Sang Ying

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Sang Ying grew up at Settled Frost Peak as the cherished daughter of Sang Zheng, a sword cultivator who practiced the Carefree Sword, and Wen Miaoshu, a formation cultivator. Her mutated ice spirit root marked her as a promising cultivator from childhood. At twelve, she was told that her parents had died while saving others during a beast tide. Sect Leader Meng later reveals that they had left the sect to seek medicine for Sang Ying and never returned. Their deaths ultimately prove to have been a mistaken account: they survive, return to the Twin Orchid Realm, and eventually reunite with their daughter 1 28 38 50 120 290.

Her parents left substantial resources, but her low cultivation made her vulnerable to those who coveted them. Sect Master Zhou Chengyi and several elders persuaded Immortal Venerable Yanchen—Gu Huaiwei—to accept her in name. The arrangement was intended to protect her until she formed a Golden Core and could return to Settled Frost Peak independently 1.

The night before her acceptance ceremony, Sang Ying encountered a glowing book titled The Legend of Fuyun’s Cultivation to Immortality. It portrayed her as a vicious supporting character who competed with Su Fuyun for Yanchen’s affection. In that account, the Beast God killed her, and her ice spirit root was refined into a pill to complete Su Fuyun’s defective water spirit root 1.

Sang Ying resolved not to follow that future. She accepted Yanchen’s protection but rejected any romantic rivalry, intending to cultivate until she could leave Crimson Snow Peak. Later, the contrast between her actual conduct and her reputation as Su Fuyun’s tormentor led her to question how much of the book’s account was true 1 20.

Her search for independence develops into a broader investigation of her parents’ disappearance, the manipulation surrounding her supposed fate, and threats to the cultivation worlds. She severs her discipleship with Gu Huaiwei, survives the destruction of her cultivation, and seeks a new path in the Immortal Spirit Realm under Jiulian 51 113 119 130 210.

Her origins also extend beyond her present human life. Through Gu Wangchuan’s preserved Sword Intent, she recovers memories of having been the sword spirit of Sever the Heavenly River. Gu Wangchuan explains that her reincarnated spirit possesses exceptional Divine Sense and that he previously bestowed immortal power upon her. Sang Ying nevertheless identifies her present self as Sang Ying, a sword cultivator, rather than allowing her former existence to replace that identity 567 575.

After helping save the world and merge it with a new one, she receives immense Merit and becomes closely connected to the New Heavenly Dao. Although she initially delays ascension to remain with her loved ones, she eventually enters the Immortal Realm and advances to Immortal Venerable 689 693.

Appearance

• Build and features: Tall and slender, with a face likened to frost and snow and phoenix-shaped eyes 4 33.
• Hair: Long and black, worn down her back during the confrontation with the Ice Flood Dragon 12.
• Clothing: Appears in moon-white robes and blue robes 4 12.
• Family resemblance: Strongly resembles her mother, Wen Miaoshu; Sect Leader Meng recognizes the resemblance immediately 50.
• Dragon Race experience: While living through Bai Qinglong’s history, is dressed by Madam Lanxin in a water-blue gown with layered, petal-like skirts for the treasury ceremony 83.
• After the Nascent Soul tribulation: Her hair is destroyed by lightning and regrows to shoulder length, with a texture compared to icy silk and satin 406.
• Hands: Develops calluses and lasting marks from years of sword practice and combat, contrasting with the delicate hands of the sheltered version of herself presented by the Heart Devil Mirror 290 596.
• Immortal Venerable mark: Gains a golden mark between her brows when a golden Sanskrit character descends into her forehead at her advancement 693.

Personality

Raised to be tolerant and upright, Sang Ying does not readily lose her temper, but she does not believe in repaying hostility with kindness. Her initial response to Su Fuyun and Yanchen is to keep her distance rather than seek their approval. After repeated mistreatment, she becomes willing to challenge them openly and demand an account of what happened 5 21 23.

She values honesty, restraint, and repayment of favors. She admits that she entered Immortal Lord Fusheng’s inheritance grounds through an accidental shortcut rather than passing his trials, takes only selected resources from his garden, and initially refuses his alchemy inheritance because she believes she cannot properly carry it forward 14 15 16.

Her courage is practical rather than suicidal. She risks herself to protect others but prepares escape routes and recognizes when an enemy is beyond her strength. Her ambition is not merely to survive: she wants the freedom to live by her own will, rather than remain governed by the book’s predictions 32 33 34 38.

Her restraint does not mean unconditional forgiveness. She tells Amo that she will not initiate trouble with Su Fuyun if Su Fuyun leaves her alone, but refuses to promise harmony at the expense of defending herself. She also refuses to feel grateful toward people whose cruelty forced her to become stronger 56 124.

Sang Ying is exceptionally diligent. Even after reaching Golden Core, she meditates through the night and argues that the impossibility of achieving cultivation in one leap is precisely why she cannot afford to slacken. Exposure to the Immortal Spirit Realm makes her recognize the limits of her earlier understanding rather than become complacent about her talent 156 159.

She takes obligations toward those who shelter or follow her seriously. She defends the White Dragon Tribe’s interests while experiencing Bai Qinglong’s history, accepts responsibility for Rizhao City after receiving the Jimo Household’s kindness, and refuses to abandon its inhabitants when escape would be safer 77 78 175 186.

