Chapter Summaries

Cao Yugao reached Broad South Mountain and learned why Yi Shuyuan had summoned him, while Yi Shuyuan completed his first batch of Immortal Elixirs. Five pills survived the refining process, and Yi Shuyuan named them Vital Essence Pills.

• Cao Yugao arrived at Broad South Mountain, showed Huang Hongchuan the Jade Token, and followed him to Yi Shuyuan.
• Hui Mian told Cao Yugao about Xu Zichang's condition and Yi Shuyuan's suspicion that Xu was connected to Cao's missing friend.
• After three days and nights of refining, Yi Shuyuan unified the furnace's energies, but most of the pills burst apart.
• Yi Shuyuan used the Heaven and Earth Gourd to catch the five remaining pills before they could escape.
• Yi Shuyuan showed the others a golden pill, explained its benefits, and named it the Vital Essence Pill.

Yi Shuyuan returned home after refining Immortal Elixirs, shared their benefits with his family, and then accompanied Yi A Bao back to Moon Province Academy before leaving for Moon City. There, Cao Yugao reported that Xu Zichang’s aura connected him to Gongsun Yin’s school, though the chapter left unclear whether Xu Zichang and Gongsun Yin knew they shared a master.

• Yi Shuyuan gave Immortal Elixirs to Huang Hongchuan and Old Pine, then sent Cao Yugao with Hui Mian to Moon City to check on Xu Zichang.
• Yi Shuyuan returned to the Yi Household, where his family urged him to settle down, and he shared wine infused with a divided Immortal Elixir with them.
• Yi Shuyuan left home the next morning after accompanying Yi A Bao back to Moon Province Academy.
• Cao Yugao told Yi Shuyuan that Xu Zichang’s leaked aura resembled the spiritual lineage of Gongsun Yin, his close friend.
• Yi Shuyuan and Cao Yugao considered whether Xu Zichang and Gongsun Yin were fellow disciples of Immortal Elder Cloud Emerald, who might not have told them about each other.

Xu Zichang left seclusion and pursued the Immortal in the Painting, while Yi Shuyuan and Cao Yugao followed at a distance. His flying sword struck a mortal by mistake, and Xu Zichang flew back toward the city to try to save him.

• Yi Shuyuan and Cao Yugao discussed whether Immortal Elder Cloud Emerald would help his disciple, and Xu Zichang emerged from seclusion after recovering much of his mental strength.
• Xu Zichang sensed a change in his quarry and set out with a blank scroll and his Sword Casket, while Yi Shuyuan and Cao Yugao secretly followed him.
• Xu Zichang repeatedly divined his quarry's direction, but the elusive aura kept shifting, so he sent his spirit-guided flying sword ahead to track it.
• The flying sword plunged into a city and wounded a young scholar after a woman shoved him into its path.
• Shaken by the mortal blood on his sword, Xu Zichang realized he might have struck a living person and returned toward the city to save him.

Yang Bencai recovered inside a painted courtyard where Zheng Ying had been hiding him, while Xu Zichang continued searching for the Immortal in the Painting. After Yi Shuyuan and Cao Yugao prepared to pursue Gongsun Yin, Zheng Ying kept Yang Bencai from leaving and drew out his primal yang.

• Yang Bencai woke in Zheng Ying's room and learned that she claimed he had saved her from a sword attack.
• Zheng Ying nursed Yang Bencai and secretly sealed a wisp of white vapor from him inside a painting.
• Xu Zichang searched the street where his Flying Sword had landed and resolved to keep looking for the Immortal in the Painting.
• During the Awakening of Insects storm, Cao Yugao reported that he could not remain in Eastern Lu, and Yi Shuyuan promised to find Gongsun Yin and visit Xu Zichang.
• When Yang Bencai tried to leave the painted courtyard, Zheng Ying pushed him onto the bed and drew out his primal yang.

Yang Bencai and Zheng Ying shared a bed, and Zheng Ying hinted that his unusual destiny had led her to seek his help. Meanwhile, Yi Shuyuan arrived at the Land God Temple and stopped Xu Zichang’s uncontrolled flying sword, then confronted him about his worsening demonic thoughts.

