Chapter Summaries

Qi WuHuo consulted Knows Nothing of Everything about the Jinzhou calamity and the Ming Zhen Dao Alliance, then learned how to reach the alliance’s local branch. After leaving, he considered how to fulfill a promise to tell a dying woman that her daughter would not return.

• Qi WuHuo found Knows Nothing of Everything among the fortune-tellers and asked what had happened yesterday, but the man refused to answer.
• Qi WuHuo asked about the Jinzhou calamity, and Knows Nothing of Everything’s reaction revealed that it was not merely a natural disaster.
• Qi WuHuo asked how to find the Ming Zhen Dao Alliance, and the man told him to view the full moon through his token over water and follow the road that appeared.
• A proud, fish-scented man arrived and challenged Knows Nothing of Everything to predict the next day’s winter rain in eastern Central Prefecture City.
• Qi WuHuo reviewed the written final wishes of Tantai Xuan’s victims and decided to tell the gravely ill mother that her daughter had been unfilial and would not see her again.

Qi WuHuo found the missing girl’s blind, gravely ill mother in Shuili Village and stayed to help her recover, honoring his promise. While writing New Year blessings, he learned that a year had passed and realized he may have meditated on the river for that entire time, triggering a sudden change in his vital energy.

• Qi WuHuo noticed the Chao Feng statue above the city gate seemed to watch him before he traveled to Shuili Village.
• Old Brother Zhou guided Qi WuHuo to Zheng Xiu’s home, where the girl’s mother eagerly asked whether he had news of her missing daughter.
• Qi WuHuo told the mother he had news, then treated her depleted vitality and promised to stay until she recovered.
• Qi WuHuo and Old Brother Zhou cleaned the house and prepared New Year couplets and a Kitchen God blessing.
• Old Brother Zhou pointed out that Qi WuHuo had written the previous year’s date, revealing that it was already the fifth year of Jingyun.
• Qi WuHuo realized he might have meditated on the river for a year, and his vital energy surged as his Obstacle of Knowledge and Perception shattered.

Qi WuHuo realized he had meditated for a full year and struggled to control the torrent of Primordial Qi released within him. Meanwhile, an old Earth God near death saw his statue shatter, and three pure sticks of incense drifted toward the gathered deities.

• Qi WuHuo remembered that Teacher had obscured his sense of time and that he had meditated on the river for an entire year.
• Qi WuHuo rushed into a woodshed and used his powerful Primordial Spirit to control and absorb the surging Primordial Qi.
• The statue in a Land God Temple shattered while beggars and ruffians argued over meat buns, leaving its three sticks of incense burning untouched.
• Ling Miao Gong told the gathered deities that the old Earth God had been corrupted by impure incense offerings and would soon die.
• The old Earth God's statue shattered, and three pure sticks of incense drifted down from beyond the heavens toward the deities.

The Earth God was dying after absorbing incense filled with the desires of worshippers, until three sticks of pure gratitude restored his vital essence and gave him at least three more months to live. Ling Miao Gong and the other deities tried to identify the young Daoist who offered them, and Ling Miao Gong began divining his origins.

• The dying Earth God relived the selfish desires of people who had prayed to him and lost his sense of self.
• Ju Yun Ling Miao Gong explained that the Earth God’s vital essence was collapsing under the tangled desires carried by incense and left him for dead.
• Three sticks of incense infused with pure gratitude entered the Earth God and suppressed the chaotic desires, restoring his breathing.
• Ling Miao Gong examined the Earth God and declared that he could live at least three more months, while the incense’s sender was revealed only by a voice thanking the Earth God for lodging.
• The deities searched for the young Daoist but found only the incense burner, and [Chao Feng] and [Jiao Tu] refused to answer their questions.
• Ling Miao Gong apologized for the intrusion and began using geomancy to divine the young Daoist’s roots and origins.

Qi WuHuo stabilized his cultivation, reached [Complete Three Talents], and studied Senior Disciple Sister Yu Miao’s [Primordial Sword Canon]. His first sword strike cut through Ling Miao Gong’s divination, leaving the earth deities shaken.

