Recaps

Xiao Hua gave Zi Ming millet seeds for Houtu and Shebi Villages, then learned more about Xiao Mao’s pursuer and Meng Mountain’s soul techniques. After Master Ke Qin invited him to observe the repair of the Soul Falling Lamp in three days, Xiao Hua settled into his room and set up a concealed Duotian Star Array.

• Xiao Hua handed Zi Ming millet seeds, and she said they could help her contend for Ji Man’s position and spread crops through Million Meng Mountain.
• Zi Ming explained that Ye Yu, Shebi Village’s Fu Man, likely pursued Xiao Mao to protect his and Ji Man’s standing, while she and Master Ke Qin said outsiders could not master genuine soul techniques without the Great Gods’ bloodline.
• Master Ke Qin invited Xiao Hua to observe the Soul Falling Lamp’s repair in three days and explained that Witch Puppet methods had been lost.
• After Qing Ming’s disciples escorted Xiao Hua to a quiet room, he placed jade talismans around it and activated a concealed Duotian Star Array.

Xiao Hua examined three soul treasures from Hongdi Village and discovered that the bone staff contained Green Seal Script, though he could not move it with his soul threads. He turned to his Primordial Spirit for help and was startled to see it wrapped in green light shaped like a person.

• Xiao Hua opened the three bone boxes and inspected a bone staff, a bone snake, and a layered bone skull.
• Xiao Hua recognized the bone snake as a treasure associated with Great God Shebi and decided to return it to Xiao Mao.
• Xiao Hua used his Dharma Eye and saw Green Seal Script within the bone staff, then tried unsuccessfully to pull it toward his brow with soul threads.
• Xiao Hua entered Spirit Cleansing Heaven and observed the changes in his Primordial Spirit and Little White Dragon's soul.
• Xiao Hua summoned his Primordial Spirit into the cave and saw green radiance form a human-shaped outline around it.

Xiao Hua discovered that his green Primordial Spirit could act independently, then watched it absorb the Witch Canon’s green seal characters and expand Spirit Cleansing Heaven. He concluded the Primordial Spirit remained subordinate to his consciousness and decided to ask about returning the Witch Canon to Xiao Mao, while avoiding the dangerous bone sphere.

• Xiao Hua’s green Primordial Spirit independently subdued the bone staff, shrank it into a cube, and carried it into the mysterious dark clouds.
• Xiao Hua feared that his Primordial Spirits might develop independent thoughts, then saw the green Primordial Spirit absorb the Witch Canon’s seal characters in Qi Heaven.
• Xiao Hua received information identifying the treasure as the Witch Canon, though he could not fully understand its contents.
• The green Primordial Spirit absorbed another fifty seal characters in Spirit Cleansing Heaven, which expanded to more than twice its former size.
• Xiao Hua inferred that the Witch Canon contained the basis for soul cultivators’ arts and resolved to ask about returning it to Xiao Mao.
• Xiao Hua decided not to pull the bone sphere into the mysterious dark clouds because a powerful soul artifact might damage his Nine Heavens of Spiritual Essence.

Xiao Hua studied the Green Seal characters while Li Zongbao and Fairy Hongxia cultivated, then went with Qingming to Master Ke Qin’s Soul Refining Cave. There, Master Ke Qin revealed that Li Zongbao’s magic treasure was harming him, and Xiao Hua admitted that he had made the spiritual artifact.

• Xiao Hua, Li Zongbao, and Fairy Hongxia cultivated in their cave while Ziming and Master Ke Qin waited elsewhere in the valley.
• After three days, Qingming summoned Xiao Hua and explained that soul cultivators could fly using soul arts and artifacts.
• Qingming led Xiao Hua to the Soul Refining Cave, where Master Ke Qin and Ziming prepared to refine the Soul Falling Lamp.
• Master Ke Qin told Xiao Hua that Li Zongbao’s soul and bloodline were suffering backlash from his magic treasure and that he had invited Xiao Hua to help address it.
• Xiao Hua confessed that he had refined Li Zongbao’s spiritual artifact, leaving Master Ke Qin and Ziming astonished.

