Chapter Summaries

Jin Si investigated a blazing object that fell from the sky and brought the recovered lump back to the Medicine King Temple. The next morning, Daoist Jiang learned that rumors about the falling star and an impending flood had stirred up panic.

• Jin Si sensed a scorching object fall through the clouds and tracked it to a crater in the snowy mountains.
• Jin Si dug a warm, gourd-sized dark lump out of the crater and carried it back to the Medicine King Temple.
• Jin Si cleared snow from the courtyard, studied the elements in the stove fire, and heard Daoist Jiang warn that someone had altered the great river's feng shui.
• Jin Si practiced his sword in the falling snow before returning to his cave to sleep.
• A household servant delivered a letter, and Daoist Jiang learned that people were spreading alarming rumors about the fallen star, a flood dragon, and future floods and droughts.

Jin Si uncovered the meteorite behind the city’s growing unrest, then returned to his secluded routine as winter hardship and conflict worsened beyond Pillow Star Mountain. He agreed to protect Wang Ying’s younger brother and family from evil cultivators and malicious ghosts for three years, using a jade pendant to track them by scent.

• Jin Si showed Daoist Jiang and Huang Xing the meteorite he had dug up, and Daoist Jiang warned Huang Xing to conserve supplies and stay off the mountain.
• Huang Xing asked Daoist Jiang for a short knife, and he agreed to help her find one.
• Jin Si saw desperate people crossing the snowy fields, then returned to the Spirit Realm and resumed his routines at Pillow Star Mountain.
• Little Yu and Daoist Pang told Jin Si that the world beyond Pillow Star Mountain was chaotic and that other flood dragons were difficult to find.
• Wang Ying asked Jin Si to protect her younger brother and his family from evil cultivators and malicious ghosts for three years, and Jin Si agreed in exchange for medicinal ingredients.
• Wang Ying gave Jin Si her younger brother’s jade pendant, and Jin Si memorized its scent so he could find him.

Jin Si spent New Year’s Eve on Pillowstar Mountain, where Xiao Yu and Red Clothes returned from a market after killing evil fiends, and he decorated his lair with Spring Festival couplets. Near the end of the first lunar month, he traveled toward the Medicine King Temple and found signs that war had begun in the mortal world.

• Jin Si invited Red Clothes to celebrate New Year’s Eve, but she recalled how she had been forgotten after her death, so Xiao Yu invited her to visit a new market instead.
• Jin Si stayed behind on Pillowstar Mountain and later saw a reincarnated woman wandering around the Library Pavilion in a dream, which made him fear that he might someday forget his past and become trapped in recurring dreams.
• Xiao Yu and Red Clothes returned with weapons taken from evil fiends who had ambushed Rogue Cultivators, and Jin Si chose a short sword to give to Xinghuang.
• Jin Si bought Spring Festival couplets and pasted them on the walls of his cave, then spent the quiet first lunar month on the mountain.
• Toward the end of the month, Jin Si descended into the mortal world and saw blood, corpses, and distant fires, while a fox fled toward the mountains with its belongings.
• Jin Si reached the Medicine King Temple, left the short sword on a table, and tried lying on his back before settling comfortably on his stomach.

Jin Si received an urgent message that unknown intruders were trying to damage the dragon vein, and he went into the mountains to stop them. He found the group at a marked site and attacked, leaving their fate unclear as his vision faded.

• Huang Xing found the Short Sword Jin Si had left for her, while Daoist Jiang warned him to avoid the nearby rivers and their Dragon-Suppressing Stakes.
• A messenger from the Jiang Household delivered a letter and Topographic Map showing several locations where intruders might be targeting the dragon vein.
• Daoist Jiang explained the map’s directions, and Jin Si set out through the cave with Little Feather to search the mountains.
• Jin Si and the five-colored Bird Demon reached a ridge where seven men were digging at a marked site.
• The compass-bearing leader heard a strange sound, saw branches and a tree trunk cut, and watched the two guards’ heads fall as the dark ornament on his chest grew hot.
• The men digging remained unaware of the danger as the leader lost strength and glimpsed an enormous bird’s shadow before his vision went dark.

Jin Si and Xiao Yu searched the mountains and found a group hiding in an old tomb beneath a snowy peak. Jin Si killed the group, but their unusual souls vanished, and one man’s mention of the Ancient Clan left him wondering what he had missed.

