Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Zhang Yuan, an outsider from a modern world with an immortal spirit root, arrives in the cultivation realm and is taken in by the powerful Li Clan. He is promised marriage to a Li daughter if he reaches Foundation Establishment.
• His talent, Heaven’s Sight, shows him three possible futures whenever he faces a situation. Its original predictions reveal that the Li Clan intends to take his spirit root and cultivation, regardless of whether he cooperates or resists.
• Zhang chooses the path in which he pretends to agree to the betrothal but avoids serious cultivation. The Li Clan eventually strips him of his spirit root, leaving him gravely injured in a ruined temple.
• Li Jiehua, the Li Clan head’s son and Zhang’s prospective brother-in-law, visits. He mocks Zhang, steals his pouch, and kicks over his fire, leaving him to freeze rather than killing him directly.
• Heaven’s Sight presents three new futures. Zhang follows the one that lets him stall Li Jiehua, warning him, “If you don’t kill me now, you’re going to die.” Li Jiehua laughs and leaves.
• Soon afterward, the cold wind stops, the fire relights itself, and a mysterious Daoist floats into the temple backward. Zhang recognizes the arrival of an expert and asks him to turn around.

Character developments

• Zhang Yuan remains composed despite betrayal and near death. He relies on Heaven’s Sight and carefully chooses actions that may lead to survival, rather than reacting with anger or pleading.
• Li Jiehua is revealed as arrogant and callous. He treats Zhang as disposable, steals from him, and leaves him to die, confident that his family’s status protects him.
• The Daoist is introduced as a powerful but enigmatic figure; his unusual entrance suggests he may not follow ordinary conventions.

Significant themes

• Fate and choice: Heaven’s Sight reveals fixed-looking futures, while Zhang tries to navigate among them through deliberate decisions.
• Exploitation and outsider status: Zhang’s apparent good fortune in joining the Li Clan masks their plan to use him for his rare spirit root.
• Power and arrogance: Li Jiehua’s confidence rests on his cultivation and family influence, while Zhang’s warning hints that this security may be misplaced.
• Composure under adversity: Zhang’s calmness and strategic speech stand in contrast to his physical helplessness.

Character interactions

• Li Jiehua addresses Zhang as “brother-in-law” mockingly, then humiliates and abandons him.
• Zhang confronts Li Jiehua with a cryptic warning, provoking amusement rather than fear.
• After Li Jiehua departs, Zhang addresses the arriving Daoist respectfully, setting up their first encounter.

Xiao Yuanjun rescued Zhang Yuan, accepted him as her disciple, and granted his request to kill Li Jiehua. After demonstrating a powerful cultivation path that Zhang Yuan had never heard of, she left him questioning what the Li Clan had concealed.

• Xiao Yuanjun asked Zhang Yuan about the Immortal Dao’s major realms, and he proposed the ant, fellow daoist, senior, and young friend realms.
• Xiao Yuanjun made Zhang Yuan her disciple, introduced herself, and offered to grant him one request.
• Zhang Yuan asked Xiao Yuanjun to kill Li Jiehua, and she sent a Miasma Wind after him.
• Li Jiehua tried to flee toward Cloud Prefecture City, but the Miasma Wind killed him and carried his head back to the ruined temple.
• Xiao Yuanjun told Zhang Yuan she was at the tenth level of qi refining and explained that her Sha Ingestion Gang Devoration Path differed from Li Jiehua’s Outer Dao foundation establishment.

Plot points and events

• Xiao Yuanjun explains the realm’s two main cultivation paths: the Outer Dao, which absorbs spiritual energy, and the stronger Sha Ingestion Gang Devoration Path, which refines heaven-and-earth gang and baleful forces. Unlike the Outer Dao, the Gang Sha path grants innate Divine Abilities and does not require a spiritual root, though progress depends heavily on one’s fortune.
• She demonstrates two abilities: [Fivefold Body-Rending Qi], a deadly attack, and [Ninefold Harmonizing Qi], which heals Zhang Yuan and restores his shattered body.
• The healing is temporary: Zhang has one month to live unless he begins Gang Sha cultivation and reaches the first level of Qi Refining. Xiao Yuanjun says she has identified the forces he needs, which are somewhere within the Eastern Bian Li Clan.
• Zhang reveals that the man Xiao Yuanjun killed was Li Houcheng’s only son. Xiao realizes she has killed the patriarch’s heir and panics. The clan is far more dangerous than its Outer Dao patriarch suggests: it has at least five Gang Sha Foundation Establishment cultivators and a Gang Sha Golden Core cultivator.
• Zhang’s [Heaven’s Sight] predicts three outcomes, all ending in his death at the hands of the Li Clan. But after Xiao Yuanjun insists she can keep them alive, the visions change: the third future now contains a chance of survival.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan is overwhelmed by the power of the Gang Sha path and grateful to Xiao Yuanjun for saving him. His hope falters when he learns the cultivation method depends on fortune, then collapses when he sees that every predicted future ends in death. He is startled when one vision changes.
• Xiao Yuanjun acts as Zhang’s teacher and healer, confidently explaining her path and offering him a route to survive. Her confidence gives way to comic alarm when she learns she killed the patriarch’s only son, but she quickly reassures Zhang that she has a plan.
• Their relationship is established as teacher and disciple: Xiao teaches and protects him, while Zhang asks for instruction and relies on her judgment.

