Chapter Summaries

Li Fan learned that Xun Country’s succession struggle had spilled into a military plot against Gu Mo and the Zhang and Gu families, then left Yang Sheng behind and flew toward Luofeng Mountain. He arrived at the history of Baiyue Mountain’s Mountain Ghosts and the six Luo Feng palaces, whose survival protected Ink Bamboo Mountain from the Immortal Palace’s expansion.

• Li Fan watched Xun Country soldiers ambush and slaughter their own comrades, then avoided the battlefield and landed in a market town.
• Li Fan heard that the Four Great Families backed the Crown Prince while Quan Huang and other rising forces backed Prince of Lu, and learned that Gu Mo had been exiled after a dispute over military rewards.
• Yang Sheng told Li Fan that the attack on the Gu and Zhang families likely served a larger political scheme, then chose to continue his journey alone.
• Li Fan dropped Yang Sheng near a postal station with travel supplies and headed for the Luofeng Mountain region of Baiyue Mountain.
• Li Fan considered the Mountain Ghosts’ history and the six Luo Feng palaces, whose resistance had made Baiyue Mountain a shield for Ink Bamboo Mountain.

Li Fan reached Luofeng Mountain, delivered the four maidservants to its Six Palaces, and was challenged by its cultivators. After defeating two opponents, he was asked by Jueyin Shenjun to enter the Taiyin Heavenly Demon Grotto and bring Luo Feng Old Lord out of seclusion.

• Li Fan and the two girls encountered Mountain Ghosts ambushing Xun Kingdom troops, then followed the Mountain Ghost army into Luofeng Mountain.
• Li Fan presented Xie Mingchen's token and entered the Luofeng Grotto-Heaven, where he met the six Shenjun and returned the four maidservants in a coffin.
• The Shenjun arranged for Shou Meng to test Li Fan, but Li Fan saw through Shou Meng's illusion and cut his thigh with sword qi.
• Shan Chao challenged Li Fan to use Ghost Hand, but Li Fan changed the claw strike into Wind Splitting Palm and knocked Shan Chao out of the hall.
• Jueyin Shenjun told Li Fan that Luo Feng Old Lord was secluded in the Taiyin Heavenly Demon Grotto and asked him to bring their ancestor out.

Li Fan agreed to search the Taiyin Heavenly Devil Cavern for the Luo Feng Patriarch and carry Jueyin Shenjun’s secret message about Xun Country’s possible Heavenly Scripture. As he descended through the cavern, he saw through and defeated its Chi illusions, then destroyed a powerful Devil possessing a corpse.

• Jueyin Shenjun explained the cavern’s dangers and offered Li Fan three divine arts to search for the missing Patriarch.
• Jueyin Shenjun destroyed the four concubines’ spirits, sealed them in soul pearls as bait, and gave Li Fan the arts for controlling flying immortals.
• Jueyin Shenjun revealed that Xun Country might possess a Heavenly Scripture and asked Li Fan to relay the news to the Patriarch; Li Fan agreed in hopes of sharing the reward.
• Li Fan entered the Taiyin Heavenly Devil Cavern carrying the coffin and used his Gu Guan Method to recognize and overcome the Chi’s illusions.
• A corpse-possessing Great Chi demanded the soul pearls, but Li Fan attacked it with his Crimson Eyes and killed it.

Li Fan fought through the Chi in the Lunar Devil Cave and found the Luo Feng Old Lord, who refused to leave his cultivation grounds despite being summoned. The Old Lord showed Li Fan the bronze doors sealing the cave and revealed that something powerful had been trying to force its way through, leaving the danger unresolved.

• Li Fan slaughtered Greater Chi and Super Greater Chi until the demons retreated, then waited on his coffin lid to recover his mood and True Essence.
• The Luo Feng Old Lord ambushed Li Fan, criticized his Ghost Hand technique, and refused to leave after hearing about the traitor, the Xun Kingdom's succession struggle, and the Heavenly Book.
• The Old Lord took the soul jade and returned the four ascended immortals' souls at Taiyin Jing Tian Palace, where Li Fan persuaded him to explain the cave's defenses.
• The Old Lord showed Li Fan a vast bronze door left by the Immortal Venerable and explained that Celestial Devils came from beyond it.
• A mass of black tentacles pushed through the crack, but the Old Lord slammed the doors shut and crushed it, leaving its baleful-energy remains for the Chi to consume.

