Chapter Summaries

Stoneborn returned to Yi Shuyuan looking young again, and Yi Shuyuan left Mingzhou with him and the others. At Longwind Lake, Xiao Yong challenged Mo Ye to a duel, and the chapter ended with Mo Ye striking Xiao Yong into the lake before they continued their fight.

• Stoneborn visited Yi Shuyuan and regained his youthful appearance, then bid his family farewell.
• Yi Shuyuan stopped appearing at Qingyuan Pavilion, and the storyteller’s fans concluded that he had left Mingzhou.
• Xiao Yong and his demon followers arrived at Longwind Lake, where he called out Mo Ye for a rematch.
• Jiang Lang learned that Xiao Yong had challenged Mo Ye and discovered that Mo Ye was still injured from the Pill Realm demonic tribulation.
• Mo Ye flew away to fight Xiao Yong, struck him with his tail, and sent him crashing into Longwind Lake before Xiao Yong rose to pursue him.

Mo Ye and Xiao Yong fought a fierce battle in the coastal mountains, with Mo Ye using mirages and a dangerous dragon technique against the powerful mountain ogre. Xiao Yong survived Mo Ye’s strongest strike, then ended the fight, leaving both sides shaken and Mo Ye troubled by his momentary fear.

• Yi Shuyuan, Jiang Lang, and their followers pursued Mo Ye and Xiao Yong to the coastal mountains to watch their battle.
• Mo Ye trapped Xiao Yong in mist with the Mirage-Dragon Art, while Yi Shuyuan explained that Xiao Yong was secretly probing his opponent.
• Mo Ye formed four flood dragons and struck Xiao Yong with Dragon-Turning Break, hurling him into a mountain and leaving him bloodied.
• Xiao Yong rose again, criticized Mo Ye for holding back, and demonstrated his immense power with a punch that fractured the mountains.
• Xiao Yong declared the fight over rather than take advantage of Mo Ye’s weakened state, while Mo Ye felt humiliated by his relief and fear.

Xiao Yong defeated Mo Ye, then learned that pursuing Hong Ye would mean challenging the East Sea Dragon Lord. Following Yi Shuyuan’s advice, he went with his companions to the Dragon Palace, where the enraged dragonkind urged their lord to punish him.

• The Tortoise Chancellor and Jiang Lang calmed the arguing crowds after Xiao Yong won his fight with Mo Ye.
• Jiang Lang encouraged Mo Ye to cultivate and reclaim his honor, but sent Xiao Yong flying when he tried to stop Longwind Lake’s party and demand Hong Ye’s whereabouts.
• Yi Shuyuan warned Xiao Yong that confronting the Hong Household would provoke the East Sea Dragon Lord, and advised him to request a meeting at the Dragon Palace.
• Xiao Yong took the Heavenly Battle Mountain monsters, Stoneborn, Hui Mian, and Yan Shouyun to the Dragon Palace while Yi Shuyuan remained above the sea with the others.
• The Dragon Palace’s dragonkind demanded permission to punish Xiao Yong, and the true dragon agreed that he had shown gall.

After the East Sea Dragon Lord sent Meng Ru to investigate Hong Ye’s residence, Yi Shuyuan discovered signs of a violent struggle and concluded that Hong Ye had rebelled. The Dragon Lord then ordered Jiang Lang to pursue him north with Meng Ru, Yi Shuyuan, and Xiao Yong’s group, demanding Hong Ye be captured or killed.

• The East Sea Dragon Lord sent Meng Ru to take the visitors to Hong Ye and ordered Ji Zi to summon Jiang Lang from Longwind Lake.
• Meng Ru led Xiao Yong, Stoneborn, Hui Mian, and the Heavenly Battle Mountain monsters through the sea toward Hong Ye’s Water Palace as Yi Shuyuan’s party followed.
• Meng Ru and the others found Hong Ye’s Water Palace deserted, its ward broken and signs of a hurried struggle scattered through the halls.
• Yi Shuyuan inferred that Hong Ye had fled to prevent the Water Palace from reporting to the Dragon Palace, and Meng Ru recognized that Hong Ye had rebelled.
• The East Sea Dragon Lord told Jiang Lang that Hong Ye had gone north and ordered him to pursue with Meng Ru, Yi Shuyuan, and Xiao Yong’s group, alive or dead.

