Chapter Summaries

Shi Chun negotiated with the Half-Human Mist for help after he left the Nether Realm, agreeing to meet again in three days. To guard against Yu Xuanbing breaking their bargain, Shi Chun planned to secretly track Yu Xuanbing’s wife, Nian Xiu, with jewelry she would take outside.

• The Half-Human Mist agreed to leave the Nether Realm with someone and help Shi Chun for ten days, in exchange for learning how Shi Chun crossed between realms and keeping their secrets.
• Shi Chun arranged to meet the Half-Human Mist in three days, then returned to Qiangyu City with Wu Jinliang while Chu Jingtang stayed behind to keep watch.
• Shi Chun told Lao Changhai and Wu Jinliang about the agreement and revealed that Yu Xuanbing’s wife was Nian Xiu, who used the cover identity of a shopkeeper’s wife at Stone Story in Zhuyong City.
• Shi Chun proposed placing a concealed tracking artifact in jewelry that Nian Xiu would take out of the Nether Realm, and assigned Lao Changhai to arrange it with Wu Jinliang’s advice.
• Shi Chun warned Lao Changhai to contact Lao Xi cautiously and keep the tracking plan secret, especially from Bearded Chu.

Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang opened a passage between the Nether Realm and Gathering Grotto Continent, allowing Yu Xuanbing to scout the other side before returning to bring his wife through. Yu Xuanbing and his wife reached the Northern Ju Royal Capital, and Shi Chun sent Lao Changhai to track her with a hidden artifact.

• Lao Changhai sold tracking jewelry to Nian Xiu and another woman at Stone Story, while Shi Chun waited with Wu Jinliang for Yu Xuanbing.
• Yu Xuanbing arrived alone and revealed that he wielded demonic essence before Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang opened the Two-Realm Passage to Gathering Grotto Continent.
• After seeing the other realm, Yu Xuanbing insisted on returning to fetch the woman he had first said would not leave, offering to kill an additional target in exchange.
• Shi Chun reopened the passage, and Yu Xuanbing returned with his wife; they emerged in a mountain forest near the Northern Ju Royal Capital.
• Shi Chun confirmed that a tracking artifact was following Yu Xuanbing's wife, then returned with Wu Jinliang to collect the unconscious Li Hongjiu.
• Shi Chun brought Lao Changhai to the Northern Ju Royal Capital and sent him to secretly track Yu Xuanbing's wife with the Array Compass.

Li Hongjiu recovered enough to leave Shi Chun and return to the Treasure-Evolving Sect, while Shi Chun remained stranded just short of a breakthrough. In Eastern Victory, Wei Mo’s mass arrests pressured Shi Chun to make contact, and Shi Chun finally responded to Young Master Nan after learning that his associates faced execution.

• Li Hongjiu used the Heaven-Shaking Thunder Sword to help Shi Chun convert demonic qi into cultivation, but Shi Chun only advanced within the advanced martial realm and did not reach the human immortal realm.
• Li Hongjiu left to return to the Treasure-Evolving Sect, while Shi Chun asked him to keep his departure from Gathering Grotto Continent secret.
• Wei Mo had the Royal Court arrest people connected to Shi Chun, including Mount Wukang’s disciples, Xiang Lan’er, and Feng Chi, threatening to execute them if Shi Chun could not be found.
• The Red-Clad Woman learned that Li Hongjiu had returned to the Treasure-Evolving Sect and discussed the uncertainty surrounding Shi Chun’s whereabouts and the Queen of Eastern Victory’s room.
• After returning to Gathering Grotto Continent, Shi Chun read Young Master Nan’s warning about the arrests and replied to him, while also receiving a message from the Red-Clad Woman.

Shi Chun learned that the hunt for him had spread to his former associates and considered seeking help from the Red-Clad Woman while keeping Young Master Nan at a distance. After Yu Xuanbing arrived, Shi Chun hired him to retrieve Death-Defying Incense from a potentially watched handover site.

• Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang learned that people connected to Shi Chun, including their old brothers from the Eastern Nine Plains, were being arrested, and they wondered whether Wu Jinliang had stolen something important from the Royal Capital.
• Shi Chun exchanged messages with the Red-Clad Woman, who offered to send experts, and with Young Master Nan, whose promise to clear the suspicions did not persuade Shi Chun to come in for questioning.
• Shi Chun told Wu Jinliang that he would wait for Yu Xuanbing before visiting the Red-Clad Woman, hoping her connections could help them and Huang Yingying's Golden-Haired Rat Clan.
• Miao Dingyi told Lan Qiaoyan and Miao Yilan that he had prevented the Eastern Victory side from reaching for them, and Gong Shaoci visited the family and expressed regret over Shi Chun's predicament.
• Yu Xuanbing arrived after the agreed three days and offered Shi Chun ten days of help plus one more killing; Shi Chun asked him to retrieve Death-Defying Incense from Barrier Slope outside Dazhi City.

Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang stole the Death-Defying Incense from the guarded delivery site with Yu Xuanbing’s help. Shi Chun then met the Red-Clad Woman in Dazhi City, revealed his identity, and began an intimate encounter that left Yu Xuanbing furious when he realized he had been guarding them.

• Yu Xuanbing secretly retrieved the Death-Defying Incense from beneath the stone at Barrier Slope, and three guards discovered the opened box after the goods had vanished.
• A-Lan reported the theft to the Red-Clad Woman, who left alone after Shi Chun sent her a meeting address.
• Shi Chun inspected the rendezvous house, sent Yu Xuanbing away, and waited for the Red-Clad Woman to arrive.
• Shi Chun kissed the Red-Clad Woman, revealed his name, and asked whether she had sent someone to follow him; she admitted she had suspected his identity.
• The Red-Clad Woman opened the doors and windows and took the lead in their encounter, while the Red-Mist Fish witnessed them and Yu Xuanbing realized he had been standing guard for their tryst.

Shi Chun learned that the East Victory Royal Court was hunting him because someone had entered the Queen of Eastern Victory’s room and left traces of Death-Defying Incense, making him a suspect. Ruojun warned that he needed to turn himself in and cooperate, but agreed to help free the Golden-Haired Rat Clan and Bai Qiru; Shi Chun left at dawn, exhausted, with Yu Xuanbing.

• Shi Chun asked Ruojun why the East Victory Royal Court was pursuing him, and she explained that someone had entered the Queen of Eastern Victory’s room and stolen something, leaving the scent of Death-Defying Incense.
• Shi Chun realized that the Two-Realm Passage had opened into the Queen’s room and that the Royal Court’s hunt had been triggered by the incident, though he had not been the intruder.
• Ruojun warned Shi Chun that the major powers might seek him for the method that let someone enter the Queen’s room, and said he should turn himself in and help find the real culprit.
• Shi Chun asked Ruojun to persuade her uncle to secure the Golden-Haired Rat Clan’s release from the Phoenix Clan’s Divine Mountain, and she agreed to help with Bai Qiru but not the Bai Clan.
• Ruojun kept Shi Chun with her through the night, and the next morning she returned to the Book Hall while Shi Chun left the city looking exhausted.
• Yu Xuanbing caught up with Shi Chun after keeping watch all night, but remained unusually quiet and avoided looking him in the eye.

The Royal Court pressured Shi Chun to surrender by forcing his friends, allies, and sects to send messages urging him to cooperate. Shi Chun remained silent as the coercion escalated, while Feng Chi and Duan Xiangmei refused to help and suffered threats and violence.

