Chapter Summaries

Li Ping'an resumed his peaceful life on Heaven-Reaching Peak, reunited with old friends, and reflected on how much time had passed. He spent a sunny day sewing clothes while the others studied, slept, or played nearby.

• A disciple told Li Ping'an that the Tianshui Gang had robbed their shipment, but Li Ping'an declined to decide what to do while Run Tu was drunk.
• Li Ping'an visited Servant Peak, ate at the Dining Garden, and greeted a few acquaintances before returning to Heaven-Reaching Peak.
• Li Ping'an met Situ Lei and Yun Shu, and he and Situ Lei laughed over their reunion after many years apart.
• Li Ping'an sewed clothes for Little Girl and Qingfeng while Kitten tried to study, then turned into a cat and napped after checking that Qingfeng was asleep.
• Run Tu rode Old Ox through the fields pretending to lead soldiers into battle, while Li Ping'an continued sewing in the sunshine.

Li Ping'an went to Heaven-Reaching Peak's Alchemy Room to help its struggling pill business and successfully refined an eighth-rank Spirit Pill. Drained by the effort, he returned home, collapsed onto Kitten, and fell asleep.

• Run Tu told Li Ping'an that Heaven-Reaching Peak's pill business was losing customers to a competitor that had refined an eighth-rank pill, and asked him to guide the peak's Alchemists.
• Li Ping'an followed Run Tu to the Alchemy Room, where he admitted he did not know how to use its advanced furnace and Gusu Ke showed him how.
• Li Ping'an used Heaven-Reaching Peak's final set of rare ingredients to refine an eighth-rank Spirit Pill, whose formation summoned terrifying Pill Tribulation Lightning.
• Li Ping'an caught the Spirit Pill as it tried to escape, drank from his Sword-Nurturing Gourd, and calmly left the Alchemy Room.
• Li Ping'an returned to his little house, collapsed from exhaustion, and fell asleep with his head on Kitten, who protested that she was not a pillow.

After recovering from exhaustion, Li Ping'an spent nearly half a month resting before gathering with Old Ox and their friends for a farewell barbecue beneath the stars. As meteors crossed the sky, they had a disciple paint their group together, and Li Ping'an inscribed a poem about parting.

• Li Ping'an woke from a deep dream, ate a meal brought by Little Girl, and resumed knitting while resting at his cottage.
• Li Ping'an and Old Ox invited Qingfeng, Kitten, and Run Tu to a barbecue on Heaven-Reaching Peak's rear slopes before their remaining days together ran out.
• Kitten drank a whole pot of wine and fell asleep before the group noticed meteors streaking across the night sky.
• Run Tu said he was glad to have met Li Ping'an and Old Ox, and Qingfeng proposed having a portrait painted.
• A disciple painted the group together, and Li Ping'an inscribed the poem, “Like windblown tumbleweeds, we each drift far away; let us drain the cups in our hands!!”

Li Ping'an, Little Girl, and Old Ox left Shushan and traveled toward Nantong by canal. On the boat, Little Girl tried to avoid paying a child’s fare, shared candy with her companions, and sent a high official’s son crashing onto his backside after he shoved her.

• Run Tu tearfully said goodbye to Li Ping'an, who said he might visit Nantong; Little Girl gave Qingfeng her last dried mouse, and he brought her an enormous beast.
• Li Ping'an, Little Girl, and Old Ox traveled for half a month and reached the canal docks, where they negotiated passage to Nantong.
• Little Girl claimed she was under three feet tall so she could ride free, then called the boatman Uncle to get candy and shared it with Li Ping'an and Old Ox.
• As the boat traveled, a boy who bragged that his father was a high official shoved Little Girl, so she sent him flying onto his backside and hurried away.

Kitten hid after pushing an official’s son, while Li Ping'an later spoke with the newly appointed prefect, Li Maocai, about Nantong’s troubled state. The chapter left Li Ping'an aware that Nantong’s unrest was worse than Zhao Ling'er had suggested.

• A woman demanded to know who had pushed her son, but the boy could not find Kitten, who had transformed into a cat and hidden on Old Ox.
• Li Ping'an quietly asked Kitten whether she had pushed the boy, and she denied it before the farce ended without anyone discovering her involvement.
• Li Maocai introduced himself to Li Ping'an as the newly appointed prefect of Chunyan, Nantong, and they began discussing a medical book.
• Li Maocai described Nantong’s coastal bandit attacks, repeated tax increases, peasant uprisings, and powerful lineages, saying Zhao Ling'er was holding the situation steady.

