Chapter Summaries

Lü Bufan reached Mianchi Academy and learned that Heavenly Wave Valley sought the Three-Lives Stone to curry favor with an Immortal Venerable. He found Zhou Zhengyan kneeling with other disciples as their teacher urged them to leave and preserve the Confucian lineage.

• Lü Bufan told One Plum Blossom that he had come to visit Zhou Zhengyan, and promised to help despite the danger facing Mianchi Academy.
• One Plum Blossom explained that Heavenly Wave Valley wanted the Three-Lives Stone to offer it to the newly arrived Immortal Venerable, and introduced Lü Bufan to the academy’s defenders Hu Lu and Yu Laolai.
• Yu Laolai revealed that he had once been an academy disciple but no longer dared face his teacher, while Hu Lu was a spirit creature who had learned Confucian methods and remained devoted to the academy.
• Lü Bufan passed the academy’s guarded entrance and told the old woodcutter that Hu Lu and Yu Laolai appeared ready to die defending Mianchi Academy.
• Lü Bufan found Zhou Zhengyan and several other disciples kneeling outside the Hall of the Former Teacher, refusing to surrender the Three-Lives Stone or abandon their heritage.
• Zhou Zhengyan’s teacher insisted that he would guard the Three-Lives Stone while the disciples preserved the Confucian literary lineage.

Lü Bufan reunited with Li Xiucai at Mianchi Academy as Heavenly Wave Valley threatened the academy over its Three-Lives Stone Stele. Li Xiucai urged the Confucian scholars to preserve their principles among ordinary people rather than cling to the academy, and the chapter ended with Fang Xiaofeng and the disciples accepting his counsel.

• Zhou Zhengyan told Lü Bufan that Heavenly Wave Valley had pressured his brother-in-law to persuade him to surrender the Three-Lives Stone Stele and that his sister and brother-in-law had suffered harassment.
• Lü Bufan offered to call on his Taihua Sect companion for help, but Zhou Zhengyan refused outside aid and insisted the stele must not be surrendered.
• Li Xiucai arrived, reunited with Lü Bufan, and told Zhou Zhengyan and the academy elders that Confucian principles did not depend on a stone or an academy.
• Li Xiucai argued that Confucian scholars should adapt and carry their principles into everyday life, and Lü Bufan described Zhou Zhengyan's brother-in-law and a teahouse waiter as examples of virtue among the people.
• Zhou Zhengyan recognized that Confucian principles could endure beyond the academy, and Fang Xiaofeng and the disciples agreed to withdraw the Mountain-Guarding Formation and follow Li Xiucai's counsel.

Lü Bufan delivered the Three-Lives Stone Stele to Heavenly Wave Valley on Li Xiucai’s behalf, forcing Sect Master Tian Mo to pay ten thousand Spirit Stones before taking it. Li Xiucai then strengthened Mianchi Academy with new cultivation texts and appointed Hu Lu its Mountain-Guarding Attendant, before preparing to leave with Lü Bufan.

• Hu Lu and Yu Laolai prepared to die defending the Three-Lives Stone Stele from Heavenly Wave Valley’s Cultivators.
• Lü Bufan arrived with the stele, showed Tian Mo the verse Li Xiucai had inscribed on it, and secured ten thousand Spirit Stones in payment.
• Hu Lu recognized Li Xiucai and rejoiced when Li welcomed him back to Mianchi Academy as a disciple.
• Li Xiucai told Fang Xiaofeng that losing the stele would keep the academy out of the spotlight, then gave him old books combining Daoist methods with Confucian cultivation.
• Li Xiucai appointed Hu Lu the academy’s Mountain-Guarding Attendant and asked Lü Bufan for something to help him cultivate; Lü produced two Fire Qilin pellets.

Li Xiucai created a Golden Armor Shikigami to retrieve the Three-Lives Stone stele’s stone base and took Lü Bufan to Heavenly Wave Valley. After Lü Bufan tested his Wandering Sword Dao against the valley’s formation, Li Xiucai smashed the base into the Sect Hall, leaving Sect Master Tian Mo fleeing and the valley’s hall in ruins.