• Shi Chun returned to the cave and rested while Wu Jinliang questioned him, and Bian Weiying sent a Royal Court-directed message urging him to explain himself.
• Old Dong and Big Stone sent Shi Chun messages promising leniency if he surrendered, and Lan Qiaoyan, Miao Yilan, Mulan Qingqing, Li Hongjiu, and members of the Bright Mountain Sect were also drawn into the campaign.
• Feng Chi refused to send a message, so Wei Mo's attendants beat and tortured her until Tong Mingshan intervened and secured her release.
• Duan Xiangmei refused to contact Wu Jinliang, and Young Master Nan stopped an attack on her and persuaded Wei Mo to spare her for the moment.
• Wei Mo ordered that Wu Jinliang be told Duan Xiangmei would be executed if Shi Chun did not surrender, while Shi Chun watched the messages arrive and Wu Jinliang angrily threw down his talisman.

Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang considered how to clear Shi Chun’s name while protecting Duan Xiangmei, and Ruojun reported that her uncle would help if Shi Chun proved his innocence. During their meeting, Ruojun played a tune Shi Chun recognized, and he summoned the Black Lotus Avatar to ask her to play it again.

• Wu Jinliang regretted defying Gong Shaoci for Duan Xiangmei after learning she could be executed to pressure Shi Chun.
• Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang discussed surrendering or hiding, and Shi Chun said he would seek help securing his safety before turning himself in.
• Ruojun met Shi Chun on a hill and told him her uncle would intervene if Shi Chun proved he was innocent, while the Golden-Haired Rat Clan was expected to be released.
• Ruojun poured wine into Shi Chun’s mouth and played a flute tune that Shi Chun recognized from before.
• Shi Chun summoned the Black Lotus Avatar and asked Ruojun to play the tune again.

Shi Chun discovered that the Red-Clad Woman’s flute tune awakened memories in the Black Lotus artifact spirit, revealing that he had been her first man. After taking the treasure and ordering A-Lan to investigate its history, free the Golden-Haired Rat Clan, and secretly obstruct Shi Chun’s possible allies, the Red-Clad Woman left his fate uncertain.

• The Red-Clad Woman played a purple bamboo flute, and the Black Lotus Avatar reacted as Shi Chun recalled seeing the flute in its memories.
• The Red-Clad Woman accused Shi Chun of scheming, but he erased his connection to the Black Lotus Treasure and let her test it herself.
• The Black Lotus Avatar displayed its great power, and the Red-Clad Woman wept as she recognized the artifact spirit as a man who had been tortured and refined into a treasure.
• Shi Chun explained that he had acquired the treasure from Wu Shanshan of Forgetting Passion Valley, and the Red-Clad Woman identified the artifact spirit as her first man before taking the treasure.
• The Red-Clad Woman left for Dazhi City, then ordered A-Lan to find witnesses from the Divine Fire Domain, secure the Golden-Haired Rat Clan’s freedom, and secretly block Shi Chun’s other sources of protection.
• The Red-Clad Woman asked A-Lan whether she knew how to play the tune on the end-blown flute.

Shi Chun entered the Phoenix Clan’s Divine Mountain with Wu Jinliang and Yu Xuanbing, then went to the Labor Office to prepare the Golden-Haired Rat Clan for its release. He told Jin Fu where the clan should go and explained his suspicions about the Bai Clan, leaving Jin Fu to follow his arrangements.

• A-Lan took the End-blown Flute from the Red-Clad Woman and played the tune she had heard.
• Shi Chun used the Golden Command Arrow to lead Wu Jinliang and Yu Xuanbing through the Divine Mountain’s barrier, then went deeper alone.
• Shi Chun reached the Labor Office, where the Golden-Haired Rat spirits greeted him and Jin Fu met him privately.
• Shi Chun told Jin Fu that the Phoenix Clan would probably release the Golden-Haired Rat Clan the next day and instructed them to wait for his word or seek Li Hongjiu at the Treasure-Evolving Sect.
• Shi Chun told Jin Fu that Bai Qiru had been released and explained his suspicions that the Bai Clan wanted the Demon Tome, asking Jin Fu to take Bai Qiru away without revealing his involvement.
• Jin Fu agreed to follow Shi Chun’s arrangements.

