Chapter Summaries

Zhang Xiaohua secured permission to study Hui Chun Valley’s herbs, medicine, and pill-making before entering the Incense-Passing Cult, and Nie Qianyu arranged for him to stay in a pavilion. As he prepared to begin studying, Lu Meng of the Artifact Refining Gate arrived to challenge him to a contest of strength.

• Valley Master Nie agreed to let Zhang Xiaohua study Hui Chun Valley’s medical arts and pharmacology with Nie Qianyu’s help.
• Zhang Xiaohua declined the banquet and accepted Nie Qianyu’s offer to stay in a pavilion beside Peach Blossom Nunnery.
• Zhang Xiaohua reflected that his invitation to the Incense-Passing Cult gave him a safer way to search for Second Brother and that Hui Chun Valley could help him improve his pill-refining skills.
• Lu Meng of the Artifact Refining Gate entered the hall and challenged Zhang Xiaohua, saying he wanted to compete in strength rather than martial techniques.
• Zhang Xiaohua realized Qiangsheng was secretly watching nearby as Lu Meng prepared to test his strength.

Zhang Xiaohua persuaded Lu Meng to wager an artifact-refining booklet on a strength contest, with Zhang agreeing to leave Hui Chun Valley if he lost. The chapter ended as Lu Meng approached Zhang’s long sword to test whether he could lift it.

• Zhang Xiaohua drew out Lu Meng’s reasons for challenging him and learned that Lu had heard talk about making Zhang leave Hui Chun Valley.
• Nie Qianyu returned and told Lu Meng to stop bothering Zhang Xiaohua, but Zhang called Lu back and agreed to compete.
• Zhang Xiaohua proposed that Lu Meng wager his artifact-refining booklet against Zhang’s promise to leave Hui Chun Valley if he lost.
• Lu Meng agreed to use the booklet as stakes, and Zhang asked him to prove his strength by raising Zhang’s long sword above his head.
• Lu Meng accepted the challenge and strode toward the sword.

Lu Meng challenged Zhang Xiaohua to lift a seemingly ordinary sword, then lost and offered him a secret refining booklet and jade pendants. Zhang Xiaohua let Lu Meng keep the booklet but accepted the pendants, and the chapter ended with Nie Qianyu asking whether he was still angry with her.

• Lu Meng struggled to raise Zhang Xiaohua's heavy sword and watched Zhang Xiaohua swing it effortlessly.
• Lu Meng admitted defeat and offered Zhang Xiaohua the Artifact Refining Gate booklet for safekeeping until he could redeem it for silver.
• Nie Qianyu warned Lu Meng that Zhang Xiaohua could learn the booklet's contents through her, then asked him to spare Lu Meng from punishment by returning it.
• Lu Meng returned the booklet to his robe and gave Zhang Xiaohua several jade pendants as the prize, which Zhang Xiaohua accepted after sensing primordial qi in them.
• Lu Meng promised not to object to Zhang Xiaohua staying at Peach Blossom Nunnery and hurried away, while Zhang Xiaohua saw him scold Qiangsheng.
• Nie Qianyu asked Zhang Xiaohua whether he was still angry with her.

Zhang Xiaohua learned from Nie Qianyu about the Artifact Refining Gate’s methods and the rare weapons that could amplify internal energy, while she gave him basic Hui Chun Valley books to study. They also wondered who had prompted Senior Brother Lu to challenge Zhang Xiaohua, and the chapter ended with Zhang Xiaohua considering how to consult the Weapon Forging Gate about his unusually heavy sword.

• Nie Qianyu told Zhang Xiaohua that alliance members could borrow the Artifact Refining Gate’s basic materials, though its deepest secrets remained restricted.
• Nie Qianyu explained that the Artifact Refining Gate and Weapon Forging Gate could make weapons that magnified internal energy, and Zhang Xiaohua regretted not reading a booklet he had seen.
• Zhang Xiaohua and Nie Qianyu agreed that Senior Brother Lu’s challenge seemed to have been prompted by someone else, but neither knew who was behind it.
• Nie Qianyu brought Zhang Xiaohua basic Hui Chun Valley books, including pill formulas, and explained that he could study them under her father’s guidance.
• Nie Qianyu said the Weapon Forging Gate was better suited to tempering Zhang Xiaohua’s strange sword blank, and Zhang Xiaohua joked that he would get one of its members to challenge him.

