Chapter Summaries

Liu Xiaolou tracked the badly injured Lu Yuanlang to a mountain hollow and exploited his weakness to rob him. Lu Yuanlang kept surrendering his belongings in hopes of healing, but Liu Xiaolou was still demanding more as the chapter ended.

• Liu Xiaolou followed Lu Yuanlang's strange, glittering blood trail to a mountain hollow and watched him recover from his injuries.
• Lu Yuanlang sensed Liu Xiaolou nearby, but his injuries and disordered qi left him unable to catch the masked intruder.
• Liu Xiaolou pelted Lu Yuanlang with stones, then demanded spirit stones; Lu Yuanlang handed over fifty-eight.
• Liu Xiaolou returned and demanded spirit pills, then took Lu Yuanlang's remaining pills and magical artifacts.
• Liu Xiaolou pointed at Lu Yuanlang's storage thumb ring and demanded it, while Lu Yuanlang continued suppressing his anger.

Liu Xiaolou took Lu Yuanlang’s Fetal Breath Furnace and revealed his identity before killing him. He offered wine to the people Lu Yuanlang had killed, then prepared to return and report to Jing Zhao.

• Liu Xiaolou approached the badly injured Lu Yuanlang and demanded his Natal Magic Artifact, the Fetal Breath Furnace.
• Lu Yuanlang tried to attack with the furnace, but Liu Xiaolou caught it and demanded that Lu Yuanlang sever their Natal Artifact connection.
• Liu Xiaolou revealed that he was Liu Xiaolou of the Three Xuan Sect and that his opponent was Lu Yuanlang of Tianmu Mountain; Lu Yuanlang died before he could respond.
• Liu Xiaolou killed Lu Yuanlang with a wooden stick, avenging those he had slain.
• Liu Xiaolou offered thirty-three bowls of Bamboo Leaf Green to commemorate the dead, then set off to report to Jing Zhao.

After avenging his grievance, Liu Xiaolou returned to the battle between Dongfang Yuying and Sun Juyuan, where he helped Dongfang Yuying tear apart Sun Juyuan’s shifting mass of light. Sun Juyuan escaped into the star rain around the cave, and a huge hand pulled Liu Xiaolou to safety after the starlight overwhelmed his defenses.

• Liu Xiaolou discovered that his leap had improved to sixteen zhang after his vengeance left him feeling lighter.
• Liu Xiaolou returned toward the battle and caught Dongfang Yuying, who warned him to run from Sun Juyuan’s mass of light and shadow.
• Liu Xiaolou struck the mass with the Water-Fire Coiling Dragon Staff, splitting it and giving Dongfang Yuying the chance to tear it apart.
• Sun Juyuan re-formed and fled toward the cave, with Dongfang Yuying and Liu Xiaolou pursuing him.
• Sun Juyuan sheltered beneath the star rain, and the starlight rapidly drained Liu Xiaolou’s true essence and blinded his senses.
• A huge hand seized Liu Xiaolou and carried him away from the star rain.

Jing Zhao struggled to locate the Sima Brothers inside their star-rain domain while Liu Xiaolou used spirit stones to guide his Bamboo Demon through the disorienting battlefield. Liu Xiaolou reached the wounded Sun Juyuan and threatened him to make the Sima Brothers stop.

• The Sima Brothers’ Polar Star spell trapped Jing Zhao in a world of star rain that steadily eroded his Red Scarf Warrior’s divine power.
• Jing Zhao failed to find the Sima Brothers’ true forms and recognized that their Star Source Divine Strike was hampering his own divine invocation.
• Dongfang Yuying explained that the star-rain world confused direction, while Liu Xiaolou’s attempts to enter showed that his formation could not withstand the erosion for long.
• Liu Xiaolou and Dongfang Yuying supplied spirit stones to sustain Liu Xiaolou’s Eight Lights Formation of the Azure Bamboo and its Bamboo Demon.
• Liu Xiaolou followed the Bamboo Demon through the star rain and found the wounded Sun Juyuan beside a boulder.
• Liu Xiaolou threatened to break one of Sun Juyuan’s fingers unless he made the Sima Brothers stop fighting.

Liu Xiaolou and the Bamboo Demon tried to reach the Star Bridge, but Sima Chengqiu attacked them before Jing Zhao defeated both Sima Brothers. Sect Master Dongfang and Elder Fu arrived to find the Qingyu Sect victorious, while the Sima Brothers’ purpose remained unexplained.

