Chapter Summaries

Ji Hehe assigned sect posts and named Dong Shouren and Lu Duxing as candidates to succeed him, while Cheng Xinzhan relinquished several titles and duties. The chapter ended with Ji Hehe insisting that Xinzhan personally train the next Myriad-Dharma Scripture Master before stepping down.

• Ji Hehe awarded Bright Governance Mountain two World-Illuminating Ever-Burning Lamps for producing the True Lord, and the assembly celebrated the sect’s recent growth.
• Ji Hehe confirmed and reassigned sect duties, appointing Zhao Wuji and Fa Wujiu as Vice Sect Masters and assigning Hao Jingsi to Jade Capital Mountain Peak under Lu Duxing’s guidance.
• Ji Hehe named Dong Shouren and Lu Duxing as candidates for Sect Leader, setting a timetable tied to their advancement to the fifth realm and eventual union with the Dao.
• Cheng Xinzhan announced that Lin Mingxu would become Mountain Lord of Pear Snow Mountain and asked to relinquish his posts as Vice Sect Master, White Tiger Envoy, and Myriad-Dharma Scripture Master.
• Ji Hehe accepted Xinzhan’s request to give up some posts but ordered him to choose and train a younger successor as Myriad-Dharma Scripture Master before stepping down.

Cheng Xinzhan rested on Bright Governance Mountain, then met Ji Hehe to discuss the northern campaign and Three Pure Ones Mountain’s growing ties with northern sects. After Ji Hehe praised the sect’s good fortune and urged him to visit the Immortal Tree, Cheng Xinzhan asked whether the time had come to move against Dragon-Tiger Mountain.

• Wen Sukong returned from Ji Hehe’s instruction in One Qi Transforms into the Three Pure Ones, and Cheng Xinzhan gave her the Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams Mirror for her journey north.
• Cheng Xinzhan slept through autumn into winter, wrote a lyric praising bamboo, and painted the Green Spirit in Snow for the Earth Book.
• Ji Hehe reported that Marshal Kui, Shouzhen, and Wen Sukong had reached northern strongholds, where the Thunder Observatory, Golden One Palace, and Wenfeng Temple welcomed Three Pure Ones Mountain’s support.
• Ji Hehe told Cheng Xinzhan that Wudang was discussing exchanging its Corpse-Liberation Immortal method for Three Pure Ones Mountain’s cultivation knowledge.
• Ji Hehe urged Cheng Xinzhan to visit the Ginseng Fruit Tree, and Cheng Xinzhan asked whether they should now act against Dragon-Tiger Mountain.

Cheng Xinzhan persuaded Ji Hehe that Three Pure Ones Mountain should challenge Dragon-Tiger Mountain while the other sects still remembered its abuses and before heaven and earth reconnected. He proposed exposing another disgrace of the Zhang family first, leaving the fox beneath Cliffside Mountain as his next lead.

• Cheng Xinzhan urged Ji Hehe to avenge Dragon-Tiger Mountain’s seal-branding and theft of the sects’ secrets before the chance passed.
• Ji Hehe agreed that the sects should act quickly, and Cheng Xinzhan argued that delaying would let Dragon-Tiger Mountain regain its influence and forgiveness.
• Cheng Xinzhan explained that he had spent sixty years uniting the southern sects and building Three Pure Ones Mountain’s authority before confronting Dragon-Tiger Mountain.
• Cheng Xinzhan proposed exposing the Zhang descendants’ disgraceful deeds before deciding whether to take further action against Dragon-Tiger Mountain.
• When Ji Hehe warned that revealing the Ginseng Fruit Tree could attract covetous outsiders, Cheng Xinzhan asked whether he remembered the little fox who had escaped from the Celestial Master Residence beneath Cliffside Mountain.

Cheng Xinzhan and Ji Hehe planned to expose Dragon-Tiger Mountain’s crimes while protecting Three Pure Ones Mountain’s Ginseng Fruit Tree, and Cheng explained why he would delay uniting with the Five Palaces Blessed Land. As he painted the Immortal Tree in the Earth Book, thirty-six of its leaves merged into the book, transforming it with spiritual power.

