Chapter Summaries

After assimilating the Hundun Remains, Ding Songyan explored his new Law Realm abilities and learned to use Yan Changqing’s remaining qi to derive transformations for his own true qi. He concealed his altered appearance, then received a farewell letter from Su Qingli saying she had to leave at once.

• Ding Songyan assessed his Law Realm perfection, noting that his strength and many changes from the Hundun Remains would fade within three to five years unless he stabilized them through martial cultivation.
• Ding Songyan discovered that chaos hid his thoughts in his Sea of Consciousness and that Yan Changqing’s remaining qi could serve as a model for deriving abilities such as Falsehood-Piercing and concealment.
• Ding Songyan used derived qi to restore his appearance, changed into his Lantern-Sleeved Robe, and opened the courtyard gate after Xu Chang'an knocked.
• Xu Chang'an delivered a letter from Su Qingli, who said her Second Uncle required her to leave immediately and hoped they would meet again in the martial world.

Ding Songyan and Ren Youyang shared drinks with Su Qingli as her ship departed, while Ding Songyan discovered that Ren Youyang sensed something unusual about him. The chapter ended with Ren Youyang asking whether Ding Songyan had eaten something.

• Ding Songyan learned that Su Qingli had left a letter and headed for the eastern dock, then met Ren Youyang, who had come to drink with him before returning to Dan Prefecture.
• Su Qingli asked Su Chongxiao how someone could approach a person whose trait countered hers, and he explained that she would need to become stronger than that person.
• Ding Songyan and Ren Youyang called out to Su Qingli aboard the departing ship, and she climbed onto its deck to join them in a farewell toast.
• The three drank together across the distance, exchanged hopeful farewells, and finished their jars before Su Qingli returned to her cabin delighted by the experience.
• Ding Songyan teased Ren Youyang about being seen drinking in public, then discussed his own resistance to medicinal effects and offered to treat Ren Youyang to wine and women.
• Ren Youyang explained that his nature as a ghost and corpse god let him sense something unusual in Ding Songyan, then asked whether Ding Songyan had eaten something.

Ding Songyan and Ren Youyang shared a meal, discussed the limits of consuming mythical remains, and parted after Ren promised to return Li Zhi’s body to dust. Back home, Ding Songyan found a handwritten copy of the Legend of the White Snake in his chest.

• Ding Songyan and Ren Youyang ate and drank while Ren explained why consuming remains could no longer raise someone through realms after the severance of heaven and earth.
• Ren told Ding Songyan that the Great Joy Sect’s legacy came from King Ziye and that he had once wanted to join the sect.
• Ren revealed that Li Zhi’s body was at the Lingjiang County Yamen, and Ding Songyan refused to claim it for the True Spirit Sect, asking that Li be allowed to return to the Netherworld.
• Ren advised Ding Songyan to learn Xiaoming Sect martial arts and said he would leave for Dan Prefecture the next day without a farewell, then the two parted.
• Ding Songyan returned to Chengyu Lane and found a crudely made thread-bound book containing the Legend of the White Snake in familiar handwriting.

Ding Songyan studied the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas, copied Ji Hanyi’s Legend of the White Snake, and learned that Xu Chang'an’s family had suffered further losses. After telling Xu Chang'an he had joined the Xiaoming Sect, Ding Songyan received a courtyard deed and an Opening Orifices manual from Tao Wenshu.

• Ding Songyan connected the Taowu and She Bi Shi descriptions to his traits and considered developing his own martial arts from them.
• Ding Songyan recopied the Legend of the White Snake, discovering that his Deriving Dao and De gave him precise, balanced handwriting.
• Ding Songyan woke, cooked egg fried rice, and shared breakfast with Xu Chang'an, who told him that Ji Qingyan was Demoness Ji and that Qiu Chen had been found dead by the river.
• Ding Songyan told Xu Chang'an he had become Tao Wenshu’s personal disciple, and Xu Chang'an asked him to help him join the Xiaoming Sect later in the year.
• Tao Wenshu arrived with Zheng Zhuxi and gave Ding Songyan a deed to a courtyard in Baoping Lane and a secret manual containing a method for Opening Orifices.

Ding Songyan gave Xu Chang'an the valuable martial manual left by his master, settled his affairs, and left Chengyu Lane to join Tao Wenshu at Flat Lake Mountain. On the journey, he confessed that he had obtained and consumed a piece of the Hundun Remains.

