Recaps

Mu Bai’s unusual soul resisted the Haibei Tribe’s Divine Crow ancestral spirit during his awakening, leaving Tribal Elder Hai Ya gravely injured. After months of meditation, Mu Bai formed a pear blossom Soul Mark instead of the expected Divine Crow mark, and sensed that he had both succeeded and failed.

• Hai Ya used the Divine Crow ancestral spirit to awaken Mu Bai’s soul, but Mu Bai’s soul resisted the fusion until Hai Ya spent his essence blood to complete it.
• Mu Bai woke three days later and found Hai Ya bedridden; Hai Ya told him his unusual soul might bring fortune or calamity and urged him to follow his own path.
• The newly awakened children meditated through winter to engrave their Soul Marks, and Hai Chen became the first to succeed.
• Mu Bai struggled to complete the final stroke of his mark beneath the pear tree, recalling Hai Ya’s sacrifice and the tribe’s hopes.
• Mu Bai engraved the final stroke and experienced visions of meeting a white-clad girl beside pear blossoms across many lifetimes.
• As winter neared its end, Mu Bai’s Soul Mark formed as a pear blossom petal, and he realized he had succeeded but also failed.

Mu Bai learned that his flora soul mark could lead him to become an alchemist, then awakened the spirit inside an old cauldron and began learning pill refinement. With the artifact spirit ancestor’s instruction, Mu Bai successfully made his first three pills.

• Hai Ya told Mu Bai that his flora soul mark gave him the potential to become an alchemist, and Mu Bai chose that path.
• Mu Bai learned medicinal herbs from Hai Quan and treated tribespeople with herbal decoctions.
• Mu Bai tried to refine medicine in an old black cauldron, awakening its artifact spirit, who introduced himself as the Supreme Cauldron and offered to teach him alchemy.
• The artifact spirit ancestor taught Mu Bai to use his divine sense to refine ingredients, and Mu Bai practiced until he could melt them into liquid.
• Mu Bai gathered the medicinal liquids into three embryonic pills, and the artifact spirit ancestor finished nurturing them in the cauldron.
• Mu Bai opened the cauldron, smelled the finished pills, and celebrated having made his first batch.

Mu Bai refined Soul-Gathering Pills that increased soul power and gave several to Hai Ang, who planned to distribute them among the tribe. Tribal Elder Hai Ya bought a pill formula compendium at the Eastern Nether market, but the Dharma Lotus Trading Company suspected he was connected to an alchemist and sent Hou Yaolin to follow him.

• Mu Bai refined several medicines and created Soul-Gathering Pills, confirming that one increased his soul power.
• Mu Bai gave Hai Ang four Soul-Gathering Pills, and Hai Ang tested one and agreed to help gather ingredients for more.
• Hai Ya traveled to the Eastern Nether tribal market to find pill formulas and rejected a jade slip containing a vicious soul-refining art.
• Hai Ya traded his Azure Python Force manual and all his soul crystals for the Compendium of Pills and Herbs.
• The Dharma Lotus shopkeeper ordered Hou Yaolin to follow Hai Ya and sent word to the Eastern Nether Great Tribe.
• Hai Ya disguised himself as a burly man and hurried into the forest while Hou Yaolin covertly tracked him and reported his movements.

Hai Ya killed Hou Yaolin, then fought and killed Du Shan and Du Jiang after they pursued him on behalf of the Eastern Nether Great Tribe. Though badly injured, poisoned, and nearly out of mental power, Hai Ya took control of their War Falcon and continued north.

• Hai Ya exposed and killed Hou Yaolin after Hou Yaolin attacked him with Azure Nether Sword Qi.
• Du Jiang paid the Dharma Lotus Pavilion shopkeeper for information about the threat posed by Hai Ya's clan, then pursued Hai Ya with Du Shan aboard a War Falcon.
• Hai Ya fought Du Jiang and Du Shan, killing Du Shan with the remaining Azure Nether Sword Qi in Hou Yaolin's jade case.
• Hai Ya overwhelmed Du Jiang's Soul Spirits, brought down the War Falcon, and killed Du Jiang as he tried to flee.
• Hai Ya gathered the dead cultivators' supplies, took control of the War Falcon, and flew north despite his injuries and poison.

After Du Shan and Du Jiang died, Du Yin confronted the Dharma Lotus Pavilion and then pursued Hai Ya, who fled while suffering from spreading centipede venom. Hai Ya misled the pursuers into heading north before turning southeast.