• Qi WuHuo emerged from the woodshed after a night of meditation and realized his qi and essence had reached [Complete Three Talents].
• Qi WuHuo read Yu Miao’s [Primordial Sword Canon] and considered her ambition to establish the Way of the Sword and prove the Primordial Dao.
• Sensing someone watching him, Qi WuHuo followed a sword form from the canon and struck with a branch, saying, “Sever.”
• Ling Miao Gong’s divination through the ley line was cut apart by Qi WuHuo’s sword strike, which severed his topknot and shattered the incense burner.

Qi WuHuo settled into a village house while treating Lian Shulan and learned that the previous night’s rain had been far heavier than he had experienced. He set out to ask the fortune teller about the past year, just as Yun Qin’s reply arrived through the bronze mirror.

• Qi WuHuo gave the village children his branch, then heard Old Mr. Zhou remark that the rain had seemed unusually light.
• Qi WuHuo helped the villagers carry supplies and joined them for breakfast before saying Lian Shulan needed rest, acupuncture, and medicine.
• Old Mr. Zhou offered Qi WuHuo an empty guest house, learned his name, and gave him books to read.
• Old Mr. Zhou discovered the woodshed and firewood had been drenched by torrential rain and realized Qi WuHuo’s robe should not have stayed dry there.
• Qi WuHuo decided to ask the fortune teller what had happened last year, and the bronze mirror began to glow as Yun Qin’s reply arrived.

Qi WuHuo interpreted the copper mirror’s reply, studied Yu Miao’s Primordial Sword Scripture on his way to Central Province, and asked the fortune teller what had happened last year. The fortune teller revealed that Qi WuHuo himself had been the guest star that crossed the Ox Mansion for one day.

• Qi WuHuo saw the copper mirror display the character “Good” and concluded that the girl liked osmanthus cakes.
• Qi WuHuo walked toward Central Province while practicing the Primordial Sword Scripture’s methods for cultivating his spirit, qi, and essence.
• At the city gate, Chao Feng and Jiao Tu recognized Qi WuHuo and pretended not to notice him.
• Qi WuHuo visited Knows Nothing of Everything and asked what had happened last year.
• The fortune teller said a guest star had trespassed upon the Ox Mansion for one day and revealed that the guest star was Qi WuHuo.

Qi WuHuo learned that he had meditated for a year above the Celestial River and reached Complete Three Talents after eating an exceptionally rare Yellow Sprout. After leaving the fortune teller, he visited the crowded market and sensed the same dampness and strange water smell on the pastries he bought.

• Qi WuHuo realized his year of meditation had taken place in the heavens above the Celestial River, where the sun and moon made cultivation far faster.
• The fortune teller explained that Qi WuHuo had eaten a large amount of Yellow Sprout, an extravagant Immortal's Grain that replenished his damaged foundation.
• Qi WuHuo asked whether the fortune teller knew Uncle Yun, and the fortune teller complained that Yun had given Qi WuHuo Yellow Sprout but never shared any with him.
• The fortune teller said that the guest who had asked him to calculate the day's rainfall had gotten it wrong, though Qi WuHuo could not understand the full meaning.
• Qi WuHuo went to the Market Ward, bought two portions of osmanthus cakes, and sensed dampness and a rank water smell on them.

Qi WuHuo met a scarred old cultivator in a teahouse, received guidance about strengthening his foundation, and found insight into his cultivation through the old man's story about bringing rain. After leaving, Qi WuHuo read the girl's message that the spell was hard and replied that he would teach her when he returned.

• Qi WuHuo followed a familiar moist aura to a teahouse, where an old man invited him to share tea after helping reunite a lost child with her mother.
• The old man praised Qi WuHuo's cultivation and advised him to strengthen his foundation before cultivating divine abilities or condensing Primordial Prenatal Qi.
• The old man described his reluctance to leave the place where he had spent most of his life, and Qi WuHuo suggested that a hometown was made of memories.
• Qi WuHuo learned that the old man's forehead had been burned when he brought rain to drought-stricken Jinzhou, and the story helped Qi WuHuo gain insight into the circulation of energy.
• Qi WuHuo placed a chess piece on the move that solved the Miao game and left the teahouse to buy a meat bun.
• Qi WuHuo received the mirror's message, [Hard], and replied that his cultivation had advanced and he would teach the girl the spell when he returned.