• Ding Songyan examined the Mystic Art of Ten Bodies and Hundred Hands and gave it to Xu Chang'an, who chose to practice it rather than wait for a chance to join a Great Sect.
• Ding Songyan accepted Tao Wenshu's invitation to return to the sect, packed his belongings, and entrusted Xu Chang'an with managing his new Baoping Lane residence and other affairs.
• Zheng Zhuxi explained the sect's patrol arrangements and gave Ding Songyan several cultivation manuals without their Opening Orifices sections, promising to guide him after returning to the mountain.
• Tao Wenshu and Ding Songyan rode west from the prefectural city, and Ding Songyan proved he could ride after the horse became docile in his presence.
• While crossing a river, Ding Songyan told Tao Wenshu that he had hidden a piece of the Hundun Remains in the Netherworld Grounds and consumed it after returning home.

Tao Wenshu explained how the Xiaoming Sect rebuilt its damaged scriptures after the Southern Crossing and admitted that the Hundun Remains could have tempted her to abandon her principles. She and Ding Songyan agreed to conceal his unusual cultivation while he trained at the sect, and they arrived at Flat Lake Mountain.

• Tao Wenshu told Ding Songyan that hiding the Hundun Remains had spared her from a dangerous temptation to consume it for the sake of perfecting her cultivation.
• Tao Wenshu recounted how Patriarch Pei Yuan and the surviving Xiaoming Sect disciples repaired the Celestial Stars Scripture and the Illuminating the Long Night Scripture after the Southern Crossing.
• Tao Wenshu assigned Ding Songyan the task of continuing the sect's work, and he agreed to cultivate both scriptures while asking about the risks of becoming a Martial Grandmaster through a divine object.
• Ding Songyan disclosed that his cultivation and strength would regress within three to five years, and Tao Wenshu advised him to cultivate patiently and conceal his realm from the other disciples.
• Tao Wenshu agreed to help hide Ding Songyan's cultivation from outsiders and explained the danger that Heterodox Path forces would pose if they learned of his potential.
• Tao Wenshu and Ding Songyan reached Flat Lake Mountain, passed through Flat Lake Town, and climbed to the sect's peaceful lake and surrounding courtyards.

Ding Songyan refined his self-created martial arts and discussed improvements to the Xiaoming Sect’s introductory sword art with Wan Guhong. He then entered the Scripture Repository to begin aperture refinement using the Celestial Stars Diagram.

• Ding Songyan practiced the Nine Primal Arts and reviewed the Positive and Reverse Circulation Chapter he had developed for himself.
• Wan Guhong declined to try Ding Songyan’s family art and instead taught him the Dawnbreak introductory sword art.
• Ding Songyan showed Wan Guhong how to turn feints in Left Assistant, Right Support into real attacks through eye and shoulder coordination, then offered ideas for all thirty-six forms.
• Ding Songyan presented Tao Wenshu’s jade token to Wang Zhou and said he was ready to refine his apertures.
• Wang Zhou took Ding Songyan underground, gave him the Celestial Stars Diagram, and offered him a choice of quiet cultivation chambers.

Ding Songyan experimented with the Celestial Stars Diagram and used the Heavenly Mind Formula to make its aperture-refinement state instinctive. He mastered ten thousand stars true qi in under two hours and demonstrated it to Wang Zhou, who recognized the feat as a sign of the Hundun lineage.

• Ding Songyan studied Tao Wenshu’s Celestial Stars Diagram and found that visualizing Purple Tenuity quickly refined his ancestral aperture, but its effects faded when he stopped.
• He divided his attention to visualize all three hundred and sixty apertures at once, mastering ten thousand stars true qi in the time it took to drink two cups of tea.
• Ding Songyan used the Heavenly Mind Formula to make the apertures’ starry state an instinct, spending an estimated two to three years of lifespan in the process.
• After memorizing Purple Tenuity as a trigger, Ding Songyan demonstrated ten thousand stars true qi to Wang Zhou.
• Wang Zhou realized Ding Songyan had refined every aperture in the diagram and marveled at the Hundun lineage’s unique abilities.

After exhausting himself with Aperture Refinement, Ding Songyan enjoyed the lake, accepted Zheng Zhuxi’s offer of calming incense, and agreed to accompany her to Flat Lake Town. The next morning, as he watched a falling leaf and the ants on it, Pan Yunzhou arrived seeking urgent business with Sect Master Tao.