She strongly dislikes the theft of other people’s talents and opportunities. Her reaction to the Moonless Household’s history and conduct helps draw her toward the Yin Mountain Sect, while her confrontation with Rong Ji exploits the suspicious transformation of Chi Yan’s spirit roots 251 364.

Her attachment to family remains profound despite her reserve. The reunion with her parents reveals how deeply their absence has affected her, but she can also reject imitations of them when they are used to manipulate her. In the Heart Devil Mirror, she refuses an idealized false life rather than surrender reality for comfort 233 290 597.

Abilities & Skills

Ice-Attribute Cultivation

Sang Ying’s mutated ice spirit root supports freezing attacks and the refinement of cold spiritual energy 1 10.

• Freezes a fifth-tier Crimson Flame Python’s mouth long enough to escape its den 10.
• Refines the cold of a pool while hiding underwater 10.
• Can cultivate using rare ice-attribute Spirit Crystals 25.
• Has suffered recurring icy cold for years. She initially hopes a ten-thousand-year Ice Lotus can purify her root into a Heavenly Spirit Root, but the discovery itself does not establish that such a transformation occurred 10 15 50.
• Creates a barrier of frost flowers while attempting a Nascent Soul–level sword technique at Half-Step Nascent Soul; the barrier withstands an attack from her trial-ground duplicate and sends it flying 358.
• Combines a trapping formation with ice to immobilize half of a three-headed flood dragon’s body and escape a closing stone chamber 590.

Swordsmanship

Before finding Gu Wangchuan’s Sword Qi, Sang Ying receives no meaningful instruction from Gu Huaiwei and relies on the Flowing Light Sword Sect’s basic swordsmanship. Her combat experience and later inheritance greatly expand her capabilities 17 32 35.

• Flowing Light Sword Instruction: Emphasizes speed and agility. She combines rapid attacks, repositioning, and concealing mist to wound the Nascent Soul–realm Cold Crow Devil Lord 33.
• Gu Wangchuan’s techniques: Learns through the sentient Sword Qi later called Gu Shu. Even her incomplete execution proves effective against the masked attackers threatening the Plain Robe Pavilion disciples 35 37 38.
• Improvised weapons: Can channel her Spiritual Qi and sword techniques through a tree branch when deprived of a spirit sword 34 36 37.
• Skill independent of cultivation: Continues hunting Devil Beasts after losing most of her spiritual power. Her sword attainments come to rival those of Golden Core sword cultivators even before her Dantian is restored 119 124.
• Sword Qi Balls: Forms ice-attribute Sword Qi Balls, both as gifts and as a method of improving control. Trades them with other cultivators and accumulates Sword Qi Balls of other attributes, including lightning 345.
• Advanced inherited moves: Begins studying techniques intended for Nascent Soul cultivators while still at Half-Step Nascent Soul, though she cannot initially release their full power 358.
• Ambidextrous swordsmanship: Fifty years of trial-ground combat teach her to wield a sword equally well with either hand 360.
• Divine Sense control: Successfully controls her sword with Divine Sense twice during the same trials, but initially finds the method too exhausting for frequent use 360.
• Sword Intent: Gains insight from observing Elder Yanhua’s mature sword intent, then later comprehends nearly all of the Sword Intent Gu Wangchuan preserved 417 566 575.
• Recovered sword-spirit experience: The return of her former memories gives her access to the experience of Sever the Heavenly River’s many battles. By this point she has mastered Gu Wangchuan’s techniques, though she must still integrate them into her own swordsmanship 575.
• Refined combat style: After comprehending Gu Wangchuan’s Sword Intent, her presence becomes restrained and her moves simpler and more efficient, displaying the bearing of a master 577.
• Independent sword formations: As a Demigod, can direct her sword according to her will and create a sword formation without assistance 636.

Frost Chills Fourteen Provinces

A powerful freezing sword strike first unleashed with a branch under Gu Shu’s guidance 34.

• Blasts Cold Crow Devil Lord out of the cave and leaves him unconscious 34.
• Consumes most of Sang Ying’s remaining spiritual power; she cannot immediately repeat it during the subsequent rescue 35 37.
• Does not kill Cold Crow Devil Lord, who later escapes 35.

Thousand-Mile Ice Seal

A freezing technique used to halt the river breaking into Luo Fengyuan’s underground palace 47.

• Freezes the rushing water before it can overwhelm Sang Ying and Nan Gurong 47.
• Requires Nan Gurong to supply Spiritual Qi because Sang Ying has not fully recovered. Nan Gurong’s water spirit root makes that assistance usable 47.

Formations

Sang Ying learned some formation work through her mother’s influence, despite preferring the sword 28.

• Sets up simple defensive arrays while traveling and reinforces the formations around her cave abode 17 25.
• Uses a trapping array disc made by her mother to obscure Cold Crow Devil Lord’s vision 33.
• Can draw out only forty percent of that array disc’s power at her cultivation level 33.
• Alters a formation plate while preparing to rescue Cang Lian from people dividing up his body and resources 148.
• Uses formations in the defense of Rizhao City, though one of her Golden Core–level barriers is broken by Jimo Renjie using power borrowed from Feng Ji 183.
• Traps Su Fuyun inside a formation that prevents outside detection before their final confrontation 312.
• Uses a concealed trapping formation to hold a three-headed flood dragon while escaping its chamber 590.
• Recognizes the danger of the Spirit Gathering Formation in the Beastmen World and attempts to destroy it, although a protection above it initially deflects even the Dragon Abyss Sword 672.

