Chapter Summaries

Cheng Xinzhan learned how the Green-Robed Ancestor had expanded the Southern Demon Cult’s war across Yuyang, Three Xiang, and the Miao Borderlands by subjugating powerful demons and winning local factions over. As dawn broke, Cheng Xinzhan hid his troubled feelings and began cleansing the Yin Ruins Ghost-Lantern Baleful Intent from his sword.

• Feng Ji Hu told Cheng Xinzhan that the Green-Robed Ancestor had turned the Southern Sea Twin Fiends, Li Dongmiao, the Elephant Dragon, and the Silkworm Immortal into key commanders of the Southern Demon Cult’s expanding campaign.
• Feng Ji Hu explained that the Green-Robed Ancestor had promised conquered lands to his subordinates, while the fate of the sealed Ten-Thousand-Year Han Xian remained unknown.
• Wu Qingbo told Cheng Xinzhan and Feng Ji Hu that the Green-Robed Ancestor had withheld spring thunder and mother gu from the Miao people who resisted the cult, prompting Three Kings Temple to offer submission in exchange for their protection.
• Wu Qingbo reported that the Green-Robed Ancestor accepted Three Kings Temple’s terms, swore to protect the Miao people, and caused spring thunder to sound across the Southern Borderlands.
• Cheng Xinzhan arranged for Feng Ji Hu and Wu Qingbo to rest, then took the Golden Fire Divine Thunder Sword to the rear courtyard and burned away its baleful intent with yang fire.

Huyan Jun explained that Xuanmen would prioritize defending Shu against the Southern School and withdraw some forces from Western Kham while holding a smaller territory there. After Cheng Xinzhan repaired Huyan Jun’s flying sword, Huyan Jun and Yu Nanlin presented gifts to Cheng Xinzhan and Feng Ji Hu.

• Huyan Jun arrived late with Yu Nanlin and explained that the Miao Borderlands had fallen and the Southern School was advancing toward Shu.
• Huyan Jun said Madam Miaoyi had ordered Xuanmen to withdraw forces from Western Kham to help defend Southern Shu and build nine cities north of the Yangtze River.
• Cheng Xinzhan suggested that Green-Robed Ancestor’s attack might have been intended to draw Xuanmen’s attention south, and Huyan Jun praised Emei’s sword pavilions for protecting Shu.
• Cheng Xinzhan returned Huyan Jun’s repaired flying sword, and Huyan Jun and Yu Nanlin offered gifts to Cheng Xinzhan and Feng Ji Hu.
• Huyan Jun outlined Xuanmen’s reduced Western Kham borders, saying its forces would hold the cleared lands rather than continue expanding while the south faced danger.

Huyan Jun explained Xuanmen’s new defensive plans and asked Cheng Xinzhan to help guard Azure City’s northern line, which Cheng agreed to do. Zhou Qingyun then visited before leaving for Qionghai Lake, and Cheng began explaining a passage from On the Equality of Things.

• Huyan Jun told Cheng Xinzhan that Xuanmen had suspended demon-slaying merit contests and planned to redeploy its forces to defend against threats from the south.
• Huyan Jun asked Cheng Xinzhan to occasionally help protect Mount Qingcheng’s Zengqu River line after Emei moved the White River Sword Pavilion, and Cheng agreed.
• After Huyan Jun left, Feng Ji Hu took a Western Sichuan Sword Pavilion token and set out to explore, while Wu Qingbo also departed.
• Zhou Qingyun told Cheng Xinzhan that she would leave for Qionghai Lake the next day after Yu volunteered to take her place at White Horse Snow Mountain.
• Zhou Qingyun asked Cheng Xinzhan to explain Human Sounds, Earth Sounds, and Heavenly Sounds from On the Equality of Things, and he began teaching her.

Cheng Xinzhan rushed to investigate a vast eruption of deadly black qi on Kham’s southern border, where Xuanmen and demonic sect disciples were clashing. After learning that Ye Yuanjing and Zhou had entered the danger zone, he prepared to go in himself and warned Zhaoli and White Dragon to stay back.

