Chapter Summaries

The four great households dismantled Heavenly Scabbard Mountain’s yin configuration as Song Jishu led the Luo Tian Grand Offering and Cheng Xinzhan performed a rite within the mountain. A million corpse puppets transformed into White Egrets and Green Glowworms that flew skyward, leaving a luminous bridge above the mountain.

• The Liu Household severed the mountain dragon’s neck with Dragon-Dividing Rulers, while the Zeng Household cut off its tail with a peach-grove formation.
• The Liao Household burned the yin fish’s mouth with Cinnabar and purified the river using incense burners, while the Lai Household set the southern cliffs ablaze with Nine Luminaries Lotus Lanterns.
• Song Jishu led the main altar rite, directing the households’ ritual power and sending Lingbao scripture characters into Heavenly Scabbard Mountain.
• Cheng Xinzhan performed the Taiyi Jiuku rite in Śītavana Cave as the Lingbao and Taiyi characters transformed the corpses in the mountain’s vaults.
• The transformed corpses became White Egrets and Green Glowworms that rose from Heavenly Scabbard Mountain and vanished into the clouds.

The chapter recounted the rising conflict between the Righteous and Demon Paths and the young cultivators gaining renown, including Cheng Xinzhan and the Twin Lotuses. After Wen Sukong returned to Three Pure Ones Mountain, she summoned Cheng Xinzhan home and punished him for dividing his spirit into incarnations and risking his lifespan.

• The account described the Jiwei Demonic Upheaval, the ongoing battles between righteous and demonic cultivators, and the growing reputations of young figures such as Cheng Xinzhan, Li Yingqiong, and Zhou Qingyun.
• Shen Zhaoming learned that Ye Zhaolian was Cheng Xinzhan’s incarnation and that Wen Sukong had ordered him back, so he agreed to help maintain the story of Ye Zhaolian’s injury.
• Cheng Xinzhan reunited his incarnations at Three Pure Ones Mountain and returned to the mountain with his Primordial Spirits.
• Wen Sukong scolded Cheng Xinzhan for splitting his spirit and consuming his lifespan, then ordered him to copy the Scripture of Constant Clarity and Stillness Spoken by the Most High Lord Lao at Cliffside Mountain until she gave permission to leave.

Cheng Xinzhan reconciled with Wen Sukong, learned how she and his martial uncle had secretly slain a Fourth Realm Demon Fiend, and received a Great Yin Spell from his uncle. The next morning, he went to Cliffside Mountain to serve his punishment by carving scriptures.

• Wen Sukong explained that she had gone north to help Cheng Xinzhan’s martial uncle secretly find and kill the previous Northern Yin Hall Master, a Demon Fiend imprisoned by Emei.
• Wen Sukong told Cheng Xinzhan that Blood God Child’s reports about Demon Fiend seals were partly a ploy to expose Emei’s movements, and that a powerful Earthly Immortal seemed to be pursuing Blood God Child.
• Cheng Xinzhan told Wen Sukong about Juqü Mountain’s resident immortal being drained of essence blood by Blood God Child and asked her to keep the secret.
• Wen Sukong gave Cheng Xinzhan a notched jade ring containing the Great Yin Spell, which his martial uncle had chosen to help him subdue water monsters.
• Cheng Xinzhan left Bright Governance Mountain the next morning and began carving scriptures on Cliffside Mountain as punishment.

Cheng Xinzhan reflected on his cultivation and past campaigns while planning the decades ahead, including his next Elixir-Washing Tribulation and how to advance his Golden Core. He concluded that Western Kham might let him both vanquish demons and defend the Dao.

• Cheng Xinzhan ingested Taichu Purple Qi at sunrise and assessed how his spiritual cultivation had advanced to the threshold of the Yin Spirit stage.
• Cheng Xinzhan drew Autumn Water and wrote from the sages' classics as he reviewed his cultivation and demon-slaying deeds.
• Cheng Xinzhan planned to prepare thoroughly for his second Elixir-Washing Tribulation and use its lightning to help form a Golden Core Dharma Form.
• Cheng Xinzhan considered where his efforts against the Northern and Southern Demon Cults could make the greatest difference and how to protect the Eastern Daoist Sect.
• Cheng Xinzhan realized that Western Kham might allow him to vanquish demons and defend the Dao at once.

Cheng Xinzhan carved the Scripture of Clarity and Stillness during his punishment, refined his Red Wart gourd, and reunited with friends at Cliffside Mountain. After Wen Sukong recalled him, she explained that she had opposed the sect’s plan for him to accept eight hundred disciples, leaving that proposal to be reconsidered.

