Chapter Summaries

Hong Changbao broke through to the Fourth Realm and established Fuxia Lake, while Heavenly True Boy welcomed Cheng Xinzhan and lent him the Mysterious Female Pearl. After helping prepare Eight-Faced Mountain, Cheng Xinzhan watched Ji Kaiming pass the trials and seek admission as Heavenly True Boy’s first disciple.

• Hong Changbao’s breakthrough established Fuxia Lake as a formidable new seat of cultivation, and Eight-Faced Mountain and the Mount Heng Sword Sect offered congratulations.
• Heavenly True Boy shared the Gang gauze with Cheng Xinzhan and Liu Guquan, then told Liu Guquan he would not return to Mount Wudang unless it severed ties with the secular Zhuming.
• Heavenly True Boy offered Cheng Xinzhan the Mysterious Female Pearl, and Cheng Xinzhan accepted it as a sixty-year loan after learning its origins and powers.
• Cheng Xinzhan helped Heavenly True Boy build a mountain-protecting formation and a trial for prospective disciples on Eight-Faced Mountain.
• Ji Kaiming, a Red-Crowned Rooster from Cheng Xinzhan’s old stockade, passed the trials after three days and three nights, and Cheng Xinzhan left before he could meet him.
• Ji Kaiming reached the True Martial Temple, bowed before Heavenly True Boy, and asked to become his disciple.

Cheng Xinzhan collected rare frozen-water rock for the Earth Book, reported to the Haoran Alliance, and returned to Kanli Mountain to begin preparing for his second Elixir-Washing Tribulation. He sent Wu Qingbo to find a suitable secluded site and started refining the rock sheets into pages.

• Cheng Xinzhan advised Shi Yiniang to offer building help to True Martial Temple and collected the association’s five-thousand-year-old frozen-water rock sheets before announcing his prolonged seclusion.
• Cheng Xinzhan reported on the southwest to Ying Jingsong, learned that Li Chengyan and Wang Chengyi were teaching Mingxu and Mingyue, and entrusted their master with the Great Unity Divine Thunder and Great Unity Azure Spirit Arrows for them.
• Cheng Xinzhan buried more than twenty śarīra Golden Cores on White Dragon Sandbar before flying back to Kanli Mountain.
• Cheng Xinzhan asked Wu Qingbo to find an uninhabited tribulation site with all Five Elements present, and Wu Qingbo left to search.
• Cheng Xinzhan set up his furnace and began refining frozen-water rock sheets into pages for the Earth Book.

Three years after sending Wu Qingbo to find secluded places for his lightning tribulation, Cheng Xinzhan inspected three promising sites in Qingzhou, Qilu, and Liaodong. He found that all three met his requirements and chose one, though the chapter did not reveal which site he selected.

• Wu Qingbo returned to Guanxuan Monastery after three years and reported that he had found suitable tribulation sites in Qingzhou, Qilu, and Liaodong.
• Cheng Xinzhan finished refining his Earth Book and placed it in the Crimson Palace after his Earth Palace and golden core reacted against it.
• Cheng Xinzhan told the boy and Lion to guard the monastery, then left with Wu Qingbo to inspect the sites, starting in Qingzhou.
• Cheng Xinzhan examined a dangerous marsh called the Eight-Hundred-Li River and approved of its seclusion, elemental balance, and frequent thunder.
• Cheng Xinzhan inspected a nine-peaked coastal mountain on the Qilu Peninsula, then a naturally taiji-shaped gorge near Changbai Mountain in Liaodong.
• Cheng Xinzhan thanked Wu Qingbo and said his worries were resolved after deciding which site to use.

Cheng Xinzhan settled on the Yellow Sea coast and named its iron-rich peaks Iron-Raft Mountain, where he completed his Earth Book and named it the Expansive Record of the Land. The treasure endured an eighteen-strike fire lightning tribulation, while Wu Qingbo watched guard without realizing it had happened.

• Cheng Xinzhan and Wu Qingbo returned to the Yellow Sea coast, where Cheng Xinzhan chose a nine-peaked iron mountain and named it Iron-Raft Mountain.
• After four years of work, Cheng Xinzhan completed his Earth Book, filled it with the regions he had visited, and inscribed his poem about Iron-Raft Mountain.
• Cheng Xinzhan named the magical treasure the Expansive Record of the Land, then activated formations to conceal its lightning tribulation and drive away creatures from the surrounding waters.
• Cheng Xinzhan deployed the Shade-Covering Bird Sky-Shielding Banner Formation and let the treasure face the crimson fire-cloud tribulation without activating its lightning defenses.
• The Expansive Record of the Land used paintings of rivers and the sea to withstand eighteen bolts of fiery lightning and emerged unharmed, while Wu Qingbo asked whether its tribulation had begun.