• Cheng Xinzhan stayed at Kanli Mountain while Zhaoli and White Dragon headed south, and he continued teaching Snow Lion, whose Dao injury had healed by sixty percent.
• At the spring equinox, Cheng Xinzhan recorded the balance of yin and yang around Kanli Mountain in the Banana Leaf Collection.
• A tremendous eruption south of Qionghai Lake shook the plateau and sent black clouds spreading across the sky, so Cheng Xinzhan rode Snow Lion toward the disturbance.
• Cheng Xinzhan found Xuanmen disciples gathered around a fissure that emitted deadly black qi, while demonic sect members from Ailao Mountain and Limitless Mountain blocked the Qionghai Sword Pavilion.
• Zhaoli told Cheng Xinzhan that Ye Yuanjing and Zhou had entered the danger zone, and he warned her and White Dragon to stay back before going in to investigate.

Cheng Xinzhan arrived as Zhou Qingyun and the other righteous cultivators fought the Demon Fiends guarding a hole filled with black smoke. He and Zhou Qingyun joined their sword arts in a coordinated attack against a Golden Core Dharma Form, leaving the battle ongoing.

• Zhou Qingyun fought off Demon Fiends from Ailao Mountain and Limitless Mountain, using her spirit centipede and Moon Soul Sword to counter their poisonous miasma and giant pythons.
• A Demon Fiend summoned a Golden Core Dharma Form that disrupted Zhou Qingyun’s control of spiritual energy and attacked her.
• Cheng Xinzhan arrived and rescued Zhou Qingyun, then surveyed the righteous cultivators and the twenty-six Demon Fiends surrounding the black-smoke-filled hole.
• Cheng Xinzhan attacked the dharma form with the Li Fire Swift Sword Art and advised Zhou Qingyun to use yielding Sword Intent rather than meet its strength head-on.
• Zhou Qingyun adapted her sword technique, and she and Cheng Xinzhan combined their attacks in a fluid display of Kan and Li working together.

Cheng Xinzhan and the Qionghai Lake Sword Pavilion cultivators broke through the Demon Path’s defenses, but a giant dragon claw drove back the White Horse Sword Pavilion pair at the cave entrance. Mu Longzhang, Venerable Poison Dragon and leader of the Ailao Cult, appeared before the gathered Righteous Path cultivators and demanded to know why they had come.

• Ye Yuanjing wounded Yang Yingshan, while Cheng Xinzhan helped shatter his manifestation with a fusion of Kan Water and Li Fire sword arts.
• Snow Lion swallowed one demon’s wooden staff, and the Moon Soul Sword destroyed another; the two Ailao Mountain demons fell from the sky as Wan Gaoming withdrew.
• Zhou Qingyun ordered the Qionghai Lake Sword Pavilion cultivators to protect Xu Yuantong and Yu Yingnan as the pair rushed toward the cave entrance.
• A giant black dragon claw struck the pair’s mirror and reached for them, but a Chan Sect nun’s kasaya and Ye Yuanjing’s flowing clouds gave them time to escape.
• Xu Yuantong identified the attacker as Venerable Poison Dragon, Mu Longzhang, who appeared before the gathered cultivators and asked what had brought them there.

Ye Yuanjing and Cheng Xinzhan combined their powers to knock Mu Longzhang’s colossal dragon to the ground, but the Demon Fiend soon rose again. A voice from underground announced that another prisoner had been freed, leaving the Righteous Path facing a new threat.

• The Righteous Path suspected that Mu Longzhang’s followers were breaking a seal and pressed on to stop them.
• Ye Yuanjing used her Five Great Mountains treasure to attack Mu Longzhang, but he caught each mountain with enormous dragon claws.
• Ye Yuanjing joined the five mountains’ clouds into a binding formation, briefly dragging Mu Longzhang’s dragon downward before he fought free.
• Ye Yuanjing separated the clouds and let Cheng Xinzhan form them into a mountain seal, which slammed the dragon to the ground.
• Mu Longzhang’s dragon rose again and fixed its enraged gaze on Cheng Xinzhan as a voice from underground proclaimed that its speaker had been freed.

