Chapter Summaries

The Crystal Lotus grew conscious in the depths of the Yellow Springs from the knowledge and memories forgotten by the dead, after the White Lotus and Black Lotus had departed. Given hope, desire, and emotion, he came to want to escape the Yellow Springs and began searching for a way out.

• The chapter explained how ghosts passed through the underworld, forgot their lives, and had their karmic sins cleansed in the Yellow Springs.
• Over time, the forgotten knowledge and purified good and evil gathered in the Yellow Springs and formed a Black Lotus, a White Lotus, and a Crystal Lotus.
• The White Lotus gained intelligence, gave hope to the Crystal Lotus and Love to the Black Lotus, then left the Yellow Springs.
• The Black Lotus gained intelligence, gave the Crystal Lotus desire and emotion, then departed as well.
• The Crystal Lotus learned about the Seven Emotions and Six Desires, grew lonely, and set off through the Yellow Springs to find a way out.

Sixth Senior Brother recalled the noisy, affectionate bedtime routine that began after Luo Yunji came to Big Bamboo Peak, then watched the same family bustle continue years later. Luo Yunji remained a gifted but troublesome disciple whom Tian Buyi tolerated because of Su Ru’s affection and his exceptional talent.

• Sixth Senior Brother listened as Tian Buyi scolded Luo Yunji, while Su Ru comforted the child and helped Junior Sister to bed.
• Tian Buyi berated Sixth Senior Brother after the others went to their rooms, and a flowerpot fell as the brothers laughed from their beds.
• Several years later, Junior Sister tried once again to wake Luo Yunji, who slept through the commotion.
• Tian Buyi hauled the sleepy Luo Yunji to breakfast, where the boy ate while still half asleep.
• Tian Buyi continued to keep Luo Yunji at Big Bamboo Peak because Su Ru had raised and loved him and because he had exceptional talent.

Tian Buyi ordered Song Daren to make Luo Yunji chop bamboo and train, frustrated that the gifted boy refused to cultivate further. Some time later, Tian Linger reached the fourth level of the Taiji Mystic Purity Dao, while her senior brothers remained behind.

• Tian Buyi ordered Song Daren to take Luo Yunji to chop two bamboo stalks or have them both punished.
• Tian Buyi scolded Luo Yunji for sleeping through his lessons despite reaching the fourth level of the Jade Purity Realm in less than two years.
• Song Daren carried the sleeping Luo Yunji toward the Back Mountain as the other disciples urged him on.
• Tian Linger later announced that she had reached the fourth level, delighting Song Daren and startling Du Bishu.
• Song Daren headed toward Luo Yunji's room while Tian Linger went to share her news with Tian Buyi and her mother.

Nine-year-old Luo Yunji continued his lessons and lazy routine on Big Bamboo Peak, secretly cultivating far beyond what his seniors believed. The chapter left him waking on his boulder after Tian Linger finished teaching him, still wishing he could sleep longer.

• Luo Yunji greeted his senior brothers sleepily, and Tian Buyi scolded the disciples over their cultivation after breakfast.
• Luo Yunji dismissed the lack of cultivation formulas after the fourth level, but quietly advanced to the fifth level of the Taiji Mystic Purity Dao.
• Song Daren agreed to buy books and sheet music for his senior brothers when he went down the mountain.
• Luo Yunji slept on a boulder by a spring while Tian Linger taught him and failed to catch him with her tricks, which his pale blue protective light thwarted.
• Tian Linger called up to Luo Yunji when her lessons ended near noon, and he woke disappointed that he had not slept longer.

Luo Yunji accompanied Tian Buyi and Su Ru to Heaven-Reaching Peak after Song Daren returned from searching Grass Temple Village, then stayed behind to admire the Water Kirin. He climbed onto the beast’s head and bit into one of its fleshy horns.

• Luo Yunji abandoned his bamboo-cutting chore with Tian Linger and went back to eat instead.
• Song Daren returned after searching Grass Temple Village and reported that only two children and one madman remained.
• Tian Buyi, Su Ru, and their disciples went to Heaven-Reaching Peak, where Luo Yunji became fascinated by the Water Kirin.
• Su Ru let Luo Yunji stay by the Water Kirin while the others went on, and the beast gently blew him off its nose.
• Luo Yunji climbed onto the Water Kirin’s head, sniffed a fleshy horn, and bit into it.

