Chapter Summaries

Wenjun used illusory seeds at Fate Comes Gambling House to consume gamblers’ greed, causing an old man and a scholar to leave the tables in altered states. The old man left Carefree Ward shaken after being robbed, while the scholar went to a pleasure quarter and sought younger boys.

• Wenjun attached illusory seeds to her cards, letting them follow the cards to gamblers and consume their greed.
• The old man’s seed blossomed, restoring his memories of gambling; he broke down crying and was removed from the gambling house.
• The guards took the old man’s bead coins, left him in Carefree Ward, and he eventually staggered out into the sunlight as the flower in his heart withered.
• The scholar, numbed after losing money, quit the game and left for a nearby pleasure quarter.
• Warm Fragrance asked for younger entertainment, and a middle-aged woman offered boys from the Twin-Bodied Kingdom.

Warm Fragrance found that his desire for pleasure had vanished, while Ling Ji and Wenjun continued their work inside Fate Comes Gambling House. Sun Yuwei became trapped by the gambling house’s formation, and Ling Qing watched as she sank into the mire of gambling.

• Warm Fragrance left four Twin-Bodied Kingdom youths untouched and wondered whether he had attained enlightenment.
• A pink flower in Warm Fragrance’s heart withered, leaving a seed behind while a golden flower flew toward Fate Comes Gambling House.
• Wenjun dissolved greed and gathered merit at her table as Ling Ji moved among the crowd collecting cultivation material.
• Sun Yuwei investigated the gambling house’s formation, saw the Taotie image, and became assimilated into gambling.
• Ling Qing watched Ling Ji, Wenjun, and Sun Yuwei, recognizing that Sun Yuwei’s curiosity had drawn her into the trap.

Ling Qing watched Sun Yuwei struggle with her gambling obsession while explaining why he did not take disciples lightly. After five days in the gambling den, Li Su and Li Jiang had lost interest, Ling Ji and Wenjun had advanced their respective cultivation, and Sun Yuwei was still consumed by gambling.

• Ling Qing protected Sun Yuwei’s spiritual radiance and let her face the consequences of her obsession, while shielding Li Su and Li Jiang from the den’s foul aura.
• Ling Qing reflected on how giving did not guarantee reward and explained that becoming his disciple meant entering a profound, enduring master-disciple bond.
• Ling Qing took Li Su and Li Jiang to gamble for five days, then sent them to find Li Qing after they lost interest.
• Ling Ji absorbed turbid aura and strengthened his Poison Pig Dharma Manifestation, while Wenjun purified the den and accumulated merit with Lotus Fairy’s help.
• Sun Yuwei became deeply addicted to gambling and nearly lost all the Silver Pearls Ling Qing had given her, but her spiritual radiance remained protected.

Sun Yuwei woke from the gambling den’s corrupting formation and tried to recover, but a guard’s attack triggered chaos throughout the hall. Ling Ji and Wenjun protected her and decided to leave as Ling Ji struggled to digest the poisonous aura he had absorbed.

• Sun Yuwei realized the gambling den’s formation had clouded her mind and corrupted her true qi, so she sat down to restore herself.
• A persistent attendant interrupted Sun Yuwei’s attempt to circulate her true qi, and she drove him away and released the Rhyme-less Treasure Pearl for protection.
• When a guard attacked Sun Yuwei, the pearl rebounded his force and sent him crashing into a gambling table, setting off a hall-wide brawl over scattered pearl coins.
• Ling Ji flung away the guards who moved against Sun Yuwei, and Wenjun asked whether he was all right as the three poisons gathered around him.
• Ling Ji told Wenjun they should leave the chaotic gambling den, admitting he had absorbed too much poisonous aura to digest it yet.

Tang Yuan confronted Ling Ji and Wenjun over the damage at Fate Comes Gambling House, then trapped them and Sun Yuwei in a deadly formation. Ling Ji and Wenjun fought back against its Taotie, but the formation’s escalating attacks soon pushed them onto the defensive.

