Chapter Summaries

At the Li family’s mourning hall, Li Wuyou stopped Li Honghan from rejecting the Imperial Decree and asked Hu Xiaotian to accompany her to Shadowmoon Manor. There, she revealed her suspicions about her father’s murder and asked Hu Xiaotian to help uncover the truth, and he agreed.

• Hu Xiaotian presented the Imperial Decree posthumously naming Commander Li the Loyal and Martial King, but Li Honghan accused Great Kang of responsibility for his father’s murder and nearly tore it up.
• Li Wuyou intervened, took the decree, and asked Hu Xiaotian to accompany her to Shadowmoon Manor; Li Honghan secretly ordered a warrior to follow them.
• At Shadowmoon Manor, Li Wuyou told Hu Xiaotian that her father had planned to return Western Sichuan to Great Kang, but his supporters were imprisoned or killed after his assassination.
• Li Wuyou said her father had entrusted her with the Tiger Tally, but Yang Haoran controlled the army, and she suspected the Fragrant Kingdom was involved in the upheaval.
• Li Wuyou asked Hu Xiaotian to help uncover the cause of her father’s death and win justice; after asking about Xi Yan, Hu Xiaotian promised to help.

Hu Xiaotian recruited Yan Hucheng by revealing Li Tianheng’s plans to return Western Sichuan to Great Kang and suggesting Li Honghan and Yang Haoran were involved in the Commander-in-Chief’s death and the army’s upheaval. Yan Hucheng began to suspect that Li Honghan had betrayed his father and agreed to consider what Hu Xiaotian had told him.

• Li Wuyou gave Hu Xiaotian a list of commanders her father had trusted and said she could not contact Xi Yan.
• Hu Xiaotian’s beggar guides found Yan Hucheng, who had been stripped of his command and was drinking his days away after the Yunyang Defeat.
• Hu Xiaotian met Yan Hucheng at Star Bamboo Garden and explained that Li Wuyou had directed him there.
• Hu Xiaotian told Yan Hucheng that Li Tianheng had planned to lead Western Sichuan back to Great Kang and had been granted a posthumous princely title.
• Yan Hucheng recognized Li Tianheng’s handwriting on the list and learned that Hu Xiaotian suspected Li Honghan knew about the assassination and had been used by others.
• Hu Xiaotian said Yang Haoran effectively controlled Western Sichuan’s military, leaving Yan Hucheng furious at the possibility that Li Honghan had helped kill his father.

Hu Xiaotian questioned Zhou Mo and Xiao Tianmu about the Fragrant Kingdom’s grain loan to Western Sichuan and inferred that Hu Buwei had taken control of the kingdom. He then connected the shifting power and Western Sichuan’s orderly transition to Li Tianheng’s assassination, but the chapter ended before Xiao Tianmu answered his question.

• Hu Xiaotian urged Yan Hucheng to investigate Western Sichuan, arguing that the people would suffer if Yang Haoran and his allies took control.
• Zhou Mo agreed to meet Hu Xiaotian, and Xiao Tianmu accompanied him to face their younger brother after many years apart.
• Hu Xiaotian thanked Zhou Mo for helping Long Xiyue escape Great Yong, while Xiao Tianmu diverted Zhou Mo from apologizing.
• Hu Xiaotian asked about the Fragrant Kingdom’s free grain loan to Western Sichuan, and Xiao Tianmu confirmed that the Empress Dowager had supposedly ordered it.
• Hu Xiaotian deduced that Hu Buwei had brought the Empress Dowager under his control and taken power in the Fragrant Kingdom.
• Hu Xiaotian linked Li Tianheng’s assassination, Li Honghan’s succession, Western Sichuan’s military changes, and the grain loan, then asked Xiao Tianmu whether they were all connected.

Hu Xiaotian realized Hu Buwei was moving to control the Fragrant Kingdom and Western Sichuan, while his sworn brothers admitted their loyalty to Hu Buwei and parted from him. The Fragrant Kingdom then seized Fire Tree City and Redwood River, and Huo Ge urged Hu Xiaotian to join him in attacking it.

