Chapter Summaries

Mo Hua guided Xiao Ju in learning earth arrays so she could grow oranges, then asked Bai Zixi about Corpse Dissolution and the principles behind laws. He concluded that cultivation realm limits how strongly laws can amplify spirit power and wondered whether understanding laws was essential for reaching Void Insight.

• Mo Hua discussed growing and picking oranges with Xiao Ju, then gave her basic earth-element Array Patterns so she could learn to grow them herself.
• Mo Hua asked Bai Zixi about Corpse Dissolution, and she explained that its array gently dissolved a cultivator's spirit power while Reverse Spirit Arrays forcibly disintegrated it.
• Bai Zixi explained that all spirit power contained laws, but the power of laws remained limited by the cultivator's realm.
• Mo Hua reasoned that laws were a form of emptiness that amplified tangible spirit power, and Bai Zixi confirmed his insight.
• Mo Hua asked whether cultivators had to comprehend laws by the Feather Transformation realm, as he wondered about the path to Void Insight.

Mo Hua joined Yellow Weasel and three other tomb raiders on a trip to an ancient tomb, where the group died after greed and a worthless pill bottle sparked a fight. Mo Hua returned unharmed with their belongings, leaving Shopkeeper Zhao to wonder if Mo Hua was a disaster star who brought death to everyone around him.

• Mo Hua accepted Shopkeeper Zhao's offer to join a tomb-raiding group and set out with Yellow Weasel, Zhang Jia, Wang Si, and Mouse.
• The group entered a tomb outside East City, found little of value, and decided to open the coffin.
• Yellow Weasel secretly took a pill bottle, but Zhang Jia spotted him and demanded that he share it, starting a deadly fight among the raiders.
• Yellow Weasel survived until the others had died, then discovered the pills were ruined and died after spitting blood in fury.
• Mo Hua returned to Fortune Pavilion with the pill bottle and the group's belongings, and Shopkeeper Zhao realized that every companion had died while Mo Hua survived again.

Mo Hua learned that the Dust-Clearing Pill was a rare Forbidden Pill meant for the dead, then studied an old booklet about Earth Arrays and resolved to seek more knowledge. Shopkeeper Zhao could find no new tomb-raiding opportunity, while a sudden flood of Third-Grade Array orders made him suspect a major project was coming.

• Shopkeeper Zhao questioned Mo Hua about the tomb raiders’ deaths, then diverted their conversation when a steward brought him a stack of Third-Grade Array orders.
• Mo Hua asked Bai Zixi about the ruined Dust-Clearing Pill, and she explained that it was a rare Forbidden Pill intended for the dead.
• Mo Hua studied an old booklet inherited by the Yellow Weasel’s family, learned the basics of Earth Arrays, and resolved to seek further clues underground.
• Shopkeeper Zhao told Mo Hua that the two expeditions’ deaths had damaged his reputation and left him unable to organize another tomb raid.
• After Mo Hua left Fortune Pavilion, Shopkeeper Zhao noticed the unusual concentration of Third-Grade orders and wondered whether a big project was coming.

Mo Hua considered how to qualify for the Third-Grade Array Master assessment, but rejected signing a fifty-year Spirit Contract with the Earth Sect. He gained attention by defeating Wu Gui, Jin An, and Zhu Xian in public duels, then discovered someone was running a betting pool on his fights.

• Shopkeeper Zhao suspected a grand cultivation project was being planned without him, but found no clues in his records or news from the families.
• Mo Hua decided he needed more Third-Grade Array Technique practice and asked True Person Rong how to obtain an assessment place.
• True Person Rong explained that outsiders generally had to sign a Spirit Contract with a major power, such as the Earth Sect, and serve for at least fifty years to secure a place.
• Mo Hua considered joining the Earth Sect but abandoned the idea because he worried Junior Martial Sister would be left without a study partner.
• Mo Hua publicly defeated Wu Gui, Jin An, and Zhu Xian with the Fireball Technique, drawing spectators and gaining a measure of fame at the Sword Discussion Arena.
• Mo Hua found a furtive group running a Spirit Stone betting pool on his duels, with an ugly drawing of his face on the board.