Jiang Lang and Yi Shuyuan reached the North Sea to investigate whether its Dragon Lord had sheltered Hong Ye, only to find Ya Ci preparing to marry the Golden Toad Princess. Yi Shuyuan arranged for Hui Mian and others to investigate Daoist Xue, whose connection to the mortal world might help reveal Hong Ye’s whereabouts.

• Jiang Lang asked Yi Shuyuan whether Ya Ci would take Hong Ye into his service, and Yi Shuyuan said he doubted it.
• Jiang Lang and Meng Ru led the group to the North Sea, where they learned Ya Ci was preparing to marry the Golden Toad Princess.
• Jiang Lang, Yi Shuyuan, and their companions met Ya Ci and explained that Hong Ye had rebelled; Ya Ci ordered Yin Lian to investigate the North Sea Dragonkind.
• Yin Lian arranged to host the visitors while the North Sea aquatic folk gathered, and Xiao Yong led the Heavenly Battle Mountain monsters off to explore.
• Jiang Lang questioned Yi Shuyuan about the missing Hui Mian and others, and Yi Shuyuan admitted he had sent them to investigate someone from his past.
• Yi Shuyuan revealed that his divinations placed Hong Ye closer to the mortal world and that Daoist Xue might uncover a lead.

Daoist Xue entered a village in Great Qiu and learned that children born on certain Dragon Year dates were being drawn away by evil magic. After testing copper coins, he agreed to observe the children overnight before deciding how to help them.

• Daoist Xue accepted an old farmer’s urgent invitation to stay at his house.
• Daoist Xue sensed many children inside and learned the old man had gathered them to hide from a government sacrificial ceremony.
• The old man explained that children selected for the ceremony disappeared, and some had begun sleepwalking away under the influence of suspected evil magic.
• The children pleaded with Daoist Xue to save them, and he warned the old man that helping them could bring danger from the authorities.
• Daoist Xue scattered copper coins on the table, saw them behave strangely, and decided to wait until that night to see what happened.

Daoist Xue stopped the Zhang children from sleepwalking but could not locate the caster or break the spell. In a dreamlike vision, he found the children worshipping a dragon-headed statue and received magic from Yunlai before waking on the Zhang Household's roof.

• Daoist Xue and the villagers kept watch as the Zhang children began sleepwalking and running from the house.
• Daoist Xue used his fly whisk to subdue the fleeing children and return them safely to the courtyard.
• Daoist Xue failed to sense the distant spellcaster and told the villagers to rest while he considered how to counter the spell.
• Daoist Xue's consciousness traveled to a county temple, where he saw children worshipping a Black-Robed, Human-Bodied, Dragon-Headed Statue and a singled-out child being detained.
• The statue's terrifying pressure overwhelmed Daoist Xue until an unseen force pulled him away, and Yunlai appeared and offered to teach him magic at Old Man Yu's request.
• Daoist Xue awoke on the Zhang Household's roof before daybreak, remembering the encounter as both dreamlike and real.

Daoist Xue prepared paper figures and a rooster after his spirit wandered, while Hui Mian and the others uncovered Hong Ye’s scheme to borrow Great Qiu’s dynasty qi. Hong Ye found what he believed was a Heavenly Battle Pill, but it turned into an ordinary stone, leaving him and his sons searching for another way to restore it.

• Daoist Xue woke the people in the courtyard and told them to buy matching paper figures for each child, then gathered what else he needed there.
• Hui Mian showed Stoneborn, Qi Zhongbin, and the others a Dragon King statue at a temple, where they discovered signs of sinister demonic qi and child worship.
• Qi Zhongbin sent a paper-crane message to the North Sea, and Yi Shuyuan and Jiang Lang set out to find Hong Ye after learning of his plan.
• Hong Ye and his sons found a Heavenly Battle Pill concealed in a burning fissure in the Western Sea, and Hong Ye swallowed it along with its stone casing.
• The pill became an ordinary stone that Hong Ye could neither digest nor break, so one of his sons proposed refining it in an alchemy furnace abandoned in the Open Sun Canal.

