Chapter Summaries

Sang Ying hunted Snow Beasts with Jiang Zhuoxue’s help to gather enough Snow Crystals to enter Delusion-Breaking City, while Gu Shu grew jealous of Jiang Zhuoxue’s closeness to her. At night, Jiang Zhuoxue led her toward a stronger Devil Beast, where a pack of Three-Tailed Silver Wolves had trapped seven cultivators and killed one of them.

• Sang Ying decided to gather more Snow Crystals instead of entering Delusion-Breaking City, and Gu Shu taunted Jiang Zhuoxue for clinging to her wrist.
• Jiang Zhuoxue offered to guide Sang Ying to Snow Beast dens, and she accepted his help to collect low-grade Snow Crystals.
• After assessing her harvest, Sang Ying asked Jiang Zhuoxue to find a stronger pack of Devil Beasts so she could obtain high-grade Snow Crystals.
• Jiang Zhuoxue found a pack of Three-Tailed Silver Wolves pursuing seven cultivators through the worsening storm.
• Nine Three-Tailed Silver Wolves surrounded the Foundation Establishment cultivators, and one cultivator was killed as the others screamed in terror.

A group of cultivators stranded in the northern snowfields fought a silver wolf pack while Hai Tingzhou tried to complete a killing array. Just as the pack was about to kill him, a familiar swordswoman arrived and completed the array, leaving the group’s survival uncertain.

• After the shuttle pilot abandoned them in the snowfields, the red-clad female cultivator took command and ordered Hai Tingzhou to build a defensive array and then a killing array.
• Hai Tingzhou raised a defensive barrier, while the red-clad female cultivator fought the wolf leader and the others tried to draw the pack away.
• The wolf leader realized the cultivators’ plan and directed the silver wolves to attack Hai Tingzhou, forcing the others to hold them back.
• The barrier shattered before Hai Tingzhou could finish the killing array, and a wolf knocked him down and sent the final Spirit Stone flying.
• As Hai Tingzhou faced death, a familiar swordswoman charged in, killed a silver wolf, and flicked the Spirit Stone into the array’s core, completing the killing array.

Su Fuyun was punished by the Mara Gate’s Gate Master, who intended to use her body for a greater purpose. Far away on the northern snowfields, Fang Chi and Hai Tingzhou reunited with Sang Ying, who announced she now belonged to Ten Thousand Daos Born.

• The Gate Master ordered Su Fuyun to receive ten lashes, then told her to reflect behind closed doors.
• Elder Rong Ji questioned why Su Fuyun remained the Mara Gate’s saintess, and the Gate Master said she was still useful and her body would serve a better master.
• Su Fuyun had Shen Yu dragged back to the rear courtyard and locked up, then fell asleep while thinking of Gu Huaiwei and her master.
• On the northern snowfields, Sang Ying killed the lead silver wolf as Fang Chi and Hai Tingzhou recognized her.
• Fang Chi called for Sang Ying of the Flowing Light Sword Sect, and Sang Ying corrected her, saying she was now Sang Ying of Ten Thousand Daos Born.

During a meal with Fang Chi and Hai Tingzhou, Sang Ying learned that her parents had survived and returned to the Flowing Light Sword Sect. She then heard that Gu Huaiwei had died in the Devil Realm and considered sending Su Fuyun after him.

• Zhang Niang served Sang Ying and her guests a hot meal, and Sang Ying considered compensating her for her help.
• Fang Chi and Hai Tingzhou reunited with Sang Ying after traveling to the Immortal Spirit Realm to find her.
• Fang Chi told Sang Ying that her parents had survived the beast tide, reached another small world, and returned to the Flowing Light Sword Sect.
• Hai Tingzhou explained that Sang Ying's parents had been unable to return sooner and had not known how the Flowing Light Sword Sect treated her.
• Fang Chi and Hai Tingzhou said Su Fuyun had fled to the Devil Realm with Gu Huaiwei, then disappeared and left him behind to be killed.
• Sang Ying reacted to the news of Gu Huaiwei's death and wondered whether she should send Su Fuyun to join him.

Fan Nanjun was defeated by an iron-masked intruder who declared himself Fusheng, the new Devil Lord. Fan Nanjun submitted to him, while two women held captive in the Devil Palace remained behind, one hoping Senior Sister Sang Ying might rescue her.

• Fan Nanjun kept two women who resembled Su Fuyun as substitutes, then left to confront an intruder attacking the Devil Race.
• The two women argued over whether to placate Fan Nanjun, and the cultivator whose cultivation had been crippled silently hoped Senior Sister Sang Ying would come save her.
• Fan Nanjun confronted an iron-masked man and fought him from the marketplace to the Devil Palace, where the man defeated him and wounded his shoulder.
• The iron-masked man declared himself Fusheng, the new Devil Lord, and claimed the Devil Realm as his own.
• Fan Nanjun offered to serve Fusheng, who accepted him on the condition that he acknowledge Fusheng as his master and never betray him.

