Chapter Summaries

Feng Zhuo withstood Chu Yunfei’s increasingly powerful sword attacks by combining his divergent flames and then using Yanba to stop the remainder of Chu Yunfei’s Annihilation Sword Intent. After restoring his spiritual power, Feng Zhuo counterattacked while Yushang prevented Chu Hongxiao from intervening, leaving the duel reversed in Feng Zhuo’s favor.

• Yushang prepared to use her jade talisman to save Feng Zhuo, while the other disciples hesitated to oppose Chu Yunfei.
• Feng Zhuo used three divergent flames to defend against Chu Yunfei’s lightning sword and endured his repeated attacks.
• Chu Yunfei unleashed Hidden Dormant Thunder, and Feng Zhuo fused his spirit fires into a phoenix that weakened the Annihilation Sword Intent.
• Yanba emerged from Feng Zhuo’s spirit beast pouch and stopped the remaining Sword Intent with its flames and chains.
• Feng Zhuo restored his spiritual power with twelve Spirit-Restoring Pills, then attacked Chu Yunfei alongside Yanba.
• Yushang blocked Chu Hongxiao from helping as Feng Zhuo’s vines kept Chu Yunfei from recovering.

After defeating Chu Yunfei, Feng Zhuo considered his future bid for the Heaven's Chosen Ranking, but Zhong Mingxuan intervened on Chu Yunfei's behalf and attacked him. Feng Zhuo and his allies resisted until Zhong prepared a potentially lethal strike, forcing Feng Zhuo to consider using his life-saving jade talisman.

• Feng Zhuo handed the battered Chu Yunfei to Yanba, then told Yushang that Nangong and Yun Li remained inside the secret realm.
• Feng Zhuo considered competing for the Heaven's Chosen Ranking in the future, but decided to prioritize returning to the Feng Household and uncovering the cause of his master's death.
• Chu Yunfei swore revenge as the gathered disciples stayed out of the conflict.
• Zhong Mingxuan appeared and condemned Feng Zhuo for attacking Chu Yunfei, then used his Nascent Soul Peak pressure and dark ice chains against him.
• Feng Zhuo, Yanba, and the Nine Nether Soul-Devouring Vine resisted Zhong Mingxuan's attacks while Yanba pursued Chu Yunfei and broke his sword.
• Zhong Mingxuan formed twelve icicles for another strike, and Feng Zhuo prepared to crush his life-saving jade talisman.

Yunxiaozi intervened after Zhong Mingxuan attacked Feng Zhuo, then killed Zhong with one move and took his disciples away. Feng Zhuo’s victory over Chu Yunfei placed him on the Hidden Dragon Ranking, drawing the attention of a young man at the ranking pavilion.

• Yunxiaozi arrived to protect Feng Zhuo, and Ling Shuanghua and Ye Wuhen reprimanded Feng Zhuo for facing danger alone.
• Cang Wuya offered to avenge Feng Zhuo, while Yunxiaozi confronted Chu Yunfei and Zhong Mingxuan over the attack.
• Yunxiaozi killed Zhong Mingxuan with one strike after declaring that the elder must take three moves in repayment for hurting Feng Zhuo.
• Yunxiaozi took Feng Zhuo and the others away, while Chu Yunfei secretly vowed revenge on Carefree Peak and Feng Zhuo.
• A gray-robed disciple reported that Feng Zhuo had reached eightieth place on the Hidden Dragon Ranking after defeating Chu Yunfei, and the Young Pavilion Master examined Feng Zhuo’s image.

At the Law Enforcement Hall, Su Ruanruan accused Feng Zhuo of poisoning and robbing her in the secret realm, while Feng Zhuo and Xuanfeng gave conflicting accounts. Feng Zhuo admitted he possessed ten-thousand-year-old Spirit-Cleansing Grass, leaving Su Ruanruan startled but insisting he had stolen it from her.

• Primordial Lord Chixiao demanded that Su Ruanruan explain what had happened and threatened Feng Zhuo after she accused him of poisoning her.
• Yunxiaozi suppressed Chixiao with his pressure and asked Su Ruanruan why disciples had hunted Feng Zhuo and why Chu Yunfei had tried to kill him.
• Feng Zhuo denied poisoning Su Ruanruan and said he had met her only once before she fled, while Nangong saved him from dying in the Green Wood Illusion Forest.
• Xuanfeng claimed Feng Zhuo had colluded with a poison cultivator to steal Su Ruanruan’s Spirit-Cleansing Grass and said he had used one stalk to cleanse his Fire Spirit Root.
• Feng Zhuo admitted he had a stalk of ten-thousand-year-old Spirit-Cleansing Grass, and Su Ruanruan insisted he had stolen it from her.

Feng Zhuo challenged Su Ruanruan to swear a Heavenly Dao Oath after an image-recording jade revealed fifty cultivators had hunted him in the secret realm. His oath passed without punishment, leaving the accusation against him in doubt.

• Feng Zhuo produced eleven stalks of Spirit-Cleansing Grass, but Bai Wuxia argued that this did not prove he had not taken Su Ruanruan’s ten-thousand-year-old stalk.
• Su Ruanruan showed her poisoned-looking face and cited Bai Wuxia as a witness, while Feng Zhuo questioned her evidence and displayed a recording of the ambush in the secret realm.
• Yunxiaozi attacked Chixiao over the ambush, but Lingxiaozi intervened to protect Chixiao, prompting Yunxiaozi to consider ending their relationship.
• Feng Zhuo stopped Yunxiaozi and challenged Su Ruanruan to a Heavenly Dao Oath, swearing that he had neither poisoned her nor stolen her Spirit-Cleansing Grass.
• The Soul-Oath Cauldron glowed with golden light, and Feng Zhuo received no punishment.