• Du Xiang sent Du Yin and other Eastern Nether Great Tribe cultivators to surround the Dharma Lotus Pavilion after Du Shan and Du Jiang died.
• The Dharma Lotus Trading Company's elder invoked its Xiu Zun backing and negotiated a payment of twenty thousand beast cores in exchange for peace and information about the culprit.
• Hai Ya continued north on an exhausted war falcon, sealed the meridians in his poisoned arm, and fled on foot after the bird crashed.
• Lai Wang and Du Yin found Hou Yaolin's corpse, and Du Yin accused the Dharma Lotus Pavilion of secretly pursuing Hai Ya ahead of him.
• Du Yin's group found Du Jiang's and Du Shan's bodies and continued north, while Hai Ya turned southeast after crossing a mountain.

Mu Bai’s pill refining produced a detoxifying pill that temporarily eased Hai Ya’s Spirit-Turbid Centipede poison, but the elder remained in danger. After learning that a Dragon-Awakening Pill required dragon saliva grass guarded by a powerful Black-Horned Python, Mu Bai resolved to obtain the herb and save Hai Ya.

• Mu Bai spent more than a month refining pills, distributing Soul-Gathering Pills and Little Soul Gathering Pills while keeping his Alchemist identity secret.
• Hai Ang told Mu Bai that Hai Ya had returned, and Mu Bai found the elder gravely poisoned by a Spirit-Turbid Centipede and learned he had brought back the Compendium of Pills and Herbs for him.
• Mu Bai swallowed one of his untested detoxifying pills, which purged impurities from his body; Hai Ya then took a pill and his poisoning began to improve.
• The Artifact Spirit Ancestor told Mu Bai that Hai Ya needed a Dragon-Awakening Pill made with dragon saliva grass from a place guarded by a third-tier Black-Horned Python.
• Mu Bai consulted the Compendium of Pills and Herbs, refined five more detoxifying pills, and began planning how to obtain the dragon saliva grass.

Mu Bai and Hai Chen obtained dragon saliva grass from a Black-Horned Python’s lair so Mu Bai could refine a Dragon-Awakening Pill for the tribal elder. Mu Bai succeeded with the Artifact Spirit Ancestor’s help, but the Ancestor fell silent after expending his soul power, leaving Mu Bai determined to grow stronger.

• Mu Bai gave Hai Chen a pill to take to Uncle Ang, then Hai Chen joined him on the journey to the Black-Horned Python’s lair.
• Mu Bai used Ma Fruit Pills to slow the weakened python while Hai Chen distracted it, allowing Mu Bai to seize the dragon saliva grass and escape.
• Mu Bai and Hai Chen alternately lured the python away from each other until it gave up the chase and returned to its eggs.
• Mu Bai refined the Dragon-Awakening Pill through the night, and the Artifact Spirit Ancestor secretly lent him soul power before both collapsed.
• Mu Bai awoke to find one finished pill in the Crow Cauldron and realized the Artifact Spirit Ancestor had expended his power to help him.
• Mu Bai vowed to become strong enough to protect his loved ones, the tribal elder, and the tribe.

After Mu Bai refined the Dragon-Awakening Pill and saved Hai Ya, he studied the Compendium of Pills and Herbs while the Haibei Tribe prospered through successive Soul Awakening ceremonies. The chapter ended with the tribe celebrating the new year as Mu Bai, Ling'er, and the other young people toasted their elders and promised to defend the tribe and explore the world.

• Mu Bai watched Hai Ya recover from the Spirit-Turbid Centipede's poison, then began studying the Compendium of Pills and Herbs and read for two days without eating.
• Ling'er brought Mu Bai meals, teased him when he finally woke, and watched over him as he ate and fell asleep.
• At the next Soul Awakening, three children inscribed the divine crow ancestral spirit's soul mark, including Ling'er, while Mu Bai improved his alchemy and soul power over the year.
• Hai Ya performed the Soul Awakening ceremony for twenty-five children, and the Haibei Tribe celebrated when three gained soul marks.
• During the new year feast, Hai Zhan urged Mu Bai to drink, Ling'er joined him, and the young people toasted Hai Ya and pledged to defend the tribe and venture across the world.

The Haibei Tribe traveled to the White Wolf Tribe’s five-year contest, where Hai Hang and Hai Qing were accidentally thrown from the Divine Crow and rescued by Wu Yuan. After arriving, Hai Chen challenged the Taoyuan Tribe’s Tao Hang, while Mu Bai secretly slipped out to sell his pills at the tribal market.

