Recaps

Su Yao reassessed Yang Zhao and Li Xu’s place in Qixia and arranged for them to replace their cultivation method. He announced that he would seek the Purple Mansion at Golden Ao Mountain and ordered Li Siyi to fetch breakthrough supplies for him and the others, leaving Zilin and Yang Xiu questioning whether the mountain was safe enough.

• Su Yao told Yang Zhao and Li Xu that they would receive a more complete fourth-grade cultivation method from Qixia Temple, and the two eagerly thanked him.
• Su Yao ordered Li Siyi to take Zhengji beyond the mountain and ask an envoy to fetch cultivation texts, pills, and materials for the disciples’ and cultivators’ Purple Mansion breakthroughs.
• Zilin gave Li Siyi a token for obtaining supplies from Mount Lao, while Yang Xiu provided a golden bell to request supplies from Golden Court for himself and his protectors.
• Su Yao announced that he intended to seek the Purple Mansion at Golden Ao Mountain and sent the others to prepare and reassure their disciples.
• Yang Xiu asked whether Su Yao truly intended to break through there, as he and Zilin worried that an attack or disruption of the earth veins could endanger them during seclusion.

Su Yao urged Zilin and Yang Xiu to seize the rare chance to attempt a breakthrough to the Purple Mansion amid the turmoil surrounding the fallen Witchcraft Dao grotto-heaven. Zilin and Yang Xiu agreed to stand with him, and Yang Xiu began explaining why his decision came from the Golden Court’s teachings about calamities and tribulations.

• Su Yao argued that the three sect masters’ attention and lingering consciousnesses in their treasures made this a uniquely safe time to attempt the Purple Mansion breakthrough.
• Su Yao warned that Proclaiming Earth True Lord’s reincarnation and the wooden box’s decree could bring war and upheaval across Nanzhao and the surrounding territories.
• Su Yao reasoned that their elders might not know the whole picture and urged Zilin and Yang Xiu to forge ahead themselves.
• Zilin agreed to stand with Su Yao in seeking the Purple Mansion.
• Yang Xiu also agreed, then began describing how the Golden Court’s founding master studied calamities and left behind a Book of Inquiring into Tribulations.

Yang Xiu persuaded Su Yao and Zilin to face the tribulation and seek the Purple Mansion on Golden Ao Mountain, and the three pledged to proceed together. Their resolve was interrupted when Li Siyi reported that the envoy had completed his task and prepared replacement cultivation methods.

• Yang Xiu cited Patriarch Daoxing's teachings and argued that the three should enter the tribulation rather than avoid it.
• Su Yao agreed with Yang Xiu, recalling the dangers they had already faced and the support promised by the immortal casket.
• Zilin declared her resolve in a poem, and Su Yao answered with a lyric about tribulation and returning.
• Li Siyi interrupted the gathering to tell Su Yao that the envoy had visited Qixia Mountain, Mount Lao, and the Golden Court.
• Li Siyi said the envoy had anticipated Yang Zhao and the others changing cultivation methods and had given her methods of the same Qi to deliver.

Su Yao received Qixia’s Cultivation Method and pills for Yang Zhao, Li Xu, Lin Shuang, and Xu Qingluo, then explained why disciples must cultivate Daoist scriptures and methods together. He decided to let Zichuan choose whether to remove his High Witch Golden Nature or remain free of Qixia’s discipline.

• Li Siyi gave Su Yao the Vermilion Flame Condensed Truth Canon and four Crimson Brightness Bone-Swapping Pills, and reported that the envoy would return within ten days with supplies.
• Su Yao ordered Li Siyi to summon Yun, Ziyi, Xuejie, and Ziyan, while Yang Xiu asked her to summon his people as well.
• Zilin realized Su Yao had delayed teaching the four disciples a Cultivation Method so he could formally bind them to Qixia when the time was right.
• Yang Xiu explained the historical divide between Mysterious Gate disciples, who cultivated scriptures and methods separately, and Daoist Gate disciples, who cultivated them together.
• Su Yao instructed that Daozheng be offered the choice to remove his High Witch Golden Nature or keep it; if he refused, he could go his own way.
• Yang Xiu and Zilin accepted Su Yao’s decision, with Yang Xiu noting that Zichuan could not be forced to follow Qixia’s path.

Su Yao assigned Golden Ao Mountain’s people duties to prepare for his upcoming seclusion with Zilin and Yang Xiu to seek the Purple Mansion realm. After everyone left, he explained to Zilin and Yang Xiu his past dealings with the Lake God of Cibi Lake and the secret realm they might open together.

