Arc 58The Evil Cult’s Rise

Feng Ying helped Yu stop a ritual that threatened the Dragon Vein, while Bai Yujun faced the Evil Cult’s growing influence in her fief and investigated its strange crystals. The arc ended with Bai Yujun tracing the Bronze Sarcophagus’s disappearance despite interference.

  • Feng Ying fought the cultivators pinning down North Mountain’s Dragon Vein, and Yu helped her destroy the iron nails and escape with the Rusty Iron Saber.
  • Bai Yujun learned that Evil Cult followers had returned near Mitang Town and began watching for their influence in her fief.
  • After more than twenty children were found dead in the river, Bai Yujun investigated the murders and sent a Snake Demon Soldier after a suspected cultivator.
  • Bai Yujun visited a Daoist temple, painted a divine dragon for its priests, and returned her consciousness to her true body at Sky Pillar Peak.
  • As war and bandit attacks spread, Bai Yujun defended her mansion, subdued an intruding cultivator, and sent Qiao Jin a warning about the Evil Cult.
  • Bai Yujun confronted the bandit army, broke the deity statue, and found a crystal containing the same gray-black matter she had encountered before.
  • A young man revealed that his Lineage had spread the Evil Cult, and Bai Yujun left as an underground river swept him and his guards away.
  • Qiao Jin ordered the cults destroyed and unknown substances seized, while Bai Yujun used her Gaze into Past and Future to trace the Bronze Sarcophagus’s disappearance.
Chapters 1428–1452 Vol. 15 Read

Ch. 1428Black Shadow

Yingzi led the ducks and Big White Goose to a hidden mountain valley, where village women and children were sheltering from danger. While keeping watch at night, she encountered a strange little old man who claimed to be the lake’s water god and begged her to save him.

  • Yingzi brought the ducks, Big White Goose, and dried fish to the hidden valley, where Sister Lan and the other village women had gathered.
  • Yingzi learned that outsiders had eaten many of the villagers’ chickens, ducks, and geese, and she helped build shelters for the refugees.
  • After nightfall, Yingzi prepared bamboo spears and a bow to protect the camp from wild beasts.
  • Yingzi noticed that the insects, owls, and dogs had gone silent and vanished, then heard splashing by the lake.
  • Worried about her ducks and Big White Goose, Yingzi climbed the wall and hurled a bamboo spear at a Black Shadow near the shore.
  • The Black Shadow avoided the spear, revealed himself as a little old man who claimed to be the lake’s water god, and begged Yingzi to save him.

Ch. 1429A Dream Message

Feng Ying received dream warnings from the Lake God and Mountain God that outsiders planned to pin down North Mountain’s Dragon Vein. The dreams suggested her saber practice had given her divine power, and she went back to sleep before learning how to stop the villains.

  • The Lake God called Feng Ying an immortal and warned that strangers in her village planned to pin down North Mountain’s Dragon Vein.
  • Feng Ying woke by her campfire and wondered whether her nightly saber practice and newfound strength meant she was cultivating immortality.
  • After hearing an unfamiliar voice, Feng Ying rushed from her shack and met the Mountain God in another dream.
  • The Mountain God asked Feng Ying to stop the villains and explained that her divine power marked her as an orthodox god.
  • The Mountain God began to tell Feng Ying to throw an evil talisman artifact into a latrine pit, but the dream ended before she heard the rest of the instructions.

Ch. 1430Bamboo Spear

Feng Ying discovered that the bamboo spear from her dream had appeared in the real world, then watched outsiders force villagers to dive and search the lake. Enraged by their abuse, she decided to return to the village at night and retrieve the Rusty Iron Saber.

  • Feng Ying found the emerald-green bamboo spear from her dream and watched it vanish when she gripped it.
  • Feng Ying volunteered to keep watch at the valley entrance and saw unfamiliar men make villagers search the lake underwater.
  • Feng Ying watched the men beat villagers who resisted and became furious at their treatment.
  • Feng Ying resolved to return to the village after dark and retrieve the Rusty Iron Saber.
  • Feng Ying climbed down the cliff, caught a large fish, and continued fishing while she waited for nightfall.