The Five Poisons Heavenly King, Lie Xingye, broke free of his seal and joined Mu Longzhang in pursuing the fleeing Righteous Path cultivators. Miechenzi arrived at Qionghai Lake to protect them, forcing the fiends to retreat south.

• Lie Xingye emerged from his seal, reunited with Mu Longzhang, and was welcomed by the disciples of Limitless Mountain and Ailao Mountain.
• Lie Xingye summoned his enormous Red-Headed Centipede mount and chased the Righteous Path cultivators with Mu Longzhang and the demonic forces.
• Zhou Qingyun reached Qionghai Lake ahead of the pursuers and raised the Sword Pavilion's protective barrier, calling everyone nearby inside.
• Mu Longzhang attacked the fleeing cultivators with his black dragon claw, but Miechenzi arrived and shattered it with his jade flying sword.
• Lie Xingye and Mu Longzhang taunted Miechenzi, who struck at Lie Xingye with the Jade-Cleaving Hook; Lie Xingye covered the retreat with poisonous smoke and led the fiends south.

Lie Xingye returned to Dianwen and learned that the Demon Path had grown dominant while only four major Righteous Path establishments remained. He decided to establish a Five Poisons Sect branch in Zhuanxu Dragon Cave and enlisted Mu Longzhang’s help by offering him Dragon Baleful Intent.

• Mu Longzhang told Lie Xingye how Dianwen’s forces had changed, including the Demon Path’s destruction of several Righteous Path strongholds and Emei’s incorporation of Biji Abbey.
• Mu Longzhang explained that the Truth-Eroding Great Sage wanted to seize Emei’s branch estate on Biji Mountain and had sent Ailao Mountain to attack it.
• At the cavern where Lie Xingye had been sealed, Lie Xingye proposed establishing a Five Poisons Sect branch there despite its proximity to Emei and the Righteous Path strongholds.
• Lie Xingye revealed that the cavern was Zhuanxu Dragon Cave, an underground maze with passages that could be expanded toward the Yangtze River.
• Lie Xingye asked Mu Longzhang to help develop the Dragon Cave and offered to share the Dragon Baleful Intent he had found inside, and Mu Longzhang agreed.

After the Five Poisons Heavenly King escaped, Miechenzi dismissed Yu Yingnan’s criticism and the gathered allies departed. Cheng Xinzhan joined Ye Yuanjing and Zhou Qingyun on the way to Qionghai Sword Pavilion, where he questioned Emei’s knowledge of the sealed demon and asked about the Heavenly King’s abilities.

• Yu Yingnan questioned Miechenzi for letting the weakened Five Poisons Heavenly King escape, and Miechenzi rebuked her before accepting thanks from the monks and nuns.
• Cheng Xinzhan thanked Miechenzi, and Zhou Qingyun introduced him as Yunlai Rogue Person, who had aided Emei and saved her.
• Cheng Xinzhan left for Qionghai Sword Pavilion, but Ye Yuanjing and Zhou Qingyun caught up with him and discussed their damaged treasure and his techniques.
• Cheng Xinzhan asked Ye Yuanjing how Poison Dragon Venerable Mu Longzhang had learned about the sealed demon and why Emei had not watched the site, but she said the juniors did not know the elders’ reasons.
• Cheng Xinzhan asked Ye Yuanjing to explain the Five Poisons Heavenly King’s spells and treasures, and she began describing him.

After the Five Poisons Heavenly King and the Green-Robed Ancestor claimed the Zhuanxu Dragon Cave as a demonic stronghold, Cheng Xinzhan and Zhou Qingyun assessed how it fit into the Southern School’s plans for the southwest. Cheng Xinzhan predicted the Southern School would target the Dragon Elephant Nunnery and Western Hunan, while Xuanmen reinforced its positions around Dian and Kham.

