Chapter Summaries

Cai Zhuoxia invited Xiao Hua to join her search for Mother-Child Spirit Fruit in the Qimeng Mountain Range so they could refine Fetal Breath Pills, but he declined for now. After she suggested a secluded cultivation site, Xiao Hua found an abandoned cave abode and settled in to cultivate.

• Cai Zhuoxia explained that Mother-Child Spirit Fruit from the Qimeng Mountain Range could be used to refine Fetal Breath Pills, which offered a fifty-percent chance of breaking through a cultivation bottleneck, and invited Xiao Hua to help find it.
• Xiao Hua refused the risky expedition but gave Cai Zhuoxia a communication talisman so she could contact him if he changed his mind.
• Cai Zhuoxia pointed Xiao Hua toward an abandoned cave abode south of Hundred Zhang Peak, and he found it hidden behind mountain trees.
• Xiao Hua blocked the cave entrance and began cultivating the Burning Heaven Art, the Dragon Transformation Art, and his true qi.
• As the days passed, Xiao Hua's cultivation speed caught up with that of ordinary cultivators and steadily improved.

After half a year in seclusion, Xiao Hua advanced to the middle Qi Cultivation third layer but ran out of cultivation pills and discovered that his furnace required earthfire. He left his cave dwelling seeking pills and a lead on earthfire, then activated Cai Zhuoxia’s communication talisman to locate her.

• Xiao Hua cultivated for more than half a year, advanced to the middle Qi Cultivation third layer, and exhausted his Marrow Cleansing Pills and Qingyi Pills.
• Xiao Hua learned that his Three-legged Vermilion Bird Phoenix Pattern Furnace could refine high-grade pills but required prior refinement and earthfire.
• Xiao Hua left seclusion and wondered whether Cai Zhuoxia had found the alchemy-connected cultivator she had mentioned.
• Xiao Hua harvested some spiritual herbs and discovered that the Rainbow Bloom had grown runes and was carrying two Water Pattern Butterfly eggs.
• Xiao Hua realized that his space could contain living creatures, including the insect eggs and the Ice Worm King Egg.
• Xiao Hua set out for the Jingbo City trading market, then activated Cai Zhuoxia’s communication talisman, which traveled only several li to his left before stopping.

Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia traveled to the Yan Family to recruit Yan Liwei for their search for the Mother-Child Spirit Fruit and to obtain help refining a Fetal Breath Pill. Yan Liwei arrived, belittled Xiao Hua, and demanded seventy percent of the pills, ending with an insinuation that Cai Zhuoxia cultivate with him.

• Cai Zhuoxia told Xiao Hua she had used part of a Foundation Establishment Pill because she had little hope of reaching Foundation Establishment through her family’s cultivation technique.
• Xiao Hua agreed to accompany Cai Zhuoxia to the Qimeng Mountain Range, and she explained that Yan Liwei could connect them to a Xunyan Sect alchemist.
• Cai Zhuoxia and Xiao Hua reached the Yan Family village, where Yan Feng received them and sent for Yan Liwei.
• Yan Liwei dismissed Xiao Hua as a low-level Rogue Cultivator and insisted that Cai Zhuoxia address him as a senior.
• Yan Liwei demanded seventy percent of the pills from their venture and suggested he would accept an even split if Cai Zhuoxia cultivated with him.

Xiao Hua joined Cai Zhuoxia and Yan Liwei on a journey to find an alchemist, accepting a smaller share after Yan Liwei demanded most of the pills. As Cai Zhuoxia changed their route and Yan Liwei behaved suspiciously, Xiao Hua discovered that his strange incantation had given him a vague new sense, but he still could not determine Yan Liwei’s intentions.

• Yan Liwei demanded seventy percent of the pills and dismissed Xiao Hua, but Xiao Hua agreed to accompany Cai Zhuoxia anyway.
• Cai Zhuoxia and Yan Liwei swore an alliance, and the three set out toward the Qimeng Mountain Range.
• Yan Liwei sealed his cave with formation talismans, while Xiao Hua’s incantation let him sense activity beyond his cave.
• Xiao Hua followed Yan Liwei underground and saw him leave a talisman in a tree, but found no one else at the site during the night.
• Cai Zhuoxia changed their route again, and Yan Liwei watched her coldly; Xiao Hua saw no sign of Yan Liwei sneaking out that night.

