Chapter Summaries

Yang Qing opened the wooden box and obtained the Nine-Section Whip, which concealed itself inside his body and appeared when he summoned it. After learning it was a symbol of power and a potent instrument for governing the world, Yang Qing resolved to keep it hidden from Emperor Zetian and asked how to seal it away.

• Yang Qing opened the wooden box, caught a slippery object that pierced his palm, and watched the box crumble into ash.
• Deputy General Black Tortoise explained that the Nine-Section Whip had taken the form of a scar in Yang Qing's palm and would appear when summoned.
• Yang Qing summoned the whip, but Deputy General Black Tortoise warned him that a lash could destroy the shelter.
• Deputy General Black Tortoise revealed that the Nine-Section Whip was a symbol of power used to govern the world, and Yang Qing decided not to reveal it to Emperor Zetian.
• Yang Qing asked Deputy General Black Tortoise how he could temporarily seal away the Nine-Section Whip.

Yang Qing decided to suppress the Nine-Section Whip’s spiritual energy for two days to conceal it from Emperor Zetian while he dealt with other dangers. After the Deputy General vanished and Yang Qing’s group escaped the Lake, they found Wood’s clansmen dead around the Old Clan Chief’s cabin, with no visible wounds or signs of poisoning.

• Yang Qing explained that he wanted to conceal the Nine-Section Whip to avoid needless fighting, and the Deputy General warned that its traces could not be hidden completely.
• Yang Qing chose to suppress the Nine-Section Whip’s spiritual energy for two days, despite being unable to summon it while it was sealed.
• The Deputy General taught Yang Qing the sealing and release incantations, then vanished after exhausting his strength.
• Yang Qing and the others escaped the stone cave as lake water and whirlpools rushed in.
• Yang Qing’s group returned to the Old Clan Chief’s cabin and found Wood’s clansmen dead, with no wounds or signs of poisoning.

Yang Qing and the others found Wood’s clansmen dead, apparently terrified to death by something overwhelmingly powerful. A dying clansman’s cryptic verse led Wood to reveal that the Hidden Clan knew of a Ghost Flower, also called the Flower of Death, which appeared when someone was about to die.

• Yang Qing examined the bodies and concluded that the clansmen had been frightened to death by a being far stronger than them.
• Yang Qing asked Wood to search for surviving clansmen, and Wood found one dying man in a nearby house.
• The dying clansman recited a cryptic verse about flowers before he died, leaving Wood with only a memorial tablet as a clue.
• Wood told Yang Qing and the others that the Hidden Clan had a special connection to flowers, though they did not grow ordinary ones.
• Wood explained that the Ghost Flower appeared where they stood only when someone or a group was about to die.

Yang Qing, Wood, Bu Er, and Jiang Zhizhou laid the dead Hidden Clan members to rest and prepared to leave with the Black Tortoise Heavy Armor. As they considered Emperor Zetian’s ambitions, Wood suddenly remembered another meaning of the Ghost Flower and warned of its deadly threat.

• Wood explained that the Hidden Clan gave water burials to the honored dead, then carried the corpses into the Lake.
• Yang Qing, Bu Er, and Jiang Zhizhou helped Wood lower the remaining bodies into the water.
• After burying the last clansman, Wood turned to leave with Yang Qing and the others.
• Bu Er warned that Emperor Zetian might target both them and the Black Tortoise Heavy Armor, and Yang Qing speculated that the emperor sought power beyond the mortal world.
• Wood suddenly remembered another circumstance in which the Ghost Flower appeared and urgently declared, “Death to anyone who stands in my way!”

Yang Qing and his companions found the Hidden Clan clansmen dead and realized the killings were a warning from Emperor Zetian, so they left the lakeside before the settlement sank beneath the water. On their way out, they discovered a stranger hiding in a Bronze Cauldron and wondered how he had entered the Hidden Clan’s secret settlement.

