Chapter Summaries

Bai Yujun searched the mountains for a better mount and subdued a powerful young tiger. She left the horse behind and rode the tiger down the mountain after granting it spiritual energy and a cultivation technique.

• Bai Yujun decided her horse was unsuitable for the mountain road and set out to find a new mount.
• A tiger roared nearby, frightening Bai Yujun’s horse, and she decided to capture the tiger.
• An injured deer demon fled from the tiger, but Bai Yujun rejected it as a potential mount because of its age and ordinary aptitude.
• The Colorful Fierce Tiger charged at Bai Yujun’s tethered horse, then stopped in fear when she appeared and tapped its head with her umbrella.
• Bai Yujun saddled the tiger, released her horse, and gave the tiger spiritual energy and a cultivation technique.
• Bai Yujun rode the tiger down the mountain and promised to buy it sheep to eat.

Bai Yujun and her tiger reached a remote town and accidentally terrified its residents when the tiger smashed into an inn. After calming the crowd, Bai Yujun paid for the damage, arranged food and shelter for her mount, and sat down to eat.

• Bai Yujun warned her tiger not to eat the animals as they passed through a village, where its appearance frightened a man visiting Widow Ma.
• Bai Yujun rode the tiger into a town and brought it to an inn, where it smashed through the entrance and alarmed the guests.
• The escort agency leader gathered the townspeople to confront the tiger, but its roar sent them fleeing in panic.
• Bai Yujun dismounted, apologized, paid the innkeeper for the damage, and asked for a room and two sheep for her tiger.
• Bai Yujun settled the tiger in the rear courtyard, noticed the waiter holding a temple-emblem object, and ate two local dishes in the hall.

Bai Yujun spent the morning at a rural inn, using Immortal Arts to raise water from the well before eating and setting out on her Colorful Fierce Tiger. She bought supplies for the road and rode onward, playing a bamboo instrument as she traveled toward her destination.

• Bai Yujun used Immortal Arts to bring the well water up to its mouth, astonishing the inn’s guests.
• Bai Yujun ate breakfast and tried to feed a boiled egg to the Colorful Fierce Tiger, which later spat it out.
• Bai Yujun rode the Colorful Fierce Tiger through town and bought cooking tools, grain, oil, blankets, and other supplies.
• Bai Yujun wore a lotus leaf as a hat, carved bamboo tubes into a simple instrument, and played a quiet tune on the road.

Bai Yujun overheard a merchant caravan using cheap salt and a tale of a nameless god to win the villagers’ gratitude and establish worship through a token. She recognized the caravan’s phoenix emblem but learned little about the god before riding away.

• Bai Yujun carved a talisman from a white stone while riding toward the mountains on her giant tiger.
• Bai Yujun overheard a caravan manager tell a village that a nameless god had arranged cheap salt and left a token for worship.
• Bai Yujun realized the caravan had likely restricted the salt supply so it could pose as the villagers’ benefactor.
• Bai Yujun rode into the village, startling the villagers and caravan guards, then examined the token and the caravan’s phoenix emblem.
• Bai Yujun recognized the emblem from a temple and a noble carriage, but found no cultivators among the caravan members and left without confronting them.

Bai Yujun found a lynx demon in the mountains and, after discovering its unusual love of carving, decided it was suitable to become a Guardian Spirit Beast. She subdued it and began teaching it how to cultivate as they traveled together.

• Bai Yujun tore up her inaccurate map and rode the tiger through a boulder field toward the lynx demon's territory.
• Bai Yujun noticed strange carvings on rocks and trees and suspected the lynx had made them.
• The lynx arrived carrying a freshly carved tree root, and Bai Yujun communicated with it and subdued it.
• Bai Yujun left the lynx's den with the lynx following her and taught it about cultivation, the outside world, and taking human form.
• Bai Yujun made porridge at camp that night while the tiger licked salt from its paw and the lynx studied wood carving.

Bai Yujun traveled through the rain with the tiger and Lynx Demon, persuading the lynx to practice transformation by carving a tiny figure from cured meat. Elsewhere, a storm-tossed Fisher Girl found a rust-covered sword on a miraculous reef, and touching its handle plunged her into a vision of a horned, scaled-tailed girl amid flames.

