Recaps

Gong Chengsi challenged Gong Chengjue for leadership of the Gong Household with their father’s support, while the household head ordered his sons to protect the family and watch the Jimo Household. As Delusion-Breaking City remained locked down for the missing thief, an injured guard concealed his face and briefly showed eyes resembling Gong Chengjue’s.

• Gong Chengsi confronted Gong Chengjue and declared he would compete for the position of household head, while their father silently sided with him.
• Gong Chengjue rejected his brother’s challenge and left, and the household head told Gong Chengsi to build ties with the Jimo Household and watch Sang Ying.
• The Gong Household head revealed that everyone injured during the secret-chamber incident was a suspect and warned that the household must survive even if the snowy plain paid the price.
• Delusion-Breaking City was locked down, and the search uncovered spies from other forces but failed to find the assassin.
• At the inner-city guard station, an injured guard stayed hidden beneath a quilt, and his neighbor briefly noticed that his eyes resembled Gong Chengjue’s.

Jimo Qing arrived in Delusion-Breaking City to reunite with Sang Ying and give her a newly crafted flying boat. Their reunion ended with Jimo Qing noticing Jiang Zhuoxue holding Sang Ying’s jade pendant and asking who he was.

• Jimo Qing landed outside Delusion-Breaking City, and the Gong Household head and his sons escorted him inside after he mocked both Gong Chengsi and Gong Chengjue.
• Jimo Qing showed Gong Chengjue his flying boat, explaining that he had made it as a gift for Sang Ying and that it could protect her from powerful attacks.
• Sang Ying joyfully reunited with Jimo Qing, who brought her back to her courtyard to see the flying boat.
• Sang Ying introduced Jimo Qing to Fang Chi and Hai Tingzhou, while Jiang Zhuoxue stayed apart with Sang Ying’s jade pendant containing Gu Shu.
• Jimo Qing noticed Jiang Zhuoxue holding Sang Ying’s pendant and asked Sang Ying who he was and why he had it.

Jimo Qing learned that the Gong Household’s Vitality Formations had drained the land around Delusion-Breaking City and drawn Devil Beasts to the Snowfield. Sang Ying planned to exploit a feud within the family to find and destroy the formations, while a struggling village family hoped for rescue.

• Jimo Qing objected when Jiang Zhuoxue called him big brother, and Sang Ying ushered everyone inside before the argument escalated.
• Sang Ying told Jimo Qing that the Gong Household’s Vitality Formations had depleted the land and attracted Devil Beasts, and he agreed the danger could not be ignored.
• Sang Ying proposed using Jimo Qing to set the Gong family members against one another so they could locate and destroy the formations.
• Fang Chi and Hai Tingzhou volunteered to help protect the Snowfield and Zhang Niang’s home.
• A villager found that the spiritual soil he had bought could not grow food, then comforted his daughter as she clung to a wooden figure of a Devil Beast hunter.

Gong Chengsi enlisted Liang Ranyue to help end her engagement to Gong Chengjue as his ambitions grew, while Jimo Qing and Sang Ying decided to support his move. Their plans soon gave way to a power struggle after the Gong Household head was poisoned and Liang Ranyue accused Gong Chengjue of attempting to murder him.

• Gong Chengsi visited Liang Ranyue and proposed that they join forces to end her engagement to Gong Chengjue.
• Jimo Qing and Sang Ying discussed Gong Chengsi’s ambition and agreed to give him a hand.
• Liang Ranyue left her courtyard and began seeking out Gong Chengjue, prompting servants to believe she wanted to reconcile with him.
• The Gong Household head fell ill, and medical cultivators determined that he had been poisoned.
• Gong Chengsi accused Gong Chengjue of poisoning their father, but the clan elders prevented the accusation from taking hold.
• Liang Ranyue claimed she had evidence that Gong Chengjue had tried to murder the household head.

Gong Chengsi and Liang Ranyue accused Gong Chengjue of poisoning the household head, but Gong Chengjue’s Wisdom Eyes and standing in the clan kept the elders from condemning him. Jiang Zhuoxue intervened, and Gong Chengjue collapsed as blood streamed from his eyes and their pupils turned gray.