Zhang Xiaohua discovered an Artifact Refining Compendium in a jade pendant and spent two months studying Hui Chun Valley’s arts. After learning about the valley’s organization and exploring its texts, he became absorbed in the art of healing, whose deeper mysteries surprised him.

• Xiao Juzi led Zhang Xiaohua and Nie Qianyu to his lodging, where Zhang Xiaohua dismissed the maids and examined the jade pendants he had collected.
• Zhang Xiaohua found an intact jade slip containing the Artifact Refining Compendium, studied it, and considered how its methods differed from pill refinement and Martial Dao artifact crafting.
• Over the next two months, Zhang Xiaohua learned how Hui Chun Valley was organized and studied its records on herbs and pill refinement.
• Zhang Xiaohua asked to observe pill refinement, but before Nie Qianyu could bring him into the Inner Valley, he began studying the art of healing.
• Zhang Xiaohua found unexpected depth in Hui Chun Valley’s acupuncture and medicinal prescriptions when he compared them with his Immortal Dao knowledge.

Zhang Xiaohua studied medicine at Hui Chun Valley and found that the human body and medical arts deepened his understanding of the Heavenly Way, advancing his cultivation. Valley Master Nie reminded him to focus on alchemy for his planned infiltration of the Incense-Passing Cult, then promised to show him pill refinement soon.

• Zhang Xiaohua studied the human body and acupuncture, discovering connections between medical theories and the Heavenly Way that advanced his Carefree Heart Sutra.
• Zhang Xiaohua spent nearly forty days learning at Mu Qingxuan's Qihuang Institute and developed methods for treating difficult illnesses.
• Mu Qingxuan reported Zhang Xiaohua's progress to Valley Master Nie, who instructed him to teach Zhang Xiaohua properly.
• Valley Master Nie questioned Zhang Xiaohua's focus on medicine and warned that he needed to study alchemy and herbs for his Incense-Passing Cult mission.
• Zhang Xiaohua said he had finished the foundations of medical arts and had already studied Hui Chun Valley's herb and alchemy books.
• Valley Master Nie told Zhang Xiaohua to keep studying medicine while reading about medicinal pills, and promised to show him pill refinement in a few days.

Mu Qingxuan finished teaching Zhang Xiaohua the Five Elements and yin-yang principles of medicine, which Zhang Xiaohua compared with the Heavenly Dao and found deeply illuminating. Nie Qianyu then led him to the inner valley with Valley Master Nie, where Zhang Xiaohua noticed a striking warmth and fragrance as they entered.

• Mu Qingxuan explained how the Five Elements and yin-yang principles applied to medicine, and Zhang Xiaohua compared them with his insights into the Heavenly Dao.
• Mu Qingxuan told Zhang Xiaohua that Nie Qianyu would come for him the next day to visit the inner valley and study alchemy.
• After cultivating, Zhang Xiaohua welcomed Nie Qianyu, who said Valley Master Nie was waiting to take them to the inner valley.
• Valley Master Nie cautioned Zhang Xiaohua against neglecting his main pursuit, while Zhang Xiaohua thanked him and said he still hoped to learn from Mu Qingxuan.
• Zhang Xiaohua, Nie Qianyu, and Valley Master Nie entered the inner valley, where Zhang Xiaohua noticed its unusual warmth and fragrance.

Zhang Xiaohua toured Hui Chun Valley’s medicinal fields and alchemy caves, where he discovered that the valley’s pill-making methods differed sharply from the alchemy described in books. He realized Hui Chun Valley boiled herbs in cauldrons over underground fire, losing much of their medicinal essence in the escaping steam.

