Chapter Summaries

Old Meng confessed to killing three wealthy young men in revenge for his granddaughter Qiaolian’s murder, though he insisted he had no proof of who killed her. When officials moved to punish criminal investigator Hou Niao for mishandling the case, Hou Niao stabbed Young Master Wang in the hall and declared that he had now conspired with Old Meng.

• Old Meng confessed that he had poisoned the Wu son, suffocated the Li son, and released army bees on the Duan son, saying he still intended to kill Young Master Wang.
• Old Meng said he had killed the three men to avenge Qiaolian, who had been murdered on Hebi Mountain, and refused to name anyone without evidence.
• Daoist Chongling ordered the authorities to process Old Meng’s confession and then questioned Hou Niao over his handling of the murders.
• Hou Niao denied conspiring with Old Meng but accepted responsibility for failing to solve the case effectively.
• Hou Niao approached Young Master Wang, stabbed him in the heart, and told Daoist Chongling that he had now conspired with Old Meng.

Hou Niao reflected on his limited cultivation and his uncompromising career as a Daoist Sect constable in Fufeng City. Facing an internal trial, he accepted that he had killed Young Master Wang and that his resistance to the powerful would likely cost him everything.

• The chapter described how spiritual energy and supernatural threats had shaped the Brocade Continent and made the Daoist Sect responsible for protecting its territories.
• Hou Niao inherited his father Hou Xuan's criminal-law clerk position, later became a cultivator, and served as a Daoist Sect constable in Fufeng City.
• Hou Niao's harsh enforcement of the law earned him enemies among Fufeng City's powerful elite, and he recognized that his cultivation had reached its limit.
• During an internal trial, Daoist Chongling questioned Hou Niao about Young Master Wang's death, and Hou Niao said he had known his fate from Chongling's poem.
• Hou Niao explained that he had killed Young Master Wang as a final act of justice after the authorities failed to punish Meng Qiaolian's killer.

Daoist Chongling exposed Hou Niao’s motives and told him he would be sent to serve as a sacrificial participant in the once-in-a-century Anhe Prayer rather than fight at the front. He gave Hou Niao several days to settle his affairs, and Hou Niao left the prefectural office believing his failure came from lacking strength and ruthlessness.

• Daoist Chongling revealed that Hou Niao had killed the Wang family’s son partly to escape Fufeng City and seek an opportunity at the Youfu front.
• Hou Niao explained that years of failed cultivation and his desire to uphold his family’s legacy had shaped his choices.
• Daoist Chongling criticized Hou Niao’s rigid pursuit of justice and warned that almost no one survived the Youfu front.
• Daoist Chongling told Hou Niao that grave offenders would instead be used as sacrificial participants in the coming Anhe Prayer.
• Daoist Chongling allowed Hou Niao several days to settle his affairs, and Hou Niao left the office as its runners watched and mocked him.

Hou Niao accepted that the Hou family was ruined and made arrangements for Uncle Sun before preparing to face the consequences of his years as a failed cultivator. As he reviewed his life and the cultivation world, he recognized that his poor aptitude and lack of standing had kept him outside the Daoist Sect.

• Hou Niao returned home and told Uncle Sun that the Hou family was finished and that he could not escape the Daoist Sect's pursuit.
• Hou Niao instructed Uncle Sun to give two hundred taels to Sister Hua and keep the remaining money and the house for his old age.
• Hou Niao dismissed Uncle Sun's concern that Sister Hua's son might be his, then went to the study.
• Hou Niao reflected on his life and concluded that ideals alone could not overcome a cultivator's lack of standing and strength.
• Hou Niao reviewed the cultivation realms and recalled that the Daoist Sect had rejected him because of his poor aptitude.

Hou Niao reflected on his failed efforts to cultivate and prepared to leave, confessing his complicated feelings about his parents and his decision to avenge his father. At dawn, he found that the people around him had secretly left supplies and money outside his courtyard for his journey.

• Hou Niao considered how his poor aptitude had kept him from absorbing spiritual energy and advancing beyond pulse movement.
• Hou Niao put his study in order and went to his parents' shrine, where he admitted his father had violated the law and said he had killed the Wang Family's son to avenge him.
• Hou Niao spent the night speaking to his parents and ignored the rustling outside the courtyard gate.
• Uncle Sun called Hou Niao to the gate at daybreak, where Hou Niao found travel clothes, provisions, fruit, vegetables, and silver left by the townspeople.

After learning that Daoist Chongling had secured local support for the Qingtang River embankment by condemning him, Hou Niao found peace of mind in Old Meng’s final message and the gratitude of ordinary people. Chongling then took Hou Niao away to face the Anhe Prayer, while Fufeng City returned to normal.

• Uncle Sun told Hou Niao that Daoist Chongling had won the gentry’s support for the embankment project and required Hou Niao to be severely punished.
• Hou Niao opened the box containing the Ginseng Worm, found Old Meng’s message inside, and decided to leave the treasure unused.
• Three days later, Daoist Chongling and his two disciples departed Fufeng City with the convicted Hou Niao.
• A veiled woman told her child Xing'er that Hou Niao would not return and claimed he was not the child’s father.
• Fufeng City’s powerful residents celebrated the removal of Hou Niao, and the city returned to its usual routines.

Hou Niao traveled with Daoist Chongling and his disciples to Liupan City, where Chongling tried to persuade local officials to build river dikes. Prefect Huang refused, arguing that river demons would destroy the dikes, and Chongling sensed a show of force beneath the misty Qingtang River.

