Chapter Summaries

After a broken bowl led Xing Yan to fear that all things inevitably returned to chaos, Qiong Rong’s freezing spell inspired him to theorize that cultivators absorbed negative chaos to sustain life and pursue immortality. He resolved to keep cultivating, while a new report of a snake demon near Mount Luofu hinted at trouble ahead.

• Xing Yan contemplated the broken bowl and concluded that all things, including the universe, moved toward chaos, extinction, and death.
• Qiong Rong comforted Xing Yan, then washed the terrace with water she summoned from midair.
• Qiong Rong froze a falling droplet as a prank, and Xing Yan realized that chaos might have an opposite form.
• Xing Yan theorized that heaven and earth qi was negative chaos and that cultivation refined it to sustain life and seek longevity.
• Xing Yan mistook Qiong Rong waving her hand before his eyes for a sign of divine punishment, then resolved to keep refining the origin spirit each night.
• The Four Seas Hall Master heard farmers report that a snake demon had been appearing near Mount Luofu.

Xing Yan encountered a snake demon while rescuing a woman in the fields below Mount Luofu. After the demon bit and constricted him, his Great Splendor Dao Power absorbed its demonic energy, but Xing Yan collapsed after Qiong Rong shattered the demon.

• Xing Yan heard a farmer describe a snake demon attacking villagers and rushed toward cries for help when Qiong Rong disappeared.
• Xing Yan found a woman trapped by what appeared to be a large python and freed her, but the snake transformed into a demon and bit his shoulder.
• The snake demon wrapped around Xing Yan as he fought it with Iceheart Knot, while his Great Splendor Dao Power absorbed the demon's aura.
• Xing Yan used Refining Spirit into Void, and the snake demon froze after crying out, "Soul Devouring!"
• Qiong Rong arrived and shattered the snake demon into pieces, and Xing Yan collapsed into darkness.

Xing Yan recovered from the snake demon’s venom thanks to the Jade Pendant Ju Ying had given him, then rescued Kou Xueyi and brought her to join the Four Seas Hall. As Xing Yan and Qiong Rong prepared to leave Mount Luofu, Master Qingyun stopped them to ask about Senior Ling Chu.

• Qiong Rong told Xing Yan that the Jade Pendant had drawn the poison from his wound and healed his shoulder after he collapsed.
• Xing Yan recognized Ju Ying’s pendant as the treasure that saved him and learned that Kou Xueyi’s parents had been killed by the snake demon.
• After testing Kou Xueyi for demonic aura and finding none, Xing Yan stopped her from taking her own life, while Qiong Rong caught her and urged her to stay with them.
• Xing Yan registered Kou Xueyi as a new Four Seas Hall member, assigning her to help manage documents, registers, and landed property.
• As Xing Yan, Qiong Rong, and Kou Xueyi said farewell to Master Qingyun, he asked Xing Yan whether he had heard about Senior Ling Chu.

After rescuing Kou Xueyi, Xing Yan discovered her extraordinary beauty and settled her into Four Seas Hall. He asked Chen Ziping about Soul Devouring and learned it was a deadly heretical art, leaving him shaken by what he had heard during his fight with the snake demon.

• Kou Xueyi washed at Cold Spring, and Xing Yan realized her beauty rivaled Ju Ying and Lingyi's.
• Xing Yan bought Qiong Rong a pale yellow ribbon and Kou Xueyi an indigo skirt at Chuanluo Market Town.
• Xing Yan visited Chen Ziping and asked whether Soul Devouring was an orthodox Daoist technique.
• Chen Ziping explained that Soul Devouring drained a cultivator's essence, Daoist energy, and Primordial Spirit until death.
• Xing Yan grew shocked as Chen Ziping described the art, recognizing that the snake demon's words pointed to a real and terrifying danger.

Xing Yan concluded that Refining Spirit into Void counteracted demonic energy, but worried others would mistake it for Soul Devouring, so he sought a spell that would make him look righteous while using it. At the Tianyi Scripture Repository, Daoist Qingyang directed him to a scripture containing a radiant spell, though Xing Yan rushed off before hearing his full explanation.