• Su Yao gave Liu Yunhe the cultivation manual and pills for four disciples to change their cultivation methods, and assigned others to watch Golden Ao Mountain and inventory supplies at White Sand Mountain.
• Su Yao sent Lu Daoyuan to Cibi Lake to negotiate with its lake god about opening a secret realm, and tasked Jing Xuanpu and Gong Shouzhuo with helping patrol the mountain.
• Zilin suggested informing Xuan Yan, Mo Li and Ying Qi before Su Yao, Zilin and Yang Xiu entered seclusion, and Su Yao assigned the patrol group to contact them.
• Su Yao announced that he, Zilin and Yang Xiu would enter seclusion after the envoy returned, leaving Liu Yunhe in charge of the mountain’s affairs and instructing everyone to seal the gates if they could not handle a situation.
• After the others left, Su Yao told Zilin and Yang Xiu that he had destroyed the Lu Household, made a twenty-year decree against its cultivators, and later agreed to consider the lake god’s request to open a secret realm.

After three years of seclusion, Su Yao mastered all nine Secret Methods and perfected his Immortal Foundation, then prepared to seek the Purple Mansion. With Yang Xiu and Zilin still in seclusion and troubling news emerging from the empire, he entered a protected meditation chamber to begin his breakthrough.

• Su Yao, Zilin, and Yang Xiu agreed to clarify the matter of the secret realm with the Lake God of Cibi Lake after seeking the Purple Mansion, and to take their tradition's decree to the Dragon Palace of the South Sea if he refused.
• Three years after entering seclusion, Su Yao emerged having mastered his final Secret Method and elevated his Immortal Foundation to Rosy Cloud Feather Wanderer.
• Su Yao learned from Liu Yunhe that the Lake God had made no move, the miners had settled near Longchuan, and the crown prince had still not returned to Jiankang to ascend the throne.
• When Yang Xiu and Zilin remained in seclusion more than three months later, Su Yao prepared to seek the Purple Mansion and set the Nine Heavens Auspicious Cloud Banner to protect his meditation chamber.
• Su Yao closed his eyes in the chamber and began his attempt to break through to the Purple Mansion.

Su Yao prepared to break through to the Purple Mansion after studying how the Immortal, Confucian, and Buddhist schools approached the realm. With five Rosy Clouds Rising Yang Pills sustaining his ascent, his Immortal Foundation reached the twentieth level of the twenty-four-story tower, but his body was nearing its limit.

• Su Yao reviewed how the Immortal, Confucian, and Buddhist schools each named and achieved the realm beyond Foundation Establishment.
• After another month of cultivation, Su Yao decided he was ready to attempt the Purple Mansion breakthrough.
• Su Yao took five Five Rosy Clouds Rising Yang Pills and sent his Rosy Cloud Feather Wanderer Immortal Foundation up the twenty-four-story tower.
• After eight months, Su Yao's Immortal Foundation reached the twentieth level, and the pills replenished his nearly exhausted Law Power.
• Su Yao's Dao body approached its limit under the immense weight of his Immortal Foundation and Law Power.

Su Yao drove his Immortal Foundation through the Great Gate and onto the spiritual platform as his Dao body began to crumble. He used the Purple Canopy Morning Rosy Clouds Marrow to transform the Rosy Cloud Feather Wanderer, but the chapter ended before his breakthrough was complete.

• Su Yao endured the strain of raising his Immortal Foundation as his Dao body cracked and his Law Power dwindled.
• Su Yao guided the Immortal Foundation through the Great Gate, where he saw the Prism had arrived ahead of him and illuminated the darkness with rainbow-colored light.
• Su Yao reached the spiritual platform, but the Prism occupied its center and allowed his Immortal Foundation to settle only on a small foothold beside it.
• Su Yao used the Purple Canopy Morning Rosy Clouds Marrow to wrap and transform the Rosy Cloud Feather Wanderer as he recited its scriptures.

Su Yao endured the Tribulation of Heaven and Earth Submergence as his Immortal Foundation robe transformed into a profound black feather robe. He then experienced a life in Qinghe as a cloth merchant, husband, and father, and the chapter ended when an opera stirred memories he could not explain.

