Chapter Summaries

Hui Xian, Little Stone, and Snake Demon Boy traveled to Suzhou and Hangzhou to earn money after their temple fell apart. After entering the Xu Family’s home to ask for water, Hui Xian sensed that something inside was wrong.

• Hui Xian and his companions left their ruined temple to seek a living in Suzhou and Hangzhou, though Little Stone had forgotten how to make umbrellas.
• Snake Demon Boy ate a frog, then nearly attacked a young master and his lackeys after they mocked the group, but Little Stone restrained him.
• Hui Xian noticed something amiss at a nearby household and led the others to the Xu Family’s door.
• The Xu Family’s little girl mistook the bedraggled visitors for baboons, but Mr. Xu invited them in and offered them tea.
• Hui Xian sat in the Xu Family’s courtyard and continued to feel that something inside the house was wrong.

The Bamboo Spring Temple group failed to convince the Xu Family to replace Xu Xian’s jade pendant and name, while Bai Yujun traveled through the desert and Shenhua Mountain before returning to the Southern Wilderness. She left a merchant ship at a border inspection, grumbling that allies were unreliable.

• Old Hui Xian offered the Xu Family a Purple Bamboo Gourd and urged them to discard Xu Xian’s jade pendant and change his name for ten copper coins.
• The Xu Family threw the Bamboo Spring Temple group out, and Little Stone stopped the Snake Demon Boy from attacking them.
• Bai Yujun visited Mu in the secret realm, crossed Dragon Gate Desert and Jade Gate Pass, and went to Qingxu Palace to tell Yu Rong someone was plotting against her.
• Yu Rong told Bai Yujun that the time to act had not yet come, and Bai Yujun agreed to wait before killing their enemies.
• Bai Yujun returned to the Southern Wilderness by merchant ship, left when demon soldiers began inspecting the vessel, and muttered that allies were unreliable.

Bai Yujun visited Mu Duo in Cloud Remote Ancient Village, where Mu Duo noticed a Peach Blossom Tribulation affecting her. Bai Yujun chose not to remove it, and the two joked and discussed village affairs before hearing a vague warning about trouble in the north.

• Bai Yujun went to Cloud Remote Ancient Village and found Mu Duo staring at the clouds.
• Mu Duo told Bai Yujun that signs of a Peach Blossom Tribulation showed she might be in love, and Bai Yujun realized someone had meddled with her fate.
• Bai Yujun decided to leave the Peach Blossom Tribulation untouched, then teased Mu Duo with a mock confession until Mu Duo chased and playfully struck her.
• Bai Yujun asked about the village, and Mu Duo said the Black Tribe remained cautious, the villagers had recovered, and a locust plague was their main concern.
• Bai Yujun told Mu Duo that the High Priest had warned of something major happening in the north, but neither could tell what it meant.

Xu Xian lost the chance to continue his studies after his parents’ deaths and began looking for an apprenticeship, while carrying a jade pendant tied to strange dreams. At Golden Mountain Courtyard, two elderly monks worried about preparations for a coming calamity and whether their actions were right.

• Xu Xian slipped in the rain while protecting his books, and Li Da Niu welcomed him inside and learned that Scholar Ma had driven him out of school.
• Xu Xian told Li Da Niu he wanted to learn a trade and support his household, and Li Da Niu promised to look for an apprenticeship.
• Xu Xian returned home, found his sister did not challenge his decision, and later examined the jade pendant his parents said an immortal had given him.
• Xu Xian recalled recurring dreams of a beautiful girl in white and considered selling the jade to help pay household expenses.
• Two elderly monks at Golden Mountain Courtyard discussed preparations in the Southern Wastes, the possible appearance of dragon scales, and the coming great calamity.

Bai Yujun, stalled at Deity Transformation Stage Perfection, considered taking Earth Vein Dragon Qi from the Western Teachings during the coming Peach Blossom Love Tribulation. At the Bai Residence, she began crafting a convincing clone, using her blood, a scale, and a King Cobra’s soul.

• Bai Yujun realized she needed more Earth Vein Dragon Qi to break through, but most available sources were too dangerous or protected to consume.
• Bai Yujun decided the Peach Blossom Love Tribulation could give her an opportunity to take Dragon Qi from the Western Teachings.
• Bai Yujun returned to the Bai Residence and sealed it with the Earth Vein Dragon Qi in her territory.
• Bai Yujun tore off a scale and used her blood to inscribe an array and create a clone that could fool powerful observers within the residence.
• Bai Yujun caught and killed a King Cobra, extracted its soul, and imprisoned it inside the scale for the clone.