Mo Hua confronted Bai Xiaosheng about betting, then learned from him how the Earth Sect controlled Third-Grade Array Master examination slots in Kun Province. After returning to Small Blessed Land, Mo Hua found Hua Ping visiting his Junior Martial Sister.

• Mo Hua caught Bai Xiaosheng gossiping and collecting winnings, then persuaded him to buy a meal at Hongyun Pavilion.
• Bai Xiaosheng explained that Great Clans had different rules and hinted that his cultivation left him no choice but to gamble.
• Mo Hua asked about the Third-Grade Array Master examination, and Bai Xiaosheng advised him to avoid relying on the Earth Sect or leave Kun Province.
• Bai Xiaosheng described the Earth Sect's former attempt to control Array Master certification and its continued grip on examination slots after the Imperial Heaven and Earth Diagram incident.
• Mo Hua paid for the meal, parted from Bai Xiaosheng, and reflected on his master's confidence about Array Master certification.
• Mo Hua returned to Small Blessed Land and found Hua Ping drinking tea with his Junior Martial Sister.

Hua Ping warned Mo Hua not to meddle in Kun Province’s affairs or involve Bai Zixi, while Mo Hua continued earning Spirit Stones and gaining renown through Dao battles. After Lu Zhenlong stopped him at the Sword Discussion Arena, she revealed that the Lu Family Patriarch wanted to meet him.

• Hua Ping fed Mo Hua fruit in Bai Zixi’s courtyard, then warned him privately not to cause trouble in Kun Province or drag Bai Zixi into it.
• Mo Hua continued studying Third-Grade arrays and cultivating while worrying about the Spirit Stones needed to nourish his Natal Magic Treasure.
• Mo Hua earned Spirit Stones by sparring, raised his challenge fee to eighty thousand, and became known in Kun Province as a master of spells.
• After winning five matches at the Sword Discussion Arena, Mo Hua encountered Lu Zhenlong, who asked him to go to the Lu Family.
• Lu Zhenlong told Mo Hua that her father, the Lu Family Patriarch, wanted to meet him.

Mo Hua attended a banquet at the Lu Family estate, where Patriarch Lu proposed making him the family’s array honored guest. Mo Hua realized he would have to choose between the Lu Family and the Earth Sect, and Patriarch Lu asked whether he had taken a wife.

• Lu Zhenlong brought Mo Hua to the Lu Family banquet after he agreed to go and sent a message to Bai Zixi.
• Bai Zixi learned that the Lu Family Eldest Miss had invited Mo Hua and reacted oddly to the news.
• Lu Chonglou welcomed Mo Hua as the honored guest at the banquet and asked about his ties to Void Gate and his combat skills.
• Lu Chonglou offered Mo Hua a position as the Lu Family’s array honored guest, but Mo Hua asked whether he could also serve the Earth Sect.
• Lu Chonglou asked Mo Hua whether he had taken a wife, leaving Mo Hua stunned.

Lu Chonglou offered Mo Hua marriage, Lu Family support, and help becoming a Third-Grade Array Master in exchange for joining the clan, but Mo Hua left without agreeing. Outside the Lu Family estate, the Hua Family Ancestor's Golden Needle stirred worldly desires in him, and he suppressed it as memories of past suffering clarified his purpose in cultivating the Dao.

• Lu Chonglou proposed that Mo Hua form a marriage alliance with the Lu Family and explained the benefits and restrictions of marrying concubine-born, legitimate, or main-branch daughters.
• Lu Chonglou offered to help Mo Hua join the Earth Sect and pass the Third-Grade Array Master assessment, provided he joined the Lu Family or signed a Spirit Contract.
• Mo Hua said he needed time to consider, then left the banquet after Lu Chonglou invited him to become an array technique instructor for the Lu Family's younger generation.
• Outside the Lu Family gates, Mo Hua felt tempted by the wealth and status on offer, but the Hua Family Ancestor's Heart-Binding Love-Inducing Desire-Falling Golden Needle stirred in his forehead.
• Mo Hua suppressed the Golden Needle with Divine Path Thought Power and recalled the suffering he had witnessed, renewing his resolve to seek the truth through cultivating the Dao.

Lu Chonglou weighed Mo Hua’s potential and the Lu Family’s ambitions amid a coming millennium of upheaval, while Mo Hua and Bai Zixi grew awkward after an intimate moment beneath the moon. Later, Mo Hua’s dojo sparring drew the attention of Wu Ming, an old acquaintance he could barely remember.