• Cheng Xinzhan refined the Red Wart gourd, discovering its earth-and-wood nature and its ability to absorb thunder and fire.
• Hu Baozhuang teased Cheng Xinzhan at Cliffside Mountain, where she continued her punishment and advanced in cultivation.
• Feng Ji Hu, Pu Jixuan, Sun Miaoshu, and the others visited Cheng Xinzhan, and they spent the night chatting before sharing purple qi at dawn.
• After thirty days and nights of carving, Xinshu told Cheng Xinzhan that Wen Sukong had permitted him to return.
• Wen Sukong told Cheng Xinzhan that she had argued with the sect leader over the plan for him to accept eight hundred Earthly Immortal disciples, warning that he could not bear the burden and karma of so many students.

After years of balanced cultivation and mourning the deaths of friends, Cheng Xinzhan decided it was time to travel to Xikang. Before setting out, he approved Lin Mingxu and Zhuming Yue’s request to join the Haoran Alliance and equipped them for their trials.

• Cheng Xinzhan reflected on balancing movement and stillness, and arranged his life around the seasons on Bright Governance Mountain and Pear Snow Mountain.
• Zhu Jianrong died when his core formation failed, while Zhenwei passed away peacefully; Cheng Xinzhan attended Zhenwei’s grand funeral.
• On the fourth day of the sixth month, Cheng Xinzhan decided to set out for Xikang after tasting a green pear.
• Lin Mingxu and Zhuming Yue asked Cheng Xinzhan’s permission to join the Haoran Alliance, and he approved their request.
• Cheng Xinzhan gave Lin Mingxu a specially refined horn bow and Zhuming Yue fiery prayer beads, along with protective talismans and advice for their journey.
• Cheng Xinzhan sent his disciples out to gain experience and make names for themselves, then rose after watching them leave.

Cheng Xinzhan brought Bailong Nai and Cheng Zhaoli to White Dragon Banner Mountain, seeking a secluded place to settle under assumed identities. After they passed the mountain’s daunting ascent, its residents welcomed him and invited him to complete the literary examination with a poem.

• Cheng Xinzhan explained that White Dragon Banner Mountain was an ideal place to settle because it connected Western Kham and Shu and offered access to news from both righteous and demonic factions.
• Bailong Nai questioned why they had to settle on the crowded mountain, while Cheng Zhaoli teased him for asking questions and chased him playfully.
• Cheng Xinzhan and the children climbed the northern stairway, resisting its formation as other visitors turned back or nearly fell.
• Cheng Xinzhan guided Bailong Nai and Cheng Zhaoli through the formation with his blue-green footprints and reached a pavilion near the summit.
• Three mountain residents welcomed Cheng Xinzhan and offered him a choice of literary pursuits for the settlement trial.
• Cheng Xinzhan chose to compose a poem and recited lines about snow, dragon scales, immortals, clouds, and wild cranes.

Cheng Xinzhan befriended three Shu recluses on Yanhuai Mountain and agreed to settle there, then learned from Ding Rogue Person how True Lord Zhao founded the Shu Chinese Mysteries. Ding ended by condemning Emei for distorting Zhao’s legacy and antagonizing the Daoist traditions.

• Ding Rogue Person explained the customs of White Dragon Banner Mountain and invited Cheng Xinzhan to settle on Yanhuai Mountain.
• Cheng Xinzhan introduced himself as Yunlai Rogue Person, shared wine with Ding Rogue Person, Bai Rogue Person, and Huqing Rogue Person, and accepted their invitation.
• Ding Rogue Person traced the Shu Chinese Mysteries to True Lord Zhao, describing his compassion, his battles against demons and floods, and his shared lineage with Emei and Qingfang.
• Ding Rogue Person accused Emei of preserving only True Lord Zhao’s forceful methods, claiming orthodox authority, and misusing the Mysteries to oppose the Dao.

Cheng Xinzhan settled into a cave residence on Yanhuai Mountain and told Rogue Person Tanbai about his plan to compile the Book of the Earth. He chose to stay for a long while, though he postponed deciding whether to join a mountain directorate.

