Chapter Summaries

Li Ping'an, Old Ox, and Kitten visited a teahouse in the Cave-Heaven Paradise, where they could not afford their bill until the shopkeeper waived it as a welcome. As they explored town, an osmanthus blossom fell onto Kitten’s nose, and she grumbled that the tree had been stingy to give her only one.

• The waiter charged Li Ping'an, Old Ox, and Kitten three hundred high-grade spirit stones for their pastries, but Old Ox’s valuables covered less than half the bill.
• Li Ping'an offered to write an IOU, but the shopkeeper arrived and treated their meal as a welcome gift for a newcomer.
• Li Ping'an, Old Ox, and Kitten packed up their belongings and left the teahouse, while Kitten said she wanted to open a pastry shop because it would make lots of money.
• Li Ping'an walked across town and watched the children gather beneath an osmanthus tree as an old man drove them away.
• An osmanthus blossom fell onto Kitten’s nose, and Li Ping'an told her to keep it as a gift from the tree.
• Kitten asked Li Ping'an to pick her up and whispered that the tree was stingy for giving her only one blossom.

Li Ping'an and his companions met the schoolteacher Lü You, who offered them lodging in the private school. Kitten found her missing cloth ball with a local child, and Li Ping'an decided they would ask the child's father about it the next day.

• Kitten ate the Osmanthus Tree's leaf after Li Ping'an told her it would make her stronger.
• Li Ping'an and his companions met Lü You, who treated them to tea and invited them to stay at his lodgings.
• Kitten joined a group of children playing and discovered that one girl had her missing cloth ball.
• Kitten told Li Ping'an that the girl's father had brought the ball home, and Li Ping'an said they would ask him about it tomorrow.
• The author added a note about borrowing a coworker's father's unreliable car to pick up a client.

Li Ping'an and Kitten visited the Wang Family to learn that the little girl’s cloth ball had been found in the mountains, then explored the Cave-Heaven Paradise town with Lü Liang. As evening came, Old Ox returned from his outing with news.

• Li Ping'an asked Wang Xie where he had found Kitten’s cloth ball, and Wang Xie said he had picked it up in the mountains.
• Kitten was relieved that her friend had lost the ball by accident, then went out to play with the Wang Family’s little girl.
• Li Ping'an used his Dharma Eyes to examine Lü You’s five students and found them exceptionally blessed.
• Lü Liang showed Li Ping'an around town by boat and explained that Buddha founded it before several great lineages helped build it.
• Li Ping'an met the tea shop proprietor and saw other powerful practitioners around town as Lü Liang described them.
• Old Ox returned in the evening with news.

Li Ping'an confronted Wang Xie over the deaths of the Barbarians and learned that the town’s prosperity depended on generations of their slaughter and exploitation. He vowed to destroy the place, while Tushan Ya noticed a cultivator openly breaking the town’s rules.

• Li Ping'an returned to the Wang residence and demanded to know why Wang Xie had killed Barbarians; Wang Xie offered compensation but did not explain.
• Wang Xie gave Li Ping'an a pill that let his soul leave his body, then showed him an old man eating a Barbarian soul sealed into a grotesque lump.
• Wang Xie led Li Ping'an beneath the town, where he saw countless Barbarian remains buried beneath the roots of the osmanthus tree.
• Wang Xie argued that many factions had profited from the Cave-Heaven Paradise and asked whether Li Ping'an would oppose them all; Li Ping'an said he would destroy the town built on white bones.
• Wang Xie's soul dispersed, and Tushan Ya saw his Attendant Talisman vanish as a light appeared on the town map, signaling someone was deliberately breaking its rules.

Li Ping'an rejected Tushan Ya’s plea to preserve the town and announced that he would dissolve the blessed land, while offering its residents a chance to leave. Wu Cheng and the tea shop proprietor confronted him as he attacked the osmanthus tree.

• Tushan Ya confronted Li Ping'an about breaking the town’s rules, but he urged her to dissolve the blessed land and refused to back down.
• Li Ping'an broke through Tushan Ya’s restraints, shaking the town and alarming its residents.
• Li Ping'an offered everyone a chance to leave before he dissolved the place, then drew his sword and faced the osmanthus tree.
• Wu Cheng attacked Li Ping'an, but Li Ping'an’s saber strike shattered Wu Cheng’s protective armor and drove him back.
• The tea shop proprietor used a Magic Treasure to intercept Li Ping'an’s saber strike, and Li Ping'an challenged him to stop after benefiting from the town.

