Chapter Summaries

Xiao Hua exposed the intruder in Vermilion Bird Hall as a Ghost Cultivator, who resisted his usual attacks and unleashed a Five Sons Evil Spirit on the cultivators. Xiao Hua found that the Prajna Heavy Sword could wound the Ghost Cultivator, but the enemy sent the evil ghost and a mass of green mist against him and his Phoenix Dharma Body.

• Xiao Hua explained that he had suspected the cultivator because he alone refused to pay for an antidote, and the cultivator admitted he was a Ghost Cultivator who had knowingly drunk the poisoned spirit wine.
• The Ghost Cultivator used a triangular banner and green mist to extinguish Xiao Hua's Samadhi True Fire, while Dream Slayer and his other techniques failed to harm him.
• The Ghost Cultivator drew the invading ghosts into his banner and summoned a grotesque Five Sons Evil Spirit, which attacked and devoured the flesh of two cultivators.
• Xiao Hua charged the Ghost Cultivator with the Prajna Heavy Sword, using his Phoenix Dharma Body to shield himself from the mist.
• Xiao Hua's Prajna Heavy Sword wounded the Ghost Cultivator, who sent the Five Sons Evil Spirit toward Xiao Hua's back and blasted his Phoenix Dharma Body with green mist.

Xiao Hua defeated the Ghost Cultivator and its vicious ghost, but the lightning tribulation continued after the battle. He wondered whether it belonged to someone else as Vermilion Bird Hall trembled beneath the thunder.

• Xiao Hua burned the Ghost Cultivator with crimson spirit fire while fighting off the vicious ghost, and his Phoenix Dharma Body was badly wounded.
• Xiao Hua struck the vicious ghost with the Prajna Heavy Sword, but it pierced the Phoenix Dharma Body with its tongue and numbed Xiao Hua’s arm with freezing wind before the banner pulled it back.
• Xiao Hua drove the frost from his arm with the Dragon Transformation Art and watched the spirit fire consume the Ghost Cultivator.
• Xiao Hua reassured Xue Xue that he was unharmed and saw that only a small fraction of the cultivators in Vermilion Bird Hall had survived.
• Thunder struck Vermilion Bird Hall, and Xiao Hua wondered why the lightning tribulation remained after Shang Qinghe, Lan Jingming, and the Ghost Cultivator had died.

Xiao Hua faced the ghost who had possessed Huang Mengxiang as a ten-thousand-year tribulation descended on Vermilion Bird Hall. After absorbing the souls around her and defeating Xiao Hua’s attacks with her Seven-Eyed Passion Fire, the ghost reached through the Rabbit Formation toward Xue Xue.

• Huang Mengxiang revealed that a ghost had possessed her, and Xiao Hua recognized that the heavenly lightning was targeting the ghost.
• The Vermilion Bird Blazing Fire Great Formation collapsed, and the ghost emerged from Huang Mengxiang’s unconscious body as lightning struck.
• The ghost absorbed the hall’s ghosts and many cultivators’ souls, then formed a young maiden’s body resembling Huang Mengxiang.
• Xiao Hua attacked with spirit fire, but the ghost blocked it with her Seven-Eyed Passion Fire and overpowered him after his spiritual power ran out.
• The ghost extinguished another bolt of heavenly lightning and reached through the Rabbit Formation toward Xue Xue, threatening to separate her from Xiao Hua.

Xiao Hua and Xue Xue faced death together until heavenly lightning forced the ghost to release Xue Xue and reveal herself as Huang Yi, the legendary Little Cabbage. Huang Yi explained that the mortal legends about her and You Langjun were false, then revealed she had cursed the Tianmen Mountain Huang Family, leaving Xiao Hua to connect her curse to the Zhu Family of Jingbo City.

• The ghost seized Xue Xue and threatened to kill her unless Xiao Hua surrendered, but Xiao Hua refused to abandon his wife.
• Xue Xue and Xiao Hua discussed dying together and asked to see Little Cabbage, so Xiao Hua brought out the fish in its wooden basin.
• A heavenly lightning strike made the ghost release Xue Xue, and Xiao Hua recognized her as Little Cabbage.
• Huang Yi said the stories about her and You Langjun becoming fish were fabricated and told Xiao Hua and Xue Xue that her name was Huang Yi.
• Huang Yi revealed that she had cursed the Tianmen Mountain Huang Family, and Xiao Hua thought of the Zhu Family of Jingbo City.

