Chapter Summaries

Wounded and pursued, Li Yunxin took shelter in a ruined temple, where Ninth Young Master killed the two Taoists hunting him and spared Li Yunxin after finding his fate interesting. When thunder startled Ninth Young Master into leaving, Li Yunxin seized a sword and fled into the forest.

• Li Yunxin stumbled into a ruined temple while fleeing two Taoists who demanded that he reveal where he had hidden something.
• A gigantic creature killed both Taoists, then returned to the temple in the form of a handsome young man who called himself Ninth Young Master.
• Ninth Young Master threatened to eat Li Yunxin, but spared him temporarily after declaring his fate interesting.
• Li Yunxin bandaged his wound, took food from a corpse, and ate it despite its taste of human blood, amusing Ninth Young Master.
• A thunderclap startled Ninth Young Master, who transformed into yin wind and rushed out of the temple.
• Li Yunxin grabbed a sword and fled into the rain and forest.

After fleeing the man-eating Ninth Young Master, Li Yunxin reached Qinghe Town but fainted at the gate and was jailed. Constable Xing suspected him of murdering the county magistrate’s son and the Daoists, while Li Yunxin remained trapped with his jade slip and his wounds untreated.

• Li Yunxin crossed the forest for days, kept the Tongming Jade Slip hidden in his shoe, and reached Qinghe Town with a sword and a bleeding arm.
• Li Yunxin fainted at the town gate after his sword accidentally lunged toward a yamen runner, and the guards imprisoned him.
• Constable Xing questioned Li Yunxin about his sword wound and accused him of being a sorcerous painter who had killed and eaten people.
• Li Yunxin denied the killings, said he had encountered a monster, and asked for food and medicine while awaiting trial.
• Constable Xing ordered a notice warning townsfolk about bandits and privately hoped the monster had moved farther downstream and would not return.

Xing Li convinced Shen Zhimo that Li Yunxin was the painter who had killed Li Heng and arranged for him to escape prison so he could be killed. Li Yunxin recognized the trap but went to sleep, leaving the bailiffs waiting outside his cell.

• Xing Li told Shen Zhimo that a young painter had confessed to murdering Li Heng, and Shen ordered him to make the prisoner’s death painful.
• Shen Zhimo mentioned Old Man Xin’s claim that a monster had killed Li Heng, but Xing Li dismissed it while privately admitting he believed it.
• Li Yunxin recalled how his father had taught him the art of painting, which could draw real things from paper.
• A bailiff brought Li Yunxin food and deliberately left the cell unlocked so he could escape.
• Li Yunxin realized Xing Li wanted him to flee so the constable could kill him and close the case, but he ate and went to sleep.
• The bailiffs waited for Li Yunxin to escape, then heard him snoring and cursed him as a stupid goose.

Li Yunxin left Qinghe Prison and persuaded Xing Li to tell him about the demon that had killed Xing Li’s wife and son. He brought the demon to life from a drawing, then fled as Xing Li attacked it, only for the figure to vanish.

• Li Yunxin walked out of Qinghe Prison and found Xing Li and four constables waiting for him.
• Li Yunxin proposed that they solve the demon problem and led Xing Li and the constables into the woods.
• Li Yunxin told them about Ninth Young Master, and Xing Li revealed that the demon had killed his wife and son five years earlier.
• Li Yunxin drew the demon on paper and animated the figure before Xing Li.
• Li Yunxin ran as Xing Li attacked the figure, which vanished and left a sheet of paper behind.

Li Yunxin escaped Xing Li’s pursuit by summoning Ninth Young Master, the demon who had killed Xing Li’s wife and child. After Li Yunxin taunted Xing Li into attacking the demon, Ninth Young Master beheaded him.

• Xing Li pursued Li Yunxin through the woods and split his men into separate groups to catch him.
• Xing Li and the four constables surrounded the exhausted Li Yunxin, and Xing Li tried to kill him with his saber.
• Ninth Young Master appeared and killed all four constables in a single breath.
• Xing Li recognized Ninth Young Master as the demon who had devoured his wife and child, then held Li Yunxin at saber point to keep the demon back.
• Li Yunxin provoked Xing Li into charging Ninth Young Master, who cut off Xing Li’s head.

Li Yunxin persuaded Ninth Young Master to spare him by explaining how he had manipulated another man’s fear and breathing, then reflected on the events that had led to their meeting. Nine days earlier, he had been living in mourning for his parents when two Daoists visited and explained how cultivators strengthened their spirit souls through emotional tribulations.

