Chapter Summaries

After escaping the Ancient Cave Dwelling, Liu Xiaolou fought through the chaotic river to rescue Diao Daoyi and discovered a powerful staff among the survivors’ belongings. Once his companions were safe, Han Wuwang told him that Lu Yuanlang’s Golden Core had shattered, leaving him unlikely to threaten Liu Xiaolou again.

• As sect cultivators and disciples clashed in the river, Liu Xiaolou spotted Diao Daoyi being dragged underwater and rushed to save him.
• Liu Xiaolou wielded the Water-Fire Coiling Dragon Staff, killing Diao Daoyi’s attackers with a powerful blow and carrying Diao Daoyi ashore.
• Diao Daoyi woke and urged Liu Xiaolou to find Master Long, so Liu Xiaolou left him with Lin Shuangyu and the others and returned to the river.
• Liu Xiaolou found Dragon Son Fu searching for Diao Daoyi and brought him to the shore, where he asked Dragon Son Fu about using his Heavenly Star Stone to upgrade a magical artifact.
• Han Wuwang told Liu Xiaolou that Lu Yuanlang’s Golden Core had shattered and he had fallen back to a false core.

After the Ancient Cave Dwelling expedition, Liu Xiaolou saw the sects depart and traveled with Dragon Son Fu to return Diao Daoyi to Siming Mountain. Dragon Son Fu then invited Liu Xiaolou to his residence north of the mountain to discuss his business.

• Liu Xiaolou worried that Lu Yuanlang might discover his identity, then watched Gengsang Cave and the other sects begin withdrawing.
• Elder Bai checked Su Jing’s injuries and spoke with Lin Shuangyu about the South Sea Sect’s return; Liu Xiaolou urged Su Jing to visit Wulong Mountain again.
• Liu Xiaolou encouraged Han Gao to return to Great Seal Mountain with the South Sea Sword Sect, and Han Gao joined them as they left.
• Liu Xiaolou left the Zhanglong Sect’s party and found Dragon Son Fu, who was caring for the injured Diao Daoyi.
• Dragon Son Fu used the Babao Fan to carry Liu Xiaolou and Diao Daoyi part of the way, then Liu Xiaolou carried Diao Daoyi onward to Siming Mountain.
• Dragon Son Fu returned Diao Daoyi to the Siming Sect and invited Liu Xiaolou to his residence north of the mountain to talk.

Liu Xiaolou visited Dragon Son Fu at Xiaoyu Mountain to seek help refining the Heavenly Star Stone, and Dragon Son Fu offered to teach him using a copy of the ancestral Qianji Fang. After Liu Xiaolou presented four artifacts for consideration, Jin Niang recognized the Xuanzhen Rope as the Lidi Sanyuan Rope.

• Dragon Son Fu showed Liu Xiaolou the Spiritual Materials at his estate and promised to copy him a volume of the Qianji Fang.
• Liu Xiaolou met Jin Niang and joined her and Dragon Son Fu for tea as rain fell over the courtyard.
• Liu Xiaolou asked Dragon Son Fu to help him use the Heavenly Star Stone to upgrade an artifact.
• Liu Xiaolou selected the bone flute, Xuanzhen Rope, Yellow Sand Umbrella, and Obscuring Jade Slip for Dragon Son Fu to assess.
• Jin Niang identified the Xuanzhen Rope as the Lidi Sanyuan Rope and said it had quite a history.

Liu Xiaolou gave Jin Niang the Lidi Sanyuan Rope, which was tied to a painful episode in her past, and Dragon Son Fu tried to destroy it. Unable to burn the rope, Dragon Son Fu discovered its rare materials and became eager to refine it with Liu Xiaolou.

• Jin Niang recognized the Lidi Sanyuan Rope and explained that an inner sect Officer had once used it to bind her sister.
• Liu Xiaolou said he had found the rope beside a skeleton in a waterside cave, and Jin Niang concluded the man was likely dead.
• Dragon Son Fu agreed not to pursue the old grudge, and Liu Xiaolou gave Jin Niang the rope, which Dragon Son Fu tried to burn.
• Dragon Son Fu's purple flame could not damage the rope, so he took it to a cave to study and refine it.
• While Dragon Son Fu was away, Liu Xiaolou wandered the garden and caught fish and shrimp for Jin Niang's meal.
• Dragon Son Fu returned with the rope, identified its Heavenly Silkworm Silk and Golden Spider Silk, and asked Liu Xiaolou to help refine it.