Xiao Hua accompanied Master Ke Qin into the Soul Refining Cave to help repair Zi Ming’s Soul Falling Lamp, though he claimed he was only there to observe. After seeing Xiao Hua react to the cave’s soul formation, Master Ke Qin asked whether he had practiced soul-cultivator techniques before.

• Xiao Hua explained how he had repaired the Immortal-Piercing Whip, earning Master Ke Qin’s respect and prompting Zi Ming to praise him.
• Master Ke Qin took the Soul Falling Lamp and said Xiao Hua’s assistance raised his confidence in repairing it, while Xiao Hua insisted he knew nothing about soul treasures.
• Zi Ming demonstrated that she could fly, then explained that soul cultivators usually traveled on soul beasts to conserve their difficult-to-replenish soul power.
• Master Ke Qin used a jade-green finger bone to open the hidden entrance to the Soul Refining Cave and led Xiao Hua inside.
• Xiao Hua examined the vast, deep-green cave and praised the power of its soul formation.
• Master Ke Qin sensed traces of soul threads on Xiao Hua and asked whether he had practiced soul-cultivator techniques, explaining that soul sense had to be tempered and forged.

Xiao Hua questioned Master Ke Qin about soul cultivation, shamanic canons, and Green Seal characters while they discussed repairing the Soul Falling Lamp. Master Ke Qin offered him the true Six Heavens of Spiritual Soul teachings in exchange for a future favor, and Xiao Hua learned that Meng Mountain’s artifact-refining arts relied on Green Seal characters.

• Master Ke Qin rejected Xiao Hua’s soul-cultivation text as an inaccurate Daoist interpretation and offered to teach him the true Nine Heavens of Spiritual Essence in return for help with an unnamed matter.
• Xiao Hua agreed to consider Master Ke Qin’s request after the Soul Falling Lamp was repaired and asked whether he would learn Li Zongbao’s method of compensating for its damage.
• Master Ke Qin explained that each shamanic village’s canon preserved its inheritance and would endure as long as any of its people’s bloodline remained.
• Xiao Hua asked about Green Seal characters, and Master Ke Qin said they were ancient, linked to the Twelve Great Gods, and essential to Meng Mountain’s artifact-refining arts.
• Xiao Hua told Master Ke Qin about Yun Tengyu of the Yun Lan Sect using Green Seal characters to cast the Cloud-Gathering and Rain-Making Technique, and Master Ke Qin wished he knew how to use it against Meng Mountain’s drought.

Master Ke Qin demonstrated how bloodline power let Soul Shamans use green seal script to refine soul artifacts and explained his theories about bloodline inheritance, the soul, and the limits of cultivation techniques. Xiao Hua found his arguments enlightening but remained uncertain that bloodline and the soul could explain every force in the world.

• Master Ke Qin explained that Soul Shamans used soul threads and bloodline power to voice green seal script, while the Sect Master’s bodily method was inefficient.
• Master Ke Qin used a drop of blood and green seal script to form a tiny humanoid figure, showing Xiao Hua how bloodline power could be awakened.
• Master Ke Qin described bloodline as humanity’s inherited power and claimed it could ultimately let Soul Shamans become gods.
• Master Ke Qin argued that the soul was each person’s deepest inheritance and that cultivation techniques only provided limited directions toward greater power.
• Master Ke Qin sent the tiny blood figure into the Soul Falling Lamp, causing it to vibrate as green seal scripts filled the Soul Refining Cave.
• Xiao Hua considered Master Ke Qin’s ideas but questioned whether bloodline and the soul could explain the Three Thousand Great Daos, the Hand of Cause and Effect, and the Heavenly Dao Starry Sky.