• Yang Bencai asked Zheng Ying to become his wife, but she asked him to rest and later admitted that she was not suited to be his wife or bear children.
• Xu Zichang struggled against demonic illusions in the Land God Temple while his Sword Casket trembled, and the Land God feared his growing violence.
• Yi Shuyuan and Stoneborn arrived at the temple, where Xu Zichang’s flying sword attacked them and Yi Shuyuan deflected it.
• Yi Shuyuan used the Ritual Ruler to startle Xu Zichang out of his troubled meditation, and Xu recalled his flying sword.
• Xu Zichang apologized for the attack and admitted that his demonic thoughts were growing stronger.
• The Land God recognized Yi Shuyuan as Yi Daozi and apologized for fleeing the flying sword.

Yi Shuyuan discovered that Xu Zichang’s heart demon had become deeply entwined with his mind, then used a blank painting scroll to trace the Immortal in the Painting to Yang Bencai’s home. He found Zheng Ying inside a painting, where she sensed his arrival.

• Yi Shuyuan’s spiritual awareness struck Xu Zichang’s heart demon, sending Xu crashing into the temple wall and confirming that the demon had merged with his mind.
• Xu Zichang explained that he sought Zheng Ying to rescue his junior brother Gongsun Yin from the Cloud Emerald Painting Realm and gave Yi Shuyuan a scroll that could capture her.
• Yi Shuyuan lent Xu Zichang the Ritual Ruler, Jade Startle, to suppress his heart demon, then left him in the Land God’s care.
• Using the scroll to guide his search, Yi Shuyuan connected Zheng Ying’s trail to the scholar Yang Bencai and went with Stoneborn to Yang’s home.
• Yi Shuyuan sent his spiritual awareness into a painting in Yang Bencai’s room, and Zheng Ying woke inside it after sensing his arrival.

Yi Shuyuan met Zheng Ying inside her painting realm and learned how she escaped Xu Zichang and sealed Gongsun Yin. He left her the blank scroll and asked her to take him and his companions to Cloud Emerald Mountain.

• Zheng Ying dressed and met Yi Shuyuan in the painting realm, where he explained that he had known Yang Bencai as a scholar traveling to Heaven-Bearing Prefecture.
• Zheng Ying explained that she had sought refuge in Eastern Lu, met Yang Bencai, and shared their energies without harming him.
• Zheng Ying told Yi Shuyuan that she had escaped the Cloud Emerald Mountain Cave Painting Realm after sealing the demonically corrupted Gongsun Yin, and that Xu Zichang had later captured her in Moon Province.
• Yi Shuyuan brought the blank scroll into the painting realm, and Yang Bencai rushed out to defend Zheng Ying before recognizing Yi Shuyuan.
• Yi Shuyuan gave Zheng Ying the scroll and asked her to take him and his friends back to Cloud Emerald Mountain.

Zheng Ying left Yang Bencai a letter and a lock of hair before joining Yi Shuyuan and the others on their journey to Cloud Emerald Mountain. As Xu Zichang explained how he had come to accept the demonic thoughts within himself, the group approached a violent storm over the sea.

• Zheng Ying returned the sleeping Yang Bencai to his bedroom, left him a letter and a lock of hair, and departed with Yi Shuyuan and the others.
• Yi Shuyuan brought Zheng Ying and Cao Yugao to the Land God Temple, where Xu Zichang had stayed clearheaded through the night.
• Yang Bencai woke alone, found Zheng Ying's letter, and learned she would return after he passed the examinations with high honors.
• Yi Shuyuan steered the group toward Cloud Emerald Mountain while Xu Zichang explained that his demonic thoughts were inseparable from himself and vowed to strike his junior brother.
• The group saw a storm gathering ahead over the sea, with lightning, thunder, and fierce winds.

Yi Shuyuan’s Ritual Ruler, Jade Startle, drew lightning from a storm threatening a fleet and struck a Flood Dragon that tried to seize it. The group continued onward, while the injured dragon awoke two days later and became fixated on the treasure he believed he had seen.

