Chapter Summaries

Zhang Xiaohua discovered and looted Fire Dragon True Person’s cultivation legacy, including jade slips, books, Qi Nurturing Pills, and a pill furnace, then offered Qu Zhigao a place in his future sect. He returned to the cave and began cultivating while Meng slept.

• Zhang Xiaohua broke the restrictions on Fire Dragon True Person’s shelves and stored away the jade slips and books.
• Zhang Xiaohua restored the restrictions on the Qi Nurturing Pills, took them and the pill furnace, and strengthened the hidden cave’s defenses before leaving.
• Zhang Xiaohua learned that Qu Zhigao was the son of Qu Sanfeng and that the Bone Condensing Pill belonged to Qu Zhigao’s Qiu Long Mountain maternal family.
• Zhang Xiaohua gave Qu Zhigao a jade talisman and money, then invited him to join his separate lineage and help refine pills and practice martial arts.
• Qu Zhigao accepted Zhang Xiaohua’s offer, and Zhang Xiaohua returned to the cave, laid restrictions, and cultivated the Carefree Heart Sutra while Meng slept.

Zhang Xiaohua struggled to practice the Heaven-Piercing Staff Techniques without a suitable weapon, while Meng suggested he request one from the Cult Master. After releasing Jing'er's Grandmother, Zhang Xiaohua learned that Meng's mother had not killed Qu Zhigao's father and that Meng looked exactly like the Heavenly Dragon Divine Cult's Holy Emissary from forty years earlier.

• Zhang Xiaohua tried practicing the Heaven-Piercing Staff Techniques with Prajna and two makeshift wooden staffs, but found none suitable.
• Meng advised Zhang Xiaohua to ask the Cult Master for a weapon when they returned to Yi Xiang Peak.
• Jing'er thanked Meng for saving him, and Meng gave him a Jade Return Pill as a gift.
• Zhang Xiaohua released Jing'er's Grandmother's acupoints and explained Meng's situation to her and Qu Zhigao.
• Jing'er's Grandmother clarified that the Holy Emissary had not killed Qu Zhigao's father; Great Forest Temple had crippled and expelled him, and he later died of illness.
• Jing'er's Grandmother said Meng looked exactly like the Holy Emissary she had seen forty years earlier.

Jing'er's Grandmother told Zhang Xiaohua how Qu Zhigao's family came to guard Qiu Long Mountain and revealed that speaking the name Fire Dragon True Person fulfilled their ancestors' centuries-old promise. Zhang Xiaohua proposed the Big Dipper Sect, but he left open whether he would establish it on Qiu Long Mountain.

• Jing'er's Grandmother recounted how Qu Zhigao's father joined Great Forest Temple, was crippled after an encounter involving the Heavenly Dragon Divine Cult, and left Qu Zhigao's family struggling to make a living.
• Zhang Xiaohua decided to visit Poyang Town because it lay along the group's route, while Qu Zhigao warned him that Great Forest Temple and the Righteous Path Alliance had influence there.
• Jing'er's Grandmother explained that her ancestors had guarded the cave dwelling until someone could identify the portrait as the Fire Dragon True Person, and Zhang Xiaohua confirmed he had done so.
• Jing'er's Grandmother wept with relief that Qu Zhigao no longer needed to guard Qiu Long Mountain, and Zhang Xiaohua thanked her family for keeping their promise.
• Qu Zhigao told Jing'er's Grandmother that Zhang Xiaohua had agreed to accept Jing'er into his sect when the time was right, and Zhang Xiaohua named it the Big Dipper Sect.
• Jing'er's Grandmother asked whether the Big Dipper Sect would establish itself on Qiu Long Mountain, but Zhang Xiaohua said he was not ready and doubted it would be based there.

Zhang Xiaohua and Meng learned that clues about Meng’s origins might be found in Poyang Town, so they traveled there. Zhang Xiaohua recognized the town and arrived at Shi Wei Tian restaurant, where he reunited with its former waiter, now the manager.