• Tang Yuan arrived at Fate Comes Gambling House, reclaimed the gamblers’ stolen pearl coins, and sent them away.
• Tang Yuan stopped Ling Ji and Wenjun from leaving with Sun Yuwei and demanded an explanation for the damage.
• Ling Ji summoned his Poison Pig dharma manifestation, which drowned Tang Yuan’s guards and men in poisonous swamp mud.
• Tang Yuan activated the gambling house’s formation and transported Ling Ji, Wenjun, and Sun Yuwei to a dim, gray world filled with Taotie.
• Ling Ji fought the Taotie with his Poison Pig manifestation and Windfire Dual-Qi Staff while Wenjun protected Sun Yuwei with blooming flowers.
• Tang Yuan reshaped the formation’s mist into stronger beasts, forcing Ling Ji and Wenjun to retreat into a tight defensive position.

Sun Yuwei guided Ling Ji and Wenjun through Tang Yuan’s array, and together they seized its formation eyes one by one. Tang Yuan finally expelled them from the array and attacked with a powerful Leopard Sweep while they were exhausted.

• Sun Yuwei woke, suppressed the turbid aura in her body, and offered to guide Ling Ji and Wenjun through the array she had previously examined.
• Sun Yuwei directed the group to an array eye, where Ling Ji and Wenjun destroyed its vicious beasts and Wenjun purified the eye.
• Ling Ji lent Wenjun the Yuan Sha Gourd, and the trio broke the array’s formation eyes one by one despite Tang Yuan’s attempts to disrupt them.
• Tang Yuan shook the three from the array as they finished another eye, then struck them with a Leopard Sweep while they were drained.

Ling Ji, Wenjun, and Sun Yuwei defeated Tang Yuan and punished him for his attempt to prey on them. After sparing his life, Ling Ji left him with a heart that punished evil thoughts, and Ling Qing arrived as the others greeted him.

• Ling Ji and Wenjun shielded themselves and Sun Yuwei from Tang Yuan's amplified attack, while Sun Yuwei trapped him in the Nine-Bend Yellow Sand Array.
• Ling Ji rejected Tang Yuan's offer of a hundredfold compensation and had Wenjun remove a tenth of his Dharma power and seal his acupoints.
• Tang Yuan attacked again, but Ling Ji's hidden strike punctured his dantian and stripped him of his Dharma power.
• Ling Ji spared Tang Yuan's life and put a greedy heart in his stomach that squeezed his own heart whenever evil thoughts arose.
• The gambling house bookkeeper surrendered the pearl coins, and Ling Ji took thirty thousand Celestial Star Silver Pearls before Ling Qing arrived.

Ling Qing praised Ling Ji, Wenjun, and Sun Yuwei after their encounter at the gambling den, then helped them cleanse the lingering effects of the foul qi. The group explored the market districts, including Antiquities Street, but found little of value.

• Ling Qing praised the three disciples and reflected on how Ling Ji, Wenjun, and Sun Yuwei each approached cultivation and responsibility.
• Ling Qing led the group away from the gambling den and taught Sun Yuwei about the mistakes she had made while breaking the formation.
• Ling Qing treated the group to Bright Jade, Cleansing Heart tea and took them to enjoy music and scenery to purify their bodies and minds.
• Sun Yuwei gradually recovered from the foul qi, while Ling Ji refined the Poison Pig Dharma Form.
• Ling Qing and his companions explored the nine market districts and visited Antiquities Street, where their treasure hunting yielded little of worth.

Ling Ji performed the Azure Pig Sacrificial Rite on Heavenly Heart Island, purifying the Azure Pig’s Blood of the Three Poisons into Three Purities Water to strengthen his spiritual radiance and aptitude. As Ling Qing and his companions discussed the rite and headed toward the Other Mansion, a stranger emerged from the sea and called out to Dao Qing True Person.

• Ling Qing established Heavenly Heart Island as his residence, while Sun Yuwei often visited to study primordial qi transformations and borrow Ling Ji’s Yuan Sha Gourd.
• Ling Ji performed a ritual that purified the Azure Pig’s Three Poisons blood into Three Purities Water and scattered it over himself, the Azure Pig, and a spirit banner.
• Ling Ji’s spiritual radiance grew clearer, the Azure Pig became more solid and sanctified, and its spirit banner transformed into a three-headed, six-armed divine figure.
• Ling Qing explained that the rite could gradually purify Ling Ji’s three poisons, strengthen his aptitude, and prepare him for future tribulations.
• As Ling Qing, Ling Ji, Wenjun, and Sun Yuwei headed toward the Other Mansion, a figure emerged from the sea and called out to Dao Qing True Person.

