Chapter Summaries

Ao Ding rescued the lovesick scholar He Xiao from Peach Blossom Creek and learned that He Xiao’s love for the spirit Tu Qing’er was blocked by differences in status and species, as well as a powerful tiger-spirit rival. The flood dragon maiden proposed helping He Xiao earn official honors and invited Ao Ding to a banquet in Hundred Yao Forest, where the tiger spirit and possibly Tu Qing’er would appear.

• Ao Ding rescued He Xiao from drowning and teased him about selling himself before dying, while He Xiao realized Ao Ding was a cultivator.
• A flood dragon maiden emerged from the creek and explained that He Xiao loved Tu Qing’er, whose family opposed their match and had chosen a tiger-spirit lord as her husband.
• The flood dragon maiden revealed Tu Qing’er had asked her to watch over He Xiao and suggested helping him earn official honors to improve his standing with Tu Qing’er’s family.
• Ao Ding tested He Xiao’s literary and mathematical abilities, and the flood dragon maiden said his talent could help him succeed in the examinations.
• The flood dragon maiden explained that the tiger spirit was a powerful Profound Gang Upper Realm mountain lord and invited Ao Ding and He Xiao to a Hundred Yao Forest banquet where the tiger spirit and possibly Tu Qing’er would attend.

Ao Ding and He Xiao attended the Yao Grove Bird Gathering with Wen Dan, where He Xiao and Tu Qing'er arranged to meet secretly despite pressure for her to marry the Mountain Lord. After seeing the tiger demon arrive, Ao Ding and Wen Dan planned to make He Xiao confront him, leaving their plan ready to begin when He Xiao returned.

• Ao Ding and He Xiao entered the Vermilion Bird Clan’s Dharma Realm disguised as spirits, and Wen Dan explained how He Xiao could meet Tu Qing'er during the gathering.
• The Darkwater Snake women glared at Wen Dan and her companions, but Ao Ding frightened them with his gaze.
• He Xiao left the gathering on an excuse to meet Tu Qing'er, while Fox Eighth Lady urged her younger sister to accept marriage to the Mountain Lord.
• Wen Dan told Ao Ding that the Tu Household sought an alliance with the Tiger Clan amid hardship caused by drought and famine in Liyun.
• The Mountain Lord arrived, and Ao Ding sensed his power and suspected he carried Flying Heaven Jade Tiger lineage.
• Ao Ding and Wen Dan agreed to have He Xiao face the Mountain Lord and planned to persuade the tiger spirit to back down.

Ao Ding and Wen Dan arranged for He Xiao and White Great King to compete in understanding a scripture, hoping to resolve their conflict over Tu Qing'er. Tu Qing'er then gave them the key to the Plague-Dispelling Dao's immortal abode, and Wen Dan hurried off with Ao Ding to explore it.

• Ao Ding persuaded He Xiao to challenge White Great King to a reading contest, offering him a fragment of the Nine Heavens Azure Green Primordial Scripture as the prize.
• White Great King agreed to teach He Xiao cultivation while He Xiao taught him to read, and a contract prevented the tiger from harming him during their stay together.
• Wen Dan invited Ao Ding to explore an immortal abode and offered him the abode in exchange for help recovering its legacy.
• Tu Qing'er gave Ao Ding and Wen Dan the map and key to the Plague-Dispelling Dao's immortal abode and explained that its arts could corrupt their practitioners.
• Wen Dan agreed to preserve and pass on the Plague-Dispelling Dao's teachings, then took Ao Ding to the immortal abode.

Ao Ding and Wen Dan entered the Plague-Dispelling Dao cave abode, overcame its poison wards, and searched its rooms for the inheritance. They found a fragment of Ninefold Mystic Purple-Gold Stone and, in the rear garden, the Innate Water Dragon Wall Wen Dan had sought, leaving her excited by the discovery.

• Ao Ding and Wen Dan froze the poisonous pool, found the hidden entrance, and purified the poisonous mist with Wen Dan’s Hundred-Flower Heavenly Dew.
• They opened the cave abode’s wards, searched its rooms, and found the Plague Daoist’s remains and the cultivation methods he had left behind.
• Ao Ding discovered a fragment of Ninefold Mystic Purple-Gold Stone in the storeroom and recognized it as material for the Collection of a Thousand Spells.
• Ao Ding broke open the inner door with the Golden Dragon Banner, and Wen Dan hurried through the family quarters toward the garden.
• Wen Dan found the Innate Water Dragon Wall described in her father’s records, while Ao Ding wondered about the Plague-Dispelling Dao’s decline and her father’s death.

Ao Ding and Wen Dan helped White Great King break off his engagement to Tu Qing’er, then planned to secure He Xiao a powerful backer so he could marry her. As Ao Ding brought Green-Eyed Ghost and his followers into the immortal abode to stage a proposal, Green-Eyed Ghost discovered what looked like a living heart behind the Water Dragon Wall.

• Ao Ding copied part of the Heaven-One Dragon Water Scripture for Wen Dan, and the two left the cave abode to check on He Xiao.
• After He Xiao taught him to read and helped him improve, White Great King decided to break off his engagement rather than lose face or remain indebted to the humans helping him.
• Seven days later, the Tu Household received White Great King’s letter canceling the engagement, and the fox elders argued over whether to accept the match between Tu Qing’er and He Xiao.
• Ao Ding and Wen Dan agreed to solve the remaining obstacles by finding He Xiao a respectable backer and improving his standing.
• Ao Ding asked Green-Eyed Ghost for ghost skins to impersonate an ancestor, but Green-Eyed Ghost refused to let him experiment with the Great Skin-Peeling Method and offered to help stage the plan himself.
• Green-Eyed Ghost and his ghost followers entered Ao Ding’s immortal abode, where he sensed a living heart behind the Water Dragon Wall.

