Chapter Summaries

Zhang Xiaohua killed the Thunder Tiger with a single punch and returned to camp without anyone knowing. The next morning, Zhang Ping'er arrived and revealed that an unidentified Wuming Hall disciple had rescued her from the tiger, leaving the other disciples to hope that he had defeated it.

• Zhang Xiaohua caught the Thunder Tiger's tail and smashed its skull with a powerful punch, killing it.
• Zhang Xiaohua cut off the tiger's tail for its points, returned to the tent, and cultivated through the night.
• The Pill-Refining Hall disciples woke exhausted and anxious, while Zhang Xiaohua concealed that the Thunder Tiger was already dead.
• Senior Brother Chen announced that Zhang Ping'er had encountered the Thunder Tiger and introduced her to the gathered disciples.
• Zhang Ping'er said an unidentified Wuming Hall disciple had rescued her and faced the Thunder Tiger alone, prompting Senior Brother Chen and the others to hope he had won.

Wuming Hall's convoy reached the site where Zhang Xiaohua had killed the Thunder Tiger and found its corpse. The disciples continued their journey, relieved of the danger, while Zhang Xiaohua quietly returned to cultivating.

• Senior Brother Chen urged the convoy to hurry to the site of Zhang Ping'er's encounter with the Thunder Tiger, and Zhang Xiaohua learned from Lu Chaoxian that Zhang Ping'er was an inner sect alchemy disciple.
• Zhang Ping'er identified the incident site and left the convoy after spotting Zhang Xiaohua, who worried that she might recognize him.
• Wuming Hall's disciples found the Thunder Tiger's corpse with its head smashed apart, and Senior Brother Chen suspected it had been killed bare-handed.
• Senior Brother Chen ordered the corpse carried on a carriage and led the convoy onward, while the disciples speculated about the mysterious killer and Zhang Xiaohua continued cultivating.

The Pill-Refining Hall convoy entered the You Lan Rainforest, where Zhang Xiaohua sensed danger and helped Lu Chaoxian fend off a Five-Colored Snake. The chapter ended when a disciple reported that Senior Brother Wang might not survive a snakebite.

• The convoy reached the You Lan Rainforest, and Lu Chaoxian warned Zhang Xiaohua about its venomous snakes.
• A Carnivorous Beast dragged a horse into an underground tunnel, prompting the convoy to reroute its carriage.
• Zhang Xiaohua sensed danger and killed a Five-Colored Snake that was attacking Lu Chaoxian.
• Lu Chaoxian warned the convoy about Five-Colored Snakes, and a disciple revealed that one had bitten him.
• A disciple rushed to Zhang Xiaohua and Lu Chaoxian, saying Senior Brother Wang might not make it.

Zhang Xiaohua used his medical knowledge and self-refined antidote to save Senior Brother Wang after a Five-Colored Snake bite, despite Senior Brother Xu ordering the convoy to leave him behind. Senior Brother Wang regained consciousness, and the convoy leader rushed over to demand an explanation.

• Senior Brother Xu declared Senior Brother Wang beyond saving and ordered the convoy to continue, while Zhang Xiaohua examined him and insisted he would not abandon him.
• Lu Chaoxian persuaded Senior Brother Xu to let them carry Senior Brother Wang in a carriage, and Zhang Xiaohua stayed with him as the convoy moved on.
• Zhang Xiaohua protected Senior Brother Wang's heart meridian, administered one of his own Antidote Pills, and forced the remaining venom out through the bitten leg.
• Senior Brother Wang's complexion improved, his breathing returned, and he woke asking for water.
• Senior Brother Li stopped the carriage, drawing nearby disciples to gather, and Senior Brother Xu hurried over to demand why they had stopped.

Zhang Xiaohua saved Senior Brother Wang from snake venom and traveled with the Pill-Refining Hall convoy to a mountain campsite near Qi Hua Forest. The Wuming Hall disciples slaughtered a troop of human-faced monkeys for trial points and valuable young monkeys, leaving Zhang Xiaohua saddened as the chapter ended with his attention drawn back to the rainforest.