Luo Yunji was rescued after clinging to the Water Kirin’s horn, and Daoxuan revealed that the boy had reached the fifth level of the Taiji Mystic Purity Dao in only three years. Su Ru then discovered Luo Yunji was holding a piece of the Water Kirin’s horn and hurried him back to Big Bamboo Peak, where she confronted him about the damage.

• The Water Kirin shook Luo Yunji from its horn until Tian Buyi and Daoxuan calmed it, and Tian Buyi pulled the boy to safety.
• Daoxuan told Tian Buyi that Luo Yunji had reached the fifth level of the Taiji Mystic Purity Dao after only three years of cultivation.
• Su Ru noticed that Luo Yunji was holding a piece of horn and learned he had taken it from the Water Kirin’s head.
• Su Ru left Jade Purity Hall with Luo Yunji and Tian Linger, returned to Big Bamboo Peak, and privately confronted Luo Yunji about climbing onto the Water Kirin and taking its horn.

Su Ru and Tian Buyi worried over Yun Ji snapping off the Spirit Venerable’s Qilin Horn, while Tian Buyi reassured her that Yun Ji’s fifth-level cultivation would protect him from serious punishment. Song Daren then told the other disciples about Yun Ji’s breakthrough, leaving them envious and under pressure to cultivate harder.

• Su Ru showed Tian Buyi the Qilin Horn and explained that Yun Ji had snapped it off the Spirit Venerable.
• Tian Buyi told Su Ru to keep the horn’s origin secret and said Yun Ji’s fifth-level cultivation gave him leeway, though he left the decision to the Sect Leader.
• Su Ru took Ling'er and Yun Ji and hurried to her senior sister’s place to think of a plan, while Tian Buyi hid the Qilin Horn.
• Song Daren reported that the new junior brother had settled in, and Tian Buyi told him Yun Ji had reached the fifth level of the Taiji Mystic Purity Dao.
• Song Daren relayed Yun Ji’s breakthrough to the junior brothers and urged them to cultivate harder, especially since Junior Sister had reached the fourth level.

After Su Ru returned from Small Bamboo Peak, Tian Buyi learned that Luo Yunji would stay there for a few more days and discussed Big Bamboo Peak’s new disciple with her. Zhang Xiaofan joined Big Bamboo Peak, where Tian Linger welcomed him and Song Daren was tasked with teaching him.

• Su Ru told Tian Buyi that Shuiyue had asked Luo Yunji to stay at Small Bamboo Peak for a few more days and that Spirit Venerable likely no longer blamed him.
• Tian Buyi told Su Ru that Big Bamboo Peak had accepted another disciple, and they agreed the child should be treated kindly despite his poor prospects for cultivation.
• At Small Bamboo Peak, Shuiyue and Wen Min watched the disciples fuss over Luo Yunji with food and clothes, and Shuiyue recalled how he had been raised there as an infant.
• After sleeping for a day and night, Zhang Xiaofan met Tian Buyi and Su Ru, then kowtowed more than nine times before Su Ru stopped him.
• Tian Buyi assigned Song Daren to teach Zhang Xiaofan the sect’s rules and introductory techniques, and Su Ru placed Zhang Xiaofan after Sixth Senior Brother in rank.
• Tian Linger introduced herself to Zhang Xiaofan, learned his name, and told him to call her Senior Sister.

Zhang Xiaofan settled in among his fellow disciples on Big Bamboo Peak, where Du Bishu lost a bet after Master Tian Buyi entered the dining hall alone. The next morning, Tian Linger returned from Small Bamboo Peak with the sleeping Little Junior Brother, Luo Yunji, and the senior brothers gathered to watch her try to wake him.