• Cheng Xinzhan returned to the Qionghai Sword Pavilion, learned the Five Poisons Heavenly King had stopped at his former prison, and chose to rest on a hill west of the lake.
• Demonic forces gathered at the cavern, while Xuan Cultivators arrived to reinforce the area and newcomers built residences on the hill that became known as Lion Mountain.
• Zhou Qingyun told Cheng Xinzhan that Miechenzi and Tian Yizi had arrived to oversee Xuanmen affairs in Dian, and explained that the Green-Robed Ancestor had made the Zhuanxu Dragon Cave his temporary palace.
• Cheng Xinzhan concluded that the Southern School was treating the Miao Borderlands and Dianwen as one strategic front and using the Dragon Cave to constrain Xuanmen’s expansion.
• Cheng Xinzhan predicted that the Southern School would next target the Dragon Elephant Nunnery and Western Hunan, matching Miechenzi’s assessment; he doubted the sect could take both places easily.

Zhou Qingyun explained why Miechenzi had been moved to Southern Kham after destroying five demonic sects, and Cheng Xinzhan returned to Kanli Mountain to resume cultivation. He then sought Jiang Weishan’s help refining his accumulated writings and paintings into the Earth Book, and learned that frozen-water rock and a rubbing technique could make it possible.

• Zhou Qingyun told Cheng Xinzhan that Miechenzi had annihilated five poison-using demonic sects and was transferred to Southern Kham because his destruction of the land threatened his future Union with the Dao.
• Cheng Xinzhan learned that Water Mirror Master had taken over the defense of Southern Shu, then left Zhou Qingyun and returned to Kanli Mountain.
• After assimilating his gains from battle, Cheng Xinzhan struggled to refine his many drafts into a magical treasure and called Jiang Weishan for advice.
• Jiang Weishan recommended frozen-water rock as a suitable material for the Earth Book’s pages and explained how its properties could be adjusted for different paintings and writing.
• Jiang Weishan told Cheng Xinzhan he could transfer his existing works with rubbings and taught him the Water-Moon Heavenly Mind Rubbing technique.

Cheng Xinzhan judged that the righteous and demonic paths had reached a stalemate, though he expected the Blood God Child’s plans to eventually trigger a new crisis. He traveled alone to Western Hunan and arrived at the transformed Golden Water Ravine, where his golden guild token surprised the man guarding its entrance.

• Cheng Xinzhan reviewed the conflict across the Divine Land and concluded that both sides had entered a stalemate, with fourth-realm cultivators facing off along the frontiers.
• Cheng Xinzhan judged that the Blood God Child would not allow the killing tribulation to dissipate and decided to prepare himself by strengthening his cultivation.
• Cheng Xinzhan left the lion on Kanli Mountain, informed Wu Qingbo and Feng Ji Hu, and set off alone for Western Hunan.
• Cheng Xinzhan found Western Hunan transformed: Heavenly Scabbard Mountain had become Skybridge Mountain, and Soul-Losing Ravine had become the busy Golden Water Ravine and Wuling Merchant Guild headquarters.
• Cheng Xinzhan showed the gatekeeper a golden guild token inscribed with “Golden Waves Surge with Jade; Water Palace Welcomes Immortals,” making the man’s hand tremble.

Du Yuxi reflected on how Western Hunan had been transformed after the destruction of Heavenly Scabbard Mountain and joined the Golden Water Trading Association, where he rose to a headquarters post. When Cheng Xinzhan arrived at Golden Water Ravine with a rare gold token, Du Yuxi recognized his importance and led him toward the supervisors, whom Cheng asked about by name.

