Recaps

Lu Ming and Lu Chang were attacked by Demonic Dao cultivators seeking the Lu Household’s Spirit Artifacts, and Qixia Temple’s cultivators arrived to rescue them. Ren Han struck the enemy leader with Su Yao’s Vermilion Brightness Sword, cracking his blood cauldron and leaving the battle unresolved.

• The Demonic Dao leader demanded that Lu Ming and Lu Chang surrender the Scarlet Jiao Lock and Black Armor Golden Screen, but Lu Ming attacked and urged Lu Chang to escape.
• The enemy cultivators overwhelmed the brothers with their blood spring and pink haze, so Lu Ming used a Purple Mansion talisman to carry them toward Cibi Lake.
• Ren Han, Lu Yuan, Zichuan, Li Xu, Yang Zhao, Lin Shuang, and Xu Qingluo arrived and attacked the Demonic Dao cultivators with frost, rosy light, golden radiance, and flames.
• Ren Han pursued the leader and struck his blood cauldron with Su Yao’s Vermilion Brightness Sword, cracking it and spilling its blood spring.

Ren Han and the others defeated the Blood Qi and Desire Devil cultivators at White Sand Mountain, while Zilin negotiated with their blood-robed ally over the damaged Spirit Artifact. Zilin and Ying Qi then headed to Cibi Lake to watch over Su's disciple.

• Ren Han and the others killed the blood-robed figures and the two women in pink after sealing off their escape routes.
• Zilin gave the seven fighters pills to purge lingering devil energy and sent them after the two Lu Household brothers with a Subterranean Water Talisman.
• Zilin recovered the damaged Myriad Blood Cauldron and the Mind-Bewitching Mirror, then faced the blood-robed man when he demanded extra payment.
• Zilin refused to pay more and threatened to fight, so the blood-robed man departed with the two Spirit Artifacts.
• Zilin told Ying Qi that she had chosen the lesser evil by cooperating with the Demonic Dao, and they flew toward Cibi Lake to keep watch over Su's disciple.

After escaping the Devil Cultivators, Lu Ming and Lu Chang headed for Cibi Lake to seek the lake god’s protection. Ren Han and the Qixia Temple disciples intercepted them to report that the attackers had been killed on the temple master's orders, then departed for Cibi Lake.

• Lu Chang helped the badly injured Lu Ming reach a hidden cave, where the brothers took pills and recovered enough to travel.
• Lu Ming decided they should go to Cibi Lake because they had nowhere else to seek shelter.
• The brothers used their last Subterranean Water Talisman to travel through a stream toward Cibi Lake.
• Ren Han and six Qixia Temple disciples appeared in the reeds and stopped the brothers.
• Ren Han explained that the temple master had forbidden Purple Mansion cultivators from attacking the Lu Household near White Sand Mountain and had ordered the attackers killed.
• Ren Han and the others left for Cibi Lake, while Lu Ming and Lu Chang remained behind in silence.

Lu Ming and Lu Chang returned to Cibi Lake on Ao Xiao’s back after he explained their choices and warned them about Qixia Temple’s uncertain motives. In the Great Void, Zilin and Ying Qi connected their return to the coming opening of the Purple-Blue Secret Realm.

• Lu Ming decided that he and Lu Chang should go to Cibi Lake after surviving the encounter with Qixia Temple’s disciples.
• Ao Xiao appeared, offered to take them to the Water Manor, and explained that Qixia Temple had not promised to protect them even though it had saved them.
• Ao Xiao gave the brothers three choices and advised them to return to the Water Manor for now, warning them not to cling to White Sand Mountain at the cost of their lives.
• Lu Ming and Lu Chang rode on Ao Xiao’s back into the Water Manor’s secret realm, and Ao Xiao said Qixia Temple might want something from them.
• Zilin told Ying Qi that Wu Nuo’s descendants returning to Cibi Lake signaled that the Purple-Blue Secret Realm was about to open.

Ying Qi and Zilin discussed the three treasures in the Purple-Blue Secret Realm and the plan to use the Lu Household boys and Ao Xiao to open it. Yang Nan reported that the boys were progressing faster than expected and confirmed that they had not detected the observers.