Sang Ying and her companions entered Delusion-Breaking City after helping clear the snowfields of Snow Beasts, then learned about the Gong Household’s control and the city’s dangers. A procession’s perceptive gaze briefly examined them, but Jiang Zhuoxue’s presence and Jiulian’s Thousand Faces kept them from being recognized as unusual.

• Sang Ying, Fang Chi, Hai Tingzhou, and the others killed several batches of Snow Beasts and collected enough Snow Crystals to travel to Delusion-Breaking City.
• Fang Chi and Hai Tingzhou chose to accompany Sang Ying into the city, while the body cultivators parted ways and asked Sang Ying to leave their payment with Zhang Niang.
• Sang Ying left Zhang Niang Snow Crystals and food, then entered Delusion-Breaking City with Fang Chi and Hai Tingzhou.
• A Rogue Cultivator warned Sang Ying that the Gong Household controlled the city, advised them to avoid offending the second young master’s fiancée, and recommended seeking lodging in the eastern outer city.
• A guarded palanquin procession entered the city, and the Rogue Cultivator hurried Sang Ying and her companions aside.
• The procession’s perceptive gaze swept over Sang Ying and her companions but withdrew without discovering anything unusual; Sang Ying soothed Jiang Zhuoxue and resolved to reclaim his things.

Gong Chengjue returned to the Gong Household, while his fiancée Liang Ranyue resented their betrothal and refused to visit him. In the outer city, Sang Ying and her companions rented a house and discussed Liang Ranyue, hinting that they planned to stir up trouble in the inner city.

• Gong Chengjue returned to the Gong Household, ignored his father's greeting, and entered the residence while Gong Chengsi arranged for news of his return to reach Shengxiao Courtyard.
• Liang Ranyue destroyed a spirit tree with her whip and complained that Gong Chengjue should visit her, rejecting the idea that their betrothal could bind her to him.
• Sang Ying, Fang Chi, and their companion rented a courtyard house from Landlord Zhou, who warned them that Liang Ranyue was the only person allowed to wear red in Delusion-Breaking City.
• Sang Ying discussed Liang Ranyue's possible ties to the Liang Household, and the three companions looked toward the inner city, intending to cause a storm there.

On their first morning in Delusion-Breaking City, Sang Ying and Jiang Zhuoxue’s possessive teasing led Fang Chi and Hai Tingzhou to mistake them for lovers. The group then visited Moon-Seeking Restaurant to investigate the Gong Household’s second young master, while Jiang Zhuoxue grew jealous when Fang Chi offered Sang Ying food.

• Jiang Zhuoxue teased Sang Ying in bed, but she tossed him aside and threatened to make dragon soup.
• Fang Chi entered, saw Jiang Zhuoxue sprawled on Sang Ying’s bed, and hurried away after misreading the scene.
• Jiang Zhuoxue followed Sang Ying and leaned against her in front of Fang Chi and Hai Tingzhou, reinforcing their suspicions despite Sang Ying’s explanations.
• The four agreed to enter the inner city and investigate the Gong Household’s second young master, who had returned the day before.
• At Moon-Seeking Restaurant, Sang Ying listened to patrons discuss the second young master’s inspection while Fang Chi offered her roast snow spirit rabbit.
• Jiang Zhuoxue mocked Fang Chi for not knowing Sang Ying disliked rabbit meat and claimed that he cared about her most.

Sang Ying learned that Gong Chengjue might appear in the outer city while preparing for his wedding, giving her a possible chance to approach him. Before she could reunite with her companions, Fang Chi and Hai Tingzhou rushed over to say Gong Chengjue’s fiancée had taken Jiang Zhuoxue.

• Fang Chi, Jiang Zhuoxue, and Hai Tingzhou competed for Sang Ying’s attention over a piece of snow rabbit meat, and Sang Ying divided it equally among them.
• Sang Ying learned that entering Delusion-Breaking City’s inner city required help from someone in the Gong Household, and resolved to settle her grievances there.
• Sang Ying questioned the restaurant proprietor about Gong Chengjue and learned he might tour the outer city with his dao companion while preparing for his wedding in the middle of next month.
• Fang Chi and Hai Tingzhou hurried back to Sang Ying and told her Gong Chengjue’s fiancée had taken Jiang Zhuoxue away.

After Liang Ranyue took Jiang Zhuoxue into the inner city, Sang Ying realized he had gone willingly and saw a chance to use the incident to enter the city. She posed as the Jimo Household’s eldest young lady and confronted the Gong Household at its gates, where Gong Chengsi learned of her arrival.

• Fang Chi and Hai Tingzhou told Sang Ying that Liang Ranyue had taken Jiang Zhuoxue, who had signaled them not to intervene.
• Sang Ying thanked Fang Chi and said she had found a way to enter the inner city and disrupt the Gong Household, asking Fang Chi and Hai Tingzhou to perform a ruse with her.
• Sang Ying and her companions went to the inner city gates, where she claimed Liang Ranyue had snatched one of her people and threatened to have her elder brother, a Jimo from Spirit Prefecture, demand an explanation.
• A guard recognized Sang Ying as the Jimo Household’s eldest young lady and hurried to report her arrival to Gong Chengsi.
• Gong Chengsi learned that Sang Ying had come to confront the Gong Household over his younger brother’s fiancée and darkened his expression.