Significant themes

• Contrasting paths and power: The Gang Sha path is presented as more potent and prestigious than the Outer Dao, but it demands exceptional fortune.
• Survival and dependency: Zhang’s life depends on both Xiao’s aid and his ability to cultivate a new path.
• Fate and possibility: [Heaven’s Sight] appears to show fixed, unavoidable deaths, yet its predictions shift, introducing the possibility that the future can change.
• Carelessness and consequences: Xiao’s impulsive killing turns their search for a cure into a potentially fatal conflict with a powerful clan.

Plot and key events

• Zhang Yuan is astonished to learn that Xiao Yuanjun has changed a future in which they were certain to die. Her plan is to avoid fleeing and instead infiltrate the Li Clan in Cloud Prefecture City, hiding “beneath the lamp” where their enemies would least expect them.
• The Li Clan gathers after Li Jiehua’s death. Patriarch Li Houcheng suspects the killer was a powerful Gang Sha Path cultivator and warns his talented nephew, Li Jieyan, not to seek revenge recklessly. Li Houjin, one of the clan’s two Foundation Establishment Celestial Persons, sets out to find the culprit.
• Xiao Yuanjun uses her third innate Divine Ability, [Severing Past and Present, Leaving or Staying], to conceal herself and Zhang Yuan. She explains it can hide their forms and karmic traces, giving them a few breaths to react even if a Celestial Person looks their way.
• Outside the city, Li Houjin’s arrival stills the rain and wind. His gaze nearly overwhelms Zhang Yuan, but he does not spot them. Xiao Yuanjun urges Zhang Yuan to stop looking and enter the city.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan’s confidence in Xiao Yuanjun grows: having seen the future change, he immediately supports her risky plan.
• Xiao Yuanjun displays strategic boldness and confidence in her Divine Ability, while teasing Zhang Yuan about hiding beneath her robe.
• Li Jieyan offers to avenge Li Jiehua, but Li Houcheng restrains him, prioritizing the clan’s promising future talent and a decisive response.
• Li Houjin’s overwhelming presence demonstrates the vast gulf between Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivators.

Significant themes

• Changing fate: Xiao Yuanjun’s unexpected action alters a future Zhang Yuan had been unable to change.
• Risk and strategy: Infiltrating the enemy’s stronghold is dangerous, but unpredictability becomes their protection.
• Power and vulnerability: Li Houjin’s presence affects the natural world, while Zhang Yuan can barely withstand his gaze.
• Ambition and restraint: Li Jieyan longs to advance and prove himself, but his elders caution him against acting before he is ready.

Xiao Yuanjun led Zhang Yuan into the Li Manor to find the life-stealing sha, which she believed could resolve his bodily problem. They found it manifested as a jade peach, but someone caught Xiao Yuanjun as she tried to take it, and the two divine abilities collided.

• Xiao Yuanjun used a divine ability to bring Zhang Yuan through the Li Manor wall and explained the Gang Sha Path to him.
• Xiao Yuanjun told Zhang Yuan that the life-stealing sha in the Li Manor could resolve his bodily problem.
• Xiao Yuanjun followed the threads of karma to a secluded courtyard that Zhang Yuan did not recognize.
• Xiao Yuanjun saw the life-stealing sha manifested as a jade peach inside the house and reached for it.
• A woman seized Xiao Yuanjun's wrist and attacked with a fierce cold current, which Xiao Yuanjun met with her miasma wind.

Plot points

• Zhang Yuan and his master, Xiao Yuanjun, break into the Li Clan manor to steal the Life-Stealing Sha, which Zhang needs to begin cultivating the Sha Ingestion Gang Devoration Path.
• They encounter Li Zhongshuang, a Qi Refining cultivator whose left eye and face are covered in unusual crystals. She can detect Xiao Yuanjun’s normally hard-to-see Divine Ability.
• Xiao Yuanjun offers repayment for the sha, and Li Zhongshuang appears to agree—then stops the Jade Peach with an icy current and challenges her to take it.
• Xiao Yuanjun uses Severing Past and Present, Leaving or Staying to seize the treasure. Li Zhongshuang counters with Fivefold Body-Rending Qi, but Xiao escapes with Zhang and the Jade Peach.
• Li Zhongshuang reveals that she still possesses a precious Taiyi heavenly gang, reforged from a supreme Outer Dao immortal spirit root. Its lingering karmic ties have somehow responded to Zhang.
• When Li Houcheng, the clan head and Li Zhongshuang’s father, arrives, she conceals what she knows about the thieves and lets them escape. He is chiefly relieved that the Taiyi heavenly gang remains safe.
• Fleeing through the rain, Zhang is elated: obtaining the Life-Stealing Sha brings him close to Qi Refining, may resolve his physical problems, and offers him a path toward longevity.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan moves from caution to exhilaration as the theft gives him hope for cultivation and survival. He questions Xiao Yuanjun’s decision to use their real names.
• Xiao Yuanjun is confident and playful, but her impulsive honesty and eagerness to steal create comic tension. Her mastery of Divine Abilities lets her overcome Li Zhongshuang and escape.
• Li Zhongshuang is composed, powerful, and enigmatic. Though she loses the sha, she shows no anger and deliberately withholds information, suggesting a hidden interest in Zhang and his karmic link to the Taiyi heavenly gang.
• Li Houcheng displays paternal concern for his daughter, while also worrying about the clan’s valuable treasure and his own position.