• Ding Songyan admired the lakeside scenery and spoke with Zheng Zhuxi, who offered him incense and asked him to stroll with her in Flat Lake Town the next afternoon.
• Ding Songyan returned to his courtyard, ate dinner, and fell asleep while reading after lighting Zheng Zhuxi’s incense; an illusory, snow-covered wing appeared and extinguished his lamp.
• Ding Songyan woke fully recovered, missed breakfast because of his Do not disturb sign, and met Wan Guhong, from whose parcel he took two meat buns.
• Ding Songyan watched a leaf drift to the Xiaoming Sect boundary marker and studied its veins and the ants crossing it.
• Pan Yunzhou of the Pan Family in Eastern Plain Prefecture, Treasure Province, arrived and asked the guards to announce his urgent business with Sect Master Tao.

Pan Yunzhou asked to join the Xiaoming Sect and use its Celestial Stars Scripture to restore his clan’s incomplete Great Canon of the Stars. Tao Wenshu began assessing his request, while Ding Songyan quickly learned the Great Canon’s star-order true qi and demonstrated it to her.

• Ding Songyan brought Pan Yunzhou to Tao Wenshu, who discussed the Heavenly Heart Wisdom Scripture and Ji Hanyi with him while they waited.
• Pan Yunzhou explained that the Pan Family had lost the Twelve Explanations of Time and parts of the Great Canon of the Stars, leaving none of its members able to reach the Law Realm.
• Pan Yunzhou offered the Great Canon of the Stars to help the Xiaoming Sect perfect its scriptures and asked to join so he could complete the canon and teach it to his clansmen.
• Tao Wenshu said she needed to consult the sect’s Martial Grandmasters and began examining Pan Yunzhou’s manual.
• Tao Wenshu gave the manual to Ding Songyan, who rapidly learned its star-order true qi and showed its distinctive qualities to her.

Ding Songyan and Tao Wenshu examined Pan Yunzhou’s Great Canon of the Stars and decided to test whether its saber arts could complement the Xiaoming Sect’s Celestial Stars Formation. Ding Songyan sparred with Pan Yunzhou, whose Sun-Moon Divine Saber he countered with the Dawn-Breaking Sword Art, then launched a sudden counterattack.

• Tao Wenshu asked Pan Yunzhou for permission to show the Great Canon of the Stars to the sect’s Martial Grandmasters, and he agreed.
• Ding Songyan told Tao Wenshu that evolving certain true qi consumed his vital essence and lifespan, and she praised his caution before directing him to spar with Pan Yunzhou.
• Ding Songyan visited Pan Yunzhou at the Warm Lantern Pavilion and explained that Tao Wenshu wanted to test the Great Canon’s saber arts against the Celestial Stars Formation.
• At the Dipper Martial Training Ground, Pan Yunzhou introduced the Sun-Moon Divine Saber and attacked Ding Songyan with Sun at Its Zenith.
• Ding Songyan used Faint Light in the Dark Night to deflect Pan Yunzhou’s strike, then blocked Sunset, Moonrise and countered with Candlelight Like a Star.

Ding Songyan defeated Pan Yunzhou by weaving deception into the Dawn-Breaking Sword Art, then worked with Wan Guhong to improve the art. Pan Yunzhou left impressed and began studying insects near the Xiaoming Sect boundary marker, while Wan Guhong was astonished by Ding Songyan’s swordsmanship.

• Ding Songyan used a prepared variation to land his sword at Pan Yunzhou’s chest and win their sparring match.
• Ding Songyan explained that he had used earlier attacks to make Pan Yunzhou stop guarding against the variation, and Pan Yunzhou asked whether he had ever fought in a life-and-death battle.
• Ding Songyan stayed at the Dipper Martial Training Ground to practice the Nine Primal Arts, then agreed to continue refining the Dawn-Breaking Sword Art with Wan Guhong.
• Pan Yunzhou wandered to the Xiaoming Sect boundary marker and crouched to study weeds, leaves, and insects, convinced Ding Songyan’s earlier behavior held a deeper meaning.
• Ding Songyan and Wan Guhong resolved the Dawn-Breaking Sword Art’s remaining issues in half a morning, and Wan Guhong wondered whether Ding Songyan had studied the sword before.

Ding Songyan received a powerful new sword from Tao Wenshu and named it Cold Shadow. He and Zheng Zhuxi strolled through Flat Lake Town, where she explained her effort to prevent wealthy outsiders from gaining unfair advantages in the sect’s disciple recruitment, before a report of someone afflicted by an evil influence interrupted their outing.

