Chapter Summaries

Concise chapter summary

Key plot points and events

• Chu Jiayu arrives disguised in black and reveals what he has uncovered: Lan Jinyi murdered Chu Jiayu’s family, including a wealthy merchant who had been asked to help buy Chu Jiayu as a child. The merchant’s surviving son identified Lan Jinyi and provided letters as proof.
• Having once mistaken Lan Jinyi for his benefactor, Chu Jiayu now seeks revenge. Song Yaoyao urges him to act strategically: use Purple Dawn Hall’s finances to cut off support to the Fuyang Sect, while pretending everything is normal and quietly stalling any requests for money.
• Song asks the emperor to accept Chu Jiayu’s submission and let him earn redemption through service. The emperor approves.
• Over the next six months, the Fuyang Sect’s sub-halls descend into disorder without Chu Jiayu’s funding. Song Yaoyao dismantles them one by one, leaving Lan Jinyi as the last remaining leader.
• Song stops hiding her identity to draw Lan Jinyi out. He attacks with more than thirty assassins, but Song’s Gatling gun quickly defeats them. Song Yi and the others prevent Lan Jinyi’s escape, and he is captured.
• Song confronts Lan Jinyi about his rebellion, then tells him that his mother, Lan Mo, has been executed and that he has been expelled from the grassland tribes. Lan Jinyi realizes why his letters received no reply, but rejects Song’s claim that he was merely a pawn in his mother’s love.

Character developments

• Chu Jiayu learns that his former benefactor was his family’s murderer. He shifts from loyal service to a determined pursuit of revenge, but agrees to work with Song and submit to the Imperial Court.
• Song Yaoyao demonstrates political as well as military skill: she turns an enemy sub-hall into an ally, uses economic pressure to dismantle the Fuyang Sect, and carefully baits Lan Jinyi into a final confrontation.
• Lan Jinyi is exposed as a defeated rebel whose cause was tied to an unacknowledged father he never knew. His anger and refusal to accept Song’s interpretation reveal how deeply he clings to his own sense of purpose.

Significant themes

• Strategic mercy and political pragmatism: Song argues that winning Chu Jiayu’s service is more valuable than simply killing him.
• Revenge and misplaced loyalty: Chu Jiayu’s devotion to Lan Jinyi is overturned by the truth, while Lan Jinyi’s rebellion is framed as serving a personal, possibly futile ideal.
• Power through more than force: Song weakens the Fuyang Sect through money and internal disorder before using force against its leader.
• Identity and recognition: Lan Jinyi’s illegitimate status and his father’s ignorance of his existence shape the chapter’s conflict over whether his cause has meaning.

Character interactions

• Song and Chu Jiayu move from suspicion to cooperation: she directs his revenge toward a plan that serves the Imperial Court, and he agrees to follow her instructions.
• Song reports Chu Jiayu’s offer to the emperor; the emperor trusts her judgment and authorizes the arrangement.
• In their final confrontation, Song taunts Lan Jinyi about the futility of his rebellion and reveals his losses. Lan Jinyi responds with rage and denial rather than accepting her account.

Key events

• Song Yaoyao orders Song Yi to kill Lan Jinyi, then has her followers search the bodies and dispose of them with Corpse Dissolving Powder.
• She reports the incident to the emperor, reassuring him. Over the next two years, she travels widely and intervenes decisively when she encounters injustice.
• On the way to the mysterious Witch Tribe, her party passes a funeral procession and stops overnight at a village. The village chief warns them not to investigate any strange sounds that night.
• Song Yaoyao senses the village’s unusual atmosphere and asks Guagua for an explanation. Guagua reveals the story of Qingchuan, a local woman who has entered into five ghost marriages, largely to obtain money.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao remains resolute and practical: she acts without hesitation against Lan Jinyi, but follows the village chief’s warning while her party is still unfamiliar with the area.
• Her followers have grown accustomed to searching corpses because Song Yaoyao lets them keep any silver they find.
• Qingchuan was orphaned young and raised by You Chen, a mortician from the Witch Tribe. Though he wanted to teach her his trade, she avoided learning it, preferring not to work with the dead.
• After You Chen’s death, Qingchuan ran out of money and saw a ghost marriage as a way to secure wealth. She married Qiu Chengye, a deceased merchant’s son, then fled with the valuables Qiu Lin provided. After spending the money, she arranged more ghost marriages—five in total.
• The village chief refuses to explain his warning, while Song Yi presses him for details. Later, Song Yaoyao and Guagua discuss Qingchuan’s history, with Song Yaoyao reacting with astonishment at the extent of her scheme.