Master Ke Qin repaired the Soul Falling Lamp by using living souls to restore its three-headed black dog spirit, while Xiao Hua learned how soul treasures were mended. Master Ke Qin then offered to pass on his soul-cultivation and artifact-refining methods, revealing that he had wanted Xiao Hua to find an heir for his lineage.

• Master Ke Qin summoned green seal script sounds that drew a motionless, incomplete three-headed black dog from the Soul Falling Lamp, while the vibrations affected Xiao Hua's soul threads and mysterious space.
• Master Ke Qin used more than a dozen bones containing living souls to mend the black dog's missing parts, growing visibly older as he worked for over a dozen days.
• Xiao Hua realized the black dog was the soul treasure's core spirit and compared repairing it to restoring formations or Artifact Spirits.
• Master Ke Qin suggested that repairing Young Master Li's spirit artifact could help resolve its backlash, and Xiao Hua agreed that nurturing its Artifact Spirit might remove the danger.
• Master Ke Qin offered Xiao Hua his methods for tempering soul threads, producing soul sense, and cultivating Nine Heavens of Spiritual Essence in exchange for a favor.
• Master Ke Qin revealed that he had intended from the beginning for Xiao Hua to find a successor for his artifact-refining lineage, whether or not Xiao Hua accepted the methods.

Xiao Hua accepted Master Ke Qin’s artifact-refining inheritance and learned that his oil lamp was a rare spirit treasure from the Myriad Monster Realm. He then helped Master Ke Qin complete the black dog soul spirit’s repair, but the process grew dangerous as the spirit summoned shadowy forms.

• Xiao Hua agreed to inherit Master Ke Qin’s soul-cultivator artifact-refining arts and took the brocade pouch, while warning that he could not promise to find a disciple to continue the lineage.
• Master Ke Qin identified Xiao Hua’s oil lamp as a rare spirit treasure likely formed from a soul monster’s innate spirit, and explained that it would be difficult for Xiao Hua to use effectively.
• Xiao Hua demonstrated his Demon Realm artifact-refining method and refined Master Ke Qin’s essence blood into a tiny humanoid figure.
• Master Ke Qin sent the figure into the black dog soul spirit, which awakened, absorbed the cave’s black qi and green light, and began summoning black shadows.
• Xiao Hua surrounded the soul spirit with spiritual fire while Master Ke Qin destroyed the shadows with Green Seal Scripts, then Master Ke Qin covered the black dog with a massive script and ordered Xiao Hua to withdraw the fire.

Xiao Hua and Master Ke Qin restored the Soul Falling Lamp, and Ziming prepared to return to Houtu Village to help her people. As Xiao Hua and the others flew through the night, a rare blood moon appeared, and Ziming explained that Meng Mountain’s Sacrifice Night had begun.

• Xiao Hua restrained the black dog with his spirit fire and green seal script, allowing the Soul Falling Lamp to emerge fully repaired.
• Master Ke Qin gave the Soul Falling Lamp to Ziming and said it could only be lit at Houtu Village’s ancestral shrine with the proper rites and blessings.
• Master Ke Qin took the Rejuvenation Pill and entered seclusion, while Ziming set out with Xiao Hua and the others to return to Houtu Village.
• Xiao Hua and the others flew through the night on Li Zongbao’s Flowing Cloud Flying Boat as the moon turned blood red.
• Ziming explained that the blood moon marked Great God Houtu’s rare Sacrifice Night and said the drought demon might emerge to worship her.

Xiao Hua realized that Master Ke Qin may have anticipated his death on Great God Houtu's Sacrifice Night, and Ziming's suspicions led them to turn back toward the valley. They arrived to find Master Ke Qin and several others dead, while a hidden group pursuing Ziming moved out under the blood moon.

