Chapter Summaries

Verdant Green Maiden entrusted Cao Xuan with preserving the Xuanzhong Ji and gave Qin Xian its original manuscript before traveling upstream along the Yangtze. She discovered the Peach Blossom Spring, where the descendants of the Five Hundred Boys and Girls still lived and worshiped Shao Dian Qing Nü.

• Verdant Green Maiden gave Cao Xuan the Xuanzhong Ji to copy and entrusted its original manuscript to Qin Xian.
• Verdant Green Maiden rode Old Yellow Ox upstream along the Yangtze and met a fisherman who had caught no fish.
• Verdant Green Maiden and the fisherman followed a peach grove through a cave and found a peaceful village hidden in the mountains.
• The villagers welcomed Verdant Green Maiden and the fisherman, and she learned that they worshiped the Imperial Tutor Master God, Shao Dian Qing Nü.
• Verdant Green Maiden realized the villagers were descendants of the Five Hundred Boys and Girls and was relieved to see they had survived in peace.

After the fisherman betrayed Peach Blossom Spring’s secret, Verdant Green Maiden let him face the consequences and kept the hidden refuge safe. Years later, when rebels attacked Shanyin, she left Wang Ningzhi to die but appeared to save Xie Daoyun and the Wang Family women.

• Verdant Green Maiden obscured the path to Peach Blossom Spring, and Old Yellow Ox rejoined her as she left with the fisherman.
• The fisherman led the Prefect and his men to search for Peach Blossom Spring, but they found nothing, and the Prefect had him beaten.
• Verdant Green Maiden told the fisherman she knew he had betrayed the villagers’ warning, then left him to mend his ways.
• Years later, Sun En’s rebels attacked Shanyin, while Wang Ningzhi prayed for Verdant Green Maiden’s aid instead of organizing the city’s defenses.
• After Shanyin fell, Wang Ningzhi died while Verdant Green Maiden passed him by, and Xie Daoyun and the Wang Family women faced the rebels.
• Verdant Green Maiden descended among the soldiers and rescued Xie Daoyun, who asked whether she had truly manifested her divine power.

Qing Nu rescued Xie Daoyun, Xi Xuan, and the other women from the Wang household while warning the rebels not to harm innocents. She refused Emperor Liu Zong’s plea to save the Great Han, but her words about the Aristocrats’ role in its decline prompted him to act against the unrest and promote men of humble origins.

• Qing Nu threatened the soldiers at the Wang household and ordered them not to slaughter innocents, then took Xie Daoyun, Xi Xuan, and the other women away.
• Qing Nu returned with the women to Jiankang, where Prime Minister Zhuge Quan asked her to meet Emperor Liu Zong.
• Liu Zong arrived at Dragon Treasure Garden and begged Qing Nu to save the Great Han, but she refused.
• Qing Nu explained that the High Clan Aristocrats had doomed Ji Han by taking control of the court, then left Liu Zong to consider her words.
• Liu Zong asked Zhuge Quan whether the Great Han could rise again without the High Clan Aristocrats, then ordered troops to suppress the Jiangdong unrest and promoted men from humble backgrounds, including Liu Yu.

After defeating Sun En’s rebellion, Liu Yu encountered a mysterious young boat owner while crossing the Qiantang River. When her ship entered the fog and revealed a hidden fleet, Liu Yu drew his sword and questioned whether she was a witch allied with the rebels.

• Liu Yu paid tribute at Wang Xizhi’s tomb and dismissed the nearby grave of Wang Ningzhi as unworthy of an offering.
• Liu Yu’s army found no boats at the Qiantang River until a large ship emerged from the mist.
• The Verdant Green Maiden arrived with Old Yellow Ox and revealed that she owned the ship.
• Liu Yu boarded with some of his soldiers, but the Verdant Green Maiden limited how many could come aboard.
• The ship passed through dense fog and revealed numerous hidden vessels on the river.
• Liu Yu drew his sword and asked the Verdant Green Maiden whether she was a witch sent by the rebels, and she denied it.