• Ying Qi explained that the dormant Witch Talisman metal nature and the Spirit Witch Summoning and Response Chapter were among the secret realm’s prizes, while Zilin added the Five Laws flood dragon essence.
• Zilin and Ying Qi reviewed how the Witch Hall, the Nanzhao royal family, and the Dragon Palace of the South Sea had already claimed the three treasures, while their own parties sought other spiritual objects and the secret realm.
• Zilin described the plan to help the two Lu Household boys advance, trigger a hidden measure that would kill them, and make Ao Xiao sacrifice himself to open the Purple-Blue Secret Realm.
• Yang Nan emerged from the water manor and reported that Ao Xiao had sent the two Lu Household boys into the Qi Descending Pool, where their cultivation was rising rapidly.
• Yang Nan assured Zilin that the boys had not noticed them because Ni Polu concealed their presence with a Subterranean Water Spirit Treasure.

Ying Qi and Zilin discussed Ao Xiao’s restraint, Su Yao’s seclusion, and the dwindling restriction holding back the Proclaiming Earth upheaval. Zilin deciphered a cryptic play’s final lines as a warning from the Mysterious Gate’s higher-ups, then revealed that Su Yao was cultivating Color Pierces the Thoroughfare.

• Yang Nan assured Zilin that Li Chaoxue’s golden circlet kept Ao Xiao obedient, then went to guard the Water Palace Secret Realm.
• Zilin told Ying Qi that Su Yao had entered seclusion to cultivate a second Divine Ability after killing two Purple Mansion Early Stage beings from Longchuan Heaven.
• Ying Qi reported that the Proclaiming Earth Qi was growing denser and that only a trace of the ruler’s Subterranean Water Restriction remained.
• Ying Qi relayed the final lines of Autumn in the Old Court, which the ruler and other leaders had watched in Nanzhao’s royal city.
• Zilin interpreted the lines as a possible message from the Mysterious Gate’s higher-ups and questioned why they knew the play’s words despite not attending.
• Zilin told Ying Qi that Su Yao was cultivating the Rainbow Clouds Technique Divine Ability Color Pierces the Thoroughfare.

Ying Qi explained the origins and power of Color Pierces the Thoroughfare to Zilin, who lamented how slowly she was developing her first Divine Ability compared with Su and Yang. Their discussion of Law Bodies prompted Ying Qi to offer Zilin a suggestion, leaving her curious about what he had in mind.

• Ying Qi described how Color Pierces the Thoroughfare combined the Rainbow Clouds path with Bright Yang heavenly light intent and explained its ability to penetrate defenses and spread myriad attacks.
• Zilin said she had spent twenty-five years cultivating since reaching the Purple Mansion but had completed only thirty percent of her first Divine Ability.
• Ying Qi compared Zilin and his own progress with Yang's naturally complete Fate Divine Ability and Su's progress, saying their current pace was still encouraging.
• Zilin noted that Su and Yang had also cultivated True Qi path Law Bodies while she and Ying Qi had only begun learning theirs.
• After Zilin remarked that only a few paths could rival the Mystic Body path, Ying Qi said he had a suggestion for her, and she asked what it was.

Ying Qi tried to persuade Zilin to consider Su Yao as a dao companion, but Su Yao emerged from seclusion and startled them both. He demonstrated his newly mastered Divine Ability, Color Pierces the Thoroughfare, leaving Zilin watching him in silence.

• Ying Qi suggested that Zilin and Su Yao might become dao companions, and Zilin asked him not to raise the matter again.
• Zilin and Ying Qi discussed the approaching opening of the Purple-Blue Secret Realm and worried that Su Yao might still be in seclusion.
• Su Yao appeared, stopped a Sword Intent inches from Ying Qi's forehead, and said it was thanks for his kind intentions.
• Ying Qi asked whether Su Yao had mastered his second Divine Ability, and Su Yao confirmed that he had.
• Su Yao demonstrated Color Pierces the Thoroughfare, illuminating and ordering the spiritual essence across the Great Void, while Ying Qi and Zilin watched in awe.