• Cheng Xinzhan told Ji Hehe that Hu Baozhuang, a fox cultivator tied to Dragon-Tiger Mountain, could expose the sect’s role in supporting Soul-Losing Ravine and refining evil pills from human souls.
• Cheng Xinzhan and Ji Hehe agreed that publicizing Hu Baozhuang’s testimony through the Haoran Alliance could turn Yu Zhang’s sects against Dragon-Tiger Mountain, while Zhang Yuanji’s claims about the Ginseng Fruit Tree could be dismissed as unsupported.
• Cheng Xinzhan said he could unite with the Five Palaces Blessed Land and become an Earthly Immortal if the Ginseng Fruit Tree faced danger, but he would not do so prematurely because the tree strengthened the whole sect’s fortunes.
• Cheng Xinzhan entered the Five Palaces Blessed Land, inspected the grown Immortal Tree, and began recording its forms in the Earth Book.
• An immortal leaf fell onto the Earth Book and merged with it, then thirty-five more leaves left the tree and joined it, filling the sky with drifting green leaves.

Cheng Xinzhan painted the Immortal Tree on the Earth Book, which absorbed thirty-six leaves and grew more powerful, while Mi Shanglian praised the painting and backed his plan to rally Yu Zhang’s sects against Dragon-Tiger Mountain. The chapter ended with Cheng Xinzhan catching Dragon-Tiger Mountain spying on the blessed land and asking Mi Shanglian how often it had happened and which of its Immortals might still be alive.

• Cheng Xinzhan painted the Immortal Tree on the Earth Book, and Mi Shanglian added a verse to the painting.
• Cheng Xinzhan and Mi Shanglian discussed the tree’s gift of thirty-six leaves and agreed that their sect should confront Dragon-Tiger Mountain’s threat.
• Cheng Xinzhan assessed which Yu Zhang sects he could recruit to challenge Dragon-Tiger Mountain, deciding to contact Mount Lu in person.
• Cheng Xinzhan sensed someone spying, used the Yin-Yang Treasure Mirror to trace the gaze to Dragon-Tiger Mountain, and saw its sword qi destroy the mirror light.
• Cheng Xinzhan called Dragon-Tiger Mountain a great enemy and asked Mi Shanglian about its spying and surviving Immortals.

Cheng Xinzhan and Mi Shanglian discussed Dragon-Tiger Mountain’s spying, its formidable defenses, and the Immortals held by the various sects. Before setting out for Mount Lu to confront Dragon-Tiger Mountain, Cheng Xinzhan concealed the Human-Fate Fruit Tree’s true growth by transforming its image into a tiny seedling.

• Mi Shanglian told Cheng Xinzhan that Dragon-Tiger Mountain had repeatedly tried to spy on the Immortal Tree, and Cheng Xinzhan explained how his mirror had traced the latest gaze back through the mountain’s defenses.
• Mi Shanglian described Dragon-Tiger Mountain’s grand array and explained that its small number of disciples did not mean it had few Immortals.
• Mi Shanglian estimated that Dragon-Tiger Mountain had four to six Immortals in the mortal world and identified Zhang Zhengtong, who wielded a powerful Demon-Breaking Eye, as a possible spy.
• Mi Shanglian identified the Ritual Water Well as the likely source of the spying gaze, then spent a day and night telling Cheng Xinzhan about suspected World-Remaining Immortals across the sects.
• Before leaving to visit Mount Lu, Cheng Xinzhan transformed his painting of the Human-Fate Fruit Tree into a tiny seedling so outsiders would misjudge its growth, and taught Mi Shanglian how to see through the concealment.

Cheng Xinzhan visited Mount Lu and secured Shi Heyang’s support for a campaign against Dragon-Tiger Mountain. After discussing cultivation and learning of their connection through the Qian Clan, he agreed to examine a mysterious Scripture Case inscription that Mount Lu’s disciples could not decipher.

