Recaps

Su Fuyun entered the quiet chamber after Gu Huaiwei refused to spare her punishment, while Zhou Heng'an supplied her with spirit crystals. Sang Ying left the mountain to gain experience, determined to return as a Golden Core True Person and reclaim what belonged to her parents.

• Zhou Heng'an encountered Sang Ying and angrily accused her of scheming to win Immortal Venerable Yanchen's favor.
• Gu Huaiwei questioned whether Su Fuyun had deliberately pushed Sang Ying, then sent her to serve her half-year punishment in the quiet chamber.
• Zhou Heng'an gave Su Fuyun a box of spirit crystals, and she asked him to keep watch over Sang Ying while she was confined.
• The voice in Su Fuyun's jade pendant warned her not to use the crystals and urged her to practice its powerful Cultivation Method instead.
• Sang Ying packed her belongings and descended the mountain, intent on returning as a Golden Core True Person to reclaim her parents' property.

A demon had targeted the daughters of Listening Willow Village, and the Su family feared their bride would be taken. Lin Niansheng returned with Fairy Sang, who agreed to investigate, leaving the grieving families hoping she could save them.

• Ping'an tried to seek help from the immortals, but his parents and his sister urged him not to risk his life.
• Lin Niansheng returned to the village and told his mother that he had brought an immortal who could rescue his sister.
• Fairy Sang asked Auntie Lin where her daughter had been taken and whether other girls were targeted.
• The Su family arrived with their daughter still wearing her wedding dress and begged to meet the immortal.
• Auntie Lin brought the Su family inside, where they saw Fairy Sang and wondered whether she could truly save them.

Sang Ying learned how a demon had trapped the women of Listening Willow Village and abducted girls as brides. She took Miss Su’s place in a wedding dress and waited for the demon, intending to infiltrate his lair and free the village.

• Lin Niansheng and the Su family told Sang Ying that a demon abducted women from Listening Willow Village and kept them from leaving through a formation.
• Sang Ying inspected the village and discovered the formation trapping its women.
• Sang Ying refused to break the formation before finding the abducted girls, warning that the demon might escape with them.
• Sang Ying offered to take Miss Su’s place as the demon’s bride and investigate his lair.
• Sang Ying disguised herself to resemble Miss Su and waited on the bride’s bed for the demon to arrive.

Sang Ying let herself be taken in disguise to investigate the supposed monster that abducted brides and discovered a dungeon where young women were given medicine that scarred their faces. She found Lin Niansheng’s younger sister among the prisoners and continued pretending to be an ordinary captive while questioning her.

• The Su family waited for the monster to take Sang Ying, and Su Ping'an later found her room empty.
• Sang Ying allowed the black wind to carry her away in a bridal sedan while concealing her Spiritual Qi.
• After being taken to a dungeon, Sang Ying overheard an order to force medicine on her and saw imprisoned women with similar facial scars.
• Sang Ying suspected the abductions concealed tests of a medicine and decided to act cautiously to rescue the prisoners.
• Sang Ying met Miss Lin, who said the captives had been fed medicine that rotted their faces and were supposedly being treated.

Sang Ying escaped the dungeon with the Lin family girl, whom she suspected was actually a cultivator, while the girl returned to lead a rescue party from the Plain Robe Pavilion. Their escape was blocked by the Cold Crow Devil Lord, but a mysterious person blasted through the dungeon ceiling and offered them another way out.

• A guard tried to force Sang Ying to take a pill, but a disturbance drew him away and left her cell unlocked.
• Sang Ying and the Lin family girl escaped the cell and made their way out of the dungeon, then separated after the girl suggested they seek help.
• The Lin family girl returned as Nan Gurong, the Plain Robe Pavilion's eldest senior sister, and led her disciples in freeing the captive girls and subduing the guards.
• Nan Gurong learned that the guards were taking orders from a master who had defeated earlier rescuers, and hurried everyone toward the exit.
• The Cold Crow Devil Lord appeared at the dungeon gate, forcing Nan Gurong and the others to retreat into the dungeon.
• An opening was blasted through the ceiling, and a lovely-faced stranger called for everyone to follow her out.