Huang Yi explained how she fell in love with the Confucian cultivator You Zhongquan and why the Huang family and Immortal Alliance opposed him. As her final lightning tribulation approached, she began recounting their past, leaving her story at the moment her father discovered her stalled cultivation.

• Huang Yi explained that her Vermilion Bird Sacred Blood had helped her refine the Seven-Eyed Passion Fire and endure lightning tribulations, and she identified Xiao Hua’s Wutuodan as a rare remedy for sinister poisons.
• Huang Yi revealed that You Zhongquan had been a Confucian cultivator and wandering hero, and she recognized Xiao Hua’s Literary Heart as You Zhongquan’s, though its aura severely corroded her ghostly body.
• Huang Yi warned Xiao Hua that Confucian cultivators faced execution on Xiaoyu Continent and explained that she could not reincarnate after entering the ghost path.
• Huang Yi recounted how You Zhongquan had saved her from her enemies, how they spent 104 days recovering together in a secluded valley, and how they fell in love.
• Huang Yi said she had hoped to remain with You Zhongquan despite the conflict between Dao Sect and Confucian cultivation, but her father discovered that her cultivation had stopped progressing.

Huang Yi explained how the Immortal Alliance killed Brother You, destroyed her soul, and drove her onto the Ghost Cultivator path, leading her to curse the Huang family. As heavenly lightning began to consume her, Xiao Hua asked whether she could enter reincarnation and revealed a Buddhist power that might help her.

• Huang Yi recounted how her father exposed the Confucian cultivators, how she reached Brother You too late, and how she became a Ghost Cultivator after a vicious ghost devoured her soul.
• Huang Yi explained that she hid fragments of her soul in Cold River fish, then cursed the Huang family's ancestors while seeking revenge for Brother You.
• Huang Yi admitted she could not bring herself to kill her descendants and said Huang Mengxiang's dream insights were her compensation to the family.
• Huang Yi stopped resisting the lightning tribulation and began to dissolve, while Xue Xue wept and Xiao Hua asked whether Huang Yi could be reincarnated.
• Huang Yi suspected Xiao Hua intended to seize her soul, so Xiao Hua activated the Eight-Leaf Exquisite Scripture and began forming a Buddha relic.

Xiao Hua sacrificed his Buddha Sarira to transcend Huang Yi, enduring her accumulated suffering before she vanished and left him a warning about his sealed Niwan Palace. Her lightning tribulation transformed his Buddhist cultivation, and he used his new powers to summon and transcend the dead in Vermilion Bird Hall, where the Huang Family revered him as their benefactor.

• Xiao Hua used the Baye Linglong Scripture against Huang Yi and called down heavenly lightning to help her reenter reincarnation.
• Xiao Hua offered his Buddha Sarira to Huang Yi, who devoured it and made him experience the pain of her tens of thousands of years of torment.
• Before disappearing, Huang Yi warned Xiao Hua that a mighty expert had sealed his Niwan Palace and left her knowledge in the crimson mark on his forehead.
• Huang Yi's lightning tribulation formed a two-foot-tall Buddha Sarira and a second-grade golden lotus platform for Xiao Hua.
• Xiao Hua discovered his Buddha Sarira could summon souls, then summoned and transcended the cultivators who had died violently in Vermilion Bird Hall.
• Huang Tianle and the surviving Huang Family disciples prostrated themselves before Xiao Hua, who told them Huang Yi's kindness had spared them.

Xiao Hua erased the memories of everyone in Vermilion Bird Hall to keep his Buddhist cultivation secret, while Xue Xue agreed that the secret should be removed from her memory as well. Afterward, Huang Tianle asked Xiao Hua to stay at Tianmen Mountain for several days to discuss a matter that could benefit them both, and Yue Chan prepared to share what he knew.