Bai Yujun tested a sleeping clone to mislead the hidden hand manipulating dreams, while Xu Xian pursued medical studies and began having vivid dreams of a mysterious girl. The chapter left the Snake Demon Boy enraged after four scholars insulted his companions.

• Bai Yujun created a lifelike clone, concealed her aura, and found that it began dreaming after three days.
• Xu Jiaorong and Li Da Niu discussed Xu Xian’s future, and Li Da Niu remembered that Doctor Du of Hundred Herbs Hall wanted an apprentice.
• Xu Xian hurried home with medical books and worried over recurring dreams in which a White-clothed Girl killed him.
• The Snake Demon Boy, Little Stone, and Hui Xian camped beneath a banyan tree as four scholars mocked them.
• The Snake Demon Boy flew into a rage, and Little Stone lunged to restrain him.

Bai Yujun discovered that a hypnotic dream was steering her clone toward the Legend of the White Snake and a supposed love tribulation. She resolved to protect Qing Ling from the story’s deadly fate and prepared to travel to Suzhou and Hangzhou to disrupt the scheme.

• Bai Yujun watched a female immortal appear in the King Cobra’s dream and recite lines about her mortal bonds and a destined lover.
• Bai Yujun recognized the vision as a preprogrammed attempt to force her into the Legend of the White Snake and end her independence through a love tribulation.
• Bai Yujun recalled that Qing Ling’s role in the tale led to a terrible fate and decided she would not let Qing Ling leave the Southern Wilderness.
• Bai Yujun studied a map of Suzhou and Hangzhou, focused on Golden Mountain Courtyard, and planned to seize the chance to absorb its Earth Vein Dragon Qi.

Bai Yujun prepared contingencies before heading back to the Central Plains, arranging a military strike if she was trapped and putting Qing Ling into protected hibernation. After securing her territory and supplies, she left for the city.

• Bai Yujun gave Tieqiu a scale and ordered him to lead one hundred thousand demon soldiers against the Yan Kingdom if she became trapped, while sparing civilians and surrendered captives.
• Bai Yujun decided Qing Ling would be safest hibernating beneath the Bai residence’s Earth Vein Dragon Qi formation.
• Bai Yujun called Qing Ling back and found her mind troubled by conflicting impulses, though she still warned Bai Yujun not to go to the Central Plains.
• Bai Yujun soothed Qing Ling to sleep, placed her under the Earth Vein Dragon Qi, and ordered the bedroom and study formations activated.
• Bai Yujun stored most of her possessions in the warehouse and flew toward the city.

Bai Yujun leisurely traveled downriver toward Jiangnan while Shenhua Mountain prepared for trouble and tomb raiders uncovered a White Jade Fragment in Chancellor Hu’s ancestral grave. The ship reached Jiangnan, where Xu Xian was living quietly as a medicine apprentice.

• Bai Yujun admired the river scenery, caught a red leaf, and tucked it into her hair as her ship continued east.
• Yu Rong ordered Yang Mu and Xu Ling to help defend Shenhua Mountain, while Qi Yun assigned Gan Wu to guard the mountain gate and prepared to leave with other True Persons.
• Tomb raiders posing as caravan merchants found Chancellor Hu’s ancestral grave and broke into his grandfather’s burial chamber.
• The tomb raiders opened the coffin and the leader removed a White Jade Fragment from beneath the corpse’s hands, causing the body to decay rapidly.
• Bai Yujun’s ship reached Jiangnan, where nineteen-year-old Xu Xian was living peacefully as an apprentice at Hundred Herbs Hall.

Xu Xian met Bai Yujun during a rainy Qingming outing at West Lake, and their brief encounter stirred memories of the girl from his dreams. After he failed to find her again, they unexpectedly reunited aboard a boat heading back to the city.

• Xu Xian was left behind at West Lake when Xu Jiaorong and Li Da Niu went off together without him.
• Xu Xian picked up Bai Yujun’s fallen jade hairpin and was captivated when she turned to thank him.
• Xu Jiaorong scolded Li Da Niu for leaving Xu Xian behind, then returned to the city with him by boat.
• Xu Xian searched the lakeside for Bai Yujun, but eventually gave up and hired a boat back to the city.
• Bai Yujun boarded Xu Xian’s boat, and he sat face-to-face with her beneath its canopy.

Bai Yujun gave Xu Xian an umbrella after she failed to kill him or reach the earth veins protected by Golden Mountain Courtyard. Xu Xian returned home smitten with her, while Bai Yujun settled into Nanyu Hut and began considering how to use him in her plans.