Sang Ying helped Nan Gurong and the rescued young women escape the dungeon, but Cold Crow Devil Lord pursued them with swarms of venomous creatures. Remembering a cave that held a fallen great power’s Sword Qi, Sang Ying led the group there, and Cold Crow Devil Lord followed them inside.

• Sang Ying blew open the dungeon exit and helped Nan Gurong lead the young women out before the crow could bring Cold Crow Devil Lord to them.
• Nan Gurong sent most of the group ahead while she and a few others stayed to draw Cold Crow Devil Lord away, but one youth refused to leave her.
• Cold Crow Devil Lord’s venomous creatures overwhelmed the group, poisoning several Plain Robe Pavilion disciples.
• After Nan Gurong named their pursuer, Sang Ying recalled a cave containing a fallen great power’s Sword Qi and urged everyone to search for it.
• The youth found the concealed cave, and Sang Ying led the group inside, hoping its sword wind would delay Cold Crow Devil Lord.
• Cold Crow Devil Lord arrived at the cave and strode inside, dismissing its danger as a trifling trick.

Sang Ying sent Nan Gurong and the others away, then led the Cold Crow Devil Lord into a cave filled with Sword Qi, hoping the ancient sword force would injure him. She reached the chamber containing a phantom longsword, but the Devil Lord revealed he had known about their plan and wanted her as a human test subject before lunging at her.

• Sang Ying told Nan Gurong and her companions to find another exit while she lured the Cold Crow Devil Lord toward the Sword Qi.
• Nan Gurong gave Sang Ying the remaining insect-repelling powder and promised to return with help after the group escaped.
• The Cold Crow Devil Lord followed Sang Ying into the cave as she drew his attention and pressed deeper through the sword winds.
• Sang Ying reached a stone chamber and saw a phantom longsword formed from powerful Sword Qi.
• The Cold Crow Devil Lord admitted he had seen through the group's plan and said he needed a young female cultivator as a human test subject, then lunged at Sang Ying.

Sang Ying fought Cold Crow Devil Lord after he recognized her as a rare medicine person with a single Ice Spirit Root. Near the end of her strength, she prepared one final attack before hiding in the Realm Pearl, but an unfamiliar voice told her where to strike.

• Cold Crow Devil Lord examined Sang Ying's blood and discovered her exceptional Ice Spirit Root, deciding to make her his medicine person.
• Sang Ying used her mother's trapping array to hide in mist and attacked Cold Crow Devil Lord with the Flowing Light Sword Instruction.
• Cold Crow Devil Lord summoned a whip and repeatedly wounded Sang Ying, while she fought to buy Nan Gurong and the others time.
• With her sword cracked and her body badly injured, Sang Ying launched one last strike and heard a voice tell her to stab Cold Crow Devil Lord in the left side of his chest.

Sang Ying followed a mysterious voice’s guidance as she fought Cold Crow Devil Lord, but his black flag and relentless attacks left her badly wounded and without a sword. Taking the voice’s advice to wield a branch, she unleashed a freezing strike that blasted Cold Crow Devil Lord from the cave and left him unconscious.

• A mysterious voice guided Sang Ying’s attacks, and she wounded Cold Crow Devil Lord three times.
• Cold Crow Devil Lord summoned black smoke spirits with a flag, overcame the trapping array, and drove Sang Ying back until her spirit sword shattered and he wounded her shoulder.
• Sang Ying considered escaping inside the Realm Pearl, but the voice urged her to fight with a branch and rely on her sword cultivator’s resolve.
• Sang Ying poured her Spiritual Qi into the branch and unleashed a wave of frost and snow that swept Cold Crow Devil Lord out of the cave.
• Sang Ying approached the unconscious Cold Crow Devil Lord with the branch and named her strike Frost Chills Fourteen Provinces.