Li Fan returned from the Devil Grotto with a jar of Celestial Devils and warned Jueyin Shenjun that the Old Lord could not leave his post. Jueyin sent him to Xingye City in disguise to deliver the jar to a hidden operative and seize Xun Country’s Heavenly Book, and Li Fan set off underground using newly learned techniques.

• Luo Feng Patriarch cleared most of the Chi from the bronze doors with his spirit banner and gave Li Fan a jar containing thousands of Celestial Devils and the Dalu Jing Tian Finger technique.
• Li Fan returned to Jueyin Shenjun and advised him to let Xun Country’s factions weaken each other while Luo Feng Palace sealed the mountain and prepared for war.
• Jueyin Shenjun gave Li Fan a token and ordered him to deliver the jar to a hidden operative in Xingye City, who would help him obtain the Heavenly Book.
• Jueyin Shenjun kept Li Qingyue’s two child attendants at Luo Feng Palace and sent Li Fan away under a different identity to protect the operative.
• Li Fan disguised himself, learned to power the Dalu Jing Tian Finger with Yuqing Zhenyuan, practiced Jade Pure Jade Quality Flawless Escape, and traveled underground toward Xingye City.

Li Fan traveled to Xingye City under the persona of Li Yaoshi, rescuing Madam Zhou and her children from disguised bandits along the way. He brought them to the city to seek help from the eldest princess of Xun Country, but his arrival at the Grand Governor's residence drew an angry challenge.

• Li Fan learned that Xun Country was preparing another campaign against Baiyue Mountain and reflected on the kingdom's prosperity, military strength, and dependence on the Three Enclaves.
• Li Fan adopted the identity of Li Yaoshi, a rogue cultivator from the Southern Sea, and stopped bandits attacking Madam Zhou's carriage.
• Li Fan incapacitated the bandits, but they killed themselves with poison, and the wounded veteran guarding Madam Zhou also died.
• Li Fan learned that Madam Zhou was taking her three children to seek refuge with the eldest princess of Xun Country, then carried their bullock cart toward Xingye City.
• Li Fan reached Xingye City, passed its guards after mentioning the eldest princess, and arrived at the Grand Governor's residence, where someone challenged his presence.

Li Fan returned Madam Zhou and her children to the Quan residence, where he subdued the household guards after they attacked him and accepted compensation from Quan Jun. At Rouge Pool, a mysterious summons led him to a pleasure boat, where he found Yang Sheng trapped in an illusion and discovered that the boat had drained its male guests of their yang energy.

• Li Fan brought Madam Zhou and her three children to the Grand Governor’s residence, but the guards attacked him and the steward accused him of extortion.
• Li Fan defeated the guards and crippled a Nascent Soul General before Quan Jun apologized and paid him a thousand gold ingots.
• Li Fan flew to Crouching Dragon Pool, learned that Gu Mei was Rouge Pool’s Flower Dragon, and sensed that a passing pleasure boat was calling to him.
• Li Fan followed his compass to the Peony Pavilion and found Yang Sheng pale, depleted, and trapped in an illusion.
• Li Fan knocked Yang Sheng unconscious and discovered that the boat’s rooms contained men drained of their vitality, with no courtesans aboard.

Li Fan discovered that the Peony Pavilion’s ghost ship was a sentient chest trapping scholars in an illusion based on its former mistress Du Wei’s tragic fate. Yang Si'an passed the trial in an unexpected way, freeing the chest-maid Du Xia, but the chapter left him vowing revenge on Xun Country.

• Li Fan traced the ship’s stolen yang energy to a rosewood chest and entered its illusion to confront the chest-maid.
• The chest-maid explained that the illusion tested scholars by asking them to change Du Wei’s tragic fate, and she identified Yang Si'an as the first genuine scholar with a chance to succeed.
• Li Fan and the chest-maid watched Yang Si'an’s story unfold as he met Du Wei, passed the examinations, and refused to surrender her to Xun Country’s ruler.
• After Du Wei drowned herself again, Yang Si'an escaped prison, retrieved her chest, and vowed to avenge her before the illusion ended.
• The chest-maid took human form as Du Xia, while Yang Si'an howled that he would destroy Xun Country.

