Chapter Summaries

Chu Youwei took Tang Youfu to a mountain stream and set him a Crouching Stream Clam-catching assessment meant to teach him patience. After he startled his first clam, Tang Youfu accepted the challenge and tried to nominate Tang Youcai for it too.

• Chu Youwei led the group to a stream so Fang Ya and Liao Minmin could wash, then showed Tang Youfu the Crouching Stream Clams hidden beneath stones.
• Chu Youwei assigned Tang Youfu to collect twenty-five clams before dawn and explained that he needed long chopsticks, careful movements, and good timing to catch them without damaging their shells.
• Tang Youfu ignored Chu Youwei's warning to wait for a clam to breathe, and it immediately burrowed into the mud when his chopsticks entered the water.
• Chu Youwei explained that the assessment was meant to curb Tang Youfu's impatience, and he agreed to continue after understanding her purpose.
• Tang Youfu urged Chu Youwei to assess Tang Youcai as well, prompting Tang Youcai to defend himself and call the hunting story an accident.

Chu Youwei assigned Tang Youcai to collect White Mud Nether Snails while she took Lu Feng and others to the secluded spring for archery lessons. At Jun Family Villa, Jun Ziya learned that an assassin was heading for Heavenly Cuisine Villa and suspected Lu Feng had gone there to pursue the Lin Family’s secret treasure.

• Chu Youwei tasked Tang Youcai with gathering ten White Mud Nether Snails from the cold spring and told him to use spiritual energy to endure the conditions.
• Chu Youwei left Tang Youfu with Liao Minmin and Yu Ziyang, then led Fang Ya, Lu Pingping, and Lu Feng toward the spring to teach archery.
• Lu Feng wondered whether the spring’s Underground River could help him sense Northern Essence Water’s aura and reflected on Ruo Shui, the Five Elements Sect, and the View Breaking Art.
• Flame Sparrow reported that Lu Feng had joined Heavenly Cuisine Villa’s assessments, that Luo Tianfu had hired an Earth Soul Realm assassin, and that Ji Lanxin planned to seek revenge at the Delicious Immortal Banquet.
• Jun Ziya called Lu Feng her opponent and suspected his real purpose at Heavenly Cuisine Villa was to pursue the Lin Family’s Heaven and Earth Secret Treasure.

Jun Ziya deduced that Chu Xuanyi might hold crucial clues to the Lin Family’s secret treasure, while Lu Feng searched the Nether Spring and found no Northern Essence Water. At night, Chu Youwei used archery practice to tease and punish Lu Feng, ending by challenging him to shoot three distant leaves.

• Jun Ziya told Flame Sparrow that Lin Baixu may have entrusted Chu Xuanyi with clues or an item related to the Lin Family’s secret treasure, and she suspected Zhong Sanxiao had obtained only part of its information.
• Chu Youwei left Tang Youcai in Lu Feng’s care while she took Fang Ya and Lu Pingping to a nearby bamboo grove for archery practice.
• Lu Feng searched the Nether Spring with his spiritual energy, found no trace of Northern Essence Water, and left an aura behind to watch over Tang Youcai.
• Chu Youwei distributed a bow to Lu Pingping and ordered the group to practice shooting until they could hit six of ten arrows before dawn.
• Chu Youwei made Lu Feng hold his drawn bow, claiming she was supervising his training at Xiao Wan’s request while privately enjoying her chance to get even with him.
• Chu Youwei told Lu Feng to shoot three distant leaves, and he pretended that he was too inexperienced to hit them.

Lu Feng impressed Chu Youwei with an arrow that broke a bamboo branch, then used another shot to expose Chen Pei hiding nearby. Chen Pei joined Chu Youwei’s group and revealed the location of Azure Thunder White Jade Mushrooms.

• Lu Feng’s arrow missed the bamboo leaves but broke their branch, prompting Chu Youwei to dismiss the result as a fluke.
• Lu Feng sensed an unusual aura near an earthen mound, then shot toward the swaying branch and startled Chen Pei into revealing himself.
• Chu Youwei checked Chen Pei’s identity token, and he claimed he had become separated from Lin Xiaowan’s team while hunting a rabbit.
• Chu Youwei agreed to let Chen Pei travel with her group until he found Lin Xiaowan.
• Chen Pei told Chu Youwei that Lin Xiaowan’s team had found Azure Thunder White Jade Mushrooms and that he remembered their location.