Significant themes

• Survival and opportunism: Qingchuan turns a funeral custom into a source of income after failing to prepare for life on her own.
• Custom, belief, and exploitation: The ghost marriage is presented as a ritual meant to comfort the bereaved and benefit the deceased, but Qingchuan uses it for personal gain.
• Prudence amid mystery: The village’s fearful silence and the chief’s warning establish an eerie, unresolved threat as Song Yaoyao’s party approaches the Witch Tribe.

Plot points and events

• Guagua explains that Qingchuan once accepted betrothal silver from five families and willingly entered five ghost marriages, not believing ghosts existed. The Underworld recognizes the marriages as valid, so the five dead men now visit her each night.
• The ghosts have not harmed Qingchuan, but their constant visits and fighting have left her exhausted. She regrets what she did and has tried to find religious help, but no one can intervene because the marriages were made willingly.
• Song Yaoyao asks Guagua to show her what happens when the ghosts arrive. After falling asleep, she wakes to watch the broadcast.
• The five ghosts appear neat and almost ordinary, having dressed carefully to impress their living wife. Qingchuan begs them to leave and offers to return their gifts, but one insists that accepting them makes her his wife.
• Two ghosts start fighting, then another pair follows. While Qingchuan hides beneath her quilt, the ghosts pull it away and startle her. The final ghost tries to distinguish himself by praising his manners and cooking, but Qingchuan covers her ears to avoid his chatter.

Character developments

• Qingchuan is revealed as deeply regretful and frightened, trapped by a choice she once made for money. Her repeated pleas show how badly the nightly visits have worn her down.
• Song Yaoyao is curious but nervous about seeing ghosts; she watches the encounter as if it were a horror film.
• The five ghosts are shown as possessive and competitive, yet also eager to impress Qingchuan. Their rivalry repeatedly overwhelms their attempts to court her.

Character interactions

• Guagua explains the rules and history of Qingchuan’s ghost marriages to Song Yaoyao and arranges the viewing.
• Qingchuan pleads with the ghosts to stop visiting, while they insist on their marital claims.
• The ghosts argue and fight among themselves over Qingchuan; one also competes by presenting himself as the most suitable husband.

Significant themes

• Consequences and regret: Qingchuan’s decision, made without belief in its consequences, becomes binding and difficult to undo.
• Consent versus obligation: The marriages are legally valid in the Underworld, but Qingchuan’s present refusal clashes with the ghosts’ insistence that the old agreement still defines her.
• Dark comedy and horror: The ghosts’ absurd courtship rivalry and domestic boasts contrast with Qingchuan’s genuine distress and Song Yaoyao’s frightened fascination.

Plot points and events

• After a night of chaos, five male ghosts fight over Qingchuan and call her their wife. The brawl destroys part of her courtyard, while Qingchuan begs them not to return.
• Song Yi asks whether they should investigate, but Song Yaoyao orders everyone to stay inside and ignore the disturbance. She believes Qingchuan must face the consequences of her own choices.
• At dawn, the ghosts leave, promising to visit again. Song Yaoyao and her group then depart the village.
• A day later, they arrive in a town within the Witch Tribe’s territory. The innkeeper explains that travelers normally need special medicine to cross the Poison Miasma Forest, which is filled with toxic miasma and dangerous creatures. Even ordinary Witch Tribe members cannot obtain the medicine freely.
• Song Yaoyao instead buys gas masks and plans to keep insects and other creatures out of the vehicles with repellent powder and closed windows.
• In the forest, poor visibility causes the group to stray onto a side path. Guagua says it will reach the Witch Tribe faster, so Song Yaoyao continues under his guidance.
• After five hours of driving, they are still in the forest. Guagua realizes something is wrong: the sun still appears to be near sunrise, despite the passage of the day.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao remains decisive and self-reliant: she refuses to interfere in Qingchuan’s predicament, then improvises a way through the forest without the tribe’s medicine. She trusts Guagua’s navigation until the journey takes an unexpectedly strange turn.
• Song Yi and the others follow Song Yaoyao’s order to stay put, showing their obedience and restraint.
• Qingchuan is overwhelmed by the five ghosts’ possessive attention and desperately rejects their claims on her.
• Guagua serves as Song Yaoyao’s guide and source of supplies, but his confidence falters when the route and the apparent passage of time stop making sense.
• The innkeeper provides important information about the tribe’s restricted medicine and the dangers of the forest.