Shao Dian Qing Nü subdued Liu Yu aboard a ship, revealed that he would rule the land but die suddenly of illness, and urged him to treat the common people well. After the river crossing, Liu Yu returned to Jiankang, where Emperor Liu Zong welcomed him into the Imperial Palace.

• Liu Yu threatened Shao Dian Qing Nü, but she brushed aside his sword and used an invisible force to seat him while his soldiers remained under her control.
• Shao Dian Qing Nü revealed Liu Yu's identity and foretold that he would rule the land before dying suddenly of illness, while advising him to treat the common people well and raise his descendants properly.
• Liu Yu asked if he could change his fate, and Shao Dian Qing Nü answered by tossing a stone into the Qiantang River and letting the mist settle.
• Shao Dian Qing Nü sent the soldiers across the river and vanished with her ship, while Liu Yu thanked her and promised another ox as an offering.
• Liu Yu led his army back to the area outside Jiankang, then entered the Imperial Palace, where Emperor Liu Zong welcomed him and seated him beside Zhuge Quan.

Liu Zong enfeoffed Liu Yu as Marquis of Song, granting him the former lands of Song and a ten-thousand-household fief, while using the reward to put pressure on the Northern Prefecture Army. After accepting, Liu Yu left court with Zhuge Quan and chose the Cao Clan’s Dragon Treasure Garden as his residence, despite warnings that the clan still claimed it.

• Liu Zong praised Liu Yu’s service and asked about his ancestry, and Liu Yu said he descended from King Yuan of Chu.
• Liu Zong’s edict made Liu Yu Marquis of Song and granted him ten thousand households, prompting Liu Yu to worry that the emperor was driving a wedge between him and Liu Laozhi.
• Liu Yu accepted the title after Liu Zong pressed him, and Liu Zong announced plans for a Northern Expedition once Jiang Zuo was pacified.
• Liu Yu found the ministers avoiding him after court, then agreed to leave with Zhuge Quan.
• Liu Yu chose the Cao Clan’s Dragon Treasure Garden as his residence, and Zhuge Quan warned him that the Cao Clan had not given up its claim to it.
• Verdant Green Maiden sneezed and wondered why someone seemed to be coveting her belongings again.

Verdant Green Maiden reclaimed Dragon Treasure Garden from Liu Yu, then accepted ten oxen and warned him that his future depended on his choices. After Liu Yu returned to the army and fell into conflict with Liu Laozhi, she discussed the country’s turmoil with Tao Yuanming and asked whether the world could be brought to peace.

• Verdant Green Maiden rode Old Yellow Ox to Jiankang and kicked Liu Yu unconscious after finding him at Dragon Treasure Garden.
• Liu Yu apologized for occupying her garden, and Verdant Green Maiden let him stay in exchange for one ox; he offered her ten.
• Verdant Green Maiden warned Liu Yu not to pray to the gods and told him his future depended on his present choices before departing.
• Liu Zong sent Liu Yu back to command the Northern Prefecture Army, where Liu Yu’s conflict with Liu Laozhi plunged the army into chaos.
• Verdant Green Maiden called Liu Zong’s actions pitiful and asked Tao Yuanming whether the world could be brought to peace.

Tao Yuanming resigned from Huan Xuan’s staff and left for home with Verdant Green Maiden, who protected him from Huan Xuan’s assassins. Huan Xuan learned that a goddess had intervened but pressed ahead with his rebellion, ordering his army to march on Jiankang under the pretense of rescuing the Emperor.

• Tao Yuanming resigned from Huan Xuan’s staff, and Huan Xuan let him leave after they shared a farewell drink.
• Verdant Green Maiden chose to travel with Tao Yuanming, and the two set out for Xunyang Chai Sang the next day.
• Huan Xuan’s masked men ambushed Tao Yuanming and Verdant Green Maiden, who froze several attackers and forced the rest to stand down.
• Verdant Green Maiden told Tao Yuanming that Huan Xuan had sent the men because he would not freely let him leave, then explained she had saved him partly because she wanted him to write his future works.
• The surviving attackers reported Verdant Green Maiden’s power to Huan Xuan, who ordered his army to march on Jiankang and rescue the Emperor.