• Senior Brother Xu discovered that Senior Brother Wang had recovered after Zhang Xiaohua gave him a Detoxification Pill, but Zhang Xiaohua refused to show him the pill.
• Senior Brother Chen led the Wuming Hall disciples in chasing and killing human-faced monkeys while the Pill-Refining Hall convoy continued through the rainforest.
• Lu Chaoxian explained that human-faced monkeys earned trial points and that their young could be tamed and given to inner sect female disciples.
• Zhang Xiaohua and the other disciples reached a mountain campsite, where Senior Brother Wang thanked Zhang Xiaohua for saving his life.
• The Wuming Hall disciples returned carrying monkey tails and newborn monkeys, and Zhang Xiaohua felt distressed by the slaughter.
• As Senior Brother Xu and Senior Brother Chen exchanged compliments, Zhang Xiaohua looked toward the rainforest and suddenly felt his heart tremble.

Chen Chen and Zixia camped in You Lan Grand Canyon, where Chen Chen fought off a Golden Eagle and then chased it with Zixia in hopes of finding spiritual herbs. Meanwhile, Zhang Xiaohua sensed danger, secured his companions in their caves, and began cultivating as a hostile watcher lurked outside.

• Chen Chen and Zixia shared roasted food by a bonfire and discussed Zixia’s lost memories and the Heavenly Bell Stone Milk.
• A Golden Eagle attacked Chen Chen for the jade bottle, but she drove it off with her flexible sword and chased after it with Zixia to find its nest.
• Zhang Xiaohua sensed an unknown threat near the forest but kept quiet as the Wuming Hall and Pill-Refining Hall disciples settled into their mountain caves.
• Zhang Xiaohua warned his companions to stay inside, then used restrictions to seal their cave entrances before returning to cultivate.
• A pair of hateful eyes watched the patrolling Wuming Hall disciples from the darkness, then vanished.

Zhang Xiaohua traveled with the Pill-Refining Hall convoy through Hancui Ridge, where a rockfall ambush trapped the disciples in A Thread of Sky Gorge. He escaped to the summit and discovered that a surviving human-faced monkey had gathered companions to take revenge on Wuming Hall, leaving the Pill-Refining Hall disciples in grave danger below.

• Zhang Xiaohua practiced his Big Dipper Divine Fist before the Pill-Refining Hall convoy set out for Hancui Ridge.
• Lu Chaoxian told Zhang Xiaohua that the convoy would cross Hancui Ridge on its way to Qi Hua Forest.
• Zhang Xiaohua sensed danger in A Thread of Sky Gorge just before attackers above began rolling boulders down on the convoy and sealing the exit.
• Zhang Xiaohua escaped the gorge and used the Riding the Wind Technique to reach the summit.
• Zhang Xiaohua saw a surviving human-faced monkey directing more than a dozen companions as they prepared to push additional boulders down on the trapped disciples.

Zhang Xiaohua stopped the Human-Faced Monkey and the Giant Apes from continuing their attack on the valley, then let them leave peacefully. Wuming Hall’s disciples arrived to find the mountaintop clear, while panic still gripped the Pill-Refining Hall disciples fleeing the valley.

• Zhang Xiaohua used Dreamchaser to pierce the hands of the Giant Apes pushing boulders and drive back the others.
• The Human-Faced Monkey pounced at Zhang Xiaohua, who seized it by the throat and subdued it.
• Zhang Xiaohua released the Human-Faced Monkey, and it led the Giant Apes away after its hatred gave way to gratitude.
• Wuming Hall’s disciples reached the mountaintop and found the Giant Apes retreating, leaving Senior Brother Chen puzzled about what had happened.
• Zhang Xiaohua returned to the valley entrance and told Lu Chaoxian that no more boulders had fallen.

