Chapter Summaries

Su Yao and Yang Xiu witnessed a Gezao Mountain descendant ascend to the Cloud Seal Script Fruition Position and discussed how the Eight Essences shaped the Daoist Gate’s power. Yang Xiu then privately shielded their conversation and began explaining the doubts that had resurfaced after reaching the Purple Mansion realm.

• Su Yao and Yang Xiu congratulated the new True Lord as blue-yellow radiance and Cloud Seal Script runes rose from Jiangnan.
• Yang Xiu explained how the vacant Cloud Seal Script Fruition Position had limited Su Yao’s use of the Daoist Gate altar, and Su Yao discussed Zilin’s strengths and talent.
• Su Yao and Yang Xiu described the Eight Essences, their functions, and the importance of restoring their vacant positions.
• Yang Xiu wondered whether his Profound Qi path stood outside the Eight Essences, and Su Yao said the Essences were methods rather than the Dao.
• Yang Xiu used his golden bell to obscure their conversation from those nearby and told Su Yao that reaching the Purple Mansion realm had brought old doubts back to mind.

Yang Xiu questioned Su Yao about the Mysterious Gate’s plan to use Proclaiming Earth’s rebellion in Nanzhao, and Su Yao explained how it served their interests and helped the Celestial Master attain the Dao. The exchange ended with Yang Xiu defending his oath to protect Nanzhao’s people and Su Yao admitting he cared only for those at Qixia Mountain.

• Yang Xiu asked Su Yao why the Mysterious Gate supported unrest in Nanzhao when it might strengthen the Human Dao later.
• Su Yao argued that Proclaiming Earth’s mission could benefit the Mysterious Gate without sacrificing its existing reserves and help the Celestial Master attain the Dao.
• Yang Xiu challenged Su Yao’s reasoning for ignoring the people of Nanzhao and reminded him of his oath to protect the land around Qingnuo Mountain.
• Su Yao said the powerful would not change their plans out of pity and confessed that he cared only for the people of Qixia Mountain.

Su Yao told Yang Xiu that he would protect his own people but would not join Yang Xiu’s effort to protect Nanzhao, and the two watched a new surge of power in the northern sky. Su Yao connected the phenomenon to the reincarnated Proclaiming Earth True Lord, Longchuan Heaven, and the Great Marsh Banner, but said he could not know whether the reincarnated figure was the original True Lord.

• Su Yao told Yang Xiu that they should follow separate paths, with each protecting their own people, and Yang Xiu accepted that Su Yao had not changed.
• Su Yao and Yang Xiu saw the northern three-colored light surge as an immense force pushed back the sky-spanning net.
• The light vanished, and a single clear footstep sounded from the northern sky before disappearing.
• Su Yao explained that the Spirit Witch Dao Lord had taken the Great Marsh Banner from the fallen Proclaiming Earth True Lord and brought the True Lord’s descendants to Longchuan.
• Su Yao proposed that the reincarnated True Lord’s bloodlines and the Great Marsh Banner had drawn Longchuan Heaven down, but he could not say whether the figure was the original True Lord.

Su Yao explained how Spirit Witch Dao Lord’s daughter married Renewing Beginnings and Equalizing Fields True Lord, hiding their descendants among ordinary people, and why Spring and Autumn recorded them so sparingly. Their discussion was interrupted by Proclaiming Earth’s call to equalize the fields and a command for Su Yao and Yang Xiu to stop him.

• Yang Xiu questioned how the Dao Lord’s descendants had lost their status, and Su Yao recited Spring and Autumn’s account of Longchuan’s seedlings spreading among the common folk.
• Su Yao revealed that the Dao Lord’s daughter married Renewing Beginnings and Equalizing Fields True Lord, joining their bloodlines and explaining how their descendant could summon Longchuan Heaven.
• Su Yao explained that the Laurel-Breaking Heavenly Venerable had supported the Qin Emperor and later recorded the True Lord’s family in Spring and Autumn without naming them after the True Lord helped bring Qin down.
• A pillar of three-colored light rose in the north, and a vast voice called for the fields to be equalized.
• A mystical voice ordered Qingyan and Yang Xiu to go to Green Nuo and stop Proclaiming Earth, and Su Yao objected to the command.