• Jing'er's Grandmother tried to make Jing'er acknowledge Zhang Xiaohua as his master, but Zhang Xiaohua stopped her and promised to teach Jing'er martial arts.
• Meng thanked Jing'er's Grandmother for explaining what she knew, and Zhang Xiaohua and Meng set out for Poyang Town.
• On the journey, Meng grew more convinced that the Holy Emissary of the Heavenly Dragon Sect was her mother.
• Near Poyang Town, Zhang Xiaohua rode straight to Shi Wei Tian, surprising Meng with how well he knew the way.
• Zhang Xiaohua recognized Ma Xiaosi and the restaurant manager, ordered their specialties and spicy chicken giblets, and began catching up with the manager.

Zhang Xiaohua and Meng returned to Poyang Town, where he confirmed it was the place they first met and learned of a nearby abandoned temple on Mang Mountain. They reached the Mountain God Temple and Zhang Xiaohua pointed out where he and Meng had first encountered each other.

• Meng realized that Poyang Town was where she had met Zhang Xiaohua and Master Jingxuan five years earlier, and she hoped it might reveal her origins.
• The shopkeeper told Zhang Xiaohua that prices had risen because costs throughout the supply chain had increased, and he directed him to an abandoned temple on Mang Mountain.
• The shopkeeper revealed that Brother Fan had been killed after his extortion caught up with him, and Zhang Xiaohua and Meng rode west toward Mang Mountain.
• Zhang Xiaohua inferred that Master Jingxuan had come to Poyang Town searching for immortal Dao records, a jade slip, and a storage pouch.
• Zhang Xiaohua and Meng climbed Mang Mountain to the Mountain God Temple, where he pointed out the place they had first met.

Zhang Xiaohua and Meng followed Meng’s memories into a remote mountain village, where its residents recognized her as Xiaoya and recalled her mother, Madam Aya. Meng fainted amid the revelations, leaving Zhang Xiaohua to seek answers from the villagers.

• Zhang Xiaohua and Meng revisited the cottage where they had met, then continued through the mountains searching for clues to Meng’s past.
• Meng recognized a large tree and followed the route she remembered, but the increasingly familiar scenery gave her a severe headache.
• Zhang Xiaohua followed a stream and found a poor village, where an old woman recognized Meng as Xiaoya.
• The villagers told Meng that she had disappeared four or five years earlier and that Granny Qiu had died longing for her return.
• Meng fainted, and Zhang Xiaohua carried her into the old woman’s cottage and introduced himself as Meng’s junior brother.
• The villagers said Meng had been born and raised there and mentioned her mother, Madam Aya, prompting Zhang Xiaohua to ask if Madam Aya was her mother.

Zhang Xiaohua stayed with Meng as she revisited the village where she had grown up, and Ninth Granny began recounting her mother’s history. The chapter left Meng learning how her injured mother first arrived in the village and later returned pregnant with Granny Qiu.

• Zhang Xiaohua told Ninth Granny that Meng had never fainted before, and Ninth Granny guessed that returning to the village had overwhelmed her.
• Meng woke from a nightmare, clung to Zhang Xiaohua, and asked Ninth Granny to tell her about her parents and childhood.
• Ninth Granny explained that decades earlier she had found Meng’s wounded mother unconscious by a river and carried her back to the village.
• Ninth Granny said Meng’s mother recovered, taught the villagers martial arts, and left after living there for a year.
• Ninth Granny recounted that Meng’s mother returned two years later, about four months pregnant, accompanied by Granny Qiu, and settled in the village for good.

Ninth Granny told Meng about her mother Madam Aya, Granny Qiu, and Meng’s childhood illness and disappearance. Meng visited their graves with Zhang Xiaohua, then returned to the village with the hunters, where Fourth Elder showed her the house where she had lived.

• Ninth Granny recounted how Madam Aya arrived in the village, gave birth to Meng, and later died after Meng’s illness worsened.
• Ninth Granny described how nine-year-old Meng disappeared in the snow and how Granny Qiu searched for her before dying of grief.
• Meng learned she had been found five years earlier by Master Jingxuan, though the villagers had searched the ferry crossing and found it empty.
• Meng visited Madam Aya’s and Granny Qiu’s graves, mourned them, and helped clear the graves with Zhang Xiaohua.
• Hunters returning to the village recognized Meng as Xiaoya, and Fourth Elder welcomed her back.
• Fourth Elder led Meng and Zhang Xiaohua to the house where Meng had lived with her mother and Granny Qiu and asked if she remembered it.

