Chapter Summaries

Li Mo took Ying Bing to the Top Scholar Pavilion poetry gathering on Autumn Eve, where he offered to win her a hairpin after she smiled at him. The poem came to mind, but the chapter ended before he recited it.

• Li Mo left Murong Xiao in the restaurant with mooncakes and mosquito coils, then met Ying Bing and went with her to Top Scholar Pavilion.
• At the pavilion, Li Mo encountered Wu Chushu, Bai Jinghong, and Cao Mu, who had come to the poetry gathering with Miss She.
• Wu Chushu explained that the gathering offered a jade hairpin as a prize, and Miss She asked him to win it for her.
• Li Mo moved Ying Bing's loose hair aside and offered to give her a hairpin for Autumn Eve.
• Ying Bing accepted with a smile, and Li Mo remembered a poem he could use at the gathering.

At an autumn poetry gathering, Wu Chushu and Li Mo submitted poems, and the scholars mocked Wu Chushu’s plagiarized work while awarding Li Mo the top prize. Li Mo’s poem moved Ying Bing, leaving her with a softened expression as she recalled their past.

• Wu Chushu paid to enter the gathering, drank wine, and submitted a poem he had copied from Elder Zeng.
• Li Mo submitted his own poem, while Ying Bing questioned whether he could write well.
• The scholars criticized Wu Chushu’s poem but gave him a Green Jade Hairpin as an encouragement prize.
• Elder Zeng recognized Li Mo’s poem, rushed to display it on Cloud Brocade, and declared that he had found the real thing.
• Li Mo received the top prize, a precious lotus-shaped hairpin, and Ying Bing read his poem and looked moved.

After Li Mo’s poem and jade hairpin moved Ying Bing, the two escaped the crowd for a quiet evening together. At Magpie Bridge, Li Mo found himself unable to stop holding her foot and tried to blame it on an illness.

• Li Mo admitted he had intentionally written the displayed poem, while Ying Bing told him she liked the jade hairpin.
• Ying Bing let Li Mo put the hairpin in her hair, but the crowd recognized them and gathered around.
• Ying Bing suggested they run away, and Li Mo took her hand as they left the marketplace.
• Li Mo led Ying Bing to a quiet riverside near Magpie Bridge to watch the fireworks.
• Ying Bing removed her shoes and dipped her feet in the river, and Li Mo began holding and rubbing one of them.
• Li Mo claimed he had an illness that made his hands uncontrollable and asked Ying Bing to let him hold her other foot too.

Li Mo and Ying Bing watched the Qixi fireworks together, but a strange meteor fell toward the Southern Border and changed their plans. Ying Bing decided to travel there to retrieve the shooting star Li Mo had wished upon.

• Li Mo and Ying Bing shared a quiet evening by Magpie Bridge, and Ying Bing tied her red hair cord around his wrist for Qixi.
• As fireworks filled the sky, a brilliant meteor appeared and descended toward the Southern Border, making Ying Bing’s smile fade.
• Li Mo wished for safety and happiness for everyone in Clear Abyss Sect and for Ying Bing.
• Ying Bing told Li Mo to return to Purple Sun Prefecture with the elders in a few days while she went to the Southern Border to pick up his shooting star.

Ying Bing left for the Southern Border to retrieve the Jade Phoenix God, while Li Mo completed his Extreme Weapon Slaughter Body and decided to follow her. The chapter ended with Li Mo resolving to travel south after comprehending the Seventy-two Earthly Fiend Transformations.

• Ying Bing told Li Mo she would leave for the Southern Border, and Li Mo warned her about the dangers there.
• Heng Yuan, a monk from Hanging Temple, used Buddhist scriptures to suppress Murong Xiao’s awakening bloodline and help him recover from his slumber.
• Li Mo completed his Extreme Weapon Slaughter Body as the group discussed their plans to leave Yun Province.
• Ying Bing departed without saying farewell, and Li Mo realized she had set out to retrieve the Jade Phoenix God for him.
• Li Mo told everyone he would not return to Purple Sun Prefecture and planned to go to the Southern Border after comprehending the Seventy-two Earthly Fiend Transformations.

Li Mo prepared to leave for the Southern Border while his friends and master said their emotional goodbyes. After realizing Murong Xiao had been left behind, Li Mo returned for him and discovered his diary, which revealed Murong Xiao's repeated attempts to give up women and advance his cultivation.

• Li Mo considered how to conserve his dwindling body-tempering resources and resolved to master the Seventy-Two Transformations before traveling to the Southern Border.
• Elder Xue, Qian Bufan, Shang Wu, Ouyang, and Jiang Chulong gave Li Mo gifts and farewells before departing in a battle chariot.
• Li Mo noticed Murong Xiao had been forgotten at the tavern and hurried back to retrieve him.
• Li Mo found Murong Xiao's diary and read that he had vowed to give up women to reach the Profound Pill Realm, but kept writing that it was his first day without women.