• Ziming explained that Great God Houtu's Sacrifice Night could preserve the memories of the dead, and Xiao Hua suspected Master Ke Qin had intended to die that night.
• Ziming recalled Master Ke Qin's unusual behavior and the disappearance of her maidservants, so Li Zongbao turned the flying boat back toward the valley.
• In a cave, a concealed master ordered a group to pursue Ziming, declaring that she would die whether she returned or fled.
• Xiao Hua sensed the scene at the Reception Platform and realized Master Ke Qin had entrusted him with his legacy before his death.
• Ziming flew to Master Ke Qin's body and mourned as Xiao Hua saw the corpses scattered around the platform.

Xiao Hua investigated the massacre of Master Ke Qin and his companions in the valley before Sacrifice Night. He found a cryptic blood mark reading “death” or “six” and discovered more victims, while the killer remained unseen.

• Ziming told Xiao Hua not to search Master Ke Qin’s soul and asked him to bring the remains to the Reception Platform before Sacrifice Night.
• Ziming found that the Rejuvenation Pill was missing from Master Ke Qin’s empty jade box, and Xiao Hua found Qing Ming’s body on the steps.
• Xiao Hua placed the group under the Duotian Star Array, and Ziming showed him a blood mark that could mean “death” or “six.”
• Xiao Hua searched Master Ke Qin’s cave, found two more bodies and a brocade pouch, and noticed that some animal hides and other items were missing.
• Xiao Hua found three more corpses near the place where he had rested, all killed in the same way, and feared the unseen attacker was still in the valley.

Xiao Hua searched Master Ke Qin’s valley, found his disciples murdered, and joined Ziming in performing a funeral rite that revealed the dead departing through a strange rift. The group suspected an ambush by a demon beast or a hidden enemy and left the Reception Platform, with Ziming choosing a new direction.

• Xiao Hua searched the valley and found dozens of Master Ke Qin’s disciples dead, with their brains hollowed out and their preparations left unfinished.
• Xiao Hua returned to the Reception Platform with the remains, and Ziming, Li Zongbao, and Fairy Hongxia helped arrange them for the funeral rite.
• Ziming danced and invoked Great God Houtu, causing green flames to consume the remains as Xiao Hua saw Master Ke Qin and the others vanish through a closing rift.
• Ziming, Li Zongbao, and Fairy Hongxia considered whether Master Ke Qin had foreseen the danger and whether a demon beast or a person had attacked him.
• Ziming warned that the group was unsafe and directed Li Zongbao to take them away aboard the Flowing Cloud Flying Boat.

After Master Ke Qin’s death, Xiao Hua and Ziming discussed his motives and the Soul Falling Lamp, and Xiao Hua helped Ziming accept that she was not responsible. As Ziming explained soul cultivation, a mysterious soul cultivator blocked their flying boat, and she revealed that soul arts could conceal soul cultivators from Dao Sect divine sense.

• Xiao Hua and Ziming concluded that Master Ke Qin had anticipated his death, while Xiao Hua and Fairy Hongxia comforted Ziming about her role in the events.
• Ziming promised to govern Houtu Village so its people could live in harmony, peace, and health.
• Ziming explained that soul cultivators advanced through the Nine Heavens of Spiritual Essence and that soul arts had separate ranks.
• Li Zongbao noticed a figure surrounded by black mist ahead, and it reappeared in front of the flying boat after they changed course.
• Ziming warned that soul cultivators could use soul arts to hide from Dao Sect divine sense, explaining why Xiao Hua had not detected anyone nearby.

Zi Ming and her companions were surrounded by Meng Mountain soul cultivators who demanded the Soul Falling Lamp. Their leader exposed Zi Ming’s secret about Ziye and revealed himself as Hou Yan, leaving the group facing a conflict rooted in Houtu Village’s succession and the lamp.