• Li Xiucai painted a Golden Armor Shikigami, which lifted the stone base, and Zhou Zhengyan told Fang Xiaofeng he wanted to return home and become a scholar respected by common people.
• Li Xiucai and Lü Bufan flew to Heavenly Wave Valley, where Li Xiucai explained Lü Bufan’s Wandering Sword Dao and urged him to judge his own path and friendships.
• Li Xiucai brought the stone base to Heavenly Wave Valley and challenged Lü Bufan to pierce its Mountain-Guarding Formation.
• Lü Bufan thrust Heavy Sword Wuming through the formation, sending Sword Qi inside and nearly severing a cultivator’s arm.
• Li Xiucai opened a hole in the formation, and the Golden Armor Shikigami hurled the stone base at the Sect Hall, breaking Sect Master Tian Mo’s Magic Treasure and smashing nearly half the hall.
• Tian Mo fled in gray smoke as the remaining members of Heavenly Wave Valley watched the Sect Hall collapse.

Lü Bufan punished the officials responsible for persecuting Zhou Zhengyan’s family, helped Zhou Zhengyan leave Huayin County, and continued northwest with Jiang Yu and Senior Brother Tianyu. Their journey ended with Lü Bufan confronting someone hiding in the bushes.

• After leaving Heavenly Wave Valley, Lü Bufan went to Huayin County and confronted Magistrate Meng about the persecution of Zhou Zhengyan’s sister and her family.
• Lü Bufan made Magistrate Meng drink tea containing sword qi, leaving the magistrate fatally injured, while the ruffian responsible for the sister’s death had already died.
• Zhou Zhengyan chose to leave Huayin County with his brother-in-law and teach children in mountain villages, accepting Lü Bufan’s travel funds.
• Lü Bufan, Jiang Yu, and Senior Brother Tianyu departed Huayin County and traveled northwest toward Heavenly Capital Ghost City.
• After recalling his first killing during a journey escorting medicine slaves, Lü Bufan noticed someone concealed in the bushes and demanded that they reveal themselves.

Lü Bufan, Senior Brother Tianyu, and Little Commandery Princess Jiang Yu entered Heavenly Capital Ghost City and reached Hate-Separation Abyss, where Lü Bufan arranged for them to stay aboard a Ghostway Ferry. He learned that the Ghost-Work Master Craftsman was hiding after killing a deputy sect master, leaving Lü Bufan to decide how to find him.

• Lü Bufan hired two Ghostway Gate guides and chose to travel to Hate-Separation Abyss, where they boarded a ghost ship into the underground city.
• Lü Bufan, Senior Brother Tianyu, and Jiang Yu discussed the Immortal Sects during the journey, while Tianyu warned them about the eerie Ghostway Gate boatmen.
• At Heavenly Capital Ghost City's entrance, a pair of conjoined people demanded payment or a body part and warned that killing was forbidden inside the city.
• The group crossed the gloomy ghost city and reached Hate-Separation Abyss, where the guides warned them to keep clear of the deadly chasm.
• Lü Bufan paid twelve hundred spirit stones for three people to stay aboard a Ghostway Ferry for three days and asked the guides to take him to Heavenly Ruins Ancient Tomb.
• The guides told Lü Bufan that the Ghost-Work Master Craftsman had killed a deputy sect master and was being hunted by one-armed martial warriors; Lü Bufan questioned whether the city's ban on killing was real.

Lü Bufan confronted the Incomplete Gate to negotiate an end to its hunt for the Ghost-Work Master Craftsman, revealing his strength and drawing the hidden craftsman out. After Lü Bufan fought the sect master, the chapter left the two facing off, with the sect master wounded and claiming he would have won in a fair fight.