• Du Yuxi recalled how the Four Sects and Four Lineages destroyed Heavenly Scabbard Mountain, restored the region’s waterways, and established the Golden Water Trading Association.
• Du Yuxi joined the association, earned recognition for his work, and received a strand of true yin baleful intent before becoming a water-gate guard at headquarters.
• Du Yuxi noticed that Cheng Xinzhan’s gold token bore unusual characters and realized that the visitor was likely a Dao seed from an Archetypal Sect.
• Cheng Xinzhan asked Du Yuxi to take him to someone in charge, and Du Yuxi led him into Golden Water Ravine.
• After Du Yuxi said the Association President was away and named Supervisors Xiao and Shi, Cheng Xinzhan asked whether Shi Yiniang and Shi Buyu were both there.

Cheng Xinzhan reunited with Shi Yiniang at the Golden Water Trading Association and gave her a newly refined vine staff suited to her Wood-Grafting Method. After she accepted the gift, he asked her to find something for him, leaving his request unspecified.

• Cheng Xinzhan recognized Du Yuxi from an encounter nearly ten years earlier and praised his discerning eye.
• Cheng Xinzhan met Shi Yiniang at Seeing the Deer Studio, where her Wood Essence recognized him.
• Shi Yiniang teased Cheng Xinzhan for visiting and writing less, and he explained how she had joined the trading association as a supervisor with her fleet and trade routes.
• Cheng Xinzhan presented Shi Yiniang with a vine staff refined from seven vine spirits, which could transform into pythons, a jiao, or a hairpin.
• Shi Yiniang replaced her pearl hairpin with the gift, and Cheng Xinzhan asked her to find something for him.

Cheng Xinzhan revisited places and people connected to his past, learning that the old stockade chief had died and leaving support and training instructions for the stockade. He then visited Heavenly True Boy, who revealed that his life embryo had formed and invited Cheng Xinzhan to witness its development over forty-nine days.

• Cheng Xinzhan arranged for the Golden Water Trading Association to collect thousand-year-old frozen-water rock and traveled to Skybridge Mountain, where he saw how the region had changed.
• Cheng Xinzhan visited the Miao stockade and learned that the old chief had died peacefully three years earlier, while Lan Mujin's mother and younger sister had also died.
• Cheng Xinzhan gave Ji Kaiming a token for seeking help through the Golden Water Trading Association and left the stockade wine with his Gourd.
• Cheng Xinzhan gave Ji Kaiming a Daoist Guiding and Stretching Technique for the stockade's children and instructed him to send any child who developed a sense of qi before sixteen to Rainfall Temple.
• Cheng Xinzhan visited Heavenly True Boy, met Master Wen, and heard Heavenly True Boy say his life embryo had taken shape and invite him to observe its transformation over forty-nine days.

Cheng Xinzhan learned that Heavenly True Boy was preparing to form a Nascent Soul, but Heavenly True Boy insisted on breaking through in Wuling to lay the foundation for achieving Union with the Dao there. As Heavenly True Boy entered seclusion at True Martial Temple, Cheng Xinzhan met Liu Guquan, Mount Wudang’s deputy sect leader.

• Cheng Xinzhan recognized from the Womb-Bearing Song and Teacher Wen’s progress that Heavenly True Boy was close to forming a fetus and beginning the arduous path to a Nascent Soul.
• Cheng Xinzhan and Liu Guquan urged Heavenly True Boy to return to Mount Wudang to break through safely, but Heavenly True Boy said he wanted to achieve Union with the Dao in Wuling and would first leave his aura there.
• Heavenly True Boy rebuked Liu Guquan for dismissing Wuling as a remote backwater, inspiring Cheng Xinzhan to rethink where a cultivator should achieve Union with the Dao.
• Heavenly True Boy began regulating his breath in True Martial Temple, and after twenty-one days Liu Guquan protected the temple with a formation while Cheng Xinzhan waited outside.
• Liu Guquan introduced himself as Mount Wudang’s deputy sect leader, and Cheng Xinzhan confirmed that Teacher Wen was teaching him the Dao of True Martial Demon-Slaying.