Li Mo studied the Wukong Seeking the Dao Diagram and gained insight into the Seventy-Two Transformations while Murong Xiao recovered from awakening her Cry Dragon bloodline. After learning about a coming demon-god manifestation in the Southern Border, Li Mo drank Cry Dragon Essence Blood and transformed into a Cry Dragon.

• Li Mo received Cry Dragon Essence Blood as investment feedback for helping Murong Xiao awaken, then left her to rest and studied the Wukong Seeking the Dao Diagram.
• Taiyin’s moonlight clarified the diagram’s inheritance, and Li Mo comprehended how the Seventy-Two Transformations required thoroughly understanding each creature.
• Murong Xiao woke and explained that Buddhist nature had balanced the bloodline within her; she also told Li Mo that her parents had summoned her to the Southern Border because a divine manifestation was expected there.
• Li Mo connected the coming manifestation to the Jade Phoenix God and wondered if obtaining it would help Ice Block grow stronger.
• Murong Xiao demonstrated her Cry Dragon bloodline, and Li Mo drank the Cry Dragon Essence Blood to study its traits before transforming into a Cry Dragon.

Li Mo tested the Seventy-Two Transformations by becoming a Cry Dragon, then set out with Murong Xiao for the Southern Border after entrusting his restaurant to Xu Xiao'er. At Hengtong Trading Firm, they met Huang Donglai, who offered to help prepare their supplies and discovered Li Mo had a substantial deposit slip.

• Li Mo transformed into a Cry Dragon, startling Murong Xiao, who mistakenly thought they were kin until Li Mo explained it was a technique.
• Xu Xiao'er fainted at the sight of the dragon, then promised to manage the restaurant while Li Mo was away.
• Li Mo and Murong Xiao left Fish-Dragon Street and discussed how convincingly Li Mo's transformation imitated a real creature.
• Li Mo took Murong Xiao to Hengtong Trading Firm to stock up for their journey to the Southern Border.
• Huang Donglai revealed he worked as a clerk at the firm and offered to help Li Mo prepare supplies.
• Huang Donglai saw Li Mo's deposit slip and realized the purchase could earn him enough commission to quit early.

Li Mo prepared to travel to the Cry Dragon Clan’s territory in the Southern Border and recruited Huang Donglai as his guide. Their route led first to Treasure Vase Town, where villagers worried about the harvest, the government troops, and the Demon Race as a mysterious young woman rested nearby.

• Huang Donglai offered Li Mo poisons and tricks, while Murong Xiao explained that his monk-like habits helped suppress his bloodline.
• The old monk Heng Yuan appeared, gestured advice to Li Mo and Murong Xiao, then vanished.
• Huang Donglai described the Southern Border’s dangers and agreed to guide Li Mo and Murong Xiao toward the Cry Dragon Clan’s territory.
• Li Mo’s spending at Hengtong Trading Firm made Huang Donglai its biggest single-day sales champion, and Huang quit to become Li Mo’s guide.
• Huang Donglai mapped their route through Southern Pass to Blackwater Marsh, with Treasure Vase Town as their first stop.
• Treasure Vase Town villagers discussed a poor harvest, their grain owed to government troops, and the danger of Demon Race and Calamity Beasts as a mysterious young woman ate a mooncake beside a Big-Headed Doll.

Ying Bing protected Fu Yingzi from a Roc while searching for the Green Phoenix Clan, and Li Mo’s party arrived at Treasure Vase Town to find the girl accused of colluding with demons. The chapter ended as the executioner prepared to kill Fu Yingzi.

• Ying Bing gave Fu Yingzi a mooncake and studied a map, but struggled to remember the name of a nearby mountain.
• A Roc swooped down to eat Fu Yingzi, and Ying Bing stopped it with her sword and demanded directions to the Green Phoenix Clan.
• The Roc warned Ying Bing that the Green Phoenix Clan despised humans and males, so she cut off more of its feathers.
• Li Mo, Huang Donglai, and Murong Xiao reached Treasure Vase Town, where a crowd had gathered around Fu Yingzi on an execution platform.
• The Commanding Officer declared that the time had come and ordered Fu Yingzi’s execution.

Li Mo stopped the execution of Lu Fuying, an eight-year-old girl accused of colluding with demons, and exposed the Garrison Army’s abuse of power. After Guardian Qi recognized Zhong Zhenyue’s waist token and declared the case suspicious, Li Mo asked Lu Fuying when she had seen the fairy, and she recognized him as Mooncake Brother.