After driving off the Cold Crow Devil Lord, Sang Ying learned that the talking Sword Qi belonged to Gu Wangchuan, a legendary Sword Master from another realm. The Sword Qi chose Sang Ying as its successor and urged her to accept it before it dissipated.

• Sang Ying returned to the cave after the wounded Cold Crow Devil Lord escaped, then rested to recover her depleted Spiritual Qi.
• The Sword Qi praised Sang Ying’s comprehension and revealed itself when she asked its name.
• The Sword Qi condemned Gu Huaiwei’s claim to the title of Sword Master and named Gu Wangchuan as the true Sword Master.
• The Sword Qi explained that Gu Wangchuan had left it behind to find a disciple who could inherit his swordsmanship and sword intent.
• The Sword Qi told Sang Ying it might have found its disciple and urged her to accept it into her sword before it dissipated.

Sang Ying gravely injured Cold Crow Devil Lord, who was then killed by a group of young cultivators led by a Golden Core cultivator. As Sang Ying headed toward Nan Gurong and the others, she named the sentient Sword Qi Gu Shu and drew close to rejoining the group.

• Cold Crow Devil Lord stumbled toward White Foothill City, but a group of young cultivators found and killed him while he was badly injured.
• The leading male cultivator accepted some credit for killing Cold Crow Devil Lord, while a female cultivator dismissed the person who had injured him as likely dead.
• Sang Ying sealed Gu Wangchuan's sentient Sword Qi inside a tree branch and promised to find it a spirit sword.
• Sang Ying suggested naming the Sword Qi Gu Shu, and it happily accepted the name.
• Sang Ying followed Nan Gurong and the others' increasingly clear trail, expecting to meet them soon.

Sang Ying caught up with Nan Gurong’s party as masked attackers tried to kill them, and learned the Cold Crow Devil Lord had served a more powerful mastermind. She fought off the attackers with the Sword Master’s techniques, leaving Nan Gurong and the others alive and forging a lasting bond with her.

• The masked leader revealed that the Cold Crow Devil Lord had served him and ordered his followers to kill Nan Gurong and the Plain Robe Pavilion cultivators.
• Sang Ying arrived in time to block the attackers and reunited with Nan Gurong, who agreed to invite her to the Plain Robe Pavilion if they survived.
• The leader mocked Sang Ying’s tree branch and attacked her with vines, but she severed his arm with a strike.
• The leader ordered everyone to attack, and Sang Ying used the Sword Master’s techniques to fight them, impressing the Plain Robe Pavilion cultivators.

After receiving a new sword, Sang Ying struggled to practice until Gu Shu helped her realize that fear was holding her back from the sword’s free and unrestrained spirit. The insight triggered an epiphany that raised her cultivation to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, and Nan Gurong then told her someone had come to see her.

• Nan Gurong brought Sang Ying breakfast and told her where the waystation’s practice room was.
• Sang Ying recalled how Elder Chanyi had saved the group, treated her injuries, and given her a spirit sword to replace her shattered one.
• Sang Ying practiced swordsmanship but could not regain the feeling she had found in battle, so Gu Shu scolded her for letting fear govern her.
• Sang Ying remembered her wish to become a carefree, unrestrained sword cultivator and resolved to live by her own will.
• Spiritual Qi surged into the practice room as Sang Ying experienced an epiphany, and Elder Chanyi reassured Nan Gurong that the commotion was harmless.
• Sang Ying discovered that her cultivation had advanced to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, then Nan Gurong called her outside because someone was asking to see her.

Sang Ying gave Nan Gurong a medical inheritance that let her find a way to treat the rescued girls’ poisoned scars. Meanwhile, Su Fuyun reached Foundation Establishment and prepared to look for her junior sister.

