Chapter Summaries

Verdant Green Maiden reviewed Gao De’s report, arranged for He Qiong to stay at the Great Ci'en Temple, and traveled to Shu to search for Li Xuan using the leads on Gao De’s map. In Chengdu, she met a man whose household member was gravely ill, and he began telling her what had happened the previous day.

• Gao De reported on the Yong City Qin Clan, Li Zhi and his wife, the Wu Clan, Dou Qingcai, and the Bad People's failure to capture Li Xuan, then showed Verdant Green Maiden a map of possible sightings in Shu.
• Verdant Green Maiden ordered the Bad People to suspend their search for Li Xuan and continue watching Li Zhi and his wife and the Yong City Qin Clan.
• Verdant Green Maiden settled He Qiong at the Great Ci'en Temple and promised to return in less than a month before taking her back to Mount Tai.
• Verdant Green Maiden traveled through Han Zhong and along Golden Ox Road to Chengdu, using Gao De's map to guide her search.
• In Chengdu, Verdant Green Maiden approached a sighing man, proved she was a Taoist priest, and asked about his troubles.
• The man told Verdant Green Maiden that a member of his household was gravely ill despite many Doctors and a visit to Erlang Shen Temple, then began describing what had happened the previous day.

Verdant Green Maiden learned that Li Xuan had been manipulating illnesses to turn people away from the Erlang True Lord Temple. She confronted and killed him, then sent a warning to the Heavenly People.

• A man told Verdant Green Maiden that an Old Daoist Priest had given him medicine that cured his family member and claimed the Erlang True Lord Temple was fake.
• Verdant Green Maiden questioned the man about the Old Daoist Priest and learned where he had encountered and searched for him.
• Verdant Green Maiden found Li Xuan in a forest and accused him of harming people before saving them to make them abandon the Erlang True Lord.
• Li Xuan refused to reveal what his superiors had decided about Li Zhi and his wife.
• Verdant Green Maiden stabbed Li Xuan, warned the Heavenly People that she would settle the score with them, and burned his corpse.

Verdant Green Maiden visited the deserted Tai Ping Daoist temple and learned that Min Shu had ruined his health by studying a scripture Li Xuan gave him to glimpse the future. Min Shu revealed that he had foreseen the Divine Land sinking, and Verdant Green Maiden vowed to prevent that fate.

• Verdant Green Maiden and Brother Ox went to Crane Call Mountain after she noticed its unusual auspicious fortune.
• Verdant Green Maiden found Tai Ping Temple moss-covered and apparently abandoned, then entered and discovered Min Shu in a closed Quiet Room.
• Min Shu explained that he had studied Li Xuan’s scripture to glimpse the future, but the effort had left him neither human nor ghost and contributed to the temple’s decline.
• Verdant Green Maiden warned Min Shu that the scripture was dangerous and learned that he had foreseen mountains and rivers collapsing and the Divine Land sinking.
• Min Shu said he had sent the temple’s people out into the world and believed the scripture might have been intended to keep Verdant Green Maiden in check; she vowed not to accept the future he foresaw.

Verdant Green Maiden buried Min Shu, left Crane Call Mountain, and returned to Chang'an, where she gave Li Chengqian intelligence implicating Li Zhi and his allies in a plot. She left the decision to Li Chengqian, who moved against them and had them seized.

• Verdant Green Maiden buried Min Shu on Crane Call Mountain, told five Iron Eater Beasts to guard the temple, named them, and departed with Old Yellow Ox.
• Verdant Green Maiden returned to Great Ci'en Temple and learned that He Qiong had gone to Wan Nian County to tidy her temple.
• Gao De brought intelligence on Li Zhi, his wife, the Wu Clan, and Dou Qingcai, and Verdant Green Maiden gave it to Li Chengqian to read.
• Verdant Green Maiden told Li Chengqian that she would not interfere with his choice and instructed Gao De to obey him.
• Li Chengqian ordered Gao De to invite the Qin Clan's Clan Head without alerting his targets.
• After the Clan Head arrived, Li Chengqian sent the Bad People to surround Prince Jin's Manor and seize Li Zhi, his wife, the Wu Clan, and Dou Qingcai.