Significant themes

• Destiny and karmic connection: The Taiyi heavenly gang’s ties unexpectedly respond to Zhang, hinting at a significant future connection.
• Ambition and survival: The Life-Stealing Sha represents Zhang’s chance to overcome his bodily difficulties and pursue longevity.
• Secrecy and deception: The thieves use their real names despite planning a robbery, while Li Zhongshuang conceals key information to protect or investigate them.
• Power and precious resources: The clash over the sha highlights the value of cultivation treasures and the risks involved in acquiring them.

Xiao Yuanjun brought Zhang Yuan to a concealed mountain cave and taught him her Qi Refining method so he could refine [Life-Stealing Sha]. Zhang Yuan reached Qi Refining First Layer, but learned that its stolen longevity would bring increasingly deadly tribulations, and asked Xiao Yuanjun how to address the danger.

• Xiao Yuanjun fled south with Zhang Yuan, hid them in a mountain cave, and concealed their traces.
• Xiao Yuanjun explained that heavenly gang and earthly sha could take many forms, then gave Zhang Yuan the Jade Peach and her cultivation method.
• After Zhang Yuan admitted he could not read the method, Xiao Yuanjun read the Qi Refining Chapter aloud and taught it to him.
• Zhang Yuan refined the Jade Peach and attained Qi Refining First Layer, gaining the ability to steal vitality and prolong his life.
• Zhang Yuan realized [Life-Stealing Sha] would bring a life-and-death tribulation every three years, with each one growing harder, and asked Xiao Yuanjun for guidance.

Plot points

• Xiao Yuanjun explains that every earthly sha has drawbacks. The Li Clan woman’s affliction likely comes from refining [Crystalline Sha]. It can be removed by refining heavenly gang or managed with a compatible earthly sha.
• Using [Life-Stealing Sha], Zhang Yuan discovers he can perceive heavenly gang, earthly sha, and Qi Refining cultivators as lights in a star-filled vision. He identifies [Golden Carriage Baleful Sha] in the Bian Kingdom Capital.
• Unable to locate a third sha, Zhang Yuan follows Xiao Yuanjun’s advice to look within himself and discovers [Red Luan Sha], formed by his experiences with the Eastern Bian Li Clan.
• With [Life-Stealing Sha], [Red Luan Sha], and [Golden Carriage Baleful Sha], Zhang Yuan has the three sha needed to form his first innate Divine Ability—though he cannot yet use Red Luan Sha.
• Xiao Yuanjun decides they will leave for the Bian Kingdom Capital the next morning. The destination seems relatively safe because the Western Bian Chu Clan limits the Eastern Bian Li Clan’s influence there.

Character development and interactions

• Zhang Yuan shows curiosity and initiative, quickly testing his new perception and searching for the sha needed to advance.
• Xiao Yuanjun acts as his knowledgeable guide, explaining the cultivation rules and prompting him to inspect his own body. She is impressed by the potential combination of sha, though amused by the worldly implications of Golden Carriage Baleful Sha.
• Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun agree on their next move, with Xiao Yuanjun taking the lead in judging the political risks.

Significant themes

• Power has a price: Earthly sha grant abilities but carry flaws that may require balancing or suppression.
• Cultivation and perception: Zhang Yuan’s new vision reveals hidden workings of the world and the relative strength of cultivators.
• Fate reflected in experience: Red Luan Sha arises from the collapse of marital fortune, linking supernatural forces to Zhang Yuan’s personal history.
• Political power and safety: The clans’ rivalries shape where the characters can travel and how much danger they face.

Plot points and events

• Li Houcheng, head of the Eastern Bian Li Clan, visits Sun-Moon Mountain to seek forgiveness from Li Huixi, the clan’s powerful “Young Ancestor.” He reports that attackers killed his son Li Jiehua, stole the Life-Stealing Sha, and escaped; his daughter Li Zhongshuang remains unharmed and still has the Taiyi Heavenly Gang.
• Li Huixi identifies the attackers through a vision in her teacup: Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun. She realizes the conflict grew from an unequal exchange involving Zhang Yuan’s immortal spirit root, Li Jiehua’s seizure of the payment, and the resulting karmic backlash. She rules out the involvement of another aristocratic clan.
• Li Houcheng offers to hunt down the attackers, but Li Huixi tells him to leave the matter to her. She punishes him by docking half a year’s stipend and orders him to bring Li Houjin and Li Zhongshuang to the capital the next day.
• Li Houcheng asks her to revive Li Jiehua. Li Huixi warns that restoring him would redirect the karmic cost onto Li Zhongshuang. Houcheng chooses his daughter’s safety over his son’s return and accepts that Jiehua must remain dead.
• Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun reach the Bian Kingdom capital after a day of travel. Zhang remains uneasy despite Xiao’s assurances that no one is pursuing them.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Houcheng approaches in fear of losing his position, but leaves reassured that his authority is secure. His decision not to revive Li Jiehua shows that, despite grieving, he prioritizes Li Zhongshuang and the clan’s interests.
• Li Huixi displays overwhelming authority and insight, quickly understanding the hidden karmic causes of the incident. Her calm decisions suggest she is already taking action against Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun.
• Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun reach the capital together, but their contrasting reactions—Zhang’s persistent suspicion and Xiao’s impatience—underscore their different temperaments.