• Hai Ya led Hai Chen, Hai Hang, Hai Dong, Hai Qing, Hai Ling'er, and Mu Bai toward White Wolf City, warning the five competitors to keep a low profile.
• Hai Hang and Hai Qing stood up on the Divine Crow, were blown off its back, and were rescued by Hai Zhan and Wu Yuan.
• Onlookers mocked the Haibei Tribe, and Hai Chen confronted Tao Hang of the Taoyuan Tribe before Tao Lan stopped the boys from fighting.
• Wu Yuan arranged lodgings for the Haibei and Taoyuan parties, and Hai Ya warned the children against private fights.
• Mu Bai changed into coarse black clothes and a bamboo hat, slipped out to the tribal market, and calculated that his pills were worth more than eleven hundred Soul Crystals.

Mu Bai sold his pills at the Peony Pavilion for twelve hundred soul crystals and returned to his lodgings. He planned to buy ingredients and cultivate, unaware that his sale might have exposed him to danger.

• Mu Bai brought his pills to the Peony Pavilion and negotiated with Xiao Lan, who offered him eight hundred soul crystals before asking whether he could supply more pills.
• A richly dressed young woman intervened, paid Mu Bai twelve hundred soul crystals, and invited him to bring future pills to the Peony Pavilion.
• Mu Bai left quickly, changed out of his black clothes in an alley, and returned to his lodgings without noticing anyone following him.
• Mu Bai counted his soul crystals, found five missing, and decided to buy herbs and savage beast materials, including dragon bone, Shezi Flowers, and a Black-Tailed Snake.
• Mu Bai set aside thoughts of shopping and spent the night cultivating with the Spirit-Tempering Art.

Mu Bai took Ling'er and Hai Chen to the tribal market, where he clashed with Tao Hang and bought Ling'er a protective hairpin. After shopping for supplies and a dagger Soul Weapon for Hai Chen, the three returned to their lodgings at sunset.

• Ling'er woke Mu Bai and persuaded him and Hai Chen to visit the tribal market with her.
• Mu Bai led Ling'er and Hai Chen away from a stall selling an overpriced hairpin and into the Myriad Treasures Pavilion.
• Tao Hang mocked the Haibei tribespeople and challenged Mu Bai over the price of a hairpin Wu Meng was holding.
• Mu Bai outbid Tao Hang, then bought Ling'er a Green Snow Holding Fragrance Hairpin for three hundred Soul Crystals.
• Wu Meng left Tao Hang behind, and Mu Bai, Ling'er, and Hai Chen laughed together as they continued shopping.
• Mu Bai bought medicinal herbs and beast materials, gave Hai Chen a dagger Soul Weapon, and returned with them to their lodgings at sunset.

The White Wolf Tribe began its five-year tournament, sending forty-five young contestants into the Beast-Hunting Grounds to gather beast cores. Hai Chen survived a difficult first hunt and then witnessed two Qinghe Tribe contestants die, leaving him determined to find Ling'er and the others.

• Hai Zhan gave the five contestants ten soul crystals apiece and warned them to use the crystals only when their lives were in danger.
• Wu Tai explained the tournament's three deadly trials and opened a gateway to the Beast-Hunting Grounds, where the forty-five contestants were scattered by teleportation.
• Hai Chen fought a Giant Zhiti Beast, used his Divine Crow Soul Spirit's flames to weaken it, killed it, and collected its core.
• Hai Chen gathered twenty beast cores by the end of the first day and watched a flock of Serpent Sparrows kill two contestants from the Qinghe Tribe.
• Hai Chen looted the dead contestants' soul pouches, finding thirty beast cores and two soul crystals, then set off to find Ling'er and the others.

Mu Bai watched the deadly competition and realized the White Wolf Tribe was using it to weaken the smaller tribes. Ling'er and Hai Chen survived a Feifei’s illusions, then helped Hai Hang and the others kill a second-tier Fireblood Fierce Bird before deciding to leave the hunting ground.

• Mu Bai watched young cultivators die and suspected the White Wolf Tribe had arranged the competition to weaken the smaller tribes.
• Ling'er saw through a Feifei disguised as Mu Bai and then as Hai Chen, killed it, and took its core.
• Hai Chen and Ling'er left a Five Mountains Tribe youth to die rather than risk fighting a second-tier green bull.
• Hai Chen paid a Longshan Tribe youth for the location of Hai Hang and the others, who were fighting a Fireblood Fierce Bird.
• Hai Chen, Ling'er, Hai Hang, Hai Qing, and Hai Dong worked together to kill the Fireblood Fierce Bird, then agreed to leave the hunting ground and end their first trial.