• Su Yao chanted a formula that caused the faded feather robe to shed its old form and grow profound black feathers threaded with rosy light.
• The Tribulation of Heaven and Earth Submergence engulfed Rising Yang Mansion, and the grayness eventually receded as Su Yao regained his senses.
• Su Yao relived his parents’ story: Su Shouzhuo left the Su Household to marry opera actress Gu Lanyin, and they raised Su Yao apart from the clan.
• Su Yao married Gu Wanniang, and they had a son and a daughter while he worked at the family cloth shop.
• At a temple fair, Su Yao heard an opera melody that stirred memories of performing onstage with others, and his daughter asked why he was crying.

Su Yao broke free of an illusion in which he had spent sixty years living as a cloth shop owner with Gu Wanniang and their family. He remembered his pursuit of the Dao and Zilin, passed Boundless Illusion, and advanced toward the Purple Mansion realm.

• Su Yao grew old in Qinghe Commandery City with Gu Wanniang, their children, and grandchildren, while an unexplained emptiness remained in his heart.
• As Su Yao neared the end of his imagined life, the Prism and the scriptures awakened his memories of being Qixia Daozi and breaking through to the Purple Mansion realm.
• Su Yao realized that his attachment to the Dao and the rosy light had kept him from sinking completely into the illusion, and he recognized the light as connected to Zilin's unfinished words.
• Gu Wanniang called Su Yao back to the cooling tea, but he refused to turn around and recited a farewell poem to the mortal life he had imagined.
• Gu Wanniang withdrew her hand and vanished with the illusion as the Prism and scriptures restored Su Yao's consciousness.
• Rosy light blazed in the Rising Yang Mansion, and Su Yao passed Boundless Illusion.

Su Yao’s breakthrough sent ten thousand rays of rosy light over Golden Ao Mountain, and the signs suggested he had succeeded in reaching the Purple Mansion. As the people of Qixia Temple celebrated, observers in the Great Void debated whether his cultivation had collapsed or he had completed the breakthrough.

• A man in Lingxiao Hall used the Haotian Pagoda to send a woman down toward the South Sea while the Heavenly Court’s dispute flared outside.
• After the sea of blood withdrew from Qixia Temple, True Lord Xicheng reproached Gui Hong for leaving Qixia Mountain before his injuries had healed.
• True Lord Xicheng revealed that Su Yao had achieved something remarkable, and Gui Hong realized he was now the highest authority on the Rainbow Clouds Dao Path.
• Qingyang heard bells ring from the Purple Empyrean Golden Palace, and several joyful figures gathered at the Founders’ Hall.
• Ten thousand rays of rosy light enveloped Golden Ao Mountain as figures in the Great Void argued over whether Su Yao had succeeded in his breakthrough.

Su Yao emerged from nine years of seclusion after successfully breaking through to the Purple Mansion, prompting celebration on Golden Ao Mountain. He examined his new Rosy Cloud Feather Wanderer Divine Ability while the spiritual essence from his breakthrough continued to gather.

• Observers on Golden Ao Mountain debated whether Su Yao had succeeded, while Liu Yunhe and the others worried over the unusual rosy light.
• Su Yao spoke to his companions, told them to prepare a celebration, and remained in seclusion to complete his transformation into a Law body.
• Su Yao broke through to the Purple Mansion, and the Fruition Position bestowed spiritual essence that accelerated his transformation.
• Su Yao manifested Rosy Cloud Feather Wanderer and considered its abilities and the Rainbow Clouds path's cultivation methods.
• Su Yao looked around his cave abode and found that everything but the formation based on the Nine Heavens Auspicious Cloud Banner had been shattered.

After breaking through to the Purple Mansion realm, Su Yao emerged from seclusion and confronted cultivators who had mocked him in the Great Void. He exchanged greetings with Nanzhao’s officials and local powers, then attacked Liu Mingyuan after the education commissioner insulted the assembled guests; Liu Mingyuan summoned his official seal to retaliate.

• Su Yao examined the Nine Heavens Auspicious Cloud Banner, left his cave abode, and announced his breakthrough across Golden Ao Mountain and the Great Void.
• Su Yao appeared before the gathered Purple Mansion cultivators and challenged those who had cursed him.
• Yang Xuanye congratulated Su Yao and asked him to protect Nanzhao, while Su Yao declined Meng Shixi’s offer of two mountains on the ruler’s behalf.
• The Cibi Lake God briefly congratulated Su Yao, and Kuiwu of the Zhao Household of Red Rock introduced himself.
• Liu Mingyuan called the gathered guests fawning flatterers, so Su Yao attacked him with the banner’s rainbow light.
• Liu Mingyuan identified himself as Nanzhao’s education commissioner, defended himself with Vast Righteousness Qi, and raised his official seal against Su Yao.