Ch. 1431Storm

Feng Ying secretly returned to her village, then watched the enemy force its villagers to dive in cold, stormy water until an old man died. When her aunt and two other villagers were forced to search near her hiding place, Feng Ying attacked the soldier on their boat and dragged him underwater, where the villagers helped drown him.

  • Feng Ying returned to her abandoned home, took blankets and clothes for the village children, and retrieved the Rusty Iron Saber before leaving as three mysterious figures approached the village.
  • Feng Ying dreamed of a short girl in the rain and Sky Pillar Peak, then awoke to a sudden storm that flooded parts of the shelter.
  • For four days, enemy soldiers forced the villagers to dive in the icy lake, and an old man died underwater.
  • Feng Ying saw her aunt and two other villagers being forced to search near her hiding place, so she hid the saber, took her work knife, and swam toward their boat.
  • Feng Ying dragged the soldier into the water during a huge wave, and her aunt and the other villagers seized him and held him underwater until he stopped moving.

Ch. 1432Rocky Ridge

Feng Ying staged a fishing boat wreck to keep the enemy soldiers from retaliating against the village, then spotted rival groups heading toward an old Stone Temple and went to investigate. Meanwhile, the enemy commander and cultivators reached a rocky ridge and began preparing a ritual.

  • Feng Ying left the village and sank her neighbor’s fishing boat, hoping the wreck would conceal the missing man and protect the villagers.
  • Feng Ying spotted enemy soldiers and three Mysterious People heading toward an old Stone Temple, then noticed another unfamiliar group nearby and decided to investigate.
  • Feng Ying took her rusty iron knife and bamboo spear and hurried up the mountain, avoiding the hawk circling overhead.
  • The enemy group reached a rocky summit whose surface resembled dragon scales, and the old cultivator identified it as the ritual site.
  • The old cultivator poured dark red liquid onto the rocks, and his two disciples brought out three strange iron nails to prepare the ritual altar.

Ch. 1433Iron Nails

Feng Ying tried to stop an old cultivator from driving three iron nails into Rocky Ridge while soldiers and ambushers fought around them. After the old cultivator raised corpses with his ritual, a long-haired girl arrived and shot him and the reanimated dead.

  • Feng Ying watched the old cultivator and his two disciples perform a ritual over three iron nails as armed ambushers attacked the soldiers.
  • Feng Ying killed a young disciple with her bamboo spear, then charged the old cultivator but was driven back by swordplay and a defensive talisman.
  • The old cultivator drove the first two nails into the rock, while his disciple used talismans to animate five corpses that attacked the fighters.
  • The old cultivator began striking the third nail with his Square Seal, but an arrow pierced his throat.
  • A long-haired girl rushed onto Rocky Ridge and fired the rest of her arrows at the old cultivator and the reanimated corpses.

Ch. 1434Draw the Saber

Yu rescued Feng Ying from the cultivators and revived corpses, then helped her draw the Rusty Iron Saber and destroy the nails pinning down a dragon vein. Yu left with Feng Ying, warning that dragon veins would rise again and that troubled times were coming.

  • Yu killed the robed disciple and the revived corpses, then introduced herself to Feng Ying as Yu.
  • Yu told Feng Ying to use her saber on the third iron nail, but Feng Ying could not draw the rusted blade.
  • Yu took the saber, recovered part of her memories, and drew the blade as the rust began to wash away.
  • Yu killed the remaining attackers and returned the saber to Feng Ying.
  • Feng Ying cut through one nail, causing all three to shatter and the old cultivator to die from the backlash.
  • Yu warned that the dragon veins would revive and led Feng Ying away toward Sky Pillar Mountain.

Ch. 1435Water Battle

Yu and Feng Ying returned to the fishing village as warships gathered on the lake, and Yu warned that a long war was beginning. After a night of naval battle, Feng Ying found the shore covered with corpses and fled back to Yu for comfort.