Li Ping'an revisited Tortoise-Carried City with Kitten and Old Ox, where the Turtle God had become the Turtle God Lady. As Li Maocai and Li Ping'an watched, a streak of light descended from the temple and a graceful woman appeared.

• The boatmen caught and cooked a large haul of seafood, and Li Ping'an declined to let Li Maocai's son play with Kitten.
• Li Ping'an advised Kitten to reason with bad people when possible and run if she could not defeat them, while Kitten joked about eating the boy and his mother.
• A boatman announced that the ship had reached Tortoise-Carried City, and Li Ping'an recalled visiting its Turtle God Temple years earlier.
• Li Ping'an, Old Ox, and Kitten revisited the temple and found that its statue now depicted the Turtle God Lady instead of the old turtle.
• Li Maocai explained that officials of Great Sui could not worship gods while in office, then spoke of the Turtle God Lady's cultivation and future status as an Orthodox God.
• A streak of light descended from the temple, and a graceful woman appeared before Li Maocai and Li Ping'an.

Li Ping'an reunited with Ning Ninglong, the Turtle God Lady, who thanked him for helping bring down her father years ago. As Ning Ninglong discussed the difficulties of her coming promotion to Orthodox God, Li Ping'an listened at her temple.

• Ning Ninglong greeted Li Maocai and recognized Li Ping'an, who recalled her past and was surprised to learn she credited him with her father's death.
• Ning Ninglong invited Li Ping'an to Ninglong Temple, while Li Maocai realized she had not been addressing him and declined to join them.
• A woman asked Li Maocai who Ning Ninglong was, and he warned his wife not to offend powerful people.
• At Ninglong Temple, Li Ping'an and Ning Ninglong shared tea and pastries as she asked whether he planned to remain in Great Sui.
• Ning Ninglong told Li Ping'an that her coming appointment as an Orthodox God had brought increased duties and trouble from Dragonkind and neighboring river powers.

Li Ping'an freed the Third Young Master and sent him with Kitten to confront the dragonkind causing trouble downstream on the Ning River. Kitten’s warning was mocked until Li Ping'an’s spell revealed the Third Young Master’s overwhelming power, leaving the mansion’s guests stunned.

• Li Ping'an freed the Third Young Master from his seal and asked him to negotiate with the troublesome dragonkind without taking lives.
• Li Ping'an sent Kitten along and taught her a spell to keep the Third Young Master from causing trouble.
• Kitten rode on the Third Young Master’s head to a lavish underwater mansion, where an azure-robed young master was drinking and making merry.
• Kitten told the azure-robed young master to stop causing trouble and warned that she would beat him up, but the guests laughed at her.
• Kitten formed a Hand Seal as Li Ping'an flicked a finger, and the Third Young Master appeared behind her in dragon form, making the guests fall silent.

Little Girl and Third Young Master intimidated the blue-robed man at the underwater mansion, then stayed to eat and drink before returning to Li Ping'an. Kitten came back drunk, and Li Ping'an quietly had Old Ox make sobering soup.

• Little Girl summoned Third Young Master in his dragon form, frightening the blue-robed man and the guests into apologizing.
• Little Girl warned the blue-robed man not to cause trouble again, and he promised to obey.
• Third Young Master persuaded Little Girl to stay for the mansion's food and wine, and she secretly packed some food for Big Ping'an and Niu Niu.
• Third Young Master caught Kitten after she fell from his head while drunk, and she bit his tail.
• Li Ping'an and Old Ox returned to the boat, where Third Young Master and the swaying Kitten arrived and claimed everything had gone smoothly.
• Li Ping'an did not expose them and asked Old Ox to brew sobering soup.

Li Ping'an arrived in Nantong with Old Ox and Little Girl, then traded a string of Magic Money for a taste of exclusive wine. The shopkeeper dismissed the coins as ordinary copper, but Steward Zhang noticed them and asked about them.

• Li Maocai invited Li Ping'an to travel with him in Nantong, and they parted after meeting the officials welcoming Li Maocai as the new Prefect.
• Li Ping'an and his companions checked into an inn, where Little Girl went out to search for mice.
• Li Ping'an traded five pieces of Magic Money for a cup of wine and saved half of it for Old Ox.
• The shopkeeper set the Magic Money aside and welcomed Steward Zhang, who noticed the coins and asked what they were.

Steward Zhang discovered the magical power in the five copper coins Li Ping'an had traded for wine, while Li Ping'an spent time in Nantong with Old Ox and Cat Immortal. At the temple fair, he rescued Li Maocai's abducted son and took him to the yamen.