• Yang Qing concluded that the dead Hidden Clan members had been used as tools and that their deaths were meant to warn him and his companions.
• Yang Qing rejected Wood’s suggestion to search for clues and led everyone away from the lakeside, fearing the area would soon be submerged.
• Yang Qing told his companions to conceal what they could carry so Emperor Zetian would not know their full strength.
• Yang Qing and the others watched the familiar settlement disappear underwater, then followed Wood through the Secret Passage into the valley.
• The group found a stranger hiding inside a Bronze Cauldron, and Wood realized the vanished settlement’s Spatial Forbidden Art had failed, letting an outsider enter.

Mo Yang, a mute trapped in a hidden cave, encountered Yang Qing and his companions and asked to leave with them. They agreed to take him along while keeping an eye on him, as Emperor Zetian’s forces were approaching.

• Mo Yang woke inside a Bronze Cauldron and realized Yang Qing and the others had appeared in the cave.
• Yang Qing and his companions found that Mo Yang was mute and initially left him behind, believing he was an ordinary stranger.
• Mo Yang blocked their path and explained that he had been lost in the cave for days and could not find an exit.
• Yang Qing agreed to let Mo Yang travel with them, warning him that he would have to keep up on his own.
• Yang Qing and the others set out with Mo Yang, intending to investigate his mysterious origins as they went.

Yang Qing and the others led Mo Yang out of the Mountain Cave, while Wood mourned the Hidden Clan’s departure and destroyed the entrance. At the mountain’s foot, Yang Qing said goodbye to Mo Yang, who admitted he had nowhere to go.

• The Hidden Clan members scattered after leaving the Mountain Cave, leaving Wood alone with Yang Qing and the others.
• Yang Qing comforted Wood, who struck the Mountain Cave and caused most of it to collapse.
• Yang Qing and the others ignored the illusion that trapped Mo Yang and walked down the mountain with him following close behind.
• After two hours, Yang Qing reached the mountain’s foot and offered Mo Yang a farewell salute.
• Mo Yang told Yang Qing that he had nowhere to go.

Yang Qing allowed the amnesiac Mo Yang to travel with his group after Mo Yang explained he had nowhere else to go. As they left the mountain, Yang Qing’s enemies caught up with them, and he asked Mo Yang whether he knew how to fight.

• Mo Yang told Yang Qing that he remembered only his name and had no money or place to go, so Yang Qing agreed to let him join them for now.
• Yang Qing chose a direction from the unfamiliar mountain foothills, and Wood told Mo Yang to follow Yang Qing’s orders.
• Mo Yang obeyed the group as they traveled, while Yang Qing warned him that enemies might come after them.
• Yang Qing sensed that their pursuers had arrived and asked Mo Yang whether he had learned any skills for fighting.

Yang Qing's group was surrounded by death warriors, and Mo Yang unexpectedly revealed formidable fighting skills. The battle continued with Mo Yang under heavy attack as Yang Qing's allies moved to protect him and fight their way out.

• Mo Yang recognized the approaching attackers as death warriors, and Yang Qing realized they intended to wear down and kill his group.
• Bu Er struck first, beheading one attacker, while the others attacked Yang Qing, Mo Yang, and their companions.
• Yang Qing used the Nine-Section Whip to badly injure an attacker, but the effort drained his strength.
• Mo Yang killed another attacker with a swift, mysterious move, prompting the death warriors to target him more fiercely.
• Yang Qing told his companions to protect Mo Yang as the group remained surrounded and fought for a way to survive.

Yang Qing and his companions survived a battle against Emperor Zetian’s death warriors and traveled to a village to find food and rest. At the village entrance, they encountered an unfriendly man holding a Green Dragon Crescent Blade, and Yang Qing asked his name.

• Yang Qing and his companions fought through the death warriors, while Mo Yang battled with striking ferocity.
• Bu Er told Mo Yang that he had passed the test but should avoid fighting when possible, and the group hurried away before more pursuers arrived.
• The five chose the left fork in the road and, finding no more pursuers, continued toward a village they spotted ahead.
• Yang Qing stopped Bu Er and Wood from entering the village in their bloodstained clothes, so the group washed and changed beside a river.
• At the village entrance, a middle-aged man confronted the group and threatened them with a Green Dragon Crescent Blade, prompting Yang Qing to ask his name.