  • Yu asked Feng Ying about her dream, and Feng Ying recalled a world engulfed in fire, a huge divine dragon, and a goddess in ice.
  • Yu explained that an emperor had started a war to rule the realm and was nailing down dragon veins to prevent rebellion.
  • Feng Ying told Yu she had found a knife in the lake years earlier, and Yu said the knife had chosen her and bound her to an inescapable fate.
  • Naval forces filled the lake, and a fierce battle between more than a thousand warships burned through the night.
  • Feng Ying went to check her fishing traps in the morning and discovered the lake crowded with floating corpses.
  • Feng Ying ran back to Yu in terror, and Yu held her as she wept.

Ch. 1436Welcome

Yu offered Feng Ying a choice between forgetting the blade and accepting a new fate, and Feng Ying chose to leave the village with her and learn to become stronger. In the Heavenly Court, Monkey and Zhang Xiaoyuan welcomed a newly ascended female immortal who arrived under the dragon race’s protection.

  • Yu offered Feng Ying the choice to give up the blade or accept a new fate, and Feng Ying took the scabbard.
  • Yu told Feng Ying to arrange the village’s relocation, promised to teach her strength, and returned with her to begin moving the village that day.
  • Zhang Xiaoyuan brought Bai Yujun’s order to Monkey, who prepared a grand reception for a female immortal ascending from the mortal world.
  • Monkey, Zhang Xiaoyuan, and the honor guard welcomed the girl as she arrived on the Ascension Platform with a dragon’s protection.
  • Monkey gave the girl a giant peach, and Zhang Xiaoyuan invited her aboard the tower ship bound for the South Heavenly Gate.

Ch. 1437Dam

Bai Yujun discovered that Little Beaver had built a dangerous dam and ordered it lowered, then heard that Evil Cult followers had returned to her fief. She worried that they might threaten the Medicine Empress and the lynx near Mitang Town.

  • The fat tiger returned to Bai Yujun’s courtyard after eating at the butcher’s shop and drew her attention to the swollen river.
  • Bai Yujun found that Little Beaver had built a large dam and scolded it for risking another flood.
  • Bai Yujun ordered Little Beaver to lower the dam, and the beaver swam back to obey.
  • Bai Yujun revised medical books, reviewed reports from her stewards, and considered how war and disaster could bring trouble to her fief.
  • The black-clad commander reported that escaped Evil Cult followers had returned near Mitang Town, close to where the Medicine Empress was treating patients.
  • Bai Yujun acknowledged the danger and worried that the lynx accompanying the Medicine Empress might break the trail.

Ch. 1438Fishing

Bai Yujun spent a quiet day fishing, then dealt with an unwelcome visit from the Fang Family of Prefecture City before enjoying her catch. The chapter ended with her resting on the roof beneath the stars.

  • Bai Yujun stopped the rain and went fishing beside the Princess Mansion.
  • Bai Yujun caught a basket of fish as the cloudy sky cleared.
  • Bai Yujun called Fat Tiger when six visitors argued with the mansion guards, and Fat Tiger frightened their mounts, injuring one visitor.
  • The guard commander told Bai Yujun that the visitors were from the Fang Family of Prefecture City and wanted to discuss building a temple; she ordered him to ask their purpose and send them away politely.
  • Bai Yujun fed Fat Tiger and cooked grilled fish, then climbed onto the roof with an orange-peel lantern to watch the stars.

Ch. 1439River Crabs

Bai Yujun enjoyed a leisurely life at the Princess Mansion, then set out with Fat Tiger to catch crayfish in a mountain stream. She filled her basket with crayfish as the outing continued.

  • A beaver brought river crabs to the Princess Mansion, where Bai Yujun rewarded him with a fragment of inheritance.
  • Bai Yujun asked a maidservant about local foods and decided to catch crayfish herself.
  • Bai Yujun called Fat Tiger, mounted his saddle, and rode with him into the mountains.
  • At a clear mountain stream, Bai Yujun made a simple fishing tool from ramie fiber and a stunned little fish.
  • Bai Yujun used the fish as bait to lure crayfish from beneath rocks, grabbed them by hand, and gradually filled her basket.