• Xiao Hua, Zi Ming, and Li Zongbao approached the encircling soul cultivators, and Zi Ming summoned the Witch Token of Great God Houtu to make several of them bow.
• A masked soul cultivator demanded the Soul Falling Lamp and threatened Zi Ming, claiming that someone else could use it to claim Houtu Village’s leadership.
• The man revealed that he knew Ziye had died long ago, and Zi Ming admitted she had kept the lamp in hopes of reviving Ziye.
• Zi Ming accused the man of murdering Master Ke Qin after he repaired the Soul Falling Lamp, and he removed his disguise to reveal himself as Hou Yan.
• Li Zongbao recognized Hou Yan as the man who had ambushed him and Xiao Hua with Ye Yu, while Zi Ming explained that Hou Yan and Hou Ming were names used by Houtu Village descendants.

Zi Yan revealed her plan to eliminate Zi Ming and secure power in Houtu Village, while Xiao Hua found his divine sense too injured to use his spells. When a Shebi Village soul warrior threatened Xiao Hua and his companions, Xiao Hua charged him with a wolf-toothed club and sent him flying.

• Zi Yan explained that she would blame Zi Ming’s death on Dao Sect cultivators and use the repaired Soul Falling Lamp to claim the reserve Witch Elder position.
• Xiao Hua tried to attack Zi Ming but could not use the Nascent Soul hand because his divine sense was still damaged.
• Zi Yan summoned nine black-clad soul warriors, and a giant Shebi Village soul warrior demanded that Xiao Hua surrender or watch the others die.
• Fairy Hongxia released her Phoenix Dharma Body and used Innate True Water, but the soul warrior’s opposing hot and cold wind blades broke through it.
• Xiao Hua rushed the soul warrior with Wind Escape and struck his bone staff’s green barrier with a wolf-toothed club, sending him flying.

Xiao Hua fought the soul warrior and destroyed him, while Zi Yan revealed her betrayal and ordered the Nine Divine Guards to attack Ziming, Fairy Hongxia, and Li Zongbao. Ziming warned them that the guards were nearly invulnerable Iron Corpses and admitted they had little hope of escape.

• Xiao Hua evaded the soul warrior’s hurricane and resisted a soul technique that made his heart and blood vessels feel as though they were exploding.
• Xiao Hua unleashed his sword essence, shattered the soul warrior’s bone staff with the Five Elements As-You-Wish Heaven-Piercing Staff, and severed the warrior’s head with azure and crimson sword lights.
• The nine black-robed Divine Guards separated Fairy Hongxia and the others from Xiao Hua as Ziming confronted Zi Yan over her plan to kill Master Ke Qin and claim the Witch Elder position.
• Zi Yan accused Ziming of killing Ziye and using the Soul Falling Lamp as an excuse to hold power, while Ziming offered to hand over the lamp if Zi Yan swore to revive Ziye.
• Zi Yan summoned the Divine Guards to attack Ziming, Fairy Hongxia, and Li Zongbao, and Ziming identified them as exceptionally powerful Iron Corpses with few apparent weaknesses.

Fairy Hongxia, Li Zongbao, and Ziming fought Zi Yan’s Nine Divine Guards, but the guards overcame their attacks and Zi Yan’s foul bloodlight destroyed the Phoenix Token’s protection. Elsewhere, Xiao Hua decapitated a soul warrior, only to discover that the attack had revealed a trap and a wretched dwarf.

• Ziming explained that the Nine Divine Guards could be countered with an object of utmost yang or by taking Zi Yan’s controlling soul artifact, while Fairy Hongxia remained distrustful.
• Li Zongbao’s Immortal-Piercing Whip and Ziming’s ghost heads failed to damage the Nine Divine Guards, which absorbed the attacks.
• Fairy Hongxia used the Phoenix Token’s five-colored radiance to halt the guards, and Ziming’s green soul artifact briefly wounded one before it healed and devoured the artifact.
• Zi Yan poured foul, bloodlit filth from a tiny wine cup onto the Phoenix Token’s radiance, destroying it as the Nine Divine Guards advanced on the group.
• Xiao Hua severed a soul warrior’s head with the Spirit Severing Primordial Light, but its body collapsed and a wretched dwarf appeared from its neck.