Yang Qing and his companions were stopped at a village entrance by a blade-wielding man who suspected they came from Nameless Mountain and demanded they polish a cauldron to pass. After Yang Qing recognized the man's ties to Emperor Zetian's plans, the man attacked him, but Yang Qing's shoulder remained unharmed, and Yang Qing began to manipulate the man's greed.

• The blade-wielding man questioned Yang Qing and his companions about their identities and accused them of coming from Nameless Mountain.
• Yang Qing argued that the village should let them pass, but the man ordered them to polish a schoolhouse cauldron within an hour.
• Yang Qing asked what the man thought of Emperor Zetian reclaiming dominion over heaven and earth, exposing the man’s connection to the plan to delay them.
• The man called Yang Qing a slave and swung his blade at his left shoulder, but Yang Qing was unharmed.
• The man noticed Yang Qing’s apparent treasure and admitted that heavenly treasures belonged to those capable of claiming them, and Yang Qing offered to help him prove his ability.

Yang Qing realized the village’s Qi-Gathering Formation was dangerous and that its residents were hiding what it did. Though the burly man offered the group a path around the village, Yang Qing changed his mind because of the scholar tree.

• Yang Qing noticed the man’s unstable footing and asked what the villagers intended to do.
• The man ordered Yang Qing and his companions to stop as they cleared leaves from the scholar tree, which concealed a Qi-Gathering Formation.
• Yang Qing recognized that damage to the formation could turn it into a Wealth-Scattering Formation and eventually cause soul seizure and body snatching.
• Yang Qing concluded that the formation threatened his group too, so he insisted on entering the village despite the approaching pursuers.
• The man revealed a hidden path around the village, but Yang Qing said he had changed his mind because of the scholar tree.

Yang Qing and his companions confronted the village chief after discovering a secret in the great locust tree, and the chief’s attempt to attack Bu Er ended with his hand broken. The chief stopped his villagers from fighting, then became fascinated by Bu Er’s Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers and asked about its name.

• Yang Qing challenged the village chief over the secret in the locust tree, and the chief threatened the group before striking at Bu Er.
• The chief’s hand broke mysteriously as he attacked Bu Er, leaving him terrified by the group’s skill.
• The villagers surrounded Yang Qing and his companions, but the chief shouted for them to stop.
• Bu Er put away his concealed wooden box and mentioned the Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers, prompting the chief to question him about it.
• Bu Er rejected the chief’s personal questions, and the chief finally asked the group why the Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers bore its name.

Yang Qing and his companions forced the village chief to let them enter by threatening the pagoda tree with Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers. They searched for a way to destroy the village’s Qi-Gathering Mother-Child Formation, but the villagers refused to evacuate, leaving the group to tackle the formations themselves.

• The village chief recognized Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers and warned Yang Qing that it was a deadly weapon, but relented when Bu Er pressed it against the pagoda tree.
• Yang Qing’s group entered the village, where he sensed something spreading and learned the puppets could have helped map the area.
• Yang Qing and his companions took the overlooked path while secretly probing the village and searching for the Qi-Gathering Formation.
• Yang Qing urged the villagers to evacuate because a deceptive aura was tainting them, but they refused to leave their homes or disobey the village chief.
• Yang Qing realized the formation was a Qi-Gathering Mother-Child Formation and that every mother and child formation had to be destroyed to stop it completely.

Yang Qing left the village after realizing its people regarded the harmful Qi-Gathering Formation as a treasure and would resist outsiders who tried to destroy it. He planned to wait nearby overnight, expecting the Village Chief to claim the formation’s power, then return in the morning.

• Yang Qing questioned the Village Chief about how he had learned of the Qi-Gathering Formation, but the man refused to share what he knew.
• Yang Qing led Bu Er and the others out of the village without searching for the formation, puzzling both the Village Chief and his companions.
• Yang Qing explained that the villagers would oppose anyone who tried to destroy what they considered their treasure, but would likely turn against one another when its benefits were at stake.
• Yang Qing decided the group had gone far enough and would camp nearby, believing the Village Chief would enter the formation with trusted followers that night to claim its peak power.
• Yang Qing told Bu Er he had hoped to help the villagers suffer less, but they had rejected his offer.