Ao Ding removed a drought demon's heart and the plague Daoist's corpse from his cave, then learned that the heart contained the Drought Demon Art. With the Green-Eyed Ghost's help, he secured He Xiao and Tu Qing'er's marriage and received a scroll of the Evil-Cleansing Spell, while he considered finding someone to look after his cave abode.

• Ao Ding used water true qi to extract the demonic heart from the water dragon wall, and the Green-Eyed Ghost sent it and the plague Daoist's corpse to the underworld.
• Ao Ding's attempt to cultivate using the heart's circulation pattern caused him to cough blood, but he identified it as a drought demon's heart and tasked the three children with researching drought demons and plague-dispelling methods.
• The Green-Eyed Ghost led ghosts to frighten the Tu Household into accepting He Xiao's marriage to Tu Qing'er, then gave Ao Ding a Dream-Traversing Immortal Pillow so He Xiao could keep the underworld's accounts.
• Tu Qing'er thanked Ao Ding and gave him an Evil-Cleansing Spell scroll, while Wen Dan gave her a Glazed Immortal Pill to suppress her demonic poison and allow her to be with He Xiao.
• Ao Ding told Wen Dan he would leave and might entrust his cave abode to someone else to look after.

Ao Ding visited Lin Bai and his father, then sought Duan Lingxiao’s advice about whether helping others had entangled him in their karma. Duan reassured him, but changed his mind after learning Sun Chen had urged caution, warning Ao Ding to restrain himself around sects and spiritual mountains.

• Ao Ding visited the Lin Household and learned that Lin Bai had established his foundation and that the Wang Household was still suffering misfortune.
• Ao Ding offered Lin Bai and his father use of the Plague-Dispelling Dao’s cave abode in exchange for wine, and asked them to look after He Xiao and pass him the Immortal Pillow.
• Lin Bai’s father directed Ao Ding to Duan Lingxiao, a diviner south of the city, for advice about karma.
• Duan Lingxiao revealed his youthful appearance and reassured Ao Ding that he had acted well by helping He Xiao, Tu Qing'er, and others.
• After hearing that Sun Chen had advised Ao Ding to be cautious, Duan Lingxiao warned him to show restraint around sects and spiritual mountains.

Duan Lingxiao guided Ao Ding and Lin Bai in cultivation, then brought Ao Ding to his Purple Yang immortal mountain and helped him form a crimson Dao seed. The next day, Duan Lingxiao carried Ao Ding south to seek Cang Xuanzi, but Ao Ding learned that the senior was burning his own immortal residence to destroy a powerful demon snake.

• Duan Lingxiao denied that Sun Chen had formally left the Pure Tenuity Sect and advised Ao Ding to seek Cang Xuanzi with wine.
• Duan Lingxiao taught Ao Ding and Lin Bai about the Mysterious Gang and Jade Palace realms, then invited Ao Ding to stay at his immortal mountain.
• Ao Ding asked Duan Lingxiao detailed questions about cultivation and Six Sects arts, leaving Duan Lingxiao struggling to answer.
• Duan Lingxiao guided Ao Ding in refining a crimson Dao seed, which took root in Ao Ding's heart and caused a fourth seed to begin forming in his spleen.
• Duan Lingxiao carried Ao Ding south toward Cang Xuanzi's immortal residence, and Ao Ding arrived safely despite the rough journey.
• A cultivator told Ao Ding that Cang Xuanzi had been burning his residence for seven days to destroy a powerful demon snake.

Ao Ding stayed at the Bright Yang Immortal Estate while waiting for Ji Diyun to arrange a meeting with Cang Xuan, and received permission to study the scripture library’s first floor. He began gathering Daoist methods and found the Heavenly Eye Thousand-Eyes Register, which could help him develop his other True Person’s Eye.

• Ji Diyun examined Ao Ding’s recommendation letter from Sun Chen and invited him to stay at the Bright Yang Immortal Estate until he could contact the elders.
• Ji Diyun settled Ao Ding in the Mind-Stilling Hall, warned him to avoid the library’s second floor, and gave him stacks of study papers.
• Ao Ding waited until the next morning to visit the scripture library, and Ji Diyun noted his restraint while watching to see if he would break the rules.
• Ao Ding read and recorded Daoist methods from the library’s first floor to improve the methods he needed for the Perfect Mystery Formula.
• Ao Ding found the Heavenly Eye Thousand-Eyes Register and recognized it as a way to develop his other True Person’s Eye.

Ao Ding studied the Heavenly Eye Book and chose a path to cultivate a True Person’s Eye by combining the Golden Light Eye, Divine Aspect Eye, and Thousand Eyes. He arranged to obtain Hundred-Flower Dew for the eye-opening ritual, asking the Green-Eyed Ghost to prepare money for a trade with the flood-dragon maiden at Peach Blossom Creek.

• Ao Ding read the Heavenly Eye Book and discovered that its Thousand Eyes Sutra was part of a greater method paired with the Many Heads Sutra.
• Ao Ding chose the Golden Light Eye, Divine Aspect Eye, and Thousand Eyes as stages of a new cultivation method, and asked the three boys to help deduce it after they finished building the Heavenly Pool.
• Ao Ding borrowed a spirit spring from Ji Diyun and used it to contact the Green-Eyed Ghost in the netherworld.
• Ao Ding explained that he wanted to cultivate his right eye as an alternative True Person body, and asked the Green-Eyed Ghost to prepare money and cowries for Hundred-Flower Dew.
• Ao Ding told the Green-Eyed Ghost to send a messenger to Peach Blossom Creek to request dew from the flood-dragon maiden, whom Ao Ding planned to pay.