• Cheng Xinzhan arrived at Mount Lu, where Shi Heyang welcomed him and showed him Three-Tiered Spring.
• Cheng Xinzhan asked Shi Heyang what he thought of Dragon-Tiger Mountain, and Shi Heyang agreed to join the effort against it.
• Cheng Xinzhan and Shi Heyang discussed Union with the Dao into the night.
• Shi Heyang revealed that Mount Lu was connected by marriage to the Qian Clan and asked Cheng Xinzhan to examine a secret manual.
• Cheng Xinzhan agreed to try deciphering the Dharma Script on the Scripture Case left by Master Jianji.

Cheng Xinzhan examined Master Jianji’s cryptic sutra case and deciphered its Spirit Wandering Returning Light Method for Shi Heyang. After teaching Shi the method, Cheng realized it could help him overcome his own cultivation bottleneck.

• Shi Heyang showed Cheng Xinzhan Master Jianji’s Dragon Huang Bamboo Sutra Case and asked him to decipher its inscription and poem.
• Cheng Xinzhan studied the poem through the night and into the next day, then announced that he had deciphered it.
• Cheng explained how the method guided the primordial spirit out of the body to absorb the essences of heaven, earth, sun, and moon.
• Shi Heyang understood the method, thanked Cheng, and recognized him as a master.
• Cheng said the Spirit Wandering Returning Light Method could also help him overcome the bottlenecks in his fifth-realm cultivation.

Cheng Xinzhan studied a newly acquired spirit-wandering method while considering the bottlenecks in his Fifth Realm cultivation and the ways to advance. At Cliffside Mountain, he asked Hu Baozhuang whether she would help him act against Dragon-Tiger Mountain in exchange for his protection and a recommendation as a True Disciple.

• Cheng Xinzhan reflected on Spirit Wandering and the three main methods of Fifth Realm cultivation, concluding that his progress in replenishing essence and qi had stalled.
• Cheng Xinzhan recalled studying spirit-replenishing arts and welcomed Master Jianji's Spirit Wandering Returning Light Method as a promising new path.
• Cheng Xinzhan returned to the mountain, parted from Zhaoli and the lion, and went to Cliffside Mountain.
• Cheng Xinzhan found Hu Baozhuang reading scripture and reassured her that he had not come to punish her.
• Cheng Xinzhan asked Hu Baozhuang to share truthful accounts of her experiences with Dragon-Tiger Mountain, promising protection and a recommendation as a True Disciple.

At the Haoran Alliance headquarters, Hu Baozhuang demanded to bring charges against Dragon-Tiger Mountain and the Heir to the Han Celestial Master Residence. Zhongzheng Xuanzai saved her from a sudden lightning strike, and she began accusing the Celestial Master of betraying his ancestors and abusing her clan.

• A woman arrived at Purple Tenuity Mountain and insisted on presenting a complaint directly to Zhongzheng Xuanzai.
• The woman revealed that she meant to accuse Dragon-Tiger Mountain, prompting the gathered alliance disciples to fall silent.
• A crimson-purple thunderbolt struck toward the woman, but Zhongzheng Xuanzai intercepted it with his tricolored ruyi.
• The woman identified herself as Hu Baozhuang and charged Dragon-Tiger Mountain with unfilial conduct, inhumanity, and injustice.
• Hu Baozhuang recounted how the Heavenly Fox Clan had served the Celestial Master Residence for generations to repay Master Xu Jing, then accused the present Celestial Master of coercing them into sinister deeds.

Zhang Yuanji tried to kill Hu Baozhuang as she brought charges against Dragon-Tiger Mountain, but hidden cultivators thwarted his attacks while Xuanzai Zhongzheng questioned her before the gathered Haoran Alliance. Hu Baozhuang’s testimony implicated the Zhang Family in founding demonic sects and endangering her clan, leaving Zhongzheng under pressure to decide whether the Alliance would act.