Li Ping'an confronted the town’s hidden powers over the deaths of its innocent victims and gave them one day to leave. When they refused, he prepared to settle the matter by force.

• People from across the town gathered around Li Ping'an and introduced themselves as members of powerful sects and organizations.
• Tushan Ya, representing the Five Direction Stewards, told Li Ping'an she oversaw the town’s affairs, and he gave everyone one day to leave before departing.
• Li Ping'an returned to the private school, where Lü Liang cooked noodles for him but chose not to leave the town.
• After the one-day deadline passed, the crowd grew, and its members challenged Li Ping'an for meddling in their affairs.
• Li Ping'an’s magical power surged despite the town’s cultivation suppression, and he declared that the town’s people were unworthy to speak of benevolence and righteousness.

Li Ping'an fought the town’s forces as they trapped him within a powerful formation, while Tushan Ya and the other defenders coordinated their attacks. He used the White Jade Capital to keep Tushan Ya occupied and began eliminating the town’s factions, declaring that he would unleash a slaughter.

• Li Ping'an leaped into the air and struck down two opponents as the town’s barrier expanded to trap him.
• Tushan Ya and the townspeople encircled Li Ping'an, while the teahouse proprietor released a giant fiery bird to join the battle.
• Tushan Ya used her tails to shield the town from the White Jade Capital’s sword rain, and the Third Young Master fought the fiery bird.
• Li Ping'an punched the teahouse proprietor through the air, then struck the swordmaster and sent him crashing to his knees.
• Golden-armored warriors and other forces prepared to fight as Li Ping'an used the White Jade Capital to occupy Tushan Ya and attacked the town’s factions.
• Li Ping'an smashed the two Daoists of the Black Tortoise Gate into a cloud of blood and called for his next opponents.

Li Ping'an fought through the town’s cultivators from dawn until deep into the night, surviving their attacks as the town’s fortune dwindled. With the White Jade Capital’s pressure suddenly eased, Tushan Ya faced its descending force.

• Wu Cheng temporarily reached the ninth realm and fought Li Ping'an in a brutal exchange of punches, but Li Ping'an defeated him and left him unconscious.
• More than a dozen Golden Armored Warriors attacked Li Ping'an, but he cut them down and fought his way through the town’s gathered cultivators.
• Li Ping'an used the White Jade Capital and the Fusang Saber as he advanced, killing or injuring cultivators who tried to stop him.
• Li Ping'an broke through Lü Liang’s dharma form and defeated groups of cultivators who attacked him together.
• The battle continued into the night, and Li Ping'an emerged from the dead with his body badly injured as the town’s fortune drained away.
• Tushan Ya tried to draw out the town’s remaining fortune, but the White Jade Capital’s pressure eased and bore down on her enormous body.

Li Ping'an defeated Tushan Ya’s petitioned heavenly tribulation and explained that he had attacked the town because it sacrificed the Eastern Snowfield’s vitality to sustain its Cave-Heaven Paradise. When two mighty Dharma Forms confronted him, he answered their attack with a sword strike that pierced the darkness and surged into the heavens.

• Tushan Ya petitioned for Li Ping'an’s execution, and a heavenly voice granted her request, summoning powerful tribulation clouds.
• Li Ping'an summoned four golden sword-wielding manifestations of Dragon-Tiger Mountain’s ancestral masters, who destroyed the clouds and severely wounded Tushan Ya.
• Li Ping'an rested and drank while the town’s surviving cultivators fled or recovered without challenging him.
• A divine Buddha and a white-haired Daoist Dharma Form arrived, and Li Ping'an told them the town had traded the Eastern Snowfield’s vitality to preserve itself.
• The two Dharma Forms attacked Li Ping'an, plunging the town into darkness and chaos.
• Li Ping'an declared that he would slay the wicked, then unleashed a sword strike that broke through the darkness and shot toward the highest heavens.

Li Ping'an destroyed the Small Town and worked with Old Ox to stabilize the Eastern Snowfield's disrupted spiritual energy and earth veins. After three months, a monk and a Daoist arrived, while an unrelated bar meetup notice appeared at the end.

