Chapter Summaries

An attacker invaded Tushan Manor and tried to kill Tushan Jingci, but Yueshi and Xiao Mo protected her until Tushan Xinhua arrived. The attacker died after detonating his Yao Core, while Tushan Jingci’s cinnabar mark faded after the human boy touched her, leaving Tushan Xinhua fearing what that meant with her daughter’s sixth birthday only a day away.

• A black-clad attacker sealed the courtyard with a formation and fought Yueshi while targeting Tushan Jingci.
• Yueshi urged Tushan Jingci to escape, and the attacker revealed his Quechen Rhinoceros form and knocked Yueshi away.
• The attacker sent a column of water toward Tushan Jingci, but Xiao Mo rushed to her and plunged with her into the lake.
• Tushan Xinhua restrained the attacker with her eight fox tails, but he detonated his Yao Core and destroyed himself and her scroll.
• Tushan Xinhua rescued Tushan Jingci and Xiao Mo from the lake and saw that Jingci’s cinnabar mark had faded after Xiao Mo touched her.
• Yueshi asked Tushan Xinhua to execute her, while Tushan Xinhua wondered whether her daughter’s fate could be avoided and lamented that the boy was human.

After Xiao Mo woke in Tushan Manor, Tushan Xinhua forgave him for touching Tushan Jingci while saving her and gave him a Daoist cultivation book. Tushan Jingci learned she could play with Xiao Mo, while Tushan Xinhua was left sorrowful and resigned.

• Xiao Mo woke in a maid's room, and Tushan Xinhua examined him and told him to rest after his ordeal.
• Xiao Mo apologized for touching Tushan Jingci, but Tushan Xinhua said it had been unavoidable and asked him to keep it secret.
• Tushan Xinhua gave Xiao Mo Great Dream of Yellow Millet and offered to answer his questions about Daoist spells.
• Tushan Jingci apologized to her mother, who allowed her to leave the manor and play with whomever she liked.
• Tushan Jingci asked whether she could still play with Xiao Mo, and Tushan Xinhua agreed before reflecting sadly after Jingci left.

Tushan Jingci’s birthday banquet drew rulers and sect leaders hoping to win her family’s favor, while Jingci longed to leave and play with Xiao Mo. The gathering’s most powerful guests bowed when her grandfather, Senior Gui, arrived.

• Ying Dayuan and dignitaries from across the monster cities arrived at Tushan Manor for Tushan Jingci’s birthday banquet.
• Tushan Jingci warmly greeted the guests but secretly wished the banquet would end so she could play with Xiao Mo and receive his present.
• Chen Bing arrived with Chen Jue and encouraged his son to get to know Jingci, while explaining that her grandfather was someone Heavenly Demon Country needed to win over.
• Rulers and sect masters continued arriving with birthday gifts, and Chen Bing realized arranging a childhood betrothal would be difficult.
• Senior Gui arrived, and Jingci ran to greet her grandfather as everyone at the manor bowed and paid their respects.

Tushan Jingci’s birthday banquet drew rulers and sect masters seeking a marriage alliance with the Tushan family, while Tushan Xinhua worried that Jingci’s destined partner was human. Guining asked Jingci what kind of boy she liked, and her answer left him amused and confident that her feelings mattered more than race.

• Guining arrived at Tushan Manor for Tushan Jingci’s birthday and noticed her cinnabar mark had disappeared.
• Guests presented lavish gifts, and rulers and sect masters introduced their sons to Tushan Xinhua and Tushan Jingci in hopes of arranging a marriage alliance.
• After the banquet, Tushan Xinhua told Guining that she favored Chen Jue but worried because the boy who had touched Jingci was human.
• Guining asked Jingci whether the visiting boys were good-looking, and she said the boy she liked was the best-looking.
• Guining laughed and told Tushan Xinhua that Jingci understood better than she did that race did not matter.

Xiao Mo studied Great Dream of Yellow Millet and reached Qi Refining Layer One in a single day. Tushan Xinhua and Guining rewarded him, appointed him Tushan Jingci’s page, and discussed his possible future as Jingci’s husband.

• Xiao Mo read Great Dream of Yellow Millet, entered a dreamlike state, and reached Qi Refining Layer One.
• Tushan Xinhua and Guining visited Xiao Mo, and Guining gave him a jade pendant to nourish his Spiritual Energy.
• Tushan Xinhua told Xiao Mo he would move to a courtyard and become Tushan Jingci’s page when she went to the academy.
• Guining gave Tushan Xinhua a recommendation letter for Xiao Mo to use if he reached the Golden Core Realm and wanted to cultivate at Seeking Immortality Mountain.
• Guining told Tushan Xinhua that if Xiao Mo became Jingci’s Love tribulation, Jingci had the right to meet her future husband.