• Lin Niansheng and the Su family brought gifts to thank Sang Ying and Nan Gurong for rescuing the girls from Listening Willow Village.
• Nan Gurong explained that Cold Crow Devil Lord’s experimental drugs had scarred the girls and that their condition was difficult to treat.
• Sang Ying asked Nan Gurong what she would do with a rare medical canon, then left a bead and Jade Slip containing an inheritance at her window.
• Nan Gurong received Immortal Lord Fusheng’s inheritance and found the Complexion Renewal Pill formula, giving her hope that the girls could be saved.
• Su Fuyun broke through to Foundation Establishment Early Stage on Discipline Peak and said she could now go looking for her junior sister.

Sang Ying helped the Plain Robe Pavilion use a medical canon to cure the abducted girls in Listening Willow Village, earning Merit for her role in saving them. As she reached White Foothill City, she heard that a young disciple of the Sound Killing Sect had killed the Cold Crow Devil Lord, bringing back memories of his threat against her.

• Sang Ying went with Nan Gurong and the Plain Robe Pavilion to treat the girls, and Nan Gurong explained their plan to use new pills from a medical canon.
• A severely scarred girl volunteered to test a pill, and her wounds healed until the scar vanished.
• The Plain Robe Pavilion cured the girls and left Listening Willow Village after Elder Chanyi broke the formation surrounding it.
• Sang Ying received a great deal of Merit for saving the medical cultivators, and Gu Shu told her the reward came from her good deeds.
• At White Foothill City's gates, Sang Ying heard that a young Sound Killing Sect disciple had killed the Cold Crow Devil Lord and recalled his threats against her.

Sang Ying learned that Liu Yuzhi had claimed public credit for killing the Cold Crow Devil Lord, while someone secretly pressured him to produce the devil lord’s belongings. In White Foothill City, a veiled young woman learned that the girls of Listening Willow Village had been cured and demanded to know who had done it.

• Sang Ying realized that cultivators were spreading rumors against her to curry favor with Su Fuyun, and she took note of the Heaven's Chosen Ranking.
• Nan Gurong asked Sang Ying whether Liu Yuzhi had really killed the Cold Crow Devil Lord, but a crowd gathered to celebrate Liu Yuzhi before Sang Ying could answer.
• Sang Ying watched Liu Yuzhi from afar and silently vowed that there would be time to settle matters with him.
• Liu Yuzhi worried that his fellow disciples would reveal their role in killing the already-wounded Cold Crow Devil Lord, while threatening letters demanded the devil lord’s belongings and corpse.
• A veiled young woman whipped a maidservant and demanded that her father cure her face after the Cold Crow Devil Lord failed to help her.
• The steward told the young woman that the girls from Listening Willow Village had recovered and that her father was investigating who had cured them.

Sang Ying was captured after following Nan Gurong’s masked abductor to a secluded residence and was imprisoned in a Spiritual Qi-blocking cell. As she spoke with a fellow prisoner, Nan Gurong was brought before the person behind the abductions and recognized him as White Foothill City’s city lord.

• Sang Ying witnessed Nan Gurong being abducted, alerted Elder Chanyi and other Plain Robe Pavilion disciples, then followed the abductor to a residence in White Foothill City.
• A second masked cultivator captured Sang Ying, and she woke imprisoned with her belongings taken except for the concealed brocade pouch holding the Realm Pearl and Ice Spirit Crystals.
• Sang Ying searched her cell and learned from a man in the neighboring cell that two Nascent Soul Realm cultivators guarded the dungeon entrance.
• Nan Gurong was brought before the masked group’s master and recognized him as the city lord of White Foothill City.

Nan Gurong was imprisoned by the lord of White Foothill City, who demanded her Pill Formula and ordered her to treat his daughter. The steward threatened her with Sang Ying’s safety, while Sang Ying discovered that Liu Yuzhi had been jailed alongside a mysterious black-clad man.