Liu Xiaolou brought the Lidi Sanyuan Rope to Dragon Son Fu, who discovered its runes came from the ancient North Mountain School and began refining it with Heavenly Star Stone. The newly tempered rope was left in the spirit mist overnight, with its final effects still unknown.

• Dragon Son Fu examined the Lidi Sanyuan Rope and identified its hidden runes as profound North Mountain School artifact runes.
• Dragon Son Fu took Liu Xiaolou to his earthfire Stone Cave, where spirit mist revealed the rope's runes on a bronze mirror.
• Dragon Son Fu explained the artifact runes, but Liu Xiaolou remained committed to studying formations rather than switching to artifact refinement.
• Liu Xiaolou agreed to let Dragon Son Fu refine the rope with Heavenly Star Stone for an expected quality of at least upper-grade.
• Dragon Son Fu and Liu Xiaolou tempered the rope for three hours, then left the white-and-orange rope hanging in spirit mist overnight.

Liu Xiaolou settled into an astonishingly spacious Thatched Cottage and secretly listened outside Dragon Son Fu and Jin Niang’s room, only to be discovered. The next day, Dragon Son Fu completed a rope artifact that could bind Liu Xiaolou without sealing his qi or preventing his magic artifact from flying.

• Jin Niang showed Liu Xiaolou his Thatched Cottage, whose modest exterior concealed a courtyard and several rooms filled with books and curiosities.
• Jin Niang urged Liu Xiaolou to copy 'Qianji Fang,' but he read a travel journal instead and later slipped into the couple’s courtyard wearing the Obscuring Jade Slip.
• Liu Xiaolou overheard Dragon Son Fu and Jin Niang discussing a transformed face resembling his, then learned Dragon Son Fu had noticed him beneath the screen wall and hurried away.
• Liu Xiaolou recorded the incident in the travel journal and joined Dragon Son Fu for breakfast the next morning before accompanying him to the Earthfire Stone Cavern.
• Dragon Son Fu finished tempering the rope, used it to bind Liu Xiaolou, and confirmed that the Three Xuan Sword could still fly free.
• Dragon Son Fu told Liu Xiaolou to drip his blood onto the completed high-tier artifact.

Liu Xiaolou tested the newly refined Xuanzhen Rope, then returned to Zhanglong Sect to claim the promised reward for his service at Jinting Mountain. Elder Bai arranged for Steward Si to handle Three Xuan Sect’s new ownership of Wulong Mountain.

• Liu Xiaolou spent three days testing and refining Xuanzhen Rope, which could immobilize cultivators whose Sea of Qi cultivation did not exceed his own.
• Liu Xiaolou questioned Dragon Son Fu about his condition after the previous night, and Dragon Son Fu assured him that Jin Niang’s cultivation method was legitimate.
• Liu Xiaolou said farewell to Dragon Son Fu and Jin Niang, then traveled nearly two thousand li back to Zhanglong Mountain.
• Steward Liu welcomed Liu Xiaolou and praised Three Xuan Sect’s contributions at Jinting Mountain, including Liu Xiaolou’s work as an envoy.
• Elder Bai was occupied with a guest, but after receiving Liu Xiaolou’s note, he sent Steward Liu to take him to Steward Si to handle Three Xuan Sect’s ownership of Wulong Mountain.

Liu Xiaolou secured Wulong Mountain as the Three Xuan Sect’s foundation and learned that his sect would be recognized as a minor sect affiliated with Zhanglong Sect. The chapter ended as Steward Si introduced the Sect Lineage Register that still needed to be completed.

• Steward Liu showed Liu Xiaolou the Hall of Heavenly Heart and recalled Zhanglong Mountain’s former glory.
• Steward Si welcomed Liu Xiaolou and, after hearing of his service at Jinting Mountain, fetched the Mountain Foundation Register.
• Liu Xiaolou reviewed Wulong Mountain’s boundaries and asked about former companions; Steward Liu and Steward Si shared news of several of them.
• Liu Xiaolou signed and sealed the contract, placing Wulong Mountain under the Three Xuan Sect’s name.
• Steward Si confirmed that the Three Xuan Sect qualified as a minor sect affiliated with Zhanglong Sect and offered to provide a copy of the sect register.
• Steward Si told Liu Xiaolou that he also needed to fill in the Sect Lineage Register.

