Chapter Summaries

Bai Yujun avoided a direct fight with Black Rock Ancient Village by secretly diverting its spring water. The village began searching for the culprit while Bai Yujun disappeared into an underground river.

• Mu Duo urged Bai Yujun not to provoke Black Rock Ancient Village, but Bai Yujun said she would find another way and asked where the village was.
• Bai Yujun flew southwest to Black Rock Ancient Village on the day of its spring-worship festival.
• When a young villager went to draw the sacred water, he discovered that the spring had run dry, and the priest and chieftain realized the village's water supply was gone.
• The chieftain ordered the villagers to search the mountain and arrest any strangers, suspecting someone had sabotaged the spring.
• Bai Yujun left a hidden karst cave after diverting the water underground and drying up the springs within ten li of Black Rock Ancient Village.
• Bai Yujun slipped into an underground river and vanished while Black Rock Ancient Village searched for her.

Bai Yujun left Cloud Remote Ancient Village to visit Green Wood Mountain, while Black Rock Ancient Village used witchcraft to identify her as the one who blocked its springs. Black Rock’s leaders sought her help, but she was already exploring demon territory when a wildcat demon spotted her.

• Bai Yujun returned to Cloud Remote Ancient Village, then flew toward Green Wood Mountain for sightseeing.
• Black Rock Ancient Village’s priest used witchcraft to identify Cloud Remote Ancient Village’s White Snake as the culprit behind its dried springs.
• Black Rock’s chieftain blamed Suomu, organized water-gathering measures, and set out with the peacock demon to confront Cloud Remote Ancient Village.
• The Black Rock delegation asked Mu Duo to have Bai Yujun restore the springs, but Mu Duo told them she had gone sightseeing at Green Wood Mountain.
• Bai Yujun entered demon territory and waited along a mountain patrol path until a wildcat demon came across her.

Bai Yujun entered Green Wood Mountain, passed a brief inspection, and explored the demon territory. After collecting discarded materials, she built a forge and opened a shop to sell weapons, leaving demon beasts gathered around her first displayed sabers.

• A wildcat demon led Bai Yujun into Green Wood Mountain, where a King Butterfly allowed her to wander but forbade her from going up the mountain.
• Bai Yujun explored the territory and collected materials the demon beasts considered useless, earning a reputation as a scavenger.
• Bai Yujun decided to open a shop and built a house near the demon beasts’ burrow district.
• Bai Yujun hired a family of three marmots to dig a cave and helped prepare a furnace for forging Magic Tools.
• Bai Yujun forged several ring-pommel sabers and displayed them in her shed as curious demons gathered to look.

Bai Yujun opened a weapon shop on Green Wood Mountain and traded Ring-pommel Sabers for ore, quickly attracting a crowd of demons. As business flourished, she forged weapons for them and beat down a demon general who tried to seize them.

• Hong Guo became the shop’s first customer and exchanged a large haul of Zhan Iron Ore for a Ring-pommel Saber.
• Hong Guo showed off his new weapon, and rumors of his victory inspired more than a dozen demons to visit Bai Yujun’s shop.
• Bai Yujun offered sabers in exchange for ore and gemstones, taking orders and forging weapons as demons brought in materials.
• The newly armed demons tested their sabers and ran across Green Wood Mountain looking for opponents to challenge.
• A demon general tried to seize weapons, but Bai Yujun challenged him and beat him up.

Bai Yujun spent over two years forging weapons on Green Wood Mountain, then moved on to the Black Bear demon king’s territory to continue trading weapons for rare metals. After nearly three more years, she left with a fortune in resources and a growing reputation among the beasts of the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

• Bai Yujun forged weapons for Green Wood Mountain’s monsters, strengthening them and deterring rival beasts from entering their territory.
• After business slowed, Bai Yujun shut down her forge, said farewell to her neighbors, and set out carrying weapons to mark herself as a Weapon Merchant.
• Bai Yujun traveled to the Black Bear demon king’s territory, rebuilt her forge, and traded weapons for Metal Ore and other materials.
• Bai Yujun attracted customers ranging from low-level beasts to monsters at the Demon Core Stage, building up a large stock of rare metals.
• After nearly three years, Bai Yujun closed her shop again and continued her journey, while the armed beasts of the outskirts began troubling cultivators of the Central Plains.

