Chapter Summaries

Cheng Xinzhan traveled to Kuizhou with Shen Zhaoming to temper his Golden Core with heavenly thunder. After his practice drew the attention of three Emei disciples, a fight broke out, and Cheng Xinzhan learned that their leader was Yuchi Zhenyan of Flying Thunder Ridge.

• Song Jishu completed the Crimson Radiance, Clear Waters, Pivot and Balance, Mountain-Linking Grand Formation, and Hong Changbao and Wu Xuanmiao renamed Lost-Trace Lake Fuxia Lake.
• Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming left Fuxia Lake for eastern Shu, where Cheng Xinzhan planned to temper his Golden Core beneath the thunderclouds of Kuizhou.
• Cheng Xinzhan used a series of talismans to draw lightning onto his Golden Core, which gradually grew accustomed to the thunder.
• A purple-skinned gourd emerged from the clouds and tried to seize Cheng Xinzhan's Golden Core, but he recalled it safely into his body.
• Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming fought three Emei disciples who had approached them, and Cheng Xinzhan bound one while the black-faced Yuchi Zhenyan demanded his release.
• Yuchi Zhenyan identified himself as a disciple of Li Yuanhua, the Bearded Immortal of Flying Thunder Ridge on Emei Mountain.

Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming fought Yuchi Zhenyan and another Emei disciple after the pair mistook Cheng Xinzhan’s Golden Core for a treasure. Cheng Xinzhan defeated Yuchi Zhenyan in a series of sword, treasure, and weapon contests, then remained intent on learning his Silk-String Puppet Technique.

• Cheng Xinzhan questioned Yuchi Zhenyan about why he had come to Kuizhou, but Yuchi Zhenyan attacked again rather than explain further.
• Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming fought the two Emei disciples, with Peach Capital overpowering Yuchi Zhenyan’s Crimson Thunder and Shen Zhaoming subduing the other man.
• Yuchi Zhenyan sent his Primordial Spirit out to control Crimson Thunder while using the Silk-String Puppet Technique to keep controlling his body.
• Yuchi Zhenyan brought out the Heavenly Qian Fire Spirit Pearl and a fire spear, while Cheng Xinzhan countered with Peach Capital, Nether Capital, and Autumn Water.
• Yuchi Zhenyan wounded Cheng Xinzhan with a heavy spear blow, but Cheng Xinzhan held his ground, took the spear, and pointed Autumn Water at Yuchi Zhenyan’s brow.
• Yuchi Zhenyan conceded, and Cheng Xinzhan said he still wanted to learn the Silk-String Puppet Technique.

Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming spared three Emei cultivators hunting chi-dragons, and Cheng learned the Silk-String Puppet Technique from Yuchi Zhenyan. After helping Bai Yuhua find refuge in Shennongjia, Cheng discovered that his junior sister’s father, Music Immortal, had been captured alive by Xuanzhen Ancestor, and planned to keep cultivating in Kuizhou before confronting nearby demonic sects.

• Cheng Xinzhan questioned the three Emei cultivators, who revealed that Madam Miaoyi had ordered them to collect eight Jade-Fat Little Chi-Dragon pearls, and Yuchi Zhenyan taught him the Silk-String Puppet Technique in exchange for being spared.
• Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming studied the technique for seven days, then met Bai Yuhua, who asked them to help escape the dragon hunters.
• Shen Zhaoming carried Bai Yuhua in his Jade-Clean Bottle to a secluded pool in Shennongjia, where Bai Yuhua revealed that Emei hunted chi-dragons for pearls that preserved beauty and youth.
• Bai Yuhua told Cheng Xinzhan that Music Immortal had been captured alive by Xuanzhen Ancestor during a hunt decades earlier, and Shen Zhaoming identified Xuanzhenzi as a powerful Emei True Person.
• Cheng Xinzhan told Shen Zhaoming that Music Immortal was his junior sister’s father, then chose to continue tempering his core in Kuizhou and proposed they eliminate nearby demonic sects.

Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming arrived at Earth Dragon Mountain’s Water and Land Thoroughfare Fair after exterminating several notorious demonic groups in Shizhou. They heard that Cao Jin was coming to Western Hunan, then recognized a treasure being auctioned as a spell from the Pure Brightness School and realized they could no longer stay uninvolved.