• Valley Master Nie explained that Hui Chun Valley’s inner valley stayed warm year-round, helping its medicinal herbs grow exceptionally well.
• Zhang Xiaohua learned that Hui Chun Valley’s previous-generation seniors lived within the stone walls and that the valley had once produced top martial experts.
• Nie Qianyu showed Zhang Xiaohua the medicinal fields and explained how Hui Chun Valley grew gastrodia for Blood Replenishing Pills.
• Nie Qianyu led Zhang Xiaohua into an alchemy cave, where he saw herbs boiling in cauldrons over blue-red flames.
• Zhang Xiaohua sensed that the steam carried away the herbs’ essence and understood why Hui Chun Valley’s Grain Abstinence Pills only staved off hunger briefly.
• Nie Qianyu revealed that underground fire reached the cauldrons through passages beneath the valley, making their heat difficult to control.

Zhang Xiaohua examined Hui Chun Valley’s pill-making process and offered to try refining a Blood Replenishing Pill by the methods described in the books. In Valley Master Nie’s private pill room, he discovered how the specially forged cauldron used internal energy to control its temperature.

• Zhang Xiaohua recognized that Hui Chun Valley made Blood Replenishing Pills by boiling herbs into an essence and shaping it into pills.
• Zhang Xiaohua asked for another cave so he could use Hui Chun Valley’s cauldron and earth fire to test the methods recorded in the books.
• Valley Master Nie led Zhang Xiaohua and Nie Qianyu to his private pill room and left Nie Qianyu to assist him.
• Zhang Xiaohua examined the cauldron and found no Primordial Qi, then questioned how its protrusions controlled the temperature.
• Nie Qianyu explained that the Artifact Refining Gate had made the cauldrons to channel internal energy outside the body and regulate the heat.

Zhang Xiaohua easily refined a Blood Replenishing Pill with the pill furnace, while Valley Master Nie failed to reproduce the result. Zhang Xiaohua offered to teach Nie a method for controlling internal force, leaving Valley Master Nie to consider learning it.

• Zhang Xiaohua used true qi to control the furnace and successfully refined the herbs into Blood Replenishing Pill powder as Nie Qianyu watched.
• Nie Qianyu fetched Valley Master Nie, who asked Zhang Xiaohua to demonstrate the process again and watched him refine another batch.
• Valley Master Nie tried refining the herbs himself but turned them to ash, and he and Nie Qianyu asked Zhang Xiaohua to explain his success.
• Zhang Xiaohua decided to share a Big Dipper Sect method for controlling internal force, and Valley Master Nie hesitated over whether it was appropriate to learn it.

Zhang Xiaohua shared a profound internal-force technique with Valley Master Nie and asked to use Hui Chun Valley’s pill formulas for practice. Valley Master Nie agreed under conditions, and Zhang Xiaohua prepared to begin refining pills in a nearby pill room.

• Zhang Xiaohua offered Valley Master Nie a copied technique for using internal force to imitate true qi, and Nie Qianyu copied the relevant pages from his manual.
• Valley Master Nie recognized the technique’s difficulty, learned it could seal acupoints, and agreed to keep it within Hui Chun Valley.
• Zhang Xiaohua asked to refine pills in a separate pill room, and Valley Master Nie arranged one for him.
• Zhang Xiaohua asked to study every pill formula in Hui Chun Valley, and Valley Master Nie agreed on the conditions that he keep them secret and leave half the pills he made in the valley.

Zhang Xiaohua moved into a small pill room to gain privacy and practiced the Artifact Refining Gate’s Fire Control Art. He began refining a piece of jade with earth fire, forming it into a green nugget.

• Zhang Xiaohua asked to live in the pill room, and Valley Master Nie and Nie Qianyu agreed while encouraging him to discuss pill refinement with her.
• After Valley Master Nie and Nie Qianyu left, Zhang Xiaohua inspected the room and found nothing unusual; Xiao Juzi then moved in his belongings and mistakenly assumed he would return to Hui Chun Valley to see Nie Qianyu.
• Zhang Xiaohua practiced controlling the earth fire with the Fire Control Art from the Artifact Refining Compendium.
• Zhang Xiaohua melted a fragment from a jade-green coffin lid, added a formation to the liquid jade, and shaped it into a green nugget.