Meng revisited her childhood home with Zhang Xiaohua and found the wooden hairpin her mother had left behind. She decided to leave the village and her mother’s grave undisturbed, while Fourth Grandpa urged Zhang Xiaohua to care for her.

• Zhang Xiaohua and Meng returned to the village and were warmly welcomed by Ninth Granny and the other villagers.
• Meng searched her childhood home, found her mother’s wooden hairpin, and learned that Granny Qiu had given away the other belongings to the villagers.
• Meng told Fourth Grandpa she would take only the hairpin and suggested letting villagers live in the empty house.
• Fourth Grandpa advised Meng to leave her mother’s grave undisturbed and revealed that her mother had never spoken about her father.
• Fourth Grandpa warned Zhang Xiaohua to treat Meng well, and Zhang Xiaohua joked that Meng would be the one bullying him.

Meng and Zhang Xiaohua left the village where she had grown up, then continued their journey toward the Incense-Passing Cult. On a remote road, they encountered Liang Cangxu and his armed followers, who had been sent to capture them.

• Meng visited her mother's grave with Zhang Xiaohua and left the village without saying goodbye to Ninth Granny and the others, leaving silver and pills behind.
• As they traveled, Meng and Zhang Xiaohua joked about their names and the route Zhang Xiaohua had chosen.
• Several dozen riders approached them on a remote Official Road, and Zhang Xiaohua recognized Liang Cangxu from the attack on Kong Que.
• Zhang Xiaohua proposed letting the riders take them so they could discover which mysterious force they belonged to, while Meng doubted his plan.
• Liang Cangxu told his followers that their Sect Leader had ordered them to capture Meng and Zhang Xiaohua, and recalled their earlier failure to kill Kong Que.

Liang Cangxu of Shuiyunjian surrounded Ren and Meng and tried to take them to his sect, but Ren challenged him with questions about Shuiyunjian and other factions. After Liang answered, Ren agreed to accompany him, leaving Liang ready to seal their acupoints.

• Liang Cangxu surrounded Ren and Meng and invited them to Shuiyunjian, but Ren refused until he learned why they had been pursued.
• Ren struck a Shuiyunjian disciple who threatened him, then warned Liang that he would not be forced into doing anything he did not want.
• Liang confirmed that Shuiyunjian had planted Lord Jingzhe in the Incense-Passing Cult and said the cult’s recent purge may have captured him.
• Liang denied that Shuiyunjian had attacked Master Jingxuan and said he had never heard of a Heavenly Dragon Sect Holy Envoy, though he had heard of its mysterious Saintess.
• Liang said Shuiyunjian had no Banner Masters and that the bronze-masked old man was not one of its people; Ren then agreed to go with Liang, who asked to seal their acupoints.

Zhang Xiaohua and Meng traveled with Liang Cangxu to Shuiyunjian, where they saw the sect’s hidden island and passed through its protective formation. They entered a beautiful waterway within the island, where Liang said their Sect Leader had personally designed the sect’s defenses and mechanisms.

• Zhang Xiaohua refused Liang Cangxu’s offer to seal his and Meng’s acupoints, and the group continued southeast toward Shuiyunjian.
• Liang had Zhang Xiaohua and Meng cover their eyes and ride in a carriage, which circled for two days before taking them to a mountain range.
• Liang led them to an emerald pool landscape concealing Shuiyunjian’s island, then took them by boat toward its cloud-shrouded slopes.
• After a disciple signaled with crimson flags, the boat followed a hidden route and passed through an illusory stone wall into Shuiyunjian.
• Zhang praised the peach-lined waterway inside the island, and Liang said their Sect Leader had arranged the sect’s formations and mechanisms herself.