• The chapter described Mount Wuling’s divided territories, its many rogue cultivators and demonic powers, and the trade fair held at Earth Dragon Mountain.
• At the fair, cultivators discussed the Northern and Southern Kui Stars, who had slain several notorious demonic groups in Shizhou, and reported that Cao Jin was coming to Western Hunan to recruit a replacement for Yang Xuanla among the Eight Great Vajras.
• Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming listened from a nearby table, learned that Cao Jin was expected, and decided to gather information about him before entering Western Hunan.
• After the Treasure-Chanting Fair began, Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming heard a Pure Brightness School spell called the Pure Brightness Three Tribulations Finger offered for bidding and recognized it.

Shen Zhaoming and Cheng Xinzhan recovered the trail of a Pure Brightness School spell to Soul-Losing Ravine and learned that more righteous cultivators were heading into Western Hunan. A New Year print led Cheng Xinzhan to discover that old friends he had been searching for were nearby, while Shen Zhaoming prepared to scout the ravine alone.

• Shen Zhaoming bought the undeciphered Pure Brightness Three Tribulations Finger authentic text at the fair and questioned Shi Buyu about its source.
• Shi Buyu identified Tan Tianzong of Soul-Losing Ravine as the seller and warned the pair about the ravine’s power and its sect master, White Impermanence.
• Shen Zhaoming warned Shi Buyu to keep the Water Gang away from Pure Brightness School property and revealed that more righteous cultivators would arrive in Western Hunan.
• Shen Zhaoming and Cheng Xinzhan bought and compared maps of the Mount Wuling region before Cheng Xinzhan noticed a New Year print depicting a red-robed Daoist.
• Cheng Xinzhan recognized his own sword intent in the print, and the old Miao woman told him that the outsiders he sought were staying in her stockade.
• Shen Zhaoming agreed to scout Soul-Losing Ravine while Cheng Xinzhan went with the old woman to visit his old friends.

Cheng Xinzhan found the survivors of Chestnut Creek Stockade in a hidden Miao valley in Western Hunan and reunited with Ji Kaiming and the aged chief, Munaigong. After hearing how the stockade escaped the demonic calamity at great cost, Cheng Xinzhan told them to stay where they were safe and promised to take them home when they could return.

• Granny Lan led Cheng Xinzhan into a concealed valley, where Ji Kaiming recognized him as the Daoist who had once taught and helped him.
• Ji Kaiming introduced Cheng Xinzhan to Lan Yinluo, Lan Mujin, and Lan Lusheng, and then took him to meet the old stockade chief.
• Cheng Xinzhan reunited with Munaigong and learned that only about a hundred people and a few animals remained from Chestnut Creek Stockade.
• Ji Kaiming recounted how the stockade fled the demonic tide, lost many people and animals, and was eventually rescued and sheltered by Lan Yinluo.
• Cheng Xinzhan told Munaigong and the survivors to remain in the Miao Stockade for now and promised to bring them home when they could return.

Cheng Xinzhan thanked the Silver Bell Miao Stockade for sheltering his friends, learned about Soul-Losing Ravine, and traveled there with Shen Zhaoming to investigate. After disguising themselves as two of its demon fiends, they prepared to enter and search for Tan Tianzong, though their captives’ memories revealed no sign of Pure Brightness School disciples.

• Cheng Xinzhan gave Lan Yinluo pills and talismans, offered Lan Mujin eastern pearls, and asked the Lans about Soul-Losing Ravine.
• Lan Yinluo explained that Soul-Losing Ravine and Hanging Coffin Gorge were Western Hunan’s leading demonic powers, restrained in part by Three Kings Temple and True Martial Temple.
• Cheng Xinzhan treated the old stockade chief’s eye condition, taught Ji Kaiming the Great Sun Radiance Mantra, and left the stockade the next morning.
• Cheng Xinzhan met Shen Zhaoming outside Soul-Losing Ravine, and they watched the misty stronghold until two Second Realm demon fiends emerged.
• Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming frightened the demon fiends with illusions, examined their memories, killed them, and took their appearances.
• Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming decided to enter Soul-Losing Ravine disguised as the demon fiends and seek a chance to approach Tan Tianzong.

Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming entered Soul-Losing Ravine to meet Tan Tianzong, who seized their offerings and demanded all their possessions. Cheng Xinzhan distracted Tan Tianzong with a secret alchemical text, then revealed a sword had pierced the elder’s lower abdomen and threatened his golden core.

• Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming entered Soul-Losing Ravine disguised as demon fiends and went to Tan Tianzong’s palace.
• Shen Zhaoming offered Tan Tianzong gold essence, but Tan Tianzong seized it and threatened to turn the two disciples into living catalysts.
• Tan Tianzong demanded all their possessions, and Shen Zhaoming reluctantly handed over the items taken from the demon fiends.
• Cheng Xinzhan offered Tan Tianzong a secret alchemical method in exchange for letting them leave with their magical treasures.
• Tan Tianzong recognized the text as a supreme method for cultivating a yin cauldron and became absorbed in its promise of extending his life.
• Cheng Xinzhan revealed that a scarlet-gold sword had pierced Tan Tianzong’s lower abdomen and warned him not to move.

Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming uncovered Tan Tianzong’s murder of Kuang Zize and confronted White Impermanence and Cao Jin in Soul-Losing Ravine. Cheng Xinzhan tried to escape with the bewitched Shen Zhaoming, but White Impermanence blocked their way as a massive tower ship moved overhead.

• Cheng Xinzhan wounded Tan Tianzong and, with Shen Zhaoming, forced him to reveal that Kuang Zize had been captured and used as a medicinal catalyst.
• Tan Tianzong began to detonate his golden core, so Cheng Xinzhan destroyed it and killed him before the Eight-Armed Dragon King Cao and White Impermanence arrived.
• Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming revealed their identities, and Cheng Xinzhan struck White Impermanence with the Water Thunder Summer Official General’s thunderous drum.
• White Impermanence used a ghostly spell to control Shen Zhaoming, who turned his fly whisk against Cheng Xinzhan.
• Cheng Xinzhan summoned lightning to break through the mountain, freed Shen Zhaoming from the spell, and tried to escape with him as White Impermanence pursued and a tower ship moved overhead.

Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming escaped Soul-Losing Ravine by freeing its wandering souls, then fought White Impermanence and his golden core dharma form with Cao Jin blocking their way. Cheng Xinzhan wounded White Impermanence’s core, but Cao Jin saved him, prompting Cheng Xinzhan to challenge Cao Jin directly.

• Shen Zhaoming and Cheng Xinzhan destroyed White Impermanence’s Tower Ship, and Peach Capital severed White Impermanence’s left hand as Cheng Xinzhan burned the ship with yang fire.
• White Impermanence rang a bell that forced Cheng Xinzhan’s and Shen Zhaoming’s souls from their bodies, but Cheng Xinzhan’s Mao Ri Star Official and Shen Zhaoming’s third eye brought their souls back.
• Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming used a deliverance spell to free the souls in Soul-Losing Ravine and led them out, while White Impermanence pursued them in his golden core dharma form.
• Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming fought White Impermanence as Cao Jin repeatedly blocked their escape, and Cheng Xinzhan used Whale Inhalation to replenish his magical power.
• Cheng Xinzhan’s golden core suppressed White Impermanence’s dharma form, then his hidden White Bone Flying Sword cracked White Impermanence’s core and wounded him.
• Cao Jin knocked Peach Capital aside with a Thunderclap Pellet and saved White Impermanence, so Cheng Xinzhan and his Bamboo Body challenged Cao Jin to fight.

Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming were rescued from Cao Jin by the childlike master of True Martial Temple, Wen Tianzhen. At the temple, Tianzhen examined Cheng Xinzhan’s Peach Capital sword and explained his affinity with it.

• Cao Jin overwhelmed Cheng Xinzhan in close combat, injuring his shoulder and breaking his wrist, while Shen Zhaoming’s Dharma Eye failed to stop him.
• As Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming prepared to make a desperate escape, Wen Tianzhen arrived and deflected Cao Jin’s attack with his sword.
• Wen Tianzhen declared Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming under his protection, and Cao Jin let them leave after secretly taking several of Cheng Xinzhan’s hairs.
• Cao Jin abandoned the wounded White Impermanence and flew toward the Southern Wastes, leaving White Impermanence pleading for help.
• At True Martial Temple, Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming thanked Wen Tianzhen, who admired Peach Capital and said his True Martial and pure yang lineages gave him an affinity with the sword.

Cheng Xinzhan accepted Daoist Tianzhen’s offer to learn the True Martial demon-suppression arts, discovering their shared connection to a Miao stockade and training in Taiji Sword. The chapter ended as Cheng Xinzhan’s Golden Core Tribulation approached.

• Daoist Tianzhen invited Cheng Xinzhan and Shen Zhaoming to learn the True Martial arts, but Shen Zhaoming declined because of his sect’s rules and returned to Mount Longevity to recover.
• Daoist Tianzhen explained his orthodox True Martial lineage from Patriarch Sanfeng, his departure from Mount Wudang, and how he gained Patriarch Lü’s Pure Yang inheritance.
• Cheng Xinzhan shared his resolve to suppress demons, and Daoist Tianzhen praised him before revealing that they had both stayed at Chestnut Creek Stockade and encountered the Red-Crested Lord House-Guarding Picture.
• Daoist Tianzhen passed the True Martial demon-suppression lineage to Cheng Xinzhan and began teaching him Taijiquan and Taiji Sword.
• Several months later, Daoist Tianzhen praised Cheng Xinzhan’s mastery of the Taiji Sword, but Cheng Xinzhan sensed that his Golden Core Tribulation was arriving.

