Chapter Summaries

Three Ghost Shamans set out to find a Shaman's missing Dragon Steed, planning to use a grisly memory-extraction ritual and exploit the Shaman's backing. They gathered countless wrongfully dead ghosts outside a Human Race stockade, preparing to prey on its peaceful inhabitants.

• Huaxiu Mountain God and the other mountain gods departed to search separately, while the three Human Race shamans discussed how they could help find the Dragon Steed.
• The old shaman revealed a secret art that used the memories of someone who had seen the Dragon Steed, obtained through blood, brain, and soul sacrifice, to locate it.
• The three shamans agreed to try the ritual and use the high-ranking Shaman's name to cover their actions; they were Ghost Shamans who practiced soul sacrifice and other predatory arts.
• The three Ghost Shamans descended to a Human Race stockade in Wushen Mountain's flourishing territory, where villagers were celebrating a successful hunt.
• The three Ghost Shamans summoned countless wrongfully dead ghosts, darkening the sky above the stockade.

Three Ghost Shamans led a ghost horde to Lijia Village, tricked its elder into revealing that the Green Scaled Dragon Steed had gone east, then slaughtered the villagers and used a Blood Sacrifice to locate it. After they left to report their discovery, Li Qi suddenly sensed bloody karma weighing on him.

• The eighth-rank village elder summoned Lijia Village’s ancestral spirits and offered the ghost horde a future sacrifice in exchange for withdrawing.
• The middle-aged Ghost Shaman asked about the Green Scaled Dragon Steed, learned it had flown east, and pretended to leave with the ghost horde.
• A burly Ghost Shaman attacked the elder from underground, and the three Ghost Shamans led the ghosts in massacring Lijia Village.
• The middle-aged Ghost Shaman performed a Blood Sacrifice, found the Dragon Steed’s location, and the three Ghost Shamans collected souls, spirit tablets, and other spoils.
• Li Qi opened his eyes after sensing bloody karma suddenly weighing on his shoulders.

After the Huaxiu Mountain God found Old Ma near the Eastern Ridge Mountain Range, Li Qi agreed to expound the Dao for the mountain gods, shamans, and lesser demons who had helped with the search. He ended the lecture after less than two hours and, once everyone else had left, noticed that the three Ghost Shamans carried a strong scent of blood.

• The Huaxiu Mountain God told Li Qi that Old Ma had stopped near a Wu Yu’s residence in the Eastern Ridge Mountain Range and gave him a marker.
• After learning that several shamans had helped find Old Ma, Li Qi agreed to meet them and expound the Dao until the promised four chen had passed.
• Li Qi noticed that Centipede Mountain had industries on all four sides but villages on only three; the Huaxiu Mountain God recalled that the missing village had belonged to the Li family, then dismissed the mystery.
• The Huaxiu Mountain God gathered shamans, mountain gods, and thousands of lesser demons, and Li Qi began explaining the Dao at Centipede Mountain.
• Li Qi’s exposition inspired listeners with foundational teachings and practical ritual instructions, but he ended it when less than two hours had passed.
• After the audience dispersed, Li Qi looked at the three remaining Ghost Shamans and noticed their strong scent of blood.

Li Qi discovered that three Ghost Shamans had lured him toward a dangerous secret realm while concealing their role in massacring a stockade. After punishing them and reflecting on the growing influence of his words, he saw a Golden Crow rise in the west.

• Three Ghost Shamans told Li Qi that a stockade had tried to sacrifice them and claimed it had revealed a seventh-rank secret realm.
• Li Qi sent his Demonic Energy Clone to inspect the stockade and found that its dead had been buried, but all their souls had been scattered rather than delivered from suffering.
• Li Qi confronted the Ghost Shamans about lying, killed two, and forced the surviving burly man to confess that they had repeatedly lured people into the secret realm to loot their corpses.
• Li Qi left the survivor only a broken trace of true spirit for reincarnation, then considered how his status and casual instructions affected people across Wushen Mountain.
• A second sun appeared in the west, and Li Qi recognized it as a Golden Crow.