Xiao Hua warned Cai Zhuoxia that Yan Liwei had secretly left their camp, and she pretended to lead him to the Mother-Child Spirit Fruit’s location in the Qimeng Mountain Range. Yan Liwei exposed his suspicion and attacked the stone wall, then trapped Cai Zhuoxia and Xiao Hua as two newcomers arrived.

• Xiao Hua sensed Yan Liwei escaping underground and told Cai Zhuoxia that he had left the camp again.
• Cai Zhuoxia checked Yan Liwei’s cave, found it empty, and grew wary, but Yan Liwei returned before she could question Xiao Hua further.
• The group traveled to a secluded ravine in the Qimeng Mountain Range, where Cai Zhuoxia repeatedly tried and failed to open a hidden entrance.
• Yan Liwei blasted the stone wall with a Fireball Talisman and demanded to see Cai Zhuoxia’s record of the spirit fruit’s location.
• Xiao Hua warned Cai Zhuoxia that cultivators were approaching, but Yan Liwei trapped them both with a Fire Net Talisman as two crude voices called out to him.

Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia escaped Yan Liwei and the Pilan Twin Bears when Xiao Hua realized Cai Zhuoxia’s spiritual power was slowing him down. After learning that Yan Liwei planned to search for the Mother-Child Spirit Fruit, Xiao Hua returned toward the stone wall while Cai Zhuoxia waited behind.

• Yan Liwei and the Pilan Twin Bears attacked Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia, but Xiao Hua evaded their talismans while carrying Cai Zhuoxia away.
• Cai Zhuoxia stopped circulating spiritual power at Xiao Hua’s urging, allowing him to accelerate and escape Yan Liwei’s flying sword.
• Yan Liwei and the Pilan Twin Bears discussed Xiao Hua’s unusual speed and decided to investigate his identity and search the suspected Mother-Child Spirit Fruit location.
• Cai Zhuoxia worried that her family would suffer for offending the Yan Family and that Yan Liwei might find the fruit’s location.
• Xiao Hua told Cai Zhuoxia to wait and flew back toward the stone wall to check whether Yan Liwei and the Pilan Twin Bears had left.

Xiao Hua ambushed and killed Yan Liwei, then pursued the fleeing Pilan Twin Bears, killing one with Fireball Talismans. The other vanished into the forest but soon burst out again with a goshawk behind him, charging toward Xiao Hua.

• Yan Liwei used a talisman and a holed object to inspect the blocked cleft, while Xiao Hua approached underground with an Earth Evasion Talisman.
• Xiao Hua burst from the ground and stabbed Yan Liwei with the demonic spear tip, killing him despite being wounded by Yan Liwei's Ice Spike Talismans.
• The Pilan Twin Bears split up and fled, and Xiao Hua chased the one heading toward the outskirts of the Qimeng Mountain Range.
• Xiao Hua killed the fleeing Pilan Twin Bear with repeated Fireball Talismans, then pursued the other into the forest but lost his trail.
• As Xiao Hua turned back, a goshawk rose from the forest with the remaining Pilan Twin Bear ahead of it, and the Pilan Twin Bear charged straight at him.

Xiao Hua was caught between a Foundation Establishment goshawk and a tiny mouse carrying its baby, and he fought desperately to escape their pursuit. He disappeared underground with an Earth Evasion Talisman, but the goshawk tracked him from above.

• The goshawk tore the Pilan Twin Bears apart and chased the tiny yellow mouse that emerged from their back.
• Xiao Hua fled, but the mouse caught up and clung to his back while trying to evade the goshawk.
• Xiao Hua blocked the goshawk's talons with his demon spear and used his movement technique to dodge and counterattack.
• Xiao Hua activated an Earth Evasion Talisman and vanished underground, but the goshawk followed overhead, tracking his movements with divine sense.

Xiao Hua escaped Heaven-Shaking Azure with a baby Spirit Seeking Rat, then reunited with Cai Zhuoxia and returned with her to the hidden Mother-Child Spirit Fruit site. After waiting three days, they found the remains of Yan Liwei and the Pilan Twin Bears, and Cai Zhuoxia led Xiao Hua to the stream passage.

