Chapter Summaries

After discovering that sixteen subsidiary formations concealed an ancient formation, Diao Daoyi, Gao Changjiang, and Liu Xiaolou decided to recruit Formation Masters and restore it quickly while keeping the work secret. Liu Xiaolou reached Huangcao Mountain and secured Qi Xuan’s agreement to take two subsidiary formation assignments.

• Diao Daoyi, Gao Changjiang, and Liu Xiaolou found thirty-seven ancient talismans and determined that restoring the ancient formation would require thirteen formation disks, including a core disk.
• Liu Xiaolou persuaded Diao Daoyi and Gao Changjiang to recruit trusted Formation Masters quietly and finish the restoration within two months.
• Diao Daoyi stayed at Mount Nanqi to plan the restoration, while Liu Xiaolou and Gao Changjiang left to gather fellow practitioners.
• Liu Xiaolou traveled to Huangcao Mountain and showed Qi Xuan an ancient formation talisman, offering him a subsidiary formation assignment for two hundred spirit stones plus materials.
• Qi Xuan accepted two assignments, intending to give one to Senior Zhang of Golden Rooster Rock.

Liu Xiaolou recruited formation masters and sold seven subsidiary formation slots while traveling around Pingdu Mountain. After returning to Wulong Mountain, he learned that Liu Daolin had arrived and was staying with Liu Daoran and Madam Liu.

• Liu Xiaolou visited Dan Gui Valley, where Liang Renfang and Pang Qiugong eagerly accepted a subsidiary formation slot after seeing his talismans, then paid extra for another.
• Liu Xiaolou negotiated with Jin Changshu at Longmen, letting him gather partners to contribute 240 spirit stones for a formation slot.
• Liu Xiaolou visited Two Immortals Sect and Nine Python Sect and sold seven subsidiary formations, leaving Gao Changjiang to distribute the remaining five.
• Liu Xiaolou returned to Wulong Mountain, where Zhou Tong hurried after him to report that Liu Daolin had been staying at Half Pine Flat for several days.
• Liu Xiaolou considered taking Liu Daolin to Qin Land but wondered whether his ties to Wuyu Peak might connect him to Elder Mei's side.

Liu Xiaolou gathered Formation Masters to help restore an ancient formation in the Qinling Mountains, bringing Lord Xingde and others into the project. After the groups chose their sub-formations, Liu Xiaolou, Diao Daoyi, and Gao Changjiang counted their profits and celebrated their successful arrangements.

• Liu Daolin agreed to take on a sub-formation with Liu Daoran and his wife, while Liu Xiaolou found Lord Xingde and Seventh Mistress Zhou and persuaded Lord Xingde to join the expedition.
• Liu Xiaolou, Liu Daolin, Liu Daoran, Madam Liu, and Lord Xingde traveled through heavy snow to Wenbi Peak, where fifty Formation Masters assembled to restore the ancient formation.
• Zhang Xiaofeng announced that the Formation Masters must keep their sub-formations secret, and they swore oaths before Diao Daoyi assigned the twelve formations according to each group's contribution.
• Dragon Spring Daoist, the Xianchi Gan Family, Liang Renfang, Pang Qiugong, and the other groups selected their sub-formations and departed for Mount Nanqi.
• Liu Xiaolou, Diao Daoyi, and Gao Changjiang calculated that they would each earn at least six hundred and sixty spirit stones, while Diao Daoyi revealed Zhang Xiaofeng had paid him ten spirit stones to arrange the oaths.

Pang Qiugong and Liang Renfang uncovered an unnamed ancient rune while excavating the Golden Eagle Formation, as Liu Xiaolou continued guiding formation masters at Phoenix Ridge. Later, disputes over scarce earthfire at Wenbi Peak nearly brought two groups to blows, and Liu Xiaolou and Gao Changjiang separated them for the moment.

• Pang Qiugong and Liang Renfang sealed the Golden Eagle Formation's fluctuations, dug beneath its formation disk, and found ancient runes on the granite wall.
• After searching the wall, Liang Renfang found a previously unknown rune beneath the tunnel floor, and he and Pang Qiugong considered naming it the Osmanthus Spirit Mallow Talisman.
• Liu Xiaolou continued explaining formation runes and geomancy to the formation masters at Phoenix Ridge as some of them began returning to Wenbi Peak to refine formation disks.
• Jin Changshu's group confronted the Xuanchi Gan Family when the Gan Family ran over its earthfire allotment, and a jade talisman was ruined in the ensuing dispute.
• Liu Xiaolou and Gao Changjiang arrived at Wenbi Peak and persuaded Jin Changshu's group and the Gan Family to separate before their formations turned the confrontation into a fight.