Yang Ning confronted Li Qi for returning without Moon Essence, then discovered he had advanced to seventh-rank and learned that Shen Shuibi’s injuries had healed. After Li Qi explained that the Wushen had summoned him and gave Yang Ning the locations where Shen Shuibi was staying, Yang Ning set out to find her.

• Yang Ning arrived as a Golden Crow, struck Li Qi for returning without Moon Essence, and struck him again when he called her sister-in-law.
• Yang Ning realized Li Qi was seventh-rank and questioned how quickly he had advanced; Li Qi said he had reached seventh-rank about twenty days after arriving in the Tang Kingdom.
• Yang Ning warned Li Qi not to advance through shortcuts, and he assured her that his cultivation was legitimate.
• Li Qi told Yang Ning that the Wushen had summoned him and that Shen Shuibi remained beyond the domain to manage an ownerless Sixth-Rank World.
• Li Qi explained that Shen Shuibi’s injuries had healed with help from the Tang Kingdom, and Yang Ning apologized for underestimating him.
• Yang Ning asked for Shen Shuibi’s location, and Li Qi gave her the addresses of Douxiu Six and the Sacred Flame Realm.

Li Qi arranged for Yang Ning to let Rabbit stay with him while collecting her belongings, then performed a ritual for the people of Lijia Village, whose deaths had resulted from his careless order. He reunited with Old Ma and set off for Mount Luofu’s temporary encampment, discussing a future cultivation path for the Dragon Steed along the way.

• Yang Ning gave Li Qi the key to Rabbit’s cave abode and told him to collect her belongings, while assuring him Rabbit could return to Mount Luofu whenever she wished.
• Li Qi performed a ritual at the ruins of Lijia Village and commanded the local mountain god to preside over it annually for ten years.
• Li Qi traveled to the Eastern Ridge Mountain Range, where Old Ma arrived with Yu Mengniang; Li Qi thanked her and departed with Old Ma.
• Li Qi told Old Ma he would seek suitable cultivation methods for him from the East Sea Dragon Clan, while advising him to continue cultivating Uncommon Song without rushing to advance.
• Li Qi and Old Ma traveled for seven and a half days and reached Mount Luofu’s temporary encampment on Wushen Mountain.

Li Qi entered Mount Luofu’s pocket realm with Yang Ning’s jade pendant to gather Shen Shuibi’s belongings and bring them to her. After being welcomed by the spirit attendants, he reached her dwelling and began looking through her possessions, where he found her intimate clothing.

• Li Qi showed the jade pendant at Mount Luofu’s gate, and the Jiaotu-shaped knocker let him enter with Old Ma.
• A flock of Welcoming Sparrows recognized Li Qi as Shen Shuibi’s Dao companion and led him to her dwelling.
• Li Qi thanked the sparrows with Five Elements Qi, then used the pendant to open the dwelling while Old Ma stayed outside.
• Li Qi entered Shen Shuibi’s neatly arranged dwelling and examined her belongings, including a high-rank rattle drum from her childhood.
• Li Qi opened a wardrobe, saw Shen Shuibi’s intimate clothing, and calmly shut the doors.

While packing Shen Shuibi’s cave dwelling, Li Qi opened her Eight Trigrams disks and became absorbed in a recording of the young Shen Shuibi and Yang Ning. Practicing Yang Ning’s fist art pulled Li Qi into the scene, where Lady Luofu questioned him about his sudden arrival.

• Li Qi searched Shen Shuibi’s wardrobe, washed his hand after touching her stone seat, and began packing her belongings.
• Li Qi decrypted Shen Shuibi’s Eight Trigrams disks and discovered that their earliest recordings dated back more than nine thousand years.
• Li Qi watched the young Yang Ning practice a fist art, studied its Fist Intent, and began imitating her movements.
• After someone patted his back, Li Qi reacted with a punch that shattered the falling boulders in the recording.
• Yang Ning praised Li Qi and asked him to teach her, while Li Qi realized the recorded scene had become real.
• Li Qi introduced himself to Lady Luofu as Zhu Fengdan’s disciple, and Lady Luofu sent Shen Shuibi and Yang Ning away before questioning him.