• Zhang Yuanji recognized the accusations as a staged confrontation and suspected True Lord Cheng had sheltered Hu Baozhuang, then secretly attacked her with spellfire.
• A hidden spellcaster scattered Zhang Yuanji’s fire and repelled his Golden Dragon Divine Form with wind and Dragon Thunder as Hu Baozhuang accused Dragon-Tiger Mountain of inhumanity.
• Hu Baozhuang claimed the Zhang Family had ordered her clan to establish Soul-Losing Ravine and other demonic sects, and presented Daoist objects as evidence.
• Hu Baozhuang explained that True Lord Cheng had caught her while she tried to rebuild the Soul Sect, sentenced her to forty years of punishment, and freed her after she repented.
• Hu Baozhuang accused Zhang Yuanji of planting Secret Seal Script in her clan’s primordial spirits, then challenged the Haoran Alliance to intervene against Dragon-Tiger Mountain.
• Daoist Zhongzheng faced the assembled spectators’ expectations but had not yet answered whether the Haoran Alliance would act.

Zhang Yuanji fought Cheng Xinzhan but withdrew after being warned that the battle was a trap, while accusations that Dragon-Tiger Mountain supported the Demon Sect spread across Jiangnan. The chapter ended with a cultivator at Su Xian Ridge producing pills bought from Dragon-Tiger Mountain that might be the Infant Elixir Little Fox had described.

• Zhang Yuanji fought Cheng Xinzhan for dozens of rounds, but he put away his Immortal Treasure and fled after being warned that the factions had prepared a trap.
• Ji Hehe told Cheng Xinzhan that Dragon-Tiger Mountain had revealed Zhang Xianyu and Zhang Zhengtong, and Cheng Xinzhan ordered surveillance of the mountain and its allies.
• At dawn, Zhongzheng Xuanzai promised to investigate Little Fox's accusations, and the crowd rallied behind his pledge.
• Shen Zhaoming, Meng Xuyi, Lan Yuqing, and others backed claims that a fox demon had guarded the Celestial Master Residence's seal and sword, while Shi Buyu accused Dragon-Tiger Mountain of backing demonic factions.
• Granny Baolong denied that Lieshan Island colluded with the Demon Cult, identified Baozhuang and Baoxiang, and announced that the Yunmeng clan would sever ties with Dragon-Tiger Mountain.
• A Golden Core cultivator at Su Xian Ridge produced pills bought from Dragon-Tiger Mountain that might be the Infant Elixir Little Fox had described.

Shao Chunxi accused Dragon-Tiger Mountain of making demonic elixirs after discovering that its Purple Essence Seed-Jade Pill reacted foully with Su Xian Ridge’s sacred spring water. The Haoran Alliance sent a delegation to demand an explanation, but Turtle Peak Daoists attacked it and destroyed Zhongzheng Xuan’s letter, escalating the conflict.

• Shao Chunxi recounted how the Purple Essence Seed-Jade Pill made him violently ill twice, despite his careful efforts to rule out other medicinal causes.
• Shao Chunxi tested a pill in Su Xian Ridge’s Orange Spring water, which boiled and turned black and foul-smelling, leading him to suspect the pill contained human ingredients.
• Lu Zaizhou directed Shao Chunxi to bring his evidence to the Haoran Alliance’s Three Xiang Branch, and Su Xian Ridge joined the accusations against Dragon-Tiger Mountain.
• After public outrage spread, Zhongzheng Xuan sent a delegation to Dragon-Tiger Mountain to request an explanation from Celestial Master Zhang.
• Daoists from Turtle Peak ambushed the delegation near Yiyang County, injured its members, and burned Zhongzheng Xuan’s letter.

At Dragon-Tiger Mountain, Zhang Yuanji and the Zhang clan elders discussed the Infant Elixir scandal, the Celestial Master Residence’s struggles since Severing Heaven and Earth, and their failed attempt to control other sects. They decided to intercept the Haoran Alliance’s returning envoys and turned their attention to obtaining the sprouted Ginseng Fruit Tree.