• Li Ping'an destroyed the Osmanthus Tree and the Small Town, then obtained a golden fragment from the Cave-Heaven Paradise.
• Old Ox formed a Feng Shui Grand Array and drove off cultivators and demons drawn by the upheaval.
• Li Ping'an used two Rune Fragments to strengthen the formation and stabilize the region's spiritual energy over the next day.
• Li Ping'an stayed in the Eastern Snowfield for three days, summoned the mountain gods and earth gods, and promised to let bygones be bygones if they helped stabilize the land.
• Three months passed, and a monk and a Daoist arrived together.

Li Ping'an told Buddhist and Daoist envoys that he would leave the Eastern Snowfield after stabilizing it, and they agreed to manage the land after his departure. Amitāyus Buddha left warning that any lineages opposing the settlement could seek revenge themselves.

• Kitten worried when Li Ping'an and Old Ox barely touched the food while recovering from their work on the formation.
• Amitāyus Buddha and the True Lord of the Jade Pivot Court visited Li Ping'an to ask about his plans for the Eastern Snowfield.
• Li Ping'an said he would neither establish a sect nor stay, and would leave once the situation had stabilized.
• Amitāyus Buddha explained the town's history and said the involved powers would let the past remain buried and support Li Ping'an if he chose to stay.
• Li Ping'an agreed to stabilize the land before leaving, and Amitāyus Buddha and the True Lord departed to report his wishes.
• Amitāyus Buddha told the worried True Lord that any lineages rejecting the settlement could seek revenge on Li Ping'an.

Li Ping'an left the stabilized Eastern Snowfield with Kitten and Old Ox after Kitten buried an osmanthus leaf, and the land began to thaw into spring. They traveled east toward the Coastal Nations, where Li Ping'an waited out the rain on a boat and reunited with his friends.

• Three months after the Eastern Snowfield stabilized, Li Ping'an had already left before the factions' leader could speak with him again.
• Li Ping'an and Kitten buried the osmanthus leaf, and its light melted the nearby snow as the first spring wind reached the Eastern Snowfield.
• Li Ping'an continued east through the rain and boarded an old boat to wait for Old Ox and Kitten.
• Old Ox and a muddy Kitten arrived with a mouse, and the boatman agreed to take them across for half a person's fare for Old Ox and no charge for Kitten.

Li Ping'an crossed the river with a boatman who was actually a ghost, still waiting for his wife and son, and helped him accept his death. After the boatman passed on, Li Ping'an buried his body and admitted he had lied to comfort him.

• Li Ping'an heard the boatman explain how he had waited for his wife and son at Far Mountain Ferry for years.
• A force dragged the boatman into the river, but Li Ping'an rescued him and calmed the water as Old Ox paddled the boat.
• At the ferry landing, Li Ping'an revealed that the boatman was dead and recited the Rebirth Mantra to help him move on.
• The boatman asked about his family, and Li Ping'an falsely assured him that his son had become an official and his wife had married well.
• Li Ping'an and Old Ox buried the boatman's body, and Kitten questioned whether Li Ping'an often lied to her too.

Li Ping'an traveled east with an army after its soldiers conscripted him and his companions, using the journey to learn about the region and its coastal countries. At camp, he agreed to teach the young volunteer Ma Yuan to read after hearing his ambitions.

• Kitten was bitten by a spirit snake, and Old Ox healed her paw by spitting on it.
• Riders and then an army passed Li Ping'an, who was swept into the ranks while Old Ox was assigned to carry supplies and Kitten hid in his arms.
• Li Ping'an learned from an old conscript that the army was heading east to fight rebels in the coastal counties.
• As the army traveled, Kitten caught rabbits, and Li Ping'an's cooking earned him meals with men from nearby tents, who shared tales of strange eastern countries.
• Ma Yuan asked Li Ping'an to teach him to read, and Li Ping'an agreed after Ma Yuan spoke of protecting his home and helping ordinary people.

Li Ping'an left the army after learning its campaign had been canceled, then continued east toward the sea with Old Ox and Kitten. At the coast, he teased the Little Girl about carrying a towering stack of wood, and she insisted she was not tired.

• During the army's rainy stop, Lao You tried repeatedly to catch Kitten, but Kitten dodged him and left him battered.
• Li Ping'an learned the rebellion had collapsed, so his unit was ordered to return, and he prepared to leave Ma Yuan behind with a book on military strategy.
• Li Ping'an slipped away from the camp that night, and Old Ox escaped after humiliating the soldier who had whipped him.
• After traveling alone for seven or eight days, Li Ping'an reached a small town and continued toward the eastern island nations to find a ship.
• At the coast, Li Ping'an rested with Old Ox and praised the Little Girl for carrying a tall stack of wood, while she declared she was not tired.