• Lu Chonglou and the Golden-Robed Elder discussed whether the Lu Family should recruit or marry Mo Hua, concluding that his present cultivation offered little help but his array talent might have great future value.
• Lu Chonglou told the Golden-Robed Elder that the Lu Family needed to make its mark during the first millennium after Dao Calendar twenty thousand, and they discussed resistance to a plan involving Earth Sect.
• After returning from the Lu Family estate, Mo Hua drank sobriety tea with Bai Zixi, who advised him to value calm cultivation over wealth and splendor.
• Mo Hua called Bai Zixi beautiful, and she tapped his forehead; both became flustered and afterward found their usual closeness awkward.
• Mo Hua avoided his muddled feelings by visiting Shopkeeper Zhao and fighting at the East City Dojo, where he had won large sums from Wu Gui, Jin An, and Zhu Xian.
• Wu Ming confronted Mo Hua over their past encounter at the Sword Discussion Assembly, but Mo Hua could not remember him and asked him to explain what had happened.

Wu Ming warned Mo Hua to stay away from Lu Zhenlong, then let his family’s flattery convince him that his Golden Core made him stronger than Mo Hua. After leaving the Dao Field, Mo Hua worried he had forgotten a junior brother from Kun Province, then learned that the orange seller Nian Youyu had returned to his hometown because of a Famine Disaster.

• Wu Ming confronted Mo Hua in Houtu City, warned him about the rules of the cultivation world, and told him to keep his distance from Lu Zhenlong.
• On the way back to the Wu Family, Wu Ming admitted he could not pursue Lu Zhenlong himself and had brought a crowd because he feared Mo Hua.
• A Wu Family disciple argued that Wu Ming’s upper-middle-grade Golden Core, magical artifact, and Dao Methods gave him the advantage over Mo Hua’s low-grade Golden Core, and Wu Ming grew confident enough to plan a rematch.
• At the Dao Field, Mo Hua wondered whether he had forgotten a junior brother from Kun Province, then left to buy oranges for Xiao Ju.
• Mo Hua found that Nian Youyu’s stall had a new owner, who said Nian Youyu had returned to his hometown because of a Famine Disaster; Mo Hua was alarmed.

Mo Hua investigated reports of famine in the Great Spirit Field Realm and encountered a terrifying rotting eye while divining its cause, losing one of his last Straw Dogs. He sought information from Shopkeeper Zhao, then met Elder Tian, who recognized him and invited him to inspect Third-Grade Array Techniques.

• Mo Hua learned from a peddler that Nian Youyu had returned home because poor harvests threatened his family.
• Mo Hua divined the famine’s Karma and saw a gigantic rotting eye in the darkness, then broke off the divination and destroyed the corrupted Straw Dog.
• Mo Hua asked True Person Rong about the famine but withheld what he had seen after noticing errors in her Karma calculations.
• Mo Hua questioned Shopkeeper Zhao, who said famines were common and could create business opportunities, and asked him to report any strange developments.
• Mo Hua encountered Elder Tian, who recognized him from when he had fallen into the Earth Sect and invited him to view Third-Grade Array Techniques at Fortune Pavilion.

Mo Hua accompanied Elder Tian to Fortune Pavilion, where he secretly memorized seventeen Third-Grade Array Diagrams while Elder Tian inspected and purchased several. He copied the diagrams onto a Jade Slip and returned to the Small Blessed Land, eager to learn the three high-level arrays.

• Shopkeeper Zhao brought Elder Tian and Mo Hua into Fortune Pavilion’s Array Repository and retrieved three sealed high-level arrays for Elder Tian.
• Mo Hua urged Elder Tian to inspect the Earth Coffin Array, Flame Kill Array, and Water Stealth Array, giving himself a clear view of all three diagrams.
• Elder Tian inspected and bought six more arrays after Mo Hua persuaded him to inspect those as well, while Mo Hua looked through fourteen diagrams without buying any.
• After Elder Tian left, Mo Hua copied all seventeen diagrams he had memorized onto a Jade Slip and checked the copies for errors.
• Mo Hua returned to the Small Blessed Land to begin learning the Third-Grade arrays, especially the three high-level techniques.

