Chapter Summaries

Lin Wan and Lu Zheng explored the African grasslands, taking photos with wildlife until gunshots and a hunting convoy interrupted their drive. After refusing James’s offer to escort them back to Babati, they decided to seek out the lion pride the convoy had mentioned.

• Lin Wan and Lu Zheng drove across the grasslands, posing with animals and taking photos together.
• After hearing gunshots near the outskirts of Tarangire National Park, Lin Wan and Lu Zheng continued driving.
• A convoy of foreign hunters approached them after chasing a herd of buffalo, and James warned them about the dangers nearby.
• James introduced his companions and urged Lin Wan and Lu Zheng to follow the convoy back to Babati, but they declined.
• Lin Wan and Lu Zheng decided to look for the lion pride and see whether there were cubs.

Lu Zheng and Lin Wan watched wildlife near the lake after James's convoy drove away, then played with lion cubs. Gunmen ambushed James's group and forced their vehicles to stop by the lake, trapping Lu Zheng and Lin Wan in the middle.

• James and his friends joked over the radio as their convoy drove toward a lake where buffalo, lions, and hyenas gathered.
• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan watched the animals hunt while James's group observed from a nearby hill.
• After James's convoy left, Lin Wan caught and released a leopard, then she and Lu Zheng approached the lion pride to play with its cubs.
• Gunfire and explosions startled the animals, and Lu Zheng recognized the convoy as the one being attacked.
• Gunmen killed the occupants of an overturned escort pickup and surrounded the three jeeps, leaving Lu Zheng and Lin Wan trapped between the vehicles.

Lu Zheng and Lin Wan intervened when armed poachers threatened a group of tourists who had filmed them killing a lion. They swiftly defeated the poachers, leaving the leader with Elizabeth as a hostage.

• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan realized the poachers were threatening three couples who had filmed them killing a lion.
• The poachers ordered Lu Zheng and Lin Wan to join the captives and made lewd threats against the women.
• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan agreed to fight the poachers while avoiding killing them or using their strongest abilities.
• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan charged the poachers and quickly knocked down more than a dozen men despite their gunfire.
• The remaining leader grabbed Elizabeth, held a gun to her head, and shouted for Lu Zheng and Lin Wan to let him go.

Lu Zheng and Lin Wan rescued a group of Eagle Country travelers from poachers in Tanzania, then continued their trip and returned home without revealing their identities. The chapter ends with an old man watching the news and vowing revenge because his son has been left in a vegetative state.

• Lu Zheng knocked the burly poacher unconscious, and James reunited with Elizabeth as the group thanked Lu Zheng and Lin Wan for saving them.
• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan left the travelers to contact the authorities, extinguished a burning pickup with a summoned rain cloud, and drove away without sharing their names.
• The travelers captured the remaining poachers and contacted the embassy and Tanzanian authorities, while Louis complained that Lu Zheng and Lin Wan had not helped sooner.
• Four days later, Lu Zheng and Lin Wan saw a news report crediting six Eagle Country travelers and two anonymous Hua Country tourists with capturing the poachers.
• After nearly ten days in Africa, Lu Zheng and Lin Wan flew home; an old man watching the report blamed the six travelers and the two Hua Country tourists for his son's condition and vowed revenge.

Lu Zheng returned to White Cloud Temple for the New Year and explored the Scripture Pavilion, where his cultivation status let him access many more texts and techniques. He brought gifts of Cloud Pattern Swords and wine to the temple, and the Light of Luck was credited as the items appeared in the back hall.

• Daoist Priest Mingzhang brought Lu Zheng and Yuan Jing to meet Abbot Perfected Person Mingyu, and Lu Zheng gained access to more of the temple’s secret techniques.
• Yuan Lin accompanied Lu Zheng through the Scripture Pavilion, where Lu Zheng learned that its texts could be read freely but not removed, and found several books on Youth Preservation Techniques and alchemy.
• Lu Zheng visited Daoist Priest Mingguang and offered gifts for his fellow disciples, prompting surprise from Mingguang, Yuan Lin, and the young Daoists nearby.
• Lu Zheng released one hundred Cloud Pattern Swords and several hundred jars of wine from his gourd, and the Light of Luck was credited.

Lu Zheng learned how White Cloud Temple’s White Cloud Copper Coins worked and exchanged six Three-Ginseng Yu Zhi Pills for 600 coins. Master Yuan Lin then led him into White Cloud Grotto-Heaven to inspect the temple’s storeroom, where Lu Zheng discovered an immense collection of materials and treasures.