Cheng Xinzhan completed the Great Unity Azure Radiance Umbrella, a protective treasure designed to help him withstand future tribulations and serve other purposes. He then prepared to give a second, fire-aspected umbrella to Uncle Qing.

• Cheng Xinzhan reviewed his past lightning tribulation and chose to refine an umbrella as a personal tribulation treasure.
• Cheng Xinzhan completed the Great Unity Azure Radiance Umbrella, whose canopy depicted the stars, wind, rain, clouds, and lightning.
• Cheng Xinzhan furled the azure umbrella and placed it within his Purple Mansion.
• Cheng Xinzhan took out a completed black-red umbrella made from Drought-Withered Bamboo, fiery cloudcloth, and a jiao horn, which he had refined as a gift.
• Cheng Xinzhan called Uncle Qing to come over.

Cheng Xinzhan began his second Golden Core washing on Iron-Raft Mountain, where a Five-Nine Fire Thunder Tribulation struck his core and body. He endured the opening bolts with the help of his formations and the Mysterious Female Pearl as the tribulation continued.

• Cheng Xinzhan gave Wu Qingbo a Spell Umbrella, which Wu Qingbo accepted and tested.
• Cheng Xinzhan prepared Iron-Raft Mountain and timed his second Elixir-Washing Tribulation for Awakening of Insects.
• Cheng Xinzhan activated concealment formations and brought his Golden Core outside his body as Purple Empyrean tribulation clouds gathered overhead.
• Cheng Xinzhan used nine Sky-Piercer Halberds and the mountain formation to divert part of the first scarlet Fire Thunder bolt before it struck his Golden Core.
• Cheng Xinzhan endured the burning pain of the first bolt, then reduced the formation's protection as the second bolt arrived.
• Cheng Xinzhan summoned the Mysterious Female Pearl, whose cool light eased the heat in his Inner Vision World.

Cheng Xinzhan endured the second elixir-washing tribulation, using his magical treasures and cold baleful intent to withstand the fire and lightning. When the tribulation revealed his Dharma Form as a towering, bird-headed Jingwei, he accepted it as an expression of his own aspirations, and wind, rain, earthquakes, and immense waves followed.

• Cheng Xinzhan discovered Fire in the Stone burning inside Iron-Raft Mountain and froze it with north pole cold-light baleful intent and the Great Yin Spell.
• Cheng Xinzhan weathered the tribulation's lightning and fire with the Mysterious Female Pearl, Gourd, Dharma Swords, Purple Gauze Ritual Robe, Great Unity Azure Radiance Umbrella, and Earth Book, while his treasures were tempered.
• Cheng Xinzhan's golden core condensed as five-colored cloud curtains gathered around it, and the Earth Book helped him endure the final strikes of the five-nine tribulation.
• A giant hand seized the dispersing tribulation cloud, and the curtains revealed Cheng Xinzhan's enormous Dharma Form, a purple-robed Daoist with a bird's head, a whisk, and the Earth Book.
• Cheng Xinzhan recognized the bird as Jingwei and accepted the Dharma Form as a reflection of his own aspiration to become an earthly immortal whose power reached both land and sea.
• Wind and rain surged, the earth shook, and towering waves rose across the Yellow Sea after Cheng Xinzhan affirmed his Dharma Form.

After completing his tribulation, Cheng Xinzhan attracted the attention of the Yellow Sea Dragon Lord, who invited him to the Dragon Palace. Cheng Xinzhan reached the Dragon Lord’s hall, where his host greeted him with a pointed question about filling in the sea.

• Cheng Xinzhan completed his tribulation as enormous waves approached Iron-Raft Mountain, and Wu Qingbo urged him to flee.
• Ni Wenyu, commander of the Yellow Sea Dragon Palace, invited Cheng Xinzhan to meet the Dragon Lord, and Cheng Xinzhan accepted while Wu Qingbo returned to Three Pure Ones Mountain for help.
• Cheng Xinzhan traveled through the Yellow Sea with Ni Wenyu, discussed his jiao scale and Sea Chrysanthemums, and admired the underwater settlements and scenery.
• Ni Wenyu brought Cheng Xinzhan by dragon-drawn carriage to the Dragon Palace’s Purple Dawn Hall.
• The Yellow Sea Dragon Lord welcomed Cheng Xinzhan and asked whether he still intended to fill in the sea.