• Hu Xiaotian warned Xiao Tianmu and Zhou Mo that Hu Buwei had deeply infiltrated the Fragrant Kingdom and Western Sichuan and might move against Redwood River.
• Zhou Mo and Xiao Tianmu revealed that they had been sent by Hu Buwei to watch Hu Xiaotian and said they would betray him to remain loyal to their benefactor.
• The Fragrant Kingdom's army entered Redwood River without resistance and captured Fire Tree City after the Red Yi people opened its gates.
• Hu Xiaotian learned from Meng Guangxiong that the Beggar Gang had likely escaped casualties and concluded that the Empress Dowager had lost control of the Fragrant Kingdom's government.
• Huo Ge told Hu Xiaotian that the Fragrant Kingdom had seized Redwood River and proposed joining forces to attack it.

Hu Xiaotian realized Hu Buwei had outmaneuvered him and declined Huo Ge’s proposed retaliation, warning that the Fragrant Kingdom’s alliance with Southern Yue had made the southwest too dangerous. After learning Western Sichuan’s army had been purged, he prepared to leave and visited Li Wuyou, who chose to remain in mourning while hinting she still had a request for him.

• Hu Xiaotian reflected on Hu Buwei’s network and concluded that the Fragrant Kingdom had seized control of Western Sichuan through a carefully planned campaign.
• Hu Xiaotian warned Huo Ge that Southern Yue might ally with the Fragrant Kingdom, and envoys from Southern Yue soon secured a pact in Fragrant City in exchange for military aid against Shajia.
• Hu Xiaotian learned that Yang Haoran had replaced Western Sichuan’s commanders, leaving him convinced that the region could not be recovered in the near term.
• Hu Xiaotian decided to leave the Western Prefecture and visited Li Wuyou at Shadowmoon Manor to explain what he had learned.
• Li Wuyou said she would stay to mourn her father and care for her mother, and told Hu Xiaotian that revenge could mean leaving Li Honghan disgraced rather than killing him.
• Li Wuyou thanked Hu Xiaotian for giving her a glimpse of an ordinary girl’s life and said she had one more request to make of him.

Hu Xiaotian agreed to search for Xi Yan at the Five Immortals Cult’s headquarters while leaving Western Sichuan for now. In the capital, Qiqi and Zhou Ruiyuan discussed the Fragrant Kingdom’s growing power and whether Great Kang should prepare for war.

• Li Wuyou gave Hu Xiaotian Xi Yan’s map and asked him to find Xi Yan and bring her away from the Five Immortals Cult, and he promised to protect them both.
• Hu Xiaotian left Western Prefecture for Azure Cloud, leaving Meng Guangxiong to gather information and Yan Hucheng to contact former followers of Li Tianheng.
• After learning that the Fragrant Kingdom had seized Redwood River and allied with Western Sichuan, Qiqi summoned Zhou Ruiyuan to discuss the crisis.
• Zhou Ruiyuan warned Qiqi that the Fragrant Kingdom had become the southwest’s greatest power and suggested its sudden moves might reflect trouble within its own ranks.
• Qiqi said Great Kang’s army was assembled along the southeastern border, while Zhou Ruiyuan urged her to reinforce the border, block refugee routes, and wait for more information before deciding on war.

Hu Xiaotian traveled toward the Five Immortals Cult and learned that Sumeru Heaven’s former residence had burned down, then continued through Blackstone Stockade. After rescuing the disgraced Teng Tianqi from his abusive tribesmen, Hu Xiaotian left while Teng Tianqi stayed behind as the stockade’s people approached.

• Qiqi and Zhou Ruiyuan discussed whether Hu Xiaotian had conspired with the Fragrant Kingdom’s Empress Dowager, and Zhou Ruiyuan argued that losing Redwood River made such a plot unlikely.
• Hu Xiaotian visited the ruined Hu Residence in Azure Cloud County, learned it had burned after his departure, and decided Sumeru Heaven had likely arranged the fire to avoid him.
• Hu Xiaotian entered Blackstone Stockade in disguise, where four guards tried to take his sword and search his bundle.
• Teng Tianqi intervened, but the guards revealed he had lost his position and knocked him down; Hu Xiaotian defeated the four men and helped Teng Tianqi up.
• Teng Tianqi led Hu Xiaotian along a secluded trail out of the stockade and told him that his daughter Teng Zidan was gone.
• As torches gathered nearby, Hu Xiaotian left Teng Tianqi behind and continued toward the main road.

Hu Xiaotian followed Li Wuyou’s map to Purple Dragon Mountain and entered the hidden headquarters of the Five Immortals Cult through a perilous fissure. He emerged onto a cliff inside the volcanic crater, where a lush, secluded haven lay below.