Li Fan challenged Du Xia over her plan to destroy Xun, then received the Suihou Pearl as fighting erupted around the Peony Pavilion. He escaped the battle by kidnapping Xun’s eldest princess and demanding a ransom.

• Li Fan questioned Du Xia about the deaths aboard the ship and her intention to destroy Xun, and Du Xia explained her mission to avenge the women abused on Rouge River.
• Du Xia gave Li Fan the Suihou Pearl, but Xun cultivators attacked, wounded his wrist, and seized the treasure while Du Xia escaped with Yang Sheng.
• Li Fan fought four Nascent Soul cultivators, killed them, and recovered the Suihou Pearl.
• Li Fan fled to Hengbo Pavilion, kidnapped Xun’s eldest princess, and announced that he would return her for a hundred thousand gold.

Li Fan kidnapped Princess Quan to exploit the chaos in Xun Country, then returned to Xingye City to deliver a destructive jar and obtain the Heavenly Book. He met Cen Hun, who revealed that a copy was held by the Marquis of Jianchang and asked Li Fan to help prevent the marquis from recovering; Li Fan also learned that Cen Hun’s master wanted Princess Quan found.

• Li Fan hid Princess Quan in a sealed coffin outside the city and returned to Xingye City as Xun Country’s forces searched for her.
• Li Fan used Jueyin Shenjun’s message to contact Cen Hun, a palace eunuch working for Luo Feng’s agent.
• Li Fan handed Cen Hun the destructive jar and learned that the original Heavenly Book was sealed in the Hall of the Great Beginning.
• Cen Hun told Li Fan that a disguised copy of the Heavenly Book was among twelve books sent to the disabled Marquis of Jianchang.
• Cen Hun asked Li Fan to help prevent the Marquis of Jianchang from recovering and mentioned that his master wanted Princess Quan found.
• Li Fan realized that he had kidnapped the very person Cen Hun’s master wanted him to locate.

Li Fan hid Princess Quan while Luo Feng’s agents let Xun Country’s factions tear each other apart, but masked cultivators tracked her down and attacked him. He survived a devastating explosion and carried the gravely injured princess away as he prepared for another fight.

• Li Fan and Cen Hun secretly arranged to hide Princess Quan and use her kidnapping to deepen the conflict between Xun Country’s factions.
• Li Fan moved Princess Quan to a secluded estate, where he discovered she was near death and revived her with a Golden Core and other treatments.
• Cen Hun’s letter explained that the ruler had confined the Crown Prince and Prince of Lu after their factions’ accusations and fighting escalated into violence.
• Li Fan sensed masked cultivators approaching, hid Princess Quan, and confronted the four Golden Core attackers after one recognized his techniques.
• Li Fan crippled three attackers, but the blind cultivator exploded, severely injuring Li Fan and destroying the estate.
• Li Fan restored himself, found Princess Quan badly injured in the rubble, gave her a pill, and carried her away before Xun Country’s forces could arrive.

Li Fan fought successive waves of Xun Kingdom cultivators while carrying Princess Quan, then battled four Nascent Soul cultivators in the sky. He defeated them and captured their souls, but the hidden mastermind remained at large as the Xun Kingdom’s army arrived.

• Li Fan used the Heaven-Splitting Metamorphosis Method to read the Tiangang Seven-Star Sword Formation and killed all seven attackers before they could complete it.
• Li Fan sent Princess Quan away in a coffin and faced four Nascent Soul cultivators, whose flying swords he countered with his escape technique, sword, and Golden-Evasion Hand Seal.
• Li Fan seized and broke one enemy’s sword, then attacked the remaining cultivators with the Dalu Jing Tian Finger and Puhua Sword Method.
• Li Fan used Zhu Hong to kill one cultivator, overwhelmed the rest, and captured four soul jades after destroying their escaping spirits.
• A hidden voice identified Li Fan as being from the Luofeng side, and Li Fan sensed the Xun Kingdom’s army advancing along the Li River and prepared to flee.