• Steward Zhang accepted the five copper coins from the shopkeeper and was astonished when he tested their magical power with his divine sense.
• Li Ping'an bought three Nuo Ghost Masks for fifteen copper coins, and Cat Immortal later gave him fifteen coins she had earned carrying sacks.
• As the Tanxi approached, Li Ping'an planned to visit Nantong's temple fair with Old Ox and Cat Immortal.
• Li Ping'an recognized Li Maocai's unconscious son being carried by two beggars and stopped them from escaping.
• Li Ping'an revived the boy, handed the beggars to two yamen runners, and accompanied the child to the yamen.

Li Ping'an learned that the newly appointed prefect, Li Maocai, and his wife were dead, then brought their surviving child to the Governor's Residence to seek Zhao Ling'er. Meanwhile, Liu Changze traced mysterious magic money to Li Ping'an and ordered him watched; the chapter ended with a residence official inviting Li Ping'an inside to meet the governor.

• Li Ping'an forced the Shiye to reveal that Li Maocai and his wife had died, though the man said he did not know how they had been killed.
• Steward Zhang admitted that Shopkeeper Qian had given him the magic money after receiving it from a blue-robed man, and Liu Changze killed him after he left the hall.
• Liu Changze told Liu Yunhan that the man matched Li Ping'an and suggested he might have discovered something in Nantong.
• Liu Yunhan ordered the Governor's Residence to monitor Li Ping'an's movements because of his ties to Zhao Ling'er.
• Li Ping'an brought the prefect's surviving child to the Governor's Residence, where an official said Zhao Ling'er was waiting to receive him.

Li Ping'an entrusted the murdered Prefect's son and the investigation to Zhao Ling'er, then took Old Ox and Kitten to climb Cloudglow Mountain. They learned the Female Emperor would soon visit Nantong for an extended Nuo Festival, and Zhao Ling'er arrived at their inn to discuss her tour and ask how long Li Ping'an planned to stay.

• Li Ping'an explained the Prefect's murder and his orphaned son to Zhao Ling'er, who promised to investigate and notify him of the results.
• Li Ping'an, Old Ox, and Kitten climbed Cloudglow Mountain, where Kitten impressed other climbers by leaping up nine steps at once.
• Soldiers blocked the mountain path because preparations were underway for the Female Emperor's southern tour, so Li Ping'an and his companions turned back.
• Zhao Ling'er waited at Li Ping'an's inn, and Kitten checked that her money pouch was safe before relaxing around her.
• Zhao Ling'er told Li Ping'an that the Female Emperor would likely arrive in the next few days and that the Nuo Festival would be extended until the eighteenth, then asked how long he would stay.

Li Ping'an left Nantong after the Nuo Festival and learned that the ancient willow in Riverside Valley had fallen, prompting him to connect the incident to the festival, the emperor’s visit, and Zhao Ling’er’s earlier political remarks. He feared Zhao Ling’er was preparing to take a dangerous action.

• Zhao Ling'er explained that Li Maocai had been murdered by local officials who tried to conceal a treasury shortfall, and said she had detained the suspects.
• Li Ping'an watched the Nuo Festival with Little Girl and Old Ox, then left Nantong on the sixteenth after bidding Zhao Ling'er farewell.
• Li Ping'an met Li Maocai's son at the Governor's residence and learned that his father had been a master mask-maker who taught him the craft.
• At a roadside tea stall, Li Ping'an heard that the five-hundred-year-old willow in Riverside Valley had fallen and the valley had collapsed.
• Li Ping'an linked the willow, Nuo masks, the emperor's southern tour, and Zhao Ling'er's earlier comments, then worried that she was about to do something reckless.

Li Ping'an confronted Zhao Ling'er and Nantong's Lineage leaders as they prepared to assassinate the Female Emperor during her southern tour. Zhao Ling'er defended her plan by citing the suffering caused by the emperor's taxes, while Li Ping'an challenged her judgment and warned of the chaos her death could bring.

• Li Ping'an left the tea stall after realizing he needed to act, and Little Girl asked Old Ox to teach her how to disappear like him.
• Liu Changze warned Zhao Ling'er and the gathered Lineage leaders that Li Ping'an had returned, prompting Zhao Ling'er to acknowledge their plot might have been discovered.
• The Lei Family head welcomed the chance to face Li Ping'an, but Li Ping'an walked past the gathered leaders and addressed Zhao Ling'er directly.
• Li Ping'an asked Zhao Ling'er to abandon the assassination, and she answered that their plan had to proceed because the Female Emperor's wars would not stop while she lived.
• Liu Yunhan admitted that the Lineage leaders had killed Prefect Li Maocai after he noticed irregularities in the masks, while claiming Zhao Ling'er had known nothing beforehand.
• Zhao Ling'er argued that the Female Emperor's taxes had driven commoners to kill their children, and Li Ping'an maintained that war would continue regardless of who ruled.