Xiao Mo celebrated Tushan Jingci’s birthday by cooking her sweet-and-sour carp and giving her a bracelet he had made. Elsewhere, a six-year-old girl at Seeking Immortality Temple reached the tenth level of Qi Refining, and her reflection revealed that she looked exactly like Tushan Jingci.

• Tushan Jingci caught a carp with Yueshi’s help and brought it to Xiao Mo to claim her birthday present.
• Xiao Mo cooked sweet-and-sour carp for Tushan Jingci, who helped light the fire and eagerly enjoyed the meal.
• Xiao Mo gave Tushan Jingci a jade bracelet he had polished himself, and she treasured it because he had made it.
• A rosy glow rose from Seeking Immortality Mountain after a young girl reached the tenth level of Qi Refining on her sixth birthday.
• The abbess gave the girl a mirror, and the girl saw that she looked exactly like Tushan Jingci.

Xiao Mo accompanied Tushan Jingci to Hanshan Academy, where she began her long stay apart from her mother. That night, Jingci struggled with homesickness and talked with Xiao Mo about studying and trust.

• A maid moved Xiao Mo into a courtyard near Tushan Jingci’s and told him to prepare to serve as her page at Hanshan Academy.
• Xiao Mo cultivated Great Dream of Yellow Millet while Tushan Jingci visited him during her lessons and looked forward to making friends at the academy.
• Tushan Xinhua took Tushan Jingci, Xiao Mo, Yueshi, and two maids to Hanshan Academy and completed Jingci’s enrollment.
• Tushan Xinhua tearfully said goodbye to Jingci, who became so upset that she could barely eat dinner.
• Late at night, Xiao Mo found Jingci awake and homesick, and he reassured her as she explained why she thought studying would not stop her from being tricked by someone she loved.

Tushan Jingci attended her first lessons at Qianxue Study Hall while Xiao Mo waited outside. When the other girls insulted him for being human, she rejected their invitation to see the peach blossoms and left with him.

• Tushan Jingci met Chen Jue, Lou Huo, Lei Qiu, and other young demons at Qianxue Study Hall, while Xiao Mo waited outside with the book attendants.
• Tushan Jingci grew bored during class and nearly fell asleep until the teacher startled her awake.
• Several girls invited Tushan Jingci to see the peach blossoms after lunch, but they objected when she said Xiao Mo would come too.
• Tushan Jingci defended Xiao Mo against the girls’ insults and refused to go with them.
• Tushan Jingci put her books in Xiao Mo’s basket, tugged his sleeve, and led him home.

Xiao Mo settled into life at Hanshan Academy, reached the twelfth level of Qi Refining, and went to collect Foundation Establishment Pills. Outside the Pill Room, he intervened when demon page boys surrounded a frightened girl and one threw a rock at her.

• Tushan Jingci accepted the demon girls’ apology and agreed to play with them, while Xiao Mo said he was not angry.
• Over the following months, Tushan Jingci studied diligently and Xiao Mo cultivated with the academy’s resources, reaching the twelfth level of Qi Refining.
• Yueshi came to admire Xiao Mo’s diligence, talent, and calm attitude toward the demons.
• Xiao Mo told Yueshi he was going to collect Foundation Establishment Pills and headed up the mountain to the Pill Room.
• After collecting the pills, Xiao Mo saw demon page boys surround a frightened girl, and he stopped one from striking her by grabbing his wrist.

Xiao Mo intervened when Wang Zhong and the other demon attendants attacked a human girl, and he fought them outside the Pill Room. After Tushan Jingci rushed to check on his injuries, Chen Jue, Lou Huo, and their companions arrived, and a Guardian Elder demanded an explanation from her.

• Wang Zhong accused a human girl of making him drop pills and tried to beat her, while Xiao Mo stopped him and defended her.
• Wang Zhong ordered the demon attendants to attack Xiao Mo, and Xiao Mo fought back.
• An academy steward told Tushan Jingci that Xiao Mo had gotten into a fight, so she hurried to the summit of Qianxue Peak.
• Tushan Jingci found Xiao Mo wounded and saw several demon attendants lying injured nearby.
• Chen Jue, Lou Huo, and the other attendants' masters arrived, and a Guardian Elder demanded that Tushan Jingci explain why Xiao Mo had injured their people.

Xiao Mo defended Liu Shui after the Guardian Elders accused him, and the Enforcement Hall ruled that the offending book attendants had to compensate her. Chen Bing then questioned Wang Zhong about provoking Tushan Jingci's book attendant and threatened him when he refused to explain.

