Recaps

Su Yao showed his companions around the completed Pear Garden and assigned Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi responsibilities while postponing the mountain’s opening until Gui Hong returned to establish a protective formation. As they rested on Golden Ao Mountain, a visitor approached, and Su Yao sent Liu Yunhe to escort them up.

• Su Yao gave Liu Yunhe a Life-Blooming Pill and praised him for managing Pear Garden’s affairs.
• Han Ziyi asked when they would open the mountain, but Su Yao said they would wait for Gui Hong to establish a Purple Mansion grand formation and postpone the decision until after the New Year.
• Han Ziyi revealed that Gui Hong had said the immortal sects and Dao lineages would head south to Nanzhao once Su Yao opened his residence.
• Su Yao assigned Liu Yunhe to manage external affairs and Li Siyi to organize the Lu Household’s cultivation methods and texts.
• At the mountain pavilion, Liu Yunhe spotted a visitor approaching, and Su Yao sent him down to bring the guest up.

Zheng Xuanzhi visited Su Yao to congratulate him on the new Pear Garden and ask whether he would exchange White Sand Mountain for a Purple Mansion-grade Fu Water spirit object on behalf of Confucian scholars from Langqiong Zhao. Su Yao refused for now, citing his own plans and concerns about the scholars’ motives, but left open the possibility of discussing it after the mountain gate opened.

• Liu Yunhe welcomed Zheng Xuanzhi to Golden Ao Mountain and Han Ziyi led him to meet Su Yao.
• Su Yao dismissed Liu Yunhe, Han Ziyi, and Li Siyi so he and Zheng Xuanzhi could speak privately.
• Zheng Xuanzhi offered Su Yao a complete Purple Mansion-grade Fu Water spirit object in exchange for White Sand Mountain.
• Su Yao refused the exchange, explaining that he had other plans for White Sand Mountain and needed to guard against the Lu Household’s relatives and allies.
• Zheng Xuanzhi denied that the scholars sought revenge for the Lu Household, and Su Yao said they could discuss the matter again after the mountain gate opened.

Su Yao discovered a prophecy that Proclaiming Earth would move south and bring great upheaval, then organized his followers to gather intelligence and prepare for Qixia Temple’s mountain gate opening. A white-haired figure eliminated a Great Void watcher who had grown greedy over the wooden box and appeared outside Su Yao’s cave.

• Su Yao read the wooden box’s new poem and interpreted it as a sign that Earth Virtue and Qixia Temple’s Dao lineages would enter Nanzhao amid coming upheaval.
• Su Yao assigned Han Ziyi to investigate local signs and Earth Virtue cultivators, Liu Yunhe to compile a list of nearby factions, and Li Siyi to patrol the area.
• Su Yao gave Han Ziyi a copied Daoist talismanic decree, the Black Armor Golden Screen to Li Siyi, and the Scarlet Jiao Lock to Liu Yunhe, while Little Red and Little Orange joined their tasks.
• After teaching Han Ziyi how to use the decree, Su Yao returned alone to his cave abode.
• A Great Void watcher lost the ability to monitor Su Yao when the wooden box appeared and tried to seize it, but a white-haired figure made him vanish and collected his treasures.
• The white-haired figure appeared outside Su Yao’s cave abode on Golden Ao Mountain.

True Person Mianning visited Golden Ao Mountain and spoke with Su Yao, whose unusual resistance and outstanding talent for Law Techniques caught his attention. Mianning left the conversation promising to teach Gui Hong another lesson when they next met.

• True Person Mianning’s arrival put every living being within a hundred li to sleep, and Su Yao resisted the force compelling him to leave his cave.
• Su Yao recognized Mianning as the Young Master of Jade Void Palace, changed into Qixia Daoist robes, and greeted him before they walked down the mountain.
• Mianning compared Cibi Lake with other famed lakes and asked why Gui Hong had not set up the formation.
• Mianning said he had come to see the person favored by the Rainbow Cloud Fruition and praised Su Yao’s Immortal Foundation and talent for Law Techniques.
• Su Yao mentioned Gui Hong’s fear of Mianning, and Mianning recalled plucking Gui Hong’s black feathers before vowing to teach him a proper lesson next time.