• Lü Bufan entered the Heavenly Ruins Ancient Tomb with two dwarfs and forced the Incomplete Gate's guards to take him to their sect master.
• Lü Bufan offered compensation for the Incomplete Gate to end its grudge against the Ghost-Work Master Craftsman, then revealed a Sword Pellet when the curly-bearded man attacked him.
• Lü Bufan exposed the Ghost-Work Master Craftsman hiding inside a mechanical beast statue, and the craftsman summoned giant mechanical serpents to restrain the other Incomplete Gate leaders.
• Lü Bufan fought the sixth-realm sect master with Heavy Sword Wuming while combining martial arts and sword cultivation, eventually piercing the man's shoulder with Sword Qi.
• The wounded sect master released his steel claw but insisted he would not have lost if they had fought on equal terms.

Lü Bufan found the Ghost-Work Master Craftsman and delivered news of Zhao Mu and Granny Sun’s capture, prompting a terrifying chained figure beneath the Heavenly Ruins Ancient Tomb to stir. As Lü Bufan left with his companions, the figure prepared to intervene against Water Cloud Terrace, while the Craftsman sheltered the weakened Li’er.

• Lü Bufan told the Ghost-Work Master Craftsman that Zhao Mu, Granny Sun, and his friend had been taken by the master of Water Cloud Terrace, then showed him a Heavenly Silkworm Magic Robe that helped repair the mechanical beast.
• The burial mountain shook as a chained figure underground demanded to know what had happened to Zhao Mu, and Lü Bufan returned to the inn after delivering his message.
• Lü Bufan, Senior Brother Tianyu, and Little Commandery Princess Jiang Yu left the inn to find food, and Lü Bufan described the terrifying figure he had encountered beneath the tomb.
• The Ghost-Work Master Craftsman used Lü Bufan’s robe to stabilize Li’er and heard the ancestor order him to hide the boy in the Heavenly Ruins.
• The ancestor rejected the Craftsman’s warning about confronting Water Cloud Terrace and set out, insisting he did not intend to kill its master.

A chained figure in a Bronze Coffin attacked Water Cloud Terrace, demanding Xuanjizi answer for harming his young mistress, while Sect Leader Xuandanzi refused to intervene at first. As Zhou Mo blocked Northern Immortal Sect cultivators from aiding Xuanjizi, Xuandanzi revealed her long-standing plot against him and unleashed a Five-Colored Rainbow Light against the attacker; the confrontation remained unresolved.

• A Bronze Coffin-bound figure arrived at Fushui Island, prompting the Mountain-Guarding Formation to activate as Xuandanzi and Xuanjizi argued over the threat.
• The figure demanded Xuandanzi come out and said he had come to kill and save people, while Xuanjizi tried to concede and send him away.
• The figure attacked Xuanjizi with rust-covered chains, and Zhou Mo drove back Northern Immortal Sect reinforcements who tried to help.
• Xuandanzi accused Xuanjizi of defiling women and revealed she had been undermining his allies ever since he schemed against Zhou Mo.
• Xuandanzi appeared above the ruined Water Cloud Terrace and released Five-Colored Rainbow Light, which began dispelling the black clouds as the figure cursed her.

After Xuanjizi died, Lü Bufan learned how the coffin-bound man and the Northern Immortal Sect's old scandals were connected, then accepted a gift from the Sect Leader's people. As Lü headed for the water prison, the chained man dragged him beneath the lake and warned him to stay away from Zhao Mu.

• Zhou Mo told Lü Bufan that the coffin's owner had descendants among the women of Kongkong Mountain and recounted how Xuanjizi's obsession with his senior sisters had led to betrayal and tragedy.
• Deputy Sect Master Qiuyu confronted Zhou Mo over his toast to the Sect Leader, and the two fought until the courtyard collapsed.
• Lü Bufan suspected Zhou Mo and Xuandanzi had arranged his journey to help kill Xuanjizi, and he decided to press Kongkong Mountain for compensation.
• Li Kuyen delivered a goodwill pouch from the Northern Immortal Sect, which Lü Bufan accepted before heading to the Punishment Hall's water prison.
• A coil of water dragged Lü Bufan beneath the lake, where the chained man asked whether he came from Two Realms Village and ordered him to stop seeking Zhao Mu.