• Li Yunxin explained how he had carefully guided a man’s thoughts and timing, and Ninth Young Master agreed not to eat him for now.
• Ninth Young Master said Li Yunxin owed him a life and promised to return when bored before departing in a cloud of mist.
• Li Yunxin recalled how his parents had died in a lightning storm a year earlier, leaving him uncertain about his future.
• Red Pine Master and Kang Cangzi arrived at Li Yunxin’s home, and he welcomed the two young Daoists as guests.
• Red Pine Master told Li Yunxin that cultivators strengthened their spirit souls by experiencing and overcoming emotional tribulations.

Red Pine Master and Kang Cangzi explained the ancient Painting Dao and questioned Li Yunxin about a treasure they believed had appeared during the thunderstorm that killed his parents. Li Yunxin exposed their deception and revealed that the treasure was the Painting Dao’s secret canon, the Tongming Jade Slip, leaving the two Daoists stunned.

• Kang Cangzi and Red Pine Master told Li Yunxin about ancient painters whose works preserved spiritual insights, and Red Pine Master outlined the hierarchy of Sages, Grotto Heavens, and schools.
• Li Yunxin suspected the Daoists had come because of the thunderstorm that killed his parents and wondered whether his parents had possessed the Tongming Jade Slip.
• Red Pine Master admitted that he and Kang Cangzi sought a spiritual treasure and urged Li Yunxin to hand it over to a powerful sect.
• Li Yunxin deduced that the Daoists had killed an injured old man who knew more about the treasure, and accused them of planning to kill him.
• Kang Cangzi admitted killing the old man, called Li Yunxin’s parents traitorous disciples of the True Martial Sect, and summoned a sword alongside Red Pine Master.
• Li Yunxin shouted that he possessed the Tongming Jade Slip and challenged the Daoists to take it, leaving them frozen in shock.

Li Yunxin escaped the two Daoists after his Qi Sea was sealed and set out from his village. He joined the Hongfu Escort Agency convoy bound for Weicheng, where he met Qiao Jiaxin and Liu Laodao.

• Li Yunxin used cloud patterns and a strange spell to disrupt the two Daoists, but they later sealed his Qi Sea during their pursuit.
• Li Yunxin searched the bodies for money and staggered downstream as torchlights and voices approached.
• Qiao Jiaxin teased Liu Laodao during the Hongfu Escort Agency’s journey toward Weicheng.
• Li Yunxin asked Qiao Duanhong to let him travel with the convoy and paid one tael of silver.
• Li Yunxin sat beside Liu Laodao on a cart as Qiao Jiaxin watched him with curiosity.

Li Yunxin learned from Liu Laodao how little the secular Painting Dao knew of its five realms and realized it had declined. Liu Laodao invited him to join his Dongxuan Sect, and Li Yunxin accepted, leaving Qiao Jiaxin and Qiao Sifu stunned.

• Liu Laodao explained that painters in the Artistic Realm could infuse spiritual energy into paintings, while higher realms were rarely seen or even doubted.
• Li Yunxin compared Liu Laodao’s account with what Red Pine Master and his parents had taught him and concluded that the Painting Dao had declined.
• Liu Laodao asked about Li Yunxin’s family, and Li Yunxin claimed he had lost both parents and had no plans for his journey to Luo City.
• Liu Laodao hinted that Li Yunxin could stay at his Dongxuan Sect temple, but Qiao Jiaxin grew concerned that the young man might be deceived.
• Liu Laodao shouted at Qiao Jiaxin and asked Li Yunxin whether he wished to seek the Dao, and Li Yunxin bowed and accepted him as his master.
• Liu Laodao eagerly took Li Yunxin’s hand while Qiao Jiaxin and Qiao Sifu stared in disbelief.

Li Yunxin traveled with the Qiao Household escort agency while trying to learn about the Tongming Jade Slip and remove the seal on his Qi Sea. When an armed Taoist confronted him and Qiao Jiaxin, Li Yunxin surrendered and followed him to find the escorts surrounded by five Taoists.

• Li Yunxin decided to head for a large city and investigate the Tongming Jade Slip and the restraint on his Qi Sea.
• Qiao Jiaxin tried to warn Li Yunxin about Liu Laodao and offered him work with her household, but he politely declined.
• A swordsman in a coarse Taoist robe approached Li Yunxin and Qiao Jiaxin and demanded they go with him.
• The swordsman knocked the little sword from Qiao Jiaxin's hand, and Li Yunxin pulled her behind him before surrendering.
• Li Yunxin led Qiao Jiaxin toward the slope, where they found five Taoists surrounding the Qiao Household escorts, whose weapons lay in the grass.