• Liu Xiaolou and the Bamboo Demon followed the Star Rain toward the Star Bridge, carrying the unconscious Sun Juyuan, but could not step onto it.
• Sima Chengqiu attacked the Bamboo Demon, and Jing Zhao’s Red Scarf Warrior struck him away as Liu Xiaolou’s staff made the Star Bridge tremble and collapse.
• Jing Zhao fought Sima Chengxia’s Polar Star Constellation Virtual Spirit and defeated him after a hundred exchanges of punches.
• Jing Zhao and Sima Chengxia found the unconscious Sima Chengqiu, and Jing Zhao asked what the Wangwu Sect intended, but Sima Chengxia did not answer.
• Sect Master Dongfang and Elder Fu arrived, heard Dongfang Yuying’s account, and Elder Fu mocked the Sima Brothers for coming to Qingyu Sect.

After the battle, Liu Xiaolou left Qingyu Sect, but Jing Zhao tracked him down to ask where Sun Juyuan might have lost his storage Jade Pendant. Liu Xiaolou continued on his way, thinking about earning merit and clearing his allies’ wanted status, before recognizing a mark on a notice at Tianmen Market.

• Liu Xiaolou privately said farewell to Jing Zhao and Dongfang Yuying, while Qingyu Sect revived the Sima Brothers and Sun Juyuan and prepared to take them to Dongting.
• Sun Juyuan revealed that his storage Jade Pendant was missing, and Lu Boqi arrived seeking Lu Yuanlang and the Ming Mie Wan Sui Deng.
• Jing Zhao caught up with Liu Xiaolou by a stream and asked him to help locate Sun Juyuan’s Jade Pendant; Liu Xiaolou suggested searching beneath an ox-resting stone and received spirit stones and sect merit.
• Liu Xiaolou left the stream, considered how to use his accumulated merit to clear his allies, and stopped at Tianmen Market to inspect its notice board.
• Liu Xiaolou recognized a bow-and-arrow-like signature on a worn notice, retrieved transparent emerald jade from his Universe Bag, and held it over the paper to read it.

Liu Xiaolou met Feilongzi after finding his Hero's Invitation and agreed to attend a meeting about a paid retrieval job at Wuchao Market. Back at Qianzhu Ridge, he checked on his sect and was attacked by Big White and Little Black.

• Liu Xiaolou found Feilongzi's old Hero's Invitation at Tianmen Market, but Feilongzi intercepted him and explained that the heroes' gathering had been postponed.
• Feilongzi invited Liu Xiaolou to a meeting at Wuchao Market's black market two days later, where he would learn more about a retrieval job with a minimum reward of fifty spirit stones.
• Liu Xiaolou returned to Qianzhu Ridge, encouraged Zhou Tong in his study of Ruyi Finger Art, and learned that Elders Black and Bai had returned while Fang Buai had gone to visit the Song clan in Heshan.
• Liu Xiaolou found Big White back at Qianzhu Ridge and scolded it for abandoning its post, but Big White and Little Black attacked him with a fireball and an ice arrow.

Liu Xiaolou discovered that Big White and Little Black had been battling the Spirit Ao Shrimp in the pond after exhausting their magic power. After feeding them spirit stones, he watched them retaliate underwater and later found the saddlebags they had brought back, which he began to count.

• Liu Xiaolou pursued Big White and Little Black through the bamboo forest, enduring their fireballs and ice arrows before tracking them to the pond.
• Liu Xiaolou dived into the pond and found Big White and Little Black trapped by giant Spirit Ao Shrimp in an underwater air pocket.
• Liu Xiaolou freed the two beasts by forcing the Spirit Ao Shrimp to retreat, and Big White and Little Black clung to him as they left the water.
• Liu Xiaolou realized the beasts had run out of magic power and gave each of them a spirit stone.
• Big White and Little Black returned to the pond, drove the Spirit Ao Shrimp and Golden Whisker Dragon Carp to the surface, and emerged carrying dripping saddlebags.
• Liu Xiaolou found the saddlebags hidden in a cliff crack and began counting their contents.

Liu Xiaolou feasted on Spirit Ao Shrimp with Zhou Tong and guarded his remaining aquatic creatures before joining Feilongzi’s secret-market meeting as Formation Master Li. He agreed to consider helping Sister Ruyi’s group raid a more manageable mountain stronghold for a share of the loot.