After escaping the battle at Xingye City, Li Fan healed his injuries and realized his attackers belonged to a powerful sect among the Three Great Sects. He disguised himself as a beggar and headed to Jiujiang Prefecture to seize the Heavenly Tome, where he found Marquis of Jianchang’s Mansion in mourning.

• Li Fan fled underground, healed his Dao Body with Jade Pure Jade Quality Flawless Escape, and reviewed the strengths and tactics of the assassins who had attacked him.
• Li Fan concluded that the assassins were elite True Cultivators trained by a major sect among the Three Great Sects, and discovered that healing had consumed much of his Wuji Zhenyuan.
• Li Fan decided not to return to Xingye City and set out for Jiujiang Prefecture to seize the Heavenly Tome, disguising himself as an old beggar.
• Li Fan traveled through the densely populated Jiujiang Plain and observed Xun Country’s schools, cultivation policies, and the spread of Buddhism through Iron Buddha Temple.
• Li Fan entered Jiujiang Prefecture and found Marquis of Jianchang’s Mansion covered in funeral banners, suggesting that the Marquis had died.

Li Fan infiltrated Marquis Jianchang's Mansion to find the Heavenly Book and discovered a palace-romance novel in Marquis Jianchang's handwriting. While several others searched or stole things in the study, a concubine triggered a deadly mirror trap, leaving Li Fan alive by a narrow margin.

• Li Fan entered Marquis Jianchang's Mansion underground and searched the study for the twelve qi cultivation manuals containing the Heavenly Book.
• Li Fan found a palace-romance novel that Marquis Jianchang had written and hid it when he sensed another intruder searching the study.
• A concealed Golden Core cultivator, a masked thief, and a monk entered the study in turn, while Li Fan watched from underground.
• A concubine examined a sealed box as her lover arrived, and she revealed that Marquis Jianchang had received qi cultivation manuals from the ruler.
• The concubine removed a talisman from a bronze mirror, unleashing golden beams that killed her, her lover, the thief, and the monk, while maiming the Golden Core cultivator.
• Li Fan dodged the final beam with a spatial shift, surviving with only part of his sleeve burned.

Li Fan escaped Jiujiang City with the Phantom Moon Treasure Mirror, but three Iron Buddha Temple monks pursued him and Abbot Fa Jue confronted him in battle. Li Fan agreed under the Iron Buddha’s witness to return the mirror in two days, leaving him bound by a pact whose consequences remained unclear.

• Li Fan recovered the box containing the Phantom Moon Treasure Mirror and escaped the marquis’s mansion before the manor guards arrived.
• Three Nascent Soul monks from Iron Buddha Temple pursued Li Fan beyond Jiujiang City and demanded the mirror’s return.
• Fa Jue dueled Li Fan, exposing weaknesses caused by Li Fan’s incompatible techniques before they traded powerful attacks.
• Fa Jue offered to let Li Fan keep the mirror for two days if he agreed to return it, and Li Fan accepted.
• The Iron Buddha witnessed Li Fan and Fa Jue’s pact, and Li Fan wondered what would happen if he broke it.

Li Fan investigated the Phantom Moon Treasure Mirror, hoping to retrieve the Heavenly Book hidden inside it. After Silver Dai emerged and attacked him, he wounded her with the Crimson Eyes but realized he needed spiritual-soul techniques before confronting the other creatures in the mirror.

• Li Fan left Buddhist territory and hid in an abandoned Earth God shrine before opening the box containing the Phantom Moon Treasure Mirror and a severed hand.
• Li Fan removed the mirror's talisman and discovered an illusory world inside, then tried to obtain the books by pretending to be the Marquis of Jianchang.
• Silver Dai emerged through a doorway of light, demanded to know what had happened to the marquis, and offered to trade the book for him.
• Li Fan told Silver Dai that the marquis was dead, and she attacked him after refusing to believe it.
• Li Fan blasted Silver Dai apart and wounded her remnant spirit with the Crimson Eyes, then sealed the mirror and decided to learn spiritual-soul attack techniques before returning.

Li Fan learned the Heart Hearing Method on the moon and received a prototype flying sword that could teleport to targets instead of flying. After helping Lin Cheng and his baleful-corpse sister, he returned to testing the strange weapon and discovered its true function.