Cheng Xinzhan’s first elixir-washing tribulation arrived forty-five years early, forcing him to face yellow-grade clouds without proper preparations. As lightning gathered above the True Martial Temple, cultivators across Western Hunan spotted him and converged to watch.

• Cheng Xinzhan told Daoist Tianzhen that his tribulation had arrived forty-five years early, and they saw yellow clouds form above the True Martial Temple.
• Daoist Tianzhen suspected Cao Jin’s Dragon Curse, gave Cheng Xinzhan life-preserving pills, and left to guard the area from a distance.
• Cheng Xinzhan rose beneath the clouds, prepared to face the tribulation with his own strength and the treasures he carried.
• Shi Buyu heard the thunder while traveling down the You River, recognized Cheng Xinzhan beneath the yellow clouds, and considered sending him a gift afterward.
• Cultivators across Western Hunan gathered to observe Cheng Xinzhan’s tribulation, but halted when they noticed a childlike figure ten li away.

Cheng Xinzhan began his Three-Nine Gui Water Thunder Tribulation while Dong Shouren and Fu Shouzhen arrived to protect him. After enduring the first four bolts and using his water and lightning Dharma Swords to absorb some of the force, he realized the tribulation lightning could help him open the Purple Tower and refine his Primordial Spirit.

• Cheng Xinzhan released his Golden Core as two Fourth Realm cultivators, Dong Shouren and Fu Shouzhen, arrived and gave him a life-saving pill.
• Dong Shouren and Fu Shouzhen cleared the area and manifested the Red Emperor Great Dao Lord and Heavenly Lord Tao to protect Cheng Xinzhan during his tribulation.
• Cheng Xinzhan identified the first bolt as Gui Water Thunder and endured its long descent, then suffered the second bolt's bone-chilling attack.
• Cheng Xinzhan used Heaven One Gives Birth to Water to absorb part of the third and fourth bolts before withdrawing the nearly saturated sword.
• Cheng Xinzhan summoned High Truth for the fifth bolt and realized that tribulation lightning could open the Purple Tower and refine his Primordial Spirit.

Cheng Xinzhan drew tribulation lightning into his body and opened his purple tower, surviving the first wave and gaining a transformed Inner Vision World and sixty years of lifespan. Meanwhile, Cao Jin’s altar rite brought on the tribulation, but the Green-Robed Ancestor stopped Xinchेंnzi from attacking Cheng Xinzhan, who was guarded by two fourth-realm cultivators.

• Cheng Xinzhan used High Truth to divide the tribulation lightning and strike the purple cocoon within his Inner Vision World.
• As the lightning shook his inner landscape, Cheng Xinzhan summoned its deities to stabilize it and continued drawing lightning despite High Truth reaching its limit.
• Cheng Xinzhan’s golden core took over intercepting the lightning, and the purple cocoon burst into a ten-level tower that housed his souls and the true forms of his seven po.
• Cheng Xinzhan gained sixty years of lifespan, bringing his total to three hundred and ninety-six, as the first wave of tribulation ended.
• At Dragon-Transformation Cave, Cao Jin explained that his blue-gold altar, fueled by the Green-Robed Ancestor’s essence blood, had drawn Cheng Xinzhan’s tribulation forward.
• After locating Cheng Xinzhan in Western Hunan, the Green-Robed Ancestor warned Xinchेंnzi that two fourth-realm cultivators guarded him and prevented an attack.

Cheng Xinzhan endured the three waves of lightning tribulation, using the heavenly lightning to refine his swords, Golden Core, body, and three souls into primordial spirits. The tribulation ended successfully, and Dong Shouren and Fu Shouzhen revealed him to the gathered spectators.

• Dong Shouren and Fu Shouzhen sensed a fifth-realm cultivator spying from the south and suspected Green Robe had helped bring on Cheng Xinzhan’s tribulation.
• Cheng Xinzhan used Peach Capital to meet the lightning, refining it and his Youjing soul until both became stronger and Youjing became a primordial spirit.
• Cheng Xinzhan tempered Nether Capital and his four elemental dharma swords, while Shuangling also became a primordial spirit.
• Cheng Xinzhan used the Bamboo Body and a Great Heavenly Capital Script talisman to protect Taiguang and his Golden Core through the third wave of lightning.
• Cheng Xinzhan faced the final bolt with his own body, directing the tribulation lightning through his thunder arts and into his Thunder Abode and Golden Core.
• The lightning clouds dispersed, and Dong Shouren and Fu Shouzhen revealed Cheng Xinzhan to the spectators after he completed the tribulation.