Ling Qing received an invitation from Ao Ren to attend the Dragon Transformation Banquet and gathered with his fellow disciples to discuss the Dragon Palace festivities. As they considered the banquet’s Dragon Transformation Pool, they weighed its cruelty against the chance it offered sea creatures to improve their bloodlines and pursue immortality.

• Li Gu delivered Ao Ren’s invitation to Ling Qing, who learned that the Dragon Transformation Banquet would follow the Dragon Palace’s Lantern Festival and auction.
• Ling Qing contacted his fellow disciples, and Daoist Lingguan arranged for them to gather at Ling Qing’s residence before traveling to the Dragon Palace.
• The disciples discussed whether to attend the Dragon Transformation Banquet, with Yang Liyi questioning its value and Li Li explaining the Dragon Transformation Pool’s purpose.
• Ling Qing agreed that the Dragon Transformation Pool was cruel but understood that it offered aquatic creatures a rare path to purify their bloodlines and seek transformation.

Ling Qing and his companions decided to attend the Dragon Palace’s Lantern Festival gathering and auction rather than the Dragon Transformation Banquet, then sailed to Dragon Reception Island. There, as they waited to enter, Li Gu arrived to welcome them on behalf of Glazed Flame Palace.

• Tian Ying reflected on the harsh risks of the Dragon Transformation Pool, while Zhu Guang proposed attending the Lantern Festival gathering and auction instead of the Dragon Transformation Banquet.
• Daoist Lingguan accepted Ao Ren’s invitation on behalf of the group, and the disciples prepared for the New Year on Heavenly Heart Island.
• Ling Qing and his companions sailed aboard the Star River Warship to Dragon Reception Island and joined the queue of vessels entering it.
• Li Qing identified Cloud Elixir Immortal and pointed out several famous ward vessels gathered for the banquet.
• Li Gu led shrimp soldiers and crab generals to the Star River Warship and apologized to the group for not welcoming them sooner.

Ling Qing and his companions traveled through the Dragon Ascension Passage to the Crystal Palace, where they met Ao Ren’s guests, including three Gifted Ones from Eastern Japan. After Ling Qing and the Japanese onmyoji Taiyi tested each other’s abilities, both groups considered how to deal with the other, leaving tensions poised to escalate during the Dragon Transformation Banquet.

• Li Gu guided Ling Qing and his companions through the Dragon Ascension Passage to the Crystal Palace, where they arrived at Heaven’s Pride Ward for the Dragon Transformation Banquet.
• Ao Ren introduced his guests, including merfolk chief Shui Mengyao and three Gifted Ones from Eastern Japan: the onmyoji Taiyi, a samurai, and a ninja.
• Taiyi covertly sent a wisp of aura toward Ling Qing, who sealed it with the Qi Prohibition Technique and used the Dharma Eye of True Insight to inspect the three Japanese Gifted Ones.
• The samurai reacted to Ling Qing’s inspection, but Taiyi stopped him before he could act.
• Tian Yong took the sealed aura and warned that he would cut down Taiyi’s shikigami if the Japanese Gifted Ones caused trouble.
• Taiyi and the samurai discussed whether they should find an opportunity to kill the Chinese Gifted Ones.

Taiyi ordered Onimaru and Haruko to kill Ling Qing and the others during the Dragon Palace Lantern Festival, while the festival brought crowds of powerful cultivators to Heaven's Pride Ward. As Ling Qing accompanied Tian Yong and the others through the celebrations, a crystalline barrier trapped their group in an alley.