Zhang Xiaohua and Meng arrived at Shuiyunjian, where Hall Master Li Xu treated them courteously and gave them Cloud Mist Tea. Zhang Xiaohua went to meet Sect Leader Bai alone and discovered that she was an immortal practitioner.

• Zhang Xiaohua and Liang Cangxu discussed the tea trees as the boat traveled through Shuiyunjian’s cliffs and mist.
• Hall Master Li Xu welcomed Zhang Xiaohua and Meng on behalf of Sect Leader Bai and hosted them at a quiet residence.
• Zhang Xiaohua tasted the Cloud Mist Tea, sensed its Primordial Qi, and received two bottles of tea from Hall Master Li Xu.
• Zhang Xiaohua and Meng discussed why Shuiyunjian had brought them there and Meng’s hope of discovering her father’s identity.
• Hall Master Li Xu summoned Zhang Xiaohua alone to White Cloud Hall, where Peng Yeyu recognized him.
• A woman seated at the head of the hall sent divine sense over Zhang Xiaohua, who realized she was an immortal practitioner.

At Shuiyunjian, Zhang Xiaohua agreed to carry Sect Leader Bai’s message to the Incense-Passing Cult but refused to explain his travels. When Bai Yanqiu attacked him with the Demon Refining Pot, Huan Wuxin’s Primordial Spirit appeared and revealed that she was a disciple of the Divine Blade Sect.

• Zhang Xiaohua identified himself as an Incense-Passing Cult disciple, and Peng Yeyu admitted he had met him before and was sent to the Law Enforcement Hall for punishment.
• Bai Yanqiu asked Zhang Xiaohua about the Incense-Passing Cult’s damaged sect-protecting formation and asked him to tell the Cult Master that Shuiyunjian wished to reenter the martial world.
• Zhang Xiaohua agreed to deliver Bai Yanqiu’s message but refused to explain his visits to Yi Xia Town, White Spring Mountain, and Poyang Town.
• Bai Yanqiu accused Zhang Xiaohua of hiding secrets connected to the immortal path and attacked him with the Demon Refining Pot.
• Huan Wuxin’s Primordial Spirit emerged from Zhang Xiaohua and stopped Bai Yanqiu’s attack, then asked whether Shuiyunjian’s disciples belonged to the Divine Blade Sect.
• Bai Yanqiu knelt before Huan Wuxin and confirmed that she was a disciple of the Divine Blade Sect and that her master had given her the Demon Refining Pot.

Huan Wuxin revealed that Shuiyunjian had inherited the fallen Divine Blade Sect and left Bai Yanqiu with private instructions before his projection vanished. Bai Yanqiu then sealed Zhang Xiaohua's powers and decided to keep him in Shuiyunjian, leaving him furious and fearing he might be detained for life.

• Huan Wuxin told Bai Yanqiu that Shuiyunjian descended from the Divine Blade Sect, but said his projection could not lead the sect and instructed her to give Zhang Xiaohua a portion of his jade slips.
• Huan Wuxin raised a soundproofing restriction to speak privately with Bai Yanqiu, then vanished as his projection ran out of power.
• Bai Yanqiu struck Zhang Xiaohua's acupoints with an Immortal Path technique, sealing his power, and explained that she wanted to keep him in Shuiyunjian because of the opportunity to revive the sect.
• Zhang Xiaohua recounted how he had encountered Huan Wuxin in the Huan Ruins, and Bai Yanqiu offered him a martial arts manual instead of Immortal Path jade slips.
• Zhang Xiaohua realized Bai Yanqiu might detain him until Huan Wuxin's promised matter occurred, potentially for the rest of his life, and angrily accused her of exploiting the promise.

After Bai Yanqiu kept Zhang Xiaohua and Meng on Shuiyunjian, Zhang learned that the sect was preparing to return to the martial world and began looking for a way to escape the island. Unable to break through the mist formation, he headed for Bai Yanqiu’s residence to investigate its secret.