On the day Three Pure Ones Immortal Mountain opened its gates for a disciple examination, thousands of children entered a difficult illusion formation. Lin Fengnian unexpectedly reached the temple first, followed by Zhu Shuyu, while the others remained lost in the fog by sunset.

• Families gathered in Camphor Fragrance Town, where Green-Tile Alley residents fed visitors and let them touch the plaques for blessings before they set off for Graceful Splendor Mountain.
• Parents sent thousands of children into the mountain fog after Daoists announced that candidates would be judged for spiritual talent and other abilities.
• At the temple, old Daoist Zhenwei, Yinyin, and Bailong Nai discussed the difficult formation and watched for children who could pass it.
• Lin Fengnian climbed through the illusion formation without seeming affected, reached the temple, and explained that the fog was dry.
• Zhu Shuyu arrived at noon, displaying Pure Spirit Qi, exceptional memory, painting skill, and musical talent.
• No other children emerged from the fog before sunset.

Ye Lianchen learned from Shi Buyu that Western Hunan’s soul-refining sects may be supported by an ancient power, then entered Hanging Coffin Gorge hidden in an ice coffin. There, he recognized the rare corpse Shi Buyu had brought to sell as Bai Heqiao, his old companion from Rotten Peach Mountain.

• Shi Buyu accepted Ye Lianchen’s Cinnabar Zhi Stove-Burning Pills and antidote pills while warning him that Soul-Losing Ravine repeatedly rose again under new names and might have hidden backing.
• Shi Buyu suggested that Tan Tianzong’s pill-refining practice pointed toward Dragon-Tiger Mountain, leaving Ye Lianchen to suspect the sect’s involvement in Western Hunan’s demonic affairs.
• The caravan reached Heavenly Scabbard Mountain, and Ye Lianchen observed that its terrain was exceptionally suited to nourishing corpses.
• Ye Lianchen concealed himself in an ice coffin so Shi Buyu could bring him into Hanging Coffin Gorge with a shipment of rare corpses.
• Shi Buyu opened an ice coffin to show the Hanging Coffin Gorge representatives a fire-baleful corpse, and Ye Lianchen recognized it as Bai Heqiao, who had died at Rotten Peach Mountain more than twenty years earlier.

After recovering from his lightning tribulation, Cheng Xinzhan welcomed two children as his first registered disciples on Pear Snow Mountain and gathered fellow cultivators for a month-long Dao discussion. The chapter ended with the first Pear Mountain Dao Assembly establishing a model for future gatherings and Cheng Xinzhan urging young prodigies to value the living world.

• Cheng Xinzhan explained that tribulation lightning still hindered his body and treasures, and he resolved to spend years refining it while repaying his many cultivation debts.
• Li Chengyan and Shen Zhaoming described the southern faction’s gains in Yuyang and the growing number of jiao dragons joining the Green-Robed Ancestor.
• Third Younger Sister and Dengge'er brought Zhu Shuyu and Lin Fengnian to Pear Snow Mountain after the two children passed Cheng Xinzhan’s magical trial out of 5,312 participants.
• Cheng Xinzhan accepted Zhu Shuyu and Lin Fengnian as registered disciples, introduced them to the gathered elders and friends, and sent them to settle at Little Ten Thousand Mountain.
• Cheng Xinzhan led a month-long Dao discussion that later became known as the Pear Mountain Dao Assembly, where he spoke on core formation, tribulation, and the balance between righteousness and demons.

Ye Lianchen was carried into Heavenly Scabbard Mountain and discovered that the Fire Temple planned to use the unusual corpses to refine a Drought Demon. As the temple master began his work, Ye Lianchen secretly entered the fire pit among the corpses.

• The Water Gang delivered thirteen ice coffins to Heavenly Scabbard Mountain, where Fire Temple Demon Fiends took them to the Thousand Radiances Fire King Temple.
• Ye Lianchen saw the Mountain Fiend temple master and the six-armed, eight-eyed corpse in a blood-fueled fire pit.
• The temple master found one coffin empty and decided the twelve remaining corpses would provide enough material for a Twelve-Eyed Drought Demon.
• The temple master sent E Zhi Feng and the other two Demon Fiends away, then ordered the temple sealed while he refined the Drought Demon.
• Ye Lianchen used the [Conceal] incantation and Mystic Non-Leaking Talisman to hide among the corpses as they fell into the fire pit.