Lü Bufan learned from Big Black that the Immortal Sects served the Immortals, who exploited the Mortal Realm and its dead while defending it from Extraterrestrial Demons. Big Black dismissed resistance as futile, while Bai Ye insisted that someone in the Mortal Realm still had to act.

• A black figure gave Lü Bufan a Spirit Crystal, but Big Black restrained him and forced him to surrender more crystals before warning him about a recently descended Immortal and the coffin.
• Big Black took Lü Bufan beneath the Northern Immortal Sect’s Punishment Hall and showed him a ruined temple inside a Sealing Formation, explaining that the other eleven Orthodox Land Gods were dead and he had killed four.
• Big Black told Lü Bufan that the Immortal Sects, Guardian Cities, and imperial families served the Immortals, who plundered mortal resources to defend against Extraterrestrial Demons.
• Big Black revealed that his master had sacrificed the Netherworld to stop the Extraterrestrial Demons and that the Immortals’ Lesser Yin Office used the Immortal Dao Millstone to grind souls for Origin Spirits.
• Lü Bufan asked whether Bai Ye had killed their senior disciples, but Big Black dismissed the matter and declared that resistance against the Immortal Realm was futile.
• Bai Ye ate a purple plum beneath a tree and argued that someone in the Mortal Realm still had to stand up and act.

Jiang Yu met the Northern Qi Immortal Children on Moon-Inviting Island, then befriended a mysterious barefoot girl named Xuanjing. Meanwhile, Xuanjing confronted Big Black about the Wild Spirit Land and asked him to keep its forces in check while she traveled to Western Liang, leaving their bargain unresolved.

• Sima Xiu sent Jiang Yu an ornate baby rattle as an insulting apology, and Jiang Yu ordered the matron to spread the story and shame him.
• Jiang Yu visited Great Qi's four Immortal Children and offered the delegation's help, but afterward complained that they already seemed proud and distant.
• Xuanjing used her One-Word Mind-Disturbing Art to send Jiang Yu's attendants away, then spoke with Jiang Yu about cultivation, death, and her plans to seek adventure.
• Big Black sent Lü Bufan into the Land God Temple as Xuanjing approached, and Xuanjing introduced herself before asking about Big Black's connection to Master Peach.
• Xuanjing revealed that twelve Immortal Children would welcome the Twelve Immortal Weapons and that Central Earth might go to war with the Wild Spirit Land, then asked Big Black to restrain the Wild Spirit Land while she went to Western Liang.
• Big Black refused Xuanjing's offer and challenged her threats against Lü Bufan and the Immortal Children, while questioning whether she intended to help Western Liang or exploit it.

Lü Bufan met the surviving spirit of Ninth Master, an Orthodox Land God, and learned how the destruction of reincarnation and the betrayal of Big Black had enabled the Immortal Realm to dominate the Mortal Realm. Outside the temple, Big Black rejected the Immortal Xuanjing's attempt to recruit him into a scheme to harvest mortals and attack Wild Spirit Land.

• Lü Bufan offered wine at the ruined temple and awakened Ninth Master, who survived as a wisp of spiritual energy.
• Ninth Master explained that an ambush had destroyed the Netherworld fragment Big Black carried to restore reincarnation, provoking a massacre that the Mortal Realm's defenders had stopped.
• Ninth Master revealed that the Immortal Realm had exploited the fighting to seal its opponents in Wild Spirit Land and suppress the Land God Temples, while Master Peach had remained at Two-World Mountain with Big Black.
• Lü Bufan pledged to help his elders as best he could, and Ninth Master explained that the Orthodox Land Gods' golden bodies depended on merit.
• Ninth Master detected origin spirits in Lü Bufan and identified the Wei Family's Wandering Sword Dao as a technique extracted from the escape art Heavenly Crossing.
• The Immortal Xuanjing proposed harvesting mortals and attacking Wild Spirit Land with Big Black, but Big Black rebuked her attempt to involve him in plotting against the world.

After leaving the Sealing Formation, Lü Bufan rejected Immortal Xuanjing’s offer of Origin Spirits taken from the Twelve Immortal Children, refusing to gain strength through their sacrifice. He returned to the Southern Immortal Sect’s island and discovered that the Coffin Bearer had paid him with a spacious storage ring full of spirit stones.

