Chapter Summaries

Yang Yao reported the Hui Chun Valley matter to Elder Purple Ginseng, who decided to keep Zhang Xiaohua at Tianmu Peak under watch rather than bring him back to Baiyue Peak. Deputy Hall Master Xu learned of Zhang Xiaohua’s gold leaves and ordered Wu Zhouxu to seek a chance to recover them, while also discussing the approaching You Lan Mu Lian.

• Yang Yao told Elder Purple Ginseng about Zhang Xiaohua, Qiangshi, the Forget Worry Grass, and Deputy Hall Master Xu taking the short sword, then asked for Zhang Xiaohua to be transferred back to Baiyue Peak.
• Elder Purple Ginseng reprimanded Yang Yao for bringing an unqualified medicine boy into the Incense-Passing Cult and withheld the good post he had planned for him.
• Elder Purple Ginseng chose to leave Zhang Xiaohua at Tianmu Peak for two years under Chen Fengxiao’s supervision and ordered Yang Yao to keep watch on both newcomers.
• A disciple reported to Deputy Hall Master Xu that Zhang Xiaohua’s bundle contained hundreds of taels in gold leaves, and Xu ordered Wu Zhouxu to watch Zhang Xiaohua and find a chance to take the bundle.
• The disciple told Deputy Hall Master Xu that You Lan Mu Lian was approaching, and Xu said there was no need to hurry because Pill Department disciples could not enter.

Zhang Xiaohua received a delivery of herbs and was assigned Bai Huan as a companion and watcher at his courtyard. He traded pills to Senior Brother Liao for two old herbs and information about a place to gather more, then had Bai Huan move the herbs indoors.

• Wu Zhouxu sent Ye Liaocheng, Qi Yuntian, and Cheng Shi to deliver herbs to Zhang Xiaohua, who signed for them.
• Bai Huan arrived with bedding after Great Leader Chen arranged for him to stay and help watch over Zhang Xiaohua and the herbs.
• Senior Brother Liao offered Zhang Xiaohua two forty-year-old unidentified herbs and information about a herb-gathering location in exchange for three Lesser Bone Condensing Pills.
• After receiving the pills, Senior Brother Liao whispered the location to Zhang Xiaohua, who realized he might be able to gather herbs there.
• Chen Fengxiao and Qiu Weicheng visited the courtyard, and Zhang Xiaohua told Bai Huan to move the piled-up herbs indoors.

Zhang Xiaohua insisted on tending herb fields despite Chen Fengxiao’s surprise, and he and Bai Huan were assigned to the barren fields on Tianmu Peak’s eastern summit. After the former caretakers handed over the fields and left, Zhang Xiaohua headed farther across the summit.

• Zhang Xiaohua reminded Chen Fengxiao that he had already asked to tend herb fields, and Chen Fengxiao agreed to assign him the barren fields on Tianmu Peak with Bai Huan as his companion.
• Chen Fengxiao confirmed that the Pill Department had delivered Zhang Xiaohua’s wager winnings and warned him to stay away from the consecrates’ pill-refining chambers on the western side.
• Chen Fengxiao, Qiu Weicheng, Bai Huan, and Zhang Xiaohua climbed to the eastern summit, where Chen Fengxiao showed them the bare fields and the small house they would share.
• Chen Fengxiao ordered the former caretakers to hand over the fields to Zhang Xiaohua and Bai Huan, then left with Qiu Weicheng.
• The former caretakers explained the fields’ upkeep, collected their belongings, and happily descended the mountain; Bai Huan went to fetch his bedding while Zhang Xiaohua headed toward the summit.

Zhang Xiaohua explored Tianmu Peak and overheard Pill Department disciples discussing his gambling match and Venerable Xu’s pill refining. After secretly observing the alchemy cave, he encountered Venerable Feng fleeing an explosion while attempting to refine pills.