• Xiao Hua agreed to erase the memories of everyone in Vermilion Bird Hall, including Xue Xue, to protect the secret of his Buddhist cultivation.
• After Xiao Hua woke the others, Huang Tianle thanked him for helping Huang Yi defeat the evil ghost and mourned Huang Yi's sacrifice.
• Huang Tianle proposed erecting a merit tablet for Xiao Hua and asked him to remain at Tianmen Mountain while he discussed a matter with Huang Yun.
• Yue Chan thanked Xiao Hua for saving his life and asked Huang Tianle for a quiet room so he could share what he knew.
• Xiao Hua returned the Moyun Village guest-retainer token to Qiang Lihao and asked whether the group would stay or leave.

After the upheaval at Tianmen Mountain, Xiao Hua stayed to protect the Huang family while Xue Xue rested and he comprehended the Way of Cause and Effect. More than ten days later, Huang Tianle summoned him and slowly led him to a secluded place for a private discussion.

• Xiao Hua declined to become Moyun Village's honorary elder, and Qiang Lihao agreed to remain at Tianmen Mountain to help repay its favor.
• Yue Chan asked Xiao Hua for help with a private wish, and Xiao Hua promised to send word if he had the opportunity.
• Xiao Hua guarded Xue Xue as she slept, then entered a prolonged meditation after the Hand of Cause and Effect trembled in his space.
• After more than ten days, Huang Tianle arrived with Huang Yun and Huang Mengxiang, now frail and without spiritual power, and asked Xiao Hua to accompany him.
• Huang Tianle led Xiao Hua and Xue Xue through Tianmen Mountain's gardens to a desolate place, apparently to discuss a secret matter.

Huang Tianle brought Xiao Hua to Huang Yi’s former residence and asked him to repair Tianmen Mountain’s ruined defensive formations. Xiao Hua hesitated at the offer, which included access to the Huang Family’s formation knowledge, leaving Huang Tianle hopeful he would agree.

• Huang Tianle led Xiao Hua and Huang Mengxiang to Huang Yi’s preserved former residence and reflected on how walking had changed his outlook.
• Huang Tianle explained that the residence’s protective formation showed the former power of the Tianmen Mountain Huang Family.
• Huang Tianle said the lightning tribulation had destroyed the Vermilion Bird Blazing Fire Great Formation, leaving Tianmen Mountain vulnerable as he neared the end of his life.
• Huang Tianle offered Xiao Hua the spirit stones and access to all the Huang Family’s formation knowledge if he would repair Tianmen Mountain’s defensive formations.
• Xiao Hua hesitated, and Huang Tianle took his consideration as a sign that he might accept.

Xiao Hua agreed to repair Tianmen Mountain’s formations in exchange for the Huang Family’s jade talisman materials and methods, while teaching Huang Mengxiang. Over three years, he repaired nearly ten formations and continued to contemplate Huang Yi’s suffering.

• Huang Yun offered Xiao Hua the Huang Family’s jade marrow and incomplete jade talisman methods, and Xue Xue urged him to help the family.
• Huang Tianle arranged for Huang Mengxiang to observe Xiao Hua and gave him the family’s formation records and explanations.
• Xiao Hua found the formation knowledge difficult to understand but began studying Tianmen Mountain’s many defenses.
• Huang Tianle died a little over twenty days after Xiao Hua began repairing the formations, having sacrificed his essence blood and Dharma body to protect the family.
• Over three years, Xiao Hua repaired nearly ten formations and taught Huang Mengxiang their principles, while leaving severely damaged and less important formations unrepaired.
• During breaks from his work, Xiao Hua continued contemplating the suffering Huang Yi had imparted through the Buddha Sarira.

Xiao Hua completed repairs to Tianmen Mountain’s Three Star Zhuoting Grand Formation with Huang Mengxiang’s help while reflecting on the past three years and Xue Xue’s inability to establish her foundation. Huang Mengxiang activated the repaired formation, and spiritual power began spreading across Tianmen Mountain.

• Xiao Hua studied parts of Huang Yi’s Ghost Cultivator inheritance, including the Soul Thorn, but made only limited progress over three years.
• Xue Xue remained unable to establish her foundation despite meditating beside Xiao Hua, while Huang Yun and Yang Fan had established theirs after an attack by an inexplicable cultivator.
• Huang Mengxiang demonstrated his talent for formations as he and Xiao Hua finished repairing a formation disk for the Three Star Zhuoting Grand Formation.
• Huang Mengxiang failed to embed the formation disk because his spiritual power was insufficient, so Xiao Hua placed it and reminded him to keep developing his cultivation.
• Huang Mengxiang used a formation flag to activate the grand formation, sending spiritual power from the pavilion toward the artificial hill and distant lake.

