Chapter Summaries

Ouyang returned with Hu Yun and the others to Little Mountain Peak, where they held their annual meeting. Hu Yun learned that Xiao Feng was playing with Hu Tutu in the Forbidden Land and asked for him to come in.

• Hu Yun restored the courtyard gate’s couplets and lanterns before entering Little Mountain Peak with Ouyang and the others.
• Ouyang told Hu Yun he had found another disciple, Xiao Feng, and Hu Yun acknowledged the news.
• At the annual meeting, Ouyang and Hu Yun argued over their IOUs until Chen Changsheng began reading aloud his detailed household ledger.
• Ouyang fell asleep from exhaustion, and Hu Yun praised him for taking good care of Chen Changsheng and Bai Feiyu.
• Hu Tutu ran in, called Hu Yun “Daddy,” and told him she had gone with Xiao Feng to play with the spirit beasts in the Forbidden Land.
• Hu Yun destroyed Ouyang’s Recording Stone and asked for Xiao Feng to come in.

Xiao Feng entered Little Mountain Peak’s hall to meet Hu Yun, but the Eye of Heavenly Punishment between his brows suddenly blasted Hu Yun apart. Hu Yun reassembled and then angrily declared that Xiao Feng could never become his disciple, leaving Xiao Feng’s hopes of joining Little Mountain Peak shattered.

• Xiao Feng nervously entered the hall, knelt before Hu Yun, and asked to become his disciple.
• The Eye of Heavenly Punishment between Xiao Feng’s brows opened by itself and struck Hu Yun with Purple Empyrean World-Annihilating Lightning, scattering him into fragments.
• Ouyang forced the Eye of Heavenly Punishment back inside Xiao Feng’s forehead, and Hu Yun reassembled while Xiao Feng apologized in fear.
• Hu Yun scolded Xiao Feng for attacking him before becoming his disciple, and Ouyang, Chen Changsheng, Bai Feiyu, and Hu Tutu knelt when Hu Yun ordered them to.
• Hu Yun forbade Xiao Feng from joining Little Mountain Peak and told him never to claim he was Hu Yun’s disciple or seek him again.

Xiao Feng was devastated when Hu Yun refused to accept him as a disciple, but Ouyang reassured him and went to ask Hu Yun why. Hu Yun explained that Xiao Feng needed hardship to grow, then revealed that Ouyang’s unexpected appearance had changed Qingsong’s destined path and Hu Yun’s plans.

• Hu Yun rejected Xiao Feng, leaving him convinced that he had nowhere to belong, while Hu Tutu offered to beg her father for him.
• Ouyang told Xiao Feng not to despair and sent Chen Changsheng, Bai Feiyu, Xiao Feng, and Hu Tutu away so he could speak privately with Hu Yun.
• Ouyang saw that Hu Yun had suddenly aged and joked with him before asking why he had refused Xiao Feng.
• Hu Yun told Ouyang that Xiao Feng needed to rely on himself and endure danger to develop his strength, so Little Mountain Peak would only hold him back.
• Hu Yun revealed that Qingsong had been destined to become Tai'a’s disciple, but Ouyang’s unexpected appearance in Maple Leaf City changed his decision.

Ouyang confronted Hu Yun about arranging his disciples’ lives and learned that Hu Yun had altered fate at the cost of his own life. Hu Yun revealed that Ouyang’s namelessness marked him as an outsider to the world, then left the future in his disciples’ hands as the New Year approached.

• Ouyang asked Hu Yun whether he had arranged his disciples’ paths, and Hu Yun admitted he had hoped to guide them toward good futures.
• Hu Yun said he had arranged for Xiaoyue to go to the Mortal World, but an unexpected change involving the Old Emperor disrupted his calculations.
• Hu Yun confessed that changing heavenly fate had cost him his life, and Ouyang grabbed him by the collar and vowed not to let him die.
• Hu Yun explained that Ouyang could not keep a given name because the world did not recognize him as one of its people, and said his own fate had been set when he took Ouyang as a disciple.
• Hu Yun said Changsheng was the disciple destined to change the world, but he would leave the answer to his disciples rather than calculate again.
• Hu Yun told Ouyang that he would shoulder what he could, then lamented that he had only wanted to share a New Year’s meal of dumplings with them.