Su Yao openly challenged the order sending him and Yang Xiu to confront the reincarnation of Proclaiming Earth True Lord, and Eastern Pole Dao Lord promised to protect their immortal paths. Granted complementary Gang Qi abilities, the two set out for Longchuan, where a dangerous struggle awaited.

• Su Yao refused to obey the order without protection, arguing that sending two Purple Mansion cultivators against the True Lord's reincarnation was a death sentence.
• Eastern Pole Dao Lord promised to protect Su Yao and Yang Xiu's immortal paths, and they accepted his decree.
• Su Yao and Yang Xiu discovered their Gang Qi abilities: Quell the Killing Aura restrained slaughter, while Wield the Harmonious Wind dispersed violent Qi.
• Su Yao and Yang Xiu left Golden Ao Mountain and traveled north through the Great Void toward Longchuan.
• As they approached Longchuan, the Great Marsh Banner and equal-field decree stirred while a hundred thousand common folk awaited deliverance.

Su Yao and Yang Xiu reached the confluence of the Longchuan and Luchuan Rivers and saw the remnants of Longchuan Heaven, where Chen Hai was trying to cross from the grotto-heaven into the Great Void. Xue Min, the mountain god of Cang Mountain, arrived and announced that he had come by the ruler’s order to help them suppress the source of chaos and bring peace to Nanzhao.

• Su Yao and Yang Xiu recalled the battle there fifteen years earlier and discussed their fellow Daoists, many of whom were still seeking breakthroughs to the Purple Mansion.
• Su Yao and Yang Xiu observed Longchuan Heaven’s scattered fragments slowly sinking into the Netherworld, and Yang Xiu warned that the Yellow Springs could dry up if no one became Earth Witch.
• Su Yao used the Prism to look into the largest fragment and saw Chen Hai wielding a banner at the boundary, accompanied by several Purple Mansion-level demons or exotic creatures.
• Su Yao felt the Prism hunger for one of the exotic creatures and watched it closely before Xue Min appeared behind him and Yang Xiu.
• Su Yao and Yang Xiu cautiously prepared for a confrontation with Xue Min, who said he had come by the ruler’s order to assist them and suppress the source of chaos in Nanzhao.

Chen Hai emerged from the grotto-heaven and challenged Su Yao, Yang Xiu, and Xue Min after they opposed his plans for Nanzhao. Xue Min’s earth-aligned abilities checked Chen Hai’s first attacks, but Chen Hai’s power overwhelmed Su Yao and Yang Xiu, leaving the battle unresolved.

• Chen Hai emerged from the grotto-heaven carrying the Great Marsh Banner and invited Su Yao to join him in gaining power.
• Xue Min urged Chen Hai not to bring war to Nanzhao, but Chen Hai pointed to the trapped miners and declared that they would settle the matter in battle.
• Chen Hai attacked with sand and stone, and Xue Min used Thanksgiving Chant and Return of Ten Thousand Grains to stop his first two assaults.
• Xue Min raised earthen walls with Seal the Altar Soil as Su Yao and Yang Xiu attacked Chen Hai from opposite sides.
• Chen Hai’s earth-yellow wave halted Su Yao’s sword strike and overcame Yang Xiu’s golden bell, blasting both men back without injuring them because of their protective Gang Qi.
• Yang Xiu steadied himself and urged Su Yao to attack Chen Hai again.

Chen Hai overwhelmed Su Yao, Yang Xiu, and Xue Min with the Great Marsh Banner and revealed the Sixfold Completion Jar, trapping them in the corrosive waters of the Yellow Springs. Xue Min’s defenses failed, and the Yellow Springs swept toward the three as the chapter ended.