• Bai Yujun tried to teach the Lynx Demon the Transformation Technique, then inspired it to practice by carving a tiny lynx from cured meat.
• Bai Yujun rode the tiger through the rain while the Lynx Demon followed, newly determined to improve.
• A lightning strike battered the Fisher Girl's boat, but a reef rose from the lake and split an enormous wave around it.
• The Fisher Girl tied her boat to the reef, climbed up, and found a long rust-covered object embedded in the stone.
• The Fisher Girl grabbed the object's handle and saw a burning world with a white-dressed girl bearing two horns and a scaled tail.

The Fisher Girl experienced visions of a White Divine Dragon stopping the heavenly fire and a Dragon Girl sealed in ice, whose gaze caused her unbearable pain. She escaped the storm, brought the rusted weapon home, and reunited with her grandfather, leaving it leaning against the wall of their hut.

• The Fisher Girl witnessed the White Divine Dragon become Sky Pillar Mountain and halt the heavenly fire, then saw a Dragon Girl inside an Ice Pillar.
• The Dragon Girl's eyes caused the Fisher Girl's head to ache, and she came to on the reef with no sign of her earlier injuries.
• The Fisher Girl accidentally pulled the rusted weapon from the reef, examined it, and carried it back to shore with her fish.
• Her grandfather waited with a lantern, and the Fisher Girl ran to him before they walked home together.
• The Fisher Girl warmed herself by the fire and ate fish soup while the rusted weapon rested against the wall.

The Fisher Girl began reading and training with the rusty scrap iron, which quietly strengthened her as she continued her ordinary work. After dreaming of the Ice Cave again, she went outside at night and discovered that she could wield the blade with natural, fierce skill.

• The Fisher Girl dreamed of practicing basic knife techniques and woke sore, then discovered she could read the words carved into the village washing stone.
• She recalled the mysterious scrap iron and her dream, but kept quiet and continued her daily routine.
• The scrap iron drew dawn Solar Essence into the Fisher Girl, and over time she grew stronger, quicker, and remarkably accurate with her fish spear.
• The Fisher Girl and her grandfather slept without nightmares, while the scrap iron remained propped outside their home.
• After dreaming of Sky Pillar Mountain and the Ice Cave, the Fisher Girl took up the scrap iron at night and practiced increasingly fast, lethal knife techniques.

A village girl learned that war would take fifteen men from her village, including a young man her grandfather had hoped she might marry. In a separate scene, Bai Yujun rode a tiger and a transformed Lynx Cat across the river on the old turtle River God’s shell, then reached Song Family Ferry.

• A constable delivered a conscription notice, and the village chief called a meeting where Grandfather learned that the village had to send fifteen men to war.
• Grandfather worried about the girl’s future and mentioned that the Wang family’s second son liked her, while the girl reflected that she had no way to leave.
• The villagers gathered at the Land God Temple to send off the fifteen men, and the grieving group followed them until they disappeared down the road.
• Bai Yujun, the tiger, and the transformed Lynx Cat boarded the old turtle River God and crossed the river as Bai Yujun recited a poem and played “A Laugh in the Vast Sea.”
• The old turtle asked who had composed the tune, then departed after Bai Yujun said its mortal composer was impossibly far away.
• Two thieves hid in the grass as the tiger passed, then noticed the broken Song Family Ferry stele and felt disheartened.

Bai Yujun stopped in Changhua County, fed the tiger and Lynx Cat, and sensed evil cultivators operating in town. After greeting Captain Li, she pointed him toward the person he was searching for and left to find an inn.

• Bai Yujun bought the butcher’s remaining meat and bones to feed the tiger, while the Lynx Cat found her a gold bean in the paving stones.
• Bai Yujun sensed the familiar foul aura of evil cultivators in the county town and resolved to deal with them.
• Captain Li arrived to greet Bai Yujun and asked her to keep the tiger from harming anyone.
• Bai Yujun told Captain Li that the person he was looking for was in a residence west of the bridge, then rode away with the tiger and Lynx Cat.

Bai Yujun stayed at an inn after watching Captain Li’s constables wipe out a nest of Evil Arts practitioners, then slept with her Lynx Cat and tiger guarding her. After an attacker sent a ghost to harm her, she reversed the spell and made the caster suffer its backlash.