Su Yao, Zilin, and Ying Qi set out for the Water Palace Secret Realm, but a demonic force emerged near the two rivers and drew them north to aid Yang Xiu and his allies. Yang Xiu led his outnumbered group into the Great Void to stall the attackers while awaiting reinforcements.

• Zilin reported that preparations for the Purple-Blue Secret Realm were nearly complete, and Su Yao proposed they inspect the Water Palace Secret Realm.
• A pillar of Proclaiming Earth light rose in the north, and Ying Qi received Yang Xiu's warning that several demons, including at least two at Purple Mansion Middle Stage, were approaching.
• Su Yao summoned Lü Yu to guard Cibi Lake, then led Zilin and Ying Qi toward the confluence.
• Yang Xiu and his five companions faced eleven demons led by a red-robed man whose cultivation surpassed Yang Xiu's.
• Yang Xiu led his allies into the Great Void and instructed them to defend and stall until Zilin and Ying Qi arrived.

Yang Xiu and his allies confronted the man in red and his followers in the Great Void, where the man in red’s Li Fire and allies’ Divine Abilities put them under pressure. Yang Xiu split up the three-man formation to protect the Nanzhao cultivators while he held off the man in red, the white-clad man, and the woman in yellow-green.

• The man in red led Yang Xiu and the ten figures behind him into the Great Void, where both sides formed up for battle.
• Yang Xiu used his golden bell and calamity lightning to resist the man in red’s Li Fire, but the man in red summoned Recounting the Sight of the Sun and cut Yang Xiu off from the surrounding spiritual essence.
• The man in white attacked Mo Li with Resounding White Sound, while the short, plump woman used Hidden Scripture Pavilion against Xuan Yan.
• Eight Purple Mansion Demon Cultivators surrounded the three local Nanzhao Purple Mansion cultivators, and one of the Nanzhao cultivators suffered a severe wound.
• Yang Xiu ordered Mo Li and Xuan Yan to aid the Nanzhao cultivators and keep the eight attackers from forming a formation, while he stayed behind to face the three opponents.

Yang Xiu fought the man in red, the man in white, and the short, stout woman alone in the Great Void, using Karma Enshrouds the Body to bind their attacks before they broke through his defenses. As purple and five-colored lights arrived to aid him, the man in red prepared to face them too, and the way to Dragon Abyss remained blocked.

• Yang Xiu summoned a calamity shield and used Karma Enshrouds the Body to entangle the three opponents’ attacks and spiritual vitality.
• The man in red escaped a calamity lightning pillar with Coiling Flame Body, then used Sweep Away Remaining Ashes to cut apart Yang Xiu’s karmic chains.
• The man in white pierced a gap in Yang Xiu’s shield while the short, stout woman concealed the Profound Qi on his right flank.
• The three opponents attacked together, and the man in red’s sword strike shattered Yang Xiu’s barrier and sent him reeling with black blood at his mouth.
• Purple and five-colored flight lights approached, and the man in red readied his crimson sword as he vowed to take on everyone who came.

Zilin and Ying Qi joined the battle, with Ying Qi helping Mo Li, Xuan Yan, and the Nanzhao cultivators while Zilin teamed up with Yang Xiu against the three enemy Spirit Treasures. Zilin and Yang Xiu were gradually worn down by the combined assault, but Yang Xiu spotted a plain-robed figure appearing in the Great Void.

• Zilin arrived at the main battlefield and attacked the man in red while Ying Qi went to support Mo Li, Xuan Yan, and the three Nanzhao Purple Mansion cultivators.
• Zilin used Fragrance Condenses Purple and the Purple Gauze Umbrella to withstand the man in red's Li Fire and the attacks of the Gold-Splitting Seal and Scripture-Containing Scroll.
• Yang Xiu used the Golden Armor Robe to reform the man in red's sword attack, then struck him with the Great Yang Killing Light summoned through Calamity Befalls Fate.
• The man in red, the man in white, and the short, stout woman activated their Spirit Treasures together and gradually depleted Zilin and Yang Xiu's strength.
• As Zilin asked how much longer they could hold on, Yang Xiu saw a plain-robed figure appear in the depths of the Great Void.