Ouyang struggled with Hu Yun’s planned death while Xiao Feng prepared to leave Little Mountain Peak after Hu Yun refused to accept him as a disciple. Hu Yun secretly acknowledged Xiao Feng as a student in his heart and made name plaques for all his disciples, including Xiao Feng.

• Ouyang left Hu Yun’s room, unable to accept that his master had planned his own death and that Ouyang could not save him.
• Ouyang told Chen Changsheng not to bring up Xiao Feng’s departure again and said Xiao Feng would leave after the New Year.
• Hu Tutu tried to persuade Hu Yun to accept Xiao Feng, then cried when Xiao Feng announced he was leaving that day.
• Chen Changsheng gave Xiao Feng dumplings, and Ouyang gave him storage bags with supplies before Xiao Feng said goodbye.
• Xiao Feng kowtowed three times to Hu Yun and left Little Mountain Peak without looking back.
• Hu Yun sighed over wooden plaques bearing his disciples’ names, including Xiao Feng’s, and called the boy foolish for bowing as though Hu Yun were his teacher.

Xiao Feng left Little Mountain Peak after developing a dragon-headed form through his Azure Dragon bloodline and resolved to seek his own path beyond the Azure Cloud Sect. Ma Xingye, burdened by his own doubts about the sect, chose to leave with him.

• Xiao Feng vented his frustration on the mountain path, displaying his new dragon-headed form and its increased strength.
• Xiao Feng treasured Senior Sister's handkerchief and the withered flower she had given him, then said he would prove himself when they met again.
• Ma Xingye encountered Xiao Feng and asked whether his training had caused the rockslide.
• Xiao Feng told Ma Xingye he intended to leave the Azure Cloud Sect and venture into the wider world.
• Ma Xingye admitted the sect made him feel suffocated and offered to leave with Xiao Feng, who agreed.

After Xiao Feng left Little Mountain Peak, Hu Yun checked Leng Qingsong, asked Ouyang to visit his prospective brides, and celebrated New Year's Eve with the others. Hu Yun gave Bai Feiyu a diary linked to Li Taibai's past life, leaving Bai Feiyu wondering whether Hu Yun knew his secret.

• Little Mountain Peak returned to its quiet routine after Xiao Feng left, while Hu Tutu rode the Paper Crane and remembered giving him her lucky handkerchief.
• Hu Yun examined Leng Qingsong in Ouyang's Minor World and said that the Ancient Sword Immortal's legacy and the Sword-Questioning Pool's sword intent might let him advance several cultivation realms when he woke.
• Hu Yun asked Ouyang to visit his old friends, then revealed he had arranged childhood betrothals for Ouyang and called himself Ouyang's father.
• On New Year's Eve, Hu Tutu received a pellet drum from Hu Yun during the New Year's greetings.
• Hu Yun gave Bai Feiyu a yellowed booklet titled "Xiao Bai's Diary," and Bai Feiyu suspected Hu Yun had divined his identity as Li Taibai.

Chen Changsheng visited Hu Yun, who restored his damaged wooden monkey puppet by giving it a fragment of Chen Changsheng’s Nascent Soul and turning it into an independent incarnation. Hu Yun hinted that he knew more than he let on about Chen Changsheng’s choices and warned him that changing causes would bring different consequences.

• Bai Feiyu accepted Hu Yun’s copy of "Xiao Bai's Diary" with deep gratitude and left his room.
• Chen Changsheng came to Hu Yun in his true body, kowtowed, and let his master retrieve the damaged wooden monkey puppet from his sleeve.
• Hu Yun restored the puppet and separated a miniature Nascent Soul from Chen Changsheng to give it an independent mind and life.
• The newly animated monkey declared itself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, then hid in Chen Changsheng’s robes after Hu Yun flicked its forehead.
• Chen Changsheng asked how much Hu Yun knew, recalling how his master had once sacrificed himself to face the invading Devil Race and save him and his Eldest Senior Brother.
• Hu Yun warned Chen Changsheng that changing causes would produce different effects, then urged him to love himself before trying to protect everyone else.