• Gong Chengsi challenged the elders to examine evidence against Gong Chengjue, and Liang Ranyue presented an Image-Retaining Stone showing the household head collapsing after drinking tea brought by his second son.
• Gong Chengjue denied harming his father, argued that the recording had been staged, and pointed out that he was the only young Gong heir with Wisdom Eyes.
• Liang Ranyue explained how the Image-Retaining Stone had come to be in the household head’s room, and the servants and steward supported her account.
• Gong Chengjue invoked the danger to the Gong Household if he were lost, making the elders hesitate to act against him.
• Jiang Zhuoxue smiled, after which Gong Chengjue’s eyes bled, their pupils turned gray, and he lost consciousness.

After Gong Chengjue suffered backlash from the Wisdom Eyes, Gong Chengsi took control of the Gong Household and had his younger brother imprisoned. In the dungeon, Jiang Zhuoxue reclaimed the Wisdom Eyes from Gong Chengjue, leaving the Gong Household facing his vengeance.

• Gong Chengjue awoke in agony as the Wisdom Eyes turned against him, and Gong Chengsi told the clan elders that the eyes could no longer be used by his younger brother.
• The clan elders approved Gong Chengsi's rise, and he ordered Gong Chengjue and his guards imprisoned while purging the Gong residence.
• Liang Ranyue moved into Sang Ying and Jimo Qing's courtyard before Gong Chengsi could stop her.
• In the dungeon, Gong Chengjue mistook approaching footsteps for his elder brother and begged to be released.
• Jiang Zhuoxue confronted Gong Chengjue, declared the Wisdom Eyes were his, and reclaimed them as Gong Chengjue screamed in pain.

Sang Ying learned that Gong Chengjue had lost his Wisdom Eyes, cultivation, and sanity, while Gong Chengsi invited her group to his succession ceremony. She understood Liang Ranyue had helped expose Gong Chengsi’s plot and had joined Sang Ying in exchange for protection and a once-in-a-lifetime prophecy.

• Jiang Zhuoxue visited Sang Ying at night with his eyes covered in white gauze and said she would learn why the next day.
• Gong Chengsi told Sang Ying that Gong Chengjue’s Wisdom Eyes had been destroyed, leaving him blind, powerless, and seemingly mad.
• Gong Chengsi invited Sang Ying’s group to his succession ceremony in Delusion-Breaking City and hinted that he knew Liang Ranyue had helped them.
• Sang Ying answered Gong Chengsi’s probing remarks, and he left after renewing his invitation.
• Liang Ranyue told Sang Ying she had offered her possessions and her household’s once-in-a-lifetime prophecy in exchange for protection, and Sang Ying agreed with Jimo Qing’s approval.

Sang Ying and her companions prepared to destroy the Gong Household’s Vitality Formations before Gong Chengsi’s succession ceremony. At the first formation, Sang Ying split open the snow with her sword, revealing its golden light.

• Liang Ranyue asked Sang Ying whether their plan could erase the Gong Household from the snowfield, and Sang Ying said she was now certain it could work.
• Sang Ying assigned Jimo Qing and Liang Ranyue to stay behind while she, Hai Tingzhou, Fang Chi, and Jiang Zhuoxue set out to break the three Vitality Formations.
• Jimo Qing used tea to create convincing images of Sang Ying and her companions, allowing Liang Ranyue to answer Gong Chengsi’s visit without exposing their departure.
• Sang Ying and Jiang Zhuoxue reached the first formation as demonic wolves approached through the snowstorm.
• Sang Ying swung the Floating River Sword, cleaving through the snow and burying the wolves as the Vitality Formation’s golden light appeared below.

Gong Chengsi held an elaborate succession ceremony to become the Gong Household’s new head, while Jimo Qing and Liang Ranyue attended under their disguise. As Gong Chengsi approached the jade seal, the jade pearl beneath the residence lost its power, and the white ice dragon under the ice opened its eyes.