• Song Daren showed Zhang Xiaofan the bamboo grove and explained the sect rules before the disciples gathered for dinner.
• Du Bishu bet Zhang Xiaofan that Tian Linger would enter the dining hall before Tian Buyi, but Tian Buyi arrived alone because Su Ru had taken Tian Linger to Small Bamboo Peak.
• Song Daren escorted Zhang Xiaofan to his room, while the senior brothers joked about the Little Junior Brother's unusual behavior.
• The next morning, Zhang Xiaofan found his senior brothers laughing as Tian Linger struggled to wake the sleeping Luo Yunji.
• Tian Linger complained that Luo Yunji had slept through the night and the journey back from Small Bamboo Peak, where he had enjoyed the senior sisters' cooking.

Tian Linger and Zhang Xiaofan took the sleeping Luo Yunji to the Back Mountain, where he mysteriously ended up floating in the lake. Zhang Xiaofan tried to rescue him, but Luo Yunji’s blue light kept knocking him away, and Tian Linger began to suspect something unusual.

• Wu Dayi carried the sleeping Luo Yunji to breakfast, then took him, Tian Linger, and Zhang Xiaofan to the Back Mountain.
• Tian Linger explained to Zhang Xiaofan that Luo Yunji had cultivated to the fifth level of the Taiji Mystic Purity Dao despite sleeping through his lessons.
• Wu Dayi laid Luo Yunji on a huge stone in the bamboo grove, and Tian Linger and Zhang Xiaofan went to do their lessons.
• After a Black-Joint Bamboo struck Zhang Xiaofan, he noticed Luo Yunji had vanished from the stone and spotted him bobbing in the lake.
• Zhang Xiaofan swam toward Luo Yunji, but the boy’s blue light kept pushing him away, while Tian Linger rushed over and watched in growing curiosity.

Luo Yunji’s blue glow attacked Tian Linger with Water Arrows when she tried to pull him from the lake, and Tian Buyi arrived in time to save her. The disciples discovered that putting away their magical treasures made the arrows disappear, though Luo Yunji remained asleep in the lake.

• Tian Linger tried to pull Luo Yunji from the lake with the Amber Vermilion Silk, provoking a Water Arrow that destroyed a clump of bamboo and summoned more arrows.
• Big Yellow ran to alert Tian Buyi, who arrived and used Scarlet Flame to destroy the Water Arrows threatening Tian Linger.
• Tian Buyi and the other disciples found Luo Yunji asleep in the lake, surrounded by blue light that formed nearly a hundred Water Arrows.
• He Dazhi suggested putting away their magical treasures, and when the disciples did so, the Water Arrows vanished into mist.

Luo Yunji’s sleep-talking about the Dao helped He Dazhi and four other senior brothers break through their cultivation bottlenecks. The breakthroughs woke Luo Yunji, who sank beneath the lake’s surface.

• He Dazhi realized the Water Arrows seemed to target cultivators or those using magic treasures, and the group suspected Luo Yunji was causing them while he slept.
• Zhang Xiaofan told He Dazhi that Luo Yunji had been repeating words about Weak Water and the Dao, so He Dazhi approached to listen.
• He Dazhi heard Luo Yunji recite a passage about water and the Dao and broke through from the fourth to the fifth level of the Taiji Mystic Purity Dao.
• Tian Buyi allowed the other disciples to approach Luo Yunji, and Second, Third, Fifth, and Sixth Senior Brothers broke through from the third to the fourth level after listening to his sleep-talk.
• The four successive breakthroughs woke Luo Yunji, who realized he was in the lake and sank beneath the water.

After the disciples celebrated their breakthroughs, Luo Yunji bit through He Dazhi’s magical treasure while asleep, leaving the others astonished by his teeth. Tian Buyi and Su Ru began to suspect that Yunji might not be human, and Tian Buyi suggested asking Su Ru’s senior sister about how she had found him.

• Song Daren told Tian Buyi that his bottleneck had loosened, while four other disciples stabilized their breakthroughs and returned to Big Bamboo Peak.
• He Dazhi tickled sleeping Luo Yunji’s nose with his Rivers and Mountains Brush, and Luo Yunji bit off and swallowed its bristles, damaging the magical treasure and making He Dazhi cough blood.
• Song Daren and the others woke Luo Yunji and got him to spit out the brush bristles and a piece of its shaft.
• Sixth Senior Brother tried biting the brush shaft, broke a tooth, and became the target of everyone’s laughter.
• Song Daren considered using Luo Yunji’s fallen baby teeth as materials for magical treasures.
• Su Ru worried to Tian Buyi that Little Ji might not be human, and Tian Buyi advised her to ask her senior sister about anything unusual when she found Yunji.