• Rogue Person Mingding brought Cheng Xinzhan through the snow and formations to Yanhuai Mountain, where he described the peak’s scenery and wildlife.
• Cheng Xinzhan chose an unclaimed terrace with a cave residence whose previous owner had passed into immortality, and renamed it Eastern Sun Terrace.
• White Dragon and Zhaoli cleaned the cave while Cheng Xinzhan arranged his belongings and books.
• Cheng Xinzhan explained his plan for the Book of the Earth, and Rogue Person Tanbai eagerly offered to help gather local records and stories.
• Rogue Person Mingding invited Cheng Xinzhan to consider joining a mountain directorate, but Cheng Xinzhan said there was no hurry and gave the three Rogue Persons pill bottles as gifts.
• After the three Rogue Persons left, Cheng Xinzhan saw two snow swallows building a nest beside the cave’s skylight.

Cheng Xinzhan admired Yanhuai Mountain at sunrise, recorded the view in his geographical work, and was invited to a wine gathering with Mingding Rogue Person’s friends. He met six Golden Core cultivators and prepared to taste Zhantao Rogue Person’s wine, while remaining wary of their concealed backgrounds.

• Cheng Xinzhan watched the sunrise gild the snowy mountains and wrote about their resemblance to Red Armor Mountain in his Banana Leaf Collection.
• Cheng Xinzhan saw Emei Mountain in the distance and reflected on its strength before Tanbai Rogue Person invited him to a wine gathering.
• Cheng Xinzhan left White Dragon and Zhaoli to cultivate and rode with Tanbai Rogue Person to the bamboo grove.
• Mingding Rogue Person introduced Cheng Xinzhan to Tuoyan Rogue Person, Zhouyue Rogue Person, and Zhantao Rogue Person, completing a gathering of seven cultivators.
• Cheng Xinzhan recognized that the six hosts were Golden Core cultivators and wondered about their backgrounds, but chose not to question them.
• Zhantao Rogue Person poured his favored wine for the gathering, and Cheng Xinzhan prepared to taste it while keeping his guard up.

Cheng Xinzhan and the other Rogue Persons sampled one another’s wines at a tasting gathering, and he judged each drink with playful insight. After everyone praised Cheng Xinzhan’s mortal friend’s Burning Knife, Zhantao Rogue Person added a wistful couplet about sharing wine with an old friend.

• Cheng Xinzhan tasted Zhantao Rogue Person’s macaque pear wine and Zhouyue Rogue Person’s Huanhua Fragrance, commenting on their flavors and the seasons suited to them.
• Cheng Xinzhan gulped Tuoyan Rogue Person’s fiery Firethorn Brew, then described three occasions when its heat and courage would be welcome.
• Cheng Xinzhan sampled Tanbai Rogue Person’s Autumn Moon over the Jin River, Huqing Rogue Person’s Sword Throat, and Mingding Rogue Person’s medicinal Bitter Chrysanthemum, offering an appraisal of each.
• After Mingding Rogue Person reminded Cheng Xinzhan that he could not serve his True Fire Yang Essence as wine, Cheng Xinzhan poured the group his cloudy Burning Knife, brewed by a mortal friend.
• The Rogue Persons praised Burning Knife, and Zhantao Rogue Person savored another cup before reciting a couplet about sharing even cloudy wine with an old friend.

At a feast welcoming Cheng Xinzhan, Peiyan Rogue Person challenged him to a flying-sword duel fought with bamboo chopsticks and fruit leaves. Cheng Xinzhan won with a sudden shift to the swift Li Fire sword style, leaving Rogue Person Zhan wondering where he had seen that technique before.

• Peiyan Rogue Person turned Rogue Person Zhan’s melancholy toast into a celebration by making him drink three cups of her firethorn wine.
• Peiyan Rogue Person invited Cheng Xinzhan to duel with chopstick swords under strict rules, and he accepted.
• Peiyan Rogue Person and Cheng Xinzhan exchanged eighty rapid attacks, astonishing the guests with his refined sword control.
• Peiyan Rogue Person escalated the contest with hundreds of rosy-light sword shadows, and Cheng Xinzhan answered with the elusive speed of the Li Fire Swift Sword.
• Cheng Xinzhan split the leaf on Peiyan Rogue Person’s shoulder first and won the duel, while Rogue Person Zhan recognized a familiar quality in his swordsmanship.

Cheng Xinzhan impressed the Six Friends of Wine with his swordsmanship and wine knowledge, while their private conversation revealed their ties to Emei and Green Bamboo Nunnery. After the banquet, Wu Mei and Cui Qi traveled back toward Green Bamboo Nunnery, discussing their feelings for Yan Renying and teasing each other about Cheng Xinzhan.