Cheng Xinzhan watched Heavenly True Boy’s Fate Embryo transform into a fetus as its increasingly powerful Fetal Sound shook Mount Wuling. The sound drew Fourth Realm cultivators to the mountain, and Liu Guquan confronted an attacker from Hundred Barbarian Mountain while Heavenly True Boy remained in seclusion.

• Cheng Xinzhan divided his consciousness to observe Heavenly True Boy’s breakthrough while his other Primordial Spirits conversed with Liu Guquan.
• Heavenly True Boy illuminated his Fate Embryo with pure yang light, and after fourteen days it began beating with Fetal Sound.
• The fetus gradually formed limbs and features as its Fetal Sound grew stronger, influencing Cheng Xinzhan and straining Liu Guquan’s Tortoise-Snake Seal.
• Heavenly True Boy told Liu Guquan and Cheng Xinzhan to let the world hear the Fetal Sound, and Liu Guquan faced the arriving Water Mirror Master of Emei Mountain.
• Xinchènzi of Hundred Barbarian Mountain attacked Liu Guquan, who blocked his iron pestle with the Tortoise-Snake Seal.
• Liu Guquan and Xinchènzi traded insults over Wudang’s presence in Western Hunan, and Xinchènzi moved in to attack again.

Xinchेंnzi’s Second Primordial Spirit attacked the True Martial Temple while Liu Guquan and the others fought his main body beyond the heavens. As the Heavenly True Boy neared the end of his breakthrough, Cheng Xinzhan uncovered the hidden attacker, and the True Martial Sword emerged to drive Xinchेंnzi away.

• Xinchेंnzi summoned his Flying Heaven Centipede Dharma Aspect and fought Liu Guquan, while Deng Qingyang intercepted the Silkworm Lady and pursued her into the heavens.
• Cheng Xinzhan relayed the Heavenly True Boy’s message, and Liu Guquan left to fight Xinchेंnzi beyond the heavens, leaving Cheng Xinzhan to guard the temple.
• The Heavenly True Boy taught Cheng Xinzhan about nurturing the embryo as his breakthrough continued, while Water Mirror Master departed for Southern Shu.
• Cheng Xinzhan used Bird Divination and discovered an ill omen, then revealed a concealed green pearl approaching the True Martial Temple.
• The pearl became Xinchेंnzi’s Second Primordial Spirit and attacked Cheng Xinzhan, who retreated when the Heavenly True Boy told him to let the attacker approach.
• The True Martial Sword flew from the temple and sent Xinchेंnzi’s Second Primordial Spirit recoiling in terror.

Heavenly True Boy used the True Martial Sword to destroy Xinchेंnzi’s Second Primordial Spirit while Liu Guquan fought Xinchेंnzi in the heavens. After Heavenly True Boy broke through to the Fourth Realm and established the True Martial Temple at Eight-Faced Mountain, Hong Changbao also revealed his breakthrough and reestablished Redwood Ridge at Fuxia Lake.

• Heavenly True Boy summoned the True Martial Sword and pursued Xinchेंnzi’s Second Primordial Spirit, destroying it after it split from its golden Primordial Spirit.
• Liu Guquan returned and learned from Cheng Xinzhan that Xinchेंnzi had secretly sent his Second Primordial Spirit to attack Heavenly True Boy; he said Xinchेंnzi would need decades to recover.
• Heavenly True Boy completed his breakthrough on the forty-ninth day, and Cheng Xinzhan witnessed the sun shine as rain fell and a Sun-Charioteer Light-Rain Gang appear.
• Heavenly True Boy declared that he had entered the Fourth Realm and established the True Martial Temple at Eight-Faced Mountain, receiving congratulations from Mount Wudang, Nine Palaces Mountain, the Mount Heng Sword Sect, and Su Xian Ridge.
• Hong Changbao revealed his own Fourth Realm breakthrough, accepted Fuxia Lake as his seat, and announced the reestablishment of the Redwood Ridge Sect.