Tian Buyi worried that Luo Yunji might be from another race and defended his place as a disciple, while his disciples celebrated their breakthroughs. After discovering how durable Luo Yunji’s baby teeth were, Tian Buyi took the teeth Song Daren had collected and found that even his strength could not damage one.

• Tian Buyi insisted that Luo Yunji was his disciple and that he would not let anyone hurt him, despite worrying that Azure Clouds might be unable to keep him if he belonged to another race.
• At dinner, the senior brothers teased Luo Yunji for eating with his eyes open, and Tian Buyi scolded Du Bishu for calling him a monster.
• Tian Buyi told the disciples to consolidate their cultivation and assigned Zhang Xiaofan to cook, with meat dishes for Luo Yunji.
• The senior brothers plotted to obtain Luo Yunji’s collected baby teeth, but Tian Buyi intercepted Song Daren and demanded the teeth for himself.
• Song Daren handed over the teeth, and Tian Buyi found that one remained intact when he squeezed it between his fingertips.

Song Daren divided Luo Yunji’s baby teeth among the Big Bamboo Peak disciples, but Luo Yunji suddenly erupted with power and destroyed the main hall. Su Ru realized he had broken through again, and Tian Buyi stayed behind to guard him while Su Ru went to Small Bamboo Peak.

• Song Daren distributed the thirty baby teeth, giving Zhang Xiaofan three and setting aside Luo Yunji’s share, while Tian Linger declined hers because she already had Amber Vermilion Silk.
• Luo Yunji suddenly released a tyrannical force that shattered the main hall and nearby buildings, injuring Zhang Xiaofan despite Wu Dayi and He Dazhi protecting him.
• Su Ru sensed the energy in the ruins and discovered that Luo Yunji had broken through again.
• Tian Buyi ordered Song Daren to check Zhang Xiaofan’s injuries, then stayed with Su Ru to guard Luo Yunji as the other disciples left.
• Su Ru went to Small Bamboo Peak, and the disciples found Luo Yunji unharmed beneath a roof beam that had left a small space above him.

After Luo Yunji emerged unharmed from the ruins, Tian Buyi and Su Ru worried over the strange events surrounding him and sought help from other senior brothers. Meanwhile, Zhang Xiaofan spent the night trapped in Luo Yunji’s sleep embrace, and the disciples joked about having Sixth Junior Brother handle breakfast until Luo Yunji’s room was repaired.

• Luo Yunji came out of the ruined hall hungry, and Tian Buyi checked him for injuries before the disciples welcomed him back.
• Luo Yunji ate dinner and fell asleep again, so the disciples arranged for him to share Zhang Xiaofan’s bed.
• He Dazhi stayed behind to voice concern about Luo Yunji, and Tian Buyi promised to protect the child.
• Su Ru returned with no answers about Luo Yunji’s origins, and she and Tian Buyi decided to consult senior brothers from the sect.
• He Dazhi found Luo Yunji asleep with all four limbs wrapped around Zhang Xiaofan and freed Zhang Xiaofan, who had been trapped all night.
• At breakfast, Song Daren teased Zhang Xiaofan about sharing a room with Luo Yunji, and the disciples agreed that Sixth Junior Brother should handle meals for now.

Tian Buyi and Su Ru brought the sleeping Luo Yunji to Heaven-Reaching Peak to investigate his extraordinary cultivation and unusual body. Daoxuan confirmed that Luo Yunji was human, but Tian Buyi began revealing further evidence of his strange abilities.