• Gong Chengsi sent flying horses to scatter spirit fruits and sweets, prompting starving snowfield residents to scramble for food.
• Gong Chengsi put on the ceremonial robe originally prepared for Gong Chengjue and learned that Jimo Qing would attend, though Sang Ying would not.
• Jimo Qing and Liang Ranyue arrived at Gong Chengsi’s grand ceremony, where Jimo Qing sat in a place of honor.
• Gong Chengsi climbed the altar toward the jade seal as the ceremonial music began.
• The jade pearl in the secret chamber lost its golden color and stopped drawing in life force and Spiritual Qi, while the ice beneath it began to shake.
• The white ice dragon hidden under the ice opened its eyes as the ceremony drowned out the signs of danger.

Gong Chengsi seized the jade seal and proclaimed himself head of the Gong Household, but Gong Cheng'an returned and attacked him as chaos erupted in Delusion-Breaking City. Sang Ying broke the last Vitality Formation beneath a village, and a dragon's roar shook the snowfield.

• Gong Chengsi took the jade seal before the clan elder could announce his succession and declared himself head of the Gong Household.
• Gong Cheng'an appeared in a guard's uniform, took the jade seal, and challenged Gong Chengsi over being forced onto the devil path.
• Gong Cheng'an attacked Gong Chengsi, and violent tremors threw the ceremony venue into chaos as Jimo Qing and Liang Ranyue slipped away to the secret chamber.
• Sang Ying and her companions reached the final Vitality Formation beneath a village, where Sang Ying used a Law Seal to break it.
• The ground shook across the snowfield, and a dragon's roar rang out through the wind and snow.

Cang Lian emerged as an ice dragon and destroyed Delusion-Breaking City’s barrier, unleashing winter and chaos. As Jimo Qing and Liang Ranyue escaped with Green Vine, Cang Lian faced the first bolt of his Dragon Pearl tribulation, while the city’s people remained trapped.

• Cang Lian burst through the ice beneath the Gong Household residence and smashed through Delusion-Breaking City’s barrier as he flew away.
• Gong Chengsi abandoned the ruined inner city and fled with Gong Cheng'an, leaving the injured and trapped behind.
• Green Vine emerged from the ruins with Jimo Qing and Liang Ranyue, and Jimo Qing recognized her before they hurried toward the city gate.
• Green Vine urged Jimo Qing and Liang Ranyue to escape before Cang Lian’s tribulation lightning fell, and they crossed the city gate as the barrier trapped those inside.
• A purple bolt of lightning struck down from the tribulation clouds toward Cang Lian.

Sang Ying and her companions witnessed heavenly punishment strike Delusion-Breaking City while Cang Lian endured his tribulation and became a true dragon, aided by Sang Ying’s accumulated Merit. After the punishment ended and the snowy plains began to recover, Su Fuyun accepted a mission to fight a beast tide in the Black Tortoise Realm, unaware it would cost her life.

• Sang Ying and her companions returned to find heavenly lightning trapping Delusion-Breaking City, and Jiang Zhuoxue explained that it was punishing those who had benefited from the Vitality Formation.
• Jiang Zhuoxue told Sang Ying that her contract with Cang Lian and her accumulated Merit had spared him from failing his tribulation, and Sang Ying said she did not regret spending that Merit.
• Cang Lian survived the final lightning bolt and became a true dragon, while Jimo Qing released the jade bead’s stored vitality into the land as nourishing rain.
• The heavenly punishment killed Gong Chengsi, Gong Cheng'an, and several powerful Gong Household elders, while the surviving residents watched the snowy plains begin to recover.
• Su Fuyun accepted the Mara Gate master's offer to lead a team against a beast tide in the Black Tortoise Realm, believing the mission could restore her standing.

Sang Ying and her companions learned that the Gong Household had been wiped out and were called back to their sect. There, Elder Xiao revealed that the sect planned to send disciples to aid the Black Tortoise Realm against a beast tide, leaving Sang Ying to decide whether to go.

• Cultivators at an inn discussed the Beast Taming Sect's fall and the destruction of the Gong Household, while Sang Ying and her companions listened in disguise.
• Sang Ying received a message ordering her to return to the sect, ending the group's debate about where to travel next.
• Jiulian told Elder Xiao and Sang Ying's parents that Sang Ying would soon return, while hinting that Elder Xiao had summoned her for a serious reason.
• Elder Xiao explained that major sects of the Black Tortoise Realm had requested aid against a beast tide and that he considered sending Sang Ying and others to help.
• Wen Miaoshu objected to Sang Ying being put in danger, but Sang Zheng urged her to wait and let their daughter decide for herself.