• Tao Wenshu gave Ding Songyan a specially forged sword, and he named it Cold Shadow.
• Zheng Zhuxi took Ding Songyan to Flat Lake Town to help him relax after his secluded cultivation.
• Zheng Zhuxi explained that she watched for wealthy outsiders using connections to influence the sect’s disciple recruitment.
• Zheng Zhuxi praised Cold Shadow and offered to pick out a sword tassel for Ding Songyan.
• A Xiaoming Sect disciple reported that someone had been afflicted by an evil influence, and Zheng Zhuxi went to investigate with Ding Songyan.

Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi investigated a possessed Tongfu Inn worker, and Zheng Zhuxi drove the snake-like spirit from him with her Candlelight Sword Intent. Their search led them to Earth Room Three and a guest named Feng Zhengning, whose listed home in the Yin-Yang Religion’s territory raised Ding Songyan’s suspicions.

• Zheng Zhuxi fought the possessed inn worker while Ding Songyan used his Yin Eye to see a snake-like spirit clinging to him.
• Ding Songyan secretly froze the worker and spirit, allowing Zheng Zhuxi to strike again and dissolve the spirit with her Candlelight Sword Intent.
• Zheng Zhuxi and Ding Songyan questioned the recovered worker, who recalled cleaning Earth Room Three before losing consciousness.
• Zheng Zhuxi, Ding Songyan, and Qiu Tongfu searched Earth Room Three but found no clues, then checked the inn register.
• Qiu Tongfu identified the departed guest as Feng Zhengning, a traveling silk merchant from Jinyang Prefecture, where the Yin-Yang Religion’s sacred altar stood.
• Ding Songyan wondered whether Feng Zhengning’s recorded details were truthful and whether his listed origin was meant to mislead them.

Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi investigated Feng Zhengning’s escape and discussed whether he belonged to the Accumulated Evil Path. When Feng ambushed Zheng Zhuxi at the Zheng Residence, Ding Songyan killed him with a sword strike, though Feng’s final reaction suggested the danger might not be over.

• Zheng Zhuxi learned that Feng Zhengning had left Flat Lake Town through the west gate and told Ding Songyan that the Enforcement Hall would take over the investigation.
• Zheng Zhuxi treated Ding Songyan to iced desserts and explained how the Accumulated Evil Path might use its Demon-Swallowing Evil-Eating Art to collect evil entities.
• Zheng Zhuxi brought Ding Songyan to the Zheng Residence and explained that he could stay there if he arrived at the mountain too late.
• Feng Zhengning hid in the Zheng Residence after changing his appearance and sneaking back into town, intending to ambush Zheng Zhuxi.
• As Feng Zhengning prepared to attack, Ding Songyan drew his sword and cut his throat before calmly continuing on with Zheng Zhuxi.
• Feng Zhengning collapsed, heard Ding Songyan say he thought he had killed an evil entity, and then saw Ding Songyan again as his body shook uncontrollably.

Ding Songyan killed Feng Zhengning, an Accumulated Evil Path assassin, and explained his hidden demon-suppressing power to Zheng Zhuxi, who promised to keep it secret. He later received a fragrant letter from Su Qingli containing news about the possible immortal Jiang Weichen and the Secret Compendium.

• Ding Songyan questioned Feng Zhengning's ghost and learned that Feng had come to Flat Lake Town to kill Zheng Zhuxi after abandoning his investigation assignment; Feng then revealed that the Evil Envoy had sent him from Jinyang Prefecture and disintegrated under Ding Songyan's power.
• Zheng Zhuxi questioned Ding Songyan about defeating a Dayan Realm Strange Being, and Ding Songyan attributed his advantage to power gained from the Zhen Estate affair.
• Ding Songyan reassured Zheng Zhuxi that he trusted her with his secret, and she promised to keep it confidential before summoning Xiaoming Sect Enforcement Hall disciples to handle Feng Zhengning's body.
• Zheng Zhuxi gave Ding Songyan a Cinnabar Sword Tassel for his Cold Shadow Sword and continued watching for Xiaoming Sect disciples who were too close to outsiders in the selection.
• Ding Songyan collected a letter from Grand Letter and read Su Qingli's message, which described Jiang Weichen's history, urged him to investigate the Secret Compendium, and included dried osmanthus blossoms.