• Daoist Priest Mingguang recorded Lu Zheng’s latest offerings and explained that White Cloud Copper Coins could be exchanged for items from the back hall storeroom.
• Lu Zheng offered six Three-Ginseng Yu Zhi Pills, and Daoist Priest Mingguang valued them at 600 White Cloud Copper Coins.
• Daoist Priest Mingguang invited Lu Zheng to browse the storeroom, and Master Yuan Lin guided him there.
• Master Yuan Lin showed Lu Zheng White Cloud Grotto-Heaven and explained its use for cultivation, medicinal herbs, alchemy, and safeguarding important temple assets.
• Master Yuan Lin and Master Mingyi guided Lu Zheng through the storeroom, where he saw many materials and Magical Artifacts, including Spiritual Materials suitable for refining Flying Swords.

Lu Zheng exchanged his spirit pills and copper coins for materials to refine a Flying Sword, then settled into life at White Cloud Temple and grew close to its elders and disciples. As the New Year approached, he joined a martial uncle in Ji prefecture to conduct a hundred-day blessing ritual for an earl’s grandson.

• Priest Yuan Lin offered Lu Zheng an ordinary jade magical artifact, but Lu Zheng asked about sword-refining materials and explained that he had obtained the Flying Feather Riding Clouds Sword Control Scripture.
• Priest Mingyi showed Lu Zheng costly Spiritual Materials, and Lu Zheng chose three sword-refining materials and a piece of Flowing Cloud White Jade.
• Lu Zheng exchanged items with Daoist Priest Mingguang for more than four thousand White Cloud copper coins and spent nearly all of them on the materials.
• Daoist Priest Mingzhang took Lu Zheng to meet True Person Yue Yi and other reclusive experts at the Back Mountain, giving Lu Zheng a clearer sense of White Cloud Temple’s strength.
• Lu Zheng gave aged wine to the elders, exchanged guidance with them and fellow disciples, and quickly became the most popular Outer Sect Layman of the Yuan generation.
• As the New Year approached, Lu Zheng followed a martial uncle to Ji prefecture and conducted a hundred-day blessing ritual for an earl’s grandson.

Lu Zheng spent a month studying White Cloud Temple’s Scripture Pavilion, learning its cultivation system and numerous spells before leaving the mountain. After reuniting with Lin Wan in the modern world, he returned to ancient times and noticed cooking smoke in a place he believed was uninhabited.

• Lu Zheng stayed at White Cloud Temple after the New Year Dharma Assembly and studied in the Scripture Pavilion for a month, memorizing its teachings and learning several spells.
• Lu Zheng said goodbye to Perfected Person Mingyu and his fellow disciples, descended the mountain, and traveled back to the modern world.
• Lu Zheng apologized to his mother for being unreachable, then joked with the Jade Seal about making time pause between worlds.
• Lu Zheng bought groceries, cooked a feast, and reunited with Lin Wan after a month apart.
• Lu Zheng drove Lin Wan to work the next morning, returned to ancient times, and saw cooking smoke rising nearby despite finding no signs of habitation before.

Lu Zheng discovered a lavish manor steeped in Yin Qi and recognized it as a ghostly residence hosting a wedding. When Rong Song, Surname Zhang Man, and scholar Ning arrived to rescue QianQian, they fought their way through the manor gates and entered Ghost Manor.

• Lu Zheng spotted the haunted manor and its wedding preparations, then saw three riders approaching, including someone he knew.
• Rong Song, Surname Zhang Man, and scholar Ning followed a ghost-leading road toward Ghost Manor to rescue QianQian.
• The three confronted eerie lanterns and skull-studded gates, and Surname Zhang Man and Rong Song destroyed the guardians blocking their way.
• Surname Zhang Man led the group through the opened gates, while Rong Song placed spirit-suppressing talismans on the lintel before entering with scholar Ning.

Surname Zhang Man, Rong Song, and Scholar Ning stormed a Ghost Manor to rescue QianQian from a ghost’s forced wedding. They broke the manor’s illusion and fought the groom, but Scholar Ning was knocked aside as the bride was taken toward the rear hall.

• Surname Zhang Man charged through the manor’s Yin Qi, and the three found a wedding feast hidden behind a mind-bewildering formation.
• Rong Song used the Golden Citadel Treasure Mirror to reveal dozens of ghosts and QianQian being forced to marry a ghost groom.
• Surname Zhang Man and Rong Song attacked the groom while Scholar Ning held the other ghosts back with his bamboo scroll.
• At Rong Song’s urging, Scholar Ning rushed to rescue QianQian, but the groom interrupted him and sent him crashing through tables and chairs.
• As the two female ghosts dragged QianQian toward the rear hall, a scholar in green robes appeared in its doorway.