Liang Ranyue learned that the beauty she had brought to the Gong Household, Jiang Zhuoxue, was connected to the Jimo Household's eldest young lady. Sang Ying confronted the Gong Household over its treatment of Jiang Zhuoxue and demanded compensation, leaving the Gong father and son in despair.

• Liang Ranyue tried to comfort Jiang Zhuoxue, who insisted that his companion would come for him.
• Gong Chengsi barged into Liang Ranyue's courtyard and accused her of causing trouble by taking someone from the Jimo Household's eldest young lady.
• Liang Ranyue learned that Jiang Zhuoxue had come with the Jimo Household's eldest young lady and realized she had made a serious mistake.
• Sang Ying criticized the Gong Household head and Gong Chengjue for their conduct and declared that Jiang Zhuoxue belonged to Jimo Zanxing.
• Sang Ying told the Gong father and son that she had come to discuss compensation rather than retrieve Jiang Zhuoxue.

Sang Ying secured compensation and a place to stay at the Gong residence while demanding the return of her man. After the Gong family confronted Liang Ranyue, Gong Chengjue questioned their engagement, and Household Head Gong brought Jiang Zhuoxue back to Sang Ying.

• Sang Ying accepted Gong Chengjue’s offer to stay at the Gong residence after he promised compensation, but insisted that her man be returned promptly.
• Household Head Gong arranged the best courtyard for Sang Ying, and the Gong father and son went to Shengxiao Courtyard.
• Gong Chengjue scolded Liang Ranyue for provoking Jimo Zanxing, but she refused to apologize and blamed him for agreeing to their marriage.
• Gong Chengjue said the Liang Household was beyond his reach and that they should call off the marriage, then left Shengxiao Courtyard.
• Household Head Gong brought Jiang Zhuoxue out and apologized; Jiang Zhuoxue said he held no grudge, and Household Head Gong noticed his sightless eyes.

Sang Ying reunited with Jiang Zhuoxue and discussed how to exploit discord within the Gong Household while investigating the inner city’s suspicious formation. During a nighttime search of the Gong residence, she accidentally opened a hidden passage beneath the garden rockery.

• The Gong Household returned Jiang Zhuoxue to Sang Ying, and he teased her about coming to find him.
• Sang Ying rejected Jiang Zhuoxue’s suggestion that she abandon her companions, and she, Fang Chi, Hai Tingzhou, and Jiang Zhuoxue went inside to discuss the Gong Household.
• Sang Ying and Fang Chi noted tensions among the Gong Household’s leaders and considered using them to stir up internal conflict.
• Sang Ying described Spiritual Qi streaming into Delusion-Breaking City and said she would investigate the inner-city formation that night.
• Sang Ying slipped into the Gong residence’s garden and accidentally triggered a stone that revealed a pitch-black secret passage beneath the rockery.

Sang Ying discovered that the Gong Household’s Vitality Formations drained vitality from the Northern Snowfield, but she was wounded while escaping. Gong Chengjue tracked her to the guests’ courtyard and confronted her, only for Jiang Zhuoxue to appear beside her with a bloody bite mark on his collarbone.

• Sang Ying overheard the Gong Household head and Gong Chengjue discuss the jade pearl and learned that it absorbed vitality from the Northern Snowfield.
• Several strands of vitality struck Sang Ying, and she fled the secret chamber after destroying Gong Chengjue’s spiritual needle.
• Gong Chengjue released Blood-Drinking Insects to track Sang Ying’s blood, and they led him to the courtyard where she and the others were staying.
• Gong Chengjue forced his way into the courtyard and ordered his guards to restrain Fang Chi and Hai Tingzhou so he could reach Sang Ying’s room.
• Sang Ying stepped out with her sword drawn and challenged Gong Chengjue, who faltered under her presence.
• Jiang Zhuoxue appeared behind Sang Ying with an arm around her waist and a bloody bite mark on his collarbone.

Gong Chengjue abandoned his plan against Sang Ying, apologized, and left to pursue a reported assassin, who had already escaped. After returning at dawn, he was summoned to the household head’s courtyard.

• Sang Ying stopped Gong Chengjue’s search and warned him to call off his guards, while Fang Chi and Hai Tingzhou subdued them.
• Jiang Zhuoxue made a suggestive remark about Sang Ying dressing him, and Gong Chengjue accepted the explanation and apologized.
• Sang Ying told Gong Chengjue that Jimo Qing would arrive and demanded he prepare another courtyard for him.
• A guard reported finding the assassin, but Gong Chengjue arrived to discover the person had vanished; he ordered his injured guards taken away without disturbing Sang Ying.
• Gong Chengjue returned to his courtyard at dawn, then went to meet the household head after a guard summoned him.

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.