• The lord of White Foothill City questioned Nan Gurong about curing the women of Listening Willow Village and demanded that she hand over the Pill Formula.
• The lord ordered his steward to take Nan Gurong to the Cold Crow Devil Lord’s former courtyard and make her treat his daughter.
• The steward offered Nan Gurong the courtyard’s Spirit Plants, then threatened Sang Ying to pressure her into surrendering the formula.
• Nan Gurong warned the steward that his young lady would remain sick if he harmed Sang Ying, and the guards locked Nan Gurong in the courtyard.
• Sang Ying watched Liu Yuzhi protest that he had not taken what the city lord wanted, while a black-clad man in the neighboring cell recognized Sang Ying and anticipated trouble at the residence.

Sang Ying escaped the dungeon during a fire at the City Lord's Manor and found Nan Gurong, who was still in danger. With flames closing in around them, Sang Ying agreed to risk entering a tunnel Nan Gurong had discovered.

• Sang Ying found a key left by the mysterious man in black, but a young cultivator broke open the dungeon ceiling and helped her escape.
• Sang Ying recovered her belongings and spirit sword, then went deeper into the manor to search for Nan Gurong instead of fleeing.
• Sang Ying overpowered a guard and forced him to reveal Nan Gurong's location.
• Sang Ying reached Nan Gurong's courtyard, freed her shackles, and gathered the Spirit Plants and spirit medicines as the fire spread.
• Nan Gurong told Sang Ying about a tunnel in the courtyard, and Sang Ying agreed to enter it with her to escape the flames.

Sang Ying and Nan Gurong discovered an underground palace beneath the City Lord's Manor and overheard Luo Fengyuan conspiring with a mysterious man. They found evidence that Luo Fengyuan had handed Listening Willow Village's people to the Red Snake Tribe, and the chapter ended with them seeing countless wounded captives in cages.

• Sang Ying and Nan Gurong followed a hidden tunnel beneath the bed and overheard Luo Fengyuan arguing with a soft-voiced man about intruders, medicine people, and the search for their young master.
• Luo Fengyuan and the man returned to check the tunnel, but Sang Ying and Nan Gurong stayed hidden until they left again.
• Sang Ying opened a concealed stone door, and she and Nan Gurong entered a brightly lit underground palace filled with books and Jade Slips.
• Sang Ying opened another door and found a chamber filled with cries of pain and the stench of blood.
• Sang Ying read a Jade Slip bearing Luo Fengyuan's confession that he had given the people of Listening Willow Village to the Red Snake Tribe, then saw wounded captives locked in cages.

Sang Ying and Nan Gurong tried to escape Luo Fengyuan’s underground palace with evidence of his crimes, but Luo Fengyuan and a snake-like Demon Cultivator caught up with them. Just as Nan Gurong was about to be struck, Si Jing intervened, and the confrontation continued with Sang Ying and Nan Gurong behind him.

• Sang Ying and Nan Gurong gathered evidence from the underground chamber and fled toward the moat, hoping to expose Luo Fengyuan’s dealings with the Demon Race and his experiments on mortals.
• Luo Fengyuan and the Demon Cultivator intercepted the pair and attacked, with the Demon Cultivator targeting Sang Ying and Luo Fengyuan striking at Nan Gurong with his whip.
• Si Jing seized Luo Fengyuan’s whip before it hit Nan Gurong, then mocked the city lord for proposing that he marry his daughter.
• Sang Ying retreated behind Si Jing with Nan Gurong as Si Jing insulted the Demon Cultivator and faced both enemies.

Sang Ying and Nan Gurong fled the underground palace while Si Jing and his allies fought Luo Fengyuan and the Demon Cultivator. As the palace began collapsing and the river burst through its walls, Sang Ying used Nan Gurong’s Spiritual Qi to freeze the flood with Thousand-Mile Ice Seal.

