Chapter Summaries

Qi WuHuo refined Qi Nourishing Elixirs and received gifts from the Mountain Gods, including Elder Tao’s Jade Book, before leaving the mountain. On his way down, he met townspeople carrying a statue uphill to build a temple to the Mountain God, and continued home as they called out their reverence.

• Qi WuHuo refined Qi Nourishing Elixirs, realizing that the alchemical method could also be a path of cultivation.
• The Mountain Gods presented Qi WuHuo with treasures, and Elder Tao gave him a Jade Book that could summon nearby Mountain Gods and Earthly Deities for aid.
• Qi WuHuo left the gathering after reaffirming plans for yearly alchemy sessions and Dao discussions every three years.
• Qi WuHuo visited Huang Jing, replanted the gifted spirit herbs around the mountain, and wished the mountain a happy New Year.
• On the way down, Qi WuHuo met townspeople carrying a Mountain God statue uphill to build a temple, then continued downhill as they called out their reverence.

Qi WuHuo explained how he had gained insight into alchemy and the cultivation of nature and life, earning the old man's praise and promise to let him watch him make pills one day. The next morning, Qi WuHuo left his home and the New Year bustle behind to accompany the old man on a journey to visit a friend.

• Qi WuHuo told the old man that he had drawn on the General Principle of alchemy and observations of the sun and moon to make pills and contemplate the unity of Heaven and Earth with the human body.
• The old man praised Qi WuHuo's insight, warned him against pride and impatience, and promised that he could watch him make pills after achieving greatness.
• On the morning of their departure, Qi WuHuo packed his records, Jade Book, waist token, zither, and sword, then left his home with the old man.
• Qi WuHuo and the old man walked through the lively town as people prepared for the New Year, unseen by the townsfolk.
• Qi WuHuo took one last look at the town and followed the old man onto the main road to visit a friend.

Qi WuHuo left town with the old man and crossed a vast river aboard a ship the old man fashioned from a twig. They reached an island, where the old man introduced Qi WuHuo to a man and a yellow ox, saying he had recorded the boy’s name.

• Su Yue'er recognized Qi WuHuo's likeness in the Mountain God statue and returned to his empty home, where she murmured his name.
• The old man led Qi WuHuo to a river so vast that Qi WuHuo first mistook it for the sea.
• The old man transformed a thin twig into a magnificent ship and told Qi WuHuo that the feat was the art of refining tools.
• Qi WuHuo meditated aboard the ship as it crossed the rough water toward an island.
• The old man introduced Qi WuHuo to a man and a yellow ox, then said he had recorded Qi WuHuo's name.

Qi WuHuo visited a vast farmstead with the old man and explored it with the host’s daughter, who told him about her parents and showed him the Nine Canals. After Qi WuHuo imagined that the waterway was a river of stars in heaven, he relaxed beside it and wondered why the sky had no stars.

• Qi WuHuo greeted the tall man and the yellow ox before the old man joined the host for a meal.
• The old man sent Qi WuHuo to explore the farmstead, where he noticed the spiritual rice, irrigation pond, and stele marked “Nine Canals.”
• The host’s daughter introduced herself, showed Qi WuHuo around, and told him how her parents had been separated and could meet only once a year.
• The host’s daughter invited Qi WuHuo to soak his feet in the Nine Canals, and Qi WuHuo described it as washing his feet in the Heavenly River.
• The host’s daughter delighted in Qi WuHuo’s explanation, and the two rested by the stream as he wondered why there were no stars in the sky.

Qi WuHuo watched the sunset over the river with Yun Qin, danced with his sword on the golden water, and returned to the residence with Old Yellow Ox. There, the old Daoist directly asked Qi WuHuo to take him as his teacher.

• Yun Qin pulled Qi WuHuo across the Nine Canals and onto the great river to show him her favorite sunset view.
• Qi WuHuo danced with his sword on the water while Yun Qin watched and Old Yellow Ox waited nearby.
• Old Yellow Ox carried Qi WuHuo and Yun Qin back to the bank and led them home for dinner.
• Qi WuHuo entered the room and found the old Daoist waiting at its head.
• The old Daoist asked Qi WuHuo whether he was willing to take him as his teacher.

Qi WuHuo formally entered the Daoist Sect as the old man’s disciple and shared a nourishing feast that revealed the lasting damage from his childhood hardships. The chapter ended as his master prepared to perform the transmission rite and present him with sect robes and a jade register.