• Tushan Jingci shielded Xiao Mo and accused the Guardian Elders' book attendants of mistreating Liu Shui.
• Liu Shui told Master Xian that the book attendants had surrounded and harassed her before Xiao Mo intervened.
• The book attendants admitted their wrongdoing, and Jiang Feng ordered compensation for Liu Shui before dismissing everyone.
• Xian Xichun and Jiang Feng discussed Xiao Mo's cultivation and the Great Dream of Yellow Millet, while Xian Xichun criticized demons who lorded over others.
• Chen Bing confronted Wang Zhong about targeting Tushan Jingci's book attendant and pressed him for an explanation.

Chen Jue’s attack on Xiao Mo was exposed, and Chen Bing rebuked his son while urging him to apologize to Tushan Jingci. After Xian Xichun treated Xiao Mo’s wounds and explained the unequal laws governing humans and demons, Xiao Mo said he understood them but felt they should change; Jiang Feng then told Xian Xichun he was leaving the academy to challenge a sword cultivator.

• Chen Bing questioned Wang Zhong about targeting Xiao Mo, then confronted Chen Jue and ordered him to apologize to Tushan Jingci.
• Yueshi bandaged Xiao Mo’s wounds while Tushan Jingci worried over him, and Xian Xichun invited Xiao Mo for a walk.
• Xian Xichun gave Xiao Mo a healing pill, admitted Chen Jue had ordered Wang Zhong’s attack, and promised it would not happen again.
• Xiao Mo asked how the academy punished people who killed humans and demons, then said he understood the unequal rules but felt they should not be that way.
• Jiang Feng told Xian Xichun he was leaving the academy to test his sword against a scholar from White Deer Academy, and urged Xian Xichun to stay alive.

Xiao Mo left to undergo the Foundation Establishment Tribulation while Tushan Jingci hid her worry behind indirect advice and waited for him through the night. He returned successfully at Foundation Establishment, and Jingci smiled in her sleep when she heard he was back.

• Tushan Jingci acted unusually worried as Xiao Mo prepared to undergo his tribulation, but she did not tell him to stop.
• Xiao Mo left for Jian Mountain, where he set up a Formation, swallowed a Foundation Establishment Pill, and began the tribulation.
• Xiao Mo survived the tribulation and, after experiencing another great dream, reached Foundation Establishment by nightfall.
• Tushan Jingci waited anxiously for Xiao Mo until she fell asleep at the courtyard table.
• Xiao Mo returned, and Yueshi told him that Jingci had been waiting for him; Jingci murmured happily in her sleep when he said he was back.

Tushan Jingci made Chen Jue and Wang Zhong apologize to Xiao Mo, while Tushan Xinhua returned to the Tushan Clan’s ancestral land for an elders’ meeting. The chapter ended with Great Elder Tushan Meng confronting her over teaching a human the Great Dream of Yellow Millet and demanding she choose whether to kill him herself or let Tushan Meng do it.

• Tushan Jingci welcomed Xiao Mo back, then made Wang Zhong apologize to Xiao Mo and Chen Jue apologize for failing to discipline him.
• Xiao Mo accepted the apologies, and Tushan Jingci sent Chen Jue and Wang Zhong away while insisting she would stand by Xiao Mo.
• Tushan Xinhua read Yueshi’s report, suspected Chen Jue had targeted Xiao Mo over the Great Dream of Yellow Millet, and burned the letter.
• Tushan Xinhua traveled to the Tushan Clan’s ancestral land and attended a meeting where the elders discussed alliances, the Human Alliance, and the clan’s ambitions.
• After the meeting, Tushan Meng asked Tushan Xinhua whether she would kill the human she had taught the Great Dream of Yellow Millet or let him do it.

Tushan Meng insisted that Xiao Mo remain alive as a stepping stone for Jingci, while Xinhua opposed harming him. Back at Hanshan Academy, Xiao Mo gave Liu Shui a chance to pursue cultivation, and Jingci arranged to keep her close to the Tushan household.

• Tushan Meng told Xinhua that Xiao Mo still had uses and that she would make him a stepping stone if Jingci fell in love with him.
• Tushan Jingci returned to classes, and Lou Huo and two others apologized to her and Xiao Mo for their pages’ actions.
• Xiao Mo sold the apology gifts at Wanbao Pavilion for five hundred High-grade Spirit Stones and planned to give the money to Liu Shui.
• Liu Shui visited Xiao Mo and Jingci with date cakes and a small gift, but Jingci returned her money and Xiao Mo offered her the Spirit Stones.
• Liu Shui refused the Spirit Stones and asked for a cultivation technique, so Xiao Mo agreed to test her Spiritual Root the next evening.
• Jingci invited Liu Shui to visit often so Yueshi could teach her and the Tushan connection would help protect her.