• After leaving Chen Ziping, Xing Yan reasoned that Refining Spirit into Void transformed demonic energy and had helped defeat the snake demon, but feared its resemblance to Soul Devouring would bring suspicion.
• Xing Yan decided to find a spell that would surround him with a brilliant, righteous-looking glow whenever he used his technique.
• Kou Xueyi began cooking meals at the Four Seas Hall after saying she was uncomfortable eating among strangers, while Qiong Rong continued gathering fruit.
• With Qiong Rong and Kou Xueyi away, Xing Yan visited the Tianyi Scripture Repository on Flying Cloud Summit to search for a radiant spell.
• Daoist Qingyang directed Xing Yan to the Supreme Great Radiance Divine Incantation, and Xing Yan hurried toward the Rosy Cloud Cabinet before Qingyang could finish his warning.

Xing Yan studied the Radiant Glory Art in the scripture repository and successfully learned its protective technique. Qingyang mistook Xing Yan’s ability to pass the Wind Wall Formation for evidence that it had failed, then encouraged his disciple Jingxing after the formation knocked him back; Xing Yan left, while Qingyang resolved to guide him later.

• Qingyang warned Xing Yan not to approach the Rosy Cloud Cabinet, but Xing Yan found the Supreme Great Radiance Divine Incantation and began studying it.
• Qingyang, puzzled that Xing Yan had passed the Wind Wall Formation, sent Jingxing to test it, and Jingxing struck the formation and bumped his forehead.
• Qingyang praised Jingxing’s aptitude and urged him to cultivate harder, inspiring Jingxing to vow to devote himself to cultivation.
• Xing Yan studied the Radiant Glory Art, produced brilliant golden light around his body, and left the repository after thanking Qingyang.
• Qingyang watched Xing Yan leave and decided to offer him guidance because he worried Xing Yan was too focused on flashy techniques.

After mastering the Radiant Glory Art, Xing Yan spent a peaceful afternoon with Qiong Rong and Kou Xueyi, playing his flute and explaining how sincere intentions let him commune with birds. He invited both girls to learn to read and write, and their lessons began the next day.

• Xing Yan shared the wild fruit Qiong Rong had gathered with her and Kou Xueyi on Thousand Birds Cliff.
• Xing Yan played the Hundred Birds Invocation, drawing birds to the cliff as Qiong Rong danced among them and Kou Xueyi watched in wonder.
• Xing Yan explained that the birds trusted him because his music expressed sincere intentions, then told the girls the story of the gulls from Liezi.
• Xing Yan offered to teach Qiong Rong and Kou Xueyi to read, and Kou Xueyi accepted with a formal bow.
• The next day, Xing Yan gathered paper and ink and began teaching the girls, who struggled with their brushes but persisted with their lessons.

Xing Yan spent a peaceful summer afternoon at the Lotus Lake with Qiong Rong and Kou Xueyi, reflecting on his friends as Qiong Rong tried to please him. When the White Jade Lotus Ling Yier had given him fell into the lake, it floated, bloomed, and revealed a faint figure within its glowing heart.

• Xing Yan took Qiong Rong and Kou Xueyi to rest at the Lotus Lake, where Qiong Rong tickled and gently massaged him while Kou Xueyi watched from a willow branch.
• Xing Yan thought of Ling Yier and examined the White Jade Lotus she had given him.
• Xing Yan handed the jade lotus to Qiong Rong, but it slipped from their hands and fell toward the lake.
• The White Jade Lotus floated on the water, opened its petals, and blossomed into a radiant white lotus.
• Xing Yan glimpsed a faint, hazy figure within the lotus's luminous heart.

Xing Yan saw Ling Yier in a jade lotus’s water mirror and felt a new longing after her image disappeared. He later met treasure-hunting disciple Tian Renbao, then received notice that he must lecture before the Shangqing Palace’s disciples, leaving him anxious about speaking publicly.