Su Yao ended his confrontation with Liu Mingyuan and learned more about the Purple Mansion powers near Golden Ao Mountain. After the guests departed, he confronted two injured cultivators hiding in the Great Void, who claimed they had studied under the mountain god of Cang Mountain.

• Yang Xuanye restrained Liu Mingyuan from throwing his seal, and Su Yao warned Liu that another insult would bring out his Sword Intent.
• Liu Mingyuan left, and Su Yao dismissed the remaining guests after thanking them for their congratulations.
• Yang Nan named the three nearby Purple Mansion powers that had supported the education inspector and identified True Person Xuanping as the one who had insulted Su Yao.
• Su Yao told Yang Nan that those who entered Qixia Temple would no longer be outsiders, and Yang Nan departed.
• Su Yao called out two hidden figures, Ni Polu and Li Chaoxue, who said they had studied under the mountain god of Cang Mountain and were injured.
• Su Yao questioned their concealed origins and warned that the Great Void was a dangerous place to recover from their wounds.

Ni Polu and Li Chaoxue warned Su Yao that True Person Kuiwu had deceived them and was connected to the Lake God of Cibi Lake, then declined his offer to recuperate on Golden Ao Mountain. Su Yao later welcomed Ox-Head and Horse-Face, offered them spirit tea and Night Mulberries at his upcoming Dharma Banquet, and they accepted the invitation.

• Ni Polu told Su Yao that True Person Kuiwu had harmed him and Li Chaoxue and had a murky relationship with the Lake God of Cibi Lake.
• Su Yao invited the injured pair to rest on Golden Ao Mountain, but Li Chaoxue declined because they did not want to become entangled.
• Li Chaoxue and Ni Polu discussed how the fighting between great ones in Longchuan had kept her from returning home and destroyed Ni Polu’s cave abode.
• Su Yao called out to the hidden Ox-Head and Horse-Face, who explained that they had come for a routine underworld inspection.
• Su Yao gave Horse-Face a jar of spirit tea and invited the two emissaries to his Purple Mansion Dharma Banquet, promising them Night Mulberries; they accepted.

Ox-Head and Horse-Face secretly entered Su Yao’s name into the Yin Register after an unseen power granted their request, then delayed their return to the Netherworld. Su Yao watched them leave and waited in the Great Void for heavenly envoys, meeting a grand procession with his Sword Intent quietly spreading.

• Ox-Head and Horse-Face feared returning after failing to enter Su Yao’s name and decided to claim that a great figure had detained them.
• Horse-Face appealed to unseen powers, who granted permission to record Su Yao’s name in the Yin Register and ordered them to bring Yellow Springs mud and track Judge Ding’s meals for a hundred years.
• Horse-Face and Ox-Head agreed to postpone their report and head toward Golden Ao Mountain, while Su Yao watched them disappear.
• Su Yao considered the Netherworld’s competing powers and waited in the Great Void for heavenly envoys to arrive.
• A silver-armored procession drawn by five flood dragons approached Su Yao, who quietly released his Crimson Dawn Unstained Night-Illuminating Clear Light Sword Intent.

Su Yao confronted a Dipper Department procession that brought an order commanding him to go to Purple Tenuity, and fought Zhi Nu when challenged. Before the order could be enforced, an old man from the Hall of Complete Illumination arrived and declared it a private decree that could not be proclaimed or enforced as a heavenly edict.

• Su Yao challenged the heavenly envoy’s authority and fought Zhi Nu, whose Heavenly Net was melted by Su Yao’s Rainbow Clouds power and whose attack was nearly pierced by Su Yao’s sword.
• The envoy read the Emperor Lord’s decree ordering Su Yao to go to Purple Tenuity for secluded cultivation without delay or refusal.
• An old man from the Hall of Complete Illumination arrived with a decree and congratulated Su Yao on reaching the Purple Mansion.
• The old man told the procession that the Emperor Lord’s edict had not passed through Lingxiao or the Hall of Complete Illumination, making it a private decree that could not be enforced.

Su Yao witnessed a clash between Daozheng and the Sovereign Lord’s heavenly procession before receiving a decree appointing him acting master of Qixia Temple. The decree empowered his talismanic order, and he left the encounter troubled by the growing conflict among the Heavenly Court’s leaders.