Yun Qin struggled to learn Qi WuHuo’s message spell while Old Yellow Ox urged her to cultivate her spiritual nature and went to investigate activity at the Thunder Mansion. During a lesson with Primordial Lady Danhua Fuying, Yun Qin learned that the Dragon-Patterned Ancient Mirror she had given Qi WuHuo was a treasured wedding gift to her parents.

• Yun Qin complained that Qi WuHuo’s spell was difficult, and Old Yellow Ox advised her to strengthen her cultivation and spiritual nature.
• Old Yellow Ox noticed unusual activity among the immortals of the Divine Firmament Jade Purity Thunder Mansion and left after Primordial Lady Danhua Fuying arrived to teach Yun Qin.
• Primordial Lady Danhua Fuying explained the scripture and encouraged Yun Qin to cultivate patiently rather than strain herself.
• Yun Qin showed her Teacher the message spell, and Primordial Lady Danhua Fuying praised it as a wondrous art, mistakenly believing Yun Qin had created it herself.
• Primordial Lady Danhua Fuying revealed that the Dragon-Patterned Ancient Mirror had been bestowed as a wedding gift to Yun Qin’s parents and asked whether Yun Qin had kept it safe.

Yun Qin worried that her gift to Qi WuHuo might have been too precious, while Qi WuHuo spoke with the spirits of the [Chao Feng] and [Jiao Tu] statues above Central Province Prefecture City. The statues warned him that the City Gods were searching for him, and he left beneath the sunset.

• Yun Qin told Primordial Lady Danhua Fuying that the mirror was with her, and her Teacher praised the [Method of Manifesting Light Circles] as Yun Qin worried about explaining its origins.
• Qi WuHuo returned toward the city gate and overheard [Chao Feng] and [Jiao Tu] arguing about which one had been frightened of him.
• Qi WuHuo asked the statues why they feared him, and they explained that his pure spiritual aura made them think he was a True Person's disciple.
• [Chao Feng] and [Jiao Tu] described how a Great True Person had carved them using Origin Qi, then encouraged Qi WuHuo to complete his trial and earn recognition from his Teacher.
• The statues warned Qi WuHuo that the City Gods were looking for him, and [Chao Feng] recalled that an old man was seeking a sunset scene from a painting as Qi WuHuo walked away beneath the rosy light.

Qi WuHuo visited Ju Yun Peak, shared gifts with the mountain spirits, and returned to Water Cloud Village to care for a sick woman and settle in. That night, Yun Qin contacted him through the mirror and revealed that her Teacher had mistaken his incantation for a Divine Ability she created, ending with her saying Uncle Niu had found a way to handle it.

• Qi WuHuo practiced the Primordial Sword Canon on his way to Ju Yun Peak and tried to combine its footwork with the local deity's Earth Evasion Technique.
• The mountain spirits welcomed Qi WuHuo, exchanged osmanthus cakes and treasured gifts with him, and Old Pine Tree Elder promised to seek help from Ling Miao Gong in finding Lü Chunyang.
• Old Pine Tree Elder gave Qi WuHuo a spiritual pine needle for acupuncture and treatment before Qi WuHuo returned to Water Cloud Village.
• Qi WuHuo guided the young girl's mother's qi, promised to gather herbs for her recovery, and later ate dinner alone and studied the Mountain God's Cultivation notes.
• Qi WuHuo used the mirror to contact Yun Qin, who told him that her Teacher had mistaken his incantation for a Divine Ability she created and that Uncle Niu had suggested a solution.

Old Yellow Ox helped Qi WuHuo cover up how he obtained the Art of Clairvoyance and Manifestation by crafting an ancient-looking jade slip that credited Qi WuHuo as its creator. As his cultivation could no longer sustain their connection, Yun Qin planned to search the Shangqing Scripture Repository for a Mystic Altar Method so Qi WuHuo could send her the osmanthus cakes.