• Yi Shuyuan guided the group into a storm, where lightning repeatedly struck Xu Zichang’s Ritual Ruler and Jade Startle drew bolts toward itself.
• Stoneborn spotted ships struggling in the storm, and a Flood Dragon roared that someone had seized its authority over lightning.
• Yi Shuyuan divined that the storm threatened the fleet, then hid the group in the clouds as the Flood Dragon approached Jade Startle.
• Jade Startle struck the Flood Dragon with a lightning-wrapped blow, sending it tumbling into the sea and weakening the storm over the fleet.
• Yi Shuyuan retrieved the Ritual Ruler and continued onward with the group, while Cao Yugao warned that the Dragonkind might seek revenge.
• Two days later, the injured Flood Dragon awoke on the seabed and wondered how he could obtain the treasure from the thunderclouds.

Yi Shuyuan and his companions entered Cloud Emerald Mountain’s painting realm expecting a grotto-heaven, but found it was only a bounded painting realm. While they searched for Gongsun Yin, they discovered an unexpected village whose residents had never seen outsiders.

• Yi Shuyuan led Xu Zichang, Cao Yugao, Stoneborn, and Hui Mian into the mural with Zheng Ying, who reopened the painting realm’s wards.
• Yi Shuyuan found no trace of Gongsun Yin and judged that the realm lacked the true inner workings of a grotto-heaven.
• Xu Zichang sensed his junior brother at a manor, while Zheng Ying explained that she controlled most of the realm’s boundary wards and had sealed it.
• The group walked toward the manor and encountered an old farmer, who said they were in Mist Village and offered to take them there.
• The old farmer brought them into the village, where residents crowded around the outsiders, asking where they came from and what the outside world was like.

Yi Shuyuan concluded that Mist Village lay within a heavenly demon transformation realm connected to Gongsun Yin, and the group later found an old man named Gongsun Yu who might be linked to him. When Xu Zichang recognized the old man as his junior brother, his flying sword fell powerless to the ground.

• Yi Shuyuan and his companions learned that Mist Village’s residents had lived there for generations and that those who tried to leave usually got lost in the mountains.
• Yi Shuyuan reasoned that the group had entered a realm shaped by Gongsun Yin’s inward and outward demon, though he remained unsure whether it was a heavenly tribulation or a demonic transformation.
• After settling in and exploring the area, Yi Shuyuan and the others found a courtyard where an old bamboo weaver lived with Stoneborn nearby.
• The old man introduced himself as Gongsun Yu and said he was eighty-two, alone, and unsure whether Gongsun Yin had been one of his ancestors.
• Xu Zichang recognized Gongsun Yu as his junior brother and tried to attack, but his flying sword fell to the ground and could not be controlled.

Yi Shuyuan explained that the group was trapped in a heavenly demon’s transformations, rooted in Gongsun Yin’s inner delusions, and realized the Rain Water tribulation was still unfolding. He urged Xu Zichang to follow the transformations rather than rely on his sword, then demonstrated that he could still influence them.

• Xu Zichang’s flying sword lost its ability to fly near Gongsun Yin, and Cao Yugao and Zheng Ying found that their magical arts also failed.
• Yi Shuyuan led the group away from Gongsun Yin and explained that they were trapped in a world made real by Gongsun Yin’s belief in it.
• Rain began on the solar term Rain Water, and Yi Shuyuan realized the hidden paradise was the site of the still-unresolved tribulation.
• After returning to the village, Xu Zichang asked Yi Shuyuan how to help Gongsun Yin, and Yi Shuyuan advised him to follow the transformations rather than focus on the sword.
• Yi Shuyuan scattered rain into mist with a gesture, leaving Xu Zichang wondering how he could use magic when the others could not.
• Gongsun Yin, in the thatched cottage, wondered why Yi Shuyuan had called him his junior brother.

Yi Shuyuan used the rain and a little fish to teach Stoneborn about transformation, prompting Xu Zichang to grasp that the Dao could still be cultivated in the tribulation realm. Xu Zichang confronted Gongsun Yin, sealed his sword, and forced his hidden vital presence out with the Sect Heart Seal.