Liu Xiaolou learned more about the Three Xuan Sect’s history and recorded its inheritance, founding date, and recent milestones. When he tried to register additional members to increase the sect’s annual subsidy, the stewards rejected his choices, leaving the quota at six people.

• Liu Xiaolou told Steward Si and Steward Liu what he knew about the Three Xuan Sect’s history, and Steward Si searched the archives for its founding ancestor.
• Steward Si found a record identifying the ancestor as Huang Yongzhen, who had moved from Wulong Mountain to Dazhu Ridge ninety-eight years earlier.
• Liu Xiaolou and the stewards reconstructed the sect’s succession and recorded its entry into the Sect Register and Liu Xiaolou’s recognition after the battle at Jinting Mountain.
• Steward Si explained the Zhanglong Sect’s annual subsidies and warned Liu Xiaolou that listed members would be verified.
• Liu Xiaolou tried to register several guests, fugitives, and beasts as sect members, but the stewards rejected them, leaving the Three Xuan Sect with a six-person subsidy quota.

Liu Xiaolou marked the Three Xuan Sect’s gate on Qianzhu Ridge and welcomed villagers who came to build its new courtyard. He assured them that the sect would remain on Wulong Mountain and that they would no longer owe grain to Zhanglong Mountain.

• Liu Xiaolou erected a stele bearing the words “Three Xuan Sect” beside the main path and planned to cook spiritual rice porridge for Big White and Little Black.
• Liu Xiaolou met Uncle Tian’s work crew and recognized Lin Ku, who had returned from studying construction in Yangzhou and agreed to help build the courtyard.
• The villagers asked Liu Xiaolou whether he would leave again, and he told them that Wulong Mountain now belonged to the Three Xuan Sect.
• Liu Xiaolou told the villagers they would no longer have to give grain to Zhanglong Mountain and exempted them from this year’s payments.

Liu Xiaolou oversaw the renovation of Qianzhu Ridge into the mountain gate of the Three Xuan Sect and created a warning formation for its Scripture Repository. Zhang Xiaojin and Zhang Daming visited to congratulate him on the sect’s new standing and Wulong Mountain grant, then left after presenting a gift.

• Over ten days, Lin Ku directed the construction of new buildings, a Scripture Repository, a pond, and living quarters at Qianzhu Ridge, while Liu Xiaolou considered furnishings and the sect’s future plans.
• Liu Xiaolou designed and refined the Illusion Formation, whose child jade pendant would alert him to intruders without revealing the thieves that they had been detected.
• Zhang Xiaojin and Zhang Daming arrived to thank Liu Xiaolou for the gains from the cave estate expedition and congratulate him on the construction.
• Liu Xiaolou showed them the land registry for Wulong Mountain and explained that the Three Xuan Sect was now affiliated with the Zhanglong Sect and its disciples received stipends.
• Zhang Daming presented Liu Xiaolou with a congratulatory gift, and the two visitors politely declined his invitation to drink and hurried down the mountain.

Liu Xiaolou finished outfitting Three Xuan Sect’s study and pond on Qianzhu Ridge. Zang Qianli then warned him that Gengsang Cave had demanded Three Xuan Sect be removed from Zhanglong Sect’s register, and Zhanglong Sect promised to support the sect.

• Liu Xiaolou arranged cheap cultivation books as decorative volumes in the new study and reserved a shelf for travel journals and legends.
• Villagers filled the pond with flowing water, while Big White swam in it and brought fish to release; Liu Xiaolou stopped Little Black from putting a water rat into the pond.
• Liu Xiaolou admired the completed pond, pavilion, and other furnishings on Qianzhu Ridge before sensing a visitor at the mountain path.
• Liu Xiaolou welcomed Zang Qianli, who told him that Tu Junyi of Gengsang Cave had petitioned Zhanglong Sect to remove Three Xuan Sect from its register.
• Liu Xiaolou affirmed that Three Xuan Sect wanted to remain attached to Zhanglong Sect, and Zang Qianli told him to guard the mountain gate while Zhanglong Sect stood ready to fight Gengsang Cave.