• Bai Yujun ate at a tavern while watching Captain Li’s constables capture or kill the Evil Arts practitioners and rescue several young children.
• Bai Yujun settled into an inn with her tiger and Lynx Cat, then fell asleep while the Lynx Cat kept watch.
• A Black Shadow threatened Bai Yujun from outside her window, but she remained asleep as the tiger and Lynx Cat watched.
• Before dawn, the Lynx Cat caught a ghost that had passed through the door and lunged toward Bai Yujun’s bed.
• Bai Yujun recognized the ghost as an Evil Arts attack, reversed the spell, and sent its caster suffering backlash.

Bai Yujun confronted three men who had used Evil Arts to command ghosts and discovered they had occupied the City God Temple to intercept its incense offerings. After the Lynx Cat killed them, she rode off to find out who was collecting the faith power.

• Bai Yujun followed a messenger to a teahouse, where three men tried to intimidate her over her interference with their ghost-commanding spell.
• One man hurled a teacup at Bai Yujun, but the Lynx Cat caught it and asked whether it should eat them.
• Bai Yujun condemned the men for trafficking children and ordered the Lynx Cat to deal with them; it sliced them apart as the terrified messenger fled and fell from a window.
• Bai Yujun used her qi-gazing art and learned that the men had occupied the City God Temple and intercepted its incense offerings.
• Bai Yujun mounted the tiger and rode toward the temple to find who was collecting the faith power.

Bai Yujun investigated the occupied City God Temple and discovered that a Crystal Stone hidden in its idol was being used to steal faith. After breaking it, she found no trace of the missing children and left, while Captain Li arrived to find the statue damaged.

• Bai Yujun rode the tiger into the City God Temple and found that its plaque had been removed and its furnishings reused.
• Bai Yujun sent the Lynx Cat to search the idol while she fed its offerings to the tiger.
• The Lynx Cat found a mud-wrapped Crystal Stone hidden inside the statue, and Bai Yujun cleaned it off.
• Bai Yujun spotted a faintly gray, abnormal area inside the crystal and smashed it, causing a foul wet stain to appear and vanish in the sunlight.
• Bai Yujun confirmed that the crystal had been used to transfer stolen faith, found no trace of the missing children, and rode away.
• Captain Li arrived with two constables and found the City God statue headless.

Bai Yujun traveled through the wilderness with the tiger and Lynx Demon, then encountered Old Daoist Xu at a village crossroads as he sought help for a possessed girl. The tiger drove the evil presence from Xu, leaving them poised to help with the girl’s crisis.

• Bai Yujun flew a kite while riding the tiger across the grasslands and mountains, and the tiger’s passage interrupted a fight between two bands of bandits.
• Old Daoist Xu found a little girl possessed by an evil presence after her family had discarded the protective peachwood gourd he gave her as a baby.
• Old Daoist Xu’s attempts to exorcise the evil presence failed, and his master’s voice urged him to seek a passing True Person at the crossroads.
• Old Daoist Xu reached the crossroads and mistook the approaching tiger for a threat before he noticed Bai Yujun riding on its back.
• Bai Yujun told the tiger to help Old Daoist Xu, and the tiger’s roar drove a gray evil shadow from his body.

Bai Yujun helped Old Daoist Xu banish the evil presence tormenting a village girl and offered him compensation for the damage her tiger caused. Old Daoist Xu chose to have his inherited ritual seal reforged, and Bai Yujun carved a dragon into it and enhanced its spirituality.

• Bai Yujun rode into the village with Old Daoist Xu and the tiger after discovering Filth Qi gathering over it.
• Bai Yujun asked Old Daoist Xu for his Blessing Dao Scripture, then had the family carry the possessed girl and her bed into the sunlight.
• Bai Yujun recited the scripture while pressing her hand to the girl's forehead, causing the evil presence to emerge as gray smoke and vanish.
• Bai Yujun told the family the girl was safe, and she woke as they gathered around her.
• Bai Yujun offered Old Daoist Xu ten years of Lifespan or a reforged Magic Tool to compensate for his torn robe, and he chose the Magic Tool.
• Bai Yujun carved a dragon into Old Daoist Xu's jujube-wood ritual seal and strengthened its spirituality.

Bai Yujun uncovered the spread of the New God’s influence and continued her journey after saving a child. In the imperial capital, a woman in the Cold Palace achieved Foundation Establishment, alarming palace officials and prompting the Old Eunuch to think of the little Princess.