• Taiyi directed Onimaru and Haruko to attack Ling Qing's group during the Lantern Festival and promised to send shikigami to assist them.
• On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Dragon Palace held a lavish Lantern Festival across Heaven's Pride Ward.
• Zhu Guang and Zhang Zhe took Li Qing, Bai Zhiyuan, Jiang Chengyan, and Ling Ji to explore the festival, while Tian Yong and Ling Qing accompanied Tian Ying, Sun Yuling, and the younger women.
• Tian Ying and the others bought snacks and entered an alley, where a square crystalline barrier suddenly trapped the group.

Tian Yong and Ling Qing fought off an ambush by Onimaru and Abe Taichi’s shikigami inside a crystal barrier in the Dragon Palace. After freeing Tian Ying and the others, they captured the shikigami and wondered how Zhang Zhe and Senior Brother Daoguan were faring.

• Onimaru trapped Tian Yong, Ling Qing, Tian Ying, and Sun Yuling in a crystal barrier, then attacked Tian Yong while Abe Taichi’s shikigami restrained the others.
• Tian Yong cut down Soaring Serpent and slew Onimaru with his Thunderclap Golden Light Sword Intent.
• Ling Qing identified Great Yin’s spatial spell, and Tian Yong used the aura Ling Qing had seized from Abe Taichi to pin Great Yin and free Tian Ying and the others.
• Ling Qing strengthened Zhurong to seize Great Constant, bound Great Yin and Soaring Serpent, and took control of Six Harmonies, which had formed the barrier.
• Ling Qing put away the captured shikigami and asked Tian Yong how Zhang Zhe and Senior Brother Daoguan were faring.

After Haruko and her four shikigami were defeated, Ling Qing and Tian Yong used the aura from the shikigami to send the Dragon Chant Sword after Abe Taichi. The sword pursued Abe Taichi thousands of miles beyond the Dragon Palace, and the chapter ended as it broke through Shikigami Sky’s attempt to seal it and struck at him again.

• Haruko and her four shikigami attacked Zhang Zhe, Zhu Guang, Li Qing, Bai Zhiyuan, and Ling Ji, but the group killed them almost instantly.
• Ling Qing drew an unfamiliar strand of aura from the four shikigami and set up a Dharma Altar, where Tian Yong placed the Dragon Chant Sword and used a Mirror-Light Technique to locate Abe Taichi.
• Tian Yong sent the Dragon Chant Sword through the mirror-light, but Abe Taichi used his life-preserving method to flee several thousand miles beyond the Dragon Palace.
• Tian Yong risked wielding the sword with his spirit, and the Dragon Chant Sword caught up with Abe Taichi and severed his left arm despite his attempt to evade it with his shikigami.
• Abe Taichi summoned the injured Shikigami Sky to seal the weakened sword, but the Dragon Chant Sword transformed into a golden thunder dragon, cut through Sky, and lunged at Abe Taichi again.

With the Dharma Altar’s power, Tian Yong used the Dragon Chant Sword to attack Abe Taichi, but a hidden force transformed Abe Taichi and countered him with immense primordial Qi. Ling Qing’s Primordial One Qi Divine Talisman then manifested Emperor Miaoyuan, whose clear light stopped the attack and shocked Abe Taichi.

• Tian Yong poured his mind into the Dragon Chant Sword and used its sword light to cleave Sky Shikigami in two before turning on Abe Taichi.
• Abe Taichi’s hidden power knocked the Dragon Chant Sword aside and changed his demeanor, nearly seducing Tian Yong before the sword’s clang restored his focus.
• Tian Yong attacked Abe Taichi again, but Abe Taichi gathered heaven-and-earth primordial Qi into a sharp claw-wind that threatened to sever the sword light.
• The Primordial One Qi Divine Talisman manifested Emperor Miaoyuan, whose clear light calmed the primordial Qi and dispersed Abe Taichi’s claw-wind.
• Abe Taichi cried out in alarm as he recognized the power of Primordial One Qi.

Tian Yong and Emperor Miaoyuan fought Abe Taichi, who escaped after losing a crystalline tail, and the battle drew the Dragon King Ao Sui and the Dragon Palace elders. Ling Qing and Tian Yong regrouped with their companions at Freedom Tower, where they began discussing what had happened.