• Zhang Xiaohua surveyed Tianmu Peak’s summit and headed west toward the Pill Department’s caves.
• Two disciples revealed that they suspected Great Vajra had deliberately lost to Zhang Xiaohua, and they discussed Venerable Xu’s difficulty refining the Lesser Bone Condensing Pill.
• Zhang Xiaohua followed the disciples to Venerable Xu’s cave and secretly watched him add herbs to a pill furnace.
• Zhang Xiaohua left the cave and discovered Venerable Feng escaping an explosion from another alchemy cave.
• Venerable Xu, Venerable Lei, and the others arrived, and Venerable Feng admitted he had failed to refine the Jade Return Pill and Lesser Returning Pill.

Zhang Xiaohua explored Tianmu Peak, found a cave to live in, and learned from Bai Huan that the Incense-Passing Cult had destroyed the Misty Sect and established Misty Hall. He questioned why Misty Hall had been given Shixin Peak, hoping to learn more about his second brother and the sect’s history.

• Venerable Lei and the other alchemists discussed their efforts to refine the explosive Jade Return Pill, and Zhang Xiaohua secretly followed the departing disciples before observing the pill-refining area.
• Zhang Xiaohua searched Tianmu Peak and found a spacious, dry cave on the southeastern side where he could live apart from Bai Huan.
• Bai Huan found Zhang Xiaohua and explained that the Grass Department cultivated herbs on Tianmu Peak’s eastern and southern slopes, while Misty Hall had received Shixin Peak.
• Zhang Xiaohua asked Bai Huan about Misty Hall, and Bai Huan said it was formed from the Misty Sect’s surviving disciples after the Incense-Passing Cult destroyed the sect four years earlier.
• Zhang Xiaohua questioned Bai Huan about the Cult’s reasons for destroying the Misty Sect and giving Misty Hall Shixin Peak, but Bai Huan could only speculate about the cause.

Zhang Xiaohua learned from Bai Huan about Misty Hall’s treatment within the Incense-Passing Cult and the distant location of Shixin Peak, where he hoped to find his second brother. Bai Huan then told him an old tale about the cult’s nineteen peaks before taking him to settle into his room on Tianmu Peak.

• Bai Huan explained that Misty Hall’s disciples resented their defeat and confinement, and that other cult disciples often looked down on them.
• Zhang Xiaohua learned that Shixin Peak lay three or four days from Tianmu Peak, so he decided to wait for a better chance to visit.
• Bai Huan told Zhang Xiaohua the tale that eighteen of the cult’s peaks had once floated around Yi Xiang Peak, and Zhang Xiaohua considered how such a formation might work.
• Bai Huan admitted he had arranged for others to carry Zhang Xiaohua’s belongings but had not dared order them to clean the room.

Zhang Xiaohua chose to live in a cave on Tianmu Peak and inspected the barren medicinal field. While studying a sword manual, he realized it contained an Immortal Path flying sword technique and began practicing it with Dreamchaser, leaving the technique unnamed.

• Zhang Xiaohua told Bai Huan he would live in a cave rather than the little room, and Bai Huan fetched his bedding.
• Bai Huan brought Zhang Xiaohua to a dry, secluded cave and mentioned seeing the Alchemy Division's alchemy rooms.
• Zhang Xiaohua examined the loose soil in the barren medicinal field and considered testing water soaked with yuan stones on the herbs.
• Zhang Xiaohua studied the eighty-one moves in the sword manual and recognized that they were altered Immortal Path sword-controlling moves.
• Zhang Xiaohua used his divine sense to guide Dreamchaser through the flying sword technique and considered naming it after Tianmu Peak.

Zhang Xiaohua named his newly mastered flying-sword art the Dream Weaving Sword Technique and explored the Pill Department's alchemy rooms at night. After accidentally falling into a hidden chamber, he discovered and unlocked an enormous pill furnace called the Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Furnace.

• Zhang Xiaohua named his sword art the Dream Weaving Sword Technique and resolved to keep practicing it gradually.
• Bai Huan asked Zhang Xiaohua for advice about betting on future matches, and Zhang Xiaohua promised to share wager information and winnings.
• Zhang Xiaohua fetched spring water, placed a Yuan stone in the bucket, and completed his Heavenly Dao contemplation for the day.
• Zhang Xiaohua used Earth Escape to inspect the Pill Department's alchemy rooms, but found them occupied and decided to wait for Chen Fengxiao and Wu Zhouxu to negotiate.
• Zhang Xiaohua accidentally fell into a hidden underground alchemy room, broke the restrictions on its enormous pill furnace, and learned that it was called the Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Furnace.