Chu Youwei took Lu Feng to harvest an Azure Thunder White Jade Mushroom as his assessment, explaining its lightning-powered defenses and how to reach it with a ladder of arrows. As she guided his aim, they grew very close, while Yu Ziyang watched with a knowing smile.

• Fang Ya and Tang Youcai speculated that Chu Youwei treated Lu Feng differently and that he might have come to pursue her.
• Chu Youwei led Lu Feng, Yu Ziyang, and Chen Pei to the cliff where the Azure Thunder White Jade Mushroom grew.
• Chu Youwei explained that lightning had smoothed the cliff around the mushroom and that its defensive barrier could destroy it if broken by force.
• Chu Youwei marked a route for a ladder of arrows and gave Lu Feng specially made arrows to begin climbing toward the mushroom.
• Chu Youwei adjusted Lu Feng's arm and bow as he aimed, bringing them close enough that Yu Ziyang watched them like a couple in a storybook.

Lu Feng harvested the Azure Thunder White Jade Mushroom despite an ambush, then exposed Chen Pei’s connection to the attackers. After learning that the archer might also target Lin Xiaowan, Chu Youwei ordered Chen Pei to lead them to his original team.

• Chu Youwei helped Lu Feng reach the cliffside mushroom, but a hidden archer shot at it during the harvest.
• Lu Feng kicked aside the first arrow, secured the mushroom, and used Chu Youwei’s hairpin to intercept a second arrow while she caught his fall.
• Lu Feng accused Chen Pei of guiding the attacker to them, and Chen Pei confessed that Yan Wentai had threatened him and sent him to lead Chu Youwei’s team to the area.
• Chen Pei revealed that a Mother-Child Insect Gu had helped him locate them, leading Lu Feng and Chu Youwei to suspect Fang Ya and Lu Pingping had leaked their whereabouts.
• Chu Youwei feared Yan Wentai might target Lin Xiaowan next, so she ordered Chen Pei to take them to his original team.

Lu Feng and Chu Youwei uncovered Yan Wentai’s use of a Mother-Child Insect Gu to track their group, while Chu Youwei grew convinced Lu Feng had skill with archery. The next morning, they reunited with Lin Xiaowan’s party, and Chu Youwei asked Lu Feng to help her shake off Qi Jialue.

• Lu Feng explained that Chen Pei’s suspicious reactions had helped expose his connection to the ambush, while Chu Youwei privately concluded Lu Feng knew archery after finding an arrow that had struck another in flight.
• Chu Youwei discovered that Yan Wentai had given Lu Pingping a pouch containing a Mother-Child Insect Gu, which had likely revealed their whereabouts to the ambusher.
• After the group halted its collection tasks, Chu Youwei sent Lu Feng to fetch Tang Youcai and inspected the arrows near Chen Pei’s hiding place.
• The next morning, Chu Youwei’s group found Lin Xiaowan’s party, and Lin Xiaowan forgave Chen Pei for helping Yan Wentai and allowed him to continue the assessment at increased difficulty.
• Qi Jialue approached Chu Youwei after claiming he had completed his assessment by hunting a White Patterned Ancient Wolf, and Chu Youwei leaned close to Lu Feng and asked him to help shake Qi Jialue off.

Lu Feng exposed inconsistencies in Qi Jialue’s claim that he had killed the White Patterned Ancient Wolf, revealing that it had been injured by a Dark Tiger Python. The group agreed to continue the examination together while watching for signs of the dangerous beast, and Qi Jialue challenged Lu Feng to a hunting contest.

• Qi Jialue threatened Lu Feng for standing close to Chu Youwei, but Lin Xiaowan stopped him from fighting during the examination.
• Lu Feng and Chu Youwei pointed out clues suggesting Qi Jialue had not killed the White Patterned Ancient Wolf as he claimed, and Qi Jialue admitted to trapping it with Jia Tianliang.
• Lu Feng identified the ancient wolf’s hind-leg wound as a Dark Tiger Python bite, and Lin Xiaowan and Chu Youwei confirmed that the marks and decaying bone were consistent with the vicious beast.
• Lin Xiaowan proposed returning to the manor, but Qi Jialue and Jia Tianliang persuaded the group to continue together and leave if they found definite signs of the python.
• Qi Jialue challenged Lu Feng to compete to catch an Iron Birch Cloud Monkey, and Lu Feng considered accepting because of Chu Youwei.