• Qi WuHuo accepted the old man’s offer and called him Teacher.
• Uncle Yun prepared a feast of spiritual foods, and Qi WuHuo ate more than a dozen bowls as the food replenished his body.
• Uncle Yun used a divine art to examine Qi WuHuo and saw the famine, violence, and suffering he had endured as a child.
• After the meal, three attendants presented Qi WuHuo with a robe, crown, sash, shoes, and jade register.
• The old man said he would perform the transmission rite now that Qi WuHuo had entered the sect.

The old man formally transmitted the Dao to Qi WuHuo, guiding him through the orthodox rites of entering a lineage. He gave Qi WuHuo the Daoist title Profound Subtlety and invoked the Myriad Spirits Supervision and Five Emperors as witnesses, leaving the man and old ox stunned.

• The old ox explained that the transmission lacked a Supervising Master and Recommending Master because no one could fill those roles for the senior.
• After bathing, Qi WuHuo offered incense and wrote the Jade Book under the old man's guidance.
• The man changed into magnificent robes and served as Transmission Master, removing Qi WuHuo's worldly clothes and dressing him in Daoist shoes and a Water Cloud Robe.
• The old man secured Qi WuHuo's hair with a Daoist hairpin, gave him a jade slip, and admitted him into his lineage as Profound Subtlety.
• The old man declared that the Myriad Spirits Supervision and Five Emperors would witness the transmission, shocking the man and the old ox.

The Jade Tablet in the Xuan Du Purple Mansion revealed the Daoist title Xuanwei, and the dashing Daoist recognized its bearer as a disciple accepted in name by his Teacher. He wondered whether Xuanwei could complete the arduous cultivation and merit requirements to reach the Purple Mansion, leaving the disciple's arrival uncertain.

• The Daoist boys discovered a new name appearing on the Jade Tablet, and the dashing Daoist watched it form as Xuanwei.
• The dashing Daoist explained that Xuanwei would have to cultivate to Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown and Five Qi Facing the Origin and complete three thousand merits to enter the Purple Mansion.
• A crowd came to congratulate the Purple Mansion on the new disciple, and the dashing Daoist demanded gifts before collecting their treasures and shutting the gate.
• The crowd discussed how few nominal disciples had ever reached the Purple Mansion and decided to prepare gifts in case Xuanwei succeeded.
• The dashing Daoist imagined the honorific Xuanwei could receive if he arrived, then wondered whether he would meet the same fate as past disciples who never made it.

Qi WuHuo became the old man's disciple and prepared to return home, where he planned to cultivate and pursue his unfinished obligations. Before they parted, he and the young girl exchanged gifts and promised to keep in touch; the old man then took him to meet his senior brothers.

• The old man gave Qi WuHuo a jade slip bearing his Daoist title, Xuanwei, and formally accepted him as a disciple.
• The old man announced that he and Qi WuHuo would leave that night, and Qi WuHuo explained to the young girl that he planned to return home and cultivate.
• The young girl gave Qi WuHuo a box containing a mirror and the Method of Manifesting Light Circles so they could communicate across the distance.
• Qi WuHuo gave the young girl the short sword he had sharpened himself, and she promised to show him her sword techniques when they met again.
• The man told Qi WuHuo he could ask for Knows Nothing of Everything in Central Province Prefecture City to learn how to find the place.
• As the old man and Qi WuHuo departed by boat, the old man said he would take Qi WuHuo to meet his senior brothers.

Qi WuHuo endured a painful meditation that repaired the cracks in his foundation, then followed his Teacher to meet the senior disciple known as Daoist True Person Yi. His Teacher told him to invite the Venerable Celestial Master to leave with them or surrender the Daoist title Jade Yang, and Qi WuHuo went forward to deliver the message.

• Qi WuHuo meditated under the moonlight as two streams of qi filled him, mending the damage to his foundation despite the pain.
• Qi WuHuo briefly entered a tranquil state amid purple clouds, then fell into the river when his Teacher called him; afterward, he kept the tree branch he had sat upon.
• Qi WuHuo followed his Teacher toward the capital as he learned that the first senior brother was the Venerable Celestial Master, Daoist True Person Yi.
• Qi WuHuo and his Teacher reached the senior brother's hall, where scholars, cultivators, officials, and commoners gathered to hear teachings on Primordial Prenatal Qi.
• Qi WuHuo's Teacher told him to ask Daoist True Person Yi to travel with them in search of the Dao, warning that otherwise he would take back Yi's Daoist title Jade Yang.