Zhang Xiaohua discovered pill formulas protected by a restriction in the hidden pill chamber and chose to break it with his own hand seals instead of using Meng. He then studied the Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Furnace’s refining method, which left him puzzled by its requirement for natal True Essence.

• Zhang Xiaohua practiced the Artifact Refining Gate’s object-moving hand seal to weed the herb field and watered several spots with spring water rich in Primordial Qi.
• Bai Huan offered to water the field and bring Four Unlike up, but Zhang Xiaohua declined and returned to the cave.
• Zhang Xiaohua entered the hidden pill chamber and broke the restriction protecting a jade slip through his own hand seals rather than using Meng.
• Zhang Xiaohua found formulas for secret pills including the Jade Return Pill, but lacked the required herbs.
• Zhang Xiaohua reviewed the Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Furnace’s refining method and became confused when its final step required natal True Essence.

Zhang Xiaohua partially refined the Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Furnace, then used it to kindle azure flames and what he believed was Samadhi True Fire. Meanwhile, Chen Fengxiao decided to let Zhang Xiaohua live and work as he pleased while considering whether he could become a secret asset for the Herb Division.

• Zhang Xiaohua formed the furnace’s hand seals until he reached the final step, but stopped because he did not know how to spit out natal True Essence.
• Bai Huan told Chen Fengxiao that Zhang Xiaohua insisted on living alone in a cave, and Chen Fengxiao guessed he wanted privacy to cultivate internal energy.
• Chen Fengxiao told Bai Huan to keep watching Zhang Xiaohua without reporting so often, then considered asking Wu Dalang whether Zhang Xiaohua could refine pills.
• Zhang Xiaohua replenished his true qi with a yuan stone and found that his cultivation had moved closer to the seventh layer of Qi Cultivation.
• Zhang Xiaohua opened the furnace, ignited its base with azure flames, and produced a flickering flame inside that he identified as Samadhi True Fire.

Zhang Xiaohua examined the Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Furnace and began turning green jade into herb-storage cases so he could secretly collect the herbs on Tianmu Peak. After Bai Huan explained the mysterious herb fields and the Incense-Passing Cult’s assessments, Zhang Xiaohua learned more about the barriers between the Outer Gate and the Inner Sect.

• Zhang Xiaohua tested Samadhi True Fire by refining green jade and studied the furnace’s eight arrays and earth-fire platform.
• Zhang Xiaohua shrank the Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Furnace, cleared his money pouch, and began making jade cases to store the herbs on Tianmu Peak.
• Zhang Xiaohua stopped work at night and encountered Bai Huan watching him near the herb field.
• Bai Huan told Zhang Xiaohua that the herb fields had failed to sprout since Inner Sect disciples planted unknown seeds there four or five years earlier.
• Bai Huan explained that Inner Sect alchemists served Inner Sect disciples and that only a few Outer Gate disciples could qualify to enter the Inner Sect.

Zhang Xiaohua secretly transferred the herbs from the Herb Division’s courtyard to his pill chamber while studying the Bone Condensing Pill formula and keeping Zou Shuming from learning his plans. After nearly twenty days, someone arrived at his cave and called for him.

• Zhang Xiaohua collected several hundred jade boxes of herbs and discovered Zou Shuming was secretly following him to watch his movements.
• Zhang Xiaohua studied the Bone Condensing Pill formula and found that he already had its three primary ingredients, then began making more jade boxes.
• For several days, Zhang Xiaohua tended the medicinal fields, cultivated, and studied pill-making, formations, and restrictions while avoiding Zou Shuming’s gaze.
• Zhang Xiaohua identified and transferred herbs from the courtyard to his pill chamber over nearly twenty days, leaving the empty jade boxes behind.
• Someone called for Zhang Xiaohua from outside his cave, and he went out to answer.