• Liu Xiaolou burned his letter to Jing Zhao without asking about the beasts’ newfound abilities, then heard Zhou Tong assess the Spirit Ao Shrimp’s defenses and divine abilities.
• Zhou Tong prepared the Spirit Ao Shrimp three ways, and Liu Xiaolou, Zhou Tong, Big White, and Little Black ate the entire creature.
• Liu Xiaolou warned Big White and Little Black not to steal the remaining Spirit Ao Shrimp, then cultivated until the following dusk.
• Liu Xiaolou locked away the Spirit Ao Shrimp and Dragon Whisker Golden Carp before traveling to Wuchao Market, where Feilongzi led him into the secret market.
• Feilongzi explained that Sister Ruyi’s group had abandoned the Chicheng Mountain target and offered Formation Master Li two shares to help raid another stronghold.
• Liu Xiaolou asked whether the target was one of several dangerous mountains, then agreed to give the plan a try.

Liu Xiaolou tried to dissuade Ruyi and the Heroes' Gathering from raiding the Three Xuan Sect, warning that the sect had little wealth despite its status as Wuchao Market's master. The group decided to proceed, and they agreed on fixed payments and ground rules before setting out to break the sect's formation.

• The cultivators debated raiding the Three Xuan Sect after Feilongzi explained its nominal authority over Wuchao Market and its lucrative mediation fees.
• Feilongzi claimed the sect might have wealth from its market position and suggested Liu Xiaolou had bought Heavenly Foundation Middle-Returning Liquid at auction.
• Liu Xiaolou warned that the Three Xuan Sect was poor and tried to protect Ruyi from taking a loss, but she and the others remained committed to the raid.
• Liu Xiaolou agreed to help break the formation on the conditions that they would not burn the sect gate and that he and Qiuyan would each receive fifty spirit stones regardless of the haul.
• Ruyi settled Zhuyai's share of Qiuyan's payment, and Liu Xiaolou insisted that the agreed spirit stones be paid before he contributed.

Liu Xiaolou joined Feilongzi and the others to reach Qianzhu Ridge and stage the breaking of its mountain-protecting formation. After hearing about the group’s history as Hero Assembly collaborators, he pretended to cast a spell, and the formation appeared to open.

• Liu Xiaolou asked to split up, but Zhuyai challenged his motives before Feilongzi agreed that caution was wise and Ruyi assigned the group separate routes.
• Feilongzi told Liu Xiaolou about his early years as a rogue cultivator, Ruyi’s rise to leadership, and the disappearance of Old Boss Wang.
• Liu Xiaolou and Feilongzi reached Qianzhu Ridge, where Zhuyai and Qiuyan reported that the mountain gate was unguarded and waited for Ruyi.
• Ruyi arrived and asked Liu Xiaolou to examine the formation while Feilongzi warned him not to cross the mountain gate.
• Liu Xiaolou faked a formation-breaking ritual, and the group felt their vision blur before they concluded that the formation had been broken.

Liu Xiaolou led a band of thieves through the Three Xuan Sect’s defenses, but their search for treasure ended when Sect Leader Jing Zhao appeared and defeated them. Jing Zhao questioned Liu Xiaolou’s role in the raid, and Liu Xiaolou tried to explain that he had joined in for fun and spirit stones.

• After the grand formation broke, Zhuyai and the others followed Liu Xiaolou up the mountain, where he guided them through the paths and past a small illusion formation at Half Pine Flat.
• Liu Xiaolou knocked Zhou Tong unconscious, while Zhuyai and Qiuyan searched the rooms and complained that the sect was poor; the group then found the main hall and Scripture Repository.
• Sister Ruyi urged the group to find the sect’s leaders, and Jing Zhao appeared in a pavilion with Big White and Little Black, startling the intruders.
• Zhuyai and Qiuyan fled but were knocked unconscious; Feilongzi attacked Jing Zhao with his bow, and Sister Ruyi tried to cover their retreat, but Jing Zhao captured all three.
• Jing Zhao recognized Liu Xiaolou and asked whether he had been coerced; Liu Xiaolou said he had led the thieves up the mountain for fun and to earn spirit stones, and Jing Zhao suggested they could later claim Liu Xiaolou had rescued them.