• Big Black destroyed the Wordless Stele, then told Lü Bufan to return to Two Realms Village after settling the Taihua Sect’s business and vanished.
• Lü Bufan found the chain Big Black had torn from the black figure, and the Coffin Bearer gave him a storage ring as payment.
• Immortal Xuanjing told Lü Bufan that the Twelve Immortal Children were meant to be sacrifices and offered him part of their Origin Spirits, but he refused.
• Xuanjing mocked Lü Bufan’s hopes of opposing the Immortals and wondered whether he was a pawn in a larger plan.
• Lü Bufan returned by boat to the Southern Immortal Sect’s island and discovered that his ring held ten pouches’ worth of space and more than a hundred spirit stones.

Lü Bufan learned that the Twelve Immortal Children were being prepared as sacrificial offerings and agreed to find a way to intervene, while keeping Jiang Yu out of danger. After a royal-blue eunuch delivered the Third Prince’s invitation, Lü Bufan agreed to meet him alone that evening.

• Lü Bufan fed a supreme-grade spirit stone to Heavy Sword Wuming, then cultivated through the night and practiced the Thirty-Six Forms of the Martial Scripture.
• Jiang Yu told Lü Bufan and Senior Brother Tianyu that the Twelve Immortal Children were sacrificial offerings, and Senior Brother Tianyu warned her not to criticize the immortals.
• Lü Bufan used the mirage pearl to shield the courtyard, then told Jiang Yu he wanted to intervene and would seek help while keeping her uninvolved.
• Jiang Yu revealed that her imperial brother had secretly sheltered rogue cultivators and martial warriors persecuted by the Immortal Sect, and Lü Bufan considered the implications for the rival imperial clans.
• A young eunuch invited Lü Bufan to meet the Third Prince at the Purple Bamboo Garden that evening, and Lü Bufan accepted the invitation to go alone.

Third Prince Sima Xiu met Lü Bufan in secret to discuss the Immortal Child Sacrifice and urged him to sabotage it. Lü Bufan challenged Sima Xiu to offer a greater reward, leaving their bargain unresolved.

• Lü Bufan met Sima Xiu at a mountain pavilion, where Sima joked about the Little Commandery Princess giving him a black eye.
• Sima asked Lü what he thought of the Immortal Child Sacrifice, revealed he knew about Lü’s background, and listened as Lü raised a Sealing Formation around them.
• Sima said he opposed the sacrifice because it would strengthen Great Jin’s Guardian Immortal, Xuanjing, and could lead to the harvesting of lives and resources.
• Sima offered Lü three Ancient Talisman Fragments that could burn the Twelve Immortal Children and four descending Immortals on the Sacrificial Altar.
• Lü accused Sima of making him a scapegoat and demanded a better reward, and Sima laughed and asked what Lü considered appropriate.

Lü Bufan escaped Sima Xiu’s scheme and met Crouching Dragon, who warned him about the danger of confronting the Immortals and explained the history of their conflict with Lord Mo Shou. Lü Bufan offered up a life-bound Mirage Pearl to get Crouching Dragon’s help stopping Immortal Xuanjing’s sacrifice, refusing the power and bond the pearl could bring him.

• Lü Bufan and Sima Xiu parted with polite smiles, then cursed each other once they were out of sight.
• Crouching Dragon rescued Lü Bufan from Moon-Inviting Island and scolded him for risking his life after Sima Xiu sent him there.
• Crouching Dragon told Lü Bufan that Immortal Xuanjing planned to bring Immortals down using the Twelve Immortal Children, and recounted how Immortal Yunxia had crippled Human Race elites with Immortal Sword Tianxiu.
• Lü Bufan said he would not bargain with Immortal Xuanjing and revealed he had Sima Xiu’s talismans in case he needed to blame Great Jin for sabotaging the altar.
• Lü Bufan offered Crouching Dragon a life-bound Mirage Pearl containing a young girl’s soul in exchange for helping him disrupt the sacrifice.
• Crouching Dragon explained that refining the pearl could grant Lü Bufan an External Incarnation and tie his life to Lady White God’s descendant, but Lü Bufan refused those benefits and insisted on saving the Immortal Children.