Ouyang confronted Hu Yun about the sacrifices and secret plans surrounding Leng Qingsong and Chang Xiaoyue. Hu Yun warned that information itself could reveal their plans to an unseen observer, then hinted that Chang Xiaoyue carried a great destiny and ended with a sorrowful reflection on unattained desires.

• Ouyang entered Hu Yun's room and refused to accept that Hu Yun had little time left, cursing him for risking his life.
• Ouyang kowtowed to Hu Yun on behalf of Leng Qingsong, who remained unconscious inside the dog's belly.
• Ouyang asked whether Hu Yun had arranged Leng Qingsong's marriage to Chang Xiaoyue to keep him from falling fully into Supreme Forgetfulness, but Hu Yun mocked his guess.
• Hu Yun warned Ouyang that anything communicated aloud, in writing, or by voice transmission would be detected by an unseen force, and questioned whether it had allowed Ouyang to gouge out the Eye of Heavenly Punishment.
• Hu Yun said Chang Xiaoyue had chosen her own path after receiving a jade pendant and that she carried a great destiny; he suggested that wanting her not to survive might be what allowed her to survive.

Ouyang realized the Immortals, not the Devil Race, were behind the catastrophe tied to reopening the Immortal Path, and feared the unknown system he carried. As Hu Yun vanished after granting him a Dao Contemplation, the system completed its initial mission and the world’s heavenly signs gathered around Little Mountain Peak.

• Ouyang deduced that Hu Yun believed Leng Qingsong was Li Taibai’s reincarnation and that the Immortals planned to reopen the Immortal Gate, bringing catastrophe to the world.
• Ouyang admitted his fear to Hu Yun and begged him not to leave, while Hu Yun told him that his inability to sense the Dao had been caused by Hu Yun himself.
• Hu Yun granted Ouyang a Dao Contemplation, dissolved into starlight, and left the pale-yellow jade that appeared in Ouyang’s palm.
• The jade entered Zhao Qiansun’s forehead, and he broke through from Core Formation to the Nascent Soul Realm.
• The system announced that Ouyang had completed his initial mission by forming karmic connections with five children of heavenly fate, as immense heavenly phenomena appeared over Little Mountain Peak.
• Ouyang sensed the Dao for the first time, and Hu Yun’s fading voice told him, “Signs Follow the Quadrant!”

Ouyang recognized Hu Yun as a fellow transmigrator and entered his first enlightenment as Hu Yun’s disciples guarded his room. At Azure Cloud Peak, Hu Yun revealed that his life was nearly spent and that he had left the next choices to his disciples, while Dongxu Zi and Su Xiaoqi faced the impending loss of another senior brother.

• Ouyang realized Hu Yun was a fellow countryman and experienced his first enlightenment, sensing the Dao as Little Mountain Peak filled with auspicious light.
• Chen Changsheng and Bai Feiyu guarded Hu Yun’s room, believing that Ouyang was receiving Hu Yun’s gift of enlightenment.
• Su Xiaoqi confronted Dongxu Zi about his secret recitation of the Rebirth Mantra and left after smashing the Main Hall floor with her fist.
• Hu Yun told Dongxu Zi that his vitality was nearly exhausted and that he would stop calculating outcomes, leaving his disciples to shape what happened next.
• Dongxu Zi asked to die in Hu Yun’s place, but Hu Yun refused and told him and Xiaoqi to take care of themselves.
• After Hu Yun and Su Xiaoqi left, Dongxu Zi secretly opened the Rebirth Sutra and prayed for his junior brother.

During the world’s sudden wave of Dao enlightenment, Tai'a gave up his Green Lotus Sword Intent to establish a new path for Song Mu, then watched as Hu Yun confronted a force descending on Little Mountain Peak. Hu Yun vanished after striking at the sky, while Ouyang broke through to Foundation Establishment and felt something stirring inside him.