Su Yao arrived to aid Yang Xiu and fought the red-robed Purple Mansion cultivator, wounding him with Color Pierces the Thoroughfare and the Autumn Steed Sword. A mysterious True Lord’s reincarnated body stopped Su Yao from pursuing the fleeing enemies, and the group returned to Qingnuo to discuss Proclaiming Earth.

• Su Yao emerged from the Great Void and damaged the white-robed man’s Gold-Splitting Seal and the short, plump woman’s Scripture-Containing Scroll with his swords.
• Su Yao assigned Yang Xiu to fight the white-robed man and the short, plump woman, sent Zilin to aid the others against the eight Demon Cultivators, and confronted the red-robed man himself.
• Su Yao used Color Pierces the Thoroughfare to cut through the red-robed man’s sea of fire, then wounded him with the Autumn Steed Sword.
• A blurry figure wielding Wu Earth radiance blocked Su Yao’s killing strike and pursuit, allowing the red-robed man and his allies to escape.
• Su Yao identified the blurry figure as a True Lord’s reincarnated body, gave Zilin a pill for her injuries, and led the group back to Qingnuo to consult the honored ones about Proclaiming Earth.

On Golden Ao Mountain, Su Yao and Zilin discussed Yang Xiu’s guarded behavior in their recent battle and the True Qi Dharma Body he had cultivated. Su Yao accepted that Yang Xiu’s path was his own, while the unanswered questions remained between them.

• As snow fell at the pavilion, Su Yao set down a Go stone and admitted he had lost the game; Zilin offered him fresh tea.
• Su Yao told Zilin he had been thinking about whether Yang Xiu was hiding something from them.
• Zilin recalled Yang Xiu holding back during the battle in the Great Void and said he had told her he cultivated a True Qi Dharma Body by decree of the Supreme True Person.
• Su Yao recalled seeing Yang Xiu’s unfamiliar, Divine Dao-like True Qi at the confluence of the two rivers and described how Yang Xiu had entered seclusion after the Supreme True Person’s decree.
• Zilin said people bearing responsibility for their Dao lineages might keep things unspoken for fear of changing how others saw them, and urged Su Yao to accept Yang Xiu’s chosen path.
• Su Yao placed a white stone on the tengen and agreed that different paths could reach the same source.

Zhang Ziyan attained the Cang Metal Fate Divine Ability, Storehouse Metal, as Cang Metal Qi surged across Golden Ao Mountain. Su Yao and Zilin recognized his success and went to congratulate him, leaving Zhang ready to serve as Qixia Temple’s living vault.

• Cang Metal Qi erupted from Golden Ao Mountain’s back mountain and spread across the sky, stirring the mountain’s spiritual influence.
• Su Yao examined the back mountain and saw the Cang Metal Qi gathering around Zhang Ziyan inside his cave abode.
• Su Yao identified Zhang Ziyan’s newly attained Divine Ability as Storehouse Metal, which concealed Cang Metal Qi within his body.
• Zilin noted that Zhang could guard Qixia Temple’s storehouse, gather spiritual materials, and regulate its spiritual influence.
• Zhang Ziyan emerged from his cave abode and shouted that he had succeeded, and Su Yao and Zilin descended to congratulate him.

Su Yao examined the sleeping birds and the Prism’s mysteries, then tested the Jia Wood talisman he had recently refined. He discovered that it made his Dharma Body extraordinarily tough and self-healing, and named it “Raise Wood to Reach the Heavens.”

• Su Yao realized the Prism had put Little Red, Little Orange, and Xiao Huang into a deep sleep to protect their unusual ability to borrow his Divine Abilities.
• Su Yao studied the four talismans in his sea of Qi and focused on the new Jia Wood talisman.
• Su Yao activated the talisman and felt Jia Wood Qi strengthen and fill his Dharma Body.
• Su Yao cracked a Spirit Artifact longsword with a light press, then sensed that the talisman granted his body exceptional toughness and rapid recovery.
• Su Yao named the talisman “Raise Wood to Reach the Heavens” and concluded that his Dharma Body was difficult to break through.

Su Yao and the gathered cultivators witnessed the Lu brothers perish in their failed Purple Mansion breakthroughs, transforming into divination objects that revealed the unstable Purple-Blue Secret Realm. Ao Xiao sacrificed himself to open the realm, leaving its entrance fully revealed in the Great Void.