Mo Hua studied the Twenty-Seven-Pattern Earth Coffin Array and went to test it in the Small Blessed Land with Xiao Ju. The array failed to activate because his Spirit Ink was too low-grade, so Xiao Ju went to fetch fine ink from True Person Rong’s storeroom.

• Mo Hua studied the Earth Coffin Array, dissecting its structure and laws before practicing it on the Dao Stele.
• Mo Hua asked Xiao Ju to help find a secluded place in the Small Blessed Land to test the array.
• Mo Hua prepared a Third-Grade Foundation Stone Array Medium and drew the Earth Coffin Array, but it failed to activate.
• Xiao Ju realized Mo Hua’s Spirit Ink was too poor to support the high-grade array.
• Mo Hua admitted he had no fine Third-Grade Spirit Ink, so Xiao Ju offered to take some from True Person Rong’s storeroom and ran off to get it.

Mo Hua used True Person Rong’s high-grade Spirit Ink to test his Twenty-Seven-Pattern Earth Coffin Array on a broken Gold-Stone Warrior, discovering that it could materialize a powerful prison. Afterward, he weighed the array’s strength against its cost and decided to keep learning spells while reserving high-grade arrays for dangerous fights.

• Xiao Ju brought Mo Hua three bottles of True Person Rong’s earth-element Spirit Ink, which he used to draw the Twenty-Seven-Pattern Earth Coffin Array.
• Xiao Ju retrieved a broken Gold-Stone Warrior from True Person Rong’s storeroom, and Mo Hua studied a Mechanism Diagram to modify its mechanisms and make it move.
• Mo Hua sent the Gold-Stone Warrior into the array, which trapped it inside a towering, crystallized Earth Coffin.
• Mo Hua tested the Earth Coffin by making the Gold-Stone Warrior struggle and by attacking it with Third-Grade spells, but the array held firm.
• Mo Hua recognized that high-grade arrays consumed too many Spirit Stones, so he resolved to rely on economical spells in ordinary fights and save powerful arrays for dangerous opponents.

Mo Hua tested the Twenty-Seven-Pattern Earth Coffin Array with Xiao Ju, then studied a powerful Flame Kill Array and met Elder Tian to discuss array techniques. The chapter ended with True Person Rong confronting Xiao Ju about stolen items, as Mo Hua stepped in to take the blame.

• Mo Hua and Xiao Ju tested the Earth Coffin Array on the Gold-Stone Warrior, concealed their tracks, and agreed to keep the stolen items secret from True Person Rong.
• Mo Hua recorded what he had learned about Mechanism Arts and mastered the Twenty-Eight Pattern Flame Kill Array.
• At Fortune Pavilion, Mo Hua learned that high-grade Third-Grade Spirit Ink was costly, tightly controlled, and unavailable for purchase without proper standing.
• Elder Tian invited Mo Hua to dinner, and the two spent the day exchanging knowledge about Five Elements and Spirit Plant Arrays.
• When Mo Hua returned to the Small Blessed Land, True Person Rong confronted Xiao Ju about what she had stolen, and Mo Hua claimed he had asked Xiao Ju to get the items.

Mo Hua reconciled with Bai Zixi, began teaching her High-Grade Third-Grade Array Techniques, and learned from Elder Tian about Spirit Plant Arrays. After Elder Tian’s advice helped Xiao Ju’s Orange Trees begin to sprout, Mo Hua returned to Fortune Pavilion and learned that Elder Tian had died.

• True Person Rong made Xiao Ju copy the Disciples' Rules one hundred times for opening the storeroom and damaging a Gold-Stone Puppet.
• Bai Zixi confronted Mo Hua about drawing the High-Grade Third-Grade Earth Coffin Array, learned his divine sense had reached twenty-nine, and asked him to teach her Array Techniques.
• Mo Hua began teaching Bai Zixi High-Grade Third-Grade Arrays while they continued discussing lower-grade arrays together.
• Mo Hua visited Elder Tian, who explained Spirit Plant Arrays and gave him a Jade Slip of advice for helping Xiao Ju's Orange Trees sprout.
• Mo Hua followed Elder Tian's instructions, and Xiao Ju's Orange Trees began making progress toward sprouting.
• When Mo Hua returned to Fortune Pavilion half a month later, Shopkeeper Zhao told him that Elder Tian was dead.