• Old Yellow Ox praised Qi WuHuo's cultivation and reassured him that the Dragon-Patterned Ancient Mirror would not put him in danger, advising him to smash it if necessary.
• Old Yellow Ox carved Qi WuHuo's incantation onto Kunlun White Jade and used a magical substance to make the slip appear thousands of years old.
• Old Yellow Ox had Qi WuHuo record that he created the method at age fifteen, then titled the slip The Chapter of Wuhuo Daojun's Marvelous Dharma and Profound Scripture.
• Old Yellow Ox left to watch the commotion at the Divine Firmament Jade Purity Thunder Mansion, while Qi WuHuo explained his incantation to Yun Qin.
• Qi WuHuo offered Yun Qin the osmanthus cakes, but their distance kept him from sending them; Yun Qin decided to search the Shangqing Scripture Repository for a Mystic Altar Method to teach him.

Qi WuHuo ended his conversation with Yun Qin after learning that she would seek out an original Mystic Altar Technique text for him, then slept from the strain of sustaining their connection. Yun Qin found the text at the Shangqing Library, where Qingyang Miaodao Celestial Lord explained the origins of Daoist script and revealed that the true original was written in Primordial Scarlet Script, prompting her to ask whether it could be taught to others.

• Yun Qin told Qi WuHuo she would find an original Mystic Altar Technique text and contact him after speaking with her Teacher.
• Yun Qin amused Qi WuHuo with a story about a disciple whose sweet offerings upset his sect's founding master, and Qi WuHuo ended their mirror connection when his magic power ran low.
• Qi WuHuo put away the bronze mirror, resolved to return it to Yun Qin and Uncle Yun, and fell into a deep sleep after the technique left him drained.
• Yun Qin visited the Shangqing Library and asked Qingyang Miaodao Celestial Lord for texts on the Mystic Altar Method, specifically its original text.
• Qingyang Miaodao Celestial Lord explained that the Daoist Lord created the Primordial Scarlet Script and that the text Yun Qin held was only a simplified version of the true original.
• Yun Qin asked Qingyang Miaodao Celestial Lord whether the Primordial Scarlet Script could be taught to other people.

Yun Qin studied Cloud Seal Script under Azure Sun Marvelous Dao Celestial Lord and received instruction in a Primordial Scarlet Script character. Qi WuHuo noticed the predicted rain had not fallen and considered contacting Yun Qin about the Mystic Altar Technique, while the chapter ended with the Celestial Lord revealing the character’s name: Edict.

• Azure Sun Marvelous Dao Celestial Lord tested Yun Qin’s Cloud Seal Script and promised to teach her a Primordial Scarlet Script character if she studied.
• Qi WuHuo woke, practiced his cultivation, and caught a bird in his palm before Old Mr. Zhou arrived.
• Qi WuHuo learned from Old Mr. Zhou that no rain had fallen and decided to contact Yun Qin before asking the fortune teller about his prediction.
• Yun Qin studied Cloud Seal Script for three hours, learned one Primordial Scarlet Script character and its derivatives, and then left the Shangqing Library.
• Azure Sun Marvelous Dao Celestial Lord told Primordial Lady Danhua Fuying that Yun Qin had ordinary script talent and revealed that he had taught her the first Primordial Scarlet Script character, Edict.

Qi WuHuo treated Lian Shulan, then searched the nearby mountains for spiritual herbs to trade for information about Jinzhou and the Ming Zhen Dao Alliance. While studying Yu Miao’s sword cultivation method as he gathered herbs, he accidentally found a Medicine Spirit, which fainted when it recognized him.

• Qi WuHuo examined Lian Shulan’s clouded eyes, reassured her, and wrote prescriptions for Old Mr. Zhou to prepare.
• Qi WuHuo went into the mountains to gather aged spiritual herbs, hoping to trade them for information and cultivation methods through the Ming Zhen Dao Alliance.
• Qi WuHuo studied Yu Miao’s Seven Orifices Exquisite Sword Heart Chapter and wondered whether to adapt some of its effects into a gift for Yun Qin.
• Qi WuHuo used a herb-finding spell influenced by the sword canon and discovered a Medicine Spirit hiding among the rocks.
• The Medicine Spirit recognized Qi WuHuo, cried out, and fainted.