• Bai Yanqiu told Zhang Xiaohua she had kept Zixia on Shuiyunjian and summoned her disciples to assemble at Juying Hall.
• Zhang Xiaohua returned to Meng and concealed Bai Yanqiu’s intentions with a joking account of their conversation.
• Over the next three days, Zhang Xiaohua learned that Shuiyunjian’s disciples had departed and Bai Yanqiu had left the island.
• Zhang Xiaohua warned Bai Yanqiu through a disciple to send him and Meng away, then secretly went to investigate the island’s mist formation.
• Zhang Xiaohua found that the mist and surrounding waters blocked escape and went toward Bai Yanqiu’s residence to search for the formation’s secret.

Zhang Xiaohua broke into Bai Yanqiu’s palace and discovered a strange stone slab and a Bronze Mirror that revealed his true appearance. Unable to move the mirror, he took out the Haotian Mirror, which flew from his hand, leaving its purpose unclear.

• Zhang Xiaohua bypassed the palace’s above-ground restriction by tunneling beneath it and searched Bai Yanqiu’s bedchamber.
• Zhang Xiaohua found a strange black stone slab beneath the bed’s silk bedding and used much of his divine sense to store it in his belt.
• Zhang Xiaohua searched the room for other treasures and noticed the large Bronze Mirror beside the bed.
• Zhang Xiaohua realized the large Bronze Mirror showed his true appearance, unlike the small mirror that reflected his transformed face.
• Zhang Xiaohua failed to move the large Bronze Mirror and took out the Haotian Mirror, which slipped from his hand and flew into the air.

Zhang Xiaohua used the Haotian Mirror to activate the concealed Bronze Mirror, revealing a hidden passage and entering a chamber filled with protected treasures. He found a jade slip whose restriction seemed weaker than the others, but his attempt to break it with a Fire Talisman failed.

• Zhang Xiaohua’s Haotian Mirror drew down starlight, merged with the Bronze Mirror, and revealed an opening in the wall.
• Zhang Xiaohua took the restored Haotian Mirror and descended through a torch-lit passage where his divine sense could reach only a short distance.
• Zhang Xiaohua opened the left door in a three-door chamber and found twelve jade tables holding jade slips, artifacts, and bottles.
• Zhang Xiaohua discovered that strong restrictions protected every treasure and that his Nameless Sword Move could no longer produce its flow.
• Zhang Xiaohua chose a jade slip with a comparatively weak, watery-blue restriction and tossed a Fire Talisman at it, but the flames went out.

Zhang Xiaohua broke the restriction on a jade slip and obtained the Wood Evasion technique, then encountered Peng Yeyu in the forbidden chambers of Shuiyunjian. Peng Yeyu attacked him, and Zhang Xiaohua tested Dreamchaser against Peng Yeyu’s Blade Aura as their fight began.

• Zhang Xiaohua forged five jade talismans and used them with Dreamchaser to break the weakest restriction on a stone table.
• Zhang Xiaohua discovered that the jade slip contained the Wood Evasion technique, then left the chamber without trying the other tables.
• Peng Yeyu entered through the right-hand door, and Zhang Xiaohua confronted him about why he had come to the forbidden ground.
• Peng Yeyu threatened to kill Zhang Xiaohua and claim he had trespassed, then revealed his desire to take Zixia for himself.
• Peng Yeyu attacked with Blade Aura, and Zhang Xiaohua sent Dreamchaser’s two sword lights against his saber to test whether Blade Aura could block flying swords.

Zhang Xiaohua killed Peng Yeyu and explored Shuiyunjian’s forbidden ground, where he discovered a sealed pit holding twenty-five pill furnaces. He found a rat burrow opening toward the formation’s restriction, suggesting a possible way inside.

• Peng Yeyu mocked Zhang Xiaohua and attacked him, but Zhang Xiaohua’s flying sword broke through his defenses and killed him.
• Zhang Xiaohua burned Peng Yeyu’s body and entered a forbidden passage in search of a way to escape Shuiyunjian.
• Zhang Xiaohua descended to a vast pit and saw twenty-five Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Furnaces protected by an impenetrable restriction.
• Zhang Xiaohua counted the furnaces and realized that many more were missing, then searched underground for a weakness in the formation.
• Zhang Xiaohua discovered a network of rat burrows with one opening facing the restriction.