Li Chengqian exposed Li Zhi and Wu Ruyi’s failed rebellion and sentenced them and their allies to punishment. Qing Nü revealed her identity as Yu Se and offered them a chance to live, while Li Chengqian later proposed raising Li Zhi’s frail child in the palace.

• Li Chengqian confronted Li Zhi and Wu Ruyi with evidence of their conspiracy, while Gao De revealed that the Bad People had been watching them and the Yong City Qin Clan had only pretended to support them.
• Qing Nü entered the hall and revealed that she was Shao Dian Qing Nü, also known as Yu Se, and told Li Zhi and Wu Ruyi that she had taken their fates and killed the Old Daoist Priest.
• Li Chengqian sentenced Li Zhi to religious cultivation at Great Ci'en Temple and Wu Ruyi to the Temple of Inspired Karma, stripped Dou Qingcai and the Wu clan of status and privileges, and ordered the others punished or exiled.
• Li Chengqian asked Qing Nü for her view on bringing Li Zhi’s frail child into the palace and possibly allowing him to inherit Prince Jin’s title.

Shao Dian Qing Nü left Chang'an after advising Li Chengqian on the Bad People, but Li Hong vanished that night, prompting the emperor to order a secret investigation. At Great Ci'en Temple, Li Zhi was tonsured as Awakened Dust, while Shao Dian Qing Nü returned to Mount Tai and was confronted by those who had waited for her.

• Shao Dian Qing Nü told Li Chengqian to decide matters as emperor and warned him to consider how future emperors and Bad People commanders would keep each other in check.
• Shao Dian Qing Nü left Great Ci'en Temple with He Qiong, and Li Chengqian returned to the palace.
• Gao De reported that Li Hong had vanished despite being guarded, and Li Chengqian ordered him to investigate secretly without troubling Goddess.
• Li Zhi was stripped of his title, sent to Great Ci'en Temple, and tonsured by Xuanzang under the Dharma name Awakened Dust.
• Shao Dian Qing Nü and He Qiong arrived at Mount Tai, where Hong Luan, Yang Chan, Chunyu Tiying, and the others confronted her for staying away for more than a year.

Verdant Green Maiden sent her companions to their own sacred grounds and arranged for Saro to return to Guanyin with Damn Heaven. She then set out with He Qiong toward Qi Land and the wider world, intending to give her a gift.

• Verdant Green Maiden introduced He Qiong as Li Qi's disciple and her own disciple before leading everyone back to Jade Emperor Peak.
• Verdant Green Maiden urged the gathered companions to leave for their sacred grounds, and Sun Huo Wang, the Yang Family Siblings, Nezha, Chunyu Tiying, and others departed.
• Verdant Green Maiden sent Hong Luan to Kunlun Mountain to cultivate and learn to protect herself, and Hong Luan agreed to go.
• Verdant Green Maiden asked Damn Heaven to take Saro back to Guanyin, and Saro left after bidding her farewell.
• Verdant Green Maiden asked He Qiong to walk with her toward Qi Land and the wider world, saying she had a gift for her.

Verdant Green Maiden gave He Qiong the Twin Lotus reserved for her and fled Mount Tai to avoid Di Renjie, who was searching for the legendary female Master. After traveling through Qi Land for half a month, Verdant Green Maiden encountered Di Renjie again just as she was preparing to leave for Minzhong.