Ch. 1440Summer Heat

The Empress returned to the Princess Mansion, treated an injured beaver, and reunited with Bai Yujun. Bai learned that more than twenty children had been found dead near her fief, with evidence of a high-ranking cultivator’s involvement, and the sky darkened as she heard the report.

  • The Empress arrived at the mansion and learned that Bai Yujun had gone into the mountains and that a serious incident had been reported.
  • The Empress set the beaver’s broken forepaw, and Bai Yujun returned and scolded it for felling a tree while gnawing on it.
  • Bai Yujun ordered the fallen tree hauled back for mansion construction and gave the beaver a medicinal pill, telling it to repay her with river fish.
  • The captain told Bai Yujun that more than twenty children had been found dead in the river near her fief, with traces of a high-ranking cultivator’s methods at the scene.
  • The weather rapidly darkened as Bai Yujun heard the captain’s report.

Ch. 1441Riverbank

Bai Yujun traveled to a riverbank where several children had drowned and told the local officials to continue investigating despite the threat of a cultivator. A corpse retriever arrived and began searching the muddy water for the missing bodies.

  • Bai Yujun rode Fat Tiger out before dawn, asked a courier for directions, and followed the river upstream.
  • Bai Yujun arrived at the riverbank, where Deputy County Magistrate Du Lin and County Lieutenant Gao Hu greeted her amid the investigation into the drownings.
  • Bai Yujun told the officials to continue handling the case and asked why only some of the victims' bodies had been recovered.
  • Deputy County Magistrate Du explained that the other bodies remained in deep, muddy water, so they had summoned a corpse retriever.
  • The corpse retriever arrived by boat, said two bodies were underwater, and jumped into the river with a hemp rope.

Ch. 1442Old Demon

Bai Yujun questioned county officials about the river murders and learned that a powerful, unfamiliar cultivator might be responsible. After a nearby old demon denied involvement and advised seeking help from local sects, Bai Yujun concluded that the garrison squads were the only group she could rely on.

  • Bai Yujun asked Deputy County Magistrate Du how officials identified a powerful cultivator as the likely culprit, and he explained that witnesses had seen someone flying and the victims had been drained of blood.
  • County Lieutenant Gao told Bai Yujun that at least six people had left traces on the island crime scene, including carved talismans, and mentioned nearby great demons as possible suspects.
  • Fat Tiger sensed an approaching presence, and Bai Yujun revealed that the suspected great demon had arrived at the river.
  • The old woman told Bai Yujun that she had not committed the murders and warned that an unfamiliar cultivator of at least Refining Nascent Soul had been nearby.
  • After the old woman left, Bai Yujun decided that neither the court nor local sects could be trusted to pursue the culprit, leaving the garrison squads as her only dependable option.

Ch. 1443Sending a Message

Bai Yujun sent a message through golden characters, prompting the Heavenly Army to dispatch a Snake Demon Soldier. As Bai Yujun headed toward an ancient Daoist temple, the soldier captured a suspected Snake Demon but lost him to a restriction that destroyed his Primordial Spirit.

  • Bai Yujun dismissed the officials' concerns about the rebels and wrote a message in golden characters in the air.
  • Bai Yujun's message appeared at the Heavenly Army's Military Command Center, and a demon soldier was sent out.
  • Bai Yujun rode Fat Tiger toward a thousand-year-old Daoist temple in the mountains.
  • The Snake Demon Soldier ambushed a man in a distant valley and sealed his cultivation.
  • The soldier found bloody bottles among the man's belongings, but the man's Primordial Spirit burned away before he could be questioned.

Ch. 1444Climbing the Mountain

Bai Yujun stayed overnight in the town below the mountain, then climbed to an ancient Daoist Temple with Big White. After reflecting on the temple’s desolate beauty, she realized that she belonged there.