Lu Feng and Qi Jialue agreed to compete in archery after Lin Xiaowan redirected their challenge toward a Protruding Beak Vulture. When Lin Xiaowan revealed that Lu Feng was her brother and Chu Youwei’s fiancé, she proposed that the winner stop pursuing Chu Youwei, leaving Chu flustered by her own feelings for Lu Feng.

• Chu Youwei tried to stop Lu Feng and Qi Jialue from fighting, and Lin Xiaowan suggested they compete over hunting instead.
• After Chu Youwei objected to entering Chaotic Yin Tomb, a Protruding Beak Vulture called nearby, and Lin Xiaowan proposed an archery contest for it.
• Lin Xiaowan privately urged Chu Youwei to teach Lu Feng archery, then revealed that she hoped the contest would drive Qi Jialue away.
• Lin Xiaowan told Qi Jialue that Lu Feng was her brother, and Lu Feng confirmed that he was Lin Liyun, the man engaged to Chu Youwei.
• Lin Xiaowan set the contest’s stakes: the loser would stop pursuing Chu Youwei, and Chu Youwei blushed when Lin Xiaowan teased that she could marry Lu Feng instead.

Qi Jialue and Lu Feng competed to hunt the Protruding Beak Vulture, but Qi Jialue’s reckless shots failed to hit it. Chu Youwei helped Lu Feng fire an arrow that unexpectedly intercepted Qi Jialue’s, and Lin Xiaowan limited them to three more shots each.

• Qi Jialue mocked Lu Feng’s Peach Blossom Bow, while Chu Youwei claimed it was the Love Token she had exchanged with Lu Feng.
• The group entered the dark forest, where Qi Jialue fired several arrows toward the Protruding Beak Vulture but failed to locate it accurately.
• Chu Youwei guided Lu Feng’s aim, and his arrow struck Qi Jialue’s arrow in midair, breaking it and sending it off course.
• Qi Jialue accused Chu Youwei of intercepting his shot, but she wondered whether the feat had been an accident.
• Lin Xiaowan and Chu Youwei explained that the Five Elements Realm Protruding Beak Vulture was too fast to hunt by firing arrows wildly.
• Lin Xiaowan changed the contest rules to allow each person no more than three additional arrows, and Qi Jialue agreed.

Qi Jialue fired a powerful arrow at the Protruding Beak Vulture, but it evaded the shot after Lu Feng secretly drove it away with his Killing Heart Art. Chu Youwei began to suspect that Lu Feng had known the arrow would miss and asked him directly.

• Lin Xiaowan explained the Protruding Beak Vulture’s habits, abilities, and sensitivity to disturbances in its aerial territory.
• Qi Jialue heard the vulture cry out, drew his Black Arrow, and shot toward its location.
• The arrow missed, leaving Qi Jialue confused while Lin Xiaowan teased him and Chu Youwei wondered how the vulture had reacted so quickly.
• Chu Youwei recalled the strange chill she had sensed near Lu Feng and considered whether he had caused the vulture to move.
• Lu Feng’s narration revealed that he had used the Killing Heart Art to frighten the vulture away before Qi Jialue’s arrow arrived.
• Chu Youwei, suspicious of Lu Feng’s composure, asked whether he had known Qi Jialue’s arrow would miss.

Chu Youwei proposed using her spiritual energy to help Lu Feng make a stronger arrow than Qi Jialue’s, and they practiced coordinating with the Peach Blossom Bow. As Lu Feng held Chu Youwei close during the practice, Lin Xiaowan found herself envying their intimacy.

• Chu Youwei leaned into Lu Feng’s embrace while Qi Jialue watched, and Lin Xiaowan covered for her by saying she was too nervous to stand.
• Qi Jialue offered Chu Youwei a Purifying Beauty Pill, but she refused it, and he left to search for advantageous terrain with Jia Tianliang.
• Chu Youwei proposed directing her spiritual energy through Lu Feng to form a powerful arrow, and Lin Xiaowan urged them to practice together.
• Fang Ya collected her bet from Tang Youfu, then became flustered when he teased her about fancying Tang Youcai.
• Lu Feng and Chu Youwei practiced drawing the Peach Blossom Bow together, while Lin Xiaowan watched and felt envy and jealousy.

Lu Feng and Chu Youwei tested their arrows, then Qi Jialue used Daimu Birds as bait to draw out a Protruding Beak Vulture. Lu Feng and Chu Youwei fired a Wind Vortex Arrow that overwhelmed Qi Jialue’s shot and struck the vulture, leaving its fate unclear.