After learning that Elder Tian had died suddenly, Mo Hua grieved and tried to find out what had happened, but the Earth Sect’s secrets remained out of reach. He sought Bai Xiaosheng for clues, only to uncover his acquaintance’s secret side job ranking beautiful women and tease him about visiting brothels.

• Shopkeeper Zhao told Mo Hua that Elder Tian had supposedly died from a sudden illness, then suggested Mo Hua brought bad luck to people he met.
• Mo Hua mourned Elder Tian’s death, told Xiao Ju the news, and asked True Person Rong about it, but she warned him not to get involved in the Earth Sect’s affairs.
• Mo Hua considered investigating through karma but feared risking his last Straw Dog, so he decided to seek clues by asking around.
• Mo Hua found Bai Xiaosheng drawing a portrait and learned he compiled the Top Ten Beauties of Kun Province list, including the courtesan Yu Nujiao.
• Mo Hua inferred Bai Xiaosheng had visited a brothel and threatened to tell his grandaunt, leaving Bai Xiaosheng frustrated.

Mo Hua asked Bai Xiaosheng about the Beauties List before persuading him to investigate the Earth Sect elder Tian Musheng’s death. Bai Xiaosheng returned with a troubling account of Tian Musheng’s monopolistic conduct, contradicting Mo Hua’s understanding of the elder.

• Bai Xiaosheng explained that the Beauties List’s top three places were reserved for prominent local families and the Earth Sect, while the remaining rankings served fame, profit, power, and marriage interests.
• Mo Hua threatened to tell Bai Xiaosheng’s grandaunt about his gambling and brothel visit until Bai Xiaosheng agreed to ask around about Tian Musheng’s death.
• After seven days without news, Bai Xiaosheng came to the Small Blessed Land and reported that Tian Musheng had been a powerful Earth Sect elder who controlled its Spirit Plant Arrays.
• Bai Xiaosheng said Tian Musheng had blocked efforts to spread Spirit Plant Arrays and was disliked across the Earth Sect, leaving Mo Hua troubled by the contradiction.

Mo Hua investigated Elder Tian’s suspicious death and learned that the elder’s wealth, poor reputation, and death raised questions, while Bai Xiaosheng warned him that his actions in Ganxue Prefecture had earned him enemies in Dao Province. After staking out the Tian Family Mansion, Mo Hua spotted several covert observers and a powerful Feather Transformation cultivator, leaving the reason for their surveillance unexplained.

• Mo Hua questioned Bai Xiaosheng about Elder Tian’s death and learned that Tian Musheng had one son, Tian Jizhi, who lived in the Tian Family Mansion.
• Bai Xiaosheng warned Mo Hua that his prominence at the Ganxue Assembly had angered powerful people and left him enemies awaiting him in Dao Province.
• Mo Hua visited the Tian Family Mansion, noticed signs that someone had previously tampered with its arrays, and chose to watch the estate instead of breaking in.
• Mo Hua told Bai Zixi he would stay out that night to investigate, and she cautioned him to be careful.
• Mo Hua watched the mansion from a nearby rooftop and noticed several concealed observers gathering after dark.
• Mo Hua spotted a deeply concealed figure with powerful Divine Consciousness and realized a Feather Transformation cultivator had come to watch the estate.

Mo Hua secretly watched Tian Mansion and discovered that a black-mist Feather Transformation cultivator was monitoring it. He followed the cultivator to an abandoned village, where Tian Jizhi was captured and asked where his father’s corpse was.

• Mo Hua sensed a black-mist Feather Transformation cultivator watching Tian Mansion and stayed hidden while monitoring the estate for several days.
• Mo Hua observed Tian Jizhi and noticed a succession of concealed carriages leaving Tian Mansion, but waited until the seventh carriage drew the Feather Transformation cultivator’s attention.
• Mo Hua identified Tian Jizhi in the seventh carriage and followed the Feather Transformation cultivator after he pursued it east from Houtu City.
• Mo Hua reached an abandoned village and saw the Feather Transformation cultivator subdue Tian Jizhi and his pursuers.
• The Feather Transformation cultivator held a sword to Tian Jizhi’s throat and demanded to know where his father’s corpse was.