Li Ping'an fought off the Southern clans’ lineage heads after Zhao Ling'er refused to abandon her plan. He shattered their Minor World with one sword strike and walked toward Zhao Ling'er, who challenged him to a duel.

• The Lei Family Patriarch attacked Li Ping'an, but Li struck him down with a single punch.
• Several lineage heads joined the attack and trapped Li Ping'an inside a Minor World as Zhao Ling'er watched from a mountain.
• Li Ping'an repelled the cultivators’ formations, talismans, and attacks while remaining focused on Zhao Ling'er.
• Li Ping'an summoned White Jade Capital and cleaved apart the Minor World, breaking the cultivators’ treasures and lineage Dharma Seal.
• Li Ping'an walked toward Zhao Ling'er, who raised All Living Beings and challenged him to a sword duel.

Li Ping'an defeated Zhao Ling'er after she attempted to stop him, then agreed to accompany her to face the emperor. While Li Ping'an had been away for more than a month, Kitten kept Old Ox hidden from a group of hunters by pretending to be a Shushan disciple, then sensed Li Ping'an nearby.

• Li Ping'an overwhelmed Zhao Ling'er in three sword strikes, and she explained that she had acted alone and asked him to keep Nantong's officials from being implicated.
• Li Ping'an told the Female Emperor's guards not to bring the great ship ashore and asked Zhao Ling'er to collect the masks worn by the attackers.
• After Zhao Ling'er returned, Li Ping'an agreed to accompany her to see the emperor.
• Kitten caught fish and hid the sleeping Old Ox when hunters arrived searching for monsters.
• Kitten posed as a Shushan disciple and warned the hunters away by claiming her master was fighting an ox demon.
• Kitten sensed Li Ping'an nearby, found him, and greeted him excitedly.

Li Ping'an returned to Kitten and Old Ox after resolving Zhao Ling'er's attempted assassination of the emperor, then rested while the consequences of the affair were considered. More than two months later, he traveled with Little Girl toward a crowded mountaintop temple, where he hinted that Master Changqing was someone who always cheated at chess.

• Kitten welcomed Li Ping'an back, and he fell asleep beside Old Ox after telling her that everything had been resolved.
• The chapter recounted how Zhao Ling'er's crime was concealed and how she was sent to Demon-Suppressing Pass for the rest of her life, while the affair threatened Huailu Academy's standing.
• Li Ping'an told Old Ox that Li Maocai had received a temple and an official post in the Underworld, and Kitten worried that Li Ping'an would not eat.
• More than two months later, Li Ping'an and Little Girl rested on a crowded mountain path leading to a temple.
• Little Girl asked who Master Changqing was, and Li Ping'an replied that he was someone who always cheated at chess.

Li Ping'an, Old Ox, and the little girl climbed to a temple where Master Changqing was drawing crowds, while Li Ping'an hoped to visit an old acquaintance. After the wealthy old man offered to help him enter the restricted rear courtyard, Li Ping'an followed him there.

• Li Ping'an climbed the mountain with Old Ox and the little girl, meeting a wealthy old man who was heading to the temple to see Master Changqing.
• The little girl cooked mushroom noodles for Li Ping'an and Old Ox, and agreed to cook for them every day after they praised her.
• The wealthy old man sent pastries to Li Ping'an and the little girl, and his son suggested taking the girl, but the old man rebuked him.
• Li Ping'an and the others reached the crowded temple, where visitors had gathered to see the handsome Master Changqing.
• The wealthy old man offered to take Li Ping'an to the rear courtyard, and Li Ping'an followed him inside.

Li Ping'an and Old Man Fugui reached the temple to find Changqing, but the monk said Changqing was unavailable. After Li Ping'an left him a black game piece, Changqing finished meditating and learned about the visitors, including the man in blue robes who had brought the piece.

• A young monk turned away Commandery Princess Changping and then told Li Ping'an and Old Man Fugui that Changqing was unavailable.
• Li Ping'an gave the monk a black game piece to pass to Changqing and chose to camp at the crowded temple instead of taking a room.
• Kitten had cooked for Li Ping'an and Old Ox, who had already eaten, but they agreed to eat two bowls of her soup.
• Changqing woke from meditation after seemingly reciting a menu and asked the young monk what had happened during his absence.
• The young monk told Changqing about the visitors and mentioned the black game piece from a man in blue robes.