Feng Zhuo’s oath exposed Su Ruanruan’s guilt, and Lingxiaozi banished her to the Nine Nether Blood Domain while sentencing the others involved. After returning to Carefree Peak exhausted, Feng Zhuo was welcomed by his worried senior siblings, who learned what he had endured and burned with anger.

• Su Ruanruan feigned unconsciousness rather than accept Feng Zhuo’s oath, so Lingxiaozi banished her to the Nine Nether Blood Domain for ten years and sentenced Chu Yunfei, Bai Wuxia, Xuanfeng, and Xuan Mo to lesser terms.
• Yunxiaozi killed Zhong Mingxuan, then took Feng Zhuo away and warned him not to risk himself again.
• Feng Zhuo planned to return to the Feng Household for a treasure that could detect Devil Qi, then expose Devil Venerable Li Tianxing and prevent his master’s death.
• Yunxiaozi carried the exhausted Feng Zhuo back to Carefree Peak, where Ling Shuanghua, Ye Wuhen, and Cang Wuya anxiously gathered around him.
• After Yunxiaozi told them Feng Zhuo had fought fifty opponents and a stronger Golden Core cultivator, his senior siblings reacted with fury.
• System No. 158 reported that the world’s protagonist might be a reincarnator, but received an order to continue the mission.

Su Ruanruan received a replacement system and planned to win over the injured Devil Venerable Li Tianxing. On Carefree Peak, Feng Zhuo sparred with Cang Wuya before meeting the newly Foundation Established Yun Li.

• System No. 008 told Su Ruanruan that System No. 007 had been destroyed for abandoning its post, and she planned to use her knowledge of the story to win over Li Tianxing.
• Feng Zhuo sparred with Cang Wuya, who corrected his sword technique and demonstrated the second form of Returning Wind Touches Green.
• Feng Zhuo admired Cang Wuya's smile and beauty mark, then hurried down Carefree Peak after hearing someone was waiting for him.
• Feng Zhuo encountered Yanba on his way down and told it to stop talking and keep eating.
• At the foot of Carefree Peak, Feng Zhuo met Ye Wuhen and Yun Li, realized she had reached Foundation Establishment, and inferred that she had chosen to give up Perfect Foundation Establishment so she could restore her right arm sooner.

Feng Zhuo gave Yun Li pills to restore her severed arm and accepted an ancient wooden key in exchange for a Golden Core Formation Pill. After Yun Li left, Ye Wuhen teased Feng Zhuo, who retaliated by threatening to tell Junior Brother Cang what Ye Wuhen had said.

• Feng Zhuo showed Yun Li a Broken Bone Pill and a Meridian Mending Pill that could restore her right arm.
• Yun Li offered Feng Zhuo a Yun Household token and an ancient wooden key, which stirred the Everlasting Spring Scripture within him.
• Feng Zhuo refused the token, accepted the key, and gave Yun Li a high-grade Golden Core Formation Pill as payment.
• Yun Li returned to Heaven-Soaring Peak after Feng Zhuo advised her to combine the pills with a Rejuvenation Pill and a Flesh-Regenerating Pill.
• Ye Wuhen teased Feng Zhuo about Junior Brother Cang, and Feng Zhuo threatened to report Ye Wuhen before flying off on the Awakening of Insects sword.

Feng Zhuo and Cang Wuya left the sect to investigate reports of an evil demon in Clear Creek Village. After choosing a mission that might involve a Nightmare Child Eater, they hurried to protect the village’s children.

• Feng Zhuo asked Yunxiaozi for Sword Intent talismans, and Yunxiaozi gave two each to him and Cang Wuya.
• Feng Zhuo tricked Yunxiaozi into rushing off by claiming his eldest senior brother had dug up the spirit wine, then pulled Cang Wuya down the mountain.
• Feng Zhuo searched the mission hall and chose a three-month mission to investigate disappearances and strange attacks in Clear Creek Village.
• Cang Wuya identified a Nightmare Child Eater as the likely culprit, and Feng Zhuo urged them to hurry because two children had already died.

Feng Zhuo and Cang Wuya reached Clear Creek Village after ten days of travel and met Ji Tinglan, a young guqin-playing cultivator from nearby Clear Spring Valley. She confirmed that she had come to deal with the village’s demon, while Feng Zhuo and Cang Wuya questioned why the villagers had sought help from their distant sect instead of her valley.

• Cang Wuya froze the stream with precise sword technique, helping Feng Zhuo catch silver fish for Yanba.
• Feng Zhuo gave up on roasting the fish and fed Yanba Spirit-Feeding Pills instead.
• Ji Tinglan arrived, traded Aversion Grass for Feng Zhuo’s pills, and eagerly ate all five.
• Ji Tinglan introduced herself as a disciple of Clear Spring Valley and said she had come to eliminate the demon in Clear Creek Village.
• Feng Zhuo and Cang Wuya exchanged wary glances because their task had not mentioned Clear Spring Valley, and Feng Zhuo suspected Ji Tinglan was an unusually gifted music cultivator.