Zhang Xiaohua refined a gold-ingot-shaped jade talisman, studied alchemy and realized pill formulas followed medicinal principles such as Five Elements and ruler and minister. Nie Qianyu gave him Hui Chun Valley’s basic pill formulas and showed him where to gather Solomon’s Seal for Grain Abstinence Pills.

• Zhang Xiaohua refined an emerald-green jade talisman using artifact-refining methods and found its formation more powerful and restrained than those in his earlier talismans.
• Zhang Xiaohua tried copying an alchemy jade slip but stopped after his divine sense was rapidly depleted, then studied the Grain Abstinence Pill formula.
• Zhang Xiaohua connected the supporting herbs in pill formulas to medicinal principles of Yin-Yang, the Five Elements, and ruler and minister.
• Nie Qianyu brought Zhang Xiaohua a booklet of Hui Chun Valley’s basic pill formulas and invited him to walk through the inner valley.
• Zhang Xiaohua found Hui Chun Valley’s Grain Abstinence Pill formula used Solomon’s Seal and five commonly available herbs, and Nie Qianyu showed him the fields where he could gather younger Solomon’s Seal.

Zhang Xiaohua gathered herbs with Nie Qianyu and proposed that pill ingredients might follow the Five Elements, though neither she nor Fei He could explain why pill-refining texts did not mention the theory. After hearing Fei He's reasoning, Zhang Xiaohua remained convinced the Heavenly Dao contained the Five Elements and resolved to pursue what earlier generations had not done.

• Nie Qianyu led Zhang Xiaohua to gather Solomon's Seal, and he explained that pill fire could remove impurities without washing the roots.
• As they walked toward the outer valley, Zhang Xiaohua asked Nie Qianyu about the Grain Abstinence Pill's ingredients and whether Solomon's Seal alone could make one.
• Zhang Xiaohua suggested that pill ingredients might correspond to the Five Elements, and Nie Qianyu wondered why ancient pill-refining arts had never described such a method.
• Nie Qianyu introduced Zhang Xiaohua to Fei He, who said the Five Elements applied to ordinary medicinal herbs but perhaps not to immortal herbs used in pill refining.
• Zhang Xiaohua doubted Fei He's explanation, sensed that the Five Elements existed throughout the Heavenly Dao, and resolved to achieve what his predecessors had not.

Zhang Xiaohua refined jade boxes and Grain Abstinence Pills, discovering that pills formed through immortal-path techniques retained their primordial energy far better. After practicing his fist art the next morning, he wondered whether Monk Chang Geng would still teach him Dharma Swordplay now that the Misty Sect had been destroyed.

• Zhang Xiaohua studied Hui Chun Valley's Grain Abstinence Pill prescription and recorded his insights about its herbs and the Five Elements.
• Zhang Xiaohua refined jade boxes from the green jade slab and sealed one with a restriction taught by Fire Dragon True Person.
• Zhang Xiaohua refined Grain Abstinence Powder according to Hui Chun Valley's prescription, then used a formation to protect the pill room while refining pills with immortal techniques.
• Zhang Xiaohua produced four unusually round pills and found that their primordial energy leaked far less than that of the pill he had refined earlier.
• Zhang Xiaohua stored the remaining pills, cultivated through the night, and practiced the Big Dipper Divine Fist the next morning.
• Zhang Xiaohua recalled Monk Chang Geng's promise to teach him Dharma Swordplay and wondered whether he would honor it after the Misty Sect's destruction.

Zhang Xiaohua studied the rabbit talisman before helping Nie Qianyu refine several kinds of pills at Hui Chun Valley. He finished the day's work with surprising speed, and Nie Qianyu asked what he planned to do next.

• Zhang Xiaohua decided not to confront Monk Chang Geng at Great Forest Temple until he had more confidence, then returned to the pill chamber to study the rabbit talisman.
• Nie Qianyu arrived without herbs of her own because Valley Master Nie had sent disciples to gather them, and she explained that refined pills needed prompt storage in porcelain bottles.
• Zhang Xiaohua and Nie Qianyu began refining the Hundred Detoxification Pill, New Snow Pill, Heavenly Grass Pill, Plum Tongue Pill, and Righteous Dew Pill.
• Zhang Xiaohua refined the pills quickly and let Hui Chun Valley's disciples store most of the results, while keeping some herbs aside to work on later.
• After Zhang Xiaohua finished all the prepared pills before midday, Nie Qianyu asked what he planned to do with the extra time.