• Li Mo saw through the Heavenly Mandate Divine Eye that Lu Fuying was about to be executed unjustly for supposedly colluding with demons.
• Li Mo broke the execution blade with a golden bean and ordered Murong Xiao to take Lu Fuying to her family.
• When the Commanding Officer accused Li Mo of being a demon’s accomplice, Li Mo defeated the soldiers’ military formation and beat the officer.
• Guardian Qi arrived with elite soldiers, but after seeing Zhong Zhenyue’s waist token, he slapped the Commanding Officer and declared Lu Fuying had no connection to the Demon Race.
• Li Mo asked Lu Fuying when she had seen the fairy, and she recognized him as Mooncake Brother.

Li Mo and his companions visited Fu Yingzi’s family after saving her and learned that Ying Bing had flown away on a roc demon. Before leaving to search for the roc, Li Mo accepted Fu Yingzi’s letter to her soldier father and secretly left the family supplies and a Peace Talisman.

• Li Mo, Murong Xiao, and Huang Donglai visited Fu Yingzi’s remote home and discussed the injustice against her family and the danger of removing the Garrison Army.
• Fu Yingzi called Li Mo “Mooncake Brother” because he resembled the figure on a mooncake, and Li Mo realized Ying Bing had taken the Lotus Paste Mooncakes bearing his image.
• Fu Yingzi’s mother told Li Mo that Ying Bing had flown away on a roc demon, but she did not know where Ying Bing had gone afterward.
• Li Mo decided to ask the roc demon about Ying Bing’s whereabouts, and Fu Yingzi gave him a letter for her soldier father to deliver.
• Li Mo and his companions left sacks of dry rations and a Peace Talisman outside Fu Yingzi’s home, and her mother promised that her husband would see the letter.

Li Mo, Huang Donglai, and Murong Xiao tracked the Roc Demon to its nest on Treasure Vase Mountain and devised a plan to ambush it. When the Roc Demon returned, Murong Xiao lured it into a trap, and Li Mo launched a strange aerial attack by riding Huang Donglai.

• Li Mo and his companions searched Treasure Vase Mountain, where Huang Donglai tracked the Roc Demon's true nest by tasting dirt.
• Li Mo planned to have Murong Xiao provoke the Roc Demon and use Muscle-Softening Powder while Huang Donglai carried him into the attack.
• The Roc Demon returned the next day, spotted Murong Xiao outside its nest, and swooped down after Murong Xiao insulted it.
• Murong Xiao threw jars of powder, but the Roc Demon blew the powder away and began retreating.
• Li Mo shouted for a combo move, leaped onto Huang Donglai's back, and rode him as Huang Donglai charged toward the Roc Demon.

Li Mo captured the Roc Demon and learned that Ying Bing had gone to the Green Phoenix Territory, where the clan chief had received her. In the territory, Ying Bing was summoned by the old clan chief and revealed that she was thinking of a man with a Wife-Prospering Fighting Soul.

• Huang Donglai chased down the Roc Demon, who stopped to fight but was quickly defeated and bound.
• Li Mo searched through his supplies for an antidote while Huang Donglai identified a collection of dangerous poisons and pills.
• The Roc Demon mistook Li Mo and Huang Donglai for members of a Demonic Cult, then answered Li Mo’s questions after being threatened.
• The Roc Demon told Li Mo that the woman he was seeking had gone to the Green Phoenix Territory and was staying with the clan chief.
• A woman in blue summoned Ying Bing to the old clan chief, then asked whom she was thinking of.
• Ying Bing said she was thinking of a man with a Wife-Prospering Fighting Soul.

Ying Bing learned about the Heavenly Jade competition from Shang Qinqing, who teased her about Li Mo and offered to teach her music. Meanwhile, Li Mo and Murong Xiao flew toward the Cry Dragon Territory, nearing their destination after five days.

• Shang Qinqing told Ying Bing that the Green Phoenix Clan could not speak until meeting their destined partners and explained that they expressed themselves through music.
• Shang Qinqing asked why Ying Bing had left Li Mo behind, and Ying Bing considered his safety and the danger of the Demon Race discovering him.
• Shang Qinqing explained the Heavenly Jade's cycle and named the Roc, Golden Fur Roar, and Qiongqi Clans as strong competitors.
• Shang Qinqing told Ying Bing about the Marriage Tree, then offered to teach her music; Ying Bing stayed silent as she thought that Li Mo was not there.
• Li Mo, Murong Xiao, and the Roc Demon continued flying toward the Cry Dragon Territory, discussing the floods caused when Cry Dragons sneezed.

Li Mo and his companions crossed Blackwater Marsh, where locals worshiped strange Witch Spirits, and reached the last town before the Cry Dragon Clan's territory. As Murong Xiao prayed at a Witch Spirit festival, a huge shadow appeared in a whirlpool in the lake, signaling that the cry dragons were stirring up trouble.