Significant themes

• Karma and consequences: The Li Clan’s losses stem from its own unfair dealings and Li Jiehua’s actions; resurrection would simply transfer the consequences to another family member.
• Power and hierarchy: Li Huixi’s Golden Core authority governs the clan, while titles, punishments, and decisions reflect the cultivation world’s strict order.
• Family duty and sacrifice: Houcheng lets his son remain dead to protect his daughter, choosing responsibility over personal grief.
• Uncertainty and foreboding: Though the fugitives appear safe, Zhang Yuan’s unshakable premonition hints that the danger may not be over.

Key plot points

• Zhang Yuan and his master, Xiao Yuanjun, sneak into the prosperous Bian Kingdom capital to locate the [golden carriage baleful sha]. Zhang Yuan cannot sense it yet, so they decide to wait in the city.
• They overhear that the third princess is choosing a prince consort. Since the baleful sha is associated with people of high status, Xiao Yuanjun eagerly takes Zhang Yuan to investigate.
• The selection site is strangely deserted. When the old steward offers to register them, Zhang Yuan stops him, and Xiao Yuanjun realizes the process may not care whether applicants are men or women. They flee—but the steward secretly writes Zhang Yuan’s name into the register.
• Zhang Yuan’s Heaven’s Sight reveals that he is now engaged to the third princess, Dongfang Caibai. Two possible futures end in his death; the third requires him to uncover the reason for the selection and resolve its problems.
• A supernatural Marriage Contract appears, binding Zhang Yuan and the princess in a vow whose breach means the destruction of both body and soul.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan is cautious and suspicious throughout, resisting registration because he has no wish to become a prince consort. Once the contract appears, he is alarmed by the deadly futures it reveals.
• Xiao Yuanjun is adventurous and impulsive: she brushes aside Zhang Yuan’s concerns, drags him to the residence, and then quickly flees when the situation seems suspicious. After the contract appears, she blames Zhang Yuan’s [Red Luan Sha] rather than herself.
• The old steward acts welcoming but is more calculating than he appears. Despite the pair’s escape, he secretly records Zhang Yuan’s name.
• Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun’s contrasting caution and boldness drive the episode: her curiosity draws them into trouble, while his supernatural foresight exposes the danger.

Significant themes

• Fate and binding vows: The Marriage Contract appears through karma and carries supernatural consequences, making the engagement difficult to escape.
• Risk behind opportunity: A seemingly desirable royal marriage selection conceals a dangerous, unexplained situation.
• Consequences of impulsiveness: Xiao Yuanjun’s curiosity leads the pair into a predicament, though Zhang Yuan’s connection to the [Red Luan Sha] may also be responsible.

Key plot points and events

• Xiao Yuanjun tries to destroy Zhang Yuan’s Marriage Contract with a powerful Sword Finger, but the contract’s rules of indestructibility and inseparability shatter her attack. She realizes its protections may come from a Golden Core True Lord.
• Alarmed by the implications, Xiao briefly suggests ending their master-disciple relationship, then backs down and proposes investigating the Bian Kingdom’s third princess, Dongfang Caibai, whom she suspects is central to the contract.
• At Clearbank Teahouse, they hear almost nothing about the princess or her consort selection, heightening their suspicion that the matter is being deliberately kept quiet.
• Li Jiejian of the Eastern Bian Li Clan approaches and invites them upstairs to meet his fifth uncle, Li Houxuan. Zhang Yuan boasts that Xiao is at the peak of ninth-revolution Qi Refining, prompting Li Jiejian to treat her with respect.
• Li Houxuan reveals that he knows Xiao passed the [Beggar Trial] and asks her to explain how she succeeded, promising a generous reward.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiao Yuanjun shifts from confidence in her ability to sever the bond to caution once she encounters the contract’s impossible protections. She remains resourceful, disguising her concern and deciding to gather information before acting.
• Zhang Yuan stays observant and cautious, while also using Xiao’s claimed cultivation to establish their status with the Li Clan.
• Li Jiejian initially reacts angrily after being mistaken for a teahouse attendant, but conducts himself respectfully once he learns Xiao’s supposed rank.
• Li Houxuan approaches Xiao as someone whose experience with the Beggar Trial may be valuable, offering payment for her knowledge.