Lu Zheng rescued Yi QianQian and joined Rong Song and the Surname Zhang Man in confronting the groom and his ghosts at Ghost Manor. He destroyed nearly all the attackers, leaving only Yi QianQian and the groom, whom he blasted apart before he could explain himself.

• Lu Zheng killed the two female ghosts restraining Yi QianQian, who reunited with Ning Zhiqi.
• Lu Zheng warned Ning Zhiqi that the Avatamsaka Sutra bamboo slips also affected Yi QianQian as ghosts attacked the hall.
• The groom fled toward the rear to activate the manor's formation, but Lu Zheng blocked him and struck him back into the hall with a White Cloud Great Hand Seal.
• Lu Zheng and Rong Song and the Surname Zhang Man killed the ghosts trapped inside the hall while the ghosts outside fled.
• Lu Zheng used a thunder seal to blast apart the groom, leaving only Yi QianQian among the ghosts.

Lu Zheng helped Ning Zhiqi and Yi QianQian escape the Half-Forest Ghost Manor, then learned how their relationship had led them into danger. He returned to Tonglin County and reunited with Shen Ying and Liu Qingyan.

• Lu Zheng, Rong Song, Zhang Kai, Ning Zhiqi, and Yi QianQian left the Ghost Manor, and Ning Zhiqi agreed to arrange for the buried village ruins to be exposed to sunlight.
• Lu Zheng learned that Yi QianQian had cared for Ning Zhiqi for nearly a year, but the Half-Mountain Ghost abducted her after becoming enamored with her beauty.
• Ning Zhiqi explained that an old monk had given him the bamboo scroll, which proved to be a Buddhist Magical Artifact.
• The group escorted Ning Zhiqi and Yi QianQian home before Rong Song and Zhang Kai left town and Lu Zheng flew southwest.
• Lu Zheng returned to Tonglin County and greeted Shen Ying and Liu Qingyan, who had become more affectionate during his month away.

After returning home, Lu Zheng learned that a ghost corpse had killed a Demon Suppression Division cultivator and used the Cloud Palace Treasure Mirror to track her. The mirror revealed her location in Tonglin County’s Spring Breeze Pavilion, where she had left a man severely depleted of yang.

• Liu Qingyan and Shen Ying told Lu Zheng about events during his month away, including Qian Bao'er refusing to return to the Jade Dragon Palace.
• Shen Ying told Lu Zheng that Lord Chu had left a severed finger from a murdered Demon Suppression Division cultivator at Peach Blossom Manor.
• Lu Zheng examined the finger and sensed corpse qi, then used the Cloud Palace Treasure Mirror to seek its owner.
• The mirror showed a ghost corpse entwined with a man who collapsed after being drained of yang.
• Lu Zheng pulled back the mirror’s view and discovered that the ghost corpse was at Spring Breeze Pavilion in Tonglin County.

Lu Zheng helped Chu Jin capture a ghost corpse hiding at Spring Breeze Pavilion and earned more than sixty strands of Light of Luck. Back at Renxin Hall, Zhang Yuanwai sought treatment for his exhaustion, and Lu Zheng agreed to hold a feast at Peach Blossom Manor during the upcoming Ten-Day Rest.

• Lu Zheng flew to Yizhou Prefecture to bring Chu Jin and Duan Changzai back to Tonglin County to arrest the ghost corpse.
• Chu Jin stormed Spring Breeze Pavilion and captured the disguised ghost corpse, while Duan Changzai and Liu Butou led constables in to manage the aftermath.
• Lu Zheng gained more than sixty strands of Light of Luck from helping with the arrest.
• Du YueYao examined Zhang Yuanwai at Renxin Hall and prescribed treatment after he explained that a ghost had frightened and depleted him.
• Ao Qian and Liu Qingquan brought food to Lu Zheng, and he agreed to a grand feast at Peach Blossom Manor during the Ten-Day Rest.

Lu Zheng prepared an elaborate Fujian feast at Peach Blossom Manor, including Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, for his friends and family. Ao Qian loved the meal so much that she declared she would stay for years rather than return home.

• Shen Ying decorated Peach Blossom Manor for the first gathering since the New Year, and Lu Zheng arrived early with Liu Qingyan, Du YueYao, and the two little girls before heading to the kitchen.
• Hua Yixing, Lin Jing'er, Hu Cainiang, Bi Xinyu, and Mo Lan joined the gathering, while the women played games, talked, and praised Lu Zheng's cooking.
• Lu Zheng served a Fujian feast featuring Buddha Jumps Over the Wall and many seafood dishes, then brought out an assortment of fruits.
• Ao Qian eagerly ate the food and declared that she would stay for five, ten more years instead of going home.