Li Ping'an, Old Ox, and Kitten finished building a small boat and set sail across the sea. Kitten briefly doubted whether Li Ping'an truly thought she was capable, but he reassured her with another lie, and the group left the shore together.

• Li Ping'an encouraged Kitten to keep chopping wood while he and Old Ox rested.
• Kitten watched an old Daoist perform tricks, and he told her that Li Ping'an and Old Ox were lying to make her do the work.
• Kitten asked Li Ping'an whether she was really capable, and he claimed the old Daoist was a monster who ate kitties.
• Five days later, Li Ping'an, Old Ox, and Kitten loaded their supplies onto the completed boat and set sail.
• Li Ping'an relaxed aboard the boat as the group sailed onward across the calm sea.

Li Ping'an, Old Ox, and Kitten searched the sea for the Three-Headed Kingdom before encountering a fleet from the Great An Kingdom fighting a True Dragon. Li Ping'an dispersed the storm and ended the battle, then met the dragon's gaze as it looked down at him.

• Li Ping'an and Kitten fished while Old Ox searched their map for the rumored Three-Headed Kingdom.
• Kitten caught a fish and saw a huge shark leap from the sea, after which she stopped swimming.
• A spirit fish confirmed it had heard of the Three-Headed Kingdom but could not tell Li Ping'an where it was.
• Li Ping'an spotted a fleet led by Zhong Guotao battling a True Dragon and boarded their treasure ship.
• Zhong Guotao explained that the dragon had blocked their passage, and Li Ping'an warned that the fleet risked destruction.
• Li Ping'an said "Disperse," clearing the storm and ending the fight; the True Dragon then met his gaze.

Li Ping'an mediated a confrontation between Great An’s fleet and a True Dragon who claimed the sea as his domain, then learned the fleet was searching for an immortality pill with Great Sui’s support. After hearing reports of the elusive Three-Headed Kingdom, Li Ping'an left the fleet to seek it.

• Li Ping'an released Third Young Master, who established that the True Dragon was his junior relative and changed the dragon’s attitude toward Li Ping'an.
• The True Dragon accused Great An’s fleet of trespassing, but Li Ping'an persuaded him to let it take a detour instead of destroying it.
• Zhong Guotao hosted Li Ping'an and his companions, and Li Ping'an learned Great An had sent the fleet to find an immortality pill with help from Great Sui.
• Li Ping'an asked about the Three-Headed Kingdom and learned from a sailor that it was a moving island whose people spoke the common Mandarin of the Nine Provinces.
• Li Ping'an left the fleet and warned Zhong Guotao to beware of the True Dragon.

Li Ping'an, Old Ox, and Kitten landed on an uninhabited island, then discovered that the Three-Headed Kingdom was on the back of a giant turtle. They met a three-headed resident who invited them into the city.

• Li Ping'an explored the island and found no people, while Kitten and Old Ox gathered food on the beach.
• The group ate seafood as evening fell, and Kitten stubbornly insisted that her undercooked crabs were ready.
• Li Ping'an spotted a moving island and realized it was the Three-Headed Kingdom, which grew on a giant turtle's back.
• Li Ping'an and his companions climbed onto the turtle and met a three-headed man beside a creek.
• Li Ping'an introduced himself and his companions, and the three-headed man invited them into the city while Kitten and Old Ox quietly joked about his three heads.

Li Ping'an and his companions visited the Three-Headed Kingdom, where the emperor explained their unusual nature and their dependence on the Giant Turtle. After learning that a True Dragon harassed the kingdom and nearby people, Li Ping'an considered visiting the dragon's water palace after leaving.

• A Three-Headed Person led Li Ping'an and his companions to the emperor's palace, where the emperor welcomed them with a banquet featuring eggs from the Giant Turtle.
• The emperor explained that only the middle head of each Three-Headed Person ate and breathed, while their heads took turns staying awake and could perceive past and future lives through cultivation.
• The emperor and chancellor declined to reveal how the kingdom began or why its people lived on the Giant Turtle.
• A tremor and the roar of a True Dragon interrupted the banquet, and a minister explained that the dragon claimed the sea and sometimes attacked ships and coastal people.
• Li Ping'an decided he might visit the True Dragon's water palace to ask about the locations of other Eastern Countries and caution it against acting overbearingly.