• Li Fan found Lin Cheng fleeing with his chained sister, Lin Xiang, and recognized that she had been drugged into becoming a baleful corpse.
• Li Fan immobilized Lin Cheng, treated his bleeding, and gave him the Tai Sha Dengyun Feixian Method, offering to spare them if he mastered it that night.
• Li Fan worshipped the Thousand-Faced Immortal and learned Heart Scrutiny and Heart Discernment from the Mohist Mountain Heavenly Book.
• The mountain master appeared carrying a gigantic severed head and told Li Fan that reading the Heavenly Books to the end would teach him a method capable of destroying all things.
• Li Fan received the Jade Pure Flawless Flying Sword prototype and discovered that it teleported to chosen coordinates, splitting a tree when he tested it.

Li Fan abandoned his trip to Iron Buddha Temple to check on Lin Chen and Lin Xiang, finding the siblings under attack after Lin Xiang resisted the cultivators without killing them. He rescued them and left Constable Chen questioning whether Lin Xiang had truly murdered her family and the garrison.

• Li Fan found Lin Chen unconscious and Lin Xiang protecting him from Constable Chen, Daoist Huang, Hero Jing, and their followers.
• Lin Xiang fought Constable Chen and Hero Jing, repeatedly holding back instead of striking to kill, while Li Fan secretly disrupted Daoist Huang's Heavenly Thunder Talisman.
• Lin Xiang freed herself from a tree and carried Lin Chen away, but Li Fan froze her with a talisman and bound both siblings with the Imprisoning Immortal Rope.
• Li Fan gave Constable Chen a Donghua Changchun Pill and challenged his assumption that Lin Xiang had killed her father and the garrison.
• Constable Chen reconsidered the evidence as Li Fan disappeared underground with the siblings.

Li Fan treated Lin Chen’s injuries, learned more about the Lin family’s tragedy, and left the siblings at an inn while he went to return the Phantom Moon Treasure Mirror. At Iron Buddha Temple, he learned the mirror opened onto Yuntai Peak and received a letter of introduction to Fa Hui, while concealing that the box he returned held a severed hand instead of the treasure.

• Li Fan treated Lin Chen and heard how Lin Chen had returned home to find his family slaughtered and Lin Xiang transformed into a baleful corpse.
• Li Fan learned about the Imperial Guards’ External Alchemy cultivation system and grew suspicious of how Lin Xiang had obtained a Corpse-Refining Pill.
• Li Fan left Lin Chen and Lin Xiang at an inn with gold and instructions to flee using an invisibility talisman if danger arose.
• Li Fan visited Iron Buddha Temple and asked Fa Jue about Fa Ji and the Phantom Moon Treasure Mirror.
• Fa Jue explained that the mirror opened a way to Yuntai Peak, where powerful female immortals lived, and directed Li Fan to seek out Fa Hui at Iron Apricot Temple.
• Li Fan gave Fa Jue the box containing a severed hand instead of the mirror, accepted a letter of introduction, and left while keeping the wrapped mirror hidden.

Li Fan reached Iron Apricot Temple seeking information about the Phantom Moon Treasure Mirror and Yuntai Peak, where he learned that Fa Hui needed money to attend a pill exchange. Fa Hui explained that the exchange took place at Yuntai Peak, the shared headquarters of the Nine Great Xuan Sects, and Li Fan agreed to accompany her there.

• Li Fan avoided Xiangdong King's heavily fortified mansion and found Iron Apricot Temple inside a guarded ginkgo grove.
• Li Fan introduced himself as Li Yaoshi, and the guards recognized him as a wanted Nascent Soul cultivator but let him enter.
• Fa Hui told Li Fan that she needed eight thousand strings to attend the Xiao Family's assembly and seek a Divine Infant Pill to extend her life.
• Li Fan gave Fa Hui a basket of gold bars, and she explained that the Golden Silver Treasure Tree could send cultivators' spirits to Yuntai Peak for the exchange.
• Fa Hui revealed that Yuntai Peak was the shared headquarters of the Nine Great Xuan Sects, and Li Fan agreed to travel there with her.