• The white-robed old man warned the Sovereign Lord’s attendant that he acted under the Star Lord’s orders, and the procession departed.
• Five-colored smoke Qi and Wu Earth light struck the procession; Daozheng’s attack destroyed Zhi Nu and the carriage before the North Star intervened and a bright moon shielded the envoy.
• After the heavenly forces vanished, the white-robed old man read the decree naming Su Yao acting master of Qixia Temple and ordering him to pacify Nanzhao before returning to complete the rites.
• The old man explained that Su Yao’s talismanic decree could now communicate with the Hall of Complete Illumination and summon divine officials and generals.
• The white-robed old man departed, and Su Yao suspected the decree reflected an intensifying conflict in the Heavenly Court that would end in ruin.

Su Yao received Jade Void Palace’s decree appointing him to lead Proclaiming Earth’s journey through Nanzhao and granting him the Daoist name Qingyan. He returned to Golden Ao Mountain as Qixia Temple’s rightful master and celebrated with the disciples.

• A child bearing the Taiji Talisman Edict delivered Jade Void Palace’s decree to Su Yao, ordering him to oversee Proclaiming Earth’s journey through Nanzhao and granting him the name Qingyan.
• The child privately told Su Yao that Jade Void Palace recognized him as Qixia Temple’s rightful head and would support him if trouble arose.
• The edicts from Jade Void Palace and the Hall of Complete Illumination entered Su Yao’s Daoist Gate Talisman Edict, transforming it into Qixia Temple’s Law Seal.
• Su Yao returned to Golden Ao Mountain, where Liu Yunhe, Zhang Ziyan, and the others welcomed him as Qixia Temple’s master.
• Su Yao hosted a feast in the Pear Garden, toasted those he remembered, and called for more wine.

After breaking through to the Purple Mansion, Su Yao discussed Nanzhao’s worsening drought and the political turmoil around Proclaiming Earth with Liu Yunhe. He ordered Liu Yunhe to invite guests to a Dharma banquet five months later, then considered how the world and his fellow cultivators had changed during his nine years in seclusion.

• Su Yao learned from Liu Yunhe that Nanzhao had gone three years without rain and that True Person Ciyuan had died while seeking Gold, worsening the drought through his Great Yang cultivation.
• Su Yao told Liu Yunhe that morality could not be used as a universal measure and admitted that he wanted the Qixia lineage to prosper and to attain the Dao, then ordered him to invite guests to a Purple Mansion Dharma banquet.
• Su Yao checked on the three sleeping birds in his cave abode and reflected on the crown prince’s prolonged stay in Qingzhou and the court’s growing pressure on Nanzhao.
• Su Yao noted that a Five Laws True Person of the Langcao Wu Tribe had also died in secret, and suspected that both deaths were connected to Proclaiming Earth.
• Su Yao reviewed his fellow cultivators’ seclusions and learned that the Flower-Shifting Palace of Highest Clarity had abandoned its Nanzhao branch residence five years earlier.

Su Yao began cultivating his Divine Ability and discovered the Prism’s forty-eight innate restrictions, which he could not refine until he obtained the fruit of heaven and earth. At Cibi Lake, True Person Kuiwu persuaded Ao Xiao to work with him to pursue Li Chaoxue and Ni Polu and their Spirit Treasures.

• Su Yao decided to drive Proclaiming Earth west or north after it brought chaos to Nanzhao, then began studying Purple Mansion cultivation and the long process of perfecting his Divine Ability and condensing more talismans.
• Su Yao explored the Prism’s vast interior and saw its forty-eight restrictions, but the Prism pushed his mind out and told him to return after obtaining the fruit of heaven and earth.
• True Person Kuiwu visited Ao Xiao at Cibi Water Palace, and Ao Xiao challenged him over his past actions.
• Kuiwu argued that Li Chaoxue and Ni Polu had no viable ties to the Nanzhao royal family or the Mountain God of Cang Mountain that could protect them.
• Kuiwu showed Ao Xiao evidence that Li Chaoxue and Ni Polu possessed the Dusk Snow Flute and Morning Mist Drum, and warned that they would give the Spirit Treasures to the mountain god if they learned their role in opening the Purple-Blue Secret Realm.

Kuiwu persuaded Ao Xiao to join him in targeting Li Chaoxue and Ni Polu for their Spirit Treasures and the Lu Household bloodline needed to open Wu Nuo’s Purple-Blue Secret Realm. They agreed to strike together, though each secretly planned to claim the realm’s best treasures for himself.