After the hunting contest, Hai Ya learned that the Eastern Nether Great Tribe and the Dharma Lotus Trading Company threatened the Haibei Tribe because Mu Bai was an Alchemist. He sent Mu Bai and Ling'er away, then faced Du Yin and died with Tao Lan, while Du Yin ordered the Haibei Tribe slaughtered.

• Twenty-three contestants returned from the hunting grounds, and Hai Chen drew Long Fei while Ling'er drew Tao Hang for the second stage.
• Wu Ping told Hai Ya that Mu Bai's status as an Alchemist had endangered the Haibei Tribe and that Mu Bai's death might offer the tribe a chance to survive.
• Hai Ya took Mu Bai and Ling'er away from the competition, ordered Hai Zhan to flee with Hai Hang, Hai Dong, and Hai Qing, and sent Mu Bai and Ling'er into hiding.
• Du Yin caught up with Hai Ya and attacked him, but Tao Lan arrived and chose to die beside him.
• Tao Lan killed herself, and Hai Ya embraced her as he set them both ablaze; Du Yin then ordered Du Long to slaughter the Haibei Tribe.

Mu Bai and Ling'er struggled to return to the Haibei Tribe, but after Mu Bai consumed Valley Essence Grass and collapsed, Mi Yan rescued them. When Mi Yan revealed that the tribe had been destroyed and everyone there had died, Mu Bai swore vengeance on the Eastern Nether Tribe.

• Ling'er collapsed from exhaustion, and Mu Bai carried her onward until he too fell unconscious.
• Mu Bai ate Valley Essence Grass to keep moving, endured agonizing pain, and eventually passed out.
• Mi Yan rescued Mu Bai and Ling'er, then hid them in her carriage while Eastern Nether Great Tribe cultivators searched it.
• After the search party left, Mu Bai and Ling'er emerged from Mi Yan's Mustard Seed Bag and thanked her for saving them.
• Mi Yan told them that Tribal Elder Hai Ya and everyone in the Haibei Tribe had died three days earlier.
• Grief-stricken, Mu Bai vowed to take revenge on the Eastern Nether Tribe and slaughter them all.

Hai Chen fought his way out of the White Wolf Tribe to return to his people, while Mu Bai buried the dead of the Haibei Tribe and set out to become strong enough to avenge them. After half a year of hardship and fierce battles, Mu Bai reached the edge of the Silver Frost Forest, ready to begin his dangerous path.

• Hai Chen repeatedly charged Wu Yuan and the White Wolf Tribe experts until Wu Yuan finally let him leave, and Hai Chen crawled through the rain toward his tribe.
• Mu Bai and Ling'er found the Haibei Tribe destroyed, and Mu Bai gathered and buried his tribesmen while learning that Hai Zhan and Hai Chen were missing.
• Mu Bai entrusted Ling'er to Mi Yan and left alone, vowing to make the Eastern Nether Tribe pay for the massacre.
• Mu Bai chose alchemy as his path, then traveled north for half a year, fighting fierce beasts and gathering herbs as he hardened himself.
• Mu Bai reached the Silver Frost Forest and looked out over its vast wilderness and powerful beasts.

Mu Bai spent six months cultivating in the forest, then risked fighting a second-tier golden eagle for nether soul grass. During the battle, he broke through to level-two mental power and subdued the eagle as his beast companion, while his attempt to obtain the herb remained unresolved.

• Mu Bai found a fissure with subterranean fire, carved out a cave, and refined Soul-Gathering Pills, Soul Meridian Pills, and Divine Thought Pills from the herbs and beast materials he had gathered.
• Mu Bai spent six months hunting, gathering herbs, refining pills, and practicing the Spirit-Tempering Art, bringing his soul power and physique to the peak of the initial level.
• Mu Bai tried to take nether soul grass guarded by a second-tier golden eagle, but the eagle attacked him and shattered his boulder with its talons.
• Mu Bai fought back with the Crow Cauldron and a mental-power spear, then hid inside the cauldron as the eagle smashed into it, subjecting his mind-spirit to a powerful sonic shock.
• The sonic shock unexpectedly helped Mu Bai break through to level-two mental power, and he struck the golden eagle with the Crow Cauldron before branding its mind-spirit with a divine seal.
• Mu Bai subdued the golden eagle and named it Little Eagle, gaining a beast companion while the nether soul grass remained unclaimed.