• The roc left Li Mo and his companions at the edge of the Cry Dragon Clan's territory, and they traveled for five days through Blackwater Marsh.
• In the last town before the clan's territory, Li Mo bought several catties of precious Pearl White Lotus Silk and wondered why the people who produced it still labored in the mud.
• A silk merchant invited the group to the town's Witch Spirit Festival, while Murong Xiao said he was eager to meet the parents he had never known.
• Li Mo recognized the festival's strange statue as resembling one of the Divine Observation statues his master had destroyed at Jade Cluster Peak.
• Murong Xiao prayed for a smooth reunion with his parents, then a whirlpool opened in the lake and an enormous dark shadow appeared.

Li Mo discovered that Wu Dameng, a Ming Jiao, had been staging attacks on a town with its High Priest to receive livestock, and he defeated Wu Dameng after the creature mistook him for another participant in their act. Li Mo and his companions took Wu Dameng away, where Murong Xiao demanded an explanation and Li Mo tried to make the Ming Jiao beg for milk.

• Li Mo used his Heavenly Mandate Divine Eye to learn that Wu Dameng had agreed with the town priest to stage attacks in exchange for food.
• Murong Xiao struggled with his Ming Jiao bloodline until Li Mo's relics helped suppress it, then offered to join Li Mo in fighting Wu Dameng.
• Li Mo and Huang Donglai flew into the battle, and Wu Dameng mistakenly thought they were part of the staged performance.
• Li Mo struck Wu Dameng with Settling the Wind and Waves, then carried his body away as the townspeople watched.
• Murong Xiao questioned Wu Dameng about attacking the town, and Wu Dameng said he needed food before Li Mo asked whether he would beg for milk.

Li Mo, Huang Donglai, and Murong Xiao met Wu Dameng and convinced him that Li Mo was a Cry Dragon prodigy, then learned Murong Xiao was related to the clan’s elders. As they traveled toward the Cry Dragon territory, Wu Dameng explained that the clan was losing ground to the Roc Clan and that Murong Xiao’s parents were being pressured to have another child.

• Li Mo transformed into a Cry Dragon and claimed Huang Donglai was his mount, convincing Wu Dameng that he was a clan prodigy.
• Murong Xiao revealed his dragon traits, and Wu Dameng recognized him as the child of Third Great-Uncle and Third Great-Grandmother.
• Li Mo had Wu Dameng freed, and the group rode south in the Bronze Chariot toward the Cry Dragon territory.
• Wu Dameng explained that the Roc Clan had been encroaching on Cry Dragon lands since obtaining the Heavenly Jade sixty years earlier.
• Wu Dameng said the clan was pressuring Murong Xiao’s parents to have a second child because half-demons were more likely to benefit from the Divine Jade.

Li Mo and his companions attended the Cry Dragon Clan’s contest to select five demons for the Hanging Temple, where the Green Phoenix Goddess’s reputation drew Li Mo’s attention. The contest began as a public selection, while Murong Xiao finally spotted his parents among the elders.

• Li Mo and his companions entered the Cry Dragon Clan’s territory and heard that the Green Phoenix Clan had produced a powerful Goddess.
• Li Mo imagined the Goddess as Ice Block, then declared that he would make her unable to resist; the two-headed Young Clan Leader of the Nine-headed Serpent Clan scoffed at him.
• Murong Xiao recognized his parents among the Cry Dragon Clan elders as they took their places beside the stone platform.
• A Cry Dragon woman announced that five Aquatic Clan members would be selected to go to the Hanging Temple, and said even Common Demons could compete.
• Wu Dameng explained to Li Mo that the contest was called a sea selection because the lake’s main current led to the South Sea.

Li Mo and Murong Xiao entered the Blackwater Marsh audition, where the Aquatic Clan tested contestants’ bloodline powers before combat. After watching several strange and useful abilities, Li Mo realized he had a Wind-Summoning Rain-Calling Talisman that might help him demonstrate his newly acquired water-vapor control.

• Li Mo and Murong Xiao signed up for the audition, while Wu Dameng and Huang Donglai stayed out; the Nine-headed Serpent Clan’s Young Clan Leader glared at Li Mo.
• Wu Han told the Young Clan Leader that Li Mo came from beyond the Southern Border and was likely stronger than Wu Dameng, and the Serpent boasted that he had survived a fight with the Green Phoenix Goddess.
• Zhen Bang demonstrated that her bloodline produced glowing pearls, but the judges gave her three points and rejected her.
• A Water Ginseng Clan contestant offered his regenerating flesh as food, and a Dream Illusion Jellyfish Clan contestant fell asleep during her demonstration; both displayed abilities that failed to impress.
• Contestants with more practical powers, including a carp that made water prisons and a capybara with destructive sonic waves, followed, and a Cry Dragon Clan genius passed the bloodline test.
• Li Mo considered his own recent ability to control water vapor and found a Wind-Summoning Rain-Calling Talisman in his System Space.