• Bai Yujun learned that wealthy clans were helping the New God replace local worship and asked Old Daoist Xu about missing children.
• Bai Yujun caught Tiger cub with a chicken claw in his mouth, then rode away with him after giving the chicken to Erhu’s family.
• Tiger cub accidentally destroyed a newly built New God temple as he ran out of the village, carrying Bai Yujun into the rain.
• A spiritual energy surge in the imperial palace revealed that a woman in the Cold Palace had achieved Foundation Establishment.
• The Old Eunuch ordered the palace officials not to spread news of the breakthrough and suspected the little Princess was connected to it.
• The woman used Spiritual Sense to search the library for her absent daughter, frightening the Old Eunuch.

Bai Yujun and her companions reached the Capital City, slipped past its walls, and made their way through the streets toward the imperial city. They arrived at its rear gate before dawn, with Bai Yujun preparing the Lynx Demon for his duties as a Guardian Spirit Beast.

• Bai Yujun taught Fat Tiger the Water Control Technique, and they raced down the river while the Lynx Cat flew overhead and caught fish.
• The group stopped on a mid-river reef, where Bai Yujun prepared raw fish and dipping sauce for their meal.
• Fat Tiger carried Bai Yujun across farmland toward the Capital City, frightening a farm boy and accidentally sending a melon-stealing badger flying.
• The Lynx Cat checked the city wall for patrols, and Fat Tiger climbed over it with Bai Yujun on his back.
• Bai Yujun led the group through the commoner districts and taught the Lynx Demon about his Guardian Spirit Beast duties and promised him a path to immortality.
• Bai Yujun and her companions reached the rear gate of the imperial city during the darkest hour before dawn.

Bai Yujun returned to the palace with Fat Tiger and the Lynx Demon, then brought them to her mother’s courtyard and introduced the Lynx Cat as her guardian spirit beast. Her mother welcomed her home and vowed to protect her, while Bai Yujun’s mention of Golden Core cultivation left her poised to start training even harder.

• Bai Yujun asked the Old Eunuch to keep people away from her courtyard and provide sheep and a leather saddle, promising to help him break through his cultivation bottleneck.
• The Old Eunuch hurried off to arrange her requests, and Bai Yujun rode Fat Tiger with the Lynx Demon through the palace to her mother’s courtyard.
• Fat Tiger drank from the courtyard’s water vat despite Bai Yujun’s warnings and swallowed one of her goldfish.
• Bai Yujun introduced the Lynx Demon, transformed into a Lynx Cat, as her mother’s Golden Core-level guardian spirit beast.
• Bai Yujun’s mother told her to report before leaving again and promised that she would protect her from then on.
• After hearing about the Golden Core Stage, Bai Yujun’s mother seemed ready to begin another intense round of cultivation.

Bai Yujun told her mother that her Foundation Establishment cultivation meant they would soon have to leave the imperial palace, and encouraged her to meet the Emperor outside the Cold Palace. Her mother agreed to go, then promised Bai Yujun they would leave the palace together and never return.

• The Lynx Cat built a carefully finished well while Fat Tiger ate the sheep delivered by the Old Eunuch.
• The Old Eunuch returned to announce that the Emperor would soon visit, and Bai Yujun's mother struggled with the thought of meeting him.
• Bai Yujun advised her mother to meet the Emperor outside and explained that Foundation Establishment cultivators could not interfere in mortal affairs and would have to leave the palace.
• The Lynx Cat offered to kill anyone who objected to their departure, unsettling the Old Eunuch.
• Bai Yujun's mother went to change clothes and promised to take her daughter out of the palace for good.

Bai Yujun accompanied her mother to meet the Emperor in the rain, where her mother confirmed she would leave the palace and take Bai with her. The Emperor agreed and offered them a Princess Mansion, a county fief, and a household before they returned to their courtyard.

• Bai Yujun dressed with her mother's help and summoned dark clouds as they prepared to meet the Emperor.
• Bai Yujun, her mother, and the Lynx Demon waited beneath umbrellas as the Emperor's procession approached through the rain.
• Bai Yujun stopped her mother from bowing, and the Emperor asked whether she had decided to leave the palace.
• Her mother confirmed she would leave after the nearby Cultivation Sect came to discuss matters and said she would take Yu'er with her to teach her cultivation.
• The Emperor offered her a Princess Mansion, a county fief, and a household, and she accepted his goodwill.
• The Emperor departed, and Bai Yujun returned to the courtyard with her mother.