Significant themes

• Consequences and noninterference: Song Yaoyao views Qingchuan’s suffering as the result of her own actions and declines to intervene.
• Resourcefulness and trust: Song Yaoyao substitutes practical equipment for scarce, controlled medicine and relies on Guagua to guide the group.
• Mystery and disorientation: The forest’s strange light and the group’s apparent inability to reach their destination introduce a supernatural or unexplained threat.

Chapter Summary: “The Finale”

Key plot points and events

• While traveling toward the Witch Tribe, Song Yaoyao and her entourage suddenly arrive in the Mist Forest of a cultivation world. A gigantic Red-Winged Tiger attacks them, and their bullets cannot penetrate its protective barrier.
• As the tiger strikes at Song Yaoyao, a golden force erupts from her body and reflects its attack, killing it. Guagua explains that the system’s protection mechanism activated because her life was in danger.
• Ancestor Wuchen of the Carefree Sect appears and identifies Song Yaoyao as his destined final disciple. She accepts, asking to bring her entire group with her. Wuchen agrees and gives her a Spatial Ring to store their vehicles.
• At the sect, Song Yaoyao learns that she has a rare chaos spiritual root, with every elemental attribute showing exceptional purity. Wuchen warns her to keep this secret because revealing her talent could put her in danger.
• Of Song’s thirty-odd subordinates, twenty can cultivate; the others are assigned body-refining training. Song Yaoyao is formally welcomed as Wuchen’s final disciple. Her senior siblings are powerful cultivators, and even the sect master must call her “Little Martial Aunt.”
• Song Yaoyao begins cultivation under Wuchen’s close supervision. Later, Guagua warns that Perfected Miaoyin has returned and plans to drug Wuchen and force herself on him. Song Yaoyao goes to intervene, unaware that Wuchen can hear her thoughts.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao shifts from bewildered newcomer to an exceptionally gifted cultivator with a powerful mentor and a place in the Carefree Sect. Though she is excited by her good fortune, she would prefer to slack off and must be pushed to train.
• Ancestor Wuchen becomes Song’s mentor after recognizing her as his destined disciple. Her unusual arrival, golden protection, and chaos spiritual root confirm that she has extraordinary potential—and may be connected to his chance to break through his cultivation bottleneck.
• Song Yi and the entourage adapt to the cultivation world. Several gain the ability to cultivate, while the rest are given an alternative path through body training.
• Guagua remains Song’s guide, explaining the group’s transmigration and the system’s protective power, and alerting her to dangers at the sect.
• Perfected Miaoyin is established as a persistent threat, repeatedly pursuing Wuchen despite being turned away.

Significant themes

• Destiny and providence: Wuchen’s divination, Song’s sudden arrival, and her rare spiritual root suggest that her journey is guided by forces beyond her control.
• Power and protection: Song’s system saves her from the tiger, while Wuchen’s warning highlights the danger that comes with great talent.
• Found family and loyalty: Song insists on bringing her people with her, and Wuchen welcomes them as part of the household around his usually solitary peak.
• Humor amid danger: Song’s awe of Wuchen, her complaints about his admirers, and her reluctance to train balance the chapter’s cultivation-world peril with comedy.

