Chapter Summaries

Xiao Hua survived the battle with the aquatic tribe, and Mo Jianli and Xingchen found him while searching the Liao River. After accepting healing pills from Mo Jianli, Xiao Hua declared that he had saved Changsheng Town’s hundred thousand villagers and defeated Little Gold Temple in their contest.

• Xingchen sent Ji Dong and Qiu Jian back toward Changsheng Town while he and Mo Jianli searched the Liao River for Xiao Hua.
• Mo Jianli and Xingchen searched the river and worried that Xiao Hua had died after being defeated by the aquatic tribe.
• Mo Jianli spotted a sword light downstream, and he and Xingchen found Li Momo and Ji Dong supporting the exhausted Xiao Hua.
• Mo Jianli gave Xiao Hua healing pills and learned that Xiao Hua’s injuries were internal and he expected to recover soon.
• Xiao Hua told Xingchen that he had saved all hundred thousand villagers and that Little Gold Temple had lost their contest.

Xiao Hua and Xingchen disputed who deserved credit for saving Jiangcheng Town, while Mo Jianli exposed how the Water Tribe Princess’s presence at Jiangchao Temple could turn the villagers against it. The group returned to the settled town, where Zhu Junfeng looked troubled and Zen Master Mingyue appeared delighted.

• Xingchen argued that Buddhist sect methods had won the wager because Martial Ancestor Cihang saved hundreds of thousands of villagers, while Mo Jianli countered that Xiao Hua had helped end the crisis by revealing the Water Tribe Princess’s location.
• Xingchen warned that the villagers might blame Jiangchao Temple for the Water Tribe’s attack, and Mo Jianli explained to Xiao Hua how Cihang had stopped the Liao River flood with the Pure Water Vase.
• Xiao Hua conceded that Cihang’s rescue had earned the town’s reverence and agreed to postpone deciding the contest until Xiao Jian and Mingyue could judge it.
• Li Momo and Mo Jianli discussed the Water Tribe’s Cave Heaven banners and the formidable dwarf, whom Mo Jianli identified as a Demon Race member with a powerful body.
• Xiao Hua and the others returned to Jiangcheng Town, where the villagers had calmed down, Zhu Junfeng looked gloomy, and Zen Master Mingyue seemed pleased.

Xiao Hua and the leaders of Little Gold Temple and Jiangchao Temple debated who deserved credit for saving Changsheng Town and postponed their rivalry’s outcome until the next day. As Xiao Hua rode back to Jiangchao Temple, he examined the Earth Crystal Yao Ru inside his body.

• Zen Master Mingyue learned that Martial Ancestor Cihang’s golden body remained at Jiangchao Temple, and Xingchen explained the circumstances of the rescue to Xiao Jian.
• Xiao Jian argued that Xiao Hua and Jiangchao Temple had helped make Cihang’s intervention possible, while Xingchen and Zen Master Mingyue assigned much of the credit to the Buddhist and Confucian cultivators.
• Xiao Jian proposed restarting the contest between the temples, but Xiao Hua did not agree, so Xingchen suggested they discuss the outcome the following day.
• Mo Jianli arranged for the representatives of Little Gold Temple and Jiangchao Temple to meet at Changsheng Academy at noon the next day.
• Xiao Jian invited Xiao Hua onto the donkey cart, and they returned toward Jiangchao Temple while Xiao Hua inspected the Earth Crystal Yao Ru within his body.

Xiao Hua and Xiao Jian arrived at Jiangchao Temple to find it crowded with people worshipping Guanyin Bodhisattva, whom they identified with Cihang. Xiao Hua flew them into the temple, where Liu Yi confirmed that Xiao Yun had been taken home and began explaining the sudden influx of worshippers.

• Xiao Hua inspected the changes in his body and lamented that his cultivation had not recovered enough to match the aquatic demons.
• Xiao Jian saw the crowds streaming toward Jiangchao Temple and assumed the temple’s popularity would help him drive out the monks of Little Gold Temple.
• Villagers warned Xiao Jian not to cut the line or disparage Guanyin Bodhisattva, declaring that her golden body was enshrined at Jiangchao Temple.
• Xiao Hua seized Xiao Jian and used a Flight Talisman to carry him over the crowd and into the temple.
• Liu Yi asked Xiao Hua where Xiao Yun was, and Xiao Hua told him she had been taken away by her family.
• Liu Yi said many people had unexpectedly come to worship the Sea God Lord and began explaining what he had done while Xiao Jian was absent.