  • Bai Yujun enjoyed local food and a song at the town eatery, then slept through a rainy night.
  • Bai Yujun rode Big White up the mountain, passing pilgrims and travelers who marveled at the tiger-riding immortal.
  • Bai Yujun dismounted to walk and play her Xiao Flute, moving the listeners and catching the attention of an Old Daoist inside the temple.
  • Bai Yujun reached the temple’s mountain gate and platform, where the Old Daoist greeted her and saw incense smoke form a true dragon.
  • Bai Yujun looked at the weathered main hall and said that after years in the mortal world, she had finally understood where she belonged.

Ch. 1445Tea Money

Bai Yujun rested at a Daoist Temple, accepted tea from an elderly Daoist, and painted a divine dragon to protect the mountain. After briefly checking the Primordial Main World, she returned to watching the clouds, leaving its ongoing wars for later.

  • Bai Yujun explored the Daoist Temple and rested on a stone beside Fat Tiger.
  • An elderly Daoist served Bai Yujun treasured tea, and she offered to paint a picture in return.
  • Bai Yujun painted a vast divine dragon amid the mountain’s clouds and warned the Daoists not to remove or sell the painting.
  • Bai Yujun returned to her true body at Sky Pillar Peak, checked the Primordial Main World, and saw that wars still raged.
  • Bai Yujun returned her consciousness to the Small World and continued watching the clouds.

Ch. 1446Patrol

Bai Yujun left the mountain and patrolled her prosperous fief, then began planning a bridge to prevent seasonal floods from cutting off travel. Divination revealed that the Evil Cult was moving to infiltrate her territory, so she rode Fat Tiger back to the Princess Mansion to respond.

  • Bai Yujun offered incense at the cliff before leaving the mountain with Fat Tiger, who glided and leaped down the slopes.
  • Fat Tiger crashed into a village woman's vegetable patch, and Bai Yujun paid her for the damaged vegetables before continuing on.
  • Bai Yujun patrolled her fief, where the County Yamen resettled refugees and the people enjoyed good harvests.
  • Bai Yujun surveyed a wide river and drew plans for a bridge to keep travel open during the rainy season.
  • Bai Yujun divined that the Evil Cult was accelerating its collection of faith power and preparing to infiltrate her fief as the bandit army gained strength.
  • Bai Yujun told Fat Tiger to return to the Princess Mansion with her so she could answer the threat.

Ch. 1447The Situation

After rebels captured Hu County and massacred its people, imperial spies sent evidence of the atrocities to the court. Bai Yujun refused an offer to flee to the Prefecture City and prepared to defend her fief, while the storm broke over the Princess Mansion.

  • Bandit soldiers forced civilians to kneel before a deity statue and took part in a bloody worship ceremony as rebels slaughtered people across the city.
  • Two imperial spies documented the massacre and sent their report by gray swallow before the bandits killed them.
  • The prefectural governor forwarded the spies’ intelligence to the imperial court, and the Emperor summoned military officials for an urgent meeting.
  • County Lieutenant Gao told Bai Yujun that Hu County had fallen and urged her to leave for the Prefecture City, but she refused and assured him the Princess Mansion was safe.
  • Bai Yujun completed a Deity Summoning Talisman and decided to summon the monkey, then asked the fat beaver to deepen its dam before heavy rain began.

Ch. 1448Midnight

A mysterious cultivator arrived at the Princess Mansion during a thunderstorm and threatened the household into relocating, but Bai Yujun struck him down with lightning. After the guards and beasts finished him off, Bai Yujun rewarded them and returned to bed.

  • A beaver spotted a figure approaching the Princess Mansion, and the Lynx Demon and guards mobilized to defend it.
  • The Mysterious Person demanded that the household relocate for its safety, while the woman accused him of violating the prohibition against troubling mortals.
  • Bai Yujun confronted the Mysterious Person and called down repeated lightning bolts that blasted him into a crater.
  • Bai Yujun ordered everyone to finish off the wounded cultivator and loot his belongings, and the guards, Fat Tiger, and a beaver rushed into the crater.
  • The woman accepted the recovered items, and Bai Yujun rewarded the household with medicinal pills before returning inside to sleep.