• Kuiwu explained that two Spirit Treasures and Lu Household descendants who could cultivate Witch Talismans might open Wu Nuo’s Purple-Blue Secret Realm during Longchuan Heaven’s descent.
• Kuiwu and Ao Xiao discussed how Purple Mansions in Nanzhao had been manipulated into becoming expendable pieces, and Ao Xiao described the pressure he faced from his South Sea clan over Su Yao.
• Kuiwu argued that Su Yao would not oppose them if they avoided provoking Qixia Temple and gave him the treasures taken from the two Rogue Cultivators.
• Ao Xiao agreed to cooperate and demanded the Dusk Snow Flute, while Kuiwu accepted and secretly intended to claim the Morning Mist Drum and the realm’s finest treasures.
• Kuiwu said he had narrowed down the whereabouts of the Morning Mist Drum and Dusk Snow Flute with seventy percent certainty, and the two departed separately.

Xue Min emerged from seclusion and learned that Qixia Daozi Su Yao had attained the Purple Mansion and predicted Nanzhao would lose its statehood. Xue Min and Meng Shixi were summoned to meet Nanzhao’s ruler, whose grotto-heaven revealed the kingdom’s ancient ties to Nüwa and Subterranean Water.

• Meng Shixi told Xue Min that Qixia Daozi had attained the Purple Mansion, received the Daoist name Qingyan, and planned a Dharma banquet on Golden Ao Mountain.
• Meng Shixi recounted that Su Yao had refused her gift and said he would personally visit the royal court to pay respects to the descendant of the Orthodox God.
• Xue Min learned that the ruler had not responded, the old priest was away in the West Sea, and the princess had been in seclusion for seven years.
• A stairway of light appeared, and Xue Min and Meng Shixi climbed it after the ruler summoned them.
• Xue Min and Meng Shixi entered the ruler’s grotto-heaven and reached the Nüwa Temple at the heart of its islands.
• The chapter explained Nanzhao’s royal origins and that its present ruler followed the path of Subterranean Water.

Meng Shixi and Xue Min met Nanzhao’s ruler, Cangyuan Runze, in the Nüwa Temple, where the ruler asked what had happened during his twenty years in seclusion. After hearing of growing threats and Qixia Daozi’s rise, he lamented a prophecy that Nanzhao would perish by his own hand and wondered who would sacrifice to its ancestors afterward.

• Palace maids led Meng Shixi and Xue Min to the Nüwa Temple, where they entered the hall and paid their respects to Cangyuan Runze.
• Cangyuan Runze asked what had happened during his twenty years in seclusion, listing ominous forces gathering in every direction.
• Meng Shixi reported the Proclaiming Earth True Lord’s reincarnation, the deaths of True Persons from Yang Palace and Langcao, and Qixia Daozi’s advancement to the Purple Mansion.
• Meng Shixi explained that she had offered Qixia Daozi two mountains in the ruler’s name, but he had refused them.
• Cangyuan Runze said Qixia Daozi had likely refused because he knew of the prediction that Nanzhao would ultimately perish by the ruler’s hand, then asked who would sacrifice to the ancestors afterward.

Xue Min and Meng Shixi received the sovereign’s charge to use ancient treasures to confront Nanzhao’s drought and witch plague while preparing for the Purple-Blue Secret Realm. The sovereign lamented pressure to abandon Nanzhao’s name, and the two returned from the grotto-heaven with their missions and treasures.

• The sovereign gave Xue Min the Abyss-Bearing Guixu Bowl and ordered him to place it in Erhai Lake to keep the water veins from drying up.
• Meng Shixi explained that Ao Xiao and Kuiwu had tried to seize the Morning Mist Drum and Dusk Snow Flute, and the sovereign ordered the pair killed and Qixia Temple brought into the Purple-Blue Secret Realm expedition.
• The sovereign explained that the Dragon Palace of the South Sea, the Witch Hall, and Nanzhao each held a role in opening the secret realm, and that Wu Nuo’s bloodline was cultivating Witch Talismans.
• The sovereign gave Meng Shixi the Hundred Spirits Flower to combat the witch plague and ordered that the Zhao Household of Red Rock’s True Person could be killed but his lineage must survive.
• The sovereign insisted that Nanzhao’s ancestral name could not be abandoned, then sent Xue Min and Meng Shixi out of the grotto-heaven with their treasures.
• Meng Shixi asked Xue Min to take charge, and he comforted her as a song about Nanzhao drifted from the royal city.