After Huan Xuan usurped the throne, Tao Yuanming left his farm to join Liu Yu’s campaign, while Verdant Green Maiden stayed behind to tend the fields. Liu Yu reclaimed Jiankang and restored the Son of Heaven, and Tao Yuanming returned to find the red fruit ripening.

• Huan Xuan deposed Liu Zong, declared himself emperor of Great Chu, and provoked armies across the realm to rise against him.
• Liu Yu killed Liu Laozhi, took control of the Northern Prefecture Army, and marched south to rescue the emperor.
• Tao Yuanming decided to join Liu Yu, and Verdant Green Maiden promised to tend his fields while he was away.
• Verdant Green Maiden planted seeds from her Dragon Pearl, and the fruit ripened into red fruit that someone harvested, leaving a bag of seeds in return.
• Tao Yuanming returned after Liu Yu reclaimed Jiankang and restored the Son of Heaven, and Verdant Green Maiden handed him a ripe fruit and called him to work.

Tao Yuanming accepted the appointment as Pengze County Magistrate after Verdant Green Maiden left, while she traveled to Jiankang after sensing prayers from Liu Zong and Liu Yu. She told Liu Zong she would not help him regain power, then found Liu Yu preparing a ritual in her honor.

• Tao Yuanming asked Verdant Green Maiden whether he should accept the magistrate appointment, and she urged him to make his own choices before departing with Old Yellow Ox.
• Tao Yuanming accepted the appointment and later saw a Red Clothed Woman transform into a Qing Niao and fly away.
• Verdant Green Maiden sensed prayers from Liu Zong and Liu Yu and traveled to Jiankang, where she found Liu Zong fearful and isolated in the palace.
• Liu Zong asked Verdant Green Maiden to punish Liu Yu, but she reminded him that he had chosen to play with power and said the Mandate of Heaven did not belong to Liu Han forever.
• Verdant Green Maiden told Liu Zong that the Liu Han royalty would survive, then left him and went to Dragon Treasure Garden.
• Verdant Green Maiden found Liu Yu setting up an altar to worship her under the name Shao Dian Qing Nü.

Verdant Green Maiden visited Liu Yu, who planned to honor her with a new divine title, and corrected his assumptions about her identity. After leaving Jiankang, she watched Liu Yu’s rise toward replacing the Han and learned that Tao Yuanming had resigned again.

• Liu Yu explained that he wanted to honor Verdant Green Maiden as the Han Water Goddess, but she recited her many divine titles and called him a fool for thinking she had helped him for a title.
• Verdant Green Maiden asked Liu Yu whether he planned to follow Huan Xuan, and he insisted that he had entered Jiankang to uphold the state and protect the emperor.
• Verdant Green Maiden declined to stay in Dragon Treasure Garden but arranged to receive one ox a month as rent whenever she next visited Liu Yu.
• After Verdant Green Maiden left Jiankang, Liu Yu changed the era name, recognized Liu Zong as legitimate emperor, and began a campaign against the south.
• Verdant Green Maiden passed through Pengze County and learned that Tao Yuanming had resigned again and written Ode to Returning Home.
• Over the following decades, Liu Yu restored the Two Capitals and rose to become King of Song, while Verdant Green Maiden reflected on the changing northern and southern realms.

Liu Yu founded the Song dynasty and, near death, asked Verdant Green Maiden what would become of it. She warned that his plan to give princes armies could invite a struggle for the throne, then left as she foresaw chaos among the Liu clan.