Ding Songyan learned that the Accumulated Evil Path was investigating the Zhen Estate and reported Su Qingli’s news about Jiang Weichen and the Kunlun Secret Compendium to Tao Wenshu. He helped Pan Yunzhou agree to wait while the Xiaoming Sect investigated his identity, then wrote Su Qingli a letter about his life at the sect; the chapter ended with Tao Wenshu telling Zheng Zhuxi that the sect leader’s Iron Crown represented responsibility.

• Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi returned to the Xiaoming Sect, where Tao Wenshu explained Qin Guanchan’s role in the sect’s past and warned Ding Songyan about the Accumulated Evil Path’s Melt-Gold Finger.
• Ding Songyan told Tao Wenshu about Su Qingli’s letter and the Kunlun Secret Compendium, and Tao Wenshu planned to report the matter to the Imperial Court and investigate Pan Yunzhou before deciding whether to accept him as a guest elder.
• Ding Songyan relayed Tao Wenshu’s offer to Pan Yunzhou, who agreed to wait at the Xiaoming Sect for six months or a year, and the two agreed to call each other brothers.
• Ding Songyan wrote Su Qingli a letter describing the sect, his companions, his martial training, the Accumulated Evil Path, and his meeting with Pan Yunzhou.
• Zheng Zhuxi asked Tao Wenshu about Ding Songyan’s unusual abilities and the Iron Crown, and Tao Wenshu said the crown reminded sect leaders that their position was a responsibility.

Tao Wenshu told Zheng Zhuxi how she had inherited the Xiaoming Sect during a leadership crisis, and said she would eventually pass it on and reunite with Zheng Zhuxi’s father. Ding Songyan completed his Aperture Refinement visualization diagram, then traveled with Zheng Zhuxi to Dingjiang Prefecture and arrived at Xu Chang'an’s home.

• Tao Wenshu recalled how she became a Martial Grandmaster and upheld the Xiaoming Sect after its elders died, and told Zheng Zhuxi she hoped to pass on leadership someday.
• Ding Songyan completed his visualization diagram with 1,188 apertures, named it the Great Change Has the Dao Diagram, and began considering a name for his true qi.
• Ding Songyan wrote letters to Youyang and Miss Xiaoqing, then asked Zheng Zhuxi to accompany him to the prefectural city.
• Zheng Zhuxi and Ding Songyan rode to Dingjiang Prefecture, and she went to the County Yamen while he headed to Xu Chang'an’s home.
• Ding Songyan startled Ahua by asking whether the dog wanted to practice martial arts, then greeted Xu Chang'an with a beaming smile.

Ding Songyan inspected his new residence with Xu Chang'an and tested a newly acquired martial art on him, discovering that Xu Chang'an could practice both its body-tempering and qi-circulation methods. As Ding Songyan and Xu Chang'an left to celebrate their prospects with wine, Qu Zhongheng appeared and called out to Ding Songyan.

• Xu Chang'an told Ding Songyan that the Blameless Profound Art had improved his body and qi, then returned Ding Songyan's copy of Legend of the White Snake.
• Xu Chang'an reported that he had taken over the courtyard in Baoping Lane, and Ding Songyan received the red property deed and the silver advance for Legend of the White Snake.
• Ding Songyan instructed the servants at the residence and gave Xu Chang'an the Nine Primal Arts and the Positive and Reverse Circulation Chapter to test.
• Xu Chang'an practiced the first four forms of the Nine Primal Arts and the qi-circulation method, confirming he could practice both and praising the latter's strength.
• Ding Songyan and Xu Chang'an left the Ding Residence to buy wine, but Qu Zhongheng emerged from a nearby courtyard and called to Ding Songyan.

Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi responded when Qu Zhongheng’s ghost-bound Wooden Beast went berserk, and Ding used Heavenly Mind to identify the point where Zheng could disable it. Zheng destroyed the beast, but Constable Xue credited her alone and praised her rising reputation, leaving her to hide how much Ding had helped.

• Qu Zhongheng told Ding Songyan that his new Wooden Beast had malfunctioned and hurried to rescue his father after it crashed inside the courtyard.
• Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi entered the Qu Residence and found the nine-foot Wooden Beast attacking the guards with its strength and fire-oil mechanism.
• Zheng Zhuxi fought the beast while Ding Songyan suppressed its Tiger Soul and used Heavenly Mind to locate a weakness below its left ear.
• Zheng Zhuxi struck the indicated point, destroying the Tiger Soul and causing the Wooden Beast to collapse.
• Constable Xue praised Zheng Zhuxi for defeating the beast and credited her with its destruction, while she privately acknowledged Ding Songyan’s help.