Xiao Hua left Jiangchao Temple with Xiao Jian after the temple lost its place to Little Gold Temple, and Liu Yi and Yuan Ya asked to follow him. The group headed away from Changsheng Town, though Xiao Hua still had no idea where to go.

• Xiao Jian learned that Guanyin Bodhisattva had saved Changsheng Town from the Fish Monsters and accepted that Jiangchao Temple had lost the contest.
• Xiao Jian packed his belongings with Xiao Hua’s help and decided to leave Changsheng Town with him.
• Liu Yi asked to serve Xiao Hua, explaining that he feared retaliation from the aquatic clan, and Xiao Hua agreed to take him along.
• Yuan Ya asked to follow Xiao Hua, but Xiao Hua questioned his loyalty to his current master before leading the group away from Jiangchao Temple.
• Xiao Hua turned away from Changsheng Town and asked Liu Yi to find silver and arrange a carriage.

Xiao Hua planned to search for Lu Town and learned that a detailed map of Cangxian Continent could help him find it. Xiao Jian and Yuan Ya intended to travel with him, and Xiao Jian pointed them toward Tongzhu Kingdom to seek a map.

• Liu Yi took silver from Xiao Jian and went to Changsheng Town to find a larger carriage.
• Xiao Jian asked to follow Xiao Hua, hoping Yuan Ya could travel with them and receive guidance.
• Xiao Hua said he would go to Lu Town, and offered to teach Yuan Ya spells if Yuan Ya helped find it.
• Xiao Jian suggested searching a comprehensive map of Cangxian Continent and explained that maps could be recorded on jade slips, Buddhist tablets, or beast hide.
• Xiao Jian said Tongzhu Kingdom was the nearest place to look for a map, and Xiao Hua noted that Xiao Jian might also trade his primordial stone there.

Xiao Hua left Changsheng Town with Xiao Jian and agreed to travel with him toward Tongzhu Kingdom, while Yuan Ya went to aid Liu Yi against the Pifeng Gang. Mo Jianli and Zhu Junfeng caught up with Xiao Hua to discuss the Water Tribe Princess, and Xiao Hua accidentally revealed a supposed secret about the Dongtian River before trying to explain it away.

• Xiao Jian offered to trade his primeval stones for medicines that might restore his cultivation, and Xiao Hua invited him to travel together toward Tongzhu Kingdom.
• Xiao Hua sent Yuan Ya to receive Liu Yi and gave him the demonic staff, while Xiao Jian worried that the Pifeng Gang might have too many disciples.
• Mo Jianli and Zhu Junfeng caught up with Xiao Hua and heard that he had left Jiangchao Temple because it had become a Buddhist holy ground.
• Mo Jianli explained that he had come to ask Liu Yi about the Water Tribe Princess, whose lineage might trace back to the Dongtian River.
• Xiao Hua claimed that the Western Sea had destroyed the Dongtian River, then covered his mistake by saying he had heard it at an exchange market.

Xiao Hua said farewell to Mo Jianli and Zhu Junfeng after helping Changsheng Town survive the aquatic tribe’s attack. He gave the town grain for relief and departed with Liu Yi, Xiao Jian, and Yuan Ya, leaving Mo Jianli and Zhu Junfeng to manage the aftermath.

• Mo Jianli offered Xiao Hua a voice-transmission pupil and promised to pass along any reward from his sect for Xiao Hua’s help.
• Zhu Junfeng asked Xiao Hua to wait for the prefecture governor’s envoy, but Xiao Hua declined and learned that the town’s rice crop had been ruined by the early flood.
• Xiao Jian explained that the river’s receding waters normally made the banks fertile, and Xiao Hua suggested the villagers could plant a second crop while grain was brought in from elsewhere.
• Xiao Hua gave Mo Jianli a Small Qiankun Bag of grain as a farewell gift for Changsheng Town.
• Xiao Hua left by carriage with Liu Yi, Xiao Jian, and Yuan Ya, while Mo Jianli and Zhu Junfeng returned to the town and reflected on the day’s calamity.

