Chapter Summaries

Qi WuHuo and the Fierce Tiger Mountain God dealt with an evil cultivator and traveled to meet the local Land Gods. Qi WuHuo recognized a clue on the Daoist’s sect token and asked where it came from.

• The Fierce Tiger Mountain God arrived at the Li family gathering, protected Qi WuHuo, and agreed to spare the Daoist temporarily so Qi WuHuo could question him.
• The Mountain God destroyed the Daoist’s cultivation and swallowed him, then carried Qi WuHuo away from the Li family residence.
• The Mountain God introduced Qi WuHuo to Tao Chen, Shen Hongxue, and Luo Yizhen as a friend with remarkable insight into the Dao.
• The Mountain God brought the Daoist before the gathered deities and explained that he had been refining Yin Longevity.
• Qi WuHuo recalled an old tragedy and asked the Daoist where he had obtained the waist token.

Qi WuHuo learned more about the Ming Zhen Dao Alliance while investigating the disaster in Jin Province, then killed Tantai Xuan for stealing lives to extend his own. As Qi WuHuo prepared to leave, the Fierce Tiger Mountain God asked him to inherit the Mountain God's position when he departed to travel.

• Elder Tao identified Tantai Xuan's token as belonging to the Ming Zhen Dao Alliance and explained the alliance's origins and cultivation traditions.
• Qi WuHuo recalled a cloud-pattern talisman connected to the Jin Province disaster, and the Fortunate Earth Deities said the alliance might have records of events it had been involved in.
• The Fierce Tiger Mountain God recognized Tantai Xuan as the grandson of his old friend Tantai Guochu, but condemned him for stealing people's lifespans.
• Tantai Xuan pleaded with Qi WuHuo to spare him and offered to help investigate the Jin Province disaster, but Qi WuHuo stabbed him and refused to let him live.
• The Fortunate Earth Deities destroyed Tantai Xuan's remaining soul so he could not reincarnate or return as a ghost.
• The Fierce Tiger Mountain God told Qi WuHuo he might soon break through and asked him to inherit the Mountain God's position after he left to travel.

The Fierce Tiger Mountain God explained how becoming a Mountain God could aid Qi WuHuo’s cultivation, then shared memories of his late friend Tantai Guochu and reflected on the pursuit of longevity. He gave Qi WuHuo a sword box to protect his Dao, and Qi returned home to find people gathered to greet him as Immortal Master Qi.

• The Fierce Tiger Mountain God described the powers of a Mountain God and how the position could help Qi WuHuo cultivate, while assuring him he could leave it later.
• The Mountain God told Qi WuHuo about his friendship with Tantai Guochu, honored his old friend’s sword, and reflected on how fear of death could lead cultivators astray.
• The Mountain God advised Qi WuHuo that the pursuit of longevity led only to corpses and bade him farewell.
• The Mountain God erased Tantai Xuan’s Primordial Spirit imprint from the Black Iron Sword Box and gave it to Qi WuHuo as a means of protecting his Dao.
• Qi WuHuo descended the mountain with the sword box and returned to find finely dressed people gathered in his home, where they greeted him as Immortal Master Qi.

After Qi WuHuo returned home, he accepted Li Puyü’s practice qin and turned away the townspeople seeking his favor. The old man exposed the Black Iron Sword Box’s secrets and tasked Qi WuHuo with helping the restless ghosts, while Elder Tao followed the sound of Qi WuHuo’s music.

• Townspeople crowded around Qi WuHuo with gifts, and Li Puyü thanked him for saving his family and gave him his practice qin.
• Qi WuHuo declined the other gifts, went inside, and closed the gate on the crowd.
• The old man broke the Black Iron Sword Box’s seals, uncovered the Spirit Treasure Scripture of the Nine Nether Night, Raising the Dead and Delivering the Departed, and explained that Tantai Xuan had used its orthodox method wickedly.
• The old man told Qi WuHuo to bear the karmic consequences of defeating Tantai Xuan by helping the ghosts he had left behind.
• Qi WuHuo played the qin with his Primordial Spirit, briefly clearing the ghosts’ minds.
• Elder Tao sensed the qin music and used the Earth Evasion Technique to follow it.

Qi WuHuo followed the old man's guidance and played the qin until the Ghosts' resentment faded and their memories returned. Unable to free them from death, he offered to deliver their final messages and accepted their wishes as a poor Daoist.

• The old man urged Qi WuHuo to relax and let his heart and spirit guide his music rather than forcing the qin or his Primordial Spirit.
• Qi WuHuo played freely until the Ghosts' madness and resentment subsided, revealing their injured forms and restoring their memories.
• A young girl learned she was dead after explaining that a Daoist had paid her with gold to save her sick mother.
• Qi WuHuo listened as the Ghosts described their unfinished wishes, including messages for their families.
• Qi WuHuo wrote down their messages and accepted their wishes, saying, "This poor Daoist accepts them."