• Lu Feng and Chu Youwei tested their arrows together, but their shots proved too weak to break through the bow’s limits.
• Qi Jialue and Jia Tianliang returned with three Daimu Birds, and Qi Jialue released them as bait despite Lin Xiaowan’s objections.
• The Protruding Beak Vulture arrived and swallowed a Daimu Bird while Qi Jialue aimed his Black Arrow at another.
• Chu Youwei helped Lu Feng draw the bow, and the arrow absorbed her Spiritual Qi and became wreathed in Wind Gale.
• Lu Feng’s Wind Vortex Arrow overtook and damaged Qi Jialue’s Black Arrow, tore through the treetops, and struck the Protruding Beak Vulture.

Lu Feng’s Wind Vortex Arrow killed a Protruding Beak Vulture and astonished the group, while Chu Youwei and Lin Xiaowan concealed how it worked. Qi Jialue then arranged for Jia Tianliang to lead Lu Feng away to investigate suspected Dark Tiger Python tracks, leaving the others behind as Lin Xiaowan remained wary of Qi Jialue.

• Lu Feng’s Wind Vortex Arrow struck the Protruding Beak Vulture, and Qi Jialue found the arrow itself appeared ordinary despite its devastating power.
• Tang Youfu, Fang Ya, and the others questioned Chu Youwei about the arrow, so she and Lin Xiaowan claimed its power came from Chu Youwei’s full-force strike.
• Jia Tianliang mentioned claw marks that might belong to a Dark Tiger Python, but Qi Jialue dismissed the concern and urged the group to investigate.
• Lu Feng volunteered to go alone while Lin Xiaowan stayed with the weakened Chu Youwei, despite both women’s concerns.
• Qi Jialue hurried Jia Tianliang and Lu Feng into the forest, and Lin Xiaowan stayed beside Chu Youwei while watching Qi Jialue suspiciously.

Lu Feng discovered Qi Jialue’s scheme and returned to find the disciples attacked and Lin Xiaowan missing, then rushed after her and Chu Youwei when Qi Jialue claimed Yan Wentai had abducted them. Qi Jialue manipulated Chu Youwei into staying behind and pressed her to choose whether she cared more about her sister or her fiancé.

• Lu Feng threatened Jia Tianliang into revealing that Qi Jialue had lured him away, and Jia Tianliang fled into a concealed formation.
• Lu Feng returned to find most of Lin Xiaowan’s group dead or wounded, while Lin Xiaowan, Chu Youwei, and Qi Jialue were missing.
• Qi Jialue returned and claimed Yan Wentai had abducted Lin Xiaowan and Chu Youwei, so Lu Feng rushed deeper into the mountain range to find them.
• Chu Youwei returned and learned that Lu Feng had gone after her; Qi Jialue falsely claimed he had lost Yan Wentai while pursuing him.
• Chu Youwei decided to return to the manor and summon help, but Qi Jialue warned her about the dangers facing Lu Feng and Lin Xiaowan, then asked which of them she cared about more.

Chu Youwei chose to return to the manor for help after trusting Lu Feng to rescue Lin Xiaowan. Lu Feng used a poisoned arrow and a hidden array to save Lin Xiaowan, while Yan Wentai died by suicide without revealing who sent him.

• Chu Youwei dismissed Qi Jialue's urging to pursue Yan Wentai and decided to return to the manor for help.
• Lu Feng tracked Yan Wentai to a collapsed mountain ridge and found Lin Xiaowan injured and held hostage.
• Lu Feng fired three arrows that formed a triangle around Yan Wentai and Lin Xiaowan, then shot a rusted arrow that corroded Yan Wentai's right hand when he caught it.
• A snowflake array trapped Yan Wentai as Lu Feng rescued Lin Xiaowan and demanded to know who had sent him.
• Yan Wentai activated a poison sac and died before revealing his master's identity, and Lin Xiaowan asked Lu Feng how he had done it.

Lu Feng rescued Lin Xiaowan from Yan Wentai, then carried her back while explaining the Fluorine Rust Arrow and the array-based archery he had learned in the Hundred Valleys Sword Ruins. Lin Xiaowan eagerly asked how his special arrows worked, but remained troubled by her feelings about his closeness to Chu Youwei.