Cheng Xinzhan spoke with the Yellow Sea Dragon Lord about restraint, the Dragon Clan, and their shared cultivation history. The Dragon Lord examined Cheng Xinzhan’s grafted scale and discovered it came from a Green Chi-Dragon.

• The Dragon Lord questioned Cheng Xinzhan about his ocean-suppressing power, and Cheng explained that his unnamed divine ability, Jingwei Bearing a Stone, was meant to suppress demons.
• Over wine, Cheng praised the Dragon Lord’s rule of the Yellow Sea, and the Dragon Lord warned that Jingwei’s power had once killed True Dragons and should not be used lightly at sea.
• The Dragon Lord explained the Dragon Clan’s inherited life treasury abilities and revealed that Master Xiyi had taught him, though he had said their destined teacher-disciple affinity had not yet arrived.
• The Dragon Lord told Cheng that he had adopted Song court customs after founding the Yellow Sea kingdom, then asked to inspect Cheng’s dragon scale.
• After examining the scale, the Dragon Lord wondered whether Cheng could use it as an aperture for Dragon Clan abilities and exclaimed that it belonged to a Green Chi-Dragon.

Cheng Xinzhan showed the Yellow Sea Dragon Lord and Dragon Consort a Green Chi-Dragon scale, revealing that his junior sister Gu Xinshu was their niece, Qin'er. The Dragon Consort planned a visit to Three Pure Ones Mountain to see her, while the Dragon Lord explained the family’s estrangement and their failed search after Gu Yi was captured.

• The Dragon Lord summoned his wife, Gu Li, and asked Cheng Xinzhan to show her the scale on his chest.
• Gu Li recognized the scale’s aura, revealed her own matching scale, and identified herself as Gu Yi’s younger sister.
• Cheng Xinzhan explained that the scale came from his junior sister Gu Xinshu, also known as Qin'er, and the Dragon Lord and Dragon Consort acknowledged him as their nephew by marriage.
• Cheng Xinzhan recounted how Mountain Lord Ying rescued Qin'er and how she joined Three Pure Ones Mountain; Gu Li thanked the sect and insisted on visiting her niece.
• The Dragon Lord ordered Ni Wenyu to prepare the visit and sent him with Cheng Xinzhan’s message to coordinate with Three Pure Ones Mountain.
• Gu Li and the Dragon Lord explained how family disputes had separated them from Gu Yi’s household and how their attempts to find Qin'er after Gu Yi’s capture had failed.

Cheng Xinzhan received gifts from the Dragon Consort and learned the cost of his junior sister’s birth scale before the Dragon Lord opened a void realm within it as a divine ability. Their conversation then turned to the True Dragons ruling the Four Seas, leaving Cheng Xinzhan joking that he might one day govern the seas himself.

• The Dragon Consort gave Cheng Xinzhan a powerful crossbow and precious jade for Qin'er, and he offered her pills and promised to arrange pregnancy tonics.
• The Dragon Lord explained that Cheng Xinzhan’s scale was a birth scale his junior sister had painfully shed, leaving her with a new weak spot, and recommended the divine ability Mount Sumeru Within the Chest.
• The Dragon Lord used dragon blood to open the scale aperture and create a thirty-zhang-square void realm, which Cheng Xinzhan explored and learned to conceal beneath his skin.
• The Dragon Lord described the True Dragons of the Eastern, Southern, and other seas, including the Green-Robed Ancestor, and said the Western and Northern Seas had no True Dragons.
• Cheng Xinzhan toasted the day the Four Seas would run clear and joked that he might have to govern them, making the Dragon Lord laugh and call him drunk.

After returning from the Yellow Sea Dragon Palace, Cheng Xinzhan examined his Golden Core, discovered a new earth-ruling Divine Ability, and carved a jade seal to nurture in his Yellow Court. The Mysterious Female Pearl rapidly restored his weakened Golden Core, but also caused its tribulation clouds to accelerate even more.

• Cultivators along the Yellow Sea watched the Dragon Palace escort carry the drunken Cheng Xinzhan back to Iron-Raft Mountain, where Wu Qingbo brought him inside.
• After sleeping for ten days, Cheng Xinzhan heard Wu Qingbo's account, sealed the mountain against visitors, and began secluded cultivation.
• Cheng Xinzhan examined his Golden Core and discovered that his new Divine Ability, Jingwei Bearing a Stone, could condense earth into mountains to fill waters and suppress aquatic demons.
• Cheng Xinzhan carved the dragon consort's jade into a seal inscribed “Peace to the Mountains and Rivers” and placed it beneath his Golden Core in the Yellow Court.
• Cheng Xinzhan sent the Mysterious Female Pearl into the Yellow Court, where it revolved with the Golden Core and swiftly restored its radiance.
• The Golden Core's recovery caused its already accelerated tribulation clouds to approach even faster.