Qi WuHuo visited the founder of the Passage Hall to deliver his Teacher’s invitation to return to the sect, but the Daoist chose to remain in the Mortal World. After Qi WuHuo broke the jade slip, the old man declared that Yuyang was no longer his disciple.

• The old man concealed Qi WuHuo as he entered the Passage Hall and listened to its founder teach.
• Qi WuHuo revealed himself to the Daoist and asked him to return to the sect and continue cultivating.
• The Daoist, once known as True Person Yuyang, refused because he wanted to guide disciples and help the emperor defeat the Demon Kingdoms.
• Yuyang returned the jade slip to Qi WuHuo, who left without staying for tea.
• The old man told Qi WuHuo to break the jade slip, then explained that Yuyang would keep his cultivation but lose his ties to his Teacher.
• The jade slip vanished, a leaf fell from the evergreen tree, and the old man said Yuyang was no longer his disciple.

The old man explained that Leaving the Mortal World meant keeping one’s heart beyond worldly attachments, then showed Qi WuHuo the lives of his senior brother and senior sister, whose choices tested his understanding of the Dao. Qi WuHuo accepted the task of approaching Yu Miao and set out with a new resolve to refine his heart.

• The old man told Qi WuHuo that his senior brother had fulfilled his mortal ambitions honorably but had failed to leave the mortal world in his heart, and the True Person began weeping without knowing why.
• The old man introduced Qi WuHuo to Yu Miao, his senior sister, and recounted how she had left the sect to seek a way to keep her beloved reborn across lifetimes.
• Qi WuHuo asked whether he should invite Yu Miao back to cultivation and restore her Daoist title if she wished, and the old man told him to go on.
• Qi WuHuo accepted the old man’s command as Xuanwei and set out to see the others and himself, beginning his heart-refining journey.

Qi WuHuo visited Yu Miao and asked her to return to the sect, but she refused, choosing instead to guide her reincarnated husband toward cultivation and honor the path she had chosen. She gave Qi WuHuo her Primordial Sword Canon before he left, while she remained with her husband, at peace with her decision.

• Qi WuHuo met Yu Miao in her Sea of Flowers and asked her to return to the mountain and resume cultivation.
• Yu Miao explained that she had watched her husband suffer through repeated reincarnations and now intended to guide him onto the cultivation path, even if it took many lifetimes.
• Yu Miao refused to abandon her choice, saying that giving it up to remain in the sect would mean losing her own Dao.
• Yu Miao gave Qi WuHuo her Primordial Sword Canon and told him he could pluck one of her flowers if he returned after she no longer remembered him.
• Qi WuHuo left, and Yu Miao told her husband she had seen her younger self before leading him to view the flowers.

Qi WuHuo visited the Mystic Gate disciples and learned that their different choices were not wrong, then understood that the Great Dao was not the only pursuit that mattered. The old man began teaching him the grades of immortals, ending with the revelation that even Heavenly Immortals followed only a lesser method.

• The old man explained that Dao companions supported each other through cultivation and that people could follow different paths without being right or wrong.
• Qi WuHuo visited the other Mystic Gate disciples, collected their jade slips, and gradually concluded that their varied attachments and choices were not wrong.
• The old man praised Qi WuHuo's understanding and asked what he knew about immortals and their ranks.
• The old man described Corpse-Released Immortals, Human Immortals, and Earthly Immortals, identifying Senior Brother Jade Yang and Senior Sister Yu Miao with those stages.
• The old man explained how cultivators could advance to become deities and Heavenly Immortals, then declared that even the Heavenly Immortal realm was a lesser method.

An old man taught Qi WuHuo the lesser, middle, and highest methods of cultivation, then asked him which path he wished to follow. After Qi WuHuo chose the highest Great Dao, the old man led him to Senior Brother Xuan Zhen’s grave, leaving him with a stark sense of the cost of seeking immortality.

• The old man explained that the highest method involved remaining unstained and transforming being into nonbeing and back, and told Qi WuHuo to keep it secret.
• Qi WuHuo chose to cultivate the supreme, highest Great Dao, and the old man told him that Senior Brother Xuan Zhen had made the same choice.
• The old man led Qi WuHuo to Xuan Zhen’s barren grave, where the sight swept away Qi WuHuo’s doubts, hopes, and pride.
• Standing before Xuan Zhen’s grave, Qi WuHuo reflected on the many ways people suffered and failed to escape attachment, and recalled the Mountain God’s warning that the road to immortality was marked by bones.