• Lu Feng checked Lin Xiaowan’s injuries and learned that Yan Wentai had attacked Chu Youwei’s team before abducting Lin Xiaowan as Qi Jialue returned.
• Lu Feng suspected Qi Jialue had deliberately left Chu Youwei vulnerable to help Yan Wentai, then reassured Lin Xiaowan that he would have rushed to save either of them.
• Lu Feng carried Lin Xiaowan away and collected the Fluorine Rust Arrow, then shattered the Profound Ice Arrows and destroyed the frozen remains of Yan Wentai.
• Lu Feng explained that the Fluorine Rust Arrow was made from Fluorine Rust Crystal Iron and said Yan Wentai’s carelessness had let its effect spread through his body.
• Lu Feng promised to teach Lin Xiaowan his special archery and explained that he had comprehended it from artifacts in the Hundred Valleys Sword Ruins, whereupon she asked how an array could be embedded in arrows without the usual array-setting steps.

Lu Feng explained how he fused and divided arrays across special arrows while carrying the exhausted Lin Xiaowan, who fell asleep and woke feeling close to him. Their tender moment was interrupted by a Heaven Soul Realm Dark Tiger Python, and Lu Feng led it deeper into the mountain range with Lin Xiaowan beside him.

• Lu Feng explained how the Wind Vortex Arrow carried a pre-formed array and how the Heavenly Net Cold Heart Array was split among three arrows using the Centrifugal Magnetic Seal; Lin Xiaowan fell asleep on his back.
• Lin Xiaowan woke, leaned affectionately against Lu Feng, and began to confess what she had been about to say before Lu Feng sensed danger ahead.
• Lu Feng recognized a Heaven Soul Realm Dark Tiger Python and decided to lure it away from the assessment area and into the mountain range’s depths.
• Lin Xiaowan agreed to follow Lu Feng, and he evaded the python’s corrosive spit while keeping it close enough to pursue them.
• As Lu Feng led the enraged python deeper into the mountains, he asked Lin Xiaowan what she had been about to say, leaving her flustered.

After Chu Youwei reported the Dark Tiger Python and Yan Wentai’s attack, Su Huaijin led a search party into the mountain range to find Lin Xiaowan and her brother. They found Yan Wentai’s scattered remains and evidence of a Heaven-grade array and Fluorine Rust Crystal Iron, but no sign of the siblings.

• Chu Youwei told Su Huaijin that Yan Wentai had abducted Lin Xiaowan and that her brother had gone into the mountain range alone to rescue her.
• Su Huaijin sent the injured disciples back to the manor and entered the mountain range with Chu Youwei and Qi Jialue.
• The search party found traces of the Dark Tiger Python and followed the route where Lin Xiaowan had been taken.
• Su Huaijin identified remnants of a man-made Heaven-grade Ice-Cold Array around Yan Wentai’s remains.
• Chu Youwei and Su Huaijin found Fluorine Rust Crystal Iron marks on Yan Wentai’s arm, while Qi Jialue discovered two arrowheads nearby.
• Chu Youwei concluded that an unknown expert may have killed Yan Wentai, and Qi Jialue concealed his role in the failed plan to abduct Chu Youwei.

Chu Youwei linked Yan Wentai’s attack on Lin Liyun to the Qin Family Banquet, unsettling Qi Jialue while Su Huaijin questioned Lin’s backing. In the Mountain Range, Lu Feng and Lin Xiaowan encountered an Azure Scythe Dark Spider, and Lu Feng blocked its charge with a zigzag volley of Profound Ice Arrows.

• Chu Youwei suggested Yan Wentai’s appearance was connected to Lin Liyun’s humiliation of Ji Lanxin and Luo Tianfu at the Qin Family Banquet, making Qi Jialue fear provoking Lin again.
• Su Huaijin asked whether Lin Liyun had powerful backing, and Chu Youwei evasively affirmed that he did.
• Lu Feng and Lin Xiaowan neared the Mountain Range Depths while fleeing the Dark Tiger Python, which stopped at the boundary after sensing danger ahead.
• Lu Feng sensed a powerful, nearly Heaven Soul Realm Late Stage beast approaching, and he and Lin Xiaowan saw an Azure Scythe Dark Spider cutting down the forest.
• Lu Feng used the Netherworld Bow to fire three Profound Ice Arrows in a zigzag formation, raising an icy barrier that stopped the spider’s charge, astonishing Lin Xiaowan.