Xiao Mo helped Liu Shui begin cultivating, then spent the following years accompanying Tushan Jingci as she grew up and entered Yunxiao Peak. After hearing Mr. Xian’s unfinished story about a Yao and a human, Jingci promised Xiao Mo that they would tell each other first if they ever fell in love.

• Xiao Mo tested Liu Shui’s Root Bone, gave her cultivation manuals, and arranged for Yueshi to guide her; Liu Shui reached Qi Refining Layer One after two months.
• Over the next five years, Xiao Mo accompanied Tushan Jingci to classes and social gatherings as she grew taller than him and playfully demanded he call her “big sister.”
• Two years later, Jingci entered Yunxiao Peak with Xiao Mo and studied deeper Confucianism under Xian Xichun.
• Mr. Xian told his students the unfinished story of Xiao Feng, a Yao who fell in love with a human woman, and ended the lesson before revealing what happened.
• On the way home, Xiao Mo gave Jingci a hopeful ending for the story, and Jingci promised they would tell each other first if either found someone they loved.

At Hanshan Academy, Xiao Mo continued cultivating while Tushan Jingci grew into a talented and admired young woman. After Tushan Xinhua visited and praised Xiao Mo’s progress, she ordered him to move out of the courtyard.

• Xiao Mo practiced Great Dream of Yellow Millet and shaped clouds, birds, and a sword with his Daoist charm.
• Tushan Jingci hurried Xiao Mo back to the courtyard to greet her visiting mother, and asked whether Liu Shui treated him differently.
• Liu Shui left after telling Tushan Jingci that relatives were visiting, while Tushan Jingci noticed her tender glances toward Xiao Mo.
• Tushan Xinhua arrived, tested Tushan Jingci on her studies, and praised Xiao Mo’s cultivation.
• Tushan Xinhua told Xiao Mo to move out of the courtyard starting that day.

Tushan Xinhua ordered Xiao Mo to move out of Tushan Jingci’s courtyard, insisting it was improper for them to live together. Jingci protested, but Xiao Mo agreed to leave, and she made him promise that any girl he liked would be at least as pretty as her.

• Tushan Xinhua told Xiao Mo to move to a prepared courtyard at the foot of the mountain the following night.
• Tushan Jingci objected to Xiao Mo leaving, but Tushan Xinhua refused to change her decision and left to attend to clan matters.
• Jingci sulked on Jian Mountain, where Xiao Mo joined her and explained that moving out was the proper thing to do.
• Jingci asked Xiao Mo what it felt like to like someone, and he said he would stay by her side and protect her for the rest of his life.
• Jingci demanded that any girl Xiao Mo liked be at least as pretty as she was, and Xiao Mo refused to agree.

Xiao Mo moved into a secluded bamboo courtyard at the foot of the mountain, while Tushan Jingci struggled with his sudden absence. By dusk, she realized how much she missed him and wondered why he was all she could think about.

• Xiao Mo moved into the bamboo courtyard, and Tushan Jingci reluctantly left after asking him to join her for class.
• Xiao Mo cleaned the courtyard by hand and cultivated the Great Dream of Yellow Millet, briefly mistaking a falling bamboo leaf for Tushan Jingci teasing him.
• Tushan Jingci tried to visit Xiao Mo, but Yueshi stopped her because of Madam's orders.
• Tushan Jingci recalled the ways she had teased Xiao Mo and the things she admired about him before falling asleep.
• After waking near dusk, Tushan Jingci found Xiao Mo's old room nearly empty and lamented how long his absence felt, though he had been gone less than a day.

Liu Shui began visiting Xiao Mo’s Bamboo Courtyard to cook and clean, while growing more attached to him. After her mother urged her to marry Young Master Huang, Liu Shui’s blushing suggested her feelings were for Xiao Mo, and a black-clad swordsman entered his courtyard at night.

• Liu Shui found Xiao Mo’s Bamboo Courtyard and offered to come each day to cook and clean for him.
• Xiao Mo accepted Liu Shui’s help and spent the afternoon cultivating and studying Daoist classics while she stayed in the courtyard.
• Liu Shui accidentally brushed Xiao Mo’s fingers and reacted shyly, though he did not notice.
• Mother Liu told Liu Shui that Young Master Huang from Hanshan City had asked for her hand, but Liu Shui said she did not want to marry those men.
• After Xiao Mo fell asleep, a black-clad figure concealed their aura with a spell and slipped into his courtyard carrying a long sword.