Jing Zhao recruited Liu Xiaolou to impersonate him on a month-long journey to several sects, supplying a disguise and instructions. After boarding a Changjing Gang ship, Liu Xiaolou discovered his own face-refining technique made him resemble Jing Zhao far more than Jing Zhao realized.

• Jing Zhao asked Liu Xiaolou to appear at the Eastern and Western Twin Islands, Luofu Mountain, and Qingcheng Mountain over the next month while disguised as him.
• Jing Zhao gave Liu Xiaolou a Divine Strike talisman, gold powder, clothing, and advice for improving their resemblance, then paid him with merit transfers and spirit stones.
• Liu Xiaolou left by jumping from the cliff and stopped at Tan Family Manor to change before heading to the Wu Chao River docks.
• Liu Xiaolou boarded a Changjing Gang ship and instructed its crew to bring his junior brother Dongfang aboard at Yueyang Workshop.
• Liu Xiaolou inspected himself in a bronze mirror and realized his artifact-face technique made him resemble Jing Zhao about eighty percent, far more than Jing Zhao expected.

Liu Xiaolou posed as Senior Brother Jing aboard the ship, attracted the attention of the Huang clan passengers, and declined their invitation to a banquet. The ship reached Yueyang, where Dongfang Yuying joined him.

• Liu Xiaolou learned that the southeast cabin held a family from the Chicheng Huang clan and that the Changjing Gang had reserved the northwest cabin for his junior brother.
• Liu Xiaolou went onto the deck and imitated Senior Brother Jing's bearing to make the Huang family notice him.
• An old woman from the Huang clan invited Liu Xiaolou to a banquet, but he declined, citing an elder's misfortune and the mourning period.
• Liu Xiaolou waited aboard as the ship sailed to Yueyang, then received Dongfang Yuying when she arrived.

Liu Xiaolou and Dongfang Yuying traveled aboard a Changjing Gang ship toward the Eastern Sea, stopping at Yueyang Workshop, where their visit to Lvyi Courtyard left them racing back aboard in a hurry. After they reached Changjing Island, Huang Chenyu’s sister arranged to visit Dongfang Yuying at Qingyu Sect, leaving Liu Xiaolou to wonder whether she was truly seeking cultivation guidance.

• Liu Xiaolou told Dongfang Yuying that the Huang family in the cabin opposite belonged to Huang Chenyu, whose young sister had become enamored with Senior Brother Jing’s appearance.
• Liu Xiaolou persuaded Dongfang Yuying to visit Lvyi Courtyard with him, and they spent the evening there before hurrying back to the ship at dawn.
• The helmsman saw two figures leap aboard and later realized that Liu Xiaolou and Dongfang Yuying had raced back from shore, with Dongfang Yuying still wearing borrowed red underpants and carrying a dudou.
• The Huang family invited Liu Xiaolou for tea, but he sent Dongfang Yuying in his place; she later agreed to guide Huang Chenyu’s sister in cultivation.
• The ship reached Changjing Island, where Huang Chenyu’s sister told Dongfang Yuying she would visit Qingyu Sect in two months, prompting Liu Xiaolou to question her intentions.

Liu Xiaolou and Dongfang Yuying crossed a violent storm at sea to reach West Glow Island before the twentieth day of the tenth month. After recovering overnight, they entered the island’s market and began drawing attention while concealing their identities.

• Liu Xiaolou and Dongfang Yuying set out from Changjing Island after the wind briefly calmed, hoping to reach West Glow Island on time.
• A renewed gale wrecked their progress, so Liu Xiaolou and Dongfang Yuying used skin bags and Qiu Si’s air-filled Night Pearls to survive underwater and swim toward the island.
• Liu Xiaolou and Dongfang Yuying reached West Glow Island, recovered in a rock cave through the night, and set out for the docks at dawn.
• Liu Xiaolou and Dongfang Yuying entered a shop at the busy docks, where Dongfang Yuying questioned the shopkeeper about goods and claimed they could supply wares from several regions.
• The shopkeeper asked Liu Xiaolou and Dongfang Yuying for their names and family, but they refused to reveal them; he then asked whether they were connected to Jade Green.

Liu Xiaolou and Dongfang Yuying met Guan Li on West Glow Island and persuaded him to guide them in exchange for wiping out half his debt to Liu. After exploring the island’s glowing reefs, they sailed east toward the Immortal Child Sect, with Guan Li relieved that the Wind Guiding Formation would keep his master from stopping them.