Liu Xiaolou found a new earthfire site on Purple Cypress Mountain and recognized its solitary guardian, Fang, as a protector elder of the Three Xuan Sect. After the formation masters completed their work and the organizers celebrated their success, urgent news from the Phoenix Sect arrived and Elder Ji rushed to Liu Xiaolou.

• Liu Xiaolou and Gao Changjiang decided to keep searching for earthfire, and Elder Ji told them about the site on Purple Cypress Mountain and its fierce Sword Cultivator guardian.
• Liu Xiaolou visited Purple Cypress Mountain, recognized Fang as an old acquaintance, and arranged for him to guard the earthfire until he could join the Three Xuan Sect.
• Three groups of Formation Masters went to Purple Cypress Mountain, while the others completed their surveys and returned to Wenbi Peak to refine formation disks.
• Liu Xiaolou, Gao Changjiang, and Diao Daoyi finished the large undertaking feeling satisfied with their gains and their new ability to organize formation work.
• After a heavy snowfall, Elder Ji received a letter from the Phoenix Sect, hurried to Liu Xiaolou, and prompted him to ask whether it carried news from Fenglin Manor.

Zhang Xiaofeng met Liu Xiaolou and Ji Shengyuan at Phoenix Ridge and refused to continue refining the Myriad Beasts Frosty Sky Formation, citing difficulties he would not explain. Their dispute over the abandoned project ended with Liu Xiaolou threatening to force Phoenix Sect to see it through and Zhang Xiaofeng calling them bandits.

• Zhang Xiaofeng invited Liu Xiaolou and Ji Shengyuan to the guest pavilion after Luo Shenying and Li Laohuang declined to meet them.
• Ji Shengyuan angrily demanded an explanation for Phoenix Sect setting the matter aside, while Liu Xiaolou urged him to let Zhang Xiaofeng speak.
• Zhang Xiaofeng said Phoenix Sect no longer wanted to refine the formation and refused to reveal its reasons.
• Liu Xiaolou argued that the sects had already invested months of work and materials in the Myriad Beasts Frosty Sky Formation.
• Zhang Xiaofeng refused to resume the project, and Liu Xiaolou threatened to make Phoenix Sect complete it, prompting Zhang Xiaofeng to call them bandits.

After the Phoenix Sect drove Liu Xiaolou and Elder Ji off Phoenix Ridge, Formation Master Zuo warned Zhang Xiaofeng that the visiting southern formation masters had exposed weaknesses in the Myriad Beasts Frosty Sky Formation. Zhang Xiaofeng tried to reorganize the defenses, but an intruder appeared and signaled the formation masters to attack.

• Zhang Xiaofeng watched Liu Xiaolou and Elder Ji leave Phoenix Ridge and planned to quietly explain that the Gaoxi Blue Water Sect had influenced the Phoenix Sect’s decision.
• Formation Master Zuo told Zhang Xiaofeng that the Wild Goose Formation had no operational flaws, but that the inspections had revealed weaknesses and altered the terrain.
• Formation Master Zuo said he would return with Formation Master Tao to modify the formations, and instructed Zhang Xiaofeng to halt and restart the grand formation to change its sequence.
• Zhang Xiaofeng learned that Sect Master Luo and the Great Elder would not leave closed cultivation, so he ordered the grand formation shut down and restarted.
• Zhang Xiaofeng accidentally struck a bloodied stranger with a teapot, and the stranger shouted that the villains had seen through them.
• Several formation masters revealed portable formations around the hall and argued over their names and how they worked.

The Formation Masters captured Li Laohuang and his disciples during their attempted escape, then trapped Sect Master Luo Shenying in his sealed cave. Li Laohuang blamed Gaoxi Blue Water Sect for forcing Phoenix Sect to break its agreement and offered to help Liu pursue Zuo Shi.

• Gao Changjiang and Dragon Spring Daoist focused on opening Luo Shenying’s cave while Lord Xingde forged an iron needle for Lin Zian’s Feather Formation.
• Li Laohuang led his two disciples and a flock of spirit birds in a breakout, but the Formation Masters trapped the birds and captured the group.
• Li Laohuang warned that moving the He Shan stone gate would disturb the Earth Dragon, so Gao Changjiang seized the central array disk and the Formation Masters trapped Luo Shenying inside instead.
• The Formation Masters escorted Li Laohuang and the captives to the Front Mountain main hall, where they reported that Gaoxi Blue Water Sect had pressured Phoenix Sect to break its agreement.
• Li Laohuang offered to serve as Liu’s vanguard and help pursue Zuo Shi, who had left the mountain less than an hour earlier.