Zhang Xiaohua reviewed his alchemy while Nie Qianyu reported his flawless pill-making to Valley Master Nie. They wondered whether Ren Xiaoyao wanted Hui Chun Valley’s pill formulas, and Valley Master Nie decided to let him refine them all.

• Zhang Xiaohua declined Nie Qianyu’s invitation to gather herbs and returned to the pill room to practice alchemy.
• Nie Qianyu told Valley Master Nie that Ren Xiaoyao had perfectly refined every pill she brought and had left the pills for Hui Chun Valley.
• Valley Master Nie inspected the pills and found their potency far greater than Hui Chun Valley’s own pills.
• Nie Qianyu and Valley Master Nie discussed Ren Xiaoyao’s character, the gold she had found, and whether he had sought Hui Chun Valley’s formulas.
• Valley Master Nie decided to give Ren Xiaoyao all of Hui Chun Valley’s pill formulas, but Nie Qianyu objected.

Valley Master Nie explained why he trusted Zhang Xiaohua with Hui Chun Valley’s ancient pill formulas, and Zhang Xiaohua refined the pills while studying their flaws and searching the inner valley for herbs. The chapter left Zhang Xiaohua collecting Shade-Eating Grass that could support his efforts to learn Hui Chun Valley’s pill-refining methods.

• Nie Qianyu warned Valley Master Nie that sharing Hui Chun Valley’s treasured formulas could expose the valley to danger, but he explained why he believed the risk was acceptable and necessary.
• Zhang Xiaohua refined the remaining pills and found that some formulas produced pills with flaws, which he recorded in his jade slip.
• Zhang Xiaohua considered Hui Chun Valley’s traditional use of external fire and decided to explore the inner valley for herbs and possible Immortal Path inheritances.
• Zhang Xiaohua found a cultivated plot of Shade-Eating Grass whose uses differed between the jade slip and Hui Chun Valley’s records.
• Zhang Xiaohua gathered several stalks of Shade-Eating Grass and sealed them in a jade case.

Zhang Xiaohua found a Sun Grass in the wilds of Hui Chun Valley and fought off the great white wolf guarding it. As he prepared to kill the wolf, its sorrowful eyes reminded him of the cat that had died outside Pingyang City.

• Zhang Xiaohua ventured deeper into Hui Chun Valley and gathered valuable herbs from its untended wilderness.
• Zhang Xiaohua discovered a Sun Grass growing among bare stones and confirmed it was rich in Primordial Qi.
• A great white wolf rushed toward Zhang Xiaohua and attacked him beside the Sun Grass.
• Zhang Xiaohua dodged the wolf's pounces and threw it aside, but it kept attacking.
• Zhang Xiaohua seized the wolf by the throat, then recognized the sorrow in its eyes as the same expression he had seen in the cat crushed outside Pingyang City.

Zhang Xiaohua encountered an old Hui Chun Valley herb gatherer while trying to take the Crimson Flame Grass, and the man mistook him for a trespasser and Nie Qianyu’s future husband. The old man refused to let Zhang Xiaohua leave, while Valley Master Nie hurried toward them.

• Zhang Xiaohua repeatedly threw Da Bai away, but the White Wolf kept attacking him to protect the Sun Grass.
• An old man arrived, threw a coin dart at Zhang Xiaohua, and identified the plant as Crimson Flame Grass.
• The old man questioned Zhang Xiaohua about entering Hui Chun Valley, and Zhang Xiaohua explained that Nie Qianyu had invited him.
• Zhang Xiaohua offered to leave, but the old man refused and said Valley Master Nie was on his way.
• The old man called Zhang Xiaohua Nie Qianyu’s future husband, and Zhang Xiaohua denied it in frustration.