• Yi Shuyuan showed Stoneborn how the rain could gather into a current and taught him to perceive the wonder of transformation.
• Stoneborn briefly sustained the current after Yi Shuyuan withdrew his hand, while Xu Zichang, Cao Yugao, Zheng Ying, and Hui Mian witnessed it.
• Inspired by Yi Shuyuan's demonstration and words about the Dao, Xu Zichang rushed through the rain to Gongsun Yin's courtyard.
• Xu Zichang faced Gongsun Yin, stirred his demonic thought without surrendering his reason, and challenged his junior brother to compete against the Dao and the tribulation.
• Xu Zichang drove his Sword Casket into the ground, then struck Gongsun Yin between the brows with the Sect Heart Seal, sending the old man crashing into the house.

Xu Zichang and Gongsun Yin continued their contest of magic and Dao heart inside the celestial demon’s tribulation, where neither could use magic and both had to face the changes within themselves. As the village’s seasons and spiritual energy began to change, Yi Shuyuan taught the children that the world itself was responding to the disciples’ hearts.

• Cao Yugao returned the Heavenly Immortal Edict to the old man, who took it, burned with pain, and collapsed unconscious; Xu Zichang carried him to bed and rested from the effort of his attack.
• Villagers arrived to punish Xu Zichang, who was beaten until Gongsun Yin woke and explained that the crowd had mistaken what happened; Xu Zichang told his junior brother to conduct himself well and left, limping.
• Xu Zichang and Gongsun Yin continued living as mortals while their spiritual awareness and states of mind changed, and Yi Shuyuan, Cao Yugao, and Zheng Ying settled into village life.
• As winter came, snow fell in Mist Village and the children noticed that the spiritual energy had changed; Yi Shuyuan explained that the tribulation and the disciples’ inner changes were transforming the world.
• A-Yu asked whether Yi Shuyuan meant that everything in the world, including A-Yu, was part of the change, and Yi Shuyuan confirmed it.

As winter deepened, Yi Shuyuan recognized that the changing world and Gongsun Yin’s unresolved tribulation were connected. Gongsun Yin awoke from a troubling dream just as a colossal serpent stirred beneath the ice and an avalanche swept down from Great Cang Snow Mountain.

• Yi Shuyuan, Stoneborn, Cao Yugao, and the children went outside and saw the river frozen and the mountains covered in snow.
• Xu Zichang and Gongsun Yin returned with firewood, and Xu Zichang said the mountains seemed deeper as the mist thinned.
• Yi Shuyuan questioned Gongsun Yin about whether the world felt false and urged him to remember why he had entered the tribulation.
• Gongsun Yin dreamed of his past in the Immortal Dao and woke after lying unconscious for a day and night, with Xu Zichang beside him.
• Gongsun Yin and Xu Zichang heard the frozen river cracking as water moved beneath the ice, while Yi Shuyuan recognized the distant mountains as Great Cang Snow Mountain.
• A giant serpent surged through the snowy mountains, triggering avalanches and sending a deadly wave of ice, snow, and cold toward the river.

Yi Shuyuan warned Mist Village about a Snow Python’s devastating passage through ice and snow and forced the villagers to flee as the flood arrived. When people were swept away, Gongsun Yin charged at the monster with his long-buried sword, and Xu Zichang followed him with his own blade.

• Yi Shuyuan and his students warned Mist Village that the Snow Python was bringing a flood, but most villagers refused to believe them until Yi Shuyuan conjured a snowy image of the monster and frightened them into preparing to flee.
• Cao Yugao met Xu Zichang and Gongsun Yin by the river and told them that the Snow Python’s passage threatened the village.
• The ice and snow swept down sooner than expected, and Yi Shuyuan broke a cart to force stragglers to run as the flood reached Mist Village.
• Yi Shuyuan caught two children carried into the air by the storm, but Nian'en and a woman were swept away before he could reach them.
• Gongsun Yin charged toward the monster, summoned Frost Condensation from beneath the earth, and drew the sword as Xu Zichang followed with Azure Edge.

Yi Shuyuan awakened his Heavenly Demon Transformation and drew the Snow Python out of the ice flood so Gongsun Yin, Xu Zichang, and Cao Yugao could strike it. The three joined Yi Shuyuan in charging the wounded serpent after Cao Yugao knocked it out of the flood and toward the bank.