After Senior Brother Zuo returned with Bai Xu, Liu Xiaolou and the others lured them into the altered Myriad Beasts Frosty Sky Formation. Bai Xu was knocked unconscious by a giant eagle, while Senior Brother Zuo was caught in a net and had his sea of qi sealed.

• Diao Daoyi, Liu Xiaolou, and Gao Changjiang altered the formation’s sequence and spent five days preparing for the Gaoxi Blue Water Sect’s return.
• The bald eagles reported approaching enemies, and Liu Xiaolou’s group recognized Senior Brother Zuo and Bai Xu at the northern ridge.
• Zhang Xiaofeng explained Bai Xu’s connection to the Bai Clan and asked the others to spare his life.
• Senior Brother Zuo and Bai Xu entered the Thousand Sparrow Formation, which guided them deeper into the mountain instead of driving them away.
• Bai Xu followed Senior Brother Zuo’s suggestion to leap through an illusionary cliff passage and was struck unconscious by a giant eagle.
• Senior Brother Zuo followed into the formation but landed in a net that sealed his sea of qi.

Tao Sanniang and the Gaoxi Blue Water Sect’s Formation Masters arrived at the northern mountain pass, forcing Phoenix Ridge to abandon its plan to attack and prepare for a prolonged defense. Liu Xiaolou’s side learned about the enemy from Bai Xu and Zuo Shi, then received a sword letter revealing that the approaching force also wielded flying swords.

• Tao Sanniang displayed her powerful escape art and placed eight subsidiary formation disks around the mountain pass, impressing and alarming the defenders.
• Diao Daoyi, Liu Xiaolou, and Gao Changjiang decided to defend Phoenix Ridge without venturing out and to delay the enemy for at least twenty days.
• Liu Xiaolou’s group questioned Zuo Shi and Bai Xu; Bai Xu revealed details about the Gaoxi Blue Water Sect’s Formation Masters and their tents, while Zuo Shi initially refused to cooperate.
• After Bai Xu’s betrayal was confirmed, the defenders recorded and distributed information about the enemy Formation Masters.
• The Gaoxi Blue Water Sect sent a sword letter across the valley, and Ji Shengyuan explained that all five of its branches cultivated both sword and formation.

Phoenix Ridge used Zuo and Bai Xu as leverage against Gaoxi Blue Water Sect, and Tao Sanniang entered the Thousand Sparrow Formation to confront Liu Xiaolou. She challenged Liu to a sword duel at midnight and left the mountain, threatening to storm it if he did not appear.

• Phoenix Ridge found Zuo and Bai Xu wandering through its formations and claimed they had seen secret methods, while Gaoxi Blue Water Sect demanded their release.
• After Gaoxi Blue Water Sect threatened to break the mountain, Phoenix Ridge tied Zuo and Bai Xu to conspicuous trees on the ridge.
• Tao Sanniang charged into the Thousand Sparrow Formation and passed through it using her knowledge of its original design.
• Liu Xiaolou warned Tao Sanniang that his flying swords could reach the captives before she could act, and she challenged him to a sword duel at midnight.
• Tao Sanniang rebuffed Fang Buai when he offered to duel in Liu Xiaolou's place, then left with Gaoxi Blue Water Sect and threatened to storm the mountain if Liu did not come.

Liu Xiaolou hesitated over Tao Sanniang’s challenge, worried about the terms she might impose if he lost. His fellow Formation Masters rallied around him, and he set out for the enemy camp with a group of supporters.

• Liu Xiaolou decided that he would not surrender the formation or leave the mountain within seventeen days, even if he lost to Tao Sanniang.
• Gao Changjiang offered to take Liu Xiaolou’s place if Tao Sanniang’s demands threatened to wrong Su Wuniang, while Diao Daoyi advised him to reveal Elder Mei’s matter at Fenglin Manor if he faced real danger.
• Liang Renfang, Pang Qiugong, Lin Zian, Liu Daolin, Jin Changshu, and others volunteered to accompany Liu Xiaolou, despite objections from those who tried to keep them behind.
• Eight supporters joined Liu Xiaolou on his journey down the mountain to face Tao Sanniang, while Diao Daoyi stayed behind to guard Phoenix Ridge.