Mianning questioned whether Su Yao had exterminated the Lu Household in a fit of anger or after weighing the consequences, and offered a wager over his answer. Su Yao told the Mind-Clarifying Mirror that he had acted deliberately to protect his disciples and secure Proclaiming Earth's journey south, and accepted sole responsibility as he awaited its judgment.

• Mianning recounted Jingxuan's criticism of Su Yao for killing every cultivator in the Lu Household and condemning the family from entering the Dao for twenty years.
• Mianning revealed that he, Jingxuan, and Jiangzhen had wagered precious treasures on whether Su Yao's actions were calculated or impulsive.
• Su Yao answered the Mind-Clarifying Mirror that he had considered the consequences and would accept punishment from any authority.
• Su Yao argued that he had destroyed the Lu Household to deter future attacks, protect his disciples, and keep Proclaiming Earth's journey south undisturbed.
• Su Yao declared that he alone would bear the blame and waited for the mirror's judgment.

Mianning rewarded Su Yao for his answers beneath the Mind-Clarifying Mirror by inscribing plaques and couplets for the Pear Garden and setting up a powerful mountain-protecting formation. He then asked Su Yao to fight a Foundation Establishment cultivator, promising to remove the demonic seed from Su Yao’s Qi sea if he won, and took him into the Great Void.

• Mianning praised Su Yao and inscribed plaques and couplets for the Pear Garden, including a warning for visitors not to disturb the retreat.
• Mianning summoned Yellow Turban Strongmen to set up a Fallen Soul Formation on Golden Ao Mountain, using the Flame Domain Flowing Fire Umbrella and a replica of the Soul-Dropping Bell as its foundation.
• Mianning explained that the formation could confuse and weaken intruders while protecting the mountain without taking lives.
• Mianning asked Su Yao to represent his Dao lineage in a Foundation Establishment fight against someone chosen by Jiangzhen, promising to remove the demonic seed in Su Yao’s Qi sea if he won.
• Mianning placed a hand on Su Yao’s shoulder and took him into the Great Void.

Mianning took Su Yao toward Mount Ziyi and tested his understanding of the Spring and Autumn Concealed Sundial Feather Robe and the Golden Core path. Su Yao explained how fate, timing, and the trials of cultivation shaped the Su Household clansman’s failure, and realized Mianning had been testing him all along.

• Mianning and Su Yao traveled through the Great Void, and Su Yao marveled that Golden Ao Mountain had vanished into the gray haze.
• Mianning asked whether Su Yao was confident against a Penglai cultivator of heavenly lightning, and Su Yao said he feared no peer without a disparity in treasures.
• Near Mount Ziyi, Mianning offered to restore Su Yao’s Shengyu egg if he won and suggested Brother Jingxuan might reforge his feather robe.
• Mianning recognized the robe as the Spring and Autumn Concealed Sundial Feather Robe and asked Su Yao why the Greater Yin Su Household had sought help for a clansman gifted in Rainbow Clouds.
• Su Yao recounted the clansman’s ties to a Spring and Autumn Heavenly Venerable and explained how the clansman failed to attain the Great Dao despite extensive support.
• Su Yao described the role of fate, timing, and trials in seeking the Golden Core, then realized Mianning had been testing his knowledge of the robe.

Su Yao traveled to Mount Ziyi to face Ji Jie, a Penglai disciple sent by the young master of Biyou Palace to exchange pointers. Their battle began with Su Yao defending against Ji Jie’s lightning and counterattacking, but Ji Jie’s higher-grade cultivation threatened to overwhelm him.

• Mianning offered Su Yao the magic sword Autumn Steed if he won, and Su Yao agreed while jokingly promising to honor Mianning with a statue.
• Mianning sent Su Yao to the Great Void, where he arrived near Mount Ziyi and met Ji Jie, who said he had come to exchange pointers on the young master of Biyou Palace’s orders.
• Su Yao summoned Guarding Unity Rosy Cloud Robe, and Ji Jie’s first bolt of purple lightning failed to pierce its rosy defenses.
• Ji Jie attacked with three converging lightning bolts, but Su Yao redirected them into a mountain and destroyed half its peak.
• Su Yao struck at Ji Jie with Glow Ashes, but Ji Jie’s forest-like defense wore away the Sword Qi before he unleashed lightning dragons empowered by his Immortal Foundation, Rebuke the Disloyal.
• Su Yao countered with rosy light and Li Fire Sparrows, but he realized that Ji Jie’s seventh-grade cultivation gave his attacks greater killing power, and their techniques clashed in the air.