Character interactions

• Song coordinates her followers during the tiger attack, then includes them in her new life at the Carefree Sect.
• Wuchen welcomes Song as his disciple, protects the group’s secret knowledge of her spiritual root, and tests everyone’s aptitude.
• Song and Guagua exchange private guidance throughout the events, including the warning about Miaoyin.
• Song plans to rescue Wuchen from Miaoyin, while Wuchen secretly overhears Song’s irreverent thoughts about him.

Plot and key events

• One year after Song Yaoyao vanished, Assistant Minister Song and Madam Song are still desperately searching for her. Their latest report reveals that she was seen at an inn near Witch Tribe territory and planned to travel there. Because reaching the tribe requires crossing the dangerous Poison Miasma Forest—and only the Witch Tribe has the necessary antidote—Assistant Minister Song plans to ask the emperor to request antidotes.
• Fifteen years later, in the Cultivation World, Yaoyao has reached late Foundation Establishment. Guagua tells her that her mother’s health has deteriorated: after years of grief, Madam Song has gone blind and may be near death.
• Yaoyao rushes to her master, Ancestor Wuchen, and begs to return home. He agrees, concerned that refusing could leave her with a dangerous heart demon. Yaoyao asks him to bring Song Yi and their other companions as well, and he consents.
• Using the Void Mirror, Ancestor Wuchen leads the group through space to the Heavenly Phoenix Kingdom. They arrive first outside Crimson Feather City, then at the Marquis of Eternal Peace’s Residence, where guards are startled by their sudden appearance. A guard recognizes Yaoyao, confirming that she has finally returned.

Character developments and interactions

• Assistant Minister Song tries to remain hopeful for his daughter, comforting his grieving wife while privately crying himself. Madam Song’s prolonged sorrow has severely damaged her health.
• Yaoyao’s grief and guilt over being away from her parents overwhelm her. Her urgent plea shows how strongly she values her family, and her request to bring her companions demonstrates her concern for their ties to home.
• Ancestor Wuchen responds compassionately to Yaoyao’s distress and supports her return, while Song Yi and the others prepare to accompany her.
• The reunion at the residence begins with alarm, but Uncle Liu’s recognition turns it into a moment of joyful disbelief.

Significant themes

• Family separation and devotion: Yaoyao’s parents endure years of uncertainty, while Yaoyao has longed to return to them.
• The cost of absence and grief: Madam Song’s blindness and declining health show the physical toll of prolonged sorrow.
• Duty versus personal bonds: Yaoyao’s cultivation obligations delayed her return, but her family’s crisis makes reunion urgent.
• Hope and reunion: Despite years apart, Yaoyao’s return offers the possibility of reconnecting with her family.

Key events

• Song Yaoyao returns to the Marquis’s Residence after more than a decade away. The new guards don’t recognize her at first, but Uncle Liu identifies her and leads her to her mother.
• Her family is astonished that Yaoyao—and her companions—look almost unchanged.
• Yaoyao finds Madam Song gravely ill and gives her a Great Restoration Pill. Her mother’s color quickly returns, and she begins to wake.
• Yaoyao introduces her master, Ancestor Wuchen, who gives Assistant Minister Song a Storage Treasure as a welcome gift.
• Yaoyao explains that she and her companions were accidentally transported to the Cultivation World while preparing to visit the Witch Tribe. She could not return until her cultivation—and her master’s help—made it possible.
• She describes the pill’s healing power and reveals that Wuchen is an immensely powerful immortal, actually a thousand years old. She then teaches her father how to use the storage ring.
• Madam Song wakes, sees Yaoyao, and initially assumes she is dead and reunited with her daughter in the afterlife.

Character developments and interactions

• Yaoyao reunites with her family and reassures them, explains her long absence, and uses her cultivation-world knowledge to save her mother.
• Assistant Minister Song and the family move from shock and curiosity to amazement and gratitude. They welcome Wuchen and accept his gift.
• Ancestor Wuchen shows kindness toward Yaoyao’s family by giving them a valuable treasure.
• Madam Song regains consciousness and is overwhelmed to see Yaoyao again.