• A hidden ally severed the Demon Cultivator’s tail, and Si Jing accused Luo Fengyuan of colluding with demons and testing medicine on mortals.
• Luo Fengyuan admitted he had betrayed humanity to obtain a Spirit Root for his daughter, while Si Jing and his companion engaged him and the Demon Cultivator.
• Following Si Jing’s instructions, Sang Ying led Nan Gurong away and explained that the fight could collapse the palace and flood White Foothill City; Si Jing had arranged for the captive mortals to be rescued.
• Sang Ying asked Nan Gurong to lend her Spiritual Qi so she could stop the river, and Nan Gurong agreed.
• When the river broke through the wall, Sang Ying unleashed Thousand-Mile Ice Seal and froze the rushing water.

After the destruction of the city lord's residence, Si Jing exposed Luo Fengyuan's alliance with the Scarlet Snake Clan and his crimes against mortals, including the people of Listening Willow Village. A Demon Cultivator tried to detonate his inner core, but Luo Fengyuan sacrificed himself to stop the blast, and torrential rain fell over White Foothill City.

• Tremors, frost, and snow spread through White Foothill City as the city lord's residence collapsed and Si Jing, Sang Ying, Nan Gurong, and two injured men emerged from the ruins.
• Si Jing accused Luo Fengyuan of working with the Demon Cultivator and keeping mortals imprisoned in an underground palace.
• Luo Fengyuan denied the charges, but Si Jing showed the crowd booklets and a contract bearing the city lord's seal that proved his crimes and his role in the abductions from Listening Willow Village.
• The Demon Cultivator threatened humanity and tried to detonate his inner core, but Luo Fengyuan held him and absorbed the blast, dying to protect the city.
• Si Jing covered Sang Ying's eyes as rain poured over White Foothill City.

After the disaster in White Foothill City, Sang Ying and the Plain Robe Pavilion departed as the city came under the Facing Heaven Sect’s care. Meanwhile, Luo Min fled with a pill that could grant Spirit Roots and vowed to return for revenge.

• Si Jing told Sang Ying that he had come to obtain spirit medicine from Luo Fengyuan’s treasury, and that he and his friend had rescued her and the villagers before leaving White Foothill City.
• White Foothill City’s cultivators chose to hand the city over to the Facing Heaven Sect, which also promised to care for Listening Willow Village and arrange treatment for its people.
• Sang Ying saw Si Jing off, then boarded the Plain Robe Pavilion’s flying boat with Nan Gurong and the others.
• As the boat departed, Sang Ying saw Liu Yuzhi being carried out gravely injured, while Gu Shu mocked him for having stolen Sang Ying’s credit.
• Luo Min watched White Foothill City from the city gate, clutched the last pill capable of giving a person Spirit Roots, and vowed to avenge her father and reclaim the city.

Sang Ying arrived at the Plain Robe Pavilion with Nan Gurong and met Nan Gurong’s master, Sect Leader Meng, who recognized Sang Ying as the daughter of Wen Miaoshu and Sang Zheng. Sect Leader Meng revealed that she had known Sang Ying’s mother before Sang Ying’s father and that her parents left the Flowing Light Sword Sect seeking medicine for her, but never returned.

• Nan Gurong welcomed Sang Ying to the Plain Robe Pavilion and explained that its founder built the sect at the mountain’s foot so mortals could reach its healers.
• Nan Gurong introduced Sang Ying to her master, Sect Leader Meng, who affectionately scolded Nan Gurong for getting involved in Luo Fengyuan’s affairs.
• Sect Leader Meng examined Sang Ying’s injuries and Spirit Root, then recognized her name and resemblance to Wen Miaoshu.
• Sect Leader Meng confirmed that Wen Miaoshu was Sang Ying’s mother and revealed that she had known her before Sang Zheng did.
• Sect Leader Meng told Sang Ying that her parents had left the Flowing Light Sword Sect to seek medicine for her and never returned.