Liang Ranyue made a costly prophecy before forgetting she had made it, and Sang Ying returned to Ten Thousand Daos Born with Fang Chi, Hai Tingzhou, and Jiang Zhuoxue. Her homecoming drew a crowd of sect disciples, and Jiang Zhuoxue immediately attracted the hostility of Bai Kejin and an angry middle-aged cultivator.

• Liang Ranyue prophesied, “Yellow diagram, formation, old acquaintances meet. Sinful dragon!” before collapsing, while Jiang Zhuoxue recognized the yellow diagram and formation as the Imperial Plan Suppression Method and a divine artifact.
• Liang Ranyue woke with no memory of making the prophecy, and Sang Ying and the others chose not to tell her before they parted ways with their companions.
• Sang Ying, Fang Chi, Hai Tingzhou, and Jiang Zhuoxue traveled to Ten Thousand Daos Born, where Sang Ying reassured Fang Chi and Hai Tingzhou and Jiang Zhuoxue insisted on following her.
• Sang Ying revealed her true face at the sect gate, and her junior brothers and sisters rushed out to welcome her.
• Bai Kejin demanded to know who Jiang Zhuoxue was, and an angry middle-aged cultivator echoed the question while glaring at him.

Sang Ying reunited with her parents, Sang Zheng and Wen Miaoshu, after years apart and learned that her mother was also waiting at the sect. The reunion ended with Elder Xiao raising the important matter of a journey to the Black Tortoise Realm, while Su Fuyun faced resistance at the Mara Gate.

• Sang Zheng recognized Sang Ying and reunited with her, then led her into the sect while Dong Fuzhu welcomed Sang Ying's friends.
• Wen Miaoshu embraced Sang Ying and mourned the hardships and calluses her daughter had endured.
• Sang Zheng and Wen Miaoshu resolved to take stronger action against the people who had wronged Sang Ying.
• Elder Xiao told Sang Ying that her opinion was needed about the important journey to the Black Tortoise Realm.
• At the Mara Gate in Yao Zhou, disciples resisted Su Fuyun, who was leading a group.

Sang Ying agreed to join the expedition to the Black Tortoise Realm despite her parents’ worries, and Fang Chi and Hai Tingzhou joined the team as well. As the group prepared to leave, Jiang Zhuoxue’s clashes with Ten Thousand Daos Born disciples intensified after Sang Ying tried to defend him.

• The Mara Gate’s disciples resented Su Fuyun, but the gate master assigned her to lead the reinforcements to the Black Tortoise Realm, and the dissenters became silent after their Spirit Roots failed.
• Sang Ying immediately agreed to go to the Black Tortoise Realm, explaining to Sang Zheng and Wen Miaoshu that she wanted to grow stronger and gain combat experience.
• Sang Zheng and Wen Miaoshu accepted Sang Ying’s decision, and Jiulian prepared pills and talismans for her journey.
• Fang Chi and Hai Tingzhou asked to accompany Sang Ying, and Elder Xiao allowed them to join the team.
• Ten Thousand Daos Born disciples repeatedly antagonized Jiang Zhuoxue, who claimed he was willing to endure it for Sang Ying before fighting back.
• The reinforcements assembled for the Black Tortoise Realm, and everyone began preparing to leave.

Sang Ying boarded a realm-crossing flying boat with cultivators heading to the Black Tortoise Realm to help with the aftermath of the beast tide. After recalling a past-life memory of Luo Jin disfiguring her, she traveled through the tunnel as the new Devil Venerable Fusheng declared war on the immortal sects in the Twin Orchid Realm.

