her companions’ help.
• More than a hundred cultivators from rival sects gathered outside the Flowing Cloud Sect, demanding that Qiaoqiao explain herself, but Mu Liuyun kept them beyond the reinforced formation.
• The disciples welcomed Qiaoqiao back to Ethereal Peak, where Yue Tingxi had reached Golden Core and Qiaoqiao and the young sect master appeared to have reached Nascent Soul or higher.
• Yue Tingxi asked whether Qiaoqiao had obtained the divine sword, and she openly confirmed it; he promised to protect her, but she reminded him that she was his senior sister.
• Ning Shuang congratulated Qiaoqiao on taking first place in the sect competition and resolved that she would not let Qiaoqiao confront the Demon God alone.

The Flowing Cloud Sect elders vowed to protect Qiaoqiao from being forced to fight the Demon God, while Wen Zhi learned that Qiaoqiao was not the divine maiden destined to be imprisoned in the Divine Pillar. A Xue then reported Song Wuya’s planned ritual and a possible early failure of the Glazed Sea seal, leaving the Demon God’s emergence in question.

• Mu Liuyun and the Flowing Cloud Sect elders arrived and declared that they would protect Qiaoqiao rather than let her be forced to fight the Demon God.
• The elders tried to recruit Qiaoqiao, but Immortal Venerable Wanghan’s sword intent made them back down, and Fu Fengyuan led them away.
• At Plucked Pear Courtyard, Wen Zhi asked Qiaoqiao about the mural, and Qiaoqiao confirmed she was not the divine maiden but a messenger of justice.
• Wen Zhi cried as she realized the Divine Pillar could be repaired by imprisoning the divine maiden inside it and filling it with her flesh.
• A Xue told Qiaoqiao that Song Wuya would perform a heaven-praying ritual and that Devil Qi had erupted above the Glazed Sea, threatening its seal.

Qiaoqiao entered an illusion in which the Cultivation World surrounded Ethereal Peak and demanded that Bai Fu surrender her as a sacrifice to repair the Heavenly Pillar. Bai Fu protected her with the Protective Sword Formation and confessed that he liked her, leaving Qiaoqiao to insist that he had done nothing wrong.

• Qiaoqiao recognized that the people surrounding Ethereal Peak included many who had died, and realized the illusion showed her loved ones meeting tragic ends.
• The cultivators demanded that Bai Fu hand Qiaoqiao over, while the Protective Sword Formation kept them from entering Ethereal Peak.
• Qiaoqiao asked Bai Fu why he refused to let them take her, and he said his sword Dao existed to protect those he cared about.
• Bai Fu told Qiaoqiao that he liked her and led her toward Falling Plum Hall.
• Bai Fu admitted that developing feelings for his disciple was a fault, but Qiaoqiao replied that neither he nor his feelings violated the sect rules.

Qiaoqiao and Bai Fu spent their remaining days together on Ethereal Peak after the silver sword formation appeared, growing closer as they passed the time. The chapter left them sharing a meal of wild amaranth that Bai Fu had cooked for her.

• Bai Fu asked Qiaoqiao to stop thinking of him as her master until the sword formation disappeared, and she began calling him by his name.
• Qiaoqiao grieved at her senior brother's and senior sister's graves, while Bai Fu invited her to practice swordsmanship with him.
• Qiaoqiao demonstrated her sword skill in the plum grove, then accidentally kissed Bai Fu when she tried to decorate him with a plum petal.
• Qiaoqiao and Bai Fu settled into daily routines together, brewing plum wine, making tea, and spending time in the grove.
• Qiaoqiao said she wanted to eat amaranth, so she and Bai Fu searched Ethereal Peak, found some, and Bai Fu cooked several dishes for her.
• After eating three bowls, Qiaoqiao asked Bai Fu to cook for her every day.

Qiaoqiao mocked the cultivators demanding that she sacrifice herself to repair the Divine Pillars, while Bai Fu continued protecting her despite his declining strength. After they returned to Falling Plum Hall for dinner, Bai Fu’s worsening condition showed as he sat beneath the moon and suppressed a painful cough.

• Qiaoqiao realized the Protective Sword Formation was draining Bai Fu’s true spirit and lifespan, leaving him no chance to recover while the cultivators surrounded them.
• Qiaoqiao challenged the gathered cultivators for refusing to fight the Demon God and questioned why she had to die to repair the Divine Pillars.
• Song Wuya confronted Qiaoqiao, but Bai Fu’s sword formation injured cultivators who charged at her and sent the crowd retreating.
• Bai Fu took Qiaoqiao back to Falling Plum Hall, where they ate clay-pot tofu together.
• Bai Fu sat in the courtyard to admire the moon, coughed, and hid his pain as Qiaoqiao approached and covered his eyes.