• Hu Xiaotian reached Purple Dragon Mountain and found the Immortal's Guiding Finger pointing toward a vine-hidden fissure.
• Hu Xiaotian squeezed through the dark fissure, where the Five-Colored Spider King's inner core kept swarming scarlet mountain ants at bay.
• Hu Xiaotian used water to drive off venomous green snakes and continued through the cramped passage.
• Hu Xiaotian cleared vines and spent another hour squeezing toward the fissure's opening high on a cliff.
• Hu Xiaotian emerged inside the volcanic crater and saw the Five Immortals Cult's headquarters nestled among lush greenery, flowers, and birds.

Hu Xiaotian descended into the Five Immortals Cult’s crater headquarters, fighting off swarms of macaques and giant bats along the way. He encountered the injured hunter Sun Dagen, whose story and repeated attempts to draw him closer made Hu Xiaotian suspicious.

• Hu Xiaotian waited for nightfall, then climbed down the crater’s steep, narrow staircase toward the Five Immortals Cult’s headquarters.
• Dozens of macaques attacked Hu Xiaotian with stones and fruit, but he continued down the steps despite their pursuit.
• A swarm of giant bats blocked Hu Xiaotian at a collapsed section of the staircase; he broke through with his astral force and drove them back until they stopped at a natural stone bridge.
• Hu Xiaotian followed the sound of water through dense vegetation and found Sun Dagen, an injured hunter beside a dead snake and deer.
• Hu Xiaotian gave Sun Dagen a Blood-Cleansing Pill, then grew suspicious as Sun Dagen repeatedly tried to lure him closer and offered to guide him to the Five Immortals Cult.

Hu Xiaotian fought Sun Dagen after Sun Dagen revealed himself as a Five Immortals Cult member and attacked with poisonous creatures. Granny Shadow arrived and recognized Hu Xiaotian despite his disguise, leaving him exposed at the cult headquarters.

• Sun Dagen split open a dead sika deer, releasing bloodsucking horseflies, and spat a Blood-Cleansing Pill toward Hu Xiaotian.
• Hu Xiaotian evaded the attack and charged Sun Dagen, who escaped through a hole and reappeared in a stream.
• Sun Dagen admitted he belonged to the Five Immortals Cult and summoned venomous snakes to attack Hu Xiaotian.
• Hu Xiaotian walked through the snakes as they parted, making Sun Dagen suspect he was a cult member.
• Granny Shadow dispersed the snakes, dismissed Sun Dagen, and recognized Hu Xiaotian beneath his disguise.

Hu Xiaotian entered the Five Immortals Cult’s hidden headquarters after Granny Shadow recognized him and he offered to discuss the Heavenly Man Myriad Images Diagram with the cult leader. He was left on the island to wait until morning, where Rong Shi guessed that he had come to find Xi Yan.

• Granny Shadow identified Hu Xiaotian by his scent, and he admitted who he was and asked to meet the cult leader about the Heavenly Man Myriad Images Diagram.
• Granny Shadow led Hu Xiaotian through the cave and across the underground lake, where he narrowly avoided a monstrous fish and killed it with a punch.
• Granny Shadow warned Hu Xiaotian not to speak recklessly to the leader and took him to the island, where Rong Shi said the leader was cultivating and could not meet him until morning.
• Rong Shi escorted Hu Xiaotian onto the island and asked whether he had come to find Xi Yan.

Hu Xiaotian discovered a hidden passage beneath the room Rong Shi had assigned him and suspected the cries of Xi Yan were a trap. He went underground anyway, exploring a passage beneath the lake and finding murals that hinted at a possible connection between the Five Immortals Cult and the Visitors from Beyond.

• Hu Xiaotian concealed his reason for visiting, and Rong Shi brought him to a room in the Small Building and warned him not to leave.
• Hu Xiaotian found a palm-shaped mark behind a glowing painting, pressed it, and triggered the Cold Jade Bed to slide aside and reveal stairs.
• Madam Meizhuang questioned Rong Shi about his plan to lure Hu Xiaotian into Heartbreak Tower and said she wanted to learn what treasures he had to bargain with.
• Hu Xiaotian recognized the voice calling from below as a likely imitation of Xi Yan's, but chose to enter the passage and turn the trap against its makers.
• Hu Xiaotian crossed a transparent crystal passage beneath the lake, examined murals of enormous poisonous creatures and a worshipped rider, then called out to whoever had laid the traps.