Qi WuHuo read the Thirteen Sorrows carved on Senior Brother Xuan Zhen’s grave and learned how Xuan Zhen had faced forty-nine layers of tribulation before falling while seeking the Great Dao. The old man explained why he would not bring Xuan Zhen back, then told Qi WuHuo that all cultivators were his disciples.

• The old man brought Qi WuHuo to Xuan Zhen’s clothes tomb, where Qi WuHuo read the Thirteen Sorrows and recalled the attachments of his other senior siblings.
• The old man explained the Three Disasters, Seven Tribulations, and Eight Difficulties, saying that Xuan Zhen’s pure Dao heart had led him to confront the trials without retreat.
• The old man revealed that Xuan Zhen had broken through forty-nine layers of tribulation but died after refusing to leave his soul behind, and Qi WuHuo read Xuan Zhen’s final three sorrows.
• The old man offered wine at Xuan Zhen’s grave as rain fell, and Qi WuHuo asked whether he could bring his senior brother back.
• The old man compared life and death to impartial justice, said he would not rescue disciples who fell into life and death, and declared that every Daoist cultivator under heaven was his disciple.

Qi WuHuo learned that his teacher belonged to the Supreme One lineage and was told to build his own identity through hardship rather than rely on his master’s influence. After accepting his teacher’s Dharma Precept, he continued alone along the Great Dao.

• The old man explained the lesser, middle, and highest paths of cultivation and urged Qi WuHuo to keep his choice to himself until he had experienced the world.
• The old man revealed that he belonged to the Supreme One lineage and warned Qi WuHuo not to disclose his master or Daoist title after they parted.
• The old man described how Yuyang and Yu Miao had earned their standing through their own actions, then gave Qi WuHuo a jade slip and told him he would have to meet another senior fellow disciple himself.
• The old man and Qi WuHuo walked together through the rain as the old man explained Daoist precepts and asked Qi WuHuo to cultivate the true Dharma and deliver all from hardship.
• Qi WuHuo promised to uphold the precept, and, long after the storm passed, he walked alone along the Great Dao with his own umbrella.

Qi WuHuo traveled through the rain toward Ju Yun Peak, where he spoke with the mountain spirits and told them he was seeking his senior brother Lü Chunyang. He explained that he had come by his Teacher’s command to guide Lü Chunyang back into the Dao.

• The mountain spirits mistook Qi WuHuo for an ordinary passerby until he heard their whispers and asked them for directions.
• Qi WuHuo consulted the Jade Book and continued toward Ju Yun Peak while the spirits accompanied him and asked about immortals.
• Qi WuHuo shared pine nuts with the spirits and considered the people and clues he hoped to find in Central Province Prefecture City.
• Qi WuHuo told the spirits he was looking for his senior brother Lü Chunyang, who had meditated for many years.
• Qi WuHuo said he sought Lü Chunyang by his Teacher’s command, to guide him into the Dao.

Qi WuHuo reached the prefectural city, bypassed its Travel Permit checkpoint, and spent the night in a Land God Temple with several beggars. He practiced the Method of Manifesting Light Circles with the bronze mirror and made contact with the young girl, who was startled when he answered her.

• Qi WuHuo left the mountain spirits and used the Mountain God's seal to travel through the ley lines toward the prefectural city.
• Qi WuHuo used a concealment spell to slip past the city gate soldiers and the Bagua mirror because he had no Travel Permit.
• Unable to stay at an inn after nightfall, Qi WuHuo sheltered in a dilapidated Land God Temple and warmed the beggars with a spell.
• Qi WuHuo opened the wooden box, studied the Method of Manifesting Light Circles on the bronze mirror, and began practicing it.
• The mirror showed the young girl leaning close and calling Qi WuHuo's name, and he answered her, startling her.

Qi WuHuo learned to send messages through the mirror but exhausted his cultivation, then left the Land God Temple after helping the beggars and offering incense. The chapter ended with Qiong Yu waking from a nightmare in a passing carriage.

• Qi WuHuo used the mirror to send Qiong Yu a message about his journey and a simplified way to communicate, then meditated when she did not reply.
• Qi WuHuo cleaned the Land God Temple, treated an unconscious beggar by giving the group coins for steamed buns, and offered three sticks of incense to the Land God.
• Qi WuHuo left the temple before the beggars returned with food and walked through the city eating a bun.
• Qiong Yu woke in a carriage from a nightmare, and the boy beside her asked whether she had dreamed it again.