Mu Bai discovered the Flying Immortal Scripture in his divine sea, learned its first cultivation methods, and began cultivating essence qi. After the golden eagle brought him a Black Python, Mu Bai roasted some of it and prepared to refine pills, while the eagle flew away after eating.

• Mu Bai discovered the Flying Immortal Scripture in his divine sea and read its methods for qi refining and spirit refining, but could not reveal the later pages.
• Mu Bai collected the Nether Soul Grass, then practiced the scripture and drew essence qi into his body, bypassing qi refining and completing a celestial circuit.
• Mu Bai unleashed a strand of essence qi that blasted a crater into a stone wall, then realized he had used up the strand and resolved to keep the new cultivation method secret.
• The golden eagle returned with a dead Black Python, and Mu Bai roasted python meat for himself and the eagle before preparing to refine pills.
• After devouring the python carcass, the golden eagle flew out of the gorge while Mu Bai focused on pill refining.

Mu Bai used Soul-Shaping Pills and a black python’s vitality to break through to the second tier of soul cultivation, then engraved a Divine Crow Soul Mark despite his unusual Pear Blossom Soul Mark. He discovered the new mark let him fly and ended the chapter above the gorge, thinking of the Haibei Tribe and Brother Xiao Bai.

• Mu Bai refined Soul-Shaping Pills and gave one to the golden eagle, which enjoyed it and fell asleep.
• Mu Bai swallowed several pills and absorbed a black python’s blood to endure the fiery reshaping of his soul, reaching the second tier with greatly increased strength.
• Mu Bai noticed the Pear Blossom Soul Mark on his right arm had become more vivid and wondered why it had appeared instead of the Three-Legged Divine Crow mark he had intended to engrave.
• Mu Bai failed to copy the golden eagle’s Soul Mark, then forcefully engraved the Three-Legged Divine Crow mark onto his soul, and it appeared as his second mark.
• Mu Bai used the Divine Crow soul spirit to fly from the gorge and landed atop a huge tree, where he looked at the moon and thought of Brother Xiao Bai.

Ling'er remained under the Taiyuan Merchant Guild’s protection after Mi Yan paid a heavy price, while Mu Bai ventured into the Silver Frost Forest and stole two Rice Butterfly Orchids from the Silver-Winged Giant Tiger. He escaped the tiger by diving into a deep pool, where he waited underwater as the beast guarded the shore.

• Taiyuan Qing hesitated to take Ling'er in after Du Xiang demanded redress, and Mi Yan learned that the guildmaster had paid dearly to settle the dispute.
• Mi Yan attended Taiyuan Qing in bed, securing Ling'er's place at the Taiyuan Merchant Guild and her own position as a stationed elder.
• Mu Bai traveled deeper into the Silver Frost Forest with the golden eagle keeping watch and saw a giant white wolf howl at the moon.
• The Silver-Winged Giant Tiger struck the white wolf down, and Mu Bai seized two Rice Butterfly Orchids from the tiger's cave before fleeing.
• The tiger blasted Mu Bai with a bolt of lightning, but he escaped into a deep pool and dove underwater while the tiger waited outside.

Mu Bai was swept into a hidden underground tribe, where a vision of a Divine Crow and the Heaven-Questioning Statue transformed the Three-Legged Crow Cauldron into a mark on his chest and left him with a new affinity for water. He escaped back to the deep pool, only to be chased through the sky by the Silver-Winged Giant Tiger and dive toward two lit cottages in the forest.

• Mu Bai pulled a floating root and was dragged into a cavern containing an abandoned tribe beneath the deep pool.
• Mu Bai explored the tribe and witnessed an illusion of its people worshipping the Heaven-Questioning Statue and a Red-Gold Divine Crow.
• The Red-Gold Divine Crow passed through Mu Bai, causing the Three-Legged Crow Cauldron to become a mark on his chest that he could summon and dismiss.
• A cataclysmic vision blasted Mu Bai into the dark river, and he awoke back in the deep pool with a new ability to move through water.
• Mu Bai escaped the pool and fled on Golden Roc, but the Silver-Winged Giant Tiger caught up and attacked them.
• Mu Bai ordered Golden Roc to dodge the tiger's blow, and Golden Roc plunged toward two lit thatched cottages.