Hong Ye's sons planned to obtain the Fourth Alchemy Furnace and refine the Heavenly Battle Pill while Hong Ye's hatred of the East Sea Dragon Lord deepened. Meanwhile, Daoist Xue and Zhong Xingwen raided a Dragon King temple in North Sea Commandery City, rescued the sleepwalking children, and discovered a slain cultist that looked like a yaksha.

• Hong Ye agreed that his sons should seek the Fourth Alchemy Furnace at the Kaiyang River while he guarded the Heavenly Battle Pill, and he ordered them to avoid returning to Great Qiu.
• Hong Ye blamed the East Sea Dragon Lord for deceiving dragonkind and for the deaths of Hong Wei and Hong Jun.
• Daoist Xue and Zhong Xingwen investigated the unnamed Dragon King temples across Great Qiu and identified the North Sea Commandery City temple as a significant site.
• Daoist Xue, Zhong Xingwen, and more than a dozen martial artists attacked the temple at midnight as children entered and cultists appeared.
• Daoist Xue defeated the cultist, and the group rescued the sleepwalking children before finding that the enemy's true form resembled a yaksha.

Daoist Xue and the orthodox cultivators prepared to expose the Four Dragon King Cult, while the Hong brothers stole the Alchemy Furnace from the Kaiyang River. Yi Shuyuan sensed the theft and realized where the Hong Household would go next.

• Daoist Xue defeated the yaksha guarding the Dragon King Temple as Jiang Lang, Qi Zhongbin, and Hui Mian watched and discussed the Hong Household's hidden purpose.
• Jiang Lang and the others decided to support the mortal opposition and wait for the Hong Household to reveal itself, while Yi Shuyuan remained confident that the cult would fall.
• Hong Ye studied the unusual rock on the Western Sea island and wondered whether it might eventually gain sentience.
• Hong Tao, Hong Sheng, and Hong Xie reached the Alchemy Furnace in the Kaiyang River, killed its yaksha guard, and stole the furnace.
• Yi Shuyuan heard a soft thud in the Great Qiu capital and announced that he knew where the Hong Household would be.

After General Crab reported the theft of the Alchemy Furnace, the Heavenly Emperor activated the Heavenly Mystery Instrument and sent heavenly forces after the Hong Household’s three Flood Dragons. The dragons were cornered beneath a vast host of troops, and Hong Sheng tried to save Hong Tao as lightning struck.

• General Crab found the bodies of his Aquatic Folk and a yaksha near the Alchemy Furnace’s former resting place, then ordered a search and ascended to report the theft.
• General Crab told the Heavenly Emperor how the furnace had sunk into the Kaiyang River and described its theft, prompting White Robe and the Medicine Master Star Lord to urge use of the Heavenly Mystery Instrument.
• The Heavenly Emperor activated the Heavenly Mystery Instrument, alerting Yi Shuyuan and prompting heavenly troops and generals to pursue the Hong Household’s three Flood Dragons.
• The heavenly forces surrounded the three Flood Dragons and deployed the Dragon-Seizing Formation, identifying them as the furnace thieves.
• Hong Sheng struck Hong Tao with his tail and urged the brothers to flee as lightning descended ahead of them.

The Dragon Lord of the East Sea confronted the Heavenly Court over Hong Tao, Hong Sheng, and Hong Xie, then tortured Hong Sheng to death and forced Hong Tao to agree to talk. Meanwhile, Hong Ye dreamed of using the Heavenly Battle Pill to challenge Feng Yan, but a vast force of heavenly soldiers and dragons approached his hiding place.

• White Robe told Feng Yan that Hong Tao, Hong Sheng, and Hong Xie had stolen Yi Daozi’s Alchemy Furnace and killed a divine being, and Feng Yan condemned them.
• Feng Yan questioned the three bound dragons at the Celestial Court and tortured Hong Sheng until he dissolved into smoke.
• Hong Tao begged for mercy and promised to talk, while Feng Yan tried to suppress his anger at the Hong Household.
• Hong Ye, hiding beyond the Western Sea with the Heavenly Battle Pill, dreamed of defeating Feng Yan and taking revenge on his enemies.
• Heavenly soldiers and generals, accompanied by aquatic folk and true dragons, advanced toward Hong Ye’s island as the drums sounded.