Movement and Survival

• High-level Movement Method: Inherited from her father; enables her to evade the Crimson Flame Python, but rapidly drains her Spiritual Qi 10.
• Foreknowledge: Uses the book’s account to recognize people, anticipate opportunities, and locate the cave associated with Cold Crow Devil Lord’s defeat 8 31 32.
• Resource identification: Uses the Complete Book of Spirit Plants and Spirit Beasts of the Cultivation World to locate treasures and learn about their guardians 9 10.
• Practical skills: Learns skills beyond sword cultivation in accordance with her parents’ advice. When deprived of spiritual power and equipment in the Beastmen World, she can fell trees and build a cabin herself 351 654.
• Resistance to illusions: Recognizes and destroys false versions of loved ones rather than accept the Heart Devil Mirror’s comforting world 597.
• Unarmed endurance: Continues fighting the monsters in the mirror’s abyss after losing the Dragon Abyss Sword, treating her own body as a sharper weapon and eventually clearing the black water of monsters 599.

Spiritual Constitution and Divine Power

• Dual spiritual reservoirs: Her Nascent Soul breakthrough completely repairs the Dantian Gu Huaiwei damaged while leaving her Qi Vortex intact. Spiritual Qi gathers in both, effectively giving her two “Dantians” 406.
• Reincarnated sword spirit: Possesses exceptionally powerful Divine Sense because of her former existence as the spirit of a divine weapon. Gu Wangchuan considers her spirit capable of enduring the lightning tribulation associated with becoming a god 575.
• Inherited immortal power: Gu Wangchuan states that he gave her immortal power before leaving, although she initially no longer remembers how to use it 575.
• Annihilation Spring tempering: Develops a body stronger than a member of the Dragon Race, removing the physical limitation that had prevented the Dragon Abyss Sword from releasing its full might through her 586.
• Divine Power refinement: Subdues hostile Divine Power in small portions using her spiritual power, gradually assimilating it over half a month with guidance from several seniors 621.
• Demigod strength: Can sever Gu Huaiwei’s tentacles and fight him without being outclassed. She deliberately limits her attacks near the ground to avoid harming innocent beings 636 637.
• Merit protection: During ascension, abundant Merit surrounds her in golden light and allows her to withstand more than nine hundred lightning bolts unharmed 689.
• Immortal cultivation: After ascending, transforms Spiritual Power into Immortal Power and repeatedly tempers her sinews and bones before attaining Immortal Venerable 693.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Ice Soul Sword — Her first sword, prepared by her parents and engraved with her name. It shatters while blocking the Ice Flood Dragon; she retrieves and keeps the hilt 12 13 14.
• Replacement spirit sword — Given by Elder Chanyi after another sword is destroyed against Cold Crow Devil Lord. Becomes Gu Shu’s new dwelling after his temporary branch is reduced to ash 34 38.
• Realm Pearl — Fusheng’s gift, containing an entire pool of Ice Lotuses and a pond floor covered in Ice Spirit Crystals. Sang Ying can enter it; as an emergency refuge, its ordinary grade allows her to hide inside for half an hour. A well-maintained Realm Pearl is said to have the potential to grow into a Mustard Seed Space 16 25 33.
• Complete Book of Spirit Plants and Spirit Beasts of the Cultivation World — Purchased as a tattered booklet and revealed with Essence Blood. Records spiritual creatures and plants, their uses, and where they can be found 7 9.
• Protective jade talisman — Yanchen’s disciple-acceptance gift; can withstand a full-strength blow from a Nascent Soul cultivator 1.
• Water-Avoidance Pearl — Allows her to remain underwater while hiding from the python and exploring the Ice Lotus pool 10 25.
• Magical robes — Resist blades, water, dirt, and wrinkling, though Cold Crow Devil Lord’s attacks tear through them 10 15 33.
• Fusheng’s inheritance soul pearl and pill formulas — Held while she searches for a suitable alchemy successor; Nan Gurong later receives the inheritance 17 25 42 50.
• Inherited supplies — Include a flying Law Artifact, a weapon-grade walking stick, and ten mid-grade Rejuvenation Pills 2 14.
• Dao Enlightenment Tea leaves and branches — Collected selectively from a ten-thousand-year-old tree in the hidden herb garden 14.
• Dragon Abyss Sword — Obtained from a crimson boulder on the twentieth level of the Dragon Race treasury during her experience of Bai Qinglong’s history. She wins the resistant sword over despite severe wounds, and it remains with her afterward. Gu Shu hides inside it during her imprisonment. Its power initially exceeds what her body can safely withstand, but her Annihilation Spring tempering removes that restriction 84 86 91 113 586.
• Floating River Sword — A later frequently used sword. Its concentrated ice Spiritual Qi produces a piercing chill, and spiritual treasures Sang Ying obtains help it begin developing a faint sword spirit 233 304 307.
• Sever the Heavenly River — Gu Wangchuan’s divine weapon, whose sword spirit was Sang Ying’s previous incarnation. A phantom of it appears during her recovery of those memories 567 575.
• Bai Qinglong’s dragon scales and teeth — Keeps the unused portion for many years, intending to return them to the White Dragon Tribe when she returns the Dragon Abyss Sword to the Upper Realm 534.
• Beast Ring — Used to carry Cang Lian during her travels 199.
• Sword Qi Balls — Includes both her own ice-attribute creations and those acquired through exchanges, among them Sword Qi from cultivators with Lightning Spirit Roots 345.
• Immortal-Binding Rope — Jiulian’s rope, used to bind Yu Heng; Sang Ying can activate it even after handing its other end to Wuming 481.
• Defensive Law Artifact from Jiulian — A powerful protective gift supplied before her journey to the Cloud Mulberry Realm 508.
• Jiaoren Pearls — Used by Sang Ying and Jiang Zhuoxue to enter the deep sea while searching for the High Antiquity Teleportation Array 552.
• Heart of the Devil God — Seized from Qi Yaoji. Sang Ying later purifies it while delaying her ascension 681 689.