• Xing Yan saw Ling Yier smiling at him in the jade lotus’s mirror, but her image faded before he could speak to her.
• Xing Yan told Qiong Rong about Lingyi, then took her and Kou Xueyi back toward Thousand Birds Cliff.
• Xing Yan met Tian Renbao searching the mountains for magical treasures, cautioned him about the dangerous slopes, and left him to continue his search.
• Xing Yan received notice that he must expound scriptures at the Shangqing Palace’s quarterly Scripture Lecture Assembly on the first day of the seventh month.
• Xing Yan imagined freezing before hundreds of disciples and worried about his upcoming lecture.

Worried about speaking at the Scripture Lecture Assembly, Xing Yan devised a way to rehearse before an audience and used a flute melody to summon mountain beasts to Four Seas Hall. Qiong Rong joined the gathered beasts, arranged them like students, and told Xing Yan to begin his lecture.

• Xing Yan found inspiration while watching Qiong Rong play with birds and decided to rehearse his lecture that night.
• Xing Yan told Qiong Rong and Kou Xueyi to stay inside, then played a powerful flute melody on the stone terrace.
• Xing Yan summoned tigers, leopards, deer, and other mountain beasts, intending to use them as an audience.
• Qiong Rong rushed outside despite Xing Yan's warning, and Kou Xueyi saw the beasts gathered peacefully on the terrace.
• Qiong Rong calmly directed the beasts into seats, sat before them, and told Xing Yan he could begin his lecture.

Xing Yan rehearsed his Scripture Lecture Assembly speech by teaching Daoist principles to mountain beasts, then explained to Kou Xueyi why he saw no reason to withhold the Dao from them. Kou Xueyi slapped him and wept, while Qiong Rong misread the scene as Xing Yan making lewd advances toward her.

• Xing Yan overcame his nerves and delivered a fluent lecture on Daoism and qi refinement to a gathering of mountain beasts on Thousand Birds Cliff.
• When a jackal disrupted the lecture, the other beasts drove it away, and Xing Yan added teachings about heaven, humanity, and moral cultivation before ending the session.
• Kou Xueyi questioned why Xing Yan had taught Shangqing doctrines to beasts, and he replied that the Dao was the Way of Heaven and should not be hoarded from other kinds.
• Kou Xueyi suddenly slapped Xing Yan and burst into tears, leaving him bewildered.
• Qiong Rong arrived, inspected the pair, and accused Xing Yan of making lewd advances; she took his denial as proof and laughed.

Xing Yan tried to comfort Kou Xueyi by arguing that spirits were not inherently evil, but his mention of the snake demon made her run back to her room in tears. His words reassured Qiong Rong that he did not dislike her, though her questions about taking liberties left him exasperated.

• Xing Yan mistook Kou Xueyi's tears for anger at his kindness toward mountain spirits and cited ancient sages to persuade her that appearance did not determine virtue.
• When Xing Yan mentioned the snake demon, Kou Xueyi began sobbing again and fled to her stone room.
• Qiong Rong cried against Xing Yan and said she had worried that he disliked her, and he assured her that he did not.
• Qiong Rong asked Xing Yan to explain taking liberties and the bedchamber arts, but he sent her to bed and promised to teach her more characters.
• Before going inside, Qiong Rong told Xing Yan not to take liberties with Kou Xueyi and offered herself as a substitute when she grew up, leaving Xing Yan to protest that he had taken liberties with no one.

Xing Yan woke to find Qiong Rong licking his swollen cheek, then accepted a medicinal decoction from Kou Xueyi and reassured her about the previous night. After taking the two girls to Lotus Lake, he watched them swim and noticed Xueyi blushing when they returned; on the way back to Thousand Birds Cliff, they encountered several Highest Clarity Daoists.

• Xing Yan woke from a dream and discovered Qiong Rong was trying to treat his swollen cheek by licking it.
• Kou Xueyi brought Xing Yan a bitter herbal decoction, then knelt and asked him to punish her for slapping him the night before.
• Xing Yan comforted Xueyi, who began to cry and then smiled, and learned that her family had gathered medicinal herbs.
• Xing Yan took Qiong Rong and Xueyi to Lotus Lake, where the girls swam while he kept watch on shore and held Ju Ying's Jade Pendant.
• Xing Yan noticed Xueyi blushing when she returned from the lake, then led the two girls toward Thousand Birds Cliff.
• Xing Yan, Qiong Rong, and Xueyi encountered several Highest Clarity Daoists on Embracing Rosy Clouds Peak.