Hong Ye faced the assembled Heavenly Soldiers, Dragonkind, and demons after throwing the Heavenly Battle Pill beyond the horizon, then fought Xiao Yong and was defeated with help from the Universe Ring. As Hong Ye realized the ring had caused the blow that ended his life, Stoneborn said he had only wanted Hong Ye to know why he died.

• Hong Ye hurled the stubborn stone containing the Heavenly Battle Pill beyond the horizon and laughed as the Heavenly Drum announced the approaching forces.
• Yi Shuyuan and the gathered forces reached the Turbulent Wastes Sea, where Feng Yan agreed to let Xiao Yong confront Hong Ye.
• Hui Mian demanded the Heavenly Battle Pill, but Hong Ye claimed he had swallowed it and challenged Feng Yan to fight.
• Xiao Yong reminded Hong Ye that he had hidden the Immortal Cultivator who beat Hong Ye's grandson, provoking Hong Ye to attack him.
• Xiao Yong fought Hong Ye through the Mirage-Dragon Art and gained the upper hand, while the Universe Ring struck Hong Ye's head.
• Hong Ye recognized the Universe Ring as the weapon that had struck him, and Stoneborn said he had wanted Hong Ye to know why he died.

Xiao Yong defeated Hong Ye, and Feng Yan seized the Hong Household dragons as Yi Shuyuan witnessed an ancient image of a heavenly phoenix and parasol tree beneath the Western Sea. The vision ended with the Hong dragons dead, while distant Dragon King statues collapsed during Daoist Xue’s assault on the wicked cult.

• Xiao Yong defeated Hong Ye underwater and brought him ashore, claiming victory before the gathered gods and Dragonkind.
• Feng Yan demanded the Heavenly Battle Pill, took Hong Ye’s Dragon Pearl, and brought Hong Tao and Hong Xie before him; Hong Ye insisted he had already eaten the pill.
• Yi Shuyuan sent his divine sense beneath the sea and saw an ancient image of a towering parasol tree and a heavenly phoenix, which everyone nearby also witnessed.
• Yi Shuyuan opened his eyes to find all three Hong Household flood dragons dead, and the ancient remnant image had vanished.
• Daoist Xue and his companions pressed into the main hall of a great temple, where the Dragon King statue toppled as Dragon King statues across the land cracked or collapsed.

After the Four Dragon King statues collapsed across Great Qiu, Daoist Xue decided to hurry to the capital and confront the emperor before the evil dragons could be revived. The emperor learned that the statues had fallen on their own and summoned the high priest.

• In the Western Sea, Feng Yan recognized the ancient vision as a glimpse of the former Paulownia Sea and saw Hong Ye’s two sons dead beside him.
• In Great Qiu, Daoist Xue recovered from a vision of three dragons dying, helped Zhong Xingwen defeat the cultists, and saw the temple statues shattered.
• Daoist Xue and Zhong Xingwen’s group escaped with six unusual cultists bound in talisman-covered bundles after learning that Four Dragon King statues had collapsed across the country.
• Daoist Xue decided to travel alone to the capital with the captives in a coffin, hoping to persuade the emperor to end the cult before faith could restore the dragons.
• At the palace, the emperor learned that the capital’s Four Dragon King statues had collapsed without anyone damaging them and ordered the high priest summoned.

The High Priest reassured the Old Emperor that the fallen Four Dragon King statues were part of a tribulation, while the Divine Envoys plotted to prey on children. Daoist Xue discovered their attack, stormed the temple, and confronted the emperor at court by revealing the contents of a coffin.

• The High Priest told the Old Emperor that the Dragon Kings had foretold the statues’ fall and secured imperial support to rebuild the temples and establish attendant gods.
• The Divine Envoys said the Old Emperor would not live through winter and ordered the High Priest to deliver three pairs of virgin children to them.
• Daoist Xue sensed evil at the Capital City’s Four Dragon King Main Temple and saw a Demon Creature attack a child in the Quiet Chamber.
• Daoist Xue unleashed fire dragons against the Demon Creatures, interrupting their attack and throwing the temple into chaos.
• Daoist Xue entered the Golden Hall with a coffin, kicked it open before the emperor, and denounced him as a foolish tyrant.