Significant themes

• Limits of individual power: Even Xiao’s extraordinary cultivation cannot overcome rules potentially set by a far stronger figure.
• Hidden influence and uncertainty: The marriage contract and the silence around the princess suggest a larger, concealed scheme.
• Reputation and social standing: Xiao’s stated cultivation changes how the Li Clan treats the pair, while their poverty contrasts with her formidable power.
• Practical alliance and exchange: Li Houxuan’s offer presents Xiao’s hard-won experience as a commodity that may help secure resources or information.

Key plot points

• Li Houxuan, an Eight Turns Qi Refining cultivator preparing to enter Nine Turns, asks Xiao Yuanjun for advice about his first heavenly trial: the Beggar Trial.
• Xiao Yuanjun passed the trial but has little useful guidance, so she tells Zhang Yuan to explain how to survive as a beggar.
• Zhang turns the hardships of begging into a philosophy of returning to one’s natural simplicity. He advises that a beggar must guard against both natural disasters and human betrayal by “observing heavenly secrets” and “discerning human sentiment.” Li Houxuan takes the advice seriously and mistakenly credits Xiao Yuanjun.
• Xiao Yuanjun then asks about the Bian Kingdom’s third princess and her upcoming wedding, hoping to benefit from its festive fortune for her own second trial.
• Li reveals the wedding is expected to end in the deaths of the princess, the Demon Empress, and the prince consort. Decades earlier, a transformed monster replaced the original empress and gave birth to the princess. The Demon Empress is now using her daughter to steal the kingdom’s fortune, threatening Bian’s future.
• The Eastern Li and Western Chu clans plan to kill the Demon Empress and princess on the wedding day. A complication is that the prince consort’s marriage bond with the princess is fixed by fate; the clans fear the wedding could help the Demon Empress attain Golden Core. A True Lord could sever the bond, but such an intervention is unlikely. Li’s cousin, Li Houjin, is the powerful Celestial Person involved in the operation.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan reveals unexpected confidence and practical knowledge about begging, but disguises it as lofty spiritual teaching. His advice impresses Li Houxuan, who underestimates Zhang and assumes Xiao Yuanjun is the source.
• Xiao Yuanjun recognizes Zhang’s bluff but lets it work, then uses Li’s willingness to talk to gather information about the princess’s wedding.
• Li Houxuan is earnest and receptive, seeking preparation for his trial and sharing his clan’s plans. He considers Zhang’s words profound without realizing their humble, improvised origin.
• Zhang’s reaction to learning the princess is half-demon suggests he is personally unsettled by the revelation, though he does not explain why.

Significant themes

• Trials and hardship: The Beggar Trial strips away status and security, testing survival and resilience.
• Appearance versus reality: Zhang elevates deprivation into spiritual doctrine, while Li mistakes clever rhetoric for deep cultivation.
• Fate and karma: The prince consort’s fixed marriage bond complicates the clans’ plan and appears difficult to undo.
• Political power and impending decline: The Demon Empress’s scheme threatens Bian’s fortune and future rulers, turning a wedding into a planned assassination.

Plot points and events

• After leaving Li Houxuan, Zhang Yuan connects the three futures shown by [Heaven’s Sight]. He believes he can survive by resolving his betrothal to a Li Clan woman and attending the Third Princess’s wedding—but the marriage contract is still in the Li Manor, and he has no clear way to cancel it.
• Xiao Yuanjun warns that the Bian Kingdom’s “Demon Empress” is probably a Golden Core True Lord, or has power equivalent to one. The Li and Chu clans underestimate her and risk disastrous losses. Xiao Yuanjun decides they should visit the Third Princess’s Residence.
• They are welcomed by a steward who says his mistress has been waiting. On the way to the tea room, Xiao Yuanjun senses a Foundation Establishment Celestial Person. The steward then reveals himself to be a bamboo stalk brought to life by a cultivator.
• In the tea room, they meet Dongfang Caibai, the nineteen-year-old Third Princess and a Foundation Establishment Celestial Person. She casually influences Zhang Yuan’s thoughts, nearly making him accept their intimacy, but he recognizes the manipulation. Xiao Yuanjun’s presence appears to help him resist.
• Dongfang Caibai asks Zhang Yuan to attend the wedding and says he need do nothing else. When she offers becoming prince consort as sufficient reward, Zhang Yuan refuses to agree without knowing what he will gain.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan moves from anxious speculation to cautious negotiation. He recognizes that his usefulness gives him leverage and stays composed around the princess, despite her cultivation and mental influence.
• Xiao Yuanjun shows confidence in the face of a powerful cultivator and takes the lead in approaching the imperial family, suggesting she has an undisclosed plan or trump card.
• Dongfang Caibai presents herself as charming and gracious, but her subtle attempt to sway Zhang Yuan reveals her influence and the danger beneath her manner. She notices that Xiao Yuanjun is protecting him and becomes curious about her.
• The chapter’s central interaction is a tense negotiation: Caibai wants Zhang Yuan’s attendance, while Zhang Yuan demands a concrete benefit before cooperating.

Significant themes

• Fate and agency: Zhang Yuan studies his predicted futures but must still find a way to alter the circumstances that determine his survival.
• Power and leverage: His value to the empress’s side may let him negotiate despite being far weaker than the people around him.
• Deception and hidden strength: The empress’s true cultivation, the animated steward, and Caibai’s mental influence all show that appearances conceal greater power.
• Trust and control: Zhang Yuan must distinguish genuine choice from manipulation, while Xiao Yuanjun’s support helps him retain his independence.