Relationships

• Sang Zheng — Father and an early influence on her values and sword cultivation. His Carefree Sword embodies the freedom she hopes to attain. On learning how she has been treated, he angrily rejects the elders’ claims that Gu Huaiwei’s discipleship protected her. They eventually reunite 5 38 120 290.
• Wen Miaoshu — Mother and a formidable formation cultivator. Sang Ying learns formation basics through her influence and inherits an array disc she made. After their reunion, Wen Miaoshu is distressed by the physical evidence of her daughter’s hardships and condemns those responsible 28 33 50 290.
• Gu Huaiwei / Immortal Venerable Yanchen — Former nominal master. His favoritism toward Su Fuyun and neglect of Sang Ying’s instruction drive her determination to leave. He initially agrees to her return to Settled Frost Peak after Golden Core formation. Following Su Fuyun’s staged accusation of collusion with devils, Sang Ying publicly severs their master-disciple bond. His injury to her Dantian and their later battles make them outright enemies 2 24 32 113 406 636 637.
• Su Fuyun — Former senior sister and protagonist of the book Sang Ying reads. Sang Ying rejects romantic competition with her, but their relationship becomes openly antagonistic after Su Fuyun pushes her toward the Ice Flood Dragon. Su Fuyun later frames her for collusion with the Devil Race. Their conflict ends when Sang Ying traps and kills her, destroys her jade pendant’s black-mist guardian, and erases her own memories of their past 1 13 21 113 312.
• Zhou Chengyi — Sect master who arranges her protective discipleship and later hears her accusations. His compromise over Su Fuyun’s punishment leaves Sang Ying dissatisfied. After her cultivation is ruined, she regards the sect’s leadership as thoroughly corrupt. Her parents later strip the sect master of his power 1 21 22 23 124 290.
• Zhou Heng’an — Su Fuyun’s defender. Repeatedly accuses Sang Ying of seeking Yanchen’s favor and demands that she have Su Fuyun’s punishment revoked 1 24 26.
• Gu Shu — Sentient Sword Qi left by Gu Wangchuan; mentor and companion. Guides her combat, transmits sword techniques, and helps trigger her breakthrough-producing epiphany. Continues protecting her during imprisonment and helping her cultivate after the loss of her earlier strength 34 35 36 38 113 119 358.
• Gu Wangchuan — Sword Master whose inheritance shapes her cultivation. Later revealed to have been her wielder when she was the sword spirit of Sever the Heavenly River. His preserved Sword Intent restores her memories and gives her a deeper command of his techniques 35 567 575.
• Immortal Lord Fusheng — Appreciates her honesty and lack of greed. Entrusts her with his alchemy inheritance and gives her the Realm Pearl and its resources 15 16 25.
• Nan Gurong — Friend, medical cultivator, and recipient of Fusheng’s inheritance. They repeatedly help and rescue one another; Nan Gurong supplies the Spiritual Qi needed to seal the river 37 42 44 47 50.
• Elder Chanyi — Rescuer and benefactor who treats Sang Ying’s injuries and gives her a replacement spirit sword 38.
• Sect Leader Meng / Surong — Nan Gurong’s master and Wen Miaoshu’s old acquaintance. Examines Sang Ying and reveals why her parents originally left the sect 50.
• Amo / Gale Hound pup — Originally bought for Su Fuyun with money borrowed from Sang Ying. Becomes Sang Ying’s survival companion in the secret realm, but immediately returns its attention to Su Fuyun upon their reunion. Later asks Sang Ying to stop opposing Su Fuyun and repeats claims about Yanchen preferring her, prompting Sang Ying to reject its request and shut it out 7 14 17 21 56.
• Cang Lian — Ice Flood Dragon who initially mistakes her for the lotus thief. Accepts her superior Ice Lotus and promises three favors; she spends one on safe passage out of the secret realm. She later acts to rescue him, and he accompanies her and helps defend Rizhao City 17 18 148 186 199.
• Jun Heng — Purple Firmament Sect disciple who says Sang Ying saved him twice. Searches for her after her fall and questions Su Fuyun’s actions 13.
• Si Jing — Intervenes against Luo Fengyuan and the snake-like Demon Cultivator, then directs Sang Ying and Nan Gurong’s escape 46 47.
• Jiang Zhuoxue — Dragon companion and eventual lover. Helps her travel to the Immortal Spirit Realm and accompanies her through numerous dangers. His possessive teasing causes misunderstandings among their friends. During her journey ten thousand years into the past, Sang Ying protects his younger self and promises that they will meet again. She later plans to ascend together with him, but an unexpected influx of Merit forces her to ascend first 130 159 268 337 340 395 452 689.
• Jiulian — New master at Ten Thousand Daos Born. Sang Ying candidly discloses her former discipleship rather than deceive him. He later defends her against Rong Ji and equips her with powerful protective resources 210 251 481 508.
• Jimo Qing — Friend who brings her to the Jimo Household and treats her as a younger sister. She calls on him when a troublesome young master invades her courtyard and later accepts his request to defend Rizhao City under the family’s name 158 159 175.
• Fu Yinqiu and the Jimo clan head — Benefactors who wish to adopt her after she saves Fu Yinqiu with a ten-thousand-year Ice Lotus. Sang Ying declines formal adoption because she still hopes to find her parents, but accepts their hospitality, public protection, and the role of their daughter. She helps Fu Yinqiu defend and evacuate Rizhao City 157 158 175 186.
• Fang Chi and Hai Tingzhou — Close friends made during her earlier travels. Sang Ying seeks to help Hai Tingzhou become head of the Hai Household, and later assists both friends in revitalizing their sect and lineage 94 105 268 452.
• Dong Fuzhu, Lan Fusheng, and Bai Kejin — Fellow disciples and trusted companions who support her openly when she encounters Su Fuyun. They later accompany her to the Cloud Mulberry Realm, where she takes responsibility for their safety 218 508 521 545.
• Liang Ranyue — Offers her possessions and her household’s once-in-a-lifetime prophecy in exchange for Sang Ying’s protection. Sang Ying accepts with Jimo Qing’s approval 282.
• Liu Duanyue and the Yin Mountain Sect — Allies in the Hidden Nether Realm. Sang Ying appreciates the sect’s conduct, participates on its side against the Moonless Household, and earns the disciples’ concern when she agrees to accompany the household’s men 364 370 377 386.
• Devil Lord Fusheng — A later masked Devil Lord who holds her within the city lord’s residence and introduces her as his disciple, Xiao Yao. She feigns interest in four red foxes when he threatens to kill them. This relationship is separate from her encounter with Immortal Lord Fusheng’s alchemy inheritance 300 427.
• Bai Ze — Beast God traveling with her group. Uses a beast pet bag to rest during their prolonged sea journey and remains with the other companions when Sang Ying and Jiang Zhuoxue dive to search for the ancient array 547 552.
• Qi Yaoji — Enemy whose father and Mara Gate elders die through Sang Ying’s actions. Sang Ying seizes the Heart of the Devil God from her and later confronts her after returning to the Flowing Light Sword Sect 680 681 689.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Qishan Secret Realm