Xiao Mao and the drought demon arrived in time to save Xiao Hua and the others from the soul cultivator and Zi Yan. Zi Yan was killed after fleeing, and Zi Ming trapped a demonic shadow that escaped from his corpse.

• The soul cultivator used a black flag to incapacitate Xiao Hua, but Zhu Meng and Mountain Splitting flew out to guard him.
• The drought demon rose from the sand with Xiao Mao on its shoulder, killed the soul cultivator, and took his black flag.
• Xiao Mao burned away the filth attacking Fairy Hongxia's group, while the drought demon released the Three-legged Bird's spirit essence and Xiao Hua awakened.
• Zi Yan sent the nine divine guards after Xiao Mao and fled, but the drought demon wounded him and Xiao Hua's Spirit Severing Primordial Light killed him.
• A demonic shadow escaped Zi Yan's corpse, and Zi Ming trapped it with black qi.

Xiao Hua and his companions regrouped after Xiao Mao and the hanba rescued them, while Zi Ming captured the demonic being and chose not to investigate Houtu Village’s secrets further. Xiao Hua urged Xiao Mao and Zi Ming to trust one another as they traveled toward Houtu Village, where Zi Ming’s affairs and Xiao Hua’s promised business awaited them.

• Zi Ming sealed the demonic being in a bone bead and gave it to Xiao Hua, who let her keep it because it might help her understand Houtu Village’s secrets.
• Zi Ming gathered Zi Yan’s remains and summoned the Nine Divine Guards, while Xiao Hua collected an embroidered pouch and the Three-legged Bird essence.
• Xiao Mao explained that the hanba had abducted him to refine his pure bloodline, and that he had later brought it to rescue Xiao Hua and the others.
• Xiao Mao sent the hanba underground to continue refining his vital blood and follow him from afar.
• Xiao Hua urged Xiao Mao and Zi Ming to cooperate and put their people’s welfare first, and the group agreed to travel to Houtu Village.
• Xiao Hua warned Li Zongbao not to use the Immortal-Piercing Whip until its problem was remedied, and Li Zongbao flew the group northwest aboard the Flowing Cloud Flying Boat.

Ziming revealed how her twin brother Ziye sacrificed his soul to save her, leaving her to live under both their identities while seeking a way to revive him. After accepting Xiao Hua’s help and facing the threat to Houtu Village, she shared basic soul-cultivation records with him.

• Ziming apologized for concealing her identity, and Xiao Hua affirmed that he regarded her as Ziye regardless of her body or past.
• Ziming recounted how Ziye gave his soul to the Soul Falling Lamp to save her, after which she concealed his death by playing both siblings and caring for a sacred beast.
• Ziming explained that demonic beings had invaded Zi Yan’s soul and that their arts threatened the villages of Million Meng Mountain.
• Xiao Hua offered Ziming the bone pellet containing the demon’s split soul and persuaded her to face what it might reveal; she accepted it and promised to restore Houtu Village.
• Ziming gave Xiao Mao her pledge of assistance, then copied a basic soul-sense tempering method and other simple records for Xiao Hua.

During the journey to Houtu Village, Xiao Hua discovered Master Ke Qin’s final message and inherited his artifact-refining legacy, while Li Zongbao learned that Zi Ye’s body had been preserved. The group continued across drought-stricken Million Meng Mountain, and Xiao Hua questioned Fairy Hongxia about her connection to the Peacock Holy Mother.

• Zi Ming confirmed that Zi Ye’s corpse had been preserved so the Soul Falling Lamp could revive her.
• As the Flowing Cloud Flying Boat traveled for dozens of days, Xiao Hua learned to open Master Ke Qin’s Soul Nest and found the master’s final message and collected treasures inside.
• Master Ke Qin’s message entrusted his artifact-refining legacy to Xiao Hua and asked him to pass it to a benevolent successor who would carry a token to the master’s sect.
• Xiao Hua reflected on Master Ke Qin’s death, blamed Zi Yan for the attack, and put the jade slip and Soul Nest into his space.
• Xiao Hua spoke with Fairy Hongxia about Million Meng Mountain’s drought and asked why a demonic being had called her a descendant of the Peacock Holy Mother; she said she knew nothing about it.