• Tian Yong and Emperor Miaoyuan trapped Abe Taichi in the Ghost Gate, but a fox cry and sword strike cut the gate apart, leaving only a crystalline tail as Abe Taichi escaped.
• Ao Sui, Ao Shuo, and Ao Luan arrived from the Crystal Palace, examined the lingering auras, and ordered the Dragon Palace to stay alert for the Dragon Transformation Banquet.
• Ling Qing sensed the battle through the Mirror Light Technique, sent Emperor Miaoyuan and the Dragon Chant Sword back with the Thousand-Mile Gate Technique, and urged Tian Yong to leave.
• Ling Qing cleared away the traces of their presence, and he and Tian Yong left with Tian Ying and the others for Freedom Tower.
• Ling Qing's group met Zhu Guang and the others at Freedom Tower, sealed a private room with magic, and began discussing the incident.

Ling Qing and Tian Yong learned that Abe Taiyi had escaped with the aid of a tail from an injured celestial fox whose true strength was that of a Heavenly Immortal. Daoist Lingguan identified the fox’s fear of Xiantian Primordial Qi and urged everyone to stay together during the Dragon Transformation Banquet, while Zhu Guang questioned how the Dongying group planned to claim this world.

• Bai Zhiyuan used his Thousand Illusions Myriad Transformations Art to interrogate Haruko, revealing that the three from Dongying had attacked in pursuit of a mere possibility.
• Ling Qing and Tian Yong told the others that Abe Taiyi had survived, and they showed them a snowy-white tail and a shattered Rashomon.
• Daoist Lingguan identified the tail as belonging to a jade-faced nine-tailed celestial fox and concluded that the immortal had suffered a devastating injury that reduced its strength.
• Daoist Lingguan explained that the fox had fled because it feared the Xiantian Primordial Qi Scripture practiced by Ling Qing’s incarnation, and he advised everyone to stay together during the Dragon Transformation Banquet.
• Zhu Guang examined the three Ghost Gate-shaped plaques and asked whether the Dongying group planned to claim the world using the Rashomon.

Daoist Lingguan explained the ways to control secret realms, from tracking their opening patterns to claiming their gates and cores. Ling Qing and the others learned how powerful the Special Affairs Department and Mount Longhu were before Li Qing asked whether their Rashomon could let them control this world's gateway.

• Daoist Lingguan described how the Special Affairs Department tracked secret realms and explained how Rashomon could bind a realm's aura to control its entrance and exit.
• Ling Qing examined a Rashomon with his Dharma Eye of True Insight and noticed the same fluctuation produced by a vessel of attachment.
• Daoist Lingguan said the Rashomon belonged to high-ranking figures in Dongying's Onmyo Bureau and explained that true control required grasping a realm's core or understanding its laws.
• Daoist Lingguan revealed that the Special Affairs Department had controlled three realm worlds by finding their cores, while Mount Longhu had controlled half of one.
• Li Qing asked whether the two remaining Rashomon could let them seize control of this world's gateway.

Ling Qing refined two Rashomon and began studying how to repair a third so the group could gain authority over the world's gateways. As Ling Qing and his companions left the Dragon Palace, Li Su and Li Jiang arrived to take part in the Dragon Transformation Banquet and ritual.

• Ling Qing and Daoist Lingguan agreed that Ling Qing could refine the Rashomon for their own use, and Ling Qing spent several days studying the three artifacts.
• Ling Qing successfully refined two intact Rashomon and discovered that using one to leave the world would erase the authority he had already collected.
• Ling Qing examined the severed Rashomon and concluded that the being who had possessed Abe Taichi might have escaped through it, but he kept his suspicion to himself.
• Ling Qing began studying how to repair and cleanse the severed Rashomon, drawing on ninja methods Bai Zhiyuan had obtained from Haruko and principles they learned through the Talisman Water Technique and the Way of Primordial Energy.
• Ling Qing and his companions declined to attend the Dragon Transformation Banquet, said farewell to Ao Ren, and departed for Heavenly Heart Island aboard the Star River Warship.
• Li Su and Li Jiang arrived at the Crystal Palace, searched for Ling Qing and the others, and prepared for the Dragon Transformation ritual with an azure talisman in hand.