• Wen Miaoshu worried about Sang Ying’s safety as Sang Ying said farewell to her parents and boarded the flying boat.
• Sang Ying and her companions encountered Jimo Qing’s group and learned that Ji Fucang would lead their expedition while Luo Jin would assist Su Fuyun’s group.
• Sang Ying recognized Luo Jin from a memory of him scarring her face in her former fate, then steadied herself and said she was fine.
• Dong Fuzhu explained that Sword Frost Cliff and the Limitless Sect, rival powers in the Black Tortoise Realm, had sought aid from the two groups.
• The flying boat passed through the realm-crossing tunnel, while Fusheng led Devil Cultivators in declaring war on the immortal sects in the Twin Orchid Realm.

On the flying boat, Ji Fucang and Sang Ying humiliated Luo Jin by recalling Mara Gate’s disqualification from the last sect competition, prompting He Xiu to abandon their business and leave. The chapter ended with a child finding his dead mother in a ruined settlement as a berserk Demon Beast approached.

• Luo Jin and He Xiu confronted Ji Fucang and mocked him for missing the previous sect competition.
• Ji Fucang introduced Sang Ying as the new disciple chief who had led Ten Thousand Daos Born to first place, and Sang Ying reminded Luo Jin that Mara Gate had been disqualified.
• He Xiu left after rebuking Luo Jin, who departed under the laughter of Ten Thousand Daos Born’s disciples.
• A child crawled through the ruins and found his mother dead in a pool of blood.
• A berserk Demon Beast heard the child crying, broke through the debris, and raised its claw to attack him.

Sang Ying saved a grieving boy during the Demon Beast uprising and gave him a chance to test his Spirit Root; he revealed a single metal Spirit Root. In the Black Tortoise Realm, her group struggled with the devastation and internal resentment until the beast tide suddenly surged toward major sects.

• Sang Ying killed a Demon Beast that was about to attack a boy, then gave him a Spirit Stone and directed him to a temporary shelter.
• The boy used the Spirit Stone to test his Spirit Root, and the testing stone shone with dazzling golden light, revealing a single metal Spirit Root.
• Sang Ying and the others traveled through the devastated Black Tortoise Realm and learned why its sects had called for outside help.
• Su Fuyun resented Sang Ying’s growing standing, while Luo Jin continued to support Su Fuyun as Mara Gate’s deputy.
• The beast tide intensified, broke through the cultivators’ defenses, and advanced toward Sword Frost Cliff and the Limitless Sect.

Fu Shuangjiang and the cultivators defending the Black Tortoise Realm struggled to hold back another Demon Beast attack while the realm's senior experts remained missing in Hidden Moon Forest. Just as Fu Shuangjiang prepared to risk his life with another sword strike, an unknown force arrived and turned the battle around.

• Heng Wen brought medicine to Fu Shuangjiang, who concealed his worsening condition and told him not to ask the Immortal Spirit Realm cultivators to risk their lives for the Black Tortoise Realm.
• A messenger warned Fu Shuangjiang that the Demon Beasts had attacked again, and the beasts soon broke through every defense.
• Fu Shuangjiang led the cultivators into battle and prepared to use his powerful sword move despite his injuries.
• An unknown sword strike split the earth and froze the advancing Demon Beasts before Fu Shuangjiang could swing his sword.
• Unfamiliar cultivators poured onto the battlefield and helped turn the fight around, including a woman in blue whose frost-coated sword caught Fu Shuangjiang's attention.

Sang Ying and the cultivators from the Immortal Spirit Realm helped the Black Tortoise Realm defeat a frenzied beast tide, then discovered that the Demon Beasts were being controlled. Fu Shuangjiang explained that the Hidden Moon Forest’s unrest had begun five months earlier and that the elders who entered it had vanished; he urged the visitors to leave rather than risk their lives.

• Sang Ying and the arriving Immortal Spirit Realm cultivators joined the battle and helped kill the remaining high-level Demon Beasts.
• After the fighting ended, Sang Ying examined a Demon Beast’s eyes and told Fu Shuangjiang and Jiang Zhuoxue that something seemed to be controlling the beasts.
• Fu Shuangjiang explained that Demon Beasts had fled the Hidden Moon Forest in a frenzy five months earlier, and that elders who entered the forest to investigate had not returned.
• Su Fuyun offered to help the Black Tortoise Realm, but Fu Shuangjiang thanked her and told the Immortal Spirit Realm cultivators to return home.