• Verdant Green Maiden gave He Qiong the final lotus from the Twin Lotus, saying it was something that should be hers.
• Verdant Green Maiden and He Qiong met Di Renjie at the foot of Mount Tai, where he asked about the legendary female Master.
• Verdant Green Maiden denied knowing of any Master on the mountain, but Di Renjie continued climbing to investigate.
• Verdant Green Maiden realized Di Renjie was looking for her and hurried away with He Qiong and Old Yellow Ox.
• After traveling through Qi Land for about half a month, Verdant Green Maiden saw Di Renjie walking toward her as she prepared to leave for Minzhong.

Di Renjie pursued Verdant Green Maiden and He Qiong, hoping to become Verdant Green Maiden’s disciple. After collapsing from exhaustion, he was revived by her and used her apology as another chance to ask her to accept him, but she left without agreeing.

• Di Renjie greeted Verdant Green Maiden and asked to become her teacher, but she ignored him and left with He Qiong.
• Di Renjie chased Verdant Green Maiden and He Qiong for a hundred li until he collapsed from exhaustion.
• Verdant Green Maiden and He Qiong returned to Di Renjie, and Verdant Green Maiden revived him with incense, a needle, and a mouthful of thousand-year-old ginseng.
• Di Renjie asked Verdant Green Maiden to accept him as her disciple in return for apologizing for his injury.
• Verdant Green Maiden turned to leave without answering, and Di Renjie challenged her for toying with him.

Verdant Green Maiden granted Di Renjie a month of answers to his questions before he left for Chang'an, while she and He Qiong continued south to Jiangning. There, Verdant Green Maiden discovered that her old residence had been demolished and arranged for it to be rebuilt.

• Di Renjie explained how he had recognized Verdant Green Maiden and begged her to take him as a disciple; she refused but agreed to answer his questions for a month.
• Di Renjie traveled with Verdant Green Maiden through Qi Land and beyond, asking her questions until they reached Jiangdu.
• Verdant Green Maiden ended their arrangement in Jiangdu, and Di Renjie thanked her before departing for Chang'an.
• Verdant Green Maiden and He Qiong crossed the Yangtze River to Jiangning, where He Qiong admired the city and stayed for half a month.
• Verdant Green Maiden found that the residence Cao Zhi had prepared for her was gone, visited Jiangning's aristocratic families, and had the plot cleared and a new residence built.

Verdant Green Maiden took He Qiong south, showed her Wang Xizhi’s original Orchid Pavilion Preface, and brought her to pay respects at his grave. In a deserted village in Central Min, she asked He Qiong to begin her medical practice and journey toward becoming a legend there, and He Qiong agreed.

• Verdant Green Maiden revealed that she had the original Orchid Pavilion Preface and let He Qiong admire it, explaining that she had been present when Wang Xizhi wrote it.
• Verdant Green Maiden took He Qiong to Wang Xizhi’s tomb, where she offered incense and candles and He Qiong bowed in respect.
• After staying in Kuaiji for about half a month, Verdant Green Maiden and He Qiong traveled onward to Central Min and reached an abandoned village deep in the mountains.
• Verdant Green Maiden explained that He Qiong could help mountain folk suffering from illness caused by miasma and urged her to begin her journey toward becoming a legend in the village where Verdant Green Maiden had first met her.
• He Qiong agreed to stay, and Verdant Green Maiden helped tidy a courtyard and gave her Herbs, planting more nearby.

Verdant Green Maiden helped He Qiong restore a ruined village in the Min Lands and watched it become a refuge for people seeking treatment. After entrusting He Qiong’s safety to Brother Ox, Verdant Green Maiden left as the villagers promised to grow stronger and help others.

• He Qiong treated the villagers without charge, and the village gradually revived as people settled there.
• Zan Hua Shi Nü revealed herself to Verdant Green Maiden and asked why she had gone to such lengths to rebuild the village; Verdant Green Maiden said she wanted He Qiong to be fulfilled.
• He Qiong invited Verdant Green Maiden home for dinner, and Verdant Green Maiden asked Brother Ox to stay and protect her.
• Verdant Green Maiden told He Qiong she was leaving, and He Qiong promised to use her medical skills to help people.
• The villagers gathered to see Verdant Green Maiden off, and she urged them to become strong enough to support He Qiong before departing.