Xing Yan met Zhao Wuchen and the Shangqing Palace disciples, then rehearsed his Scripture Lecture Assembly talk for gathered beasts and birds. His lectures eventually inspired the secretive Mystic Spirit Cult, though he remained unaware of the future consequences as the first day of the seventh month approached.

• Xing Yan met Zhao Wuchen, Hua Piaochen, Du Ziheng, and Huang Ran on the mountain path, where Zhao Wuchen praised Kou Xueyi and asked Xing Yan to exchange flute techniques sometime.
• Hua Piaochen described hearing Xing Yan's flute the previous night, and Xing Yan claimed he had been practicing high harmonics.
• Kou Xueyi suggested that Xing Yan summon the mountain beasts to hear his lecture, and Qiong Rong brought many birds to join them.
• Xing Yan lectured to the gathered birds and beasts, continuing the practice until the Scripture Lecture Assembly ended and inspiring them to share his teachings.
• Years later, Xing Yan's lectures had helped give rise to the mysterious Mystic Spirit Cult, whose members called themselves Four Seas underlings and revered portraits of a Daoist and a woman.
• Xing Yan lay sleepless on his bamboo bed, knowing the first day of the seventh month would begin tomorrow.

Xing Yan attended the Shangqing Palace Scripture Lecture Assembly as the newly appointed Four Seas Hall Master and struggled when it was his turn to speak. He recovered by playing a flute through empty air, drawing white cranes to dance, and ended his lecture to the astonishment of the assembly.

• Xing Yan dressed in formal Daoist robes with Qiong Rong and Kou Xueyi and led them to Pinewind Terrace for the Scripture Lecture Assembly.
• Sect Master Lingxu opened the assembly, and several hall leaders delivered lectures before Xing Yan’s turn came last.
• Xing Yan froze before the crowd and began a confused, rambling lecture, while many disciples focused on Kou Xueyi instead of listening.
• Remembering Master Qingming’s flying-sword demonstration, Xing Yan regained his composure and explained how his humble work as a musician had helped him understand Daoist principles.
• Xing Yan played a flute melody through his empty fingers, and white cranes gathered and danced to the music.
• Xing Yan concluded that being and nonbeing, notes and sounds, and high and low complemented each other, then bowed and returned to his seat.

After impressing the Shangqing Palace at the Scripture Lecture Assembly, Xing Yan volunteered to help suppress bandits in Jieyang County and arranged to learn the Sword-Riding Art. He left Thousand Birds Cliff to assist the government, beginning his journey into the mortal world.

• Xing Yan steadied himself by joining the closing Daoist chant, and the Scripture Lecture Assembly formally ended.
• Sect Master Lingxu told the gathered Daoists that bandits in Jieyang County were aided by a mysterious fire-wielding practitioner, and Xing Yan volunteered to help the government.
• Xing Yan demonstrated his freezing technique, received Lingxu's approval, and arranged for Master Qingming to teach him the Sword-Riding Art.
• Qingming explained the Sword-Riding Art and confirmed that Xing Yan's Ancient Sword could serve as a flying sword, but Xing Yan's first attempt to awaken it failed.
• Lingxu instructed Xing Yan to depart for Jieyang County, and Xing Yan left Thousand Birds Cliff after bidding farewell to Qiong Rong and Xueyi.

Xing Yan bought a donkey and traveled toward Jieyang County to join the campaign against bandits, but discovered that Qiong Rong had secretly followed him. He agreed to take her along, and they continued down the road together.