Plot points and events

• Zhang Yuan and his master, Xiao Yuanjun, ask Third Princess Dongfang Caibai for cultivation resources. Zhang requests an earthly sha, and she gives him [Golden Carriage Baleful Sha], a red, wedding-like strip of cloth.
• Zhang recognizes the sha’s trade-off: it can bring help from someone powerful, but also symbolizes lost freedom. He suspects his arrival and the gift are part of a larger plan.
• He tells Dongfang Caibai that he is already engaged to a daughter of the Eastern Bian Li Clan, though he does not know her identity. Caibai promises her mother will dissolve the engagement before their wedding, assuming the Li daughter is from a minor branch.
• Caibai invites Zhang to stay at her residence. He understands this as a way to keep him under guard until the wedding, so he and Xiao Yuanjun move into the guest quarters.
• In private, Caibai’s mother reveals that Li Houjin of the Li Clan and Chu Miaofu of the Chu Clan have arrived and plan to kill Zhang that night. Caibai vows to protect him.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan remains cautious but willing to seek resources. He accepts the sha while recognizing that its benefits come with a cost, and privately resolves to refine it—and [Red Luan Sha]—in hopes of changing his future.
• Dongfang Caibai presents herself as generous and reassuring, but her hospitality also confines Zhang. She is acting within a plan arranged by her mother and now faces the danger of protecting him from powerful clan members.
• Xiao Yuanjun is carefree about the luxurious lodging, even as Zhang worries that his “master” is unreliable and that he is being maneuvered toward marriage.
• Zhang and Caibai negotiate openly: he discloses the engagement, and she offers to remove it. Yet neither fully controls the situation; Zhang’s freedom is limited, and Caibai’s family has assigned him a larger role.

Significant themes

• Power and entrapment: Resources and protection come with obligations, and Zhang’s new advantage may also restrict his freedom.
• Hidden schemes and fate: Events that seem unusually convenient are revealed to be carefully arranged, while Zhang searches for a way to rewrite the future.
• Political danger: Zhang is caught between the imperial family and two influential clans, making his cultivation and personal relationships part of a broader power struggle.

Zhang Yuan refined three heavenly gang and earthly sha, reached three-turn qi refining, and formed his first life-bound divine ability, [Golden Carriage Luan Chariot]. Though his view of the future remained unchanged, he gained a choice of new talents and selected [Person Viewing].

• Zhang Yuan refined [Golden Carriage Baleful Sha], reached the second layer of qi refining, and believed its protection resolved the life-and-death tribulation caused by [Life-Stealing Sha].
• Zhang Yuan refined [Red Luan Sha], reached three-turn qi refining, and sensed that his standing within heaven and earth had risen.
• Zhang Yuan formed [Golden Carriage Luan Chariot], which could heal his injuries in battle, carry him a thousand miles in a thought, and disrupt an enemy’s fate.
• Zhang Yuan checked [Heaven's Sight] and found that the three futures had not changed, but noticed that a new talent was available.
• Zhang Yuan chose [Person Viewing] over [Heavenly Nobility] and [Fallen Genius].

Key plot points and events

• Zhang Yuan chooses [Person Viewing] as his second talent, pairing it with [Heaven’s Sight] so he can read people’s tags and anticipate future events. He sees Xiao Yuanjun’s tags: [First Qi Refiner of All Time], [Heaven-Defying Comprehension], and [Target of the Great Clans’ Pursuit].
• Xiao Yuanjun reveals that the Eastern Bian Li Clan and Western Bian Chu Clan are coming to attack the Third Princess’s Residence. Their Foundation Establishment Celestials, Li Houjin and Chu Miaofu, confront Princess Dongfang Caibai, who dismisses them; a battle begins above the residence.
• Meanwhile, young disciples from both clans enter the grounds. Their leader, Li Jieyan, believes the residence holds the formidable enemy he must defeat to complete a trial on his path to becoming a Celestial Person.
• Li Jieyan recognizes Zhang Yuan, whom he had helped ruin by trading away his spiritual root. He denies knowing him, then attacks him with a sinister palm technique.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan gains a new way to assess people and looks forward to testing his newly formed life-bound ability in combat.
• Xiao Yuanjun remains composed in the face of danger, reassuring Zhang that she and he only need to handle the younger disciples while Dongfang Caibai deals with the Celestials.
• Li Jieyan is shocked to find Zhang Yuan alive, but quickly turns hostile and decides to kill him. His cousin Li Jiejian is confused by their connection.
• Dongfang Caibai’s curt rejection of the two clan leaders signals that she will not cooperate with their supposed effort to help her.

Significant themes

• Power and survival: Zhang Yuan prioritizes immediate survival over talents whose benefits might come only in the distant future.
• Fate and trials: Li Jieyan’s divination has drawn him to the residence, where he expects to face a trial-defining enemy.
• Hidden identities and judgment: Zhang Yuan’s new talent reveals meaningful labels, while Li Jieyan conceals his connection to Zhang and dismisses him as an outsider.
• Escalating conflict: The clash between powerful clans and the residence sets the stage for Zhang Yuan’s personal reckoning with one of the people responsible for his past misfortune.