• Su Yao received word that the secret realm was about to open and joined Zilin, Yang Xiu, Zhang Ziyan, Han Ziyi, Meng Shixi, and the others in the Great Void.
• Lu Ming and Lu Chang failed to break through to the Purple Mansion and died, their bodies becoming a tortoise-shell Omen Shell and a beast-bone Divination Bone.
• The two divination objects summoned the Purple-Blue Secret Realm, but its doorway flickered and could not fully open.
• Ao Xiao emerged from Cibi Lake bearing the Dusk Snow Flute and Morning Mist Drum, then used his Fu Water Qi to dissolve the divination objects and stabilize the doorway.
• Li Chaoxue and Ni Polu joined Meng Shixi’s group as Ao Xiao vanished, and the Purple-Blue Secret Realm opened completely.

Su Yao oversaw the group as they entered the secret realm and claimed its treasures. The realm was left stripped of its valuables, like an empty old residence.

• Ao Yuan arrived on behalf of the Dragon Palace of the South Sea and promised its gratitude if the group retrieved the Fu Water Flood Dragon Essence.
• The Witch Hall envoy entered the secret realm and suppressed the Witch Talisman Metal Nature, then emerged exhausted with it secured.
• Meng Shixi retrieved an ancient book written by the Spirit Witch Dao Lord and told the Witch Hall envoy that the debt between the Witch Hall and the Nanzhao Royal Family was settled.
• Ao Yuan retrieved the Fu Water Flood Dragon Essence, sealed it in a jade box, and thanked Su Yao.
• Ying Qi, Zilin, Xuan Yan, Mo Li, and the others took Spirit Treasures, spiritual objects, and other valuables, leaving the secret realm largely empty.

Nuoli revealed that he planned to use the Purple-Blue Secret Realm as a marsh to cultivate his fifth Divine Ability, “Nurture the Marsh Embryo.” He transformed into a White Chi and merged with the secret realm as it closed, while the gathered cultivators departed.

• Nuoli explained that the True Lord had devised a method for him to become the Purple-Blue Secret Realm and nurture the origin of Fu Water.
• Nuoli transformed into his White Chi true form and entered the secret realm, expanding until his body became one with it.
• Su Yao explained that Nuoli was taking the secret realm as his marsh and his true body as the embryo, while Meng Shixi’s Witch Hall companion departed with the metal nature.
• Ao Yuan left for the South Sea, and the other cultivators paid their respects and withdrew as the secret realm closed around Nuoli.
• Meng Shixi returned toward the royal city, Yang Nan departed for the water domain, and Su Yao and Zilin headed for Golden Ao Mountain.

Yang Xiu confessed to Su Yao that he had cultivated True Martial Mountain’s Dharma Body method after receiving a suspicious immortal decree, and explained why he had hidden it. Su Yao reassured him that his actions, not his cultivation method or Dao lineage, defined him, leaving Yang Xiu beginning to accept that judgment.

• Yang Xiu asked Su Yao to speak privately in his cave abode and revealed that he had cultivated the Mysterious Heaven True Martial Divine Sha Dharma Body from True Martial Mountain.
• Yang Xiu explained that he had avoided Su Yao and the others because his True Qi could expose the method, and that he had concealed it during their past battles.
• Su Yao inferred that Yang Xiu had held back in combat to keep his True Martial Dharma Body from being revealed.
• Su Yao asked whether Yang Xiu had chosen the method and concluded that he had cultivated it to survive and protect others amid chaos.
• Su Yao told Yang Xiu that his actions showed whom he served, regardless of his cultivation lineage, and Yang Xiu admitted that he still struggled to tell himself that.

Su Yao reassured Yang Xiu that their friendship did not depend on which arts he cultivated, and the two old friends drank together on Golden Ao Mountain. As they shared memories and toasted Zilin through the snow, Yang Xiu's loneliness eased, though the night ended with his longing for the friends who were absent.