Su Yao fought Ji Jie with Clear Breeze and his wind techniques, but Ji Jie's Heavenly Thunder Immortal Foundation steadily overwhelmed him. As their Law Power dwindled, Su Yao remained under the thunder spear's attack, waiting for Ji Jie to weaken first.

• Su Yao switched from Zhengji to Clear Breeze and used his swordsmanship and Glow Ashes to attack Ji Jie, but Ji Jie blocked the strike with his forest shield.
• Ji Jie summoned the Rebuke the Disloyal Immortal Foundation's thunder-wielding figure and drove its spear against Su Yao's Golden Palace Morning Clouds defense.
• Su Yao evaded Ji Jie's attacks and countered with Sword Qi, while Ji Jie noticed that something was suppressing Su Yao in his Qi sea.
• The two fought on as Su Yao's rosy-light techniques struggled against Ji Jie's Heavenly Thunder and forest shield, and both began to run low on Law Power.
• Ji Jie struck with the thunder spear at full strength, forcing Su Yao down as he blocked, while Su Yao waited for Ji Jie's power to falter.

Su Yao and Ji Jie fought a draining duel, each spending their remaining strength on one final attack. Su Yao won, and after Ji Jie invited him to Penglai for wine and another bout, Su Yao anxiously looked to the sky.

• Ji Jie summoned nine pillars of crimson-gold lightning, and Su Yao defended himself with Rosy Cloud Embers while replenishing his Law Power through the rhombic prism in his Qi Sea.
• After the lightning dispersed, Ji Jie proposed one final strike, and Su Yao agreed.
• Ji Jie’s lightning spear shattered against Su Yao’s sword, which stopped three inches from Ji Jie’s chest.
• Ji Jie admitted defeat, praised Clear Breeze, and invited Su Yao to visit Penglai and drink with him before they fought again.
• Su Yao accepted Ji Jie’s invitation, watched him disappear into the mountain forest, then looked anxiously into the sky.

Chi Jie renounced his place in Penglai and returned to Mount Ziyi, while Xicheng and his allies trapped and destroyed the black vapor in the Great Void. The chapter ended with the enemy’s smoke dispersing and the white lotus vanishing.

• Ji Jie returned his token to Penglai, took the name Chi Jie, and went to Mount Ziyi to enter secluded cultivation.
• Chi Jie instructed the elder to offer Penglai immortal brew to any Qixia Temple disciple who came and requested Primordial Fire Brew.
• The elder and the woman in red discussed Qixia Daozi’s unusual origins, Siming Qizhen, and the danger of Chengzu’s impending attainment of the Dao.
• After three days, the youth in blue invoked the Purple Thunder Hammer and Yugu Drum to drive the black vapor through the Great Void.
• Mianning fled with the carriage as Xicheng and the youth in blue cornered the black vapor with the white lotus, jade ruyi, cyan sword, and purple lightning.
• Xicheng’s rosy light and the allies’ weapons destroyed the black vapor, and it vanished with the white lotus into the Great Void.

Mianning and Jiangzhen discussed the strange Law Power Qixia’s Qixia brat had displayed before Jiangzhen gave Mianning the promised calligraphy. At Mount Zhongnan, Xicheng confronted the blood demon, wounded him with a peachwood sword, and seized his blood blade before retreating behind Qixia Temple’s gate, while the demon turned his thoughts toward Su Yao.

• Mianning arrived on a white lotus and exchanged words with Jiangzhen about the Investiture of the Gods and the Qixia brat’s unusual Law Power.
• Jiangzhen gave Mianning a wooden box containing promised calligraphy, then departed as Mianning flew toward Su Yao.
• At Mount Zhongnan, Xicheng came out through Qixia Temple’s gate and taunted the blood demon, who was trapped beneath the mountain.
• Xicheng revealed his regret over the harm his past mistake had caused Qixia Temple and explained that he had left a strand of golden nature on the mountain as a safeguard.
• Xicheng stabbed the demon’s left eye with his peachwood sword, deflected the demon’s blood blade with an apricot-yellow light, and captured it in a sword case.
• Xicheng returned behind the closed mountain gate, and the blood demon retreated to the ruined temple, hoping Su Yao would soon attain the Golden Core.