Mu Bai and the Golden Roc found shelter for the night in a silver-haired old woman’s cottage, where they met her fierce blood-red chick, Red Dance. After repaying the old woman with firewood, a fence, and game, Mu Bai stayed for lunch and received a new robe as he prepared to leave.

• Mu Bai escaped the Silver-Winged Giant Tiger and persuaded the silver-haired old woman to let him and the Golden Roc stay the night.
• The old woman warned that Mu Bai could not settle in her cottage, while a powerful force protected the rooms from beasts outside.
• Mu Bai chopped firewood and built a fence, and the Golden Roc brought Black Pythons and Ming deer as repayment for their shelter.
• The old woman invited Mu Bai and the Golden Roc to lunch, and Red Dance repeatedly stole the roasted meat from the Golden Roc.
• The silver-haired old woman sewed Mu Bai a coarse hemp robe, and Mu Bai washed in a hot bath behind the cottage.

After the silver-haired old woman tempered Mu Bai’s body with lightning and gave him a powerful Hemp Robe, he and Golden Roc returned to Silver Frost Forest to exploit the robe’s protection. They entered Silver-Winged Giant Tiger’s territory, but after Mu Bai spared the tiger’s cubs, a Rainbow-Winged Giant Tiger appeared and seized Golden Roc.

• The silver-haired old woman added Wind-Thunder Grass and a Thunder-Bathing Fruit to Mu Bai’s bath, knocking him unconscious as lightning purged his impurities and raised him to the middle stage of level two.
• The silver-haired old woman gave Mu Bai a Hemp Robe that kept beasts from approaching for a day, and Mu Bai left with Golden Roc.
• Mu Bai and Golden Roc flew over the grasslands, where a stampede of Spotted-Horned Horses disrupted rhinoceroses defending themselves from lions.
• Mu Bai returned to Silver-Winged Giant Tiger’s territory, and the Hemp Robe’s red gleam made the tiger flee while Golden Roc chased it away from its lair.
• Mu Bai found three nursing tiger cubs in the cave, considered taking one, then put them back; outside, a Rainbow-Winged Giant Tiger appeared with Golden Roc caught in its paw.

Mu Bai escaped the Silver-Winged Giant Tiger with the Golden Roc, collected the dead third-tier white wolf, and refined the Rice Butterfly Orchids into Body-Refining Pills. After the Man in Green crashed into their canyon and died, he poisoned Mu Bai and left him carrying a secret item for the Spirit Taming Sect, seventy thousand li away.

• Mu Bai and the Golden Roc fled the Rainbow-Winged Giant Tiger, then returned to the ravine and harvested the dead third-tier white wolf and its Beast Core.
• Mu Bai flew home with the wolf hide and materials, but the Silver-Winged Giant Tiger pursued them until the Man in Green intervened.
• Mu Bai escaped to the canyon and refined the Rice Butterfly Orchids into Body-Refining Pills, sharing them with the Golden Roc.
• The Man in Green crashed into the canyon with the Golden Roc, and Mu Bai gave him Firecloud Pills that briefly revived him.
• The Man in Green identified himself as Qing Mao of the Spirit Taming Sect and entrusted Mu Bai with a brocade box before dying again.
• Qing Mao poisoned Mu Bai with the Hundred-Day Bone-Shattering Pill and told him to take the secret item to the Spirit Taming Sect for an antidote.

Mu Bai set out west toward the Spirit Taming Sect with the dead elder’s Spirit Command and Mustard Seed Bag, while Ling'er worked at the Taiyuan Merchant Guild’s Peony Pavilion in Ximu City. Mi Yan protected Ling'er from Xi Hong’s advances and wondered how Mu Bai was faring.

• Mu Bai took the Spirit Command and Mustard Seed Bag from the dead blue-robed man, then flew west with the Golden Roc toward the Spirit Taming Sect.
• After several days of travel, Mu Bai passed an unnamed tribe and thought of the people he had known.
• Ling'er and Mi Yan arrived in Ximu City to manage the Taiyuan Merchant Guild’s new Peony Pavilion, which drew customers away from Xiong Ba’s trading house.
• Xiong Ba killed his old shopkeeper after the man quit in protest, then dismissed the trading house’s troubles.
• Mi Yan gave Xi Hong a hundred high-grade Soul Crystals to secure his goodwill, but refused his request to take Ling'er because the guild leader had his eye on her.
• After Xi Hong left, Mi Yan regretted that she could offer Ling'er little beyond protection and wondered how Mu Bai was doing.