• Liu Xiaolou and Dongfang Yuying bought goods at West Glow Island’s market and decided to seek a local guide without attracting the Immortal Granny Sect’s attention.
• Dongfang Yuying summoned Guan Li by letter and offered to erase half the fifty spirit stones he owed Liu Xiaolou if he guided them.
• Guan Li recognized Dongfang Yuying and Jing Zhao, accepted the deal, and agreed to keep their identities quiet.
• Guan Li took the two to view West Glow Island’s glowing coral reef and sunrise, explaining that the Eastern and Western Immortal Sects had once been one family.
• Guan Li sailed east with Liu Xiaolou and Dongfang Yuying, then relaxed when Liu Xiaolou’s Wind Guiding Formation drove their boat forward.

Dongfang Yuying, Liu Xiaolou, and Guan Li avoided a dangerous sea vortex on their way to East Immortal Island, where Guan Li was taunted by Zhao Yan. Dongfang Yuying revealed that she and Liu Xiaolou were known from the battle at Jinting Mountain, and Liu Xiaolou wondered whether one of their old foes might still challenge them.

• A high-level cultivator warned Dongfang Yuying and Liu Xiaolou about a sea vortex before flying away, and Guan Li surfaced from the water after hiding from his strict master, Chang Xianke.
• At Dongfang Yuying’s urging, Guan Li guided the boat close enough for them to see the vortex before they turned away and sailed toward East Immortal Island.
• Zhao Yan taunted Guan Li about Senior Sister Luo and threatened to speak and act on her behalf, but Dongfang Yuying confronted him and introduced herself as a member of the Qingyu Sect.
• Zhao Yan recognized Dongfang Yuying and Liu Xiaolou from the battle at Jinting Mountain, then turned his boat back toward East Immortal Island.
• Dongfang Yuying told Guan Li that the East Immortal Sect’s masters and Elders would avoid confronting her and Liu Xiaolou, prompting Liu Xiaolou to wonder whether one of their defeated opponents might have regained his courage.

Zhu Feiyun suspected Jing Zhao had come to East Immortal Island to recover from an injury and sent Zhao Yan to test him. After Zhao Yan confronted the group in the market, Zhu Feiyun appeared, convinced that fortune had given him a chance to face Jing Zhao.

• Zhu Feiyun and Zhao Yan discussed whether Jing Zhao was injured, and Zhu insisted they must confirm it before challenging him.
• Liu Xiaolou, Dongfang Yuying, and Guan Li toured East Immortal Island's market, where Dongfang Yuying showed interest in its secret pleasure houses and bought several items.
• Zhao Yan confronted the group and asked Jing Zhao for guidance, while Guan Li questioned his courage and Dongfang Yuying offered to fight in his place.
• Liu Xiaolou revealed that Jing Zhao was injured, and Zhao Yan reacted with unusual delight.
• Zhu Feiyun emerged from the woods, believing Jing Zhao's injury gave him an opportunity to challenge him.

Liu Xiaolou and Dongfang Yuying were warmly received by Zhu Feiyun at Sea Mist Pavilion after Liu subdued Zhao Yan, and the group discussed buying Phoenix Lin Island. Zhu Feiyun and Zhao Yan offered the island for sixteen thousand spirit stones plus a lake and Tea Mountain in Suzhou and Hangzhou, and Dongfang Yuying promised to report the proposal to his father.

• When Zhu Feiyun approached, Liu Xiaolou bound Zhao Yan with the Xuanzhen Rope and sealed his qi sea, prompting Zhu to change his tone and invite the guests to a feast.
• Zhu Feiyun apologized for Zhao Yan, and Liu Xiaolou released him before Zhu led Jing Zhao, Dongfang Yuying, and Guan Li to Sea Mist Pavilion.
• At the feast, Zhao Yan told the group that Phoenix Lin Island was for sale and had a Hundred Stone Spring.
• After the feast, Dongfang Yuying explained that buying an overseas residence could also help improve relations with the Immortal Child Sect.
• That night, Zhu Feiyun and Zhao Yan offered Phoenix Lin Island for sixteen thousand spirit stones, along with a lake in Suzhou and Hangzhou and a Tea Mountain, and Dongfang Yuying agreed to raise the proposal with his father.