• Cheng Xinzhan praised Wu Mei’s swordsmanship, and she told him of a famous Shu swordswoman whose Sword Radiance surpassed anyone of her generation.
• Mingding Rogue Person learned that Cheng Xinzhan came from Qingzhou, and Wu Mei remarked that more Qingzhou cultivators had recently been appearing in Shu.
• Cheng Xinzhan declined Yan Renying’s challenge because he was tipsy, then left the banquet as the Six Friends of Wine agreed to treat him as a friend rather than probe his origins.
• Wu Mei, Yan Renying, and Cui Qi discussed Cheng Xinzhan’s unusual swordsmanship, while Mingding Rogue Person urged them to stop investigating him and spoke of restoring Green Bamboo Nunnery.
• Mingding Rogue Person asked after their absent master, and the group mourned that the once-playful drunken Daoist had vanished from Chengdu’s streets.
• On the journey back, Cui Qi admitted her unspoken love for Yan Renying, and Wu Mei chased her after Cui Qi teased her about Cheng Xinzhan.

Wu Mei told Zhou Qingyun about Yunlai Rogue Person, a talented swordsman she had met in Chengdu, while Zhou Qingyun prepared to garrison White River Mouth against the rising Demon Path. Zhou Qingyun suspected the mysterious man might be someone she knew, but dismissed the possibility and left his identity unresolved.

• Zhou Qingyun told Wu Mei that the Demon Path had taken control of Longyou and the Western Sea and that she had been ordered to garrison White River Mouth.
• Wu Mei and Zhou Qingyun discussed the coming killing tribulation and vowed to fight the demons.
• Wu Mei described meeting Yunlai Rogue Person, praised his poems, and said he had broken through her radiance with sword fire.
• Zhou Qingyun recognized that Yunlai Rogue Person's swordplay might resemble the Departing Fire Swift Sword Scripture used by someone at White Jade Capital.
• After hearing Wu Mei describe Yunlai Rogue Person, Zhou Qingyun concealed her suspicions and said she did not recognize him.

Cheng Xinzhan cultivated the Great Yin Spell and studied Three Pure Ones Mountain’s Wind-Waiting Bird Divination while compiling a geographical book with Bai Rogue Person. When Bai and the other Rogue Persons disappeared, Cheng sensed an air of slaughter and decided to use bird divination to investigate Bai’s fortune and whereabouts.

• Cheng Xinzhan reported Qingzhou’s westward migration to Patriarch Tongxuan and cultivated the Radiant Bright Moon Jade under the moon, but a recurring Chou-hour cloud obscured the moon and interrupted his work.
• Cheng Xinzhan studied the Wind-Waiting Bird Divination Qi-Observation Chapter, finding its wide-ranging teachings difficult to understand.
• Bai Rogue Person helped Cheng Xinzhan compile the Ba-Shu and Western Kham sections of his geographical book, which Cheng informally titled Banana Leaf Collection.
• Over the next two months, Cheng Xinzhan studied the Great Yin Spell and bird divination at night while working with Bai Rogue Person by day, but Bai visited less often.
• When Bai Rogue Person had been absent for ten days, Cheng Xinzhan searched for him and the other Rogue Persons but found their cave abodes empty.
• Cheng Xinzhan sensed an air of slaughter and decided to use bird divination to learn Bai Rogue Person’s fortune, whereabouts, and return time.

Cheng Xinzhan used Wind-Waiting Bird Divination to predict Bai Rogue Person’s safe return in seven days, then learned that Bai and his fellow Rogue Persons had gone to aid their sect’s younger disciples against demons near the Nu River. After Bai warned him of the danger, Cheng decided to travel west with him to help slay demons and continue his Earth Book.

• Cheng Xinzhan divined that Bai Rogue Person was trapped by warfare in the west but would return safely in seven days.
• Seven days later, Cheng visited Bai and found him back at his bamboo courtyard, injured but recovering.
• Bai explained that he, Lao Ding, and Hu Qing had left seclusion to aid their sect’s younger disciples in fighting Demon Fiends near the Nu River in Western Kham.
• Cheng reasoned that Yan, Naiyue, and Zhan were likely the younger disciples and offered to join the campaign, while Bai cautioned him about the danger.
• Cheng said the journey would help him complete his Earth Book and fulfill his duty to slay demons, and Bai agreed to let him come.