• Wins the sect’s sword competition, but Yanchen demands that she surrender her Frost Condensation Flower to Su Fuyun. Sang Ying negotiates for a secret-realm place instead 2.
• After Su Fuyun pushes her toward the Ice Flood Dragon, survives the destruction of her sword and a fall into an underground river. The bag supposedly containing the stolen lotus actually holds the Gale Hound pup 13 14.
• Discovers Fusheng’s herb garden, a ten-thousand-year Ice Lotus, and his inheritance grounds. Her refusal to hoard an unsuitable inheritance wins his approval 14 15 16.
• Survives a month largely alone, improves her swordsmanship, and secures Cang Lian’s escort by clearing up his mistaken accusation 17 18.

Sect Hearing and Planned Departure

• Refuses a private settlement and brings Su Fuyun and Lin Shu before the sect master. With no direct evidence, offers to swear a Heart Demon Oath and challenges Su Fuyun to do likewise; Su Fuyun refuses 21 22.
• Secures Yanchen’s agreement that she may return to Settled Frost Peak after reaching Golden Core, intending to inherit her parents’ peak rather than remain his disciple 24.
• Leaves the mountain to gain experience, pursue core formation, and find a successor for Fusheng’s inheritance 25 26.

Listening Willow Village and the Sword Inheritance

• Poses as a bride to investigate abductions and discovers imprisoned women being used to test medicine 29.
• Draws Cold Crow Devil Lord away from the Plain Robe Pavilion disciples and into a cave containing Gu Wangchuan’s Sword Qi. Defeats him at great personal cost and receives the Sword Qi’s recognition 32 34 35.
• Helps the pavilion cure the abducted girls and receives Merit for saving the medical cultivators. Later hears that a young Sound Killing Sect disciple has been credited with killing Cold Crow Devil Lord 40.