Qi WuHuo befriended Little Medicine Spirit while gathering medicinal materials, then met Yue Ji and learned about the Ming Zhen Dao Alliance and a delayed Mountain God sacrifice. At Water Cloud Village, Ling Miao arrived to apologize and asked the children to deliver a message to Qi WuHuo.

• Little Medicine Spirit accepted Qi WuHuo’s osmanthus cakes, let him tie its hair with Old Pine Tree Elder’s pine needle, and gave him an egg it had spent three centuries digging out.
• Qi WuHuo gathered medicinal materials with Little Medicine Spirit and encountered Yue Ji and other Daoists preparing a sacrifice to the Mountain God.
• Yue Ji told Qi WuHuo that the sacrifice was for the Great Sage, Great Mercy, Ju Yun Ling Miao Gong, who had not appeared as he usually did.
• Ling Miao came to Water Cloud Village, gave the children candy, and asked them to tell Qi WuHuo that Ling Miao had come to apologize and wished to meet him.

Ling Miao Gong visited Water Cloud Village to apologize to Qi WuHuo, but Qi was away gathering herbs. After learning Qi had used an ordinary branch to strike back at him, Ling Miao Gong judged the swordsmanship peerless and left, convinced his gifts were far too meager.

• Ling Miao Gong waited at the village entrance with treasures to apologize to Qi WuHuo for trying to divine his whereabouts.
• The children found Zhou Lingyi, who told them Qi had gone up the mountain and sent them to invite the visitor in for tea.
• Ling Miao Gong recognized the branch one child carried as the weapon Qi had used, and the child explained that Qi had casually snapped it from a tree and swung it once.
• Ling Miao Gong examined the branch, realized it bore no Sword Qi, and praised Qi's swordsmanship as peerless; the children said Qi claimed to know only a tiny bit.
• Ling Miao Gong declined Zhou Lingyi's invitation, saying Qi did not wish to see him, and departed in a grand procession bound for the mountains.

Qi WuHuo returned to Water Cloud Village after leaving Yue Ji, learned that a visitor named Ling Miao had sought him, and fed spiritual liquid to the mysterious egg he had received. Yun Qin then contacted him through the ancient mirror, eager to recite a Primordial Scarlet Script before she forgot it.

• Yue Ji invited Qi WuHuo to visit the Ming Zhen Dao Alliance, but Qi WuHuo said he would wait until he had enough medicinal materials to exchange for what he wanted.
• After Qi WuHuo left, Ling Miao Gong arrived at He Lian Mountain in a grand procession, and Yue Ji regretted that Qi WuHuo had missed it.
• Old Mr. Zhou told Qi WuHuo that a visitor named Ling Miao had come looking for him, prompting Qi WuHuo to suspect the visitor was the local earth deity.
• Qi WuHuo compared the mysterious egg with Tantai Xuan's notes, sensed life within it, and sprinkled it with spiritual liquid to nourish it.
• Yun Qin appeared in the ancient mirror and urgently told Qi WuHuo to listen while she recited a Primordial Scarlet Script she feared she would forget.

Yun Qin accidentally taught Qi WuHuo the Primordial Scarlet Script while trying to pass on the Mystic Altar Technique, then told him about a crisis in the Heavenly Court’s rain-summoning formation. The chapter ended with Heavenly forces repairing the formation and promising to investigate whoever caused the rainfall failures.

• Yun Qin rapidly recited the Primordial Scarlet Script and its Cloud Seal Scripts to Qi WuHuo, who committed them to memory.
• Yun Qin explained that she had forgotten to teach the Mystic Altar Technique because she feared forgetting the difficult script, and the two friends laughed about their titles.
• Yun Qin told Qi WuHuo that Uncle Niu had covered up the spell-formula matter by selling forged fragments of the Profound Chapters of True Lord WuHuo's Marvelous Teachings to collectors.
• Yun Qin explained that the Upper Pure Dao Ancestor had awakened the Nine Firmaments with the Primordial Scarlet Script and taught that all things came from and would return to the Great Dao.
• Yun Qin revealed that rainfall at key points had disrupted a formation used once every three thousand six hundred years to suppress evil qi in the Human World.
• Great Heavenly officials led hundreds of thousands of soldiers to mend the formation with thunder and expel demons, while Uncle Niu said the cause would be investigated to the end.