Twelve years later, Bai Yujun awakened from a long sleep with her cultivation stabilized and new, more ferocious features, then visited Cloud Remote Ancient Village to ask Mu Duo what was happening to her appearance. After stopping the rain she had caused, she and Mu Duo went to consult the old priest.

• Bai Yujun woke after three days of sleep, stabilized at the middle stage of the demon core realm, and discovered that her tail had grown bone spurs and her mouth had lengthened.
• Bai Yujun tested her stronger bite on a tree, then flew through the storm to Cloud Remote Ancient Village to ask Mu Duo about her changing appearance.
• Bai Yujun's arrival revealed that her presence had caused the heavy rain, so Mu Duo told her to stop it before it triggered a mountain flood.
• Bai Yujun calmed the storm, and the villagers celebrated her as a holy beast before she transformed and followed Mu Duo to the old priest's residence.
• Bai Yujun ate the villagers' offerings and, after Mu Duo dragged her inside, continued eating without tasting the food.

Bai Yujun learned from an ancient record that her evolution toward a flood dragon could bring a heavenly lightning tribulation. The warning left her fearing death, and she ended the chapter awake and anxious about her future.

• Bai Yujun showed Mu Duo, the old priest, and Shui Yun how much her body had changed, and the old priest went to search the ancient records.
• Shui Yun brought down an animal-hide book, and the old priest found an illustration and account of a giant snake that sought to become a flood dragon.
• The old priest explained that a hui serpent could become a flood dragon and that the giant snake in the record had been struck by heavenly lightning.
• Bai Yujun realized her own evolution might require a tribulation, lost her appetite, and left the village feeling distressed.
• Bai Yujun spent the night unable to sleep, imagining the lightning tribulation and wondering whether to slow her cultivation.

After years of trading among the mountain folk, Bai Yujun withdrew to Snake Valley when rumors that she was a Mountain Ghost drove customers away. She cared for the snake spirits and their young, then kidnapped a hulusi player so she could learn the instrument.

• Bai Yujun noticed that the mountain folk had grown wary of her unchanged appearance, and an old woman warned her to stop setting up her stall.
• Bai Yujun returned to Snake Valley and shared tea with Qing Ling, a newly transformed snake spirit who helped watch over the valley.
• Bai Yujun stopped visiting the markets and strengthened Snake Valley's Earth Vein Dragon Qi to help the young snakes hatch and survive.
• Bai Yujun heard a Jiuli mountain folk playing the hulusi and kidnapped him to learn the instrument.
• Bai Yujun released the hulusi player after learning that craftsmen in Cloud Remote Ancient Village could make the instrument.

Bai Yujun learned to play the hulusi and prepared to leave the Southern Wilderness, entrusting Snake Valley to Mu Duo and Cloud Remote Ancient Village. She finally set out along the river toward the wider world, leaving the mountains behind.

• Bai Yujun learned the hulusi from two Jiuli girls and played South of the Colorful Clouds for Mu Duo and the others.
• Bai Yujun told Mu Duo she planned to travel, and Mu Duo asked to hear about the Central Plains and offered to watch Snake Valley.
• Bai Yujun brought Qing Ling to meet Cloud Remote Ancient Village and warned its chieftain to care for Snake Valley while she was away.
• Bai Yujun stored valuables in her underground cavern and reluctantly parted from her massive diamond.
• Bai Yujun said farewell to Qing Ling and Cloud Remote Ancient Village, then walked east out of the Southern Wilderness as her Jiuli Attire changed into a fitted white outfit.

Bai Yujun traveled through the Central Plains, practicing her rain-summoning talent as she wandered and fished. She stopped her rain to spare a village from flooding, then continued on until she discovered Bamboo Spring Temple and its young novice monk.

• Bai Yujun met Yuan at a village entrance, and he asked her to divert her rain to prevent mountain floods; she apologized and took another route.
• Bai Yujun fished at Mirror Lake, angrily chased off a frog, and startled a young scholar who saw her swallow a crucian carp whole.
• Bai Yujun reflected on her carefree travels and on how life in the Central Plains differed from life in the Nine Li.
• Bai Yujun discovered Bamboo Spring Temple, where an old monk warned his novice disciple to avoid talking to women before sending him down the mountain to beg for alms.