Plot points and events

• Li Jieyan opens with his signature Netherworld Soul-Erasing Seal, intending to kill Zhang Yuan, but Xiao Yuanjun’s Miasma Wind extinguishes the attack effortlessly.
• Xiao’s Fivefold Body-Rending Qi strikes Li Jieyan, rotting parts of his flesh. She orders Zhang Yuan to stand back and says she will handle Li Jieyan and his two companions, Chu Ruifeng and Chu Xiyin.
• Zhang Yuan uses Person Viewing to inspect the intruders’ tags. He notices that Li Jieyan bears the ominous black tag [Bloody Calamity], while most of the other cultivators have comparatively ordinary tags.
• Zhang also spots a cloaked Li Clan woman, Li Zhongshuang, whose two gold tags mark her as unusually gifted. She realizes Zhang may be the man to whom she is betrothed—and that the Taiyi Heavenly Gang she refined may originally have been his Immortal Spirit Root.
• Xiao Yuanjun takes to the air and traps Li Jieyan and the two Chu cultivators within her Fivefold Body-Rending Qi and Ninefold Harmonizing Qi. They join forces against her, while the other cultivators form a separate battlefield.
• Once the fighting moves away, Li Jiejian asks Zhang why he and Xiao are at the Third Princess’s Residence. Zhang explains that he is now the Third Princess’s chosen husband, leaving Li Jiejian speechless.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiao Yuanjun demonstrates overwhelming power and protectiveness, taking charge of the fight and shielding Zhang from the strongest enemies.
• Zhang Yuan remains observant and adaptable, using his new ability to assess both threats and hidden potential. He also reveals his unexpected marriage arrangement with disarming candor.
• Li Jieyan shifts from arrogant certainty to alarm when his prized attack fails, then recognizes Xiao as his trial’s opponent and rallies his allies to attack her.
• Li Zhongshuang connects Zhang’s betrothal to her own hidden status as Li Houcheng’s illegitimate daughter. She feels guilty for Zhang’s near-death and concludes that the Heavenly Gang she refined may have belonged to him.
• Li Jiejian is bewildered by Zhang and Xiao’s sudden involvement in the conflict, especially because their clans are committed to destroying the Third Princess’s faction.

Significant themes

• Hidden identities and fate: Zhang’s betrothal, Li Zhongshuang’s concealed lineage, and the possible connection between Zhang and the Heavenly Gang suggest that personal histories are intertwined.
• Power and overconfidence: Li Jieyan assumes clan status and cultivation rank guarantee victory, only to be humbled by Xiao’s strength.
• Perception and concealed potential: Zhang’s tag-reading ability reveals both ominous destinies and rare talent that ordinary appearances hide.
• Loyalty amid political conflict: Zhang and Xiao’s choice to stand with the Third Princess places them against powerful clans—and against Li Jiejian’s expectations.

Plot points

• Li Jiejian apologizes to Zhang Yuan before carrying out his Lineage’s order to kill him. Zhang instead attacks without warning, striking him with [Golden Carriage Luan Chariot].
• Li Jiejian responds with [Earth-Blocking Plow], a defensive, trapping ability. Zhang distracts him with a feint, recalls the carriage, and escapes once he realizes the ability could trap him. He concludes that learning an opponent’s Divine Ability—and knowing when to withdraw—is essential in spell battles.
• Zhang discovers that he cannot leave the Third Princess’s Residence, suggesting the grounds have been sealed off. He observes Xiao Yuanjun fighting Li Jieyan, Chu Xiyin, and Chu Ruifeng.
• The three attackers cannot defeat Xiao Yuanjun despite their combined efforts. Chu Xiyin tries to recruit her, then she and Chu Ruifeng abandon Li Jieyan and flee.
• Left alone, Li Jieyan blames the conflict on his second uncle. Xiao Yuanjun refuses to listen and attacks with [Fivefold Body-Rending Qi]. His [Dragon-Snake Sky-Sealing Art] fails to stop it, and the Miasma Wind begins dissolving his body and soul.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan shows himself to be cautious and opportunistic: he exploits Li Jiejian’s hesitation, uses deception to gain an advantage, then withdraws rather than risk being trapped.
• Li Jiejian is inexperienced in combat and becomes angry at Zhang’s tactics. His Divine Ability poses a potential threat, but Zhang avoids a prolonged fight.
• Xiao Yuanjun proves overwhelmingly powerful and resolute, framing her actions as revenge for her disciple rather than service to anyone.
• Chu Xiyin and Chu Ruifeng shift from fighting to bargaining, then quickly abandon Li Jieyan when the danger becomes clear. Their retreat leaves him isolated.
• Li Jieyan is betrayed by his allies and faces Xiao Yuanjun’s lethal attack, despite his high cultivation.