White Foothill City

• Follows Nan Gurong’s abductors after alerting Elder Chanyi, but is captured and confined in a cell that blocks Spiritual Qi 42.
• Escapes during a fire, recovers her belongings, and searches the manor for Nan Gurong instead of immediately fleeing 44.
• Finds a key left by the mysterious man in black, but is freed when a young cultivator breaks open the dungeon ceiling. Forces a guard to reveal Nan Gurong’s location, removes her shackles, and enters a tunnel with her as the fire closes in 44.
• Helps gather evidence of Luo Fengyuan’s collusion with demons and experimentation on mortals. During the escape, freezes the river threatening to flood the collapsing palace 46 47.

Arrival at the Plain Robe Pavilion

• Arrives for treatment, where Sect Leader Meng identifies accumulated internal injuries and a problem involving her Spirit Root 50.
• Learns that Meng knew her mother and that her parents had traveled in search of medicine for her 50.
• Resolves to investigate the truth of her parents’ disappearance and punish anyone who plotted against them 51.

Haizhou City and Gleaming Gold Island

• Rejects Amo’s demand that she stop opposing Su Fuyun, dismisses Zhao Yunhe’s accusations that she framed her senior sister, and refuses Su Fuyun’s invitation to travel together 56.
• Rents a courtyard in Haizhou City with Xiao Liu’s help and prepares for the island expedition 58.
• Considers undermining Hai Pingge’s prospects after he helps Su Fuyun act against her, recognizing that his future authority could make him a greater threat 66.
• Experiences Bai Qinglong’s Dragon Race history, where she insists on choosing her own road, protects the White Dragon Tribe’s interests, defeats Hong Yan, and decisively beats Xuan Jingshan 71 77 78 80.
• Takes first place in the intertribal competition, becoming its first female winner in more than a thousand years, and enters the treasury 83.
• Obtains the Dragon Abyss Sword from the treasury’s twentieth level despite the injuries inflicted by its resistance 84 86.
• Uses Jin Le’er’s pill to gain temporary immense strength during the battle against Heaven Swallower. Helps force the enemy into the Dragon Race’s activated formation and is pulled with it into a black hole 91.
• Receives Bai Qinglong’s information about hidden treasures, the Teleportation Array’s activation mnemonic, and possible clues to a route toward the Cloud Mulberry Realm 94.
• Leaves the island expedition at Foundation Establishment Late Stage and plans further travel to seek a core-formation opportunity 105.

Break with Gu Huaiwei and Loss of Cultivation

• Returns to the Flowing Light Sword Sect as a Golden Core cultivator whose reputation attracts the admiration of younger disciples 108.
• Is imprisoned in the water dungeon after Su Fuyun frames her. Gu Shu avoids confiscation by hiding in the Dragon Abyss Sword, while Sang Ying conceals her important treasures in a second Storage Bag 113.
• Exposes the black-mist intruder as Fan Nanjun, but Su Fuyun presents his staged intervention as proof of collusion with the Devil Race. Gu Huaiwei accepts the accusation while offering to take Sang Ying back to Crimson Snow Peak 113.
• Rejects Gu Huaiwei’s authority, declares that she is expelling herself from his tutelage, and cuts off the hem of her skirt to mark the severed bond 113.
• Survives with severely reduced spiritual power after her Dantian is injured, training against low-level Devil Beasts with Gu Shu rather than abandoning the sword 119 124 406.
• Travels through a temporary tunnel with Jiang Zhuoxue and awakens at sea in the Immortal Spirit Realm 130.

The Immortal Spirit Realm and the Jimo Household

• Attracts attention when her name rapidly climbs the Heaven’s Chosen Ranking 132.
• Acts to rescue Cang Lian from people bidding for his scales and other resources 148.
• Advances to Golden Core Late Stage and resolves to seek instruction at Ten Thousand Daos Born 156.
• Visits the Jimo Household after saving Fu Yinqiu with a ten-thousand-year Ice Lotus. Declines formal adoption because she still hopes to find her parents, but agrees to public recognition as the family’s daughter 157 158.
• Immobilizes an intrusive young master who damages her courtyard and threatens Yinhuan, then asks Jimo Qing to settle the matter 159.
• Accepts the identity of the Jimo Household’s eldest young lady in order to help Fu Yinqiu defend Rizhao City while the family’s other leaders are away 175.
• Fights during the city’s fall, continues rescuing inhabitants despite injury, and refuses Cang Lian’s suggestion that she abandon the city 183 186.
• Proposes evacuation, and Fu Yinqiu chooses Ten Thousand Daos Born as their destination. Feng Ji responds by ordering the Jimo Residence surrounded before the following sunset 186.

Ten Thousand Daos Born

• Arrives in Dujiu City, studies the promising entrance-test candidates, and prepares to challenge the Thousandfold Formation with the aim of taking first place 199 200.
• Emerges as the entrance test’s first-place candidate 207.
• Receives Jiulian’s offer of discipleship and honestly explains her former relationship with Gu Huaiwei, making clear that she has no attachment to her old master 210.
• Receives the open support of her fellow disciples when she encounters Su Fuyun again 218.
• Overcomes flame-created imitations of her parents during a match, destroys the false figures with the Floating River Sword, and returns to the fight with renewed resolve 233.
• Prevents Rong Ji from taking her to the Mara Gate by questioning Chi Yan’s transformation from three spirit roots to one. Rong Ji abandons the accusation rather than risk exposing the sect’s secret 251.