Bai Yujun met Little Stone, a young monk from Bamboo Spring Temple, and gave him a carp that he chose to release. After enjoying a bamboo feast in town, Bai Yujun spotted Little Stone seeking alms and turned back toward him.

• Little Stone found Bai Yujun sleeping beside the pond and nervously told her his name and that his master, Hui Xian, had sent him to seek alms.
• Bai Yujun gave Little Stone a carp, and he released it into the lake rather than eat it.
• Bai Yujun teased Little Stone about sharing his alms, then sent him on his way to seek food.
• Bai Yujun flew to a nearby town and enjoyed its famous All-Bamboo Feast at the Little Bamboo House.
• Bai Yujun saw Little Stone begging from house to house and turned around, remarking that he would not let a snake rest easy.

Bai Yujun rescued Little Stone from a monster who lured him into the woods with promises of white-flour buns, then coaxed him into eating cured meat on the way home. At Bamboo Spring Temple, she found Old Monk Huixian trying to persuade a cobra to leave his vegetable garden.

• A silk-clad woman lured Little Stone out of town by promising him white-flour buns, then revealed herself as a monster and tried to eat him for his primordial yang spiritual energy.
• Bai Yujun killed the monster and took the frightened Little Stone back toward Bamboo Spring Temple.
• Bai Yujun shared cured meat with Little Stone, persuading the novice monk to eat it despite his objections.
• Bai Yujun and Little Stone found Old Monk Huixian in the vegetable garden, trying to persuade a ten-foot-long spectacled cobra to leave.

Bai Yujun rescued Hui Xian and Little Stone from a cobra, then listened as Hui Xian recounted why he had left Chang'an to live in seclusion. After Bai Yujun departed, she settled into a long sleep beneath the lotus pond while life at Bamboo Spring Temple continued around the stubborn cobra.

• Bai Yujun dragged a venomous cobra away from Hui Xian and Little Stone, then questioned Hui Xian about living in the wilderness.
• Hui Xian told Bai Yujun how he had become an eminent monk in Chang'an, criticized wrongdoing within his order, and left to seek enlightenment at Bamboo Spring Temple.
• Little Stone fell asleep while Hui Xian recounted his past, and Bai Yujun listened until sunset before leaving down the mountain.
• Hui Xian scolded Little Stone for bringing a demon to the temple, then found the cobra had returned to the vegetable plot.
• Bai Yujun hid beneath the lotus pond and began a long, peaceful sleep, while Hui Xian and Little Stone continued gathering bamboo shoots and living with the cobra nearby.

Two months after settling near town, Bai Yujun sensed unfinished business and stayed in a bamboo house. Meanwhile, Old Monk Huixian and Little Stone tried to deal with a deadly ghost haunting Steward Hu’s fishpond, and fled when their rites failed to resolve the danger.

• Bai Yujun left the lotus pond, sensed she could not yet leave the area, and built a bamboo house in the bamboo grove.
• Steward Hu found Huixian at Bamboo Spring Temple and begged him to exorcise a ghost haunting his fishpond.
• Huixian learned that a vicious Ghostly Entity had killed the fish and frightened away the workers, but he went to the pond with Little Stone anyway.
• Huixian and Little Stone chanted beside the fishpond, and their powerful Buddhist chanting tormented the Ghostly Entity.
• As evening came, Huixian packed up and hurried back up the mountain with Little Stone, and Steward Hu ran after them in fear.

Steward Hu and the villagers suffered through nights of ghostly nightmares, and after other masters failed to resolve the haunting, Steward Hu asked Old Monk Huixian for help. Huixian sent Little Stone to find Bai Yujun, who heard the request while fishing.

• Steward Hu woke to find his workers and servants gathered outside, and they told him they could no longer work because the village was haunted.
• The villagers sought help from various masters, but the frauds were exposed and the capable ones left without stopping the ghostly Yin Wind.
• Steward Hu begged Old Monk Huixian to save the village, and Huixian said he knew a master who might help.
• Huixian sent Little Stone to find the Female Demon, and Little Stone went down the mountain to Bai Yujun.
• Bai Yujun asked Little Stone why he had come, and he told her that his master wanted her to exorcise a ghost.