After learning that Gengsang Cave wanted the Three Xuan Sect removed from the Zhanglong Sect's rolls, Liu Xiaolou went to Longjiabao Manor to confront Zhang Xiaojin and Zhang Daming and seek another way forward. Elder Tu arrived and asked to speak with him over wine, leaving Liu Xiaolou anxious about what the elder intended.

• After three days of worry and anger, Liu Xiaolou decided to visit Zhang Xiaojin and Zhang Daming at Longjiabao Manor.
• Zhang Xiaojin and Zhang Daming explained that they had acted under Elder Tu's orders and could not decide the matter themselves.
• Zhang Xiaojin offered to guarantee Liu Xiaolou's safety if he withdrew from the Zhanglong Sect, but Liu Xiaolou questioned whether Gengsang Cave could keep that promise.
• Zhang Xiaojin warned Liu Xiaolou that remaining a vassal of the Zhanglong Sect could lead to war and put Wulong Mountain at risk.
• After Elder Tu returned from Dongting Lake, Zhang Daming told Liu Xiaolou that Elder Tu wanted to meet him and celebrate over wine.

Tu Junyi reassured Liu Xiaolou that Gengsang Cave would protect him, while hinting that a larger plan was underway and ordering him to appear publicly as an enemy of the manor. Liu Xiaolou returned to Wulong Mountain injured but calmer, waiting for events to unfold.

• Tu Junyi hosted Liu Xiaolou at Longjiabao Manor and recounted their past ties as proof that Liu and Gengsang Cave were allied.
• Liu Xiaolou asked how he could leave the Zhanglong Sect and remove the Three Xuan Sect from its rolls, but Tu Junyi told him to wait and not meddle in Gengsang Cave's affairs.
• Tu Junyi ordered Zhang Xiaojin to throw Liu Xiaolou out and told him to curse the manor fiercely in front of the Zhanglong Sect, Dongyang Sect, and Qingyu Sect observers.
• Zhang Xiaojin flung Liu Xiaolou through the manor gate, and Zhang Daming slipped five Spirit Stones and two Heart Nurturing Pills into his sleeve pouch.
• Liu Xiaolou cursed the Zhang family, staged a chase with its relatives, then returned to Wulong Mountain and waited for the situation to develop.

Liu Xiaolou celebrated the Three Xuan Sect’s completion with villagers from across Wulong Mountain, welcomed West Village into the sect’s fold, and worried about the unresolved conflict between Gengsang Cave and Zhanglong Mountain. Zang Qianli arrived at night with grave news: Gengsang Cave’s demands were excessive, and the sect wanted Liu Xiaolou to keep serving as its outer perimeter.

• Liu Xiaolou celebrated the sect’s new foundation with villagers, who proposed renaming Lingxia Village New Xuan Village.
• Li Mazhi led West Village villagers to congratulate Liu Xiaolou and asked whether they counted as people of Wulong Mountain; Liu welcomed them and agreed they would renovate Half Pine Flat.
• Villagers from Songmao Ping and Beikou Village arrived with gifts, and Liu reflected on the four villages as the Three Xuan Sect’s foundation and exempted them from land taxes for a year.
• The four villages argued over proposed new names and fought a hand-gesture battle that left people sprawled across the ground by midnight.
• Liu Xiaolou prayed in the Bamboo Forest and worried about the conflict between Gengsang Cave and Zhanglong Mountain before Zang Qianli arrived with news that Gengsang Cave’s demands were enormous and the sect wanted Liu to continue dealing with it as the outer perimeter.

Zang Qianli told Liu Xiaolou that sect leaders would meet at Wulong Mountain to decide the Three Xuan Sect’s fate, while arranging for a Rogue Cultivator named Shi to occupy Shihua Cave. After Han Wuwang visited that night, Liu Xiaolou learned Dongyang Sect might offer him a place if he lost Zhanglong Sect’s support.

• Zang Qianli told Liu Xiaolou that representatives from several sects would discuss the Three Xuan Sect’s future at his pavilion in three days.
• Liu Xiaolou agreed to prepare Shihua Cave for a Rogue Cultivator named Shi and learned the Three Xuan Sect might be removed from Zhanglong Sect’s register or made jointly subordinate to Zhanglong Sect and Gengsang Cave.
• Zang Qianli assured Liu Xiaolou that Elder Bai would not let him suffer a loss, but Liu Xiaolou remained unsure what the assurance meant after Zang left.
• Han Wuwang visited Liu Xiaolou at midnight and asked what he knew about the upcoming discussion.
• Han Wuwang asked whether Liu Xiaolou would consider leaving Zhanglong Sect to join Dongyang Sect, and Liu Xiaolou responded with a laugh.