• Tian Buyi and Su Ru left Big Bamboo Peak with the sleeping Luo Yunji and went to Heaven-Reaching Peak while their disciples repaired the collapsed rooms.
• The heads of the seven branches examined Luo Yunji and were shocked to learn that he had reached the sixth level of cultivation at such a young age.
• Tian Buyi and Su Ru explained that Luo Yunji slept almost constantly and had advanced without realizing it, prompting the heads to wonder whether he had a hidden ailment.
• Daoxuan probed Luo Yunji and confirmed that he was human rather than a demon, easing Tian Buyi, Su Ru, and Shuiyue's worries.
• Tian Buyi told Daoxuan that Luo Yunji could bite through magical treasures and described how he had damaged the Rivers and Mountains Brush.
• Tian Buyi hesitated as he prepared to tell Daoxuan what else Luo Yunji had done.

Tian Buyi told Daoxuan that Luo Yunji had bitten off part of Spirit Venerable’s dragon horn, and explained his strange sleep talk and rapid cultivation. Daoxuan and Tian Buyi entered Luo Yunji’s sea of consciousness to investigate, where they found endless books but no sign of Luo Yunji’s spiritual consciousness.

• Tian Buyi revealed that Luo Yunji had bitten off a section of Spirit Venerable’s dragon horn, astonishing Daoxuan and Shuiyue.
• Luo Yunji spoke the opening words of the Dao De Jing in his sleep, and Tian Buyi explained his rapid cultivation and frequent sleep-talking to Daoxuan.
• Daoxuan proposed searching Luo Yunji’s sea of consciousness, and Su Ru and Shuiyue objected until he showed them his Spirit-Concentrating Pearl.
• Daoxuan placed the pearl between Luo Yunji’s brows, and he and Tian Buyi entered the boy’s sea of consciousness.
• Daoxuan and Tian Buyi found an endless sea of books, including a page recording Luo Yunji’s sleep talk and another titled “Eighteen Touches.”
• After searching through countless books, Daoxuan and Tian Buyi still could not find Luo Yunji’s spiritual consciousness.

Tian Buyi and Daoxuan entered Luo Yunji’s sea of consciousness and found him organizing fragments into books, where he had spent over a year. They left after the sea began to collapse, and Daoxuan said Luo Yunji would recover if he kept wearing the Spirit-Concentrating Pearl; back at Big Bamboo Peak, the disciples learned what had happened and read another fragment of Luo Yunji’s sleep-talk.

• Tian Buyi and Daoxuan found Luo Yunji in his sea of consciousness, where he had been sorting damaged scrolls since cultivating the Taiji Mystic Purity Dao to its fourth level.
• Luo Yunji explained that he had split off a thread of consciousness to control his body, while spending more than a year in the sea of consciousness.
• The sea of consciousness shook and its book mountains collapsed, so Daoxuan warned that their prolonged stay had damaged it and urged them to leave.
• Tian Buyi, Daoxuan, and Luo Yunji returned to their bodies, and Daoxuan examined Luo Yunji and said he would recover after resting with the Spirit-Concentrating Pearl.
• Tian Buyi, Su Ru, and True Person Shuiyue took Luo Yunji back to Big Bamboo Peak, where Tian Buyi explained his condition to the disciples.
• Tian Buyi shared another fragment of Luo Yunji’s sleep-talk with the disciples, and Old Fourth recognized it as a fragmentary text.

Luo Yunji continued recovering from his sea-of-consciousness injury while Zhang Xiaofan looked after him on Big Bamboo Peak. Despite repeated headaches and briefly falling asleep, Luo Yunji returned to his papers to investigate clues from his sea of consciousness.

• Tian Buyi assigned Zhang Xiaofan to care for Luo Yunji while the other disciples consolidated their cultivation.
• Luo Yunji worked on strange writings despite Zhang Xiaofan's warnings, and Zhang Xiaofan massaged his temples when his headache worsened.
• Zhang Xiaofan stayed beside Luo Yunji until his brows relaxed, then practiced a cultivation method that was not Azure Clouds' Taiji Mystic Purity Dao.
• Luo Yunji fell asleep at breakfast, alarming Su Ru and Tian Buyi before Tian Buyi confirmed he was only sleeping and carried him back to his room.
• After returning from lessons, Zhang Xiaofan found Luo Yunji writing again, and Luo Yunji said he had gone into his sea of consciousness to search for information.