Daoist Xue exposed the Four Dragon King Cult’s priests as monsters before the emperor and court, then left the palace after declaring the emperor’s life must end that day. The emperor collapsed and died, while Daoist Xue wondered whether Great Qiu would descend into another struggle for power.

• Daoist Xue revealed the monsters hidden beneath the corpses and denounced the emperor for supporting the Four Dragon King Cult.
• Daoist Xue forced the High Priest to face the court, and the guards killed the High Priest and attacked the bound monsters.
• The emperor recognized Daoist Xue as Great Qiu’s State Preceptor and excitedly asked whether he had discovered immortality.
• Daoist Xue declared the emperor’s destiny exhausted and said his life must end that day, then walked out of the palace unchallenged.
• The emperor collapsed and died, while Daoist Xue left the palace and wondered whether a bloody power struggle would follow.

After leaving Capital City, Daoist Xue met his former master, Old Man Yu, at a roadside tea stall and learned the hidden history behind the Four Dragon King Cult. He accepted Old Man Yu as his master again, joining a gathering of extraordinary people as his third disciple.

• Daoist Xue left Capital City after seeing the Imperial Court invite him to return as State Preceptor, a title he dismissed as nonsense.
• A persistent tea-stall attendant drew Daoist Xue back, where he recognized the exceptional quality of the Pine Mist tea.
• Old Man Yu revealed that he had opened the tea stall while waiting for Daoist Xue, and Stoneborn joined them to explain the Four Dragon King Cult's connection to ancient events.
• Daoist Xue discovered that the other tea drinkers included his master's disciples and other extraordinary figures, and they identified him as Old Man Yu's third disciple.
• At Hui Mian's prompting, Xue Yuan knelt and kowtowed to Old Man Yu, who accepted his greeting as his disciple.

Yi Shuyuan accepted Daoist Xue as his third disciple, explained the Immortal Dao to him, and gave him the Pill Canon as a magical treasure. After the group dispersed, Yi Shuyuan and Qi Zhongbin returned to the ancient tree in northern Great Yong, where Yi Shuyuan began recording recent events.

• Old Man Yu transformed into Yi Shuyuan and guided Daoist Xue through a vision of the Immortal Dao before accepting him as his third disciple.
• Yi Shuyuan gave Daoist Xue cultivation books and a pearl containing the Pill Canon, while Yan Shouyun resolved to curry favor with his new martial uncle.
• Jiang Lang returned to the East Sea Dragon Palace and reported Daoist Xue's identity to the Dragon Lord.
• Stoneborn and Du Xiaolin returned to Taiyin Mountain and joked about Stoneborn joining the Taiyin Palace.
• Zhuo Qing returned to Fishmulberry Village, reflected on Master Mo, and resumed working with the Golden Shuttle and spirit silkworms.
• Yi Shuyuan and Qi Zhongbin arrived beneath the ancient tree in northern Great Yong, where Yi Shuyuan began writing and Qi Zhongbin wondered about the golden cicada.

Yi Shuyuan’s writing carried Qi Zhongbin and Hui Mian through two years of winter, while Yi A Bao spent New Year with his aging wife, Lu Junling. A Bao later met the long-lived Mai Lingfei on a bridge, where Mai Lingfei said he was looking for someone.

• Yi Shuyuan divined the Heavenly Battle Pill’s fate and told Qi Zhongbin and Hui Mian to let the now-spiritual being go its own way.
• Qi Zhongbin and Hui Mian left the ancient tree and discovered that two years had passed, with Yi Shuyuan gone and snow covering the ground.
• At the Yi Household’s New Year gathering, Yi A Bao worried over Lu Junling’s declining vitality and asked her to try the wax-sealed hawthorn, but she refused.
• Yi A Bao bought firecrackers for the children and, while walking by the West River, met Mai Lingfei, who said he was looking for someone.
• Mai Lingfei chatted with Yi A Bao, compared his melancholy to his own former self, and walked away across the bridge.