The Golden-Haired Rat Clan gained freedom from the Phoenix Clan and fled with Huang Yingying and Bai Qiru. Yin Xu warned them that the Extreme Fire Sect was hunting them and offered to seek shelter for them with the Qingqiu Fox Clan, while Shi Chun remained unaware of their release.

• Feng Xi ordered the Golden-Haired Rat Clan freed to avoid further angering the Demon Empress, and the clan fled Divine Mountain under Huang Yingying's lead.
• Clan Leader Jin Fu sent Huang Yingying to bring Bai Qiru, and the clan waited south of Distant Mountain City while Extreme Fire Sect members began searching for them.
• Yin Xu learned of the clan's release and tried to contact Shi Chun, but he was already in Northern Ju Royal Capital meeting Lao Changhai and preparing to see Situ Gu.
• Bai Qiru left her home and business to join Huang Yingying after Yin Fei relayed Granny Qi's message that she should go without worrying about the imprisoned clan members.
• Yin Xu found the fleeing clan, warned them that the Extreme Fire Sect was searching for them, and suggested they seek protection in Green Mound from the Qingqiu Fox Clan.

Yin Xu warned the Golden-Haired Rat Clan to seek protection from the Qingqiu Fox Clan, while Bai Qiru revealed Shi Chun’s identity and helped the clan decide to follow her advice. Shi Chun secured Situ Gu’s promise to help if the East Victory Royal Court cleared him, then returned to the Gathering Grotto Continent and recruited Yu Xuanbing to distract the Phoenix Clan while he tried to take the Northern Dipper Spirit-Repelling Formation.

• Yin Xu told the Golden-Haired Rat Clan to invoke Shi Chun’s name at Green Mound for protection and warned them that the Extreme Fire Sect was watching the Xun Gate exit.
• Bai Qiru revealed that Shi Chun was Wang Ping and that Gao He was Wu Jinliang, then persuaded Clan Leader Jin Fu and the rat spirits to seek shelter with the Qingqiu Fox Clan.
• Shi Chun met Situ Gu, learned that Zhen'er would remain with him, and asked Situ Gu to help secure his release if the East Victory Royal Court confirmed he was innocent.
• Shi Chun collected Lao Changhai in the Northern Ju Royal Capital and returned with him to the Nether Realm before traveling back to the Gathering Grotto Continent.
• Shi Chun told Yu Xuanbing that he planned to steal the Northern Dipper Spirit-Repelling Formation and asked him to create a disturbance at the Phoenix Clan Divine Mountain.
• Shi Chun claimed he had refined seventy or eighty artifacts that could pass through the formation, surprising Yu Xuanbing and Wu Jinliang.

Shi Chun persuaded Yu Xuanbing to scout the Divine Mountain and consider stealing the Northern Dipper Spirit-Repelling Formation while staging a rescue, then learned Yin Xu had sent the Golden-Haired Rat Clan toward the Qingqiu Fox Clan using his name. Realizing his deception might create another powerful enemy, Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang rushed toward Qing Continent to intervene.

• Shi Chun urged Yu Xuanbing to infiltrate the Divine Temple, collect the formation, and create a diversion by staging a rescue, and gave him the Golden Command Arrow and an Illustrated Map.
• Yu Xuanbing left with the Golden Command Arrow after agreeing to scout the Divine Mountain before their next meeting.
• Shi Chun read Yin Xu's reports about the Golden-Haired Rat Clan entering Qingqiu Fox Clan territory and learned that she had acted because she believed the clan was connected to him.
• Shi Chun realized the Golden-Haired Rat Clan might implicate him with the Qingqiu Fox Clan's ancestor, but he could not blame Yin Xu for helping in good faith.
• Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang hurried through the Nether Realm and Xun Gates toward Qing Continent, and Wu Jinliang contacted Bai Qiru to see whether they could still prevent trouble.