Cheng Xinzhan discovered that the Mysterious Female Pearl could hasten his next Elixir-Washing Tribulation and considered using it as the spiritual body for his immense dharma form. He examined the pearl and Red-Wart Gourd, then began studying the Fire in the Stone while wondering whether he might one day gather all three fires.

• Cheng Xinzhan realized the Mysterious Female Pearl was stimulating his Golden Core and could bring his third Elixir-Washing Tribulation within ten years.
• Cheng Xinzhan considered making the Mysterious Female Pearl the treasure body of his 128-zhang Bird-Headed, Human-Bodied World-Suppressing Dharma Form, but postponed the attempt until he was away from the sea.
• Cheng Xinzhan examined the Red-Wart Gourd and found that it had gained a barrier restriction carrying the Fire in the Stone's aura, allowing it to transform fire-aspected magical power into that flame.
• Cheng Xinzhan drew out a wisp of Fire in the Stone and began studying its properties as he refined it.

Xinshu struggled with the news that she had a living aunt and a possible Dragon Lord uncle, fearing that it forced her to confront her painful past. Cheng Xinzhan returned to Bright Governance Mountain after completing his second Elixir Tribulation, where Wen Sukong challenged him for involving Xinshu's relatives without considering her wishes.

• Xinshu wrestled with whether to meet her newly discovered relatives, while Wen Sukong promised no one would force her to do so.
• Cheng Xinzhan returned to Bright Governance Mountain after sorting through his gains from the tribulation.
• Wen Sukong learned that Cheng Xinzhan had passed his second Elixir Tribulation and established his Dharma Form, which had alerted the Dragon Lord.
• Wen Sukong rebuked Cheng Xinzhan for allowing Dragon Palace representatives to come acknowledge Xinshu as a relative without first explaining the matter or asking Xinshu what she wanted.

Cheng Xinzhan explained Gu Xinshu’s family history and revealed that her father, Gu Yi, was imprisoned in the Demon-Locking Tower, giving her hope that he was alive. After comforting Xinshu, Cheng received Bright Governance Mountain’s method for nurturing his immortal sprout and prepared to return to Western Kham to seek a way to rescue Gu Yi.

• Wen Sukong admonished Cheng Xinzhan for agreeing to acknowledge Xinshu’s family relationship without asking her, then invited them to discuss what to do.
• Cheng Xinzhan explained why Xinshu’s aunt had been unable to help her and gave Xinshu a lacquered crossbow from the Dragon Consort, who was willing to meet her when she was ready.
• Cheng Xinzhan told Xinshu and Wen Sukong that Gu Yi was likely alive in Emei’s Demon-Locking Tower, and Xinshu wept in relief and grief as Cheng comforted her.
• Cheng Xinzhan said he planned to return to Western Kham and investigate a way to rescue Gu Yi, while Wen Sukong agreed that the task required strategy rather than force.
• Wen Sukong gave Cheng Xinzhan the bamboo-slip method for nurturing his immortal sprout after confirming he had considered the required abstinence and risks.
• Wen Sukong urged Cheng Xinzhan to stay a few days, help Xinshu recover, and be cautious in Western Kham before she departed.

Yu Nanlin brought Yuchi Zhenyan to Guanxuan Monastery, where Feng Ji Hu diagnosed and prescribed treatment for Yuchi’s congenital fire poison. After preparing his first course of medicine, Feng Ji Hu asked how a Red Heart Cult prisoner in the Demon-Locking Tower had been able to trigger Yuchi’s attack.

• Yu Nanlin brought Yuchi Zhenyan to Kanli Mountain and introduced him to Feng Ji Hu as a patient with congenital fire baleful poison.
• Yuchi described how the poison had passed to him before birth and recounted his painful attacks, while Feng Ji Hu questioned him, inspected his tongue, and took his pulse.
• Feng Ji Hu diagnosed damage to Yuchi’s lungs and kidneys and blocked meridians, then prescribed gradual treatment that would take three to five years.
• Feng Ji Hu wrote a detailed prescription and prepared Yuchi’s first two months of medicine, while Yu Nanlin explained the payment he accepted.
• Feng Ji Hu asked Yu Nanlin about the generations of her and Yuchi’s lineages, then questioned whether Demon-Locking Tower prisoners retained their magical powers.