• Su Yao told Yang Xiu he feared rejection because he had cultivated True Martial Mountain's arts, and Yang Xiu affirmed that he valued Yang Xiu himself, not his Dharma Body.
• Su Yao poured wine for them, and Yang Xiu agreed to stay on the mountain overnight before leaving in the morning.
• Su Yao and Yang Xiu played a drinking game reciting Daoist classics, and Yang Xiu used a passage about water to urge Su Yao not to meddle too much in Nanzhao.
• Yang Xiu recalled missing Golden Ao Mountain and its friends during his years in Green Nuo, then lamented that he could not share a night of drinking and music with Su Yao and Mo Li.
• Su Yao and Yang Xiu raised their cups toward Zilin, who played her flute from a distant summit in the falling snow.

Yang Xiu left after urging Su Yao to stop hesitating about Zilin, and Su Yao and Zilin spoke privately about the previous night. Zilin offered him the Purple Cloud Unity Covenant, and the chapter ended with Su Yao recalling Yang Xiu’s hint about pruning the osmanthus trees.

• Yang Xiu told Su Yao that Zilin had waited for him in the snow, then returned to Green Nuo.
• Zilin met Su Yao beneath the osmanthus trees and discussed Yang Xiu’s verse and her flute music from the night before.
• Su Yao admitted he had heard that Zilin did not want to play alone, and Zilin asked why he had not come to her.
• Zilin offered Su Yao the Purple Cloud Unity Covenant, a method for sharing Law Power and spiritual vitality.
• Su Yao recalled Yang Xiu’s words about pruning the osmanthus trees, leaving Zilin momentarily taken aback.

Su Yao invited Zilin to join him in his cave abode, and the two practiced the Purple Cloud Unity Covenant, blending their spiritual essences. Afterward, they stood together in the snow and agreed to prune the osmanthus trees tomorrow.

• Su Yao offered to set out a meditation cushion for Zilin, and she followed him into the cave abode.
• Su Yao and Zilin sat opposite each other and cultivated the Purple Cloud Unity Covenant, allowing their rosy light and Purple Qi to mingle.
• Their joined spiritual essences formed a cocoon of light, and they saw each other's Rising Yang Mansions before drawing the power into their bodies.
• Su Yao praised the covenant, and Zilin reminded him that he had said he would not ask about tomorrow.
• Zilin said the osmanthus trees needed pruning, and Su Yao agreed they would do it tomorrow.

On Qingnuo Mountain, Yang Xiu and the others examined two Great Qing edicts of self-reproach that blamed Emperor Renzong’s policies for Nanzhao’s suffering and the Proclaiming Earth rebellion. They questioned whether the newly issued edict admitted genuine fault or merely shifted blame, and the chapter ended with Su Yao reading the older edict’s warning to future generations.

• Su Yao laid the old and new Great Qing edicts before Yang Xiu and the others at Qingnuo Mountain.
• Yang Xiu read the older edict and noted that it claimed Emperor Renzong had reigned for eight thousand years.
• Ying Qi read the newer edict, which blamed Renzong for indulging immortal sects, failing to govern ministers, and imposing appointed rule on Nanzhao’s Witch Department.
• Xuan Yan condemned the edict for making the immortal sects responsible for the rebellion, while Mo Li argued that its claims mixed true admissions with false ones to shift blame.
• Zilin pointed out how the new edict altered the old one, and Su Yao read its final warning that future generations should cast out rulers who repeated Renzong’s mistakes.

Su Yao and the others analyzed the new edict of self-reproach, concluding that it blamed the immortal sects for Nanzhao’s fall and could serve as a pretext for the court to move against them. They suspected the Crown Prince would soon return to Jiankang to ascend the throne, and the chapter left them waiting to see what he would do.

• Su Yao compared the old and new edicts and argued that the court had abandoned Nanzhao while its troops guarded against the immortal sects.
• Yang Xiu pointed out that the edict framed the court’s policies as the late emperor’s personal faults while shifting blame onto the immortal sects.
• Su Yao concluded that the new edict both prepared the way for the Crown Prince’s ascension and branded the sects’ presence in Nanzhao as overstepping.
• Su Yao warned that the court could use the charge that the immortal sects had become a hidden kingdom as a pretext to move against them.
• Su Yao told Zilin and the others to continue doing what they ought to do and wait for the Crown Prince’s ascension to reveal the court’s intentions.