The Golden-Haired Rat Clan reached Green Mound seeking shelter, claiming Shi Chun’s friend Yin Xu had directed them there. After the Fox Clan leader began investigating their story, Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang learned the clan had already arrived and hurried to leave, while Bai Qiru was left unsure what to do.

• Tian Shen lost the Golden-Haired Rat Clan after turning back to pursue them, and the clan crossed the swamp into Green Mound with Bai Qiru’s help.
• Fox Clan guards brought the Golden-Haired Rat Clan before Clan Leader Yin Luo, who questioned why they had come and who had sent them.
• Bai Qiru said Yin Xu had relayed Shi Chun’s direction to seek shelter, and Yin Ning advised Yin Luo to confirm the story with the Ancestor.
• Wu Jinliang told Shi Chun that Bai Qiru’s group had reached the Fox Clan, and Shi Chun ordered them to leave while denying Yin Xu’s claim.
• Bai Qiru received Shi Chun’s message and was left uncertain how to respond as Yin Luo entered Green Mound’s forbidden valley.

Yin Luo learned that the Green Mound Ancestor did not know Shi Chun and ordered Yin Ning to investigate Yin Xu while watching over the Golden-Haired Rat Clan. Meanwhile, Shi Chun returned to Gathering Grotto Continent, found Yin Xu unreachable, and went to the Vermilion Jade Pavilion as the Western Emperor offered to help her get Shi Chun out through the Xun Gate, provided Shi Chun agreed to his conditions.

• Yin Luo asked the Green Mound Ancestor about Shi Chun, and the Ancestor denied knowing him and ordered her to investigate Yin Xu.
• Yin Luo let Bai Qiru and the Golden-Haired Rat Clan stay in Green Mound, then told Yin Ning to find Yin Xu and keep watch over the newcomers.
• Yu Xuanbing entered the Phoenix Clan Divine Mountain in disguise, while Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang returned to Gathering Grotto Continent.
• Shi Chun could not reach Yin Xu through their Mother-Child Talisman and flew to the Vermilion Jade Pavilion, leaving Wu Jinliang behind.
• The Western Emperor explained that Yin Xu's search for the Golden-Haired Rat Clan had alarmed him, then offered to help Shi Chun escape through the Xun Gate if Shi Chun agreed to leave and avoid Yin Xu until his troubles were resolved.

Shi Chun secretly met Yin Xu after she offered him a route out through the Xun Gate, but he grew suspicious of the Western Emperor’s plan and discovered that the Extreme Fire Sect was tailing them. He concluded that the Western Emperor had betrayed him and warned Yin Xu as the carriage continued through the city.

• Yin Xu contacted Shi Chun about escaping through the Gathering Grotto Continent’s Xun Gate, and Shi Chun agreed to meet her in person.
• Shi Chun used the Three Corpses Mirror to enter Yin Xu’s carriage unseen, then questioned her about the Western Emperor’s offer and the Green Mound incident.
• Xi Quan and a disguised Extreme Fire Sect elder followed Yin Xu’s carriage while their people prepared for Shi Chun to appear at the proposed meeting place.
• Shi Chun changed the carriage’s route after spotting a demon cultivator in the carriage behind them, then told Yin Xu that the Western Emperor had sold him out.

Shi Chun discovered that the Extreme Fire Sect was tracking him and escaped Distant Mountain City after drawing their pursuer away from Yin Xu. On the Divine Mountain, Yu Xuanbing infiltrated the Prison and Divine Temple, where he used the Golden Command Arrow to trigger the mountain’s protective veil.