Liu Xiaolou rejected Tao Sanniang’s offer of a devoted lifelong relationship, and she drove him from her tent. After Liu Xiaolou explained what happened, Diao Daoyi revealed that Qingzhu was the same way.

• Outside Tao Sanniang’s tent, Liang Renfang, Pang Qiugong, Liu Daolin, and the other Formation Masters argued while they waited.
• Tao Sanniang held Liu Xiaolou at swordpoint and demanded that he agree to a lifelong relationship, but he refused, citing his duty to revive his sect.
• Tao Sanniang withdrew her sword and ordered Liu Xiaolou out, and he tried to introduce her to other Formation Masters before leaving the tent.
• The Formation Masters rushed to Tao Sanniang’s side, while Fang Buai escorted Liu Xiaolou away from the camp.
• Liu Xiaolou met Diao Daoyi and the others at the foot of the ridge and explained what had happened.
• Diao Daoyi privately told Liu Xiaolou that Qingzhu was like Tao Sanniang and could only be looked at, not touched.

Tao Sanniang and the Gaoxi Blue Water Sect arranged a fourteen-round formation contest with the southern Formation Masters at Phoenix Ridge to decide who would occupy the mountain. The contest began with Diao Daoyi and Gao Changjiang's Two Forms Array, which Tao Sanniang broke before setting her own formation for Liu Xiaolou to challenge.

• Liu Xiaolou released Zuo Bai and Bai Xu after they agreed to persuade Tao Sanniang and honor their promise.
• Zuo Bai and Bai Xu warned Tao Sanniang against storming Phoenix Ridge and proposed deciding control of the mountain through a formation contest.
• Zuo Bai and Bai Xu negotiated a fourteen-round contest in which each side would set seven formations, and Tao Sanniang agreed that the ancient talismans could be handed over as a sale if the southern side lost.
• Diao Daoyi and Gao Changjiang set a Two Forms Array, which Tao Sanniang eventually broke after entering it herself.
• Tao Sanniang set a High Mountain Flowing Water Array, and Liu Xiaolou won the right to break it by bidding three hundred spirit stones.

Liu Xiaolou learned qin music and formation-breaking techniques from Tao Sanniang, then broke the High Mountain Flowing Water Formation after three days. He next tested Gaoxi Sect with his Lin Yuan Xuan Shi Formation, whose unsettling effects left Tao Sanniang determined to enter it herself.

• After Liu Xiaolou admitted he could not play the qin, Tao Sanniang taught him basic finger techniques and the tune "Taoyuan Wen Dao."
• Liu Xiaolou used Tao Sanniang's tunes and earth-based methods to pass the waterfall and river stages and break the High Mountain Flowing Water Formation.
• Liu Xiaolou set up the Lin Yuan Xuan Shi Formation, and Gaoxi Sect's junior brother emerged unconscious after spending three hours inside.
• Junior Sister Yuan and another Foundation Establishment sister emerged flushed and breathless, while Xu and Xu identified the formation as a Yin Yang Illusion Formation.
• Xu and Xu paid Liu Xiaolou spirit stones to observe the formation later, and Liu Xiaolou put away the formation disk and declared it broken.
• Tao Sanniang rejected Zuo and Bai's attempt to stop her and announced that she would enter the formation herself.

After the Myriad Beasts Frost Sky Ancient Formation reappeared on Phoenix Ridge, the formation masters departed to pursue new insights, leaving Liu Xiaolou to handle the aftermath. He told Gaoxi Sect that his side conceded the formation contest and offered to sell them the grand formation.

• Diao Daoyi demonstrated the ancient formation’s sub-formations, and its activation sent a cry and bright radiance across Phoenix Ridge.
• Formation masters including Dragon Spring Daoist, Liang Renfang, Pang Qiugong, and Liu Daolin left the mountain, eager to test what they had learned.
• Liu Daolin warned Liu Xiaolou to leave the formation disks with Gaoxi Sect, while Liu Daoran planned to move with his wife to Wulong Mountain.
• Diao Daoyi and Gao Changjiang departed for Siming Mountain so Diao Daoyi could pursue secluded cultivation, and Gao Changjiang asked Liu Xiaolou to invite Tao Sanniang to visit.
• Master Zuo and Bai Xu arrived from Gaoxi Sect and asked about the formation’s radiance; Liu Xiaolou confirmed the ancient formation had reappeared.
• Liu Xiaolou told them to report that his side conceded the contest and asked Tao Sanniang how many spirit stones Gaoxi Sect would pay to acquire the grand formation.