After Qi WuHuo shut out the town’s gentry, he tried to help the wandering spirits and accepted the Earth God’s guidance. As Qi WuHuo recited his first Daoist scripture, the power of his words astonished Elder Tao.

• The local gentry and wealthy households cursed Qi WuHuo for rejecting their gifts, then left when the weather turned cold.
• Elder Tao recognized the yin energy above Qi WuHuo’s home and realized the Evil Cultivator had made the wandering spirits impossible to save through ordinary means.
• Qi WuHuo promised to fulfill the spirits’ last wishes and played the zither to calm the energy Tantai Xuan’s arts had stirred in them.
• The old man told Qi WuHuo that he needed more cultivation to deliver the spirits and offered to teach him a recitation to accompany his zither.
• As Qi WuHuo recited “Supreme Edict,” the town’s vital energy seemed to freeze, and Elder Tao was overwhelmed by the scripture’s power.

Qi WuHuo used a zither and an incantation to deliver the dead souls, then learned from the old man about the dangers of fearing death and was told to “seek, but do not covet.” As the old man vanished, Elder Tao arrived and Qi WuHuo welcomed him inside.

• Qi WuHuo played the zither while reciting the old man's incantation, restoring the dead souls and sending them on to the afterlife at the cost of his strength.
• The old man explained the ranks of Daoist teachings and said the secret method he taught Qi WuHuo belonged to none of them and must never be passed on.
• The old man warned Qi WuHuo that cultivators could become desperate and corrupt when they felt their lifespans dwindling, and told him to seek without coveting.
• The old man vanished after sensing a friend approaching, while Qi WuHuo was too weak to move and opened the door by plucking the zither strings.
• Elder Tao heard the zither and saw the souls delivered, then entered when Qi WuHuo welcomed him as a friend.

Elder Tao mistook Qi WuHuo’s effortless delivery of the dead for the work of a supreme Daoist inheritor, then realized Qi WuHuo had performed it himself. He gave Qi WuHuo the Ming Zhen Dao Alliance token taken from the Evil Cultivator.

• Elder Tao approached Qi WuHuo’s door, believing a supreme Daoist master had commanded the dead to the afterlife without a ritual.
• Elder Tao recognized the qin player as Qi WuHuo and struggled to reconcile him with the power he had sensed.
• Qi WuHuo declined to explain the spell, and Elder Tao assumed his silence confirmed his suspicions about the Supreme One lineage.
• Elder Tao noticed that Qi WuHuo had subdued the Evil Cultivator’s sword case and concluded the youth had extraordinary skill.
• Elder Tao gave Qi WuHuo the Ming Zhen Dao Alliance token, saying it belonged to him because he had killed the Evil Cultivator.

Qi WuHuo received a Ming Zhen Dao Alliance token from Elder Tao and declared he would never seek liberation from the suffering of his past. After Elder Tao defended him to the other Earth Gods, Qi WuHuo activated the Black Iron Sword Box and discovered a book titled Record of Becoming Immortal.

• Elder Tao gave Qi WuHuo the Ming Zhen Dao Alliance token, and Qi WuHuo asked whether he had ever seen people eat one another.
• Elder Tao urged Qi WuHuo to let go of his attachments, but Qi WuHuo said he hoped never to find liberation.
• Elder Tao returned to the other Earth Gods and rebuked Shen Hongxue for calling Qi WuHuo a brat, insisting he was Fellow Daoist Qi.
• Qi WuHuo activated the Black Iron Sword Box and emptied the Evil Cultivator's stored belongings onto the table.
• Qi WuHuo opened a yellowed book among the belongings and read its title: Record of Becoming Immortal.

Qi WuHuo read a cultivation journal that traced its young, confident swordsman owner’s life from early achievements and comic spell-making to heartbreak, repeated failed breakthroughs, and a descent into blood-based cultivation. The final entries revealed that the former swordsman had become an evil cultivator, haunted by his younger self and an ill-omened sword, and still clung to his desire for immortality.

• Qi WuHuo studied the journal’s cultivation methods and read about its writer’s youthful experiments, including the Tofu Pushing Curse and other spells.
• The journal recorded the swordsman’s travels, heroic deeds, Zong Wei’s marriage and death, and his repeated failures to break through.
• After more than a century of failed cultivation, the swordsman began using people’s blood, lifespans, and fates to restore his foundation and prolong his life.
• Qi WuHuo recognized the journal’s owner as the cultivator who had fallen into evil practices.
• The swordsman’s final entry described seeing his youthful reflection in a river, attacking the water, and binding himself and his wailing sword with red cords as he feared death and sought immortality.