• Xiao Yu returned from searching the nearby ridges and agreed to watch for danger while Jin Si investigated the pit.
• Jin Si refilled the pit, then followed Xiao Yu’s aerial guidance toward a distant mountain peak.
• Using Thermal Sensing, Jin Si detected human warmth and scent inside a cave below the summit.
• The men inside the cave panicked, drew their bows, and blamed the dragon vein for bringing retribution upon them.
• Jin Si baited the men into firing, then sent venomous white mist through the cave and entered the burial chamber.
• Jin Si killed the survivors, and their souls disappeared unusually quickly after one man warned him about the Ancient Clan.

Jin Si and Xiao Yu reached a ridge where cultivators maintained a Formation over a critical stretch of the dragon vein. As Jin Si crept toward an iron nail that appeared to power the Formation, he overheard the group discussing a hidden realm, a rebel army, and a deed sold to multiple parties.

• Jin Si left the burial chamber with Xiao Yu and hurried with her toward their next destination.
• Jin Si found Xiao Yu fighting thirteen people on a ridge, where five cultivators sustained a Formation that blocked her attacks.
• Jin Si hid on the slope and studied the earth energy while Xiao Yu kept the group distracted from above.
• Red Clothes briefly opened a passage from the Spirit Realm, then closed it after sensing danger, while the group celebrated their escape from a vicious ghost.
• Rain covered the ridge, allowing Jin Si to approach unnoticed and find an iron nail that seemed to anchor the Formation.
• Jin Si overheard the people mention a hidden realm, a rebel army, and a deed sold to three different parties, and decided to keep listening before acting.

Jin Si ambushed five cultivators on a storm-lashed mountain ridge, destroyed the Formation holding the dragon vein, and fought the survivors. After the cultivators' Thunder-Calling Art drew uncontrolled lightning that struck both sides, Jin Si recovered and killed the two remaining cultivators.

• Jin Si used a lightning strike as cover to attack the five cultivators, scattering them with his breath and removing one of the Formation's iron nails.
• Jin Si destroyed the second iron nail, lunged at the weakest cultivator, and carried him into the clouds while two paper talismans pursued.
• The remaining cultivators assembled a Formation and used borrowed power to strengthen themselves, while armed attendants tried to hold Jin Si off.
• The two cultivators cast the Thunder-Calling Art, but the damaged dragon vein and storm made the lightning uncontrollable and brought Jin Si within its range.
• Lightning struck the cultivators and Jin Si, leaving both men badly injured; Jin Si recovered, blasted them with his breath, and stamped them to death.

Jin Si killed the mortals who had broken the dragon vein and removed their iron nails, but Daoist Jiang warned that the damage could take decades or centuries to heal and would bring upheaval to the Mortal Realm. Jin Si also discovered that Wang Ying’s younger brother’s family faced a mortal attack, which fell outside his promise to protect them from ghosts.

• Jin Si, Xiao Yu, and Red Clothes found that the dragon vein had already been damaged, pulled out the iron nails, and killed everyone at the other two locations marked on the map.
• Xiao Yu searched the mountains and found no further targets, then left for the Spirit Realm while Red Clothes went to the Underworld.
• Jin Si sensed Wang Ying’s younger brother praying for help and found guards battling attackers, but refused to intervene because the threat came from mortals, not ghosts or evil spirits.
• Jin Si went to the Medicine King Temple and told Daoist Jiang he had killed everyone involved, though he arrived after the dragon vein had been broken.
• Daoist Jiang explained that removing the nails would not quickly heal the damaged dragon vein and feared the Mortal Realm would suffer upheaval while it recovered.

Jin Si kept studying at the Village School while the siege worsened around the city, and he briefly frightened Wang Ying's younger brother in a dream for complaining about the Black Flood Dragon. After witnessing the dead and the misery in the rebel camp, Jin Si returned to his familiar routine at the Medicine King Temple and the mountain summit.

• Jin Si entered Wang Ying's younger brother's dream and frightened him into realizing he was trapped in a dream within a dream.
• Jin Si crossed the wilderness to reach the Village School and resumed his lessons as the siege continued.
• The rebel army launched an assault, and looting and violence broke out in the city while the teacher continued class.
• Jin Si surveyed the battlefield and the rebel camp, seeing the dead and discovering that most of the supposed hundred thousand soldiers were forcibly recruited, impoverished men.
• Jin Si returned to the Medicine King Temple, resumed his nightly routine on the summit, and watched the moon.

Jin Si cultivated in the unusually heavy spring rain while flooding devastated the surrounding countryside. As the rain eased, villagers hauling driftwood saw a golden man walking across the river, and he took the souls of two men into the mist.