Zhang Xiaohua learned that the Herb Division could not use the Pill Division’s pill room, ending his chance to learn pill refining from its venerables. He continued watering the unusual seeds and returned to his own pill room, where he noticed an emerald-green jade slip.

• Chen Fengxiao told Zhang Xiaohua that the Pill Division barred Herb Division disciples from its pill room and would not let him learn from the venerables.
• Zhang Xiaohua pretended to be disappointed, while Chen Fengxiao concluded that he was not a pill refiner and left hoping to use him in future wagered fights.
• Zhang Xiaohua examined the seeds he had watered with spring water and decided to water them again despite the risk of attracting attention.
• Zhang Xiaohua returned to his pill room, set up the Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Furnace, and noticed an emerald-green jade slip with his divine sense.

Zhang Xiaohua restored a pair of magical jade rings called the Dragon Binding Ring and tested their power, but found they consumed too much true qi to use fully. Zou Shuming then delivered Wu Dalang’s offer: Zhang Xiaohua could learn alchemy in exchange for five hundred taels of gold.

• Zhang Xiaohua used Artifact Refining Under Heaven’s methods to restore the jade rings, learned they were the Dragon Binding Ring, and stored them after they drained his true qi.
• The next day, Zhang Xiaohua tested the Dragon Binding Ring on a boulder, but stopped when activating another seal threatened to exhaust his true qi.
• Zou Shuming appeared on Tianmu Peak and spoke privately with Zhang Xiaohua after Bai Huan left them alone.
• Zou Shuming told Zhang Xiaohua that Wu Dalang wanted to know if he wished to learn alchemy and would pay a price for the opportunity.
• Zou Shuming revealed that Zhang Xiaohua could learn alchemy if he handed over five hundred taels of gold.

Zhang Xiaohua refused Wu Zhouxu’s offer to trade his gold leaves for alchemy instruction, while Wu Zhouxu reported the refusal to Deputy Hall Master Xu. In the pill room, Zhang Xiaohua broke the restriction on an emerald-green jade slip and was delighted by what he found inside.

• Zou Shuming offered Zhang Xiaohua a chance to learn alchemy from a consecrated master in exchange for five hundred taels of gold leaves, but Zhang Xiaohua refused.
• Bai Huan questioned Zhang Xiaohua about Zou Shuming’s visit, and Zhang Xiaohua hid the true purpose of their conversation behind a joke about a gambling match.
• Zou Shuming reported Zhang Xiaohua’s refusal to Wu Zhouxu, who ordered him to keep watching Zhang Xiaohua and sent Mo San to inform Deputy Hall Master Xu.
• Zhang Xiaohua entered the pill room and carefully broke the restriction on an emerald-green jade slip without harming his divine sense.
• Zhang Xiaohua immersed his divine sense in the jade slip and was pleased by its contents.

Zhang Xiaohua studied a jade slip containing the Misty Sect’s three-stage Flying Technique, while Deputy Hall Master Xu plotted over Zhang Xiaohua’s refusal to surrender his gold leaves. On Yi Xiang Peak, Abbess Jingfan emerged from seclusion and noticed that Peacock seemed distracted.

• Zhang Xiaohua discovered that the Flying Technique began with the Floating Technique and learned that its stages were Floating, Riding the Wind, and Flying.
• Zhang Xiaohua decided to carefully study and cultivate the jade slip’s more complicated version of the Floating Technique.
• Deputy Hall Master Xu learned that Zhang Xiaohua had refused to hand over the gold leaves and ordered Wu Zhouxu to keep watching him without drawing attention.
• Deputy Hall Master Xu was summoned urgently by the Pill-Refining Hall Master and wondered whether Zhang Xiaohua had complained about him.
• Abbess Jingfan returned from seclusion, greeted Peacock, asked after Chen Chen, and noticed that Peacock seemed to have something on her mind.

Peacock told Abbess Jingfan about her journey and her strange first impression of Ren Xiaoyao, prompting her master to suspect she had fallen for him and warn her to consider the consequences. Abbess Jingfan agreed to meet him later but postponed the matter because suspicion still surrounded Martial Aunt Jingxuan’s unexplained death.