Mo Jianli and Zhu Junfeng discovered that Xiao Hua had provided enough grain to relieve ten towns, while Xiao Hua traveled with Liu Yi and listened to the story of his troubled childhood. Liu Yi explained how his father’s final years and Xiao Yun’s plight shaped his understanding of others’ eyes and his decision to care for her.

• Mo Jianli and Zhu Junfeng examined Xiao Hua’s Small Qiankun Bag and found it contained enough grain to relieve ten Changsheng Towns.
• Zhu Junfeng decided to test and distribute the grain under True Person Xiao’s name.
• The chapter revealed that Xiao Guo had cultivated rice and millet in Xiao Hua’s space for a hundred years, creating the vast stores of grain.
• Liu Yi recounted how his abusive, gambling father raised him to survive by begging, and how he cared for his father after the man became unable to move.
• Liu Yi said he understood his father’s love by studying his eyes and later recognized his own childhood helplessness in Xiao Yun, whom he rescued by the Liao River.

As the group traveled through the night, Liu Yi told Xiao Hua how his calm demeanor had made him feel safe and led him to seek help for Xiao Yun. Xiao Hua promised to choose Cultivation Arts for Liu Yi, then remained curious about Xiao Jian’s hidden motives as they stopped to rest.

• Liu Yi explained that Xiao Hua’s lack of malice had made him feel safe and inspired him to seek help for Xiao Yun.
• Yuan Ya tossed Liu Yi meat buns, and Xiao Hua reflected on their contrasting hardships and Liu Yi’s discretion.
• Xiao Hua told Liu Yi that his hardships had tempered him, warned him that cultivation demanded a far greater price, and promised to select Cultivation Arts for him.
• Liu Yi knelt and begged to learn powerful arts, but Xiao Hua said he would not yet accept him as a disciple and asked him to call him Daoist Master Xiao.
• Xiao Hua considered Xiao Jian’s concealed intentions and asked him to find a safe place to rest.
• The group stopped on a gentle slope, where Yuan Ya gathered supplies, Liu Yi collected firewood, and Xiao Jian tended the horses without approaching Xiao Hua.

Xiao Hua gave Liu Yi a Grain Abstinence Pill and tested his aptitude before offering to teach him cultivation. He found Liu Yi unsuited to Daoist arts, leaving Liu Yi disappointed but still determined to remain by Xiao Hua’s side.

• Yuan Ya hunted a wild boar and roasted its meat while Liu Yi and Liu Yi prepared food by the fire.
• Xiao Hua gave Liu Yi a Grain Abstinence Pill and offered to teach him a Qi Cultivation technique if he was willing to forgo mortal food.
• Xiao Hua tested Liu Yi’s constitution and found that his muddled Five Elements made him unsuitable for Daoist cultivation.
• Liu Yi accepted the news calmly and said he only wished to serve beside Xiao Hua, while Xiao Hua offered to check whether Confucian or Buddhist cultivation might suit him.
• Yuan Ya offered Liu Yi roasted meat and asked what Xiao Hua had taught him, deepening Liu Yi’s distress over his failed chance to cultivate.

Xiao Hua investigated Xiao Jian’s and Liu Yi’s aptitude for cultivation, but found that both had mixed Five Elements physiques despite Xiao Jian’s ability to cultivate. The next morning, Xiao Hua began teaching Liu Yi the Big Dipper Divine Fist and admitted that his first attempt at testing and teaching him had problems.

• Yuan Ya comforted Liu Yi about his poor aptitude, while Xiao Jian brought roasted wild boar to Xiao Hua and praised Liu Yi’s cleverness.
• Xiao Hua examined Xiao Jian and found that his physique was also unsuited to cultivation, then asked which technique Xiao Jian had chosen, but Xiao Jian refused to reveal it.
• Xiao Hua gave Xiao Jian sweet dates, let Liu Yi and the others sleep, and resolved to seek Daoist cultivation techniques rather than press Xiao Jian about his past.
• At dawn, Liu Yi saw Yuan Ya practicing the Big Dipper Divine Fist with Xiao Hua and joined in when Xiao Hua invited him to follow the movements.
• Xiao Hua stopped Liu Yi’s practice and, inside a soundproof restriction, told him that he had never taught a disciple before and that his earlier test might have gone wrong.