Huang Mengxiang restored Tianmen Mountain’s protective array with Xiao Hua’s help, then received word that cultivators from three sects had come to demand answers about their dead disciples. Xiao Hua agreed to assist after Mengxiang pleaded with him, and Huang Yun went out to meet the challengers as they waited beyond the mist-covered mountain.

• Huang Mengxiang finished restoring the array, and Xiao Hua praised her work.
• Huang Yun’s communication talisman summoned Mengxiang and Xiao Hua to face cultivators from Jingqi Peak, Jiangyu Sect, and Qiming Sect.
• Xiao Hua initially refused to leave the array, but Mengxiang persuaded him to help and he gave her array flags to take to her parents.
• Xiao Hua and Mengxiang flew toward Tianmen Mountain’s entrance, where the protective array’s mist blocked six or seven Foundation Establishment cultivators.
• Yun Zheshhan and the other cultivators discussed their suspicions about Tianmen Mountain’s array and demanded justice for their dead fellow disciples.
• Huang Yun led Tianmen Mountain’s cultivators out through the mist and formally greeted the waiting visitors.

Huang Yun and the cultivators of Tianmen Mountain confronted representatives of three sects who demanded answers for the deaths of Zhu Feng and others. The visitors attacked, and Huang Mengxiang activated a Vermilion Bird formation that unleashed flames across the river.

• Ji Shiping recognized Huang Yun and Yang Fan as Foundation Establishment cultivators, and Huang Yun invited the visiting sect representatives into Tianmen Mountain.
• Huang Yun explained that Tianmen Mountain had already reported the deaths and returned the deceased cultivators’ belongings, but Bai Huachu rejected his account and demanded compensation or punishment.
• Bai Huachu attacked Huang Yun with a magical artifact, prompting the other representatives to launch their prepared attacks at Yang Fan, Huang Mengxiang, and the disciples.
• Yun Zheshhan hesitated before joining the assault with water swords, while Huang Mengxiang condemned the attackers and ordered the disciples to raise their formation flags.
• Huang Mengxiang and the disciples combined their flags’ Vermilion Birds into a larger bird, then summoned clusters of flames across the river between Tianmen Mountain’s peaks.

Huang Mengxiang used Tianmen Mountain’s newly completed formation and Samadhi True Fire to defeat the cultivators attacking her family. The attackers died, and the Huang Family collected their belongings as the formation came down.

• Huang Yun and Yang Fan used their formation flags to defend against Bai Huachu, Ji Shiping, Yun Zheshhan, and the other cultivators’ attacks.
• Huang Mengxiang sent flames through the formation, and Yun Zheshhan’s water spells and Innate Water Essence failed to stop them.
• Xiao Hua urged Huang Mengxiang to spare the attackers, but she argued that Tianmen Mountain had to demonstrate its strength to deter future threats.
• Xiao Hua let Huang Mengxiang decide, and she directed the flames to burn Yun Zheshhan and the other six cultivators to death.
• Huang Mengxiang ordered the disciples to collect the dead cultivators’ storage bags, then Huang Yun and Yang Fan withdrew the formation.
• Huang Yun and Yang Fan thanked Xiao Hua and said the great formation was complete.

Xiao Hua finished restoring Tianmen Mountain’s linked defensive formations, accepted the promised item, and departed before the evening banquet. Huang Mengxiang discovered his farewell note and pill, learned that he did not blame her, and kept the jade slip close.

• Xiao Hua said the restored formations would protect Tianmen Mountain and accepted the storage pouch Huang Yun gave him.
• Huang Mengxiang defended her decision to kill the Jingqi Peak cultivators, while Huang Yun and Yang Fan worried that it could bring trouble from the three sects.
• Huang Mengxiang found Xiao Hua gone from his meditation chamber and discovered a jade slip and pill on his cushion.
• Huang Yun read Xiao Hua’s message and told Huang Mengxiang that he had left for other matters and did not blame her.
• Huang Mengxiang gave up chasing Xiao Hua and tucked the jade slip close to her body.