Li Yunxin and the Hongfu Escort Agency were captured by six swordsmen who forced them to burn their goods and led them into the forest. As the captives waited by the fires, Li Yunxin suspected the swordsmen had recently gained a connection to the Daoist lineage or Sword Sect, and the men seemed to be waiting for something.

• Li Yunxin chose not to summon Ninth Young Master and watched the six swordsmen, whose unusual weapons reminded him of those used by two Daoists.
• The swordsmen ordered the escorts to burn their goods, and Qiao Duanhong complied after judging that the group could not defeat them.
• Li Yunxin noticed the narrow-eyed swordsman looked at the captives as if they were already dead, then the swordsmen led everyone into the forest.
• Qiao Sifu berated Liu Laodao and Li Yunxin, while Qiao Duanhong told his family to prepare to fight if the swordsmen attacked.
• Li Yunxin inferred from the swordsmen’s mannerisms and Daoist robes that they might be imitating or connected to the Daoist lineage or Sword Sect.
• The captives settled by one fire and the swordsmen by another, where the men watched them contemptuously and appeared to be waiting for something.

Li Yunxin tried to soften the six armed strangers by flattering them and offering silver, then pretended to ask whether he could leave the escort party. He returned to the fire after they threatened him, leaving the others to think he had acted shamelessly while concealing his true intentions.

• Qiao Duanhong told the escorts to wait because he had scattered Guiding Incense, though they doubted anyone would come to help.
• Qiao Sifu and the others questioned Li Yunxin’s calm behavior, while Qiao Jiaxin remembered that he had protected her.
• Li Yunxin approached the six strangers, praised them as heroes, and offered to give them his family wealth.
• The strangers told Li Yunxin to get lost, and he noticed that their tone had become less cold.
• Li Yunxin asked whether he could leave the escort party, then hurried back after one of the men threatened him.
• The escorts scorned Li Yunxin for trying to abandon them, but his composed return left them wondering at his slickness.

Li Yunxin revealed his exceptional painting skill and persuaded Liu Laodao to help complete a spiritual painting despite his sealed Qi Sea. A mysterious flying sword arrived with a message, and Li Yunxin told Liu Laodao that the delivery had given him a role to play.

• Li Yunxin described The Night Journey in Splendid Robes and showed Liu Laodao the few strokes he had drawn in the dirt.
• Li Yunxin explained that his sealed Qi Sea prevented him from completing the painting’s final stroke, and urged Liu Laodao to add the emperor’s sword.
• Liu Laodao approached the swordsmen and introduced himself as Hunyuanzi of the Dongxuan Sect, but one swordsman threatened him and threw a sword into the ground beside him.
• The sword’s impact knocked Liu Laodao onto the spot where the painting’s finishing stroke was needed, and he scrambled back to the bonfire.
• The escort agency men noticed a message attached to the flying sword, and Li Yunxin told Liu Laodao that he now had a part to play.

Li Yunxin drew the Six Ghosts of Hezhong into revealing that Huainanzi of the Voidsoar Sword Sect had sent them to gather victims for a killing tribulation. As Liu Laodao used a hand seal and the six swordsmen babbled out their secrets, Li Yunxin realized he had identified Red Pine Master and Kang Cangzi, leaving him with a new complication.

• Qiao Duanhong recognized the six men’s intent to kill and ordered Qiao Jiaxin, Qiao Sifu, and the others to escape while he and two companions held them off.
• Li Yunxin asked the swordsmen why they meant to kill the escort party, and their leader identified them as the Six Ghosts of Hezhong.
• The swordsman explained that Huainanzi, a disciple of the Voidsoar Sword Sect, had given the six brothers pills and sent them to gather people for his tribulation.
• Li Yunxin inferred that Huainanzi’s tribulation involved killing victims, while Qiao Duanhong mistook Liu Laodao for a hidden cultivator preparing to intervene.
• Liu Laodao formed a hand seal, and the Six Ghosts began uncontrollably revealing their histories, crimes, and dealings with Huainanzi.
• Li Yunxin learned what he wanted from the six men and realized the affair might be troublesome because he had identified Red Pine Master and Kang Cangzi.

Li Yunxin tried to find a way to kill the six Voidsoar Sword Sect disciples after their junior brother’s survival threatened to expose him, but a strange wind disrupted his formation and released the swordsmen. A headless female ghost appeared in the forest, leaving everyone stunned and the swordsmen’s attack halted.