• Xiao Hua's Earth Evasion Talismans ran out, and a Spirit Seeking Rat left its baby with him before drawing Heaven-Shaking Azure's attention away.
• Xiao Hua escaped with the baby rat and placed it safely in his space, where its tail finally released his finger.
• Xiao Hua met Cai Zhuoxia at the mountain's foot and told her Yan Liwei and the Pilan Twin Bears might have perished fighting each other or Heaven-Shaking Azure.
• Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia waited three days before returning to the Mother-Child Spirit Fruit site, where they found bloodstained robes and storage pouches but no bodies.
• Cai Zhuoxia led Xiao Hua to the stream and explained that breaking open the cliff walls would reveal the passage to the Mother-Child Spirit Fruit.

Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia failed to open the stone wall passage leading to the Mother-Child Spirit Fruit, so they cultivated nearby while searching for another way. After several months, Xiao Hua reached the peak of the Qi Cultivation third layer, and the two returned to the wall to see whether he could break its restriction.

• Cai Zhuoxia used array talismans to try to open the stone wall, but her magic power was insufficient to break the restriction.
• Xiao Hua tried to move the wall by brute force, but the restriction made him slip; Cai Zhuoxia warned that damaging the array could destroy the Mother-Child Spirit Fruit.
• Cai Zhuoxia proposed asking her younger sister, Fairy Hongxia, to help, but they could not be sure she had emerged from seclusion, so they chose to cultivate nearby.
• Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia spent several months cultivating, and Xiao Hua advanced to the peak of the Qi Cultivation third layer while Cai Zhuoxia made no progress.
• Cai Zhuoxia asked Xiao Hua to leave seclusion and said she planned to return to Luyang to find her younger sister; Xiao Hua proposed trying the stone wall again before she departed.
• Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia returned to the stone wall, where Xiao Hua prepared to test whether he could break its restriction.

Xiao Hua broke the restriction guarding the passage to the Mother-Child Spirit Fruit and entered the hidden grove with Cai Zhuoxia. As they searched for the single ripe fruit, a Leopard-patterned Dragonfly chased Cai Zhuoxia toward Xiao Hua.

• Xiao Hua used Cai Zhuoxia’s array talismans to break the stone wall’s restriction, then led her through the cave passage.
• Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia found a grove of Mother-Child Spirit Fruit plants, and Cai Zhuoxia explained that only one plant bore a ripe fruit at a time, with ten years between harvests.
• Xiao Hua proposed splitting the Fetal Breath Pills sixty-forty in favor of whoever found the ripe fruit, then secretly used his puppet to transplant the plants into his space.
• Cai Zhuoxia cried out while searching, and Xiao Hua saw her fleeing from a Leopard-patterned Dragonfly, the fruit grove’s guardian Spirit Beast.

Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia escaped the cave after Xiao Hua broke the restriction protecting the Mother-Child Spirit Fruit and collected the fruit. Once they reached safety, Xiao Hua offered it to Cai Zhuoxia, but she asked him to keep it until they found an alchemist to refine the Fetal Breath Pill.

• Cai Zhuoxia lured the Leopard-patterned Dragonfly away from Xiao Hua, but it pierced her back with an ice spike before she escaped again.
• Xiao Hua found a ripe Mother-Child Spirit Fruit, broke its restriction with the demonic spear tip, and stored it along with the fruit his puppet had gathered.
• Xiao Hua evaded the Leopard-patterned Dragonfly and fled the cave with Cai Zhuoxia, while the creature remained behind as another golden glimmer appeared on a fruit.
• Several days later, Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia reached safety far from the Qimeng Mountain Range and recalled escaping the Leopard-patterned Dragonfly and a Fire Cloud Finch.
• Xiao Hua offered Cai Zhuoxia the Mother-Child Spirit Fruit, but she refused it and asked him to keep it until she found an alchemist; Xiao Hua agreed and said he had an idea.

Xiao Hua emerged from seclusion after two months having reached the early Qi Cultivation fourth layer, and he and Cai Zhuoxia set out for the Xunyan Sect to seek a Fetal Breath Pill. Meanwhile, a masked cultivator discovered that the Mother-Child Spirit Fruits had been taken and blamed Li Zongbao for ruining his long-awaited plan.