Bai Yujun, Hui Xian, and Little Stone went to Steward Hu’s estate to deal with a vengeful ghost in the fishpond. After Bai Yujun raised the murdered man’s corpse and Hui Xian soothed the ghost with sutras, the ghost regained his senses and began telling them what happened.

• Bai Yujun arrived at the estate with Hui Xian and Little Stone as the villagers waited for the ghost to appear.
• Bai Yujun saw through the pond water and revealed that a murdered corpse lay beneath it.
• Bai Yujun lifted the corpse from the pond, and Hui Xian chanted sutras to ease the dead man’s resentment.
• The ghost rose from the corpse, and Bai Yujun used her fate-reading ability to identify him as Wang Jufu and tell him that his wife was waiting at home.
• Wang Jufu regained his senses and began recounting how he had been killed.

After sending Wang Jufu’s ghost to the underworld, Bai Yujun investigated the mysterious forces surrounding his death and discovered that Wang Family Village was destined to produce a great general. She decided to go to the village and protect the General Star, hoping to gain merit.

• Bai Yujun forced Wang Jufu to abandon his wish to visit home, and Hui Xian sent his soul to the underworld.
• Bai Yujun ordered Steward Hu to arrange lodging and prepare to report the ghost’s death and visit the Wang family.
• The next morning, Bai Yujun dragged Hui Xian and Little Stone toward Wang Family Village despite Hui Xian’s plan to return to the mountains.
• Bai Yujun read the village’s feng shui and stars, identifying a future great general and a hidden General Star opposed by three Fiend Stars.
• Bai Yujun decided to protect the General Star for the merit, and she felt at ease as she led Hui Xian and Little Stone toward the village.

Bai Yujun brought Huixian and Little Stone to Wang Family Village, where she discovered that the General Star was the unborn child of Wang Jufu’s widow. As Huixian performed funeral rites, Bai Yujun protected the pregnancy and watched Wang Jufu’s four brothers search the Spirit Hall for a wooden box.

• Bai Yujun suspected the giant cobra could protect the General Star and accompanied Huixian and Little Stone to Wang Family Village.
• Bai Yujun sensed the General Star’s aura around Wang Jufu’s grieving widow and persuaded Huixian to guide Wang Jufu’s spirit for the family.
• Bai Yujun discovered the General Star was the widow’s unborn child, calmed her with spells, and gave her a nourishing pill.
• Wang Jufu’s four elder brothers entered the Spirit Hall without mourning and asked the widow whether he had left her a wooden box.
• The widow said she had not seen a box, and the four brothers left to search elsewhere.

Bai Yujun discovered that Zhang Wan was pregnant with the General Star and promised to protect her and the child while they remained in Wang Family Village. The chapter ended with Bai Yujun accidentally knocking a man into the pond with a ruined bamboo flute.

• Bai Yujun carved bamboo flutes in the Spirit Hall while Zhang Wan mourned beside her husband's coffin.
• Bai Yujun introduced herself, calmed Zhang Wan, and learned that she came from the Zhang Family and had married into the Wang Household.
• Bai Yujun told Zhang Wan that she was pregnant and that her child would have a great future.
• Zhang Wan rejoiced at the news, and Bai Yujun put her to sleep and laid her on a mattress.
• Bai Yujun decided to stay in Wang Family Village to protect the General Star until the fortune nourishing him had run its course.
• Bai Yujun accidentally flung a crooked flute into the night, knocking a man into the pond as he relieved himself.

Bai Yujun stayed with Zhang Wan after Wang Jufu’s burial, promising to protect her and her unborn child. She kept the Wang family at bay, then grew suspicious when the cook brought medicine that smelled wrong.

• Old Landlord Wang buried Wang Jufu after learning Zhang Wan was pregnant, while Bai Yujun secretly put Zhang Wan to sleep during the funeral.
• A physician confirmed Zhang Wan’s pregnancy, and Wang Jufu’s four elder brothers silently plotted to prevent the child from being born.
• Bai Yujun told Old Landlord Wang she had been entrusted to protect Zhang Wan and her child, then split a table with Hengdao to silence the eldest brother.
• Bai Yujun remained by Zhang Wan day and night, inspecting the food and utensils the cook brought.
• Bai Yujun noticed the cook looked unwell and walked slowly, then detected that the medicine she carried did not smell like pregnancy-preserving broth.