• Jin Si learned that Dragon-Suppressing Stakes had been driven into waterways across the region, disrupting water veins and damaging nearby dragon veins.
• Jin Si gave his schoolmate a small green gourd as a gift, then flew into the rain to cultivate in the mountains.
• Jin Si spent days swimming through rainclouds and absorbing lightning as the rain swelled streams and flooded the land.
• The flood swept away farmland, houses, and a riverside shrine, while the rebel army withdrew from its camp.
• Villagers went to the riverbank to collect driftwood as the rain eased.
• A golden man walked across the river, killed two villagers, and led their shadowy figures into the mist.

Jin Si returned to the Medicine King Temple during relentless rain and learned that an Eerie in the River had killed dozens after a flood changed its course. He also visited Daoist Pang, who revealed that a collateral branch of an Ancient Clan had disrupted the dragon vein to build a secret realm.

• Jin Si returned to his cave near the Medicine King Temple and used magic to dry the temple’s damp firewood.
• Daoist Jiang told Jin Si that an Eerie in the River had stolen souls and killed dozens, while Pillowstar Mountain had failed to defeat it.
• Jin Si suspected the Dragon-Suppressing Stakes had disrupted the river’s water veins and decided not to risk entering the dangerous water.
• Jin Si repaired the temple roof, then traveled through the World Spirit to visit Daoist Pang.
• Daoist Pang told Jin Si that the dragon vein’s destroyers belonged to a collateral branch of an Ancient Clan that planned to use its earth qi to create a secret realm.

Jin Si cultivated through a three-month rain, refused to investigate rumors of ancient sites, and continued searching for the missing piece in his cultivation. After the sky cleared, he headed back toward the Village School and emerged near an apparently deserted village.

• Jin Si cultivated in the deep mountains during the rain, grew stronger, and wondered what was missing from his cultivation.
• Xiao Yu told Jin Si about trouble at an ancient tomb on Pillowstar Mountain, but he refused to help and asked her to check on Azure Cloud Monastery.
• Lin Wei sent warnings about a supposed Dragon Palace and a newly discovered secret realm, and Jin Si ignored both reports.
• Jin Si decided to keep searching for the elusive gap in his cultivation, believing he would eventually find it and reach the next realm.
• When the rain stopped after nearly three months, Jin Si basked in the sun, cooled off in a mountain pool, and traveled toward the Village School.
• Jin Si reached the outskirts of the mountain region and saw a broken bridge, an empty village, and a temple with its doors and windows open.

Jin Si investigated two village gatherings, discovering a ghost feeding on worshippers and a Geomancer staging a fake Flood Dragon-subduing ritual. He returned to the Medicine King Temple, helped Daoist Jiang and Apricot Yellow in the garden, and ended the day considering his return to school.

• Jin Si found villagers worshipping a leader while a ghost attached to him greedily absorbed their power of belief.
• Jin Si followed a procession into a ravine and recognized that the Geomancer was a swindler pretending to subdue a Flood Dragon.
• Jin Si returned to the Medicine King Temple and helped Daoist Jiang and Apricot Yellow work in the vegetable garden.
• Apricot Yellow asked Jin Si how to learn magic, and he told her to worry more and let her head grow bigger.
• Daoist Jiang said he would cut firewood the next day, while Jin Si wondered how to explain his three-month absence from school.
• Jin Si returned his primordial spirit to his true body and fell asleep in the cave.

Jin Si watched a severe drought consume the village after months of flooding, while villagers prayed for rain and he observed their opera performances. He predicted the drought would continue and feared the worsening disorder would keep him from searching the human world for what he needed.

• Jin Si suspected the eerie entity from the collapsed riverside building was targeting wealthy families linked to the Dragon-Suppressing Stakes.
• As the drought worsened, Jin Si and the temple residents carried water to keep the vegetable plot alive, while the River receded and the village well remained full.
• The villagers held rain-prayer offerings at the Dragon King Temple and hired an opera troupe to perform through the day.
• Jin Si secretly watched the operas each evening, and the troupe leader insisted the performers follow their rules after seeing the lone boy in the audience.
• Jin Si calculated that the drought would persist as famine, brigandage, and disorder spread, threatening his search across the human world.

A scholar examined a wealthy household beset by deaths and illness, then divined that its members should wait outside their gates on the ninth day for an expert who could save them. On that day, Si Jin wandered the city on an errand and headed toward the household that had funded the Dragon-Suppressing Stake to investigate the calamity.

