diff --git a/block.go b/block.go
index 768c40b..a8e73d8 100644
--- a/block.go
+++ b/block.go
@@ -1342,6 +1342,14 @@ func (p *parser) paragraph(out *bytes.Buffer, data []byte) int {
 			return i
 		}
 
+		// if there's a fenced code block, paragraph is over
+		if p.flags&EXTENSION_FENCED_CODE != 0 {
+			if p.fencedCode(out, current, false) > 0 {
+				p.renderParagraph(out, data[:i])
+				return i
+			}
+		}
+
 		// if there's a definition list item, prev line is a definition term
 		if p.flags&EXTENSION_DEFINITION_LISTS != 0 {
 			if p.dliPrefix(current) != 0 {
diff --git a/markdown.go b/markdown.go
index 1e3fa93..76f4dc5 100644
--- a/markdown.go
+++ b/markdown.go
@@ -393,7 +393,6 @@ func firstPass(p *parser, input []byte) []byte {
 		tabSize = TAB_SIZE_EIGHT
 	}
 	beg, end := 0, 0
-	lastLineWasBlank := false
 	lastFencedCodeBlockEnd := 0
 	for beg < len(input) { // iterate over lines
 		if end = isReference(p, input[beg:], tabSize); end > 0 {
@@ -405,16 +404,13 @@ func firstPass(p *parser, input []byte) []byte {
 			}
 
 			if p.flags&EXTENSION_FENCED_CODE != 0 {
-				// when last line was none blank and a fenced code block comes after
+				// track fenced code block boundaries to suppress tab expansion
+				// inside them:
 				if beg >= lastFencedCodeBlockEnd {
 					if i := p.fencedCode(&out, input[beg:], false); i > 0 {
-						if !lastLineWasBlank {
-							out.WriteByte('\n') // need to inject additional linebreak
-						}
 						lastFencedCodeBlockEnd = beg + i
 					}
 				}
-				lastLineWasBlank = end == beg
 			}
 
 			// add the line body if present