After Giant Apes trapped the convoy behind enormous boulders, the disciples counted their dead and injured and searched unsuccessfully for another route. Wuming Hall sent up a wolf-smoke signal for help, and as night fell, a masked disciple arrived at the mountain peak.

• Lu Chaoxian calmed the disciples after the rockfall stopped, and Zhang Xiaohua joined the effort to clear the gorge and rescue the injured.
• Senior Brother Chen counted the losses: nearly twenty disciples had died, around fifty or sixty were injured, and many carriages and horses had been destroyed.
• Senior Brother Xu found the gorge exit blocked by towering boulders, failed to move them, and sent disciples to search for a carriage route and prepare wolf-smoke.
• Junior Brother Kong's group returned after being driven back by venomous bees, while Junior Brother Mi reported that wolf crocodiles had killed two disciples near an impassable stream.
• Senior Brother Xu ordered the wolf-smoke lit, and Wuming Hall disciples camped to await help as reinforcements arrived without a solution.
• A tall, thin disciple with his face covered appeared atop the mountain peak.

Zhang Xiaohua secretly cleared the boulders blocking the canyon while disguised as Senior Brother Zhang, letting the Wuming Hall disciples believe an inner sect expert had come to their aid. The next morning, he traveled with the Pill-Refining Hall convoy and joked with Lu Chaoxian about the wolf smoke that had summoned him.

• Senior Brother Zhang arrived at the canyon after seeing the distress wolf smoke, and Chen Wei assumed he was an inner sect disciple.
• Senior Brother Zhang leaped into the canyon and threw the enormous boulders out of the way, astonishing the Wuming Hall disciples before disappearing.
• Zhang Xiaohua changed out of his disguise near the canyon entrance and returned to the tents unnoticed.
• The next morning, the Pill-Refining Hall convoy passed through the cleared canyon, and the disciples learned that a mysterious expert had moved the boulders.
• Lu Chaoxian asked Zhang Xiaohua how the rocks had been moved, and Zhang Xiaohua joked that inner sect disciples would handle such tasks if needed.

Zhang Xiaohua and the Pill-Refining Hall disciples reached Qi Hua Forest and began gathering spirit herbs for the You Lan Mu Lian. Zhang Xiaohua left his group to search for the hundred-year Ice Soul Grass, but after crossing the river he sensed someone lying in ambush nearby.

• Senior Brother Xu delivered the Pill-Refining Hall team to Qi Hua Forest, warned Senior Brother Chen to stay within the safe boundary, and led the Wuming Hall disciples away.
• Senior Brother Chen started the herb-gathering mission and divided the four peaks into separate territories, with Zhang Xiaohua joining Lu Chaoxian and eight other disciples by the northern river.
• Senior Brother Wang and the other disciples offered Zhang Xiaohua part of their harvest so he could search for Ice Soul Grass; Zhang Xiaohua thanked them and set off alone.
• Zhang Xiaohua recalled that Senior Brother Liao had told him where to find old Ice Soul Grass and headed north, hoping to collect ingredients for the Jade Return Pill as well.
• Zhang Xiaohua crossed the rushing river and sensed a concealed person watching him from beside a large tree.

Zhang Xiaohua searched Qi Hua Forest for Ice Soul Grass, gathered other valuable herbs, and found a discarded Xuan Kong Wood among his companions’ harvest. He left camp at night to investigate a beast-guarded location and discovered someone lying in ambush near the riverbank.

• Zhang Xiaohua spotted Lu Lihong entering the forest with lightness skill, then continued toward the location Senior Brother Liao had described.
• Zhang Xiaohua failed to find the Ice Soul Grass but gathered several herbs, including Cold Light Grass more than a hundred years old.
• Back at camp, Zhang Xiaohua took a sixty-year-old Xuan Kong Wood that Senior Brother Wang had set aside and agreed to look for similar herbs later.
• Zhang Xiaohua told Lu Chaoxian and the others he planned to search at night, warned them to stay inside the tent, and secured it with a restriction.
• Zhang Xiaohua traveled underground toward the riverbank and sensed someone lying in ambush atop the high slope.