• Liu Yu enthroned Liu Wen as King of Jiangdu and received his officials’ congratulations after founding Song.
• Liu Yu proclaimed that the Han family endured and urged his ministers to recover the northern lands and people.
• Verdant Green Maiden celebrated on Purple Gold Mountain, tasted Ying Zheng’s aged wine, and spat it out for being too spicy.
• In the third year of Yongchu, Liu Yu fell gravely ill, and Verdant Green Maiden visited him as he lay dying.
• Liu Yu explained that he planned to give his princes regional commands and armies to secure Song, but Verdant Green Maiden warned that the strongest prince could seize the throne.
• Verdant Green Maiden foresaw Liu clan infighting and chaos in Jiangnan, then left, saying she would kill anyone who slaughtered the common people.

Verdant Green Maiden took oxen from Dragon Treasure Garden with an Imperial Edict, rejected Liu Xu’s plea to restore Liu Han, and learned that the Book of Fate was nearly finished. Heaven warned her not to interfere with it again, but she refused to listen.

• Verdant Green Maiden used an Imperial Edict to take the oxen raised at Dragon Treasure Garden.
• Liu Xu asked Verdant Green Maiden to help restore Great Han, but she called him insane and refused.
• Verdant Green Maiden heard that Liu Wen had been stripped of his title and sentenced to die, while Liu Xu was made Anle Gong.
• Verdant Green Maiden summoned Damn Heaven and asked whether the Book of Fate was finished.
• Damn Heaven said the Book of Fate was nearly complete and warned Verdant Green Maiden not to interfere with it, but she covered her ears.

Verdant Green Maiden met the impoverished Tao Yuanming, helped him write about the Peach Blossom Spring, and fulfilled her promise to give him a fine tomb after he died. On her travels, she reunited with Jingang, who had been chased by villagers after a Daoist exposed his wolf form.

• Heaven visited Verdant Green Maiden, who promised only to save people from the Liu Song royal family after accepting Liu Yu's ox.
• Verdant Green Maiden encountered Tao Yuanming in Chaisang and learned that he had given the spiritual fields she planted to his wife and daughters.
• Tao Yuanming asked whether the Peach Blossom Spring existed, and Verdant Green Maiden offered him paper and a brush in exchange for building his tomb.
• Tao Yuanming wrote about the Peach Blossom Spring and died before finishing, so Verdant Green Maiden completed the final sentence and built his tomb.
• Verdant Green Maiden took Tao Yuanming's manuscripts to stop his sons from fighting over them, then continued traveling.
• Villagers chased Jingang as a Wolf Demon, and Verdant Green Maiden defended him, explaining that he had been exposed by a Daoist's mirror.

Verdant Green Maiden revealed her dragon form to an Old Daoist Priest and traded him a Mermaid’s Tear Pearl for his Treasure Mirror. After giving him advice to help others live, she continued traveling with Jingang and the Old Yellow Ox.

• The Old Daoist Priest arrived to warn the townspeople about Jingang, but Verdant Green Maiden explained that the wolf belonged to her.
• Verdant Green Maiden used the Treasure Mirror, revealing her Jiao Dragon Horns and scales; the townspeople and Old Daoist Priest recognized her as the Dragon Woman.
• After learning that Li Weizhi’s lineage traced back to Li A, Verdant Green Maiden claimed the role of Ancestor Master and gave Li Weizhi a Mermaid’s Tear Pearl in exchange for the mirror.
• Li Weizhi asked to follow Verdant Green Maiden and cultivate, but she refused and urged him to help more people live.
• Verdant Green Maiden and Jingang continued onward with the Old Yellow Ox, which Jingang recognized from the Jing Zhou Governor’s Mansion.

Verdant Green Maiden celebrated Qixi Festival, received an Immortal Robe Brocade from Zhi Nü, and later met two men who said the mountain paths had changed since they entered the mountains. She asked them what year they had gone in, leaving their answer unresolved.

• Jingang told Verdant Green Maiden that he had crossed the river to protect the people and that Ti Ying and Bird Sister might have come too.
• Verdant Green Maiden learned that it was Qixi Festival, left Jingang to enjoy the festivities, and joined the city's celebrations.
• After the festival, Zhi Nü gave Verdant Green Maiden an Immortal Robe Brocade in exchange for a possible future favor.
• A few days later, Verdant Green Maiden met Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao on a mountain path, and they said the scenery had changed since they entered the mountains half a year earlier.
• Verdant Green Maiden asked Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao when they had entered the mountains, then pressed them to name the year and era.

Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao learned that 365 years had passed while they were in the mountain, then left to return to Shan County. Verdant Green Maiden discovered that Tree Spirit sisters had created the illusion that trapped them and learned their grove had gained its spiritual energy from her tears centuries earlier.

• Verdant Green Maiden told Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao that 365 years had passed, and Liu Chen asked her for directions to Shan County.
• After hearing Liu Chen describe their experience, Verdant Green Maiden directed the two men toward Shan County and continued into the mountain.
• Verdant Green Maiden exposed an Illusion Realm and summoned the transformed trees, who revealed that two Tree Spirit sisters had married Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao.
• The Tree Spirit sisters said Verdant Green Maiden's tears had helped them become spirits, and they showed her the boulder she had shattered during the Qin era.
• Verdant Green Maiden told the sisters they had not done wrong by saving the men, but warned them to be more careful about whom they drew into their Illusion Realm.

After tending the graves of her old friends in Guanzhong, Verdant Green Maiden hurried to Jiankang to keep her promise to protect Liu Yu's descendants. She settled in the abandoned Dragon Treasure Garden, where Xiao Daocheng led troops inside and encountered an ox.

• Verdant Green Maiden left the Tree Spirit Sisters in their protected mountain realm and returned to Guanzhong to visit her old friends' graves.
• She tended the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang and slept on the burial mound for several years before waking in the third year of Shengming.
• Verdant Green Maiden hurried to Jiankang, where Xiao Daocheng's soldiers guarded the city as Liu Song neared its fall.
• She found Dragon Treasure Garden abandoned, settled there with Brother Ox, and caused rumors that the garden was haunted.
• Xiao Daocheng entered Dragon Treasure Garden with his troops and saw an ox after finding the garden spotless.

Verdant Green Maiden forced Xiao Daocheng to promise to preserve the Liu Song imperial bloodline, then took two princesses into her care after he became emperor. After Liu Zhun died in a suspicious fire, she left Jiankang with the girls and settled near the Qiantang River.

• Old Yellow Ox led Xiao Daocheng into Dragon Treasure Garden, where Verdant Green Maiden demanded that he send her members of the Liu Song imperial family after taking the throne.
• Xiao Daocheng returned to his residence, researched Dragon Treasure Garden for several days, then became Prince of Qi and usurped the throne a month later.
• Xiao Daocheng sent Princess Liu Boshi and Princess Jian'an Liu Boyuan to Dragon Treasure Garden, while telling Verdant Green Maiden that Liu Zhun must die.
• Liu Zhun burned to death at Ruyin Prince's Mansion, and Xiao Daocheng punished officials before appointing a young Liu Song relative as Duke of Shanyang.
• Verdant Green Maiden left Jiankang with Liu Boshi and Liu Boyuan and settled them near the Qiantang River, where they would have to support themselves.

Verdant Green Maiden revealed her true identity to Liu Boshi and Liu Boyuan, who chose to cultivate so they could remain by her side. She brought them to Dragon Tiger Mountain to study, then met Zu Chongzhi on her way down.

• Liu Boshi and Liu Boyuan said they would not marry and wanted to care for Verdant Green Maiden in her old age.
• Verdant Green Maiden revealed that she was an Immortal and told the sisters they could choose their own paths.
• A month later, Liu Boshi and Liu Boyuan decided to cultivate so they could live longer and stay with Verdant Green Maiden.
• Verdant Green Maiden took the sisters to the Heavenly Master Mansion on Dragon Tiger Mountain, where Zhang Tianshi accepted them as disciples.
• Verdant Green Maiden left Dragon Tiger Mountain on Old Yellow Ox and met Zu Chongzhi, who asked her for directions.