• The Zhang Family’s Second Uncle rebuked Han Deyu for beating the Haoran Alliance envoys and condemned the exposure of the Jade-Seeding Pellets.
• Zhang Yuanji defended continued Infant Elixir sales, explaining that Dragon-Tiger Mountain relied on their profits to support its elders and gardens.
• Zhang Yuanji described the Zhang Family’s dwindling talisman inheritance, its past succession crises, and its use of the Dao Heart Seal of the Heavenly Edict to influence outsiders.
• Zhang Yuanji admitted that the sects had discovered the sealing scheme before the Zhang Family could fully control them, and the elders regretted coming close to success.
• The Heavenly Eye Daoist ordered Zhang Duxian to intercept the Haoran Alliance envoys at Turtle Peak and urged the clan to pursue the Ginseng Fruit Tree.

Zhongzheng Xuanzai led the Haoran Alliance toward Dragon-Tiger Mountain, but Han Deyu of the Celestial Breath Sect blocked their way and was defeated in battle. Sect Leader Lu Renyu then confronted Zhongzheng, and the chapter ended as Zhongzheng advanced against Lu Renyu’s summoned mountain and magical stele.

• Zhongzheng Xuanzai led a large Haoran Alliance procession from Purple Tenuity Mountain toward Dragon-Tiger Mountain, passing Turtle Peak on the route.
• Han Deyu appeared to block the procession, and Zhongzheng attacked him with his iron ruyi and Mirror Wheel.
• Zhongzheng broke Han Deyu’s arm and injured him severely before kicking him into the Xin River.
• Lu Renyu emerged from Turtle Peak and challenged Zhongzheng, who refused to retreat and fought him with his ruyi.
• Lu Renyu summoned a magical stele and tore a mountain from Turtle Peak, while Zhongzheng transformed his ruyi into a dragon and raised his Iron Mace against the stele.

Pang Zhongzheng fought Lu Renyu until True Person Dingyi intervened, destroyed Han Deyu’s Dharma Treasure, and took over the battle so Zhongzheng could continue toward Dragon-Tiger Mountain. After the Ritual Chariot passed more Zhengyi roadblockers with help from Ge Immortal Mountain, it reached Zhang Family Town, where someone stopped it at the gate.

• Pang Zhongzheng and Lu Renyu fought on two fronts, with Lu Renyu’s Turtle Peak sacred mountain gaining the advantage while Zhongzheng pressed him with his iron mace.
• Han Deyu attacked Zhongzheng with his Copper Coin Demon-Subduing Dharma Sword, but a bolt of lightning destroyed it and left Han unconscious in the river.
• True Person Dingyi revealed himself, struck Lu Renyu’s Myriad Ghosts Hidden Stele, and used his Purple Radiance Thunder Bell Pagoda to attack Turtle Peak’s sacred mountain.
• Dingyi told Zhongzheng to continue, and Zhongzheng withdrew aboard the Ritual Chariot as Dingyi took over the fight against Lu Renyu.
• The Sect Master and Vice Sect Master of Ge Immortal Mountain engaged two Zhengyi sect leaders blocking the route, allowing Zhongzheng’s Ritual Chariot to pass.
• The Ritual Chariot reached Dragon-Tiger Mountain by way of Zhang Family Town, where a figure flew out and demanded to know who they were.

Daoist Zhongzheng reached Dragon-Tiger Mountain and reunited with Zhang Duchен, the old Daoist who had once saved his life. Despite their personal bond, Zhongzheng insisted on ascending the mountain to confront the Celestial Master, and Zhang Duchен raised a powerful formation to stop him.