Qingyang sent Zhang Ziting and Zhu Xuejie to Nanzhao, then sensed Su Yao outside Yongzhou City and prepared to act. There, Su Yao questioned Mianning about Proclaiming Earth's journey south and explained why he revered Qing Taizu's political order and legacy.

• Qingyang endured the pain of carrying Ask Amid the Clouds to the Hall of Ancestors and identified Zhu Xuejie as someone from the Zhu Household.
• Qingyang ordered the serpent to take Zhang Ziting and Zhu Xuejie to Nanzhao, then reflected on Su Yao's priorities and the difficult sword.
• Qingyang sensed a familiar presence outside Yongzhou City, grew furious, and gathered power through Ask Amid the Clouds and the formation.
• Su Yao asked Mianning why he had brought him outside Yongzhou City, and Mianning asked what he thought of Taizu.
• Su Yao recounted Taizu's unification, reforms, and support for diverse teachings, concluding that Taizu had rebuilt the Human Dao Attainment Position for the common good.

Mianning explained the history behind the Human Dao’s decline and the plan to help Chengzu complete his rule so he could depart, revealing that Su Yao had been chosen to face the opposition to Proclaiming Earth’s journey south. He sent Su Yao to Yongzhou to meet his birth parents, but Su Yao entered the city focused on pursuing a secret opportunity rather than on family ties.

• Mianning recounted how successive rulers and dynasties shaped the Human Dao, how the Qin Emperor disrupted it, and how Taizu later restored it before departing.
• Mianning explained that Chengzu sought to imitate the Qin Emperor, and that Jade Void Palace was backing Proclaiming Earth’s southern campaign while other factions agreed that Purple Mansion cultivators would not intervene.
• Su Yao asked why Mianning had brought him to Yongzhou, and Mianning addressed the rosy light from the southwest before telling Su Yao to find his birth parents and learn why he had been abandoned on the Great Qing River.
• Mianning revealed that Su Yao had been selected after the Golden Court Dao child proved too softhearted, and that the factions had even extended Su Yao’s parents’ lives to bring him into the matter.
• Mianning sent Su Yao to the gates of Yongzhou City, where Su Yao decided he felt no familial bond with his birth parents and continued into the city for a hidden opportunity.

Su Yao found the Su Residence and met the elderly woman who had given birth to his body, though she treated him with fear and hatred. After he offered to deliver her dead son, she brought him home, where her husband questioned him about his family before an interruption left Su Yao astonished.

• Su Yao found the Su Residence empty and followed the woman from the well back to the house.
• The woman recognized Su Yao, told him that her son had been harmed by an evil spirit, and asked him to deliver the dead.
• Su Yao agreed to stay without payment, and the woman showed him the room where her grandson lived.
• That night, the woman's husband returned and invited Su Yao to share a vegetarian meal.
• The old man asked whether Su Yao's parents were alive, and Su Yao said he had been abandoned at birth; a sound interrupted them and left him astonished.

Su Yao listened as an elderly woman sang about the supernatural birth of her son, the family’s fear of him, and how she abandoned him in the Great Qing River. He realized she was his mother and learned that Daozheng’s account of his parents’ choice had concealed the pain of his birth and abandonment.

• The old man explained that his wife had once been a renowned performer and watched as she took the stage to sing.
• The woman sang of her terrifying pregnancy and childbirth, while the old man recalled how the family feared the infant and kept her from holding him.
• Su Yao realized that the woman had secretly nursed him, then abandoned him in the Great Qing River after being frightened by his eyes.
• The woman finished her song by explaining why she had left him and how the memory had haunted her for decades.
• The old man named the play Tale of the Sage's Gestation, and Su Yao wept as he remembered Daozheng saying his parents had resorted to a last measure amid clan turmoil.

Su Yao learned how his birth parents had lost him and performed rites for the child they believed had died, while quietly helping his family before leaving without revealing who he was. He accepted that their kinship was shallow and felt his Dao body finally relax as Su Mingcheng noticed his resemblance to Su Shouzhuo.