• Xing Yan bought a scrawny donkey in Chuanluo County and considered purchasing a sword before deciding to wait for the Commandery Soldiers' weapons.
• Xing Yan spotted a flash of red in the bushes and found Qiong Rong hiding there, having followed his scent from Mount Luofu.
• Qiong Rong showed Xing Yan her note for Sister Xueyi, which contained the words "I'm going too," and insisted that she would help him fight the bandits.
• Qiong Rong revealed that she had taken two short blades from the weapon shop without paying, and Xing Yan decided to settle the cost later.
• Xing Yan let Qiong Rong accompany him to Jieyang County, though she vowed to stay beside him even if he told her not to.
• Xing Yan rode onward with Qiong Rong asleep against his back, promising himself to protect her happiness.

Xing Yan and Qiong Rong reached Jieyang and met Commandant Bao Chuxiong, who doubted their credentials and Xing Yan’s ability to fight the bandits. As Xing Yan began explaining his plan to protect the soldiers with talismans, Bao learned that a group of Celestial Master Order Daoists had arrived to help.

• Xing Yan taught Qiong Rong about battlefield dangers and warned her to stay close and fight back against attackers.
• Xing Yan and Qiong Rong arrived in Jieyang on the fourth day of their journey and found the Commandery Soldiers’ camp near the county offices.
• Bao Chuxiong inspected Xing Yan’s documents and token, then questioned whether the young hall master could use the Flying Sword Art.
• Xing Yan admitted he had only recently learned the Sword-Riding Art and proposed using Fire-Avoidance Talismans to protect the troops.
• A soldier reported that more than a dozen Celestial Master Order Daoists had arrived to assist Bao, lifting the commandant’s spirits.

Xing Yan watched Zhang Yuner and her fellow Celestial Master Order disciples demonstrate powerful talisman arts to Bao Chuxiong, then decided to assist them while learning from their techniques. The display ended with Zhang Yuner discovering that Xing Yan was the Hall Master Zhang from Four Seas Hall, and the Celestial Master Order leaders reacted with surprise.

• Bao Chuxiong welcomed Zhang Yuner, Sheng Hengtang, Lin Xu, and the Celestial Master Order followers, who offered to help defeat the fire-setting sorcerer.
• Sheng Hengtang used a Divine Ice Talisman to split a granite millstone into four pieces.
• Lin Xu used an Explosive Flame Flying Sword to destroy one of the millstone fragments with a controlled blast.
• Zhang Yuner cast her Thousand Illusions Wisteria to lift the remaining stones and drop them into a water channel.
• Lin Xu promised that the Celestial Master Order would deal with the sorcerer and provide Fire-Avoidance Talismans for Bao Chuxiong's soldiers.
• Zhang Yuner asked who Xing Yan was, and Bao Chuxiong identified him as Hall Master Zhang of Four Seas Hall; Zhang Yuner, Sheng Hengtang, and Lin Xu reacted with surprise.

Xing Yan demonstrated his Daoist and talisman skills to the soldiers and Celestial Master Order disciples, earning their respect after his Fire-Avoidance Talisman protected Sun Xiaoyi from the flames. As Bao Chuxiong prepared to discuss the coming assault on Firecloud Mountain, Prefect Duan An arrived urgently asking whether Xing Yan had reached the camp.

• Lin Xu challenged Xing Yan to demonstrate his Daoist arts, and Xing Yan cast Iceheart Knot on a hitching post, making it pleasantly cold and drawing laughter from the crowd.
• Bao Chuxiong proposed testing Xing Yan and Sheng Hengtang's Fire-Avoidance Talismans, and Sheng Hengtang lent Xing Yan special talisman ink.
• Xing Yan reviewed his Talisman Manual before drawing a Fire-Avoidance Talisman on Sun Xiaoyi's armor, while Sheng Hengtang inscribed one on another soldier.
• Qiong Rong secretly strengthened the flames as Sun Xiaoyi entered them, but Xing Yan's talisman kept him unharmed, impressing Sheng Hengtang, Lin Xu, and Zhang Yuner.
• Bao Chuxiong ordered the soldiers to prepare to attack Firecloud Mountain at dawn and invited the Daoists to discuss the bandits in his command tent.
• Duan An rode into camp and urgently asked Bao Chuxiong whether Hall Master Zhang of the Shangqing Palace had arrived.