Significant themes

• Family reunion and devotion: Yaoyao’s return is driven by concern for her mother, while her family has held onto hope for her.
• The extraordinary meeting the ordinary: The family must adjust to Yaoyao’s accounts of other worlds, cultivation, immortals, and magical treasures.
• Hope and healing: The pill restores Madam Song and turns what seemed like a final farewell into a reunion.

Key plot points and events

• Madam Song mistakes Song Yaoyao’s return for a vision, believing her daughter had died. Yaoyao reassures her and explains that she was stranded in the Cultivation World after transmigrating there.
• Yaoyao gives Madam Song a Youth-Preserving Pill, which restores her youthful appearance. At her father’s request, Yaoyao gives pills to him and her brothers as well; each takes one and becomes young again.
• A servant announces that Eunuch Wang has come with an imperial summons: the Emperor wants to see the returning Imperial Preceptor.
• Yaoyao gives Eunuch Wang a pill too, then flies with him to the palace on her enlarged sword. He is startled—and frightened—by the flight.

Character developments and interactions

• Madam Song is overwhelmed with relief and affection, welcoming Yaoyao home and accepting her account of the years apart. Her unquestioning trust is clear when she takes the pill without asking what it is.
• Song Yaoyao comforts her mother, lightens the mood with affectionate flattery, and uses the abilities and resources she gained in the Cultivation World to help her family.
• Assistant Minister Song and the brothers are astonished by the pills and eager for them, though initially reluctant to ask. The family’s joking concern about looking old beside Madam Song gives way to excitement over their transformations.
• Eunuch Wang is first stunned by the family’s new appearances, then delighted by his own restored youth. His fear during the sword ride adds a comic ending.

Significant themes

• Family reunion and trust: Yaoyao’s return heals years of separation, and her family accepts her explanation with love.
• The rewards of extraordinary experience: Yaoyao brings back remarkable powers and gifts from the Cultivation World, sharing them generously with her family.
• Youth, appearance, and comic contrast: The pills’ transformations amaze everyone and turn anxieties about aging into playful excitement.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao returns to Crimson Feather City with Eunuch Wang and her companions, flying into the Imperial Palace. Onlookers mistake them for immortals, while palace guards initially point their weapons at them.
• Eunuch Wang identifies himself and explains that Song Yaoyao’s pill has restored his youthful appearance. He announces her return to the emperor.
• Song Yaoyao reunites with the emperor, who is astonished and delighted to see her after more than a decade. She explains that she accidentally crossed into the Cultivation World and recounts her experiences there.
• She gives the emperor Youth-Preserving Pills and Great Restoration Pills. He takes both, regaining his youthful appearance and recovering from chronic aches and pains.
• Song Yaoyao also gives him a Spatial Ring and teaches him how to bind and use it. The emperor eagerly tests its storage space.
• The emperor asks whether people from his realm can cultivate. Song Yaoyao explains that cultivation is difficult in their world because spiritual energy is scarce, and that cultivators need spiritual roots.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao returns with greater power and an increasingly otherworldly presence, but remains respectful and warm toward the emperor.
• Eunuch Wang goes from terrified passenger to enthusiastic witness, serving as the link between Song Yaoyao and the palace. His own rejuvenation helps persuade the emperor that her pills work.
• The emperor shifts from shock at her return to excitement over her gifts and renewed health. Their reunion reflects the trust and affection they have maintained despite her long absence.
• General Liu and the guards move from suspicion to recognition once Eunuch Wang identifies himself.

Significant themes

• Reunion after separation: Song Yaoyao’s return reunites her with a ruler who searched for her for years.
• The extraordinary entering the ordinary world: Her arrival and cultivation-world gifts transform palace life and astonish the people around her.
• Age, health, and power: The pills restore youth and vitality, while the Spatial Ring offers a practical glimpse of cultivation-world abilities.
• Limits and access to cultivation: Spiritual energy and innate spiritual roots determine who can cultivate, underscoring the differences between the two worlds.