• Su Shouzhuo told Su Yao that Gu Lanyin had seen rosy light before becoming pregnant, and that they later had another son, Su Jiye.
• Su Yao arranged to perform rites for the departed child, and three days later he recited scriptures while Gu Lanyin and Su Shouzhuo attended.
• Su Jiye returned with his son, Su Mingcheng, and froze when he saw Su Yao, who secretly gave them protective talismans and offered Gu Lanyin calming incense.
• Su Yao left without acknowledging his parents, deciding that seeing them once was already a blessing, while Su Mingcheng remarked that he resembled Su Shouzhuo's portrait.

After leaving his parents in Yongzhou, Su Yao was ambushed by a Confucian great master seeking revenge over his disciple, but Mianning intervened and drove the man away. Su Yao and Mianning returned toward Qixia Mountain, leaving the city and its fading lanterns behind.

• Mianning noticed a Confucian master waiting ahead of Su Yao and hurried to intervene.
• Su Yao reflected that he had fulfilled his duty to his parents and remained indebted to Daozheng for raising him.
• The great master trapped Su Yao and demanded that he enter the Heaven of Following Desire, but Su Yao taunted him and invoked Senior Brother Guangli.
• Mianning attacked the great master from behind, injured him, and forced him to flee toward Jiankang.
• Mianning warned Su Yao about the grudge with the Confucian School, then summoned a white lotus to take them away.
• Su Yao joked with Mianning about his dog-beating staff as they flew into the Great Void.

After Su Yao returned to Nanzhao with Mianning, the rosy light over Qixia Mountain faded, and Qingyang returned to the mountain with gifts for the Daozi. In the aftermath of the attack on the Daozi, powerful figures discussed the incident and considered aligning themselves with Qixia.

• Qingyang rejected the boy’s defense of the test and told him the three masters should address their own affairs before meddling with Qixia.
• The boy gave Qingyang a jade bottle and two jade boxes won by the Jade Void Palace’s young master in a wager for the Daozi.
• Liu and Li told the commandery governor that Zheng Jiazhao had tried to attack the Daozi in Yongzhou, and the governor flew off to report him.
• Que Nuo offered Noon Sparrow Mountain’s support to Qixia, while the Hepu Witch Tribe’s elder said his people would apologize when Qixia opened its mountain and visit Yunmeng to repay an old debt.

Gui Hong, Nuoli, and the giant serpent clashed with Nanzhao’s forces over Chu Yishan’s death near Golden Ao Mountain. A terrifying power drained the battlefield of color, immobilized everyone, and seized Gui Hong in an enormous hand.

• Meng Shixi accused Qixia Temple of killing Chu Yishan, but Gui Hong denied responsibility and mocked her lack of proof.
• Nuoli and the giant serpent rejected Meng Shixi’s accusations, and the serpent attacked her, prompting Xue Min to shield the Nanzhao group.
• Meng Shixi ordered everyone to attack, and the giant serpent, Nuoli, and Gui Hong fought back while sending Zhang Ziyan and Zhu Xuejie away.
• A color-draining power swept across the battlefield, freezing everyone except Gui Hong, who fled before returning in terror.
• An enormous hand broke through Gui Hong’s defenses and seized him, while the immobilized fighters watched helplessly.

Mianning subdued Gui Hong and drove off the Nanzhao cultivators, then showed Xue Min an image revealing that Chu had been killed after approaching Golden Ao Mountain. The other cultivators departed, while Mianning reprimanded Gui Hong, Nuoli, and the giant serpent before heading down to the mountain.

• Gui Hong broke free from Mianning's giant palm, and Mianning ordered Meng Shixi and Xue Min to leave.
• Xue Min challenged Mianning's right to harm Purple Mansion cultivators, so Mianning showed him an image of a greedy man turning into a clay statue and crumbling to ash.
• Gui Hong explained that the dead man had witnessed Proclaiming Earth, but Mianning silenced him when he spoke disrespectfully of the Orthodox God.
• Xue Min left with Meng Shixi and the other Purple Mansion experts, saying Nanzhao would send an apology gift for Chu's death.
• Mianning reprimanded Gui Hong, Nuoli, and the giant serpent; Gui Hong left for Qixia Mountain, and the serpent departed after asking Nuoli to pass along the Zhang and Zhu families.
• Nuoli cursed after being left alone, then descended toward Golden Ao Mountain when Mianning called him.