• Shi Chun warned Yin Xu that the Extreme Fire Sect was following them and arranged for her to contact Tian Shen after he led the pursuers away.
• Yu Xuanbing used the Red-Mist Fish’s thread to enter the Prison, incapacitated the warders, and gave Granny Qi the keys to her cell before vanishing.
• Yu Xuanbing materialized inside the Divine Temple and turned the umbrella-frame artifact with the Golden Command Arrow, making the Divine Mountain shudder beneath a visible starry veil.
• Shi Chun slipped out of Yin Xu’s carriage as an Extreme Fire Sect scout approached, and Xi Quan recognized him as the sect’s disguised leader gave chase.
• Shi Chun blocked the pursuer’s attack with the Boundless Banner, escaped Distant Mountain City with the Wind Scales, and left the Extreme Fire Sect expert trapped behind the city’s activated protective formation.
• The people in Distant Mountain City saw the Divine Mountain’s ethereal light rise in the distance.

The Phoenix Clan discovered that the Northern Dipper Spirit-Repelling Formation had been broken and suspected both Situ Gu and an intruder within their ranks. In Distant Mountain City, Yin Xu was brought before the Western Emperor, whose betrayal left her at the mercy of the Extreme Fire Sect.

• Shi Chun escaped Ying Gang, while the Divine Mountain's formation collapsed and its thirteen golden components assembled into a Metal Umbrella that a cloaked figure took away.
• Feng Xi and Feng Qingping found the Divine Temple empty and the starry-sky illusion gone, then ordered the mountain sealed and their people counted.
• Feng Xi suspected Situ Gu and the Golden-Haired Rat Clan, questioned Granny Qi about her apparent rescue, and learned that Ying Gang had been detained in Distant Mountain City.
• Ying Gang and Xi Quan brought Yin Xu back to the Vermilion Jade Pavilion, where Hu Gongxian led them to the Western Emperor.
• The Western Emperor told Yin Xu to cooperate with the Extreme Fire Sect, and she realized he had used her to meet Shi Chun.

The Western Emperor tortured Yin Xu and used her Mother-Child Talisman to contact Shi Chun, who had obtained the Golden Command Arrow. As Yin Ning entered Distant Mountain City and learned that Yin Xu had been captured, she ordered the gates sealed and the Western Emperor detained, while he was already preparing to leave in Yin Xu’s carriage.

• The Western Emperor exposed Yin Xu’s betrayal, had Hu Gongxian killed, tortured Yin Xu, and used her Mother-Child Talisman to message Shi Chun.
• Shi Chun met Yu Xuanbing and Wu Jinliang on the grassland, where Yu Xuanbing handed over an umbrella fitted with the Golden Command Arrow.
• Shi Chun told Yu Xuanbing and Wu Jinliang they would wait for Yin Xu and Tian Shen before leaving for the Nether Realm.
• Feng Qingping informed Feng Xi that Yin Ning, the Qingqiu Fox Clan’s First Elder, was waiting outside Distant Mountain City, and Feng Xi allowed her to enter.
• Yin Ning revived Hu Gongxian with a red pellet and learned that the Western Emperor had captured Yin Xu.
• Yin Ning ordered Feng Qingping to check whether the Western Emperor had left the city and to have him detained, while the Western Emperor and his companions rode toward the exit in Yin Xu’s carriage.

Yin Ning intervened at the western gate after finding Yin Xu and Tian Shen badly injured, and accused the Western Emperor and Ying Gang of harming members of the Qingqiu Fox Clan. She ordered her attendants to take them away and threatened to challenge the agreement that kept the clan confined to Green Mound.

• Feng Xi refused to help the Qingqiu Fox Clan arrest the Western Emperor, but agreed not to let him leave through the city gates.
• Yin Ning recovered Hu Gongxian’s red pill, learned the Western Emperor was still in the city, and hurried to the western gate.
• Yin Ning smashed the carriage open, freed Yin Xu and Tian Shen from their restrictions, and asked who had injured them.
• Yin Xu identified the Western Emperor, and Yin Ning accused him of harming members of her clan; she stopped Ying Gang and Xi Quan from leaving.
• Yin Ning ordered her attendants to seize the Western Emperor and Ying Gang, then declared that the Qingqiu Fox Clan would rebel if its agreement with Green Mound was broken.