• A scholar arrived at the wealthy household and found its residents afflicted by malign energy after a series of deaths, accidents, and illnesses.
• The scholar suspected the household’s own lawless deeds had brought on the calamity, but a killing intent disrupted his attempt to identify its source.
• The scholar divined that everyone in the household should wait outside the gates at noon on the ninth day and beg an expert passing through the intersection to save them.
• Si Jin bought salt for Daoist Jiang and noticed the gambling den was shut while the coffin shop was busy.
• Si Jin headed toward the household that had funded the Dragon-Suppressing Stake to investigate whether the Eerie or someone else was causing the deaths.

Jin Si investigated an eerie entity threatening several families, then followed villagers to a deep pool where they prayed to a flood dragon for rain. He discovered a promising fissure beneath the pool and returned to the Medicine King Temple with salt for Huang Xing.

• Jin Si confronted the golden figure at the courtyard and forced its light back inside with the phantom of a black half-flood dragon.
• Jin Si noticed a village procession heading into the mountains and followed them to the deep pool, where they prayed for rain.
• Jin Si explored the pool’s bottom, found no underground waterway, and sensed strong yin water and wider fissures that might suit a hidden cave abode.
• Jin Si returned to the Medicine King Temple and left salt beside the sleeping Huang Xing, then suggested they could hibernate if food ran out.

Jin Si learned that Pillowstar Mountain planned to remove the Dragon-Suppressing Stakes and asked him to hunt evil spirits near the mountain. He joined Xiao Yu and Red Clothes in a coordinated hunt, and their unseen attacks left cultivators and Spirit Demons wondering who was responsible.

• Daoist Pang told Jin Si about the plan to remove the Dragon-Suppressing Stakes and asked him to clear evil spirits from Pillowstar Mountain's territory.
• Jin Si told Xiao Yu and Red Clothes about the request, and they agreed to search for evil spirits together.
• Xiao Yu spotted an evil cultivator in a valley, and Jin Si charged down and killed it with one claw strike.
• Jin Si sensed a small benefit from the kill and decided the group should continue hunting evildoers without killing indiscriminately.
• Jin Si, Xiao Yu, and Red Clothes hunted together for several days, taking turns killing their targets and sharing the meager gains.
• Cultivators and Spirit Demons discovered the remains of evil spirits and demonic beasts, and some saw a multicolored Bird Demon circling overhead.

Jin Si, Xiao Yu, and Red Clothes ambushed a gathering of heretic cultivators and corpse puppets in the mist-shrouded woods. Jin Si and Red Clothes defeated their enemies, while a terrified young cultivator struggled to survive the battle.

• Jin Si detected a gathering of evil spirits and coordinated with Xiao Yu and Red Clothes to surround them.
• Jin Si found over a hundred corpse puppets and thirteen heretic cultivators, including a mad old man and a frightened young cultivator.
• Jin Si charged into the clearing as Red Clothes attacked the old man, scattering corpse puppets and terrifying the young cultivator.
• A ten-foot corpse emerged from the ground, and Jin Si blasted it with his breath attack, shattering its bones.
• Jin Si crushed a heretic cultivator who was playing dead, while Red Clothes threw the wounded old man to the ground.

Jin Si, Red Clothes, and Xiao Yu defeated a thin old man who had been raising disciples as blood food, then questioned a young man who had wandered into the Spirit Realm. Jin Si decided the area could count as Pillowstar Mountain territory for the day, and the three continued their cautious journey toward the mountain.

• As the mist receded, a five-colored bird arrived to join Red Clothes and the Black Flood Dragon in surrounding the wounded old man.
• The old man insisted he was nowhere near Pillowstar Mountain, but Jin Si declared that the area could be its outskirts today and Red Clothes killed him by pulling gray vapor from his skull.
• Jin Si examined a young survivor and said he might have cultivated in a previous life, though the young man would have to discover his former identity himself.
• Red Clothes frightened the young man by suggesting they eat him, and the three departed, leaving him alone among the corpses.
• Jin Si headed toward Pillowstar Mountain while avoiding secluded cultivators and hunting with Xiao Yu and Red Clothes.

Jin Si and his companions searched for hidden evil spirits and discovered an old man who had drugged a young cultivator and tried to prey on her. Jin Si killed him and Red Clothes consumed his phantom, leaving the woman trapped in the ruined cottage as they departed.

• Jin Si told Xiao Yu how he spat out venomous mist and said they should search for evil spirits hiding beneath an innocent appearance.
• Jin Si remembered an old man’s secluded courtyard and brought Red Clothes and Xiao Yu to investigate.
• The old man advised a young female cultivator about staying safe, then drugged her tea and tried to keep her from leaving.
• Jin Si burst into the cottage, seized the old man, and shook him to death while the female cultivator watched helplessly.
• Red Clothes consumed the old man’s phantom, and Jin Si and his companions left the woman alone amid the wreckage.