Sang Ying challenged Fu Shuangjiang’s belief that the Black Tortoise Realm could not be saved and insisted on entering the Hidden Moon Forest to investigate the demon beast riot. Meanwhile, the Twin Orchid Realm’s immortal sects faced destruction by Fusheng’s devil army, and Song Jiaojiao hoped Sang Ying would return to the Flowing Light Sword Sect.

• Fu Shuangjiang offered Sword Frost Cliff’s treasures in exchange for the Immortal Spirit Realm taking in people from the Black Tortoise Realm.
• Sang Ying questioned Fu Shuangjiang’s decision to give up and urged him to investigate the truth in the Hidden Moon Forest.
• Sang Ying asked to enter the Hidden Moon Forest, and Fu Shuangjiang said he would give her an answer in two days.
• Fusheng defeated the previous Devil Lord, took control of the devil domain, and led an assault that destroyed more than half of the immortal sects in the Twin Orchid Realm.
• Song Jiaojiao feared for the Flowing Light Sword Sect and silently prayed for Sang Ying to return.

Sang Ying agreed to accompany Fu Shuangjiang into the Hidden Moon Forest while leaving Fang Chi and the others to defend the camp. Su Fuyun was persuaded by the voice in her jade pendant to enter the forest too, and the four departed secretly, leaving their allies uncertain of their fate.

• Fu Shuangjiang decided to search the Hidden Moon Forest for his missing master and elders, and Sang Ying agreed to go with him.
• Sang Ying refused Fang Chi and the other disciples' requests to join them, asking Fang Chi to protect the camp instead.
• Fu Shuangjiang appointed Ji Fucang to lead the defense with Heng Wen's help, left them his soul stone, and departed without saying goodbye.
• The voice in Su Fuyun's jade pendant urged her to pursue Sang Ying in the forest and seek treasures to reach the Nascent Soul Realm, and Su Fuyun agreed.
• Sang Ying and Fu Shuangjiang left quietly, and the camp discovered that Su Fuyun and Jiang Zhuoxue had vanished as well.

Sang Ying and Fu Shuangjiang discovered that the ordinary Demon Beasts in the Hidden Moon Forest were different from the red-eyed monsters behind the beast tide, then set out for the forest’s center. Su Fuyun and Jiang Zhuoxue joined them, while a rusted sword marked “sever” stirred beneath the black Qi at the center.

• Sang Ying compared the preserved corpses and realized the red-eyed monsters were not the ordinary Demon Beasts living in the forest.
• Sang Ying and Fu Shuangjiang decided to hurry to the forest’s center to uncover the beast tide’s cause and possibly stop it.
• Su Fuyun and Jiang Zhuoxue arrived, and Sang Ying allowed both of them to accompany the group.
• Jiang Zhuoxue reminded Sang Ying of the Shared Fate Gu she had planted in him, and she warned him not to cause trouble.
• The jade pendant reassured Su Fuyun that Sang Ying’s treasure would make Jiang Zhuoxue abandon Sang Ying for her.
• At the forest’s center, black Qi smothered a rusted piece of iron engraved with “sever,” the name of the Sword Master’s bonded sword.

The sect master’s peace talks with Fusheng failed, and Fusheng vowed to destroy the Flowing Light Sword Sect in one month. In the Hidden Moon Forest, Jiang Zhuoxue and Fu Shuangjiang argued over Sang Ying before she led the group toward the presence calling to her.

• Fusheng rejected the sect master’s request for a ceasefire and threatened to raze the Flowing Light Sword Sect in one month.
• Fusheng struck down the sect master, reopening the injury Sang Zheng had inflicted, and left him unconscious.
• While the group rested in the Hidden Moon Forest, Fu Shuangjiang questioned Jiang Zhuoxue about his relationship with Sang Ying and accused him of holding her back.
• Jiang Zhuoxue mocked Fu Shuangjiang and said Sang Ying disliked men who lectured people; Fu Shuangjiang grew pale, and Su Fuyun failed to comfort him.
• Sang Ying returned, noticed the group’s awkward mood, and followed a red thread she could now perceive after using her blood to reconnect with the presence in the forest.