Zhang Xiaohua followed Lu Lihong to a secluded pool, where Lu Lihong ambushed him on someone’s orders. Zhang Xiaohua revealed that the attack could not harm him and exposed his astonishing ability to fly, leaving Lu Lihong terrified.

• Zhang Xiaohua spotted Lu Lihong watching the campsite and suspected he was looking for him.
• Zhang Xiaohua left the camp and led Lu Lihong to a remote pool, where he baited him into attacking.
• Lu Lihong struck Zhang Xiaohua with his palms and sword, but Zhang Xiaohua caught the blade and revealed he had only faked his injury.
• Lu Lihong attacked Zhang Xiaohua again and fled, but Zhang Xiaohua caught up by flying above him.
• Lu Lihong fell in shock and asked who Zhang Xiaohua was, while Zhang Xiaohua taunted him about dying without answers.

Zhang Xiaohua confronted Lu Lihong, learned that Deputy Hall Master Xu had ordered his assassination, and killed Lu Lihong when he tried to strike with poisoned needles. Afterward, Zhang Xiaohua continued searching for Ice Soul Grass and discovered that the belt he had found contained Primordial Qi.

• Lu Lihong begged Zhang Xiaohua for his life and confessed that Deputy Hall Master Xu had ordered him to kill Zhang Xiaohua.
• Zhang Xiaohua rejected Lu Lihong’s offer to serve him and confronted him about investigating his background at Tianmu Peak.
• Lu Lihong distracted Zhang Xiaohua and flung poisoned steel needles at him, but Zhang Xiaohua stopped them with a spell and sent them back, killing Lu Lihong.
• Zhang Xiaohua decided Deputy Hall Master Xu would answer for the assassination attempt, took Lu Lihong’s bundle, and resumed his search for Ice Soul Grass.
• Zhang Xiaohua examined the belt he had found beside a pool, broke its failing restriction, and discovered that it contained Primordial Qi.

Zhang Xiaohua discovered pill formulas and a large storage space in the belt he had taken, then continued searching You Lan Grand Canyon for Ice Soul Grass. He found three-hundred-year-old Baihua Grass beside a swamp, where a beast disguised as fragrant spirit fruits attacked him.

• Zhang Xiaohua found a jade slip in the belt that described pill refining with demon cores and medicinal stones, including formulas for the Marrow Cleansing Pill and Poison Dragon Pill.
• Zhang Xiaohua concluded that spatial items could not be stored inside one another and found that he could not break the restrictions on his small ring.
• After Lu Lihong's corpse was corroded by poison, Zhang Xiaohua judged himself safe from further interference and resumed searching for Ice Soul Grass.
• Zhang Xiaohua watched a swamp beast lure and swallow a squirrel with spirit fruits growing from its horn.
• Zhang Xiaohua recognized rare, three-hundred-year-old Baihua Grass beside the swamp and began to collect it using a formula.
• The swamp beast roared, leapt at Zhang Xiaohua, and released a fragrance that made his head feel faint.

Zhang Xiaohua escaped a guardian beast, discovered a hollow rich in Primordial Qi, and drove off the Monkey-Hunting Bird that lived there. Investigating underground, he found a jade vein and wondered how Shu Yu Hall mined such deeply buried jade.

• Zhang Xiaohua sealed the three-leaved Baihua Grass in a jade box and escaped the pursuing guardian beast by tunneling underground.
• Zhang Xiaohua found a flower-filled hollow where the Primordial Qi was unusually dense and herbs grew exceptionally well.
• A Monkey-Hunting Bird attacked Zhang Xiaohua, but he wounded its beak and clipped its feathers with his sword aura, forcing it to flee.
• Zhang Xiaohua realized the hollow was the Monkey-Hunting Bird's nest and searched underground for the source of the dense Primordial Qi.
• Zhang Xiaohua endured the increasing pressure as he tunneled deeper and discovered a stretch of jade that appeared to be a vein.