Plot points and events

• The emperor asks Song Yaoyao about the Cultivation World and proposes a banquet for her and Ancestor Wuchen. Wuchen agrees to attend despite disliking crowds.
• Song Yaoyao asks Wuchen to bring her family to the Cultivation World when they leave. He says he can take up to five hundred people.
• She explains cultivation to her mother, including Wuchen’s need for no food and her own use of grain-avoidance pills. To please her family, she agrees to share a meal with them.
• At dinner, Song Yaoyao invites her parents, siblings, and their families to leave for the Cultivation World with her, warning she may not return for decades. They all agree.
• The next day, she tests her relatives with Wuchen’s Spirit-Testing Stone. Everyone has a spirit root, though some are weaker than others; Song Yaoyao plans to find spirit-washing herbs for those with multiple roots.
• Visitors flock to the Marquis’s residence after news of her return spreads, especially hoping to obtain youth-preserving pills. Meanwhile, Master Liaoran and Sima Yifeng pester her. She gives Sima one pill, but refuses his shameless requests for more.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao shows deep devotion to her family, making clear they are never a burden and prioritizing keeping them together over her long absence.
• Assistant Minister Song initially worries that relatives without spirit roots would burden her, but relents when she reassures him. The whole family chooses to accompany her.
• Madam Song’s concern over whether Yaoyao and Wuchen eat highlights the family’s affectionate, practical care—and the gap between mortal and cultivation life.
• Wuchen supports Yaoyao’s wish to bring her family, while maintaining a calm, accommodating attitude toward her home.
• Song Yaoyao’s playful, exasperated banter with Sima Yifeng contrasts with the chapter’s emotional family discussions.

Significant themes

• Family and separation: The family’s decision to go with Song Yaoyao confronts the possibility of decades apart.
• Belonging beyond ability: Yaoyao insists that family members are not burdens even if they cannot cultivate.
• The divide between worlds: Conversations about food, cultivation, spirit roots, and longevity show how different mortal and immortal life can be.
• Appearance and status: The youth-preserving pill draws attention from visitors and fuels Sima Yifeng’s comic vanity.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yifeng tries to pester Song Yaoyao, but she effortlessly throws him out and warns him to stop making a scene.
• Master Liaoran asks to accompany Song Yaoyao to the Cultivation World. She teases him for his past bullying, makes him apologize, and then agrees to take him.
• At a palace banquet, Song Yaoyao and her master, Ancestor Wuchen, appear by magical means. Wuchen confirms that Song Yaoyao will explain the arrangements for bringing people to the Cultivation World.
• Wuchen gives the emperor twenty Life-Extending Pills, each adding fifty years to a person’s life. The emperor eagerly takes one.
• Song Yaoyao explains that 500 people may travel to the Cultivation World: she keeps 150 places and gives the emperor the other 350. She advises selecting people with spiritual roots.
• The emperor learns that he can cultivate, though the world’s limited spiritual energy means he can advance only to the peak of Qi Refining. Song Yaoyao gives him introductory cultivation manuals.
• Song Yaoyao’s group tests candidates for spiritual roots. The emperor selects a mix of imperial relatives, officials’ children, and commoners with single spiritual roots.
• A month later, the chosen travelers gather. Ancestor Wuchen opens the Void Mirror, and Song Yaoyao leads her family and the others through to the Cultivation World.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao’s power and confidence are evident in her effortless handling of Yifeng and her playful reversal of her old dynamic with Liaoran. Liaoran, once her bully, must apologize and ask for her help.
• Wuchen remains reserved but courteous, answering the emperor’s questions and offering him a generous gift.
• The emperor moves from curiosity about the Cultivation World to actively organizing an expedition, while accepting the limits on his own cultivation.
• Song Yaoyao uses her influence to secure places for loved ones and to help the emperor choose suitable travelers.

Significant themes

• Power and changing fortunes: Song Yaoyao now holds the upper hand over people who once mistreated or underestimated her.
• Opportunity and selection: Access to the Cultivation World depends on limited places and spiritual aptitude, prompting a kingdom-wide search.
• Mortality and longevity: The Life-Extending Pills give the emperor a remarkable chance to prolong his life.
• Parting and new beginnings: The chapter closes the story with the group’s departure for a new world.