Qi WuHuo burned the Record of Becoming Immortal’s account of its former owner’s madness and laid the rusted sword to rest, then continued studying under the old man and the mountain spirits. More than a month later, thunder announced the Mountain God’s imminent breakthrough, and he called Qi WuHuo to join him.

• Qi WuHuo examined the furnace, ingredients, and coins he had received, then stored them before inspecting the rusted sword.
• Qi WuHuo used a fire spell to ignite damp branches and burned the book’s account of madness along with the sword, vowing not to follow the former cultivator’s path.
• Qi WuHuo asked the old man whether he could learn spells from the Record of Becoming Immortal, and the old man said his lineage could use methods from any school without restriction.
• Qi WuHuo studied Daoist arts with the mountain spirits and made progress over the following month.
• Elder Tao sensed the Mountain God beginning a breakthrough as thunder shook the world, and the Mountain God called Qi WuHuo to join him.

Qi WuHuo witnessed the Fierce Tiger Mountain God complete his breakthrough and learned how essence, qi, and spirit returned to the One. After sharing their stories over spiritual wine, the Mountain God left to travel the world and pursue cultivation.

• The Fierce Tiger Mountain God summoned Qi WuHuo to his mountaintop after breaking through, and Qi WuHuo congratulated him.
• The Mountain God explained the Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown and showed Qi WuHuo how essence, qi, and spirit merged into one.
• The Mountain God and Qi WuHuo drank spiritual liquid, and the Mountain God told the story of his life as a tiger who became a cultivator.
• The Mountain God said he would leave to travel the world, offered Qi WuHuo the Mountain God's seal, and departed beneath the moon.
• Qi WuHuo played the qin as the Mountain God promised to become a Great Sage and vanished into the clouds.

Qi WuHuo took control of the Mountain God Talisman Seal and experienced the mountain through the divine station’s vast perception and power. He found the Mountain God’s home and inheritance, then returned to the gathered spirits as the new Mountain God.

• Qi WuHuo activated the Mountain God Talisman Seal, connected his Primordial Spirit to the mountain, and learned he could command its earth veins, wind, and clouds.
• Qi WuHuo used the earth-splitting art to reach the Mountain God’s former home, where he found a Bronze Cauldron, cultivation notes, and a letter.
• Qi WuHuo read the Mountain God’s instructions to cultivate the Earthly Origin Body Refining Heart Art and eventually leave the cauldron for his successor.
• Qi WuHuo stored the letter and cauldron, promised to meet the Mountain God again, and traveled back across the mountain through its earth veins.
• Elder Tao reassured the Guardian Divine Generals that the Mountain God had chosen a successor, then pointed out Qi WuHuo arriving.

Qi WuHuo took up the Mountain God’s position at He Lian Mountain, met its Divine Generals, and returned to town by foot. At home, the old man told him he would soon leave and offered him a final question as a parting gift.

• Elder Tao introduced Wu Luning and Kang Linchang to Qi WuHuo as the Guardian Divine Generals of He Lian Mountain.
• Qi WuHuo declined to use earth traversal, asked the Generals to attend his upcoming Dao lesson, and walked down the mountain.
• Elder Tao praised Qi WuHuo for remembering the difference between the Dao and supernatural techniques.
• On his way home, Qi WuHuo gathered firewood, received meat from Uncle Zhang, and heard that townspeople were keeping their distance because of rumors.
• Qi WuHuo brought winter fruits and meat home, and the old man said their time together had run its course and invited him to answer one last question.

Qi WuHuo wrote a couplet for the departing old man, who rewarded him with a precious life-extending elixir. When Qi WuHuo tried a second couplet from a passage he remembered, its immortal aura astonished the old man.

• Qi WuHuo prepared a generous meal before listening as the old man said he was leaving and asked him to write a couplet for a new Daoist temple.
• Qi WuHuo wrote a couplet inspired by his dreams, and the old man praised it and offered him fifty pills of a life-extending elixir.
• Qi WuHuo hesitated to accept the gift and offered to write another couplet he had once heard in a dream.
• Qi WuHuo wrote about the White Jade Capital and immortals, and the old man's amusement vanished as he realized he had misjudged him.

Qi WuHuo impressed the old man with a couplet written from the old man’s own perspective, earning an invitation to accompany him to meet someone in three days. The old man withheld both the Longevity Elixir and the Daoist scripture, offering Qi WuHuo an opportunity instead.