Verdant Green Maiden crossed a river where a water ghost drowned women wearing elaborate makeup, then confronted the ghost and learned her identity. She revealed that she was the Luo River Goddess and demanded to know how many people the ghost had killed.

• Verdant Green Maiden paid the boatman to take her across despite his warning that beautiful women risked being drowned by the river’s waves.
• When the boat rocked midriver, Verdant Green Maiden pretended to fall overboard and let herself sink to investigate the disturbance.
• Old Yellow Ox persuaded the boatman to ferry him to the opposite bank while Verdant Green Maiden explored the riverbed.
• Verdant Green Maiden exposed and restrained the water ghost, who identified herself as Duan Mingguang, the jealous wife of Liu Boyu.
• Duan Mingguang explained that she had become a water ghost after awakening in the late Sui dynasty and had drowned women wearing exquisite makeup.
• Verdant Green Maiden told Duan Mingguang that she was the Luo River Goddess and asked how many people she had drowned and killed.

After destroying Duan Mingguang, Verdant Green Maiden discovered that her mirror had fused with Duan Mingguang’s and briefly displayed a mysterious woman’s back. She emerged from the river, ended the Demon Ghost storms, and set out with Old Yellow Ox, but blood rain began falling as she examined the mirror.

• Verdant Green Maiden crushed Duan Mingguang’s soul and found the mirror that had given Duan Mingguang a spirit.
• Verdant Green Maiden’s Treasure Mirror fused with Duan Mingguang’s mirror and showed the back of an unfamiliar woman amid corpses.
• Verdant Green Maiden left the river, told the boatman the Demon Ghost storms had ended, and rode away with Old Yellow Ox.
• Verdant Green Maiden and Old Yellow Ox continued their journey, and she found no further clues in the mirror.
• Blood rain began to fall, so Verdant Green Maiden opened her Oil-paper Umbrella.

Verdant Green Maiden and Old Yellow Ox took shelter from the rain in a ruined mountain temple, where two sentient stone inscriptions tried to frighten her. After catching them, she learned they had never harmed anyone and had only mistaken her for an easy target.

• Verdant Green Maiden roasted fruit in the ruined temple and shared one with Old Yellow Ox, who swallowed it while it was still hot.
• After the rain stopped, Verdant Green Maiden fell asleep beside Old Yellow Ox, and two youths crept over to scare her.
• Verdant Green Maiden startled the youths, caught them, and demanded they explain themselves.
• The older youth blamed his younger companion, but Verdant Green Maiden frightened them into confessing.
• The youths told Verdant Green Maiden they were sentient inscriptions from the temple's stone tablets and had only wanted to scare her because she looked like an inexperienced little girl.

Verdant Green Maiden met two sentient stone-tablet brothers, protected their jade hearts, and taught them about the Buddhist Scriptures carved into them. After continuing her aimless journey, she heard that Li Chengqian had died in the thirtieth year of Yonghui and that Li Xiang had taken the throne, then departed from Kui Gate with Old Yellow Ox.

• Verdant Green Maiden learned that the two brothers were spirits born from a broken stele and concealed their jade hearts beneath an illusion.
• The brothers asked Verdant Green Maiden to explain the Buddhist Scriptures on their bodies, and she agreed in exchange for breakfast fruit.
• Verdant Green Maiden answered their questions and warned them not to stray from the righteous path or impersonate gods and ghosts.
• Verdant Green Maiden traveled without a destination until the thirtieth year of Yonghui, when she heard that Li Chengqian had died and Li Xiang had ascended the throne.
• Verdant Green Maiden reflected on Great Tang's vast territory at Kui Gate, then left with Old Yellow Ox.