Bai Fu’s sword formation held off the cultivators for forty-nine days, but vanished at dawn as he weakened and his hair turned white. He transferred a protective silver light to Qiaoqiao and promised her wishes would come true before she lost consciousness and awoke in a dark space filled with resentment Qi.

• Qiaoqiao showed Bai Fu a jade comb from the cave treasury, and he told her it had belonged to his grandmaster and asked her to comb his hair.
• Bai Fu coughed blood before asking Qiaoqiao whether she liked their peaceful days, but he left his question about whether she liked him unspoken.
• After forty-nine days, Bai Fu’s Protective Sword Formation disappeared, and Peak Master Yue, Commandant Nangong, Commandant Feng, Elder Bing, and their followers rushed up Ethereal Peak.
• Nangong Gua demanded the divine maiden, and Bai Fu shielded Qiaoqiao as she said she wished to save her senior brothers and sisters and restore Ethereal Peak.
• Bai Fu transferred silver light into Qiaoqiao, kissed her forehead, and told her that her wishes would come true before she lost consciousness.
• Qiaoqiao awoke in a pitch-black, bitterly cold space where resentment Qi began to coil around her.

Qiaoqiao learned that her dreams were memories of her past life and that she had been imprisoned inside the Central Divine Pillar after dying. The Divine Sword explained the Pillars’ role in holding up the three realms, but its revelations left Qiaoqiao facing the truth of her death and the source of the resentment surrounding her.

• Qiaoqiao recognized the dark space as the inside of the Divine Pillar, where the Divine Sword’s light drove back the resentment.
• The Divine Sword told Qiaoqiao that her dreams were memories of her past life, including what she had seen on Ethereal Peak.
• The Divine Sword revealed that Qiaoqiao had been taken away and imprisoned inside the Divine Pillar until the three realms collapsed and time turned back.
• Qiaoqiao asked why heavenly fire had not fallen after the Four-Direction Divine Pillars collapsed, and the Divine Sword explained that a fifth, Central Divine Pillar supported the three realms.
• The Divine Sword said the resentment inside the pillar came from the Goddess’s obsession and revealed that Qiaoqiao’s corpse had been sealed there after she died.
• Qiaoqiao realized that she had died in her past life.

Qiaoqiao resisted the divine maiden’s resentment and learned that the Divine Sword had promised someone not to explain why time turned back. After waking, she learned Bai Fu had gone to stop Song Wuya’s ritual and rushed with A Xue to the Stargazing Platform, where a crowd awaited Song Wuya’s prayer to heaven.

• Qiaoqiao nearly let the divine maiden’s resentment consume her, but the Divine Sword urged her to stay calm.
• A Protective Sword Formation activated without Qiaoqiao’s call, and the Divine Sword refused to reveal who had caused time to turn back.
• Qiaoqiao woke in Wen Zhi’s arms after sleeping for six hours and learned that Bai Fu had gone to stop Song Wuya.
• Qiaoqiao ordered A Xue to fly her to the Stargazing Platform, and Xiao Tingyu followed with Wen Zhi and the fourth junior brother in a jade flying shuttle.
• Cultivators gathered at the Stargazing Platform, hoping Song Wuya’s ritual would reveal how to repair the collapsed Divine Pillars.

Qiaoqiao arrived at the Stargazing Platform as Immortal Venerable Wanghan killed Song Wuya after the pavilion master revealed part of a divine oracle. The crowd accused Wanghan of madness and questioned his motives, while Qiaoqiao arrived and was recognized as the divine maiden.

• Song Wuya began a divination ritual at the Stargazing Platform, promising an answer about the Divine Pillars, the divine maiden, and the Demon God.
• Qiaoqiao and A Xue rushed toward the platform, and Qiaoqiao rode the divine sword at full speed.
• A divine oracle descended onto Song Wuya and told him to find the Central Divine Pillar; he began to say the divine maiden must be used to save the three realms and kill the Demon God.
• Bai Fu, known as Immortal Venerable Wanghan, struck Song Wuya with sword intent, and Song Wuya died beneath a storm of attacks.
• Bai Fu’s killing intent wounded cultivators, who accused him of madness and suspected the Flowing Cloud Sect wanted to replace the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion.
• Qiaoqiao landed on the platform and shouted that the accusations were bullshit, and the cultivators recognized her as the divine maiden.