• Hou Niao struggled to keep pace on horseback, so Chongling arranged for him to exchange mounts with Xiaosong and Jiyue every thirty li.
• Hou Niao traveled with the Daoists to Liupan City, a settlement surrounded by winding rivers and complicated currents.
• Chongling urged Prefect Huang and the other officials to build dikes, but Huang refused because previous dikes had failed and the river demons would oppose them.
• Prefect Huang said the city first needed protection from river demons that stirred up waves and threatened the people with floods.
• Chongling's party and the officials climbed the western city wall, where Chongling sensed shrimp soldiers and crab generals gathering beneath the river mist.

Daoist Chongling and his companions faced a threatening assembly of Qingtang water demons at Liupanshui, where their confrontation escalated after a shrimp general terrorized an old woman and her granddaughter. Hou Niao’s threat to cut off the river checked the demons, but he then killed their captive, leaving the standoff at a breaking point.

• Daoist Xiaosong and Jiyue warned Daoist Chongling that the water demons’ challenge might be part of wider unrest, but Chongling chose to face them.
• The Qingtang water demons appeared in force, frightening the townspeople into fleeing toward the city.
• The Green-Headed Shrimp General frightened an old woman and her granddaughter on Yangzi Bridge, so Chongling struck him with phosphorescent fire and bound him.
• The Daoists hesitated over whether to kill or release the captured shrimp general as the water demons grew agitated.
• Hou Niao threatened to cut off the Qingtang River’s source, making the demons wary, then drew his saber and beheaded the shrimp general.

After the water demons withdrew from Liupan City, Daoist Chongling abandoned the embankment project and escorted Hou Niao back to the Divine Capital. Chongling explained why Hou Niao would be punished for killing in court, while Hou Niao chose to face the consequences and seek strength through the Daoist Sect.

• The water demons retreated from Liupan City, and Daoist Chongling gave up plans to build embankments along the Qingtang River.
• Chongling, Xiaosong, Jiyue, and Hou Niao returned to the Divine Capital after deciding the crisis exceeded their ability to handle.
• On the road, Chongling told Hou Niao that the Daoist Sect would punish him for killing a man in court because his willingness to kill on his own judgment could lead him toward evil.
• Chongling said Hou Niao had failed to build trust with Xiaosong and Jiyue despite the opportunities he had arranged during their journey.
• Hou Niao refused to flee, deciding that he needed the Daoist Sect to gain the strength he lacked.

Hou Niao learned about the prisoners in the Daoist compound from Baoshi Old Man, who described his own failed attempt to teach cultivation and asked about Hou Niao’s crime. After they exchanged their stories, Baoshi Old Man drank with Hou Niao and repeatedly recited a poem lamenting his life.

• Baoshi Old Man identified Zhou Qianyang, Wu Qian, and Li Zixuan and explained why they had been imprisoned.
• Baoshi Old Man said he had opened a Daoist school and compiled qi-sensing mnemonics, but several children who practiced them worsened instead of improving.
• Hou Niao told Baoshi Old Man that he had worked in criminal law and killed a complainant out of anger at an injustice in front of a Daoist master.
• Baoshi Old Man offered Hou Niao wine, and after several flasks he slurred his words and recited a poem about regret and the pursuit of immortality.

Hou Niao asked Baoshi Old Man about the Anhe Prayer and learned that the Daoist Sect sacrificed cultivators’ heaven-bestowed spiritual roots to seek Heaven’s aid. The two realized that rogue cultivators like themselves were especially vulnerable to being chosen, and they remained resigned to their shared danger.

• Hou Niao asked Baoshi Old Man what the Anhe Prayer was and why cultivators feared it.
• Baoshi Old Man explained that the prayer was a sacrifice performed by Infant Transformation immortals to seek Heaven’s assistance, and that it could bring down treasures or go unanswered.
• Baoshi Old Man told Hou Niao that the Daoist Sect offered cultivators with heaven-bestowed spiritual roots, while the Demonic Sect seized people for its own sacrificial rites.
• Hou Niao questioned whether the prayer targeted outsiders, and Baoshi Old Man distinguished heaven-bestowed roots from roots cultivated through privileged upbringing.
• Baoshi Old Man explained that rogue cultivators were more likely to be sacrificed because genuine heaven-bestowed roots seemed to yield better results.
• Hou Niao and Baoshi Old Man lamented that their low cultivation offered no protection from being chosen.

As the Anhe Prayer approached, Hou Niao listened to Baoshi Old Man condemn the Daoist Sect but judged that he had to face the consequences of his own actions. On the night before the prayer, Chongling visited after reaching Profound Connection, explained why he could not rescue Hou Niao, and left Hou Niao waiting calmly for an opportunity.

• Baoshi Old Man told Hou Niao that the Anhe Prayer was a deadly trap for those surrendering their spiritual roots, while Hou Niao questioned the old man's judgment and accepted responsibility for his own crimes.
• The prayer date was set for three days later, with Xiao True Person presiding, and the prisoners received lavish meals as they awaited it.
• On the evening before the prayer, Daoist Chongling visited Hou Niao and revealed he had reached Profound Connection, crediting Hou Niao with helping him three times.
• Chongling explained that he could not help Hou Niao escape without harming his Dao Path, and said he had come to explain himself so he could face his own heart.
• Hou Niao accepted that Chongling would not rescue him and continued to wait patiently for an opportunity rather than trying to flee.

Daoist Chongling thanked Hou Niao for his past actions and offered help, but Hou Niao refused because he wanted a chance to change his life through cultivation rather than merely escape death. The next day, Hou Niao and eighteen other condemned cultivators stood on an altar as Xiao True Person began the prayer ceremony to extract their spiritual roots.

• Daoist Chongling toasted Hou Niao for resolving the crises in Fufeng City and Liupanshui, then admitted he had hoped Xiaosong and Jiyue would persuade him to ask for help.
• Hou Niao understood that Chongling could help him avoid execution, but decided that survival without a chance to cultivate was not what he wanted.
• The condemned cultivators, including Hou Niao