• The old man withdrew the Longevity Elixir and offered Qi WuHuo a powerful Daoist scripture, but said he wanted a couplet with greater boldness and written from his own perspective.
• The old man used a drop of tea to show Qi WuHuo a Daoist temple’s grand couplet, and Qi WuHuo briefly controlled the scene with his Primordial Spirit before the vision shattered.
• Qi WuHuo admitted he was a little afraid of heights, and the old man laughed before challenging him to write a more carefree, composed couplet.
• Qi WuHuo wrote, “Immortal's Mansion of Eternal Life” and “Daoist's Household Sharing Heaven's Longevity,” which delighted the old man.
• The old man put away the scripture, promised to remember Qi WuHuo’s name, and invited him to accompany him to meet someone in three days as an opportunity.

Cui Yuanzhen arrived at the Daoist sect with Su Yue'er and her cousin after passing its Heart Refining trial, while the other two had failed. At Heaven Pillar Peak, an ancient Daoist revealed that he had been jolted from meditation by a vision of a youth discussing the Dao beneath a plum tree.

• Cui Yuanzhen, Su Yue'er, and her cousin reached the mountain gate, where an old Daoist welcomed them and opened the hidden path into the sect.
• The old Daoist explained that Cui Yuanzhen had passed the Heart Refining trial, while Su Yue'er and her cousin had failed its illusions of wealth and indulgence.
• Cui Yuanzhen asked about Heaven Pillar Peak and learned that it had no lineage, only an ordinary temple and a Daoist who had meditated there for a thousand years.
• The True Person who led Cui Yuanzhen's lineage abruptly left after hearing a jade chime, and many other True Persons flew to Heaven Pillar Peak.
• The ancient Daoist examined a poem on white paper and told the gathered True Persons that he had seen a youth discussing the Dao with an old man beneath a plum tree.

A Daoist in seclusion dreamed of Qi WuHuo and asked the sect to watch for him, while Cui Yuanzhen and Su Yue'er encountered the poem inspired by that dream. Qi WuHuo prepared to lecture in the mountains before traveling with the old man, who gave him a pill-refining method and warned him not to tarnish his name.

• The secluded Daoist told the sect's True Persons that he had dreamed of a young man discussing the Dao beneath a plum tree and asked them to look for him.
• The sect's leader declined to use divination to search, saying that the Dao depended on affinity, while Cui Yuanzhen became the Head True Person's disciple.
• Cui Yuanzhen admired the new poem on the mountain gate, and a fellow disciple explained that the founding master had seen it in a dream.
• Su Yue'er decided she would tell Qi WuHuo about the poem when she returned home.
• Qi WuHuo told the old man he planned to lecture in the mountains before accompanying him to meet an old friend.
• The old man gave Qi WuHuo a pill-refining method and told him not to tarnish his name.

Qi WuHuo attended a gathering of nearby Mountain Gods and Earth Deities, where he demonstrated his ability to learn an Earth Deity technique after seeing it once. He took his place as He Lian Mountain’s Mountain God and began to expound the Dao.

• Qi WuHuo arrived at the mountain platform and was greeted by the assembled Mountain Gods and Earth Deities as He Lian Mountain’s new Mountain God.
• Fourth Lady of Chengdu Mountain teased Qi WuHuo and tried to embrace him, but he used her tunneling technique to slip past her.
• Qi WuHuo explained that he had learned the technique by observing it once, leaving Fourth Lady and the other Mountain Gods impressed.
• Qi WuHuo invited Fourth Lady to sit and used the technique himself as he walked to the place where the Fierce Tiger Mountain God had lectured.
• Qi WuHuo set down the Black Iron Sword Box, faced the gathering, and announced that he would expound the Dao, asking everyone to listen in silence.

Qi WuHuo taught the mountain gods and spirit beasts the stages and grades of cultivation, earning their respect by explaining the paths to Primordial Prenatal Qi. As he began refining pills, he improvised a method using the sun and moon, and the furnace burst open, shocking the old man watching him.

• Qi WuHuo began his lecture by explaining Foundation Establishment, the Thirteen Levels of Ascending the Tower, and the realm of Primordial Prenatal Qi.
• Qi WuHuo described the lower-, middle-, and upper-grade methods of entering the Dao, and the mountain gods recognized how their own cultivation paths had fallen short.
• Elder Tao and the mountain gods bowed to Qi WuHuo and thanked him for showing them the direction of the Great Dao.
• Qi WuHuo prepared to refine a furnace of pills and recalled the old man's General Principle as he watched the sun and moon.
• Qi WuHuo drew in the radiance of the sun and moon, tapped the furnace three times, and caused it to burst open.
• The old man saw the explosion and coughed in shock, wondering who had taught Qi WuHuo that method.