Mianning returned Su Yao and two new followers to Golden Ao Mountain, entrusted Su Yao with the mountain’s formation token, and helped restore a dormant Shengyu egg. Su Yao organized the newcomers and the mountain’s defenses, leaving Golden Ao Mountain visible again beside Cibi Lake.

• Mianning brought Su Yao, Zhang Ziyan, and Zhu Xuejie through the formation to Golden Ao Mountain, then gave Su Yao the formation token, couplets, inscriptions, and Autumn Steed.
• Mianning exchanged a Three-Turn Golden Core for two drops of Nuoli’s Essence Blood and used them with Plain Moon Autumn-Containing Marrow to restore the Shengyu egg’s vitality.
• Mianning told Su Yao the Shengyu egg would hatch within half a month, then left with Nuoli.
• Su Yao ordered Liu Yunhe to arrange cave abodes for Zhang Ziyan and Zhu Xuejie, and instructed Han Ziyi and Li Siyi to erect archways and mount the inscriptions and couplets.
• Su Yao examined the formation’s powers, then used the token to disperse the gray light concealing Golden Ao Mountain.

Su Yao invited nearby rulers, officials, and notable immortals to visit, then used the prism to refine the Shengyu egg into his third talisman. Five days later, the talisman was complete and greatly expanded his sea of Qi.

• Su Yao told Liu Yunhe to send invitations to Nanzhao's ruler, local officials, nearby Purple Mansion clans, and notable gods, including fallen clans, while excluding shaman tribes and the education commissioner.
• Su Yao used his formation token to let Han Ziyi, Li Siyi, Ziyan, and Xuejie enter and leave the Soul-Losing Radiant Fire Formation freely.
• Su Yao sent Little Red and Little Orange to guard his cave, then confirmed Mianning had left no means behind before beginning to refine the Shengyu egg.
• Su Yao used the prism and a method formula to draw the Shengyu's primordial Qi into himself and seal its essence as a talisman.
• After five days of refinement, Su Yao found the completed gray-and-yellow talisman on the prism's third face and named it Drinking from the Marsh and Bearing the Abyss.

Su Yao completed the talisman "Drinking from the Marsh and Bearing the Abyss," strengthening his reserves and joining his three talismans into a mutually supportive configuration. He then mastered the third Secret Method, "Unfurling Splendor," before the Prism’s third face lit up and released a golden-yellow beam into his cave abode.

• Su Yao sensed that "Drinking from the Marsh and Bearing the Abyss" increased both the capacity and depth of his Qi Sea, helping his Law Power endure in prolonged battles.
• Su Yao recognized that his three talismans formed a Three Powers configuration: "Consume the Sun and Dine on Rosy Clouds" refined spiritual essence, "Luminous Sword Heart" unleashed killing power, and "Drinking from the Marsh and Bearing the Abyss" stored reserves.
• Su Yao used the inspiration from completing the talisman to begin mastering the third Secret Method, "Unfurling Splendor," as golden rosy light formed in his Qi Sea.
• After half a month, Su Yao completed "Unfurling Splendor," and his Immortal Foundation began to resemble a crude rosy cloud feather robe rather than a cloak.
• As Su Yao was about to rise, the Prism trembled, its third face illuminated, and a golden-yellow beam streamed from the talisman into the cave abode.

Su Yao welcomed the newly hatched Shengyu, named Xiao Huang, and completed his seclusion before turning to preparations for Pear Garden’s opening. As the ceremony drew near, Liu Yunhe suggested obtaining attendants from the Flower-Shifting Palace’s Spirit Wood Children.

• A Shengyu hatched in Su Yao’s cave with a mutated Fu Water foundation, and Su Yao named it Xiao Huang.
• After Little Red and Little Orange welcomed Xiao Huang, Su Yao resumed cultivating but failed to reach the fourth level of Rising Profusion.
• Su Yao emerged from seclusion and approved Liu Yunhe’s ceremony schedule, asking him to advance the Nanzhao ruler’s daughter’s seat if she attended.
• Li Siyi proposed taking in attendants to manage Pear Garden’s chores, and Liu Yunhe recommended Spirit Wood Children from a Biyou branch residence.
• Su Yao asked which lineage controlled the residence, and Liu Yunhe answered that it belonged to the Flower-Shifting Palace.