• Chen Hai repelled Su Yao’s sword and Yang Xiu’s attacks with the Great Marsh Banner and urged them to submit.
• Xue Min used Fallen Plain Passage to close in on Chen Hai and attacked with Sacrifice to the Kitchen Lord.
• Chen Hai produced the Sixfold Completion Jar, surprising Xue Min, Su Yao, and Yang Xiu.
• Chen Hai released the Yellow Springs from the jar, forcing Xue Min to shield the three with his Sacrificial Earth power.
• Su Yao and Yang Xiu added their defenses as Xue Min’s barrier weakened, but the defenses shattered and the Yellow Springs surged toward them.

Su Yao, Yang Xiu, and Xue Min held out against Chen Hai’s Yellow Springs assault behind a Gang Qi barrier. When Chen Hai released two Purple Mansion yao, a True Lord’s water drop erased them and cast Chen Hai and the Sixfold Completion Jar into the mortal world.

• Su Yao and Yang Xiu combined their Gang Qi to shield themselves and Xue Min from the Yellow Springs Qi.
• Chen Hai poured Yellow Springs water onto the barrier for an hour but failed to break it.
• A distant clash between True Lord-level figures shook the Great Void, and Chen Hai left the trio trapped beneath the Sixfold Completion Jar.
• Chen Hai tore open the grotto-heaven fragment, releasing a one-horned black python and a three-headed azure wolf.
• A single gray drop of water appeared and turned both Purple Mansion yao to ash.
• A dragon-shaped stream of Subterranean Water flung Chen Hai and the Sixfold Completion Jar into the mortal world.

The ruler of Nanzhao Kingdom seized Xue Min and dispersed the Yellow Springs cage, leaving Su Yao and Yang Xiu in the Great Void. Su Yao pursued an emerald luan bird to capture it as material for his fourth talisman, but the bird resisted their attacks with its Jia Wood powers.

• The ruler swept Xue Min and the Sixfold Completion Jar away in Subterranean Water, causing the Yellow Springs cage to collapse.
• Su Yao and Yang Xiu saw yao and exotic creatures flee the grotto-heaven, and Su Yao recognized an emerald luan bird as a suitable Purple Mansion creature for his fourth talisman.
• Su Yao asked Yang Xiu to help capture the luan bird, and the two pursued it through the Great Void.
• Yang Xiu sealed one escape route with Wu Earth Calamity while Su Yao used the Zhengji Sword to open a path through the bird's green-wood net.
• The luan bird neutralized Yang Xiu's Wu Earth attack and then endured his summoned calamity lightning with its Jia Wood spiritual essence.

Su Yao and Yang Xiu overcame the luan bird’s Jia Wood defenses and sealed it inside the Transforming Azure Bracelet. The luan bird survived as a captive, giving Su Yao the living Purple Mansion beast he wanted for his fourth talisman.

• The luan bird unleashed Jia Reaches the Heavens, forcing Yang Xiu to defend against its colossal tree phantom while Su Yao used the Transforming Azure Bracelet to dispel part of its force.
• Su Yao drew Vermilion Radiance and cleaved the tree phantom and the luan bird with a precise strike of Sword Intent.
• Yang Xiu summoned the killing light of the Great Yang and struck the wound, gravely weakening the luan bird.
• Su Yao used the Transforming Azure Bracelet to suppress and seal the luan bird, drawing its shrunken body inside.
• Yang Xiu told Su Yao they had succeeded, and Su Yao revealed that he had wanted the living Jia Wood beast as material for his fourth talisman.

Meng Shixi searched for the missing mountain god, and Su Yao and Yang Xiu told her that Xue Min had been swept toward Nanzhao. Nuoli then met Su Yao on the True Lord’s orders and described the chaos that had blocked his journey, leaving Su Yao to explain the battle at Longchuan.

• Meng Shixi asked Su Yao and Yang Xiu whether they had seen the mountain god, and Su Yao told her that Xue Min had been swept toward Nanzhao’s royal city.
• Meng Shixi departed, and Yang Xiu wondered why she had not known what happened to Xue Min; Su Yao said Nanzhao’s ruler might keep matters from her.
• Nuoli appeared with a message from the True Lord, and Su Yao invited him into Golden Ao Mountain to speak privately.
• Xu Mo arrived with items for Yang Xiu from the Golden Court, and Yang Xiu went to the Water Palace Secret Realm in the lake.
• Nuoli told Su Yao that fighting had cut off the Great Void across several regions and asked whether Su Yao had fought the True Lord’s reincarnation at Longchuan.