Yang Qing returned to the village and waited for the villagers’ greed to strengthen the Qi-Gathering Formation before ordering Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou to attack it. As lightning struck the great locust tree, the formation’s fate remained unknown.

• Yang Qing and his companions returned to find the village deserted, with the villagers gathered at the great locust tree.
• Yang Qing chose to wait outside the village so the villagers would keep feeding the Qi-Gathering Formation, which he wanted destroyed.
• Yang Qing and his companions saw the formation absorb spiritual energy from the villagers and realized that their presence was strengthening it.
• Yang Qing waited until the formation’s light grew brighter, then ordered Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou to move.
• Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou unleashed Sword Qi, and a bolt of lightning struck the top of the great locust tree.

Yang Qing and his companions destroyed the Qi-Gathering Formation hidden in the old locust tree and discovered it had been anchored by the bodies of many victims. After the survivors abandoned the village, Yang Qing ordered his group to search for other suspicious places that might be part of the Primordial High God’s larger scheme.

• Sword Qi redirected the lightning away from Yang Qing and his companions, but it struck villagers beneath the locust tree.
• Yang Qing urged Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou to destroy the formation before it caused more harm.
• Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou split open the locust tree, revealing numerous human remains inside it.
• Yang Qing ordered the tree burned, and the surviving villagers left the village with their families.
• Yang Qing and his companions realized the village chief was missing and discussed the possibility that he had fled.
• Yang Qing ordered his companions to search nearby for other places that felt suspicious, believing the Primordial High God was pursuing a larger plan.

Yang Qing learned that Emperor Zetian had spent forty-nine days on Rosy Cloud Mountain, a growing mound rumored to be a ladder to the heavens. Suspecting the mountain was part of Emperor Zetian’s plan to return to the Heavenly Realm, Yang Qing decided to investigate the coast.

• Bu Er and Wood reported that strange incidents across nearby villages were connected to Rosy Cloud Mountain.
• Bu Er revealed that Emperor Zetian had visited Rosy Cloud Mountain half a month earlier and stayed there for forty-nine days.
• Yang Qing reasoned that the Emperor they had encountered earlier might have been an impostor, while the real Emperor had gone to Rosy Cloud Mountain to prepare a route back to the Heavenly Realm.
• Yang Qing connected the mountain’s newly reported miracles to the six months they had spent in the Hidden Clan’s secret grounds.
• Yang Qing decided to travel to the coast with the others to investigate Rosy Cloud Mountain and the divine wood, while Mo Yang asked where they were going.

Yang Qing and his companions found Rosy Cloud Mountain impossible to climb despite its modest appearance, then discovered a concealed Reversal formation. Bu Er climbed a tree to investigate and called down for everyone to join him.

• Mo Yang recognized the small hill on Sihai Shore as Rosy Cloud Mountain, and Yang Qing led the group up its broad path.
• Bu Er and the others walked for more than half an incense stick's time, but the summit remained just as far away as before.
• Yang Qing realized a concealed Reversal formation was stopping them and proved it by throwing a stone that halted short of a tree.
• Yang Qing sent Bu Er to climb the tree to get a higher view.
• After a long delay, Bu Er called down from above, telling Yang Qing and the others to climb the tree.

Yang Qing and his companions discovered a treetop path leading to the summit of Rosy Cloud Mountain and decided to wait until morning before attempting it. As they considered Emperor Zetian’s plans, Yang Qing realized the emperor intended to seize his Flesh Embryo to return to the Heavenly Realm, and resolved to stop him.

• Bu Er showed Yang Qing and the others a suspended path formed by the treetops that led toward the summit of Rosy Cloud Mountain.
• Yang Qing told the group to memorize the trees’ positions and wait until morning before attempting the difficult route.
• Yang Qing reflected that Emperor Zetian had manipulated their lives and gathered Evil Spirits to support his attempt to return to the Heavenly Realm.
• Yang Qing learned that Emperor Zetian needed to seize his Flesh Embryo to return, and vowed to ruin the plan.