Zhang Xiaohua explored a jade vein, gathered herbs, and continued searching You Lan Mu Lian for Ice Soul Grass. He eventually found a freezing cave in a mountain valley and entered it, hoping the herb grew inside.

• Zhang Xiaohua pried a piece of white jade from an underground vein and found its Primordial Qi weaker than he had hoped.
• Zhang Xiaohua gathered rare herbs from the hollow, cultivated there, and considered visiting Mount Jiuhua to inspect its jade veins.
• Zhang Xiaohua returned to the campsite at night and set restrictions around Lu Chaoxian and the others’ tents, while they later assumed he had died.
• Zhang Xiaohua searched the mountain range for Ice Soul Grass and discovered a bitterly cold valley that seemed suited to the herb.
• Zhang Xiaohua followed the cold wind to a cave entrance and walked inside with the Azure Water Sword and a Luminous Pearl.

Zhang Xiaohua fought through a cavern of giant bats and discovered an immense icy chamber filled with ancient spirit herbs and mysterious treasures. As he flew toward the milky liquid in a stone bowl, strange creatures shot from the pool.

• Zhang Xiaohua’s divine sense was attacked by giant bats, and the three-legged crow talisman in his Niwan Palace sent out sound waves that knocked many of them down.
• Zhang Xiaohua used Zhuimeng and the Dream Weaving Sword Technique to kill more bats, then burned the survivors with jade talismans.
• Zhang Xiaohua continued through the cavern and found a vast icy pool surrounded by ancient spirit herbs, with black-and-white vines bearing two unusual fruits.
• Zhang Xiaohua spotted a stone bowl holding milky-white liquid beneath a suspended droplet and judged the substance to be extraordinarily precious.
• Zhang Xiaohua flew over the icy pool with a jade bottle, but several strange things shot out of the water.

Zhang Xiaohua subdued the four-winged Oddity Snake guarding the cold pool and collected its venom and the milky liquid from the stone bowl. As he picked the black fruit from the black-and-white vine, the vine withered and the white fruit fell toward the pool.

• A four-winged Oddity Snake attacked Zhang Xiaohua, but its hide deflected both Chasing Dreams and the Azure Water Sword, and the pool extinguished his fire talismans.
• Zhang Xiaohua used his Dragon Binding Rings to capture the Oddity Snake and draw it onto the ground beside the pool.
• The Oddity Snake sprayed venom at Zhang Xiaohua, who condensed it into a bead, collected it in a jade bottle, and sealed it away.
• Zhang Xiaohua gathered all the milky liquid from the stone bowl into a jade bottle and stored it.
• Zhang Xiaohua picked the black fruit from the black-and-white vine, causing the vine to wither and the white fruit to fall toward the cold pool.

Chen Chen and Zixia fled into a gorge to escape a swarm of black bees, while Zhang Xiaohua harvested spiritual herbs and watched two strange fruits fuse into a black-and-white formation. After securing the fused fruit, he turned his attention to the Oddity Snake.

• Chen Chen and Zixia encountered tens of thousands of black bees and ran into a gorge, where the swarm turned back at the entrance.
• Disciples in the You Lan Grand Canyon found Cold Light Grass, and a tall man began digging it up.
• Zhang Xiaohua accidentally nearly dropped the white fruit into the cold pool, then stored it with the black fruit in a jade box.
• The black and white fruits fused into a linked fish-shaped form after absorbing the surrounding Primordial Qi, and Zhang Xiaohua sealed it away.
• Zhang Xiaohua finished harvesting the spiritual herbs around the cold pool and eyed the Oddity Snake as valuable material.