• Tai'a asked Song Mu to start cultivating anew, then told him he would become the Sword Sect Ancestor.
• Tai'a destroyed his Green Lotus Sword Intent and placed a white Lotus Seed in Song Mu’s Dantian, transforming his disciple’s cultivation.
• Tai'a’s cultivation fell before rising again to Tribulation Transcendence Sixth Stage as he resolved to forge a new path for the Sword Sect.
• Golden chains descended toward everyone on Little Mountain Peak, and Hu Yun seized and snapped them before charging into the sky.
• Ouyang advanced from Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment as the purple qi and golden lotuses vanished, then complained that his body felt as if he were about to grow a brain.

After Hu Yun sacrificed himself, Ouyang broke through to Foundation Establishment and learned that Hu Yun had disrupted the system, forcing it to upgrade. Ouyang accepted responsibility for his junior disciples and asked Su Xiaoqi to guide Hu Tutu, while holding onto hope that Hu Yun would return.

• Ouyang completed his breakthrough as Hu Yun severed the golden chains binding Little Mountain Peak, then disrupted the system and vanished from Ouyang’s mind as it began upgrading.
• Ouyang told Chen Changsheng and Bai Feiyu that Hu Yun had left, and they congratulated him on reaching Foundation Establishment; Ouyang worried that future breakthroughs might demand another sacrifice.
• Ouyang honored Li Taibai and Hu Yun by adding the words “white clouds” to the calligraphy in Hu Yun’s room, then put away the wooden plaques of the six disciples.
• Su Xiaoqi asked whether Hu Yun was truly dead, and Ouyang reassured her before asking her to take special care of Hu Tutu’s cultivation.
• Ouyang took the dumplings Chen Changsheng had brought for Hu Yun and smiled at the clouds, saying he would feed Hu Yun when he returned.

Ouyang struggled to study cultivation notes while Little Mountain Peak descended into chaos, and Hu Tutu tried to escape her qin lessons. Su Xiaoqi took control of the lesson and ordered Hu Tutu to practice for sixteen hours.

• Ouyang fell asleep while reading Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation notes and wondered what mission the system would give him next.
• Bai Feiyu read Xiao Bai's Diary and laughed as Diao Mao pecked him in the head.
• Chen Changsheng chased Little Bie San and Liang Zai through the courtyard after they stole a whole pot, and the monkey dropped it over Hu Yan's head.
• Hu Tutu fled her qin lesson to complain to Ouyang, who carried her back to Su Xiaoqi.
• Su Xiaoqi used the qin to make Hu Tutu sit down and ordered her to practice for sixteen hours.

Ouyang met with Su Xiaoqi, who agreed to teach Hu Tutu, before they were summoned to an Azure Cloud Sect meeting. The meeting ended with Dongxu Zi announcing that Little Mountain Peak would be stripped of its peak designation.

• Ouyang poured tea for Su Xiaoqi and explained that Hu Yun had found Hu Tutu, while they both mourned Hu Yun’s uncertain fate.
• Su Xiaoqi promised to protect Little Mountain Peak and agreed to teach Hu Tutu the Qin Dao.
• Dongxu Zi summoned Su Xiaoqi and Ouyang to Azure Cloud Peak for a formal deliberation.
• Su Xiaoqi brought Ouyang to the Main Hall, where Dongxu Zi announced that Little Mountain Peak would lose its peak designation.

Su Xiaoqi opposed the proposal to dissolve Little Mountain Peak or appoint Chunyang Zi as its Peak Master, while Ouyang unexpectedly agreed and then maneuvered the meeting toward making himself acting Peak Master. He ended by demanding that Little Mountain Peak’s old IOUs be wiped clean.

• Su Xiaoqi confronted Dongxu Zi and objected to the deliberations, but Dongxu Zi overpowered her with Dao resonance and confined her to her cushion.
• Dongxu Zi proposed either dissolving Little Mountain Peak or appointing Chunyang Zi to lead it, then asked Ouyang whether he objected.
• Ouyang agreed to the proposal and praised Questioning Sword Peak’s latrines, prompting Chunyang Zi to object and reject the position.
• When no elders or attendants volunteered, Ouyang suggested he could reluctantly serve as acting Peak Master, and the others accepted the prospect with relief.
• Ouyang asked the martial uncles to wipe out Little Mountain Peak’s old IOUs as a condition of his taking office.