Xiao Hua taught Liu Yi an earth-element Qi Cultivation technique and led the group onward toward the auction. Their journey was interrupted when a Little Gold Temple killer on a strange black horse attacked Xiao Hua, and the clash left the horse reeling.

• Xiao Hua recited an earth-element Qi Cultivation technique for Liu Yi and told him to keep it secret while trying to sense Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
• Yuan Ya drove the carriage as Xiao Hua rode ahead, and Yuan Ya privately viewed Xiao Hua as a path to greater strength.
• Xiao Hua sensed someone pursuing the group and stopped them on the mountain road.
• A black-armored rider on a smoke-wreathed horse arrived and announced that Little Gold Temple had sent him to kill Xiao Hua.
• The rider charged Xiao Hua with an Eighteen-Foot Snake Lance, and a violent blast hurled Yuan Ya toward the mountain wall as the black horse staggered back.

Xiao Hua defeated Xue Ping’s challenge and refused to let him take Liu Yi to Nanpu Commandery, but Xue Ping dropped the matter after learning of Xiao Hua’s famine relief. After presenting Xiao Hua with a commendation token, Xue Ping privately asked whether he held an official post in another country, and Xiao Hua said he did not.

• Xiao Hua repelled Xue Ping’s attack and learned that the black-armored man was the Left General of Nanpu Commandery, sent to investigate the flood and handle disaster relief.
• Xue Ping demanded that Xiao Jian and Liu Yi return with him to Nanpu Commandery, but Xiao Jian and Liu Yi explained that Liu Yi had found Xiao Yun by the Liao River.
• Xiao Hua refused to let Xue Ping take Liu Yi, and Xue Ping relented after Xiao Jian noted that others already knew the facts of the case.
• Xue Ping thanked Xiao Hua for donating one hundred thousand dan of grain and gave him a commendation token from the Commandery Prefect.
• Xue Ping privately asked whether Xiao Hua held an official post in another country, and Xiao Hua answered that he was a Rogue Cultivator with no such post.

Xue Ping tried to recruit Xiao Hua as Nanpu Commandery’s Right General, but Xiao Hua declined and agreed instead to help with a Daoist ruin expedition next year in exchange for a search in Yuzhou. After Xue Ping left, Xiao Hua rested with his group and Xiao Jian advised him to accept the post.

• Xue Ping urged Xiao Hua to become Nanpu Commandery’s Right General, explaining how service had helped his cultivation, but Xiao Hua refused.
• Xue Ping asked Xiao Hua to help explore a Daoist ruin next year for ancient spirit pills, and Xiao Hua agreed if Xue Ping searched Yuzhou for Lu Town and the Misty Sect.
• Xue Ping gave Xiao Hua his token and departed on his black horse, which frightened the group’s horses into collapsing.
• Xiao Hua ordered Yuan Ya to arrange the horses and rebuked Liu Yi for failing to understand a mnemonic.
• Xiao Jian told Xiao Hua that he should have accepted Xue Ping’s offer, and Xiao Hua invited him to explain any different reasoning.

Xiao Hua learned from Xiao Jian that Daoist cultivation was tightly restricted on the Cangxian Continent, though Daoist-backed kingdoms were permitted, and continued traveling toward Luzhen Town. The caravan reached Xi Kingdom’s border, where Xiao Hua discovered how small its kingdoms were and learned that rival powers backed them.

• Xiao Jian explained that Daoist sects were forbidden on the Cangxian Continent and urged Xiao Hua to become an Imperial Preceptor, but Xiao Hua refused.
• Xiao Jian revealed that he had been raised as Danliang Kingdom’s crown prince and had cultivated Daoism because his kingdom was founded upon it.
• Xiao Hua and the others continued their journey, and the road grew busier and broader as they approached Xi Kingdom’s border.
• Xiao Jian identified the Fanli River and its bridge as the boundary between Xi Kingdom and Gaza Kingdom, and told Xiao Hua the approximate size of nearby kingdoms.
• Xiao Jian explained that Confucian sects and Daoist or Buddhist experts backed different kingdoms, helping determine which territories dared to wage war.