Liu Xiaolou spared the Phoenix Sect after Ji Shengyuan traded his merit and rewards to protect it, then agreed to continue Gaoxi Sect’s formation duel. He entered Tao Sanniang’s Crimson Forest Fishing Formation but could not pass its first stage, where he learned he had to endure the Bamboo Whips with a tranquil heart.

• Zhang Xiaofeng and Li Laohuang begged Liu Xiaolou to spare them and offered to serve the Three Xuan Sect.
• Ji Shengyuan gave up his merit and rewards to ask Liu Xiaolou to pardon the Phoenix Sect, and Liu Xiaolou agreed.
• Zuo Bai and Bai Xu told Liu Xiaolou that Tao Sanniang insisted he continue the formation duel, so he agreed to enter the Crimson Forest Fishing Formation.
• Liu Xiaolou entered the formation, failed to pass its Bamboo Forest stage, and conceded.
• Zuo Bai and Bai Xu relayed Tao Sanniang’s advice that Liu Xiaolou had to keep a tranquil heart while enduring the Bamboo Whips.

Liu Xiaolou abandoned the formation contest and secretly left Phoenix Ridge after arranging spirit pills for Qingshan Sect and its allies. Tao Sanniang ended the competition and led Gaoxi Sect up the mountain, where she learned Liu Xiaolou had already departed.

• Liu Xiaolou resumed breaking the formation after Zuo Bai and Bai Xu persuaded him, then arranged to return at Chen hour after taking a Heart Nurturing Pill.
• Liu Xiaolou sensed danger and decided to leave, instructing Ji Shengyuan to distribute spirit pills to Zhang Xiaofeng and Li Laohuang and leaving Luo Shenying’s fate to Ji Shengyuan.
• Ji Shengyuan reassured Zhang Xiaofeng and Li Laohuang that their spirit pills would arrive in seven days, while Liu Xiaolou departed Phoenix Ridge.
• Tao Sanniang retrieved the formation disks, ended the contest, and led Gaoxi Sect up the mountain without activating the Myriad Beasts Frosty Sky Formation.
• Zhang Xiaofeng told Tao Sanniang that Liu Xiaolou had left an hour earlier, and Tao Sanniang said he had been alert.

After fleeing Phoenix Ridge and taking a long detour back to Wulong Mountain, Liu Xiaolou and Fang Buai were intercepted by a fat Formation Master demanding Liu Xiaolou’s ancient talismans. The stranger trapped them in an unfamiliar Ice Snow Flow formation, leaving them unable to move.

• Liu Xiaolou and Fang Buai fled Phoenix Ridge as the Earth Dragon shook the mountains, then escaped downstream on a fishing boat and traveled south before turning east toward Wulong Mountain.
• After more than a day of travel, Liu Xiaolou and Fang Buai reached the road to Qianzhu Ridge, where a fat man blocked their way and demanded Liu Xiaolou write down all the ancient talismans he knew.
• The fat man revealed that he had tracked them using Ice Snow Flow formations and threatened to kill Liu Xiaolou if he refused to hand over the talismans.
• Liu Xiaolou set up the Lin Yuan Xuan Shi Formation and Fang Buai attacked, but the fat man’s eight formation disks trapped Fang Buai in swirling black whirlwinds.
• Liu Xiaolou sent a yellow dragon against the fat man’s white snowflake dragon and attacked with the Water-Fire Coiling Dragon Staff, but the fat man unleashed the Eight Vortex Immortal Elder Ice River Sacrificial Formation.
• The ancient formation plunged Liu Xiaolou into darkness and left him almost completely unable to move.

Liu Xiaolou struggled to escape the fat man's formation by using his flying sword as a qin, but the music enraged the fat man and sent him plunging toward the abyss. He landed in the real world, where Jing Zhao had killed his attacker, and learned that the man's head was gone.

• Liu Xiaolou used the Yellow Dragon Sword to slow his fall, then formed it into a qin and played music to resist the Ice River Eight-Whirlpool Immortal Elder Formation.
• The fat man woke from Liu Xiaolou's illusion formation in a fury after the music ruined his preserved boyhood body, then accelerated Liu Xiaolou's descent.
• Liu Xiaolou landed near Qianzhu Ridge and found Jing Zhao holding the attacker's headless corpse.
• Jing Zhao let Liu Xiaolou inspect the corpse's storage artifact, but Liu Xiaolou found no formation manual and only shattered jade nearby.
• Jing Zhao told Liu Xiaolou that he had knocked off the attacker's head.