• Bai Yujun gave Xu Xian her paper umbrella and told him she lived at Nanyu Hut in Osmanthus Alley.
• Xu Xian returned home delighted, clutching the umbrella, and Xu Jiaorong and Li Da Niu wondered why he was so cheerful.
• Bai Yujun went to Nanyu Hut, brewed tea, and painted a rain-soaked view of West Lake to sell in her shop.
• The three old monks at Golden Mountain Courtyard worried that their plans involving Bai Yujun had gone awry and that she remained an unpredictable variable.
• Xu Jiaorong mistook Xu Xian's lovestruck behavior for possession, but Li Da Niu reassured her that he had met a beautiful woman.
• Xu Jiaorong decided to pray for Xu Xian at Golden Mountain Courtyard, and Li Da Niu urged her to ask that he marry soon.

At Golden Mountain Courtyard, the Wisdom King planned to draw Xu Xian and the Flood Dragon Maiden into marriage and later suppress her, while Xu Xian searched for the white-clothed girl to return her umbrella. He found Bai Yujun’s shop, where she invited him in and showed him a mysterious painting.

• The Wisdom King told the elderly monks that he would wait for the Flood Dragon Maiden and Xu Xian to marry and have a child before drawing Xu Xian into their faith and seizing her.
• Xu Xian went to Osmanthus Alley to find Nanyu Hut and return the umbrella, but an old man misunderstood his request for directions.
• Xu Xian found Bai Yujun sitting outside her shop and offered to return the umbrella; she called him back and introduced herself.
• Bai Yujun invited Xu Xian inside and showed him a painting of Misty West Lake Rain, which she priced at ten taels of gold.
• Xu Xian sensed something strange about the painting but did not realize it showed another scene when turned upside down.

Bai Yujun tried to draw the Earth Vein Dragon Qi beneath Golden Mountain Courtyard from afar, but sensed a treasure guarding it and began considering how Xu Xian might help her find an opening. Months later, she witnessed Hui Xian give away the money he had saved to rebuild his temple to pay for a sick child’s medicine, and he heard a familiar voice as he left.

• Bai Yujun tested her ability to absorb Golden Mountain Courtyard’s Dragon Qi from Suzhou and Hangzhou, briefly stirring it before withdrawing when she sensed a protective treasure.
• Bai Yujun settled into a quiet life selling umbrellas in Osmanthus Alley, while Xu Xian regularly found excuses to visit her and the Golden Mountain Courtyard monks watched their relationship develop.
• Bai Yujun’s outings brought misfortune to troublesome admirers, and she considered using Xu Xian to help her reach the Dragon Qi.
• At Hundred Herbs Hall, Hui Xian gave the silver he had saved to rebuild Bamboo Spring Temple to Doctor Du so he could treat Madam Hu’s gravely ill daughter.
• As Hui Xian left with Little Stone and the Little Snake Demon, he stopped after hearing a familiar accent say, “You’re still the same as ever~”

Bai Yujun reunited with Hui Xian, Little Stone, and Snake Demon Boy, then helped them open a shop beside hers. She went out with Xu Xian and discovered his jade pendant contained a spell formation, while deciding to use him to enter Golden Mountain Courtyard.

• Bai Yujun treated Hui Xian, Little Stone, and Snake Demon Boy to a meal and offered to arrange lodging for them.
• Bai Yujun rented the neighboring shop, where Hui Xian made umbrellas and the boys minded the stall; Snake Demon Boy drew his sword when customers mocked them, and Little Stone restrained him.
• Xu Xian visited Bai Yujun's shop, and Snake Demon Boy reacted to the Toad Demon scent on him.
• Bai Yujun decided to accompany Xu Xian on his walk and use him to get into Golden Mountain Courtyard.
• Bai Yujun inspected Xu Xian's jade pendant and found a soul-interfering spell formation inside it.

Bai Yujun accompanied Xu Xian to treat Steward Liu, where she discovered a wicked water demon was secretly draining yang energy from the household and bewitching his daughter. She recognized that the demon had infiltrated the residence as the guard Lai Wu, while Xu Xian remained unaware of the danger.

• Bai Yujun encouraged the envious Xu Xian as they walked beside West Lake and arrived at Steward Liu's residence.
• Xu Xian examined Steward Liu and prescribed rest, sunlight, and medicine, while Bai Yujun sensed wicked demon qi in the courtyard.
• Bai Yujun discovered that a demon had bewitched Steward Liu's daughter and was secretly drawing yang energy from people nearby.
• Steward Liu concealed the danger to protect his daughter's reputation, and his guard Lai Wu arrived to learn how to prepare Xu Xian's medicine.
• Bai Yujun recognized Lai Wu as the disguised demon and noticed him avoiding Xu Xian's jade pendant, while Xu Xian began to feel unwell.