Liu Xiaolou used Qianzhu Ridge’s mountain-protecting formation to hold off a masked intruder for a day and night, eventually discovering he was Lu Yuanlang. The formation kept Lu Yuanlang from entering the ridge, but Liu Xiaolou could only trap him and was left considering how to end the standoff.

• After visits from Zang Qianli and Han Wuwang left Liu Xiaolou unsettled, a masked Wulong Mountain cultivator climbed Qianzhu Ridge, and Liu Xiaolou activated the Twelve Yin Yang Grand Formation.
• The intruder overcame the Wu Cliff and Ji Graves formations by studying their workings and using his palm-leaf fan, then escaped the Geng Beasts formation with smoke from a pill furnace.
• As the intruder worked through Xin Cavern, Ren Marsh, and Gui Ditch, Liu Xiaolou replenished his spiritual power and maintained the formation through a day and night.
• After the intruder broke through the final formation, he removed his disguise, revealing himself as Lu Yuanlang, whose Golden Core had been left as a false core.
• Lu Yuanlang tried to charge up Qianzhu Ridge, but the six formations cycled again and blocked his way; Liu Xiaolou reflected on his progress and his inability to kill Lu Yuanlang or resolve the standoff.

Liu Xiaolou watched Lu Yuanlang escape the looping grand formation by using a candle lamp, then confronted him outside it. Jing Zhao arrived to visit Liu Xiaolou and drove Lu Yuanlang away, warning him never to return to Wulong Mountain.

• Lu Yuanlang used a candle lamp and a cloud bridge to leave Liu Xiaolou’s grand formation and reappear beside the demon vine.
• Liu Xiaolou and Lu Yuanlang argued about their past enmity and Lu Yuanlang’s attempt to enter Qianzhu Ridge.
• Jing Zhao arrived and told Lu Yuanlang to leave so he could visit Liu Xiaolou.
• Liu Xiaolou opened the formation gate and welcomed Jing Zhao, then complained about Lu Yuanlang’s disguised night visit.
• Jing Zhao ordered Lu Yuanlang never to set foot on Wulong Mountain again and threatened to kill him if he returned.
• Lu Yuanlang said nothing and went down the mountain.

Jing Zhao explained that Qingyu Sect planned to take in the Three Xuan Sect and have Liu Xiaolou manage its share of the proposed Wulong Mountain Market Town. He then revealed that Qingyu Mountain Person had nothing to do with Qingyu Sect.

• Jing Zhao praised the Three Xuan Sect’s mountain-protecting formation and asked Liu Xiaolou to call him Senior Brother Jing.
• Jing Zhao explained that several factions were competing over plans to establish a market town beneath Wulong Mountain.
• Jing Zhao told Liu Xiaolou that the Three Xuan Sect could join Qingyu Sect and manage Qingyu Sect’s share of the market town.
• Jing Zhao revealed that Qingyu Mountain Person had nothing to do with Qingyu Sect.

Jing Zhao told Liu Xiaolou that the tombstone’s inscription showed Qingyu Mountain Person predated Qingyu Sect, then sought clues about Ruyan through a portrait and Liu’s illusion formation. He left to repaint her, and the chapter ended with Ruyan appearing before him in his mind, alive and breathing.

• Jing Zhao revealed that Stone Ghost Script on the tombstone dated it to a time before Qingyu Sect existed, suggesting the sect and Qingyu Mountain Person only shared a name.
• Jing Zhao asked Liu Xiaolou to recall other clues and showed him a portrait of Ruyan, but Liu could identify nothing missing from it.
• Jing Zhao entered Liu Xiaolou’s Lin Yuan Xuan Shi Formation and remained bent over inside it for hours before emerging at daybreak.
• Jing Zhao left Qianzhu Ridge and went to a nearby estate, where he asked Steward Hou for a quiet room and painting supplies.
• Jing Zhao burned his first portrait, closed his eyes, and saw Ruyan appear before him alive and breathing.