Significant themes

• Caution and tactical retreat: Survival can matter more than winning every fight.
• Information and deception: Knowing an enemy’s abilities—and misleading them—can decide a battle.
• Inexperience versus strength: Rank and resources do not guarantee combat competence.
• Betrayal and loyalty: The Chu siblings’ self-preservation contrasts with Xiao Yuanjun’s loyalty to her disciple.

Plot points and events

• After Li Jieyan is killed by Xiao Yuanjun, she chooses to let Chu Ruifeng and Chu Xiyin escape rather than provoke the Western Bian Chu Clan as well as the Eastern Bian Li Clan.
• Zhang Yuan returns in a golden carriage, but the Third Princess’s Residence remains sealed by powerful opponents. Xiao Yuanjun advises him to stay put rather than risk an escape.
• Above the residence, Dongfang Caibai brings her battle with Li Houjin and Chu Miaofu to a halt. The three have suffered no major injuries, but Caibai has proved far harder to defeat than they expected.
• The rival clans withdraw, and the residence grows calm again. Dongfang Caibai visits Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun, identifies Xiao Yuanjun as the notorious thief who has raided aristocratic clans across four kingdoms, and jokes that she could trade her in for a Heavenly Gang. Xiao Yuanjun responds cautiously.
• Zhang Yuan watches their tense exchange and wonders whether his Person Viewing ability can reveal information about a Foundation Establishment Celestial.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiao Yuanjun remains confident and protective of Zhang Yuan, but Dongfang Caibai’s recognition makes her wary. She also enjoys the prospect of impressing Zhang Yuan with her past reputation.
• Zhang Yuan shows restraint: although Li Jieyan was an enemy, he declines the chance to confront him, recognizing the danger of a dying counterattack. He remains dependent on Xiao Yuanjun’s protection.
• Dongfang Caibai demonstrates exceptional strength and composure, holding her own against two older Foundation Establishment Celestials. She checks on Zhang Yuan before questioning Xiao Yuanjun, whose identity she has pieced together from her abilities and combat display.
• Li Houjin treats Li Jieyan’s death as inconsequential, valuing the clan’s power and his own potential rise above the younger generation. Chu Miaofu, by contrast, openly threatens Caibai, warning that she will die on her wedding day.

Significant themes

• Power and ambition: Caibai’s strength threatens the aristocratic clans’ influence, especially if she and the Demon Empress attain Golden Core status.
• Family loyalty versus utility: Li Houjin’s cold response to Li Jieyan’s death reveals how ruthlessly the clan measures its members by usefulness.
• Reputation and concealment: Xiao Yuanjun’s fame precedes her, while her hidden movements and Caibai’s knowledge create uncertainty about whether the conversation is a warning or an offer.
• Caution and survival: Zhang Yuan’s refusal to pursue revenge illustrates the practical limits imposed by differences in cultivation and power.

Key plot points and events

• Zhang Yuan finally sees Dongfang Caibai’s tags: Celestial Person Suchen, Qingqiu White Fox, True Lord’s Daughter, Rebellious Nature, and Filial Daughter in Mourning. The first three are gold, while the last two are gray.
• The tags suggest that Caibai is a fox spirit, the empress is a Golden Core True Lord, and Caibai may be plotting against her mother.
• Caibai senses someone watching her through Zhang Yuan’s eyes. Zhang Yuan pretends he was admiring the moon, and she lets the excuse pass—though she privately suspects her mother is observing her through him.
• Concerned that powerful cultivators might detect his ability, Zhang Yuan decides to avoid using it around Golden Core True Lords.
• In private, Xiao Yuanjun uses a divine ability to block eavesdropping and Heavenly Secrets. Zhang Yuan tells her that Caibai and the empress are at odds and that Caibai may betray her on the wedding day. He conceals the true source of his knowledge, attributing it to a glimpse of karma through his Golden Carriage Luan Chariot.
• Xiao Yuanjun and Zhang Yuan suspect another Golden Core True Lord is backing Caibai. They consider the Li and Chu clans, with Xiao Yuanjun judging a Chu Clan True Lord in the capital more likely.
• They resolve to investigate and seek contact with the Western Bian Chu Clan to improve their chances in the looming power struggle.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan shows caution and quick improvisation: he hides his talent from Caibai and gives Xiao Yuanjun a false explanation for his discovery. He also recognizes that survival may require shifting alliances.
• Dongfang Caibai appears cheerful and courteous, but her tags and private reasoning suggest concealed rebellious intentions. She suspects the empress is watching her through Zhang Yuan.
• Xiao Yuanjun trusts Zhang Yuan’s warning and immediately reassesses the political situation, moving from confidence in the empress’s advantage to concern about a contest between True Lords.
• Zhang and Xiao Yuanjun work as a cautious team, sharing deductions and planning their next moves.

Significant themes

• Secrecy and surveillance: Zhang Yuan’s talent gives him information, but Caibai’s perception reveals the risk of being watched in return.
• Betrayal and hidden motives: Caibai’s apparent filial devotion conflicts with signs of rebellion.
• Political power and survival: The conflict may involve multiple Golden Core True Lords, making alliances and careful maneuvering essential.
• Trust and concealment: Zhang Yuan relies on Xiao Yuanjun while still guarding the secret behind his abilities.