Xiao Hua and his companions crossed from Xi Kingdom toward the Gaza Kingdom, where they encountered a demon flying from Black Cloud Ridge and learned about the dangers ahead. After Qi Jin of Xunhai Trading Company asked them to wait and hear a request, Xiao Hua learned that travelers and merchants had to pay border fees on both sides.

• Xiao Jian presented his documents at Fangong Bridge, and Li Xianyu let the group pass after Xiao Hua paid a spirit stone as the border tax.
• A demon carrying a nearly naked woman flew past the bridge, and Li Xianyu warned Xiao Hua about Black Cloud Ridge.
• Qi Jin of Xunhai Trading Company offered to cover the group’s border taxes and asked Xiao Jian and Xiao Hua to hear his request.
• Xiao Jian explained that travelers paid passage fees in the Gaza Kingdom while goods were taxed according to their value, and Xiao Hua called the practice robbery.

Xiao Hua’s group crossed into Gaza Kingdom and met Qi Jin’s convoy at a tea stall, where Xiao Hua questioned escort master Chen Kai about the Lotus Escort Agency and Misty Sect. He agreed to travel with the convoy through bandit country, while his search for people and places from his memories remained unresolved.

• Xiao Jian explained the customs duties at the border as Xiao Hua’s group entered Gaza Kingdom and waited for Qi Jin’s carts to clear inspection.
• Qi Jin introduced escort master Chen Kai and asked Xiao Hua’s group to accompany the trading company through a mountain road plagued by bandits.
• Xiao Hua asked Chen Kai about the Lotus Escort Agency and Misty Sect, but Chen Kai had no knowledge of either.
• Xiao Hua agreed to travel with Qi Jin’s convoy and lend them a hand along the way.
• After the others left the tea stall, Xiao Hua asked Yuan Ya why he had been quiet, and Yuan Ya said he would harness the carts.

Xiao Hua confirmed that Liu Yi had correctly comprehended a cultivation technique but could not sense spiritual energy, and taught him another one to try. When a veiled woman called Butterfly Dance rode past with the Black Armor Army pursuing her, Yuan Ya recognized her and tried to chase her before Xiao Hua stopped him.

• Liu Yi told Xiao Hua he had comprehended the cultivation technique but could not sense Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
• Xiao Hua taught Liu Yi a simple Water-element cultivation technique and left him to practice while Yuan Ya drove the carriage.
• Yuan Ya offered Liu Yi’s spiritual date, but Xiao Hua warned him not to eat it; the date struck Yuan Ya on the nose as the carriage lurched.
• A veiled woman in red rode past on a small red horse, and Yuan Ya recognized her laughter as Butterfly Dance and leaped onto a carriage to pursue her.
• Xiao Hua told Yuan Ya he could not catch Butterfly Dance, and Yuan Ya climbed down as the Black Armor Army thundered past.
• Yuan Ya explained that he recognized Butterfly Dance by her laughter and scent, though he had last seen her when she was three years old.

Xiao Hua learned how Yuan Ya found and raised Butterfly Dance before she was taken from him, and reassured Yuan Ya that he could sense her nearby. After Yuan Ya said he only considered Butterfly Dance family, Liu Yi suddenly realized what spiritual energy was.

• Xiao Hua told Yuan Ya that the mark he had placed on Butterfly Dance would let him sense her within a hundred li, and Yuan Ya jubilantly leaped into the air.
• At Xiao Hua's urging, Yuan Ya recounted finding the infant Butterfly Dance after Black Wolf died, saving her with a doe's milk, and raising her beside Butterfly Pool for three years.
• Yuan Ya explained that he lost Butterfly Dance after the doe was killed, searched Xuan Yao Dark Forest for nearly five years, and was eventually captured and sold to an arena.
• Xiao Hua gave Yuan Ya spirit jujubes and advised him not to dwell on an unlikely romance, while Yuan Ya said Butterfly Dance was his first family and her safety was what mattered.
• Liu Yi opened his eyes after tasting a spirit jujube and exclaimed that he understood what spiritual energy was.