After seeing the widespread famine in Million Meng Mountain, Xiao Hua began scattering his millet seeds to save starving natives and searched for a rain-making technique. The flying boat continued onward as Xiao Hua’s Primordial Spirit began practicing spell techniques.

• Fairy Hongxia told Xiao Hua that thousands of natives had starved to death, and Xiao Hua ordered Li Zongbao to stop the flying boat.
• Xiao Hua identified the dead natives as people of Shebi Village and decided to scatter millet seeds rather than let them die while preserving every seed for planting.
• Xiao Hua, Xiao Mao, Zi Ming, and Fairy Hongxia agreed to distribute seeds discreetly to avoid unrest and unwanted attention.
• Xiao Hua remembered the Cloud-Gathering and Rain-Making Technique, then asked Zi Ming about the remaining Rejuvenation Pill; Zi Ming kept it for Zi Ye.
• Li Zongbao resumed piloting slowly while Xiao Mao, Zi Ming, and Fairy Hongxia distributed millet seeds, and Xiao Hua searched Master Ke Qin's Soul Nest for the rain-making technique.
• Xiao Hua sent his humanoid Primordial Spirit to a barren part of his space, where it began practicing the Fireball Technique.

Xiao Hua and his companions arrived at Houtu Village, where Zi Ming planned to present Xiao Mao as a guest from Shebi Village and secure support for his claim. They learned that the Witch Elder had left months ago, while Ji Man was handling a gathering of village leaders about the drought and Zi Yan had gone to investigate a drought-causing monster.

• Xiao Hua reflected on the mysterious Three-legged Bird soul essence as the group traveled deeper into Million Meng Mountain.
• Zi Ming had the group switch from the Flowing Cloud Flying Boat to the giant soul beast Ya Kun, and Xiao Mao resolved to confront Ye Yu if they met again.
• Zi Ming told Xiao Hua and the others to conceal their identities and pose as Xiao Mao’s senior brothers and sister when they reached Houtu Village.
• Xiao Hua and Fairy Hongxia were astonished by Houtu Village’s grand palaces and pavilions, though Zi Ming lamented that drought had ruined its former streams and waterfalls.
• At Houtu Village, Zi Ming learned that the Witch Elder was away, Ji Man remained in the village, and Zi Yan had gone near Xiuwen Mountain to investigate a monster blamed for the drought.

Zi Ming brought Xiao Mao, Xiao Hua, and their companions into Houtu Village to meet Ji Man, unsure whether Ji Man knew Zi Yan had tried to target her. Ji Man received them at Huai Xin Pavilion rather than the grand Welcome Hall, and Zi Ming revealed that Ke Qin had repaired the damaged Soul Falling Lamp before returning to Great God Houtu.

• Zi Ming decided to enter Houtu Village and gamble that Ji Man had not been deceived by Meng Mountain soul arts or learned of Zi Yan’s intentions.
• Xiao Hua and the others crossed the vermilion gates with Zi Ming and passed through Houtu Village’s imposing palace grounds.
• Ji Man directed the party to Huai Xin Pavilion instead of receiving Xiao Mao in the Welcome Hall.
• Xiao Hua sensed that Ji Man’s quiet presence concealed formidable power, while Li Zongbao noticed oracle bone inscriptions among the pavilion’s paintings and calligraphy.
• Zi Ming told Ji Man she had obtained a secret technique for lighting the Soul Falling Lamp and admitted that the lamp had been damaged.
• Zi Ming said Ke Qin repaired the lamp and had been taken into Great God Houtu’s embrace during the Sacrifice Night, and Ji Man praised his fate.