Xiao Hua and Xue Xue left Tianmen Mountain after Xiao Hua gave Huang Yun a Wutuodan that might break the Huang family's curse. As they traveled toward Haoming City, Xue Xue revealed that her Thunder Beast bloodline made Foundation Establishment unusually dangerous and that she had been warned not to rush it.

• Huang Mengxiang showed Yang Fan the Vermilion Bird Ring Xiao Hua had given her, and Huang Yun invited them to discuss the Wutuodan in private.
• Xiao Hua and Xue Xue flew away from Tianmen Mountain, and Xiao Hua explained why he had given the Huang family only one Wutuodan and why he wanted to avoid meeting them again.
• Xue Xue teased Xiao Hua about Huang Mengxiang's feelings for him and complained that he had refused to meet Fellow Daoist Qiang from Moyun Village.
• Xue Xue observed that Xiao Hua had grown more profound during the past three years, and Xiao Hua asked why her cultivation was also advancing unusually.
• Xue Xue explained that her Thunder Beast bloodline and Hidden Lightning Physique made Foundation Establishment difficult and potentially fatal if she rushed it.

Xue Xue explained that her Thunder Beast bloodline made Foundation Establishment difficult, and Xiao Hua learned that the Ling Lei Pill could help awaken it. Their conversation was interrupted by three Heavenly Demon Sect cultivators, whose lewd leader propositioned them and made Xiao Hua reconsider Zhang Qingxiao’s intentions.

• Xue Xue told Xiao Hua that her Thunder Beast bloodline could strengthen her after Foundation Establishment but made the breakthrough difficult.
• Xue Xue showed Xiao Hua the Ling Lei Pill formula, and he recognized that it required male and female Thunder Beast blood, rare Sky Yin Grass, and difficult alchemy techniques.
• Xiao Hua reassured Xue Xue that he would help her and wait as long as necessary for her to establish her foundation.
• Three early Foundation Establishment cultivators approached, and their leader mocked Xue Xue and made lewd propositions to her and Xiao Hua.
• Xiao Hua recognized the newcomers as members of the Heavenly Demon Sect and suspected that Zhang Qingxiao had previously spared them for ulterior reasons.

Xiao Hua and Xue Xue fought three Heavenly Demon Sect cultivators who tried to entrap them with lewd illusions and sinister artifacts. Xiao Hua countered their attacks with the Mysterious Yin Banner and Samadhi True Fire, then immobilized all three as they tried to escape.

• The freakish male cultivator taunted Xiao Hua and Xue Xue, and Xue Xue attacked him with her Lightning Whip.
• Xiao Hua warned Xue Xue that the pink powder was poisonous, and she summoned the Phalaenopsis orchid to protect herself.
• The two burly cultivators surrounded Xiao Hua and Xue Xue with demonic banners that produced naked illusions, but Xiao Hua's Leaf Sun Fan burned them away.
• The freak released blood containing vicious infant-shaped ghosts, and Xiao Hua used the Mysterious Yin Banner to block the blood and absorb the ghosts.
• Xiao Hua attacked the three Heavenly Demon Sect cultivators with Samadhi True Fire and trapped them with the Great Restraint Technique as the freak tried to flee.

Xiao Hua and Xue Xue killed three Heavenly Demon Sect cultivators and rescued a foul-mouthed female cultivator. After she woke and attacked them, she mistook Xiao Hua for a disciple of Blood Radiance Island and revealed that one of her captors, Fan Qian, had once been a Rogue Cultivator.

• Xiao Hua burned the three Heavenly Demon Sect cultivators to ashes with Samadhi True Fire and collected their storage bags and Mysterious Yin Banner.
• Xiao Hua and Xue Xue turned over the unconscious female cultivator and were surprised by her unusual appearance.
• Xiao Hua used ointment from a storage bag to wake the female cultivator.
• The female cultivator cursed Fan Qian and attacked Xiao Hua and Xue Xue with fireballs, which Xiao Hua deflected.
• The female cultivator mistook Xiao Hua’s Sleeve Universe technique for a Blood Radiance Island spell and explained that Fan Qian had abducted her after establishing his foundation.