Chapter Summaries

Bai Yujun helped her mother prepare for cultivation by recommending the Medical Dao, while a lynx killed a stealthy intruder and a sect disciple registered her as a Rogue Cultivator. Her mother’s longing for home grew stronger, and Bai Yujun began arranging their departure from the palace.

• The lynx caught and suffocated a stranger in eunuch robes who had crept into the palace at night.
• A Foundation Establishment Realm sect disciple arrived, explained Cultivation World rules, gave the woman a booklet, and invited her to join his sect; she chose to become a Rogue Cultivator.
• Worried about cultivation and self-defense, the woman accepted Bai Yujun’s suggestion to study medicine and pursue the Medical Dao.
• Bai Yujun claimed a divine dragon had taught her cultivation in dreams, reassuring her mother about her knowledge.
• The woman sang in her hometown dialect and yearned to return home, prompting Bai Yujun to move up their departure plans.
• Bai Yujun went to the library tower and asked the Old Eunuch to arrange a leather saddle for the lynx; their belongings were packed and ready to leave.

Bai Yujun left the palace through its main gate and set off traveling freely after helping Old Eunuch begin his breakthrough. Elsewhere, a girl crossed a war-torn wilderness town and continued onward as an aspiring Human Emperor’s campaigns spread destruction.

• Bai Yujun left the imperial palace with the Little Girl, Old Eunuch, Fat Tiger, and the lynx, carrying the ashes of her mother’s maid.
• Bai Yujun assured Old Eunuch that he would break through, and he immediately felt his cultivation surge before hurrying back to the library tower.
• Bai Yujun mounted Fat Tiger and departed with the lynx, while the Imperial Guards watched them leave across the moat.
• In a distant town, a girl found her horse killed by arrows as a volley struck the streets and killed townsfolk.
• The girl avoided the gathering soldiers and continued toward her destination, weary of the widespread wars driven by a self-proclaimed Human Emperor.

After her grandfather’s funeral, Fisher Girl struggled through her first day alone and went fishing at the lake. There, she noticed crows driving an unfamiliar raptor away from town, and an urgent gong sounded from Fishing Village as she worked.

• Fisher Girl buried her grandfather with the villagers, then returned to her silent home and grieved alone.
• The next morning, Fisher Girl forced herself to eat leftovers and set out with fish traps for the lakeshore.
• Fisher Girl watched several crows drive an unfamiliar raptor away from the direction of town and felt uneasy about it.
• Fisher Girl set baited traps and caught several large fish in a cove away from the village.
• Fisher Girl heard the village gong sound urgently and saw figures on the mountain road to town, deepening her unease.

The Fisher Girl watched Jing Kingdom soldiers seize control of her fishing village and steal its food and chickens. She escaped by boat into the reeds, but the soldiers’ violence left her with a new hatred.

• The Fisher Girl hid in the reeds as Jing Kingdom soldiers arrived and ordered the villagers to feed them.
• The soldiers’ eagle returned wounded, and the Fisher Girl recognized it as the bird the crows had attacked.
• The neighboring auntie urged the Fisher Girl to flee to the valley and gave her dried fish, so she escaped by boat.
• The soldiers rejected the villagers’ meal and took their chickens, shooting several dead as the villagers wept.
• The Fisher Girl watched helplessly as the soldiers harmed the village and felt hatred take root in her heart.

The enemy soldiers forced the village chief to map the lake’s underwater terrain and threatened the villagers into helping them search for dragon veins. The Fisher Girl secretly escaped with the village ducks and Big White Goose, while the two leaders went onto the lake to compare maps and suffered strange mishaps on a reef.

• The two strongmen showed the village chief a map and ordered him to draw the lake’s underwater terrain.
• The village chief stopped after mapping the fishing grounds, but the strongmen threatened the village girls and ordered the villagers to explore the rest of the lake.
• The Fisher Girl found her family’s ducks and Big White Goose, loaded the geese into her boat, and led the ducks away from the village.
• The Fisher Girl watched Uncle Wang row the two leaders onto the lake as villagers mourned their slaughtered poultry.
• The strongman holding the hawk slipped on a reef, and the other strongman’s old injuries flared when he stepped onto it.
• The two leaders compared their maps with the surrounding mountains and stars while Uncle Wang stood unharmed on the reef.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.