Feng Ji Hu learned how the Demon-Locking Tower held and restrained its prisoners, then agreed to join Xuanmen’s planned Spring Hunt and Tower Sweeping alongside Yunlai. Cheng Xinzhan arrived at Kanli Mountain after surviving his tribulation and reaching the Second Wash.

• Yu Nanlin explained that the Demon-Locking Tower imprisoned hundreds of Demon Fiends in separate Small Void Realms, sealing their Golden Cores and Primordial Spirits while leaving them enough power to fight.
• Yu Nanlin told Feng Ji Hu that Xuanmen planned a Spring Hunt and Tower Sweeping, inviting qualified outsiders to enter the tower and keep their spoils.
• Feng Ji Hu agreed to join and asked Yu Nanlin to sponsor Yunlai as well; Yu Nanlin happily accepted and promised to send word when the Alliance announced its plans.
• Feng Ji Hu contacted Xinzhan, and three days later Cheng Xinzhan arrived at Kanli Mountain after successfully surviving his tribulation.
• Feng Ji Hu and Cheng Xinzhan joked about Cheng Xinzhan reaching the Second Wash, then laughed together.

Cheng Xinzhan and Feng Ji Hu prepared for the Spring Hunt’s Demon-Locking Tower sweep while Cheng Xinzhan planned the cultivation paths of Third Younger Sister and White Dragon. As Clear and Bright arrived, he sent the children back to the mountain and decided to take Lion into the tower.

• Cheng Xinzhan and Feng Ji Hu discussed Cheng Xinzhan’s tribulation, a pregnancy prescription for the Dragon Consort, and the risks of rescuing Uncle Gu from the Demon-Locking Tower.
• Yu Nanlin told Cheng Xinzhan and Master Huaipu that the Spring Hunt tower sweep would take place on Clear and Bright, while Yuchi Zhenyan thanked Feng Ji Hu for treating his illness.
• Cheng Xinzhan learned that Third Younger Sister intended to follow the Suanni path and offered to seek Mountain Lord Ren as her master at Cinnabar Glow Mountain.
• White Dragon chose Ancestor Panhu’s bloodline path, and Cheng Xinzhan planned for him to remain on Bright Governance Mountain as a nominal disciple.
• Cheng Xinzhan told the children to return to the mountain before the tower sweep, while Lion would stay with him and enter the tower; ten days later, Clear and Bright arrived.

Cheng Xinzhan and Feng Ji Hu traveled from Kanli Mountain to Mount Tiantai to enter the Demon-Locking Tower and rescue Gu Yi. They learned that a last-minute Spring Hunt rule change would make their attempt to evade the tower’s safeguards more difficult, but they accepted the bells and prepared to enter.

• Cheng Xinzhan sealed Kanli Mountain, disabled the passage tokens he had given to friends, and left with Feng Ji Hu and Lion.
• Cheng Xinzhan and Feng Ji Hu reached Mount Tiantai, where they saw the crowded summit and the Demon-Locking Tower.
• Yu Nanlin greeted Cheng Xinzhan and Feng Ji Hu, and the gathered visitors discussed their arrival and presumed strength.
• Yu Nanlin explained that the Spring Hunt’s crowding had prompted the Alliance to require participants to enter together, use jade keys that could not grant free exit, and ring bells for release or rescue.
• Cheng Xinzhan and Feng Ji Hu accepted the bells despite realizing that the Demon-Illuminating Mirror and wardens could hinder their plan to bring Gu Yi out.

Yu Nanlin briefed Cheng Xinzhan and Feng Ji Hu on the Demon-Locking Tower and the Spring Hunt before the participants entered. Once inside, Cheng Xinzhan and Feng Ji Hu planned to reach the tenth floor and free Gu Yi, while proceeding cautiously through the tower’s demon-filled cells.

• Yu Nanlin gave Cheng Xinzhan and Feng Ji Hu an updated demon guide and explained the tower’s floors, restrictions, facilities, and Spring Hunt rules.
• Cheng Xinzhan learned that Gu Yi was imprisoned on the tenth floor, while Yu Nanlin explained that outside guests would receive rankings but no Fourth Realm Xuan would attend.
• The participants entered the Demon-Locking Tower, and Yu Nanlin and the Xuanmen disciples advanced to floors matching their recorded progress.
• Cheng Xinzhan and Feng Ji Hu discussed using Cheng Xinzhan’s immortal Heaven-and-Earth Shifting Formation Disk to try to transport Gu Yi out of his cell.
• Feng Ji Hu urged Cheng Xinzhan to distrust the guide’s judgments, avoid unnecessary slaughter, and stay within his abilities before the two set off separately to seek demons.