Bai Yujun exposed Lai Wu as a Toad Demon and killed him after he threatened Xu Xian. Xu Xian declared that all demons should be killed, and he and Bai Yujun parted ways uneasily.

• Bai Yujun secretly drove the demonic energy from Xu Xian and let Lai Wu escort them away from the estate.
• Lai Wu trapped Xu Xian and Bai Yujun in a secluded alley and threatened to kill Xu Xian before attacking Bai Yujun.
• Bai Yujun immobilized Lai Wu, identified him as a demon, and used her jade pendant to reveal his toadlike form.
• Bai Yujun burned the Toad Demon to ash with Chunyang Art spiritual power, while Xu Xian panicked and refused to reclaim the pendant.
• Bai Yujun asked Xu Xian what he would do if someone he knew were a demon, and Xu Xian answered that all demons should be killed.
• Bai Yujun and Xu Xian returned to a crossroads and went their separate ways, while Xu Xian noticed burn marks on her palm.

Bai Yujun sold two paintings in Suzhou and enjoyed a chilled melon and bayberry treat during the oppressive heat. When townspeople paraded a paper dragon to pray for rain, she decided she would only bring rain if formally invited by the emperor, then spat a fruit seed toward Golden Mountain.

• Bai Yujun painted a willow scene and sold two paintings to scholars for two hundred taels of silver.
• Bai Yujun gave Hui Xian one hundred taels and advised him to seek rebuilding funds from wealthy clans and families.
• Bai Yujun made chilled melon and bayberry soup and ate it while watching the canal.
• Townspeople paraded a paper dragon through the streets to pray for rain, and Bai Yujun recognized the event as a folk custom.
• Bai Yujun refused to summon rain without an official invitation from the emperor, then spat a fruit seed toward Golden Mountain.

Xu Jiaorong discovered that the beautiful woman her lovesick brother Xu Xian visited was a monster and sought help from Golden Mountain Courtyard. A Martial Monk agreed to follow her to Osmanthus Alley to confront the supposed fiend.

• Xu Jiaorong noticed Xu Xian was heartsick and questioned Li Da Niu about the woman he loved.
• Xu Xian visited Bai Yujun while she washed clothes by the river in Osmanthus Alley, and Xu Jiaorong secretly watched them.
• Xu Jiaorong asked the neighbors about Bai Yujun and became convinced that she would make a suitable match for Xu Xian.
• Bai Yujun's hair came loose, revealing two small white horns on her forehead, and Xu Jiaorong fled in terror.
• Xu Jiaorong traveled to Golden Mountain Courtyard and begged a Martial Monk to save Xu Xian from the monster.
• The Martial Monk promised to investigate and followed Xu Jiaorong back toward Osmanthus Alley.

Bai Yujun met a Martial Monk who came to subdue her, and the two began fighting in the alley. Their battle left the monk staggering, while the outcome remained unresolved.

• Hui Xian took Little Stone and the Snake Demon Boy out to beg for alms while Bai Yujun stayed home.
• A Martial Monk arrived at Bai Yujun’s shop, and she asked him to help fold her curtains before realizing he had come to subdue her.
• The Martial Monk offered Bai Yujun a choice between being destroyed and taking refuge in his teachings, but she told him to leave because he could not defeat her.
• Bai Yujun tied back her hair and faced the Martial Monk as Xu Jiaorong watched from behind a tree.
• Bai Yujun and the Martial Monk exchanged powerful blows, and she struck him twice, sending him staggering backward.

Bai Yujun fought a Martial Monk who had come to confront her in Suzhou and Hangzhou, then recognized that she had ferried him across a river centuries earlier. She spared him after he acknowledged his debt, but made him pay for the damage before he left.

• Bai Yujun repeatedly beat the Martial Monk, who used a secret technique to strengthen himself and kept attacking.
• Xu Jiaorong fled in fear as Bai Yujun seized the Martial Monk and smashed him into the ground.
• Bai Yujun moved onto a canal boat and challenged the Martial Monk to stop fighting or face her control of the water.
• Bai Yujun reminded the Martial Monk that she had ferried him across a river centuries ago, and he recalled the favor.
• The Martial Monk saluted Bai Yujun and offered himself to her; she spared him and demanded that he pay for the repairs before leaving.