Nuoli delivered the True Lord’s gifts and orders to Su Yao, including a new body-refining method and a three-hundred-year deadline to seek the Golden Core. The chapter ended with Su Yao accepting the challenge and learning that the Proclaiming Earth True Lord’s reincarnation had never ultimately been after Nanzhao.

• Nuoli told Su Yao that chaos had erupted across Jiangnan, the Central Plains, and Guanzhong, and that the True Lord had explained the turmoil with the word “profit.”
• Nuoli conveyed the True Lord’s gift of the Crane True Stone and the Jade Dawn Body-Refining and Ascending to Truth Method so Su Yao could cultivate the Jade Dawn Embracing Truth Body.
• Nuoli told Su Yao that he had to reach five perfected Divine Abilities and begin seeking the Golden Core within three hundred years to reclaim the founding master’s Jade Pillar Grotto-Heaven for Qixia Mountain.
• Su Yao accepted the deadline, and Nuoli warned him not to return to Zhongnan if he failed.
• Su Yao handed the Zhengji Sword to Nuoli, who said the True Lord would wait in Zhongnan for Su Yao to reclaim it within three hundred years.
• Before vanishing, Nuoli told Su Yao that the Proclaiming Earth True Lord’s reincarnation had never ultimately been after Nanzhao.

Yang Xiu learned that True Martial Mountain’s Mysterious Heaven Palace had sent him a Dharma Body method and spiritual object, ostensibly as a reward for his service in Nanzhao. Xu Mo explained that the gift was a political trap tied to the Heavenly Venerable’s anger, leaving Yang Xiu caught between accepting it and refusing it.

• Xu Mo summoned Yang Xiu to Qingnuo Mountain and revealed an immortal decree awarding him a True Qi Dharma Body method and spiritual object.
• Xu Mo identified the gift as the Mysterious Heaven True Martial Divine Sha Dharma Body and the Tortoise-Snake United True Essence, both from True Martial Mountain.
• Yang Xiu questioned why True Martial Mountain had bestowed the gifts and whether he had to accept them.
• Xu Mo explained that Yang Xiu and others had killed someone from True Martial Mountain and that the Heavenly Venerable remained angry, while the Yuanfu Manor Lord had stopped Jade Void’s sect master from intervening.
• Yang Xiu realized that accepting the gift would let True Martial Mountain claim influence over a Jade Void disciple, while refusing it would openly offend the Heavenly Venerable.

Yang Xiu learned that no one in the Jade Void could advise him as the Golden Court faced a Heavenly Venerable’s decree. In the South Sea, Xueluo and Miaoyu argued over their failed schemes against Qixia Temple and agreed to wait for the world to descend further into chaos.

• Yang Xiu asked Xu Mo whether word had come from the Jade Void, and Xu Mo said no one could send a message or dared to.
• Yang Xiu realized the decree would fall on him without anyone to discuss it with.
• Xueluo accused Miaoyu of failing to use the Desire Seed to obstruct the Qixia Temple master’s Dao Path.
• Miaoyu reminded Xueluo of his repeated losses to Qizhenzi and rejected blame for the failure of their wider plan.
• Xueluo and Miaoyu agreed to wait for the Five Virtues Change Positions and further upheaval before acting again.

As Su Shouzhuo neared death, his family gathered at the Su residence while his grandson Su Mingcheng waited outside a room protected by his aunt's restriction. Inside, Su Shouzhuo comforted Gu Lanyin and reflected on the blessings of their life together, leaving her fears about an absent family member unresolved.

• The Su family gathered silently outside the room where Su Shouzhuo and Gu Lanyin lay together.
• Su Shouzhuo recalled how Su Yao's arrival and a cultivator's recognition of Su Mingcheng had brought the Su Household prominence.
• Su Mingcheng told his father that his aunt's restriction prevented him from sensing his grandparents' condition.
• Su Mingcheng reflected on his aunt's sudden arrival and his uncertainty about her relationship with his uncle.
• Su Shouzhuo refused more medicine, praised Gu Lanyin, and comforted her that she should not blame herself or dwell on what could not be forced.