• Li Yunxin learned that the two men he had killed were the Voidsoar Sword Sect master’s third and fourth personal disciples, and decided the remaining swordsmen could not be allowed to live.
• Qiao Duanhong apologized to Li Yunxin and Liu Laodao, then admitted his escort men could not defeat the six Second-Class Experts in a surprise attack.
• Li Yunxin began considering another way to kill the swordsmen, but a chilling wind disrupted the formation and freed them from its control.
• The swordsmen recognized that an expert was present and prepared to attack, but a voice cried, “I died so horribly—” and stopped them.
• A bloodied headless woman emerged from the bushes, her severed head rolling ahead as she called for it to be returned.

A young lady and her maid followed a fragrant scent into the woods and discovered a murdered man. Nearby, Li Yunxin hid from a swordsman hunting Qiao Jiaxin and Qiao Sifu, then decided to use his painting skills to protect them.

• A young lady and her maid found weapons and burned carts on the road, then followed a fragrant scent into the woods despite the maid's protests.
• The maid stepped in blood and found a man's corpse, while the young lady insisted they keep following the scent.
• Li Yunxin spotted Qiao Jiaxin and Qiao Sifu fleeing through the woods as a swordsman closed in on them.
• Qiao Jiaxin wondered aloud whether Li Yunxin had escaped, and her concern made Li Yunxin decide he could not abandon her.
• Li Yunxin used his brush to paint a small figure as the swordsman came within six steps of Qiao Jiaxin and Qiao Sifu.

Li Yunxin killed the swordsman who had attacked Qiao Sifu and Qiao Jiaxin, then tried to escape through the forest with Qiao Jiaxin. A second swordsman caught up and killed Qiao Jiaxin, leaving Li Yunxin facing him alone.

• The swordsman wounded Qiao Sifu and tried to kill Qiao Jiaxin, but Li Yunxin used phantom decoys and a hidden branch to kill him.
• Li Yunxin urged Qiao Jiaxin to stay calm and flee with him, explaining that keeping their pursuer occupied might help the others survive.
• Li Yunxin stopped when he sensed something was wrong, then vanished after Qiao Jiaxin resumed running.
• A second swordsman appeared and killed Qiao Jiaxin with a strike between her brows.
• The swordsman turned to Li Yunxin and demanded to know what master had taught him.

After Qiao Jiaxin’s death, Li Yunxin escaped the swordsman by following familiar spiritual energy to a ruined temple. There, he met the mysterious presence behind the female ghost, which recognized him as a painting Daoist.

• Li Yunxin confirmed Qiao Jiaxin was dead and calmly faced the swordsman, who feared provoking someone connected to the Grotto-Heavens or schools.
• Li Yunxin prepared to summon Ninth Young Master, but an angry female voice rebuked someone for running wild in her palace.
• Li Yunxin sensed the familiar spiritual energy that had appeared with the female ghost and ran north, believing it had been guiding him through a ghostly wall.
• Li Yunxin found a ruined shrine called the Temple of Lady Three Flowers, where powerful spiritual energy surged beneath a clay statue.
• The temple’s female spirit asked whether Li Yunxin had brought three sacrificial animals, then identified him as a painting Daoist.

Li Yunxin realized the temple sprite was a cat demon called Three-Flower Madam and tried to persuade her to help kill the swordsman outside. He promised to paint her a body afterward, but the chapter ended before he explained the “fun thing” he wanted her to do.

• Li Yunxin reasoned that the sprite had a story because it knew the nearly forgotten term “Daoist Danqing.”
• He teased the sprite as a foolish cat demon and offered meat and incense if she helped him deal with the swordsman.
• The swordsman cautiously approached the suddenly appeared ruined temple while Li Yunxin watched from inside.
• Three-Flower Madam demanded a body before agreeing to help, and Li Yunxin promised to paint her a portrait after they killed the swordsman.
• Three-Flower Madam asked Li Yunxin to explain the fun thing, and he began to ask whether she could do something.

Li Yunxin used the cat demon’s borrowed spiritual power to summon a tangible green-armored general, who killed Chen Yi'an. The general vanished after the strike, and Li Yunxin revealed that he had been called Yi, the Unparalleled Sword Saint.

• Chen Yi'an decided to kill Li Yunxin and approached the ruined temple, believing the youth’s supernatural tricks were only illusions.
• Li Yunxin emerged and warned Chen Yi'an not to come closer, but Chen attacked with his sword.
• Li Yunxin dodged Chen Yi'an’s first strike and opened a sheet of paper to summon a green-armored general.
• The general cut off Chen Yi'an’s head, then vanished after declaring, “My sword is your sword!”
• Li Yunxin explained that the cat demon’s weak spiritual power had let him make the general tangible, and he named the general Yi, the Unparalleled Sword Saint.