Hu Xiaotian crossed the dangerous underground cavern and found Old Monster Beize trapped in a pit at the Five Immortals Cult’s headquarters. After their fight, they learned Rong Shi had lured them into the Bone-Melting Prison, where Old Monster Beize had survived for a year.

• Hu Xiaotian crossed insect-filled water and mire, then followed cries to a pit where moths swarmed around Old Monster Beize.
• Old Monster Beize recognized Hu Xiaotian and demanded the Five-Colored Spider King’s inner core, but revealed Madam Meizhuang had trapped him there.
• Hu Xiaotian proposed they cooperate to escape, but Old Monster Beize attacked him with a storm of moths.
• Hu Xiaotian countered with the Heaven-Breaking Sword, wounded Old Monster Beize, and exposed the Iron Thread Diamond Insects beneath his moths.
• Rong Shi demanded the Heavenly Man Myriad Images Diagram and revealed they were in the Bone-Melting Prison; Old Monster Beize said he had been trapped there for a year.

Hu Xiaotian followed Old Monster Beize through the Bone-Melting Prison, where they found heaps of remains and the preserved bones of enormous creatures. Old Monster Beize asked whether Hu Xiaotian had a way to escape, leaving their fate unresolved.

• Hu Xiaotian followed Old Monster Beize into a hall filled with human and animal skeletons beneath a crystal dome.
• Old Monster Beize told Hu Xiaotian when several skeletons had died, and Hu Xiaotian worried that Xi Yan might be trapped in the prison.
• Hu Xiaotian said he had come to negotiate with the Five Immortals Cult leader, while Old Monster Beize revealed his hunger and interest in Hu Xiaotian's blood.
• Hu Xiaotian examined a huge blue-boned toad skeleton as Old Monster Beize explained its bones were light, elastic, and extraordinarily tough.
• Old Monster Beize showed Hu Xiaotian a massive scarlet snake preserved behind a crystal wall and said the Five Immortals Cult's venomous creatures were likely extinct.
• At the end of the passage, Old Monster Beize asked Hu Xiaotian whether he had a way to escape.

Hu Xiaotian and Old Monster Beize reluctantly joined forces while trapped in the Bone-Melting Prison, where Rong Shi gave Hu three days to surrender the Heavenly Man Myriad Images Diagram. After discovering a strange, unbreakable layer beneath Old Monster Beize’s cavern, they considered how to escape before the Five Immortals Cult acted against them.

• Hu Xiaotian slept peacefully while Old Monster Beize kept watch, then dismissed the possibility of breaking through the crystal dome after Old Monster Beize’s sword strike failed.
• Hu Xiaotian believed the Five Immortals Cult would eventually come for him, while Old Monster Beize agreed that they had to cooperate to escape.
• Rong Shi contacted Hu Xiaotian, demanded the Heavenly Man Myriad Images Diagram, and gave him three days to decide.
• Hu Xiaotian and Old Monster Beize used Secret Voice Transmission to discuss surveillance and moved into the Underground Cavern.
• Hu Xiaotian noticed a hollow space beneath the cavern’s strange, exceptionally hard floor, which Old Monster Beize had failed to break through.
• Old Monster Beize proposed that Hu pretend to surrender the diagram and use a face-to-face exchange as a chance to fight their way out.

Hu Xiaotian and Old Monster Beize explored an ancient flying craft hidden beneath the Underground Cavern, where Hu Xiaotian found a mysterious suit of armor. The armor unfolded a pair of metal wings when he activated it, leaving both men astonished.

• Hu Xiaotian used his Lightsaber to cut an opening through the cavern floor, and Old Monster Beize followed him down.
• Hu Xiaotian found specimens and a circular hatch, then cut into the flying craft's cockpit with his Lightsaber.
• Old Monster Beize accidentally opened a hatch to the lower hold, where Hu Xiaotian found a blue skeleton in a broken cryogenic chamber.
• Hu Xiaotian discovered a lightweight suit of black outer armor and a matching backpack in a cabinet, then put them on.
• Hu Xiaotian attached his Lightsaber to the armor, which unfolded four-meter metal wings from the backpack when he pressed a button.