• Daoist Zhongzheng recognized Zhang Duchен and greeted him warmly, recalling how the old Daoist had rescued him decades earlier.
• Zhang Duchен invited Zhongzheng into town for tea and tried to delay him, but Zhongzheng declared that he would ascend the mountain regardless of permission.
• Zhang Duchен agreed to fight Zhongzheng rather than let him pass, and activated the Hour-Bell Sacred-Image Suspended-River Azure Dragon Formation.
• Lu Creek rose into a huge Azure Dragon as the twelve golden-tiled Bell Towers transformed into its scales, horns, and a ring of bells.
• Zhang Duchен explained that the formation gave the dragon the power of a fifth-realm Union with the Dao, while Zhongzheng faced it with his Iron Ruyi.

Daoist Zhongzheng received the Jiao-Slaying Sword and challenged Dragon-Tiger Mountain’s array, while the mountain’s rosy fire joined the battle. As the sword fiend and rosy clouds clashed, another sword light arrived from Jiujiang Commandery to strike at the mountain’s defenses.

• A heavenly tide summoned by the True Lord struck the suspended-river Azure Dragon, overcoming its Twelve Yuanchen Sundial and talisman clouds before withdrawing as the Jiao-Slaying Sword.
• Daoist Zhang Duchen refused to concede, arguing that the True Lord had delivered the winning strike, so Daoist Zhongzheng wielded the Jiao-Slaying Sword himself.
• Daoist Zhongzheng’s sword summoned a blood sea of slain jiao dragons that battered the array dragon and wounded Zhang Duchen.
• Dragon-Tiger Mountain’s rosy clouds descended as fire, clashing with the Jiao-Slaying Sword’s blood sea while Zhongzheng struggled to protect the town.
• A blue-green sword rainbow arrived from the direction of Jiujiang Commandery and struck toward Dragon-Tiger Mountain’s rosy clouds.

Shi Heyang joined Pang Zhongzheng to drive back Dragon-Tiger Mountain’s fire formation, and Ning Dingyi and True Person Rongyi arrived to confront Zhang Duxian. Rongyi revealed that he had become an immortal, and after Zhang Duxian invited the four leaders inside, Rongyi refused to enter and demanded that Celestial Master Zhang come out to meet them.

• Shi Heyang arrived at Zhang Family Ancient Town and joined Pang Zhongzheng in breaking the fire formation, exhausting Zhang Duchен and forcing him to collapse.
• Zhang Duxian emerged from Dragon-Tiger Mountain and accused Pang Zhongzheng of bringing demonic sword qi, while Pang accused him of harboring a demon within the mountain.
• Ning Dingyi arrived and joined Pang Zhongzheng and Shi Heyang in demanding that Zhang Yuanji come out and speak.
• True Person Rongyi arrived from Gezao Mountain, and Ning Dingyi, Pang Zhongzheng, and Shi Heyang recognized that he had become an immortal after receiving an elixir from True Lord Cheng.
• Zhang Duxian went into the mountain to inform the Celestial Master, then returned and invited the four leaders inside while ordering the spectators to disperse.
• True Person Rongyi refused to enter Dragon-Tiger Mountain and demanded that Celestial Master Zhang come out to meet them.

Quan Rongyi confronted Celestial Master Zhang Yuanji at Dragon-Tiger Mountain over accusations that the Celestial Master Residence had raised demons and refined human souls into pills. Zhang Yuanji mocked the evidence and demanded that the hidden True Lord Cheng appear; as a verse announced his arrival, the confrontation stood poised to begin.

• Quan Rongyi challenged Dragon-Tiger Mountain, and Zhang Yuanji emerged beneath a jeweled canopy with a formidable retinue of Zhang Family cultivators.
• Quan Rongyi accused the Celestial Master Residence of raising demons and refining human souls into pills, citing Hu Baozhuang as a witness.
• Zhang Yuanji ridiculed Hu Baozhuang’s testimony and argued that True Lord Cheng might have coached her to accuse Dragon-Tiger Mountain.
• Quan Rongyi shook Dragon-Tiger Mountain with an immortal ability, and Zhang Yuanji steadied it by drawing on the Mountain-Guarding Grand Array.
• Zhang Yuanji demanded that True Lord Cheng come forward, and the gathered parties sensed his approach as his verse sounded through the void.