• Peacock recounted her trip to Mochou City and Hui Chun Valley, including her encounter with Ren Xiaoyao, and Abbess Jingfan checked her healing injuries.
• Abbess Jingfan praised Peacock’s improved cultivation and discussed the Meridian Nourishing Pill and her own glimpse of the Heavenly Dao.
• Peacock explained that Chen Chen had sensed nothing unusual about Ren Xiaoyao and that Peacock’s overwhelming feeling had occurred only when she first saw him.
• Abbess Jingfan compared Peacock’s reaction to Yang Ruying’s love for Ou Peng, warned her to weigh romance against advancement in the cult, and offered to approve Ren Xiaoyao if Peacock truly wanted him.
• Peacock proposed summoning Ren Xiaoyao so Abbess Jingfan could judge him, but Abbess Jingfan postponed the issue because of the tense atmosphere after Martial Aunt Jingxuan’s unexplained death.
• Abbess Jingfan told Peacock that Martial Aunt Jingxuan seemed to know who had attacked her but had kept the culprit’s identity secret, while the girl she brought back had entered the inner sect.

Abbess Jingfan reunited with Chen Chen and Peacock, and Chen Chen explained that the restriction at You Lan Gorge had begun to loosen ahead of schedule. Abbess Jingfan and Peacock were left wondering whether the gorge’s restriction had changed, as the elders and hall heads gathered to discuss it.

• Peacock told Abbess Jingfan about Ren Xiaoyao’s difficult childhood and her own reflections on how time had passed.
• Chen Chen returned and cheerfully reunited with Abbess Jingfan, teasing her about her seclusion and Peacock’s gains in cultivation.
• Chen Chen asked whether Ren Xiaoyao’s journey into the Incense-Passing Cult was an opportunity, and Abbess Jingfan agreed that it was.
• Abbess Jingfan told Chen Chen that Peacock would not attend the upcoming You Lan Mu Lian because she needed to stabilize her cultivation and state of mind.
• Chen Chen reported that patrol disciples had found the You Lan Gorge restriction loosening, prompting the Sect Leader to summon the inner sect elders and hall heads.
• Abbess Jingfan questioned why the gorge’s restriction was changing months before its expected opening.

Abbess Jingfan warned Chen Chen about the dangers of the upcoming You Lan Mu Lian and left to attend to sect affairs. Meanwhile, Zhang Xiaohua struggled to master the Riding the Wind Technique and prepared to refine a Bone Condensing Pill.

• Abbess Jingfan explained that the You Lan Mu Lian was a wilderness trial with dangerous, intelligent beasts and ordered Chen Chen to prepare for it.
• Peacock and Chen Chen discussed Ren Xiaoyao, and Peacock wondered whether she had feelings for him because Abbess Jingfan had called him her destined nemesis.
• Zhang Xiaohua completed his study of the Floating Technique and began practicing the Riding the Wind Technique, but he fell from a tree branch when he could not stay airborne.
• Zhang Xiaohua returned underground to the pill chamber, where he had warmed the Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Furnace for refining pills.
• Zhang Xiaohua chose the Bone Condensing Pill as his next pill-refining practice.

Zhang Xiaohua studied the Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Furnace and began refining the Bone Condensing Pill, then practiced the Art of Riding the Wind. The chapter ended as he heard someone calling for Junior Brother Ren outside his cave.

• Qu Zhigao thanked Zhang Xiaohua and gave him several pill formulas, including the Bone Condensing Pill.
• Zhang Xiaohua studied the furnace’s eight openings and their herb attributes, then found the ingredients for the Bone Condensing Pill.
• Zhang Xiaohua spotted Zou Shuming watching him in the herb field and exchanged greetings with Bai Huan before returning to his cave.
• Zhang Xiaohua set up a restriction and used the Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Furnace to temper the Bone Condensing Pill’s ingredients in separate openings.
• Zhang Xiaohua practiced the Art of Riding the Wind and managed to float, then returned to his cave after hearing someone call for him.