Li Qi unexpectedly arrived in the past at Mount Luofu, where Lady Luofu recognized his strange arrival and questioned him about the future. Before he began fading back, he revealed Mount Luofu’s destruction and its survivors’ flight toward Wushen Mountain, and Lady Luofu asked to see his Polaris Golden Core Method.

• Li Qi discovered that he had appeared in the past at Mount Luofu and met Lady Luofu, whose third-rank perception revealed his thoughts and tangled cultivation.
• Lady Luofu tested whether their surroundings were an illusion by creating genuine turbulence, and Li Qi concluded that he had most likely traveled through time.
• Lady Luofu agreed not to read Li Qi’s thoughts and asked him to describe Mount Luofu’s future before he returned.
• Li Qi recounted how Supremes wielding the Human Emperor Sword destroyed Mount Luofu, forcing Lady Luofu, Yang Ning, and Shen Shuibi to flee toward Wushen Mountain.
• Li Qi explained how Shen Shuibi eventually encountered him and how he was tasked with finding Lady Luofu, then Lady Luofu asked to see his Polaris Golden Core Method.

Li Qi was drawn into the Desire Realm by a Heavenly Demon, which used a convincing version of Lady Luofu to try to trick him into revealing the Polaris Golden Core Method. After the demon explained that its goal was to make Li Qi doubt reality until he went mad, he returned to the recordings and understood why the Witch God had created his Demonic Energy Clone.

• Lady Luofu asked Li Qi to demonstrate the Polaris Golden Core Method, but he refused to reveal its cultivation method because he had promised Yu'er not to pass it on.
• A hand of Black Mist appeared over Mount Luofu and crushed Lady Luofu, prompting her to tell Li Qi to flee with Yu'er and Yan'er.
• The apparent attack dissolved into the Desire Realm, where a Heavenly Demon revealed that Lady Luofu had been real and explained that it had hoped to steal Li Qi's method.
• The Heavenly Demon said it wanted Li Qi to lose the ability to distinguish the Desire Realm from reality, then vanished as Li Qi returned to the recordings.
• Li Qi realized that the Lady Luofu in the Desire Realm had been real but was already dead, and understood why the Witch God had made his Demonic Energy Clone.

Li Qi learned that the Heavenly Demon had exploited his arrogance to find his flaw, while the Shamanic God explained how the Demonic Energy Clone could help him distinguish illusion from reality. Determined to prepare for the Heavenly Demon's next visit, Li Qi traveled to Zhu Fengdan's grotto-heaven to seek his teacher's advice.

• Li Qi realized the Heavenly Demon could emerge from anyone's demonic thoughts and understood that the Shamanic God had given him the Demonic Energy Clone as a safeguard.
• The Shamanic God spoke through the clone and revealed that Li Qi's flaw began when he mentioned the Shamanic God to Yang Ning out of pride.
• The Shamanic God said he had deliberately let the Heavenly Demon find that flaw to alert Li Qi, and told him to learn to distinguish two identical selves.
• Li Qi packed the rabbit's belongings, mounted Old Ma, and rode back to Wushen Mountain to seek information from his teacher.
• Li Qi reached Zhu Fengdan's grotto-heaven and found his teacher's disassembled body being repaired while two Iron-Eating Beasts gnawed on his bones.

Li Qi sought Zhu Fengdan’s guidance about why he was himself, and Zhu Fengdan offered a day of conflicting conjectures about personal identity, body, spirit, memory, and reincarnation. Overwhelmed by the possibilities and the heart demon they stirred, Li Qi left after Zhu Fengdan urged him to stop dwelling on the questions and think them over slowly.

• Li Qi asked Zhu Fengdan why he was himself, and Zhu Fengdan warned that a direct answer could mislead him.
• Zhu Fengdan proposed thought experiments about identical bodies, duplicated minds, and whether a person remained himself after losing memories.
• Li Qi considered whether identity depended on continuity in time and causality, while Zhu Fengdan raised further questions about spirit, free will, and artificial people.
• After hearing the conjectures, Li Qi became overwhelmed, trembled, and developed fearful and doubtful demonic thoughts.
• A day later, Zhu Fengdan asked how reincarnated great powers knew they were still themselves, deepening Li Qi’s confusion.
• Zhu Fengdan shouted Li Qi out of his spiraling thoughts and told him to eat, change clothes, and leave; Li Qi bowed and departed to think more slowly.