Ouyang became Little Mountain Peak’s Acting Peak Master, then asked Dongxu Zi to teach him about the Dao. Their lecture ended with both of them falling asleep, while the future catastrophe remained an unresolved threat.

• The other peaks agreed to wipe out Little Mountain Peak’s debts and confirmed Ouyang as Acting Peak Master, while Su Xiaoqi realized the meeting had been arranged to trick her.
• Su Xiaoqi beat Dongxu Zi for keeping Hu Yun’s fate from her, then argued with him and Ouyang about whether Hu Yun’s chosen path should make them feel sad.
• Dongxu Zi explained that Hu Yun had pursued his Dao without regret, and he and Ouyang admitted privately that they were grieving while resolving to carry on his work.
• Ouyang asked what the coming catastrophe meant, and Dongxu Zi said he did not know its source or how to prevent it.
• After Ouyang requested Dao instruction, Dongxu Zi began lecturing him, but Ouyang quickly fell asleep and Dongxu Zi soon dozed off too.

After becoming acting Peak Master of Little Mountain Peak, Ouyang tried to find a ride home from Azure Cloud Peak and discovered its disciples were following strict new rules set by Ling Feng. He left on two Stone Lions while continuing to suspect that Ling Feng was hiding something.

• Ouyang realized Martial Uncle Su had left him on Azure Cloud Peak, so he decided to find someone who could fly him back to Little Mountain Peak.
• Huang Yangkai challenged Ouyang over Azure Cloud Peak’s etiquette, but Ouyang overpowered him and demanded an explanation for the disciples’ wary behavior.
• Huang Yangkai explained that Ling Feng had ordered disciples to bow to seniors and expelled the lowest-ranked disciple in each realm.
• Ouyang reflected on Ling Feng’s strange transformation and the Heavenly Dao Oath requiring him to kill Lin Feng.
• Two Stone Lions fought over the chance to carry Ouyang down the mountain, then took him away with one riding atop the other.

Ouyang worried that Hu Tutu’s terrible-sounding qin practice meant she lacked talent, while cautioning Chen Changsheng against acting rashly toward Ling Feng. Su Xiaoqi revealed that Hu Tutu had mastered simple musical control without being taught, leaving Ouyang to realize her talent was extraordinary.

• Ouyang asked Chen Changsheng about Ling Feng, warned him to be careful, and worried that Chen Changsheng might try to kill him.
• Hu Tutu finished her tearful qin practice, while Chen Changsheng stopped Liang Zai and Little Bie San from sneaking into the kitchen and gave Hu Tutu chicken soup.
• Ouyang asked Su Xiaoqi whether anything was wrong with Hu Tutu’s talent, since her playing sounded awful.
• Su Xiaoqi explained that she had taught Hu Tutu no qin techniques, yet Hu Tutu could channel True Essence through random plucking and manipulate objects.

Su Xiaoqi explained that Hu Tutu was born for the Musical Dao and needed Penglai Immortal Mountain’s Ten Thousand Music Immortal Treasure. She suggested Ouyang seek help from the Mountain Lord, then revealed that the female Mountain Lord was close to Hu Yun, leaving Ouyang stunned at the prospect of meeting another of his master’s wives.

• Su Xiaoqi asked Ouyang about his own Dao, and he said he cared more about protecting his junior brothers and sisters and Little Mountain Peak.
• Su Xiaoqi told Ouyang that Hu Tutu could evoke musical resonance with any instrument and was born for the Musical Dao.
• Su Xiaoqi explained that Hu Tutu needed the Ten Thousand Music Immortal Treasure, which belonged to Penglai Immortal Mountain.
• Ouyang considered asking the Sect Master to borrow the treasure, but Su Xiaoqi pointed out that Penglai would likely refuse.
• Su Xiaoqi offered to help Ouyang approach the Mountain Lord of Penglai Immortal Mountain and revealed that she was a woman close to Hu Yun.
• Ouyang realized the Mountain Lord was another of his master’s wives and froze in shock.