Lu Zheng spent time with Liu Qingyan and their guests before arranging a weekend trip with Lin Wan, who was leaving on a business trip. After returning to the ancient world, he agreed to accompany Liu Qingyan, Cai Niang, and Bi Xinyu to hear an opera at Jade Ling Garden.

• Lu Zheng hosted a meal where Bi Xinyu and Mo Lan teased Liu Qingyan about Guang Yue and his oath to stay near Lu Zheng.
• Lu Zheng spent the afternoon playing mahjong, then returned to the modern world and found Lin Wan leaving for Ning City on business.
• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan agreed to visit Xiangshan Film and Television City together after she returned.
• Lu Zheng returned to the ancient world and told Liu Qingyan he had decided to stay with her for a few more days.
• Liu Qingyan invited Lu Zheng to join her, Cai Niang, and Bi Xinyu at Jade Ling Garden, where a Yizhou troupe was performing 'Ode to the Secluded Curtain,' and he agreed.

Lu Zheng accompanied Liu Qingyan and her companions to Jade Ling Garden to watch the Silver Phoenix Troupe perform. Seeing Liu Qingyan admire the opera made him consider bringing a famous love story from Hua Country to the Great Jing Dynasty.

• Lu Zheng went with Liu Qingyan to the clinic, where Hu Cainiang and Bi Xinyu joined them before they set off for Jade Ling Garden.
• Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan met Zhao Wenrong and Lin Yushu at the theater entrance and agreed to attend the performance together from neighboring private rooms.
• Lu Zheng and the women watched the Silver Phoenix Troupe's opera, and Lu Zheng praised its lead performers while wishing the story had more vivid characters.
• After Liu Qingyan expressed interest in the operas of Zhongjing, Lu Zheng considered bringing a love story from Hua Country to the Great Jing Dynasty.

After watching an opera, Lu Zheng told Liu Qingyan the story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai and played the Butterfly Lovers melody for her. Liu Qingyan was deeply moved and cried, then asked Lu Zheng to tell her more stories in the future.

• After the opera, Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan returned home together, and she asked why he seemed concerned about her.
• Lu Zheng began telling Liu Qingyan a mortal story and recounted Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai.
• Liu Qingyan became upset as the lovers faced separation and death, then imagined that they might find a way to live together forever.
• Lu Zheng brought out his guzheng and played the Butterfly Lovers melody, leaving Liu Qingyan weeping over the tragic tale.
• After the music ended, Liu Qingyan praised the story and asked Lu Zheng to tell her more in the future.

After finishing Butterfly Lovers, Lu Zheng traveled to Ning City to meet Lin Wan, and the two visited Xiangshan Film and Television City. They secretly watched a drama being filmed, and Lu Zheng suggested they return that night dressed in ancient-style clothes so Lin Wan could enjoy showing off her martial arts.

• Lu Zheng spent two days writing Butterfly Lovers and left the finished story and its score with Liu Qingyan before departing to cultivate.
• Lu Zheng crossed to the modern world, learned Lin Wan had finished her work in Ning City, and picked her up at the city bureau.
• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan bought tickets and toured Xiangshan Film and Television City, where a crew was filming a drama featuring Zhao Xiaodao.
• Lu Zheng used the Invisibility Spell to take Lin Wan over the crowd and into the set, where they watched the crew film scenes using wire rigs.
• Lu Zheng suggested that he and Lin Wan return that night in ancient-style clothes, and Lin Wan eagerly welcomed the idea.

Zhao Xiaodao and her assistant returned to Guiyun Manor to retrieve her phone, where they witnessed Lu Zheng and Lin Wan fighting with swords across the rooftops. After the pair noticed them, Zhao Xiaodao knelt and begged Lin Wan to take her as a disciple.

• Zhao Xiaodao and her assistant went back to Guiyun Manor at night and found Zhao Xiaodao's forgotten phone.
• They heard a sword fight outside and secretly watched Lu Zheng and Lin Wan perform a dramatic duel across the courtyard rooftops.
• A gust of wind blew open the window, revealing Zhao Xiaodao and her assistant to Lu Zheng and Lin Wan.
• Lu Zheng blurred his face with true qi while Lin Wan kept her face covered, and the pair wondered what to do about the witnesses.
• Zhao Xiaodao dropped to her knees and begged Lin Wan to take her as a disciple.