Hu Xiaotian struggled to control the Winged Armor aboard the hidden craft, then joined Old Monster Beize in planning how to escape the Bone-Melting Prison while waiting for the Five Immortals Cult to investigate. The cult’s surveillance had lost track of them, but Madam Meizhuang chose to wait rather than send people into a suspected trap.

• Hu Xiaotian accidentally activated the Winged Armor’s flight functions, crashed around the cabin, and stopped it by removing the Lightsaber that powered it.
• Old Monster Beize dismissed the giant skull as a possible carving, but Hu Xiaotian argued it could be real and urged him to search for another passage.
• Hu Xiaotian and Old Monster Beize agreed to wait for the Five Immortals Cult to search the Bone-Melting Prison, with Hu Xiaotian proposing they break the Crystal Dome and flood the craft if necessary.
• Rong Shi reported to Madam Meizhuang that Hu Xiaotian and Old Monster Beize had been missing for a day and night despite the cult’s surveillance.
• Madam Meizhuang refused to send a search party, believing the men were trying to lure the cult into a trap, and decided to wait them out.

Hu Xiaotian used a blue transparent Skull to bargain with Madam Meizhuang for Xi Yan’s release from the Five Immortals Cult. He held firm against her threats, and the chapter ended as Old Monster Beize prepared to destroy the Skull unless she surrendered Xi Yan.

• Hu Xiaotian and Old Monster Beize waited in the Bone-Melting Prison, then used the blue Skull as bait to draw out the Five Immortals Cult.
• Madam Meizhuang offered to let only one of them leave, but Hu Xiaotian refused and demanded that she come personally with Xi Yan.
• Madam Meizhuang threatened to make Xi Yan suffer, and Hu Xiaotian threatened to slaughter the Five Immortals Cult and Ren Tianqing in retaliation.
• As Gold-Eating Insects approached, Madam Meizhuang arrived with Rong Shi and Granny Shadow, but Xi Yan was not with them.
• Hu Xiaotian demanded Xi Yan in exchange for the Skull, and Madam Meizhuang cried out for Old Monster Beize to wait as he prepared to crush it.

Hu Xiaotian shattered the Bone-Melting Prison’s Crystal Dome to disrupt Madam Meizhuang’s exchange and rescue Xi Yan. He escaped through the breach and brought Xi Yan’s sphere ashore, where she woke and began stabbing its wall with her hairpin.

• Madam Meizhuang showed Hu Xiaotian the sleeping Xi Yan in a transparent sphere and demanded the Blue Skull, but Hu Xiaotian refused to hand it over first.
• Hu Xiaotian provoked Madam Meizhuang by mentioning Zhou Ruiyuan and Qin Se, dodged her poisoned Ice Needle, then attacked Rong Shi as Old Monster Beize’s moths fought Rong Shi’s Black Bees.
• Hu Xiaotian pierced the Crystal Dome with his Lightsaber, flooding the Bone-Melting Prison and drawing the divers and poisonous insects into the rushing water.
• Madam Meizhuang and Rong Shi attacked Old Monster Beize for the Blue Skull while Hu Xiaotian used his Winged Armor to swim through the breach and pursue Xi Yan’s rising sphere.
• Hu Xiaotian pushed the sphere ashore, found no Five Immortals Cult disciples nearby, and watched Xi Yan wake and use her hairpin to stab the sphere’s wall.

Madam Meizhuang captured Hu Xiaotian with Sticky Shadow Insects and ordered Rong Shi to cast him and Xi Yan into the Scarlet Flame Cave. Hu Xiaotian escaped the insects and found himself and Xi Yan caught in a spiderweb above a lava lake.

• Xi Yan nearly stabbed Hu Xiaotian, but Madam Meizhuang arrived and rendered Xi Yan unconscious.
• Granny Shadow gave Madam Meizhuang the transparent Skull, which held the clue to the founding patriarch's remains, while Rong Shi reported that Old Monster Beize had escaped.
• Madam Meizhuang ordered Rong Shi to take Hu Xiaotian and Xi Yan to the Scarlet Flame Cave, and Rong Shi placed them in separate spheres and sacks before sending them down the passage.
• Hu Xiaotian's sack and Xi Yan's sphere landed on a gigantic spiderweb above a lava lake, and Hu Xiaotian withdrew his Body-Protecting Astral Force to make the Sticky Shadow Insects flee.
• Hu Xiaotian tore open the sack and saw Xi Yan trapped in her sphere on the web above the lava.