Delusion-Breaking City, Family Reunion, and Su Fuyun’s Death

• Investigates the Gong Household’s second young master with Jiang Zhuoxue, Fang Chi, and Hai Tingzhou 268.
• Learns that Gong Chengjue has lost his Wisdom Eyes, cultivation, and sanity. Accepts Liang Ranyue’s offer of a once-in-a-lifetime prophecy in exchange for protection 282.
• Reunites with Sang Zheng and Wen Miaoshu, confirming that the parents she had mourned are alive 290.
• Agrees to accompany Fu Shuangjiang into the Hidden Moon Forest in search of answers about his missing master and elders 298.
• Enters a sealed barrier after cutting through the black mist trying to escape it, during the effort involving Sever the Heavenly River 304.
• Ambushes Su Fuyun inside a concealing formation. After disabling her legs, receives her jade pendant and hears her claim that someone prompted her earlier actions 312.
• Destroys the pendant’s black-mist beast, shatters the pendant, kills Su Fuyun with a sword strike, and crushes her memories of their past 312.

Ten Thousand Years in the Past

• Awakens in a mass grave in the Hidden Nether Realm and learns from the local calendar that she has arrived ten thousand years in the past 337.
• Encounters the young Jiang Zhuoxue and suspects that protecting him may be connected to her eventual return to her own era 340.
• Trains in a trial ground for fifty subjective years, clears all seven stages, and develops ambidextrous swordsmanship and limited Divine Sense sword control 358 360.
• Works with the Yin Mountain Sect in its rivalry with the Moonless Household and is added to its competition participants 364 370.
• Feels the world increasingly reject her as her Golden Core approaches a breakthrough. By this point she has also conceived a way to address the crisis in the Black Tortoise Realm 386.
• Collects Scarlet Blood Grass for Jiang Zhuoxue, then survives an ambush by Wuyue Qing and Wuyue Wenren, who use a thunder pellet and flee believing they have killed the pair 393.
• Uses an Image-Retaining Stone recording the plot to help take revenge by stealing the attackers’ treasures. Promises Jiang Zhuoxue that they will meet again as her intermittently disappearing body signals her approaching departure 395.
• Survives her Nascent Soul tribulation, completely heals her damaged Dantian, and gains the benefit of both a restored Dantian and an enlarged Qi Vortex 406.

Return, Captivity, and Restoration of the Twin Orchid Realm

• Returns to the Flowing Light Sword Sect during a Devil Race attack and gains further understanding by observing Elder Yanhua’s sword intent 417.
• Later awakens with her spiritual power unresponsive and her sword and Storage Bag missing 422.
• Is kept in a residence by the Devil Lord Fusheng, who eventually permits her to leave her room and introduces her as his disciple, Xiao Yao. She overhears that another woman called Sang Ying has been brought to the dungeon for an exchange 427.
• Spends subsequent years helping Fang Chi and Hai Tingzhou restore their sect and lineage, while leading fellow disciples in repairing the devastated Twin Orchid Realm 452.
• Reaches Spirit Transformation after several hundred years and decides to return to the Hidden Nether Realm 452.

Return to the Hidden Nether Realm

• Witnesses a cursed man being pursued and killed while an unusual corpse puppet tries to protect him. Recognizes the curse’s red markings and receives a warning not to investigate 459.
• Binds Yu Heng with Jiulian’s Immortal-Binding Rope, but muddy-water figures help him escape. Moonless City guards then surround her companions over a corpse found in their inn room 481.
• Uses her Spirit Transformation strength to clear monsters from the city lord’s residence, her sword wreathed in heavenly lightning 485.
• Eventually returns to the Flowing Light Sword Sect, where younger disciples now address her as “Grandmaster” 506.

The Cloud Mulberry Realm and the Endless Sea

• Returns to the Immortal Spirit Realm and prepares to travel to the Cloud Mulberry Realm. Jing Shouyue arranges for Dong Fuzhu, Lan Fusheng, and Bai Kejin to accompany her, while Jiulian supplies a defensive Law Artifact and advises her to meet a golden-tailed merfolk 508.
• Remains at the Listening Tide Sect with Jiang Zhuoxue and Duan Hanyi while sending her fellow disciples to seek help from the other two great sects 521.
• Uses a performance of distress over her supposedly disobedient junior sister to support the group’s escape plan 522.
• Pursues clues to the High Antiquity Teleportation Array through the Zhang Household and offers to help treat Zhang Ping’an’s sister 547 548.
• Leaves Blue-Green Village after the Qian Household agrees to compensation under a Heavenly Dao Contract 552.
• Dives with Jiang Zhuoxue using Jiaoren Pearls, follows array fragments and an undercurrent, and discovers a towering stone gate and the ruined Teleportation Array 552.