• Cai Zhuoxia explained that an eleventh-layer Qi Cultivation disciple of the Xunyan Sect might help them find an alchemist to refine a Fetal Breath Pill, and Xiao Hua agreed to seek Zhuo Qingyuan's help after his retreat.
• Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia entered secluded cultivation, and Cai Zhuoxia left for the Cai Family of Luyang after a little over two months, intending to return with the items she had obtained at Hundred Zhang Peak.
• Xiao Hua emerged and caught up with Cai Zhuoxia, who was astonished to learn he had advanced to the early Qi Cultivation fourth layer.
• Cai Zhuoxia agreed to accompany Xiao Hua to the Xunyan Sect, and Xiao Hua asked whether the Mother-Child Spirit Fruit had uses beyond making Fetal Breath Pills.
• A masked cultivator entered the hidden space in the Qimeng Mountain Range, found the Mother-Child Spirit Fruits gone, and accused Li Zongbao of ruining his plans by taking and transplanting them.

Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia traveled toward the Xunyan Sect and encountered young Cultivation family disciples, including Yun Zichong of the Xu Yanyun Family. Yun Zichong asked whether Cai Zhuoxia’s sister had come for the Huanhua Sect’s recruitment, leaving Cai Zhuoxia surprised to learn that the sect was recruiting disciples.

• Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia flew toward the Xunyan Sect while discussing cultivation and the Cultivation World of Xi Country.
• Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia repeatedly encountered groups of unusually young, handsome Cultivation family disciples along their route.
• Cai Zhuoxia recognized Yun Zichong of the Xu Yanyun Family and explained that his family was known as the powerful southern counterpart to the Qingyang Cai Family.
• Yun Lan insulted Cai Zhuoxia and her sister Fairy Hongxia, and Yun Zichong sent Yun Lan away and apologized to Cai Zhuoxia.
• Yun Zichong asked whether Cai Zhuoxia’s sister had come for the Huanhua Sect’s disciple recruitment, and Cai Zhuoxia said she knew nothing about it.

Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia learned that Huanhua Sect would select three direct disciples, one of whom could inherit a Golden Core elder’s teachings, while traveling toward Xunyan Sect. They reached the sect’s vicinity, where they had to land and continue to its Reception Pavilion because flying was forbidden within a hundred li.

• Yun Zichong told Cai Zhuoxia and Xiao Hua that Huanhua Sect’s selection would admit only cultivators at the fourth Qi Cultivation layer or higher, and that three would become direct disciples, with one inheriting a Golden Core elder’s mantle.
• Yun Zichong invited Cai Zhuoxia to travel with him to the selection, but she declined, saying her younger sister was better qualified and she had other matters to attend to.
• Cai Zhuoxia explained that her family had rejected Yun Zichong’s marriage proposal because the Qingyang Cai Family had ordered them not to marry into the Xu Yanyun Family, hoping to reserve him for a direct female disciple.
• Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia continued their journey and reached Xunyan Sect five days later, where Xiao Hua marveled at the dense spiritual energy and the sect’s distant radiance.
• Cai Zhuoxia told Xiao Hua that visitors had to land because flying was forbidden within a hundred li of Xunyan Sect, and that they must wait at the Reception Pavilion.

Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia tried to enter the Xunyan Sect’s Reception Pavilion to visit Zhuo Qingyuan, but the sect’s disciples turned them away because Xiao Hua was a rogue cultivator. After waiting outside for three days, they finally caught the attention of a Xunyan Sect cultivator, and Cai Zhuoxia asked him to send word to Zhuo Qingyuan.

• Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia reached the Xunyan Sect’s enormous, tiered Reception Pavilion and learned that access depended on cultivation and affiliation.
• Ming Cheng refused to admit Xiao Hua because he was a rogue cultivator, while Ming Feng and Ming Cheng welcomed visiting disciples from the Seven Wonders Sect.
• Cai Zhuoxia explained that her family had endured greater humiliations to preserve itself, but Xiao Hua rejected the sect’s arrogance and refused to contact Zhuo Qingyuan through a communication talisman.
• Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia waited outside the Reception Pavilion for three days while its disciples ignored them.
• A Xunyan Sect cultivator approached Cai Zhuoxia, who asked him to notify Zhuo Qingyuan and offered him several mid-grade spirit stones.

Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia brought a Mother-Child Spirit Fruit to Zhuo Qingyuan so he could arrange for Fetal Breath Pills to be refined. After they entrusted him with the fruit and returned Xiao Mao’s jade pendant, Zhuo offered them news about Xunyan Sect’s need for Fire Marrow Blazing Crystals.

• Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia gave spirit stones to a Xunyan Sect disciple, who summoned Zhuo Qingyuan for them.
• Xiao Hua told Zhuo Qingyuan that Li Zongbao had advanced to Foundation Establishment and that Cai Zhuoxia held a Mother-Child Spirit Fruit.
• Cai Zhuoxia gave Zhuo Qingyuan the fruit to arrange for Fetal Breath Pills, and Zhuo said the pills would be ready within half a year.
• Xiao Hua asked after Xiao Mao and gave Zhuo Qingyuan a jade pendant to return to him, which Zhuo identified as Xiao Mao’s mother’s keepsake.
• Zhuo Qingyuan told Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia that Xunyan Sect needed Fire Marrow Blazing Crystals and would offer equivalent compensation for a sufficient quantity.

Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia reached Huanhua Sect, discussed the sect’s selection and the rare Fire Marrow Blazing Crystal, and waited overnight near its gates. The next morning, they met a young Huanhua Sect disciple who asked whether they had come to take part in the selection.

• Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia slowed down after sensing a powerful cultivator, then watched a Foundation Establishment elder fly past them.
• Cai Zhuoxia explained why she hoped to join Huanhua Sect and urged Xiao Hua to enter its selection as well.
• Cai Zhuoxia described the Fire Marrow Blazing Crystal as a rare red fire-element crystal, and Xiao Hua reacted strangely to its description.
• Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia reached Huanhua Sword Washing, but Cai Zhuoxia’s communication talisman failed to reach her younger sister.
• Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia meditated overnight, then met a young woman in white at the pavilion the next morning, who asked if they had come for Huanhua Sect’s selection.

Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia arrived at the Huanhua Sect selection, where he learned that Rogue Cultivators could participate despite the high cultivation requirement. The chapter left them waiting in the Reception Pavilion with nearly two hundred other candidates after Cai Zhuoxia clashed with her Qingyang Cai Family relatives.

• Cai Zhuoxia learned that no one else from the Cai Family of Luyang had arrived, while Xiao Hua confirmed he would enter the selection as a Rogue Cultivator.
• Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia entered the spatially expanded Reception Pavilion, where Rogue Cultivator Le Chongqi also arrived to participate.
• Cai Yingxia and Cai Yuxia mocked Cai Zhuoxia and insulted Xiao Hua, who angrily confronted them.
• A Huanhua Sect disciple surnamed Mo threatened to expel anyone who caused more trouble, and Yun Zichong calmed the dispute.
• Cai Zhuoxia learned that Cai Yingxia and Cai Yuxia were the only Cai Family representatives present and sat apart, while Xiao Hua stayed beside her.
• More candidates arrived, and nearly two hundred cultivators had gathered in the pavilion by noon.

Xiao Hua and Cai Zhuoxia attended the Huanhua Sect selection, where the candidates had to catch one of three Emerald Birds. After learning the rules, they decided to search separately, and Cai Zhuoxia began explaining the birds’ unusual abilities.

• Le Chongqi proposed that he and Xiao Hua work together, but Xiao Hua refused, saying he had come only to accompany Cai Zhuoxia.
• Two Huanhua Sect disciples led the candidates by flying boat to a flower-covered rear mountain and announced that catching a live Emerald Bird by noon the next day would win the selection.
• The Huanhua Sect disciples gave every candidate a talisman that could teleport them to safety, explaining that using it would count as withdrawal.
• Yun Zichong invited Cai Zhuoxia to search with him, but she refused and he left with his family disciples.
• Cai Zhuoxia suggested that she and Xiao Hua search separately so neither would have to compete with the other for a bird.
• Cai Zhuoxia told Xiao Hua that Emerald Birds were thumb-sized, fast, sensitive to spiritual energy, and able to change color to match their surroundings.