After leaving Zhu Fengdan, Li Qi struggled to steady his Dao heart and traveled with Old Ma toward Liesu, planning to return to the Tang Kingdom. On the way, he spotted a young monk gathering the souls of the dead after a battle between a human stockade and demons, and confronted him.

• Li Qi realized that pursuing the dangerous ideas Zhu Fengdan had raised could cost him his life, but he set those thoughts aside and focused on stabilizing his Dao heart.
• Old Ma pulled Li Qi out of his troubled thoughts, and Li Qi injured himself to stop himself from following a dangerous line of speculation.
• Li Qi mounted Old Ma and set off for Liesu, intending to return to the Tang Kingdom, complete the Demon Dragon puzzle, and later take Imperial Academy students to the Sacred Flame Realm.
• On the sixth day of their journey, Li Qi noticed Buddha's light at a battle between a human stockade and demons and went to investigate.
• Li Qi found a young Eighth Rank novice monk secretly collecting the souls of the dead, then approached him after the monk noticed him.

Li Qi met Xin Ming, a young monk who delivered the battlefield’s dead and possessed a fragment of Heavenly Eye. After learning the monk’s story and the location of the Buddha statue that awakened his ability, Li Qi considered seeking out the Trumpet Flower God as a way to enter Tang Kingdom’s upper circles and investigate Heavenly Eye.

• Li Qi watched Xin Ming deliver the fallen souls and helped shield them from the sunlight’s Yang Energy.
• Xin Ming introduced himself and explained that he was traveling west from Baiyue to seek Buddhist teachings.
• Li Qi learned that Xin Ming had glimpsed Heavenly Eye after carving the eyes of a Buddha statue on Zunfo Mountain in Lingxiao Kingdom.
• Xin Ming identified the Trumpet Flower God as Lingxiao Kingdom’s ruler, and Li Qi recalled how a mocking poem had ruined her reputation among the flower gods.
• Li Qi warned Xin Ming of dangers on his route and recommended a safer detour through the territory of a peaceful banyan-tree mountain god.
• After Xin Ming departed, Li Qi considered helping the Trumpet Flower God restore her standing as a way to gain access to Tang Kingdom’s upper circles and learn about Heavenly Eye.

Li Qi reached Liesu and discovered that its Jade Roads were powered by travelers’ knowledge and cultivation before using one to reach Baiyue in half a second. He arrived in rundown Lingxiao Kingdom and realized he would need another way to return to Liesu.

• Li Qi arrived at Liesu, a vast starry transportation hub, and decided to try operating a Jade Road himself.
• Li Qi learned that activating a Jade Road required him to solve specialized problems and contribute his cultivation, effectively supplying Wushen Mountain with knowledge and labor.
• Li Qi spent more than ten minutes solving a problem, then boarded a low-grade Wood Road with Old Ma.
• The Jade Road carried Li Qi and Old Ma through the Fast Universe to Baiyue in half a second.
• Li Qi realized that Jade Roads could only be opened at places like Liesu and the Golden Platform, then looked over rundown Lingxiao Kingdom.

Li Qi traveled through Lingxiao Kingdom and, recalling his own harsh past, suppressed the water parasites in a great river to ease the towmen’s suffering. The governor Mu Xiulan thanked him and offered to host him and arrange an introduction to the sovereign.

• Li Qi arrived unseen in a city in Lingxiao Kingdom and observed its poverty, poor sanitation, and outdated farming practices.
• Li Qi remembered his past as a towman and used a loathing curse to suppress every water parasite in the city’s river.
• Mu Xiulan, the seventh-rank governor of Ezhou, approached Li Qi and thanked him for his spell.
• Li Qi told Mu Xiulan that he had come from Liesu to visit the Sovereign of Lingxiao Kingdom and see Zunfo Mountain.
• Mu Xiulan offered to host Li Qi and introduce him to the sovereign, and Li Qi accepted.