After Li Zhi died, Qing Nü returned to Chang'an and reunited with the aging Xuanzang, then visited Wu Ruyi and told her they would meet once more before the end. As Xuanzang neared death, Qing Nü stayed by his side at Great Ci'en Temple.

• Li Zhi died late at night after failing to understand what Xuanzang had hoped to teach him, and Xuanzang arranged for a Sutra of Rebirth to be recited for him.
• Qing Nü returned to Great Ci'en Temple and reunited with Xuanzang, who admitted he had resented her absence and asked her to stay a few more days.
• Verdant Green Maiden visited Wu Ruyi at the Temple of Inspired Karma and told her that Li Zhi had died of old age.
• Verdant Green Maiden told Wu Ruyi that their next meeting would truly be their last, and Wu Ruyi realized she meant a meeting before death.
• As Xuanzang lay dying, he told Qing Nü he could not bear to leave her, and she reminded him that life and death were only a thought away.
• A leaf fell from the Saro tree, and Xuanzang told Qing Nü that he was no Buddha.

Wang Xuanlan and his disciple Wang Taixiao traveled to Crane Call Mountain after hearing that the Tai Ping Daoist temple had reopened. There, they met Verdant Green Maiden, whom Wang Xuanlan believed to be the temple’s legendary Female True Person, and she let them stay the night.

• Wang Taixiao told Wang Xuanlan that someone had reestablished the Tai Ping Daoist temple on Crane Call Mountain.
• Wang Xuanlan insisted on going to the mountain himself, and Wang Taixiao accompanied him.
• At the temple, an Old Yellow Ox blocked them, prompting Wang Xuanlan to kneel and explain that he had once studied with a priest from the temple and heard of its Female True Person.
• Verdant Green Maiden welcomed Wang Xuanlan and Wang Taixiao into the temple and confirmed she knew Wang Xuanlan’s name.
• Wang Xuanlan offered to help rebuild the temple, but Verdant Green Maiden declined and invited the two to stay in its empty rooms overnight.

Verdant Green Maiden helped rebuild Tai Ping Daoist temple, while Wang Xuanlan kept visiting until he became gravely ill. She went to Supreme Truth Temple to see him and ordered Wang Taixiao to copy every Dao Scripture as punishment.

• Verdant Green Maiden vowed to rebuild Tai Ping Daoist temple within ten years, and former temple disciples gradually returned or sent their descendants.
• Wang Xuanlan continued traveling from Supreme Truth Temple to Tai Ping Daoist temple every three days, despite Wang Taixiao's attempts to persuade him to stop.
• Three years later, Wang Taixiao visited Tai Ping Daoist temple in his master's place and told Verdant Green Maiden that Wang Xuanlan was gravely ill.
• Verdant Green Maiden rode to Supreme Truth Temple and found Wang Xuanlan near death, with only a few days left.
• Verdant Green Maiden stopped Wang Taixiao from apologizing and ordered him to copy every Dao Scripture in Supreme Truth Temple's collection for her to read.

Wang Xuanlan completed the Dao Scripture he had spent his final days writing, and Qing Nü named it the Mysterious Pearl Record. After Wang Taixiao declined to succeed him as temple master, Qing Nü took the temple seal and told him to retrieve it when he felt ready; ten years later, Wang Taixiao came to see her with an answer.

• Qing Nü ordered Wang Taixiao to copy every Dao Scripture in Supreme Truth Temple, then agreed to review Wang Xuanlan's work.
• As Wang Xuanlan's health declined, he dictated his life's knowledge to Wang Taixiao, who wrote it down.
• Qing Nü named the finished Dao Scripture the Mysterious Pearl Record, and Wang Xuanlan died before the first winter snow ended.
• Wang Taixiao declined to become Supreme Truth Temple's master, so Qing Nü took its authority seal and told him to retrieve it when he felt qualified.
• Ten years later, Wang Taixiao climbed to Tai Ping Daoist temple, and Qing Nü asked whether he had decided how to answer her.