As Su Shouzhuo faced his final moments, he gave Su Jiye and Su Mingcheng advice about the Su Household’s good fortune and their duty to treat common people fairly. Left alone with Gu Lanyin and Wanniang, he recognized Wanniang as Gu Licentiate’s daughter and asked whether her parents were well.

• Gu Lanyin brought Su Jiye, Su Mingcheng, and Wanniang into Su Shouzhuo’s room after he summoned them.
• Su Shouzhuo reminded Su Jiye that the Su Household’s fortune had been bestowed upon them, not earned by them.
• Su Shouzhuo urged Su Mingcheng to keep the younger clan members humble and prevent them from oppressing common people.
• Su Shouzhuo sent Su Jiye and Su Mingcheng out so he could speak privately with Gu Lanyin and Wanniang.
• Su Shouzhuo learned that Wanniang’s surname was Gu and recognized her as the daughter of his old neighbor, Gu Licentiate.
• Su Shouzhuo asked Wanniang whether her parents were both well.

Gu Wanniang reassured Su Shouzhuo and Gu Lanyin while hiding that her life with Su Yao and their children had existed only in a dream, and she resolved to find him for the children’s sake. After she left the room, the elders revealed their anguish over the son Gu Lanyin had thrown into the Great Qing River as a newborn.

• Su Shouzhuo and Gu Lanyin comforted Gu Wanniang, assuming she had quarreled with Su Yao and was too shy to talk about it.
• Gu Wanniang recalled her dream life with Su Yao and their two children, and decided she needed to find him for the children’s sake.
• Gu Wanniang told the elders she had not been mistreated and agreed to bring future children to see them.
• Gu Wanniang left to speak with Mingcheng, while Gu Lanyin broke down in tears beside Su Shouzhuo.
• Gu Lanyin told Su Shouzhuo that she still heard the swaddled baby falling into the Great Qing River and feared the child had been a demon, not her son.

Gu Lanyin mourned Su Shouzhuo’s death by singing their life together, while Gu Wanniang listened outside and left the courtyard. Thirteen years later, Zichuan and Ren Han witnessed purple qi rise over Golden Ao Mountain as a cultivator broke through to the Purple Mansion using the Divine Ability Fragrance Condenses Purple.

• Su Shouzhuo died after agreeing to visit Qixia Mountain with Gu Lanyin, leaving her grieving beside his bed.
• Gu Lanyin sang Parting at Nanpu for Su Shouzhuo, recalling their life together and promising to finish the opera alone.
• Gu Wanniang listened outside the room, wept beneath the osmanthus tree, and left the courtyard without going inside.
• Thirteen years later, Zichuan and Ren Han watched blue-green and crimson qi merge into purple mist above Golden Ao Mountain.
• Zichuan sensed his Immortal Foundation respond to the purple qi, and Ren Han identified the Purple Mansion breakthrough’s Divine Ability as Fragrance Condenses Purple.

Ji Yunheng emerged from seclusion after reaching the Purple Mansion, while Zichuan and Ren Han returned to Golden Ao Mountain to learn what had happened. She found Su Yao’s concealed verses on two osmanthus trees and realized they had been written for her as she waited to meet him again.

• Zichuan urged Ren Han to return to Golden Ao Mountain because the mountain’s remaining disciples might need help after the Purple Qi phenomenon.
• Ren Han and Zichuan arrived at Embracing Rosy Clouds Hall, where Lu Yuan told them that senior Zilin had not yet emerged or sent word.
• Ren Han judged that the breakthrough did not appear to have failed, and he, Zichuan, and Lu Yuan headed toward the rear mountain.
• Ji Yunheng emerged from seclusion and used her Divine Sense to survey Golden Ao Mountain, noticing which disciples were present and missing.
• Ji Yunheng discovered Su Yao’s hidden verses carved into two osmanthus trees, both of which referred to her as Zilin and Yunheng.