Lü Bufan left Moon-Inviting Island after telling Zhou Mo he was going to meet Commandery Princess Jiang Yu. Meanwhile, Crouching Dragon recruited two silver wolf demons and used a staged battle to trick the White River Sect into capturing an azure ox demon, then launched an assault that left the sect in ruins.

• Lü Bufan told Zhou Mo that he planned to lie low at Longcheng Peak and have Commandery Princess Jiang Yu wait for him there.
• Crouching Dragon persuaded two Half-Step Eighth Realm wolf demons to join him, and they agreed to target the White River Sect during the Northern Immortal Sect's Heavenly Sacrifice Day.
• Three demons fought at Qinghe Ravine, prompting the White River Sect to capture a wounded azure ox demon and return with him to the sect.
• The White River Sect's disciples celebrated their supposed victory while the azure ox was held in the underground water prison.
• Crouching Dragon used a mirage pearl's illusion formation to subdue the guards and free the azure ox, then the two wolf demons joined him in attacking the White River Sect.
• The demons wrecked the White River Sect's Sect Hall and fought the Sect Master and a Sixth-Realm Martial Warrior as the sect's weaker disciples fell into confusion.

Lü Bufan coordinated a scheme against the Northern Immortal Sect while weighing an attempt to assassinate Sima Xiu, the Third Prince of Great Jin. He abandoned the attack after sensing danger and left with Crouching Dragon’s demon to target two corrupt sects, while Lu Wenjie discovered that the tea-stall owner was Master Sun and was told to take Sima Xiu back to the capital.

• Crouching Dragon killed the White River Sect master and elders, recruited two great demons, and used a Mirage Pearl to disguise them as they headed to Fushui Island with an offering.
• Lü Bufan slipped away from a tea stall as four White River Sect disciples escorted a powerful but weakened demon toward the Northern Immortal Sect.
• Deputy Sect Master Qiuyu learned that the White River Sect had brought a seventh-realm demon as a gift and instructed the outer sect to send them to Immortal Cauldron Island for pills.
• Eunuch Zhang killed a paper puppet during an attempted attack on Sima Xiu’s Floating Boat, then ordered the prince’s return to the Northern Immortal Sect and Jingting Mountain’s closure.
• Lü Bufan admitted that he had nearly killed Sima Xiu but had sensed that the prince was too dangerous to attack, then left with Crouching Dragon to punish two corrupt sects south of Heavenheart Lake.
• Lu Wenjie bowed to the tea-stall owner, Master Sun, who told him to take Sima Xiu back to the capital and warned him to be careful on the road.

Crouching Dragon and allied Demons caused chaos across Fushui Island while black-clad attackers targeted the Immortals’ altar, exposing a plot involving hidden Talismans and an Imperial Court Martial Warrior. After the Northern Immortal Sect regained control, the Immortal Xuanjing confronted Sima Xiu and Sima Da over the crisis, leaving the Sima Clan ordered to compensate her.

• Crouching Dragon freed Demonic Beasts and Demon Race prisoners, unleashing chaos across Heavenheart Lake and Lianxin Island as two wolf demons attacked Fushui Island cultivators.
• Deputy Sect Master Qiuyu rushed to Moon-Inviting Island after receiving Xuandanzi’s warning, where black-clad attackers struck the White Jade Altar and targeted the Immortal Children.
• The Northern Immortal Sect’s great Formation activated, and its experts captured an unconscious attacker carrying concealed Talismans and Imperial Court gear before Qiuyu ordered the altar guarded and the demons subdued.
• The Immortal Xuanjing suspended Sima Xiu from her fishing rod and questioned him about the Talismans, while Sima Da arrived to plead for his son.
• Xuanjing destroyed Sima Da’s Floating Boat and its attendants, then released Sima Xiu and demanded compensation from the Sima Clan before vanishing.