The Dragon Race, Sword-Spirit Memories, and Divine Power

• Accepts the opportunity to study a sword immortal’s preserved Sword Intent in the White Dragon Tribe’s ancestral grounds 566.
• Enters memories in which she occupies the perspective of Gu Wangchuan’s sword spirit and witnesses his mature swordsmanship 567.
• Learns that she is the reincarnated sword spirit of Sever the Heavenly River, recovers her former battle experience, and receives Gu Wangchuan’s guidance concerning the far more difficult path to godhood 575.
• Displays a newly restrained, efficient style when borrowing the Dragon Abyss Sword to fight a giant serpent 577.
• Tempers her body in the Annihilation Spring until it can withstand the Dragon Abyss Sword’s full power 586.
• Holds a three-headed flood dragon’s attention while her companions escape, then reveals the trapping formation she has prepared and slips beneath the closing stone door 590.
• Rejects the Heart Devil Mirror’s idealized world and destroys its false versions of her parents, former master, and other familiar figures. Continues fighting after being dragged into its abyss 597 599.
• Experiences a prolonged battlefield sequence among the God Race, growing over hundreds of years into a formidable warrior while seeking the truth of high antiquity 610.
• Reveals Soul Leaving cultivation during the Dragon Abyss Sword’s lightning tribulation and subsequently assimilates unruly Divine Power within her body 618 621.

Demigod Battles and the Beastmen World

• Fights Gu Huaiwei as a Demigod, forcing him to use all ten of his tentacles to resist her attacks 636 637.
• Observes an alternate life through the Heart Devil Mirror: another Sang Ying is raised as Gu Huaiwei’s sheltered sole disciple, sacrifices herself to seal a Devil Race passage, and leaves him attempting to restore her soul before entering the Twin Orchid Realm 639.
• Uses her new strength against monsters emerging from a black hole while rushing to aid Jiang Zhuoxue and their companions 647.
• Arrives in the Beastmen World without usable spiritual power or her Storage Bag and builds a cabin with the now-diminished Dragon Abyss Sword 654.
• Investigates an extraordinary Spirit Gathering Formation, by which point she again possesses usable Soul Leaving power 672.
• Questions Cheng Shan, a Nascent Soul formation master swept into the world by a vortex in the Endless Sea 673.
• Brings news of Spiritual Liquid and a reasoning monster to the White Lion Tribe and urges its leaders to consider breaking the world barrier and contacting the Cultivation World 675.
• Ultimately helps save the world and merge it with a new one, earning immense Merit and benefiting from the fortune of the New Heavenly Dao 689.

Return and Ascension

• Returns to the Flowing Light Sword Sect at a critical moment, reunites with her family and friends, and puts away the Heart of the Devil God 681.
• Orders devilized traitors imprisoned, sends Spiritual Power into Qi Yaoji’s meridians to punish her, and confronts Gu Huaiwei 681.
• Initially delays ascension until the Old Heavenly Dao has fully disappeared and the New Heavenly Dao has taken its place. Also wishes to remain with her family, friends, and lover rather than enter the Upper Realm alone 689.
• Suppresses her cultivation and purifies the Heart of the Devil God while planning to ascend together with Jiang Zhuoxue 689.
• Is forced to ascend unexpectedly during the Festival of All Living Beings when additional Merit makes concealment impossible. Her solid cultivation and protective Merit allow her to endure more than nine hundred lightning bolts unharmed 689.
• Continues cultivating in the Immortal Realm and reaches Immortal Venerable at the Hidden Sword Immortal Sect 693.

Alternate “What If” Timeline

The later “What If” chapters depict a separate route in which an experienced Sang Ying appears in circumstances resembling the original story. These events are distinct from her main-timeline childhood and progression 694 704 706.

• Refuses to admit to wrongdoing, rejects Gu Huaiwei as her master, claims her right to Settled Frost Peak, and returns his disciple-acceptance jade talisman, which he destroys before she explains what it is 694.
• Her long seclusion and apparent advancement to Spirit Transformation draw suspicion because the sect has detected no corresponding Golden Core or Nascent Soul tribulations 695 696.
• Uses her memories to reach Ten Thousand Daos Born, passes through the Thousandfold Formation, and again takes Jiulian as her master. Reconnects with friends from her previous life after forming her Golden Core 704.
• Learns from the Buddhist cultivator Xiuming that sins visible through a karmic connection belong to the other party rather than to her 705.
• Draws upon knowledge gained as an immortal to make an array plate that removes Demonic Qi from the Gods and Devils Battlefield. Avoids directly approaching the Dragon Race because this route has not given her either Bai Qinglong or the Dragon Abyss Sword as a basis for trust 706.
• Helps bring about the merger of the Beastmen World and the Cultivation World, after which new rules appear. Reaches Tribulation Transcendence and becomes her generation’s first disciple to approach ascension 706.
• Her recollections in this route state that, in the other world, she had founded an immortal sect and stood one step short of becoming an Immortal Emperor 706.

Notable Quotes

“Rest assured, Senior Sister. I will never compete with you for his affection.” 1

“I don't care about any of that. I told you long ago, I have no use for Immortal Venerable Yanchen's affection. All I want is to expose the truth.” 21

“Others may break their word, but I'm not willing to be the sort of person who breaks promises, betrays trust, and lies through her teeth.” 18

“I'm sorry, but I can't promise you that I'll live in harmony with Su Fuyun. All I can tell you is that if she doesn't try to make trouble for me again, I won't take the initiative to go after her.” 56

“Whatever the road is like, since I'm the one walking it, I should be the one to choose it.” 71

“Precisely because it can't be accomplished in a single bound, I can't afford to slack off in the slightest.” 159