Ch. 1449Letter

Bai Yujun investigated the growing unrest in her fief and found that a hidden force was interfering with her vision of the Evil Cult. She sent Qiao Jin a letter ordering investigations across every world, then went out to fish and found her usual stone platform underwater.

  • Bai Yujun learned that war, bandits, refugees, and the Evil Cult were disrupting her fief, and a bandit army had robbed one of her caravans.
  • Bai Yujun's mother told her that her cultivation was advancing unusually quickly, while Bai Yujun dismissed her concerns and reflected on the recent attack.
  • Bai Yujun used her True Sight to inspect the Small World but found the Evil Cult concealed by a powerful interference.
  • Bai Yujun wrote a letter that traveled to Qiao Jin, who ordered investigations across every world.
  • Bai Yujun went out to fish and found the stone platform submerged in water.

Ch. 1450Storming the Camp

Bai Yujun captured bandits who had robbed her caravan, then rode Fat Tiger to a war-torn county town to investigate a statue that seemed to conceal a mysterious substance. She reached the statue’s platform and found a masked man waiting there as Fat Tiger fought the bandit army below.

  • Bai Yujun and the Princess Mansion guards surrounded the bandits, and Fat Tiger’s roar stunned them into submission.
  • Bai Yujun ordered the bandits shackled and sentenced to ten years of road building for robbing her caravan and slaughtering oxen.
  • Bai Yujun rode Fat Tiger toward the county town, passing checkpoints, refugees, and civilians being driven ahead of the bandit army.
  • Bai Yujun used a hurricane to throw back five bandit experts, while Fat Tiger fought the soldiers near the raised platform.
  • Bai Yujun examined the statue and sensed the same unpleasant presence as in a mysterious crystal, then faced a masked, robed man and drew a talisman.

Ch. 1451Crystal

Bai Yujun summoned a monkey projection to help defeat the bandits and destroyed the statue that concealed a crystal used by the Evil Cult to transfer faith power. She rode Fat Tiger toward the protected leader’s camp and confronted an elderly man in magnificent robes.

  • Bai Yujun summoned the monkey projection, which struck the Masked Figure and swept away many bandit army experts.
  • Bai Yujun shot the statue with her slingshot, broke off its head, and found a large crystal containing the same gray-black matter as an earlier discovery.
  • The bandits and believers attacked Fat Tiger and swarmed the collapsing platform, revealing struggling and motionless limbs beneath the statue.
  • Bai Yujun escaped the platform’s collapse on her paper umbrella, landed on Fat Tiger, and rode toward a distant carriage camp.
  • Bai Yujun scattered and trapped groups of bandit soldiers with wind and earth magic, then approached a crowd protecting an elderly man in magnificent robes.

Ch. 1452Result

Bai Yujun crushed the Evil Cult’s local operation and returned to her true body, where she learned the cult had spread across roughly one in ten thousand Small Worlds. She used her Gaze into Past and Future to trace the Bronze Sarcophagus’s disappearance despite interference from two powerful forces.

  • Bai Yujun questioned the old man about the crystal, and Fat Tiger killed him when he refused to explain.
  • A young man revealed that his Lineage had spread the Evil Cult after a divine miracle, then accelerated its plans about a year earlier.
  • A Snake Demon Soldier arrived to investigate, and Bai Yujun left as the underground river swept away the young man and his guards.
  • Bai Yujun returned to her residence, and her consciousness rejoined her true body inside the ice.
  • Bai Yujun learned that the Evil Cult had been found in roughly one in ten thousand Small Worlds, and Qiao Jin ordered the cults destroyed and unknown substances seized.
  • Bai Yujun used her Gaze into Past and Future to overcome interference and trace the Bronze Sarcophagus’s disappearance.
Arc 58 of 75