Li Qi visited Prefect Mu Xiulan after suppressing the water parasites in a great river and offered him Penglai immortal tea. The tea transformed Mu Xiulan’s cultivation and earned Li Qi his promise to secure an audience with the Sovereign.

• Li Qi entered the prefectural residence with Mu Xiulan, who explained why he preferred serving in Baiyue despite its limited cultivation resources.
• Li Qi brewed tea from leaves he had taken from Zhu Fengdan’s immortal tea tree and invited Mu Xiulan to taste it.
• Mu Xiulan sensed Penglai’s aura in the tea and meditated for eighteen Chen, advancing his Dao Path and gaining a faint hope of reaching sixth rank.
• Mu Xiulan learned the tea was degraded Penglai immortal tea and promised to call the Sovereign out so Li Qi could meet her.

Li Qi learned that the Sovereign of Lingxiao Kingdom was the Trumpet Flower God, whose history was shaped by Buddhist support and her determination to rise rather than serve as decoration. After studying the kingdom’s records, he sensed the fifth-rank Sovereign arriving, and she addressed him as a young master.

• Mu Xiulan left to contact the Sovereign of Lingxiao Kingdom, while Li Qi went out to explore the city and consider the Trumpet Flower God’s standing.
• Li Qi followed a group of Ezhou geniuses to an oath-taking assembly and saw an eighth-rank Shaman conduct a ritual that praised the trumpet flower’s ambition and resilience.
• Li Qi returned to the prefectural governor’s residence and read Lingxiao Kingdom’s revised national histories to learn about its Sovereign.
• Li Qi learned that the Buddhist sect had supported the Trumpet Flower God, who had founded Lingxiao Kingdom after refusing to become mere ornament in the Western Regions.
• Li Qi connected Zunfo Mountain’s history to the Buddha statue he had heard about and read how the Sovereign had strengthened Lingxiao Kingdom by bringing back resource worlds.
• The Sovereign of Lingxiao Kingdom arrived, and Li Qi sensed her fifth-rank aura before she called him perceptive.

Li Qi sought the Trumpet Flower God’s help learning about a Buddhist statue on Zunfo Mountain, but she initially refused to get involved. He offered to help her return to the Tang Kingdom by invoking Liu Donghe’s name, and she asked him to reveal his real purpose before deciding whether to cooperate.

• Li Qi met the Trumpet Flower God and apologized after his disappointed reaction to her appearance offended her.
• Li Qi explained that he had come from the Imperial Academy and wanted to visit Zunfo Mountain to learn about a Buddhist statue linked to a monk’s Heavenly Eye.
• The Trumpet Flower God refused to explain the mountain’s secrets and directed him toward Fengde Temple.
• Li Qi offered to help the Trumpet Flower God return to the Tang Kingdom, then cited Liu Donghe as a possible connection.
• The Trumpet Flower God realized Li Qi had come with a larger plan and asked him to state his true purpose plainly.

Li Qi and the Trumpet Flower God agreed to help each other: she would introduce him to Fengde Temple’s monks so he could investigate Heavenly Eye, and he would help her contact Liu Shenzhi. After suspecting the Heavenly Eye opportunity had been deliberately arranged, Li Qi rode Old Ma to Zunfo Mountain to investigate.

• Li Qi told the Trumpet Flower God he needed a technique at least at the level of Heavenly Eye to overcome an undisclosed trouble, and she eventually agreed to introduce him to Fengde Temple’s monks.
• The Trumpet Flower God gave Li Qi a wooden hairpin as a token, and they agreed to travel to Chang'an together afterward without asking about each other’s circumstances.
• Li Qi left Ezhou with Old Ma and suspected the Trumpet Flower God’s hesitation meant she knew he was coming or had staked something he did not know about.
• Li Qi concluded that someone might have deliberately arranged the Heavenly Eye encounter for him, but decided to investigate it anyway.
• Li Qi reached Zunfo Mountain, learned that its monks kept nearby communities safe from demons, and prepared to climb the mountain.