Qiaoqiao and Bai Fu exposed the Devil Qi inside Song Wuya’s corpse, but the Demon God’s devil bone was missing. Overcome by his slaughter urge, Bai Fu struck down Immortal Venerable Changyun and left the Stargazing Platform, declaring he would follow the path of slaughter.

• Qiaoqiao stabbed Song Wuya’s corpse, causing it to burst and release Devil Qi that Bai Fu destroyed with his sword intent.
• Several Heavenly Secrets Pavilion elders attacked Bai Fu to avenge Song Wuya, but he killed them.
• The crowd urged Qiaoqiao to kill Bai Fu, and Bai Fu attacked those who had pleaded for mercy.
• Changyun intervened and urged Bai Fu to think of his sect and disciple, but Bai Fu’s sword pierced him despite Qiaoqiao’s cry.
• Bai Fu renounced the title of Immortal Venerable Wanghan and vanished, while Xiao Tingyu, Fu Fengyuan, and Wen Zhi treated Changyun’s survivable wound.

Three days after the Stargazing Platform incident, Wanghan confronted cultivators waiting outside the Glazed Sea and nearly killed them for insulting Qiaoqiao. The Glazed Sea’s barrier then shattered in a tremendous explosion, leaving its disciples unconscious and much of the sect in ruins.

• At the Glazed Sea, cultivators hoping to join the Demon God mocked Wanghan and spoke crudely about Qiaoqiao.
• Wanghan killed one of the cultivators and frightened the others with his Slaughter Sword Dao killing intent.
• The cultivators begged Wanghan to spare them, assuming he had come to seek refuge with the Demon God.
• Before Wanghan could strike again, an explosion shattered the Glazed Sea’s barrier and devastated its floating buildings.
• The blast left Glazed Sea disciples sprawled unconscious across the square, with blood streaming from their mouths and noses.

The Demon God used the Glazed Sea’s disciples as nourishment and tried to awaken through the Ear-Eating Beast, but Liu Yu and Bai Fu disrupted his plan. The Demon God’s remnant escaped, and Liu Yu learned that one of his demonic bones was attached to her before asking Bai Fu to kill her.

• The Demon God drained the Glazed Sea disciples through a blood formation and revealed that he had manipulated Liu Xian, then dragged her toward the Ear-Eating Beast.
• Bai Fu attacked the Ear-Eating Beast as the Demon God began forming a human body, disrupting his awakening.
• Liu Yu revealed that she had secretly tampered with the formation and used it to bind the Demon God while Bai Fu struck.
• Bai Fu shredded the bound remnant soul, but the Demon God escaped and warned that he would never forgive him.
• Bai Fu told Liu Yu that the Demon God had two demonic bones and that one had attached itself to her, after which Liu Yu asked him to kill her.

Liu Yu begged Bai Fu to kill her, but Liu Xian killed Liu Yu and then took her own life, leaving Bai Fu to destroy the Demon God's ear bone and flee after a witness mistook him for the killer. As rumors spread that Bai Fu had become a murderous devil, Mu Liuyun learned that Devil Cultivators were attacking Central Province and Spirit Province and that Qiao had gone missing.

• Liu Yu asked Bai Fu to kill her, but Liu Xian used her last strength to stab Liu Yu and then killed herself, taking responsibility for the Glazed Sea's destruction.
• Bai Fu destroyed the ear bone that emerged from Liu Yu's corpse, struggled to restrain his bloodlust, and left after a surviving cultivator accused him of killing the Glazed Sea disciples.
• Rumors blamed Bai Fu for the massacre and called him the true Demon God, while Elder Wu and Mu Liuyun rejected the claims and argued over how to respond.
• A disciple reported that Devil Cultivators were attacking mortal cities in Central Province and Spirit Province, and Mu Liuyun prepared to send help.
• Mu Liuyun learned that the Young Sect Master had left to search for missing Junior Sister Qiao.

Qiaoqiao found Bai Fu in the Devil Realm and tended to his sword wound inside a conjured cave abode. She asked him what he had done after the Protective Sword Formation collapsed on Ethereal Peak.

• A boy and his sister fetched water from the Flowing Nether River and noticed Bai Fu, whose reflection appeared incomplete.
• Bai Fu left the siblings without harming them and went to a secluded riverbank to tend to his bleeding wound.
• Qiaoqiao found Bai Fu, and he conjured a cave abode resembling the Wanghan Immortal Abode for them.
• Qiaoqiao treated Bai Fu’s wound and touched his face as she recalled her feelings for him.
• Qiaoqiao asked Bai Fu what he had done after the Protective Sword Formation collapsed on Ethereal Peak.