• Gongsun Yin and Xu Zichang fought through the blizzard with their swords while Cao Yugao struggled to follow them.
• Yi Shuyuan realized he had to face the demon as part of himself and transformed into a white-haired, dark-robed heavenly demon without losing control.
• Yi Shuyuan used the wind to race toward the Snow Python and deliberately lured it out of the ice flood.
• The Snow Python struck Yi Shuyuan with its tail, but Gongsun Yin and Xu Zichang arrived and stabbed at its vital points with their swords.
• Cao Yugao hurled a dead log at the serpent's tail, knocking the Snow Python out of the flood and sending it toward the bank.
• Yi Shuyuan, Gongsun Yin, and Xu Zichang charged toward the Snow Python from three directions.

Yi Shuyuan wounded the Snow Python and saved Cao Yugao, but the serpent escaped the flood and attacked the villagers on the mountain. Gongsun Yin, Xu Zichang, and Hui Mian stopped it, and Hui Mian dealt the fatal blow before collapsing atop its head.

• Yi Shuyuan tricked the Snow Python into exposing its wounded vital point, struck it hard, and carried Gongsun Yin and Xu Zichang clear of the flood.
• Yi Shuyuan rescued Cao Yugao from the water, then hurried after Gongsun Yin and Xu Zichang as they pursued the escaped serpent.
• The Snow Python reached the fleeing villagers, and Hui Mian drew it away from them while Zheng Ying and Stoneborn led the others uphill.
• Gongsun Yin clung to the serpent's tail and pinned it with Xu Zichang's Azure Peak, giving Hui Mian a chance to attack its wound.
• Hui Mian tore into the Snow Python's vital wound until it died, then crawled out bloodied and exhausted.

After defeating the Giant Serpent and completing the heart tribulation, the group left Mist Village and escaped the Cave Painting Realm. Gongsun Yin remained an old man, while the others parted ways with Cao Yugao returning to the Celestial Court.

• Xu Zichang congratulated Gongsun Yin on overcoming the trial, and Yi Shuyuan reassured Hui Mian that the group had passed it.
• After funerals and cleanup, Yi Shuyuan, Gongsun Yin, Xu Zichang, and the others said farewell to Mist Village and set out toward the mountain.
• Zheng Ying sensed a radiant opening, and the group stepped out of the Cave Painting Realm into a cave before the mural.
• Cao Yugao woke from his apparent death, while Gongsun Yin remained an old man; Yi Shuyuan secretly sent a wisp of spiritual awareness back into the painting.
• Gongsun Yin offered the White Jade Token to Xu Zichang, but Xu Zichang told him to keep it, and the group left the cave together.
• Cao Yugao bade farewell to everyone and rode a divine light toward the Celestial Court.

Yi Shuyuan forged and gave Stoneborn treasures that let him fly, then sent him home with Hui Mian. He examined Gongsun Yin’s damaged heart aperture and revealed a cultivation method that might help him, though the heavenly demon’s manifestation remained uncertain.

• After Cao Yugao left, Gongsun Yin admitted that part of his mind and spirit seemed to be missing, and Yi Shuyuan brought out his Alchemy Furnace to finish tempering treasures for Stoneborn and Hui Mian.
• Yi Shuyuan presented Stoneborn with the Wind-Fire Wheels and a golden ring, and Stoneborn quickly mastered the wheels and flew into the sky.
• Stoneborn and Hui Mian set off for Moon Province to visit home, carrying Yi Shuyuan’s Heavenly Immortal Edict.
• Yi Shuyuan returned with Zheng Ying, Gongsun Yin, and Xu Zichang to the restored Cave Painting Realm and examined Gongsun Yin’s mind and fate.
• Yi Shuyuan told Gongsun Yin that his heart’s aperture was flawed but that he could turn adversity to fortune by forming a cultivation method from his tribulation insights and teaching it to someone who would cultivate alongside him.
• As Yi Shuyuan began to explain that the heavenly demon’s manifestation might still occur, his heart suddenly thumped, and he stopped speaking.