Cheng Xinzhan learned how Emei’s leader had sent the Seven Xiu to the front lines to draw their allies into the fight against the demonic tide, and he agreed to join Tanbai Rogue Person’s group at the Nu River. Back in his cave, he prepared to leave in ten days and realized the Wind-Waiting Bird would be the right Inner Landscape Deity for his Wind Abode.

• Tanbai Rogue Person revealed that Zhantao was Yan Renying, a Green Bamboo Nunnery disciple whom Emei had taken before absorbing the nunnery, and Cheng Xinzhan correctly identified him as one of the Three Heroes and Two Clouds.
• Tanbai Rogue Person explained that Emei’s leader had deployed all Seven Xiu across Shu and made their battlefield performance a contest for succession, compelling their allied sects and other powers to help resist the demonic tide.
• Cheng Xinzhan recognized Emei’s deployment as an overt stratagem that would mobilize the Shu Chinese Mysteries, and he agreed to leave with Tanbai Rogue Person for the Nu River in ten days.
• Cheng Xinzhan told Zhaoli and Bailong Nai to prepare for the journey, then reconsidered his Wind Abode and chose the Wind-Waiting Bird as its Inner Landscape Deity.

Cheng Xinzhan traveled with Tanbai Rogue Person to the Mysterious Heaven Alliance’s Western Sichuan Sword Pavilion, where he learned about the demonic forces threatening Western Kham and met Yan Renying and their mutual drinking friends. He offered to help slay demons and agreed to Wu Mei’s challenge to settle their rivalry by counting the Demon Fiends they killed.

• Tanbai Rogue Person explained that the constant thunder came from the Nu River and described the Heart-Piercing Monk, the White Bone Bodhisattva, and their strongholds in Western Kham.
• Tanbai Rogue Person brought Cheng Xinzhan and his attendants to the Western Sichuan Sword Pavilion, positioned to guard against the two demonic temples and support an attack on the White Bone Chan Cloister.
• While waiting for Yan Renying, Cheng Xinzhan resisted using Bird Divination and gained fresh insight as he contemplated the Wind-Waiting Bird Inner Landscape Deity.
• Mingding Rogue Person and the other drinking friends reunited with Cheng Xinzhan, and Yan Renying thanked him for coming to help.
• Cheng Xinzhan offered to assist with demon slaying while compiling his travelogue, and Wu Mei challenged him to settle their rivalry by comparing the Demon Fiends they killed.

Cheng Xinzhan settled into the Western Sichuan Sword Pavilion, planned his work and cultivation, and joined Wu Mei to learn how the Mysteries intended to clear Western Kham of Demon Fiends. Wu Mei revealed that Mysteries sects were about to advance west and compete for merit by slaying demons, and asked Cheng Xinzhan to help the Sword Pavilion do the same.

• Yan Renying arranged a lavish guest residence for Cheng Xinzhan, who discovered that its furnishings formed a Five Elements Spirit Formation and secured the room against eavesdropping.
• Cheng Xinzhan set out his plans to slay demons, compile a geographical book, investigate the Mysteries, and pursue his cultivation; Tanbai Rogue Person later helped him study Western Kham records written in Vine Script.
• Wu Mei invited Cheng Xinzhan on a demon-slaying mission, while Tanbai Rogue Person stayed behind to recover and translate travel notes.
• Wu Mei explained that Western Kham's Demon Fiends had sought refuge with Heart-Piercing Monk or White Bone Bodhisattva, while others remained independent or hid in the wilderness.
• Cheng Xinzhan explained why the Mysteries sought to expand west into Western Kham, and Wu Mei told him that Mysteries sects would soon advance there and compete to slay demons for merit.

Cheng Xinzhan learned that Western Kham’s demonic temples imprisoned and tortured mortals, and he joined Wu Mei in an attack on Cold-Taste Temple. Cheng killed its abbot, Monk Han Shi, before the freezing mist could reach the captives.

• Wu Mei explained that the Mysteries’ sects competed to kill Demon Fiends and described how Western Kham’s temples kept mortals as “two-legged sheep.”
• Cheng Xinzhan condemned the abuse of mortals, while Wu Mei challenged the East’s prejudice and failure to help Shu defend its people.
• Wu Mei brought Cheng to Cold-Taste Lake and explained that Monk Han Shi hid in the lake while holding hundreds of captives at Cold-Taste Temple.
• Cheng concealed himself as Wu Mei attacked Han Shi with her flying sword, Lone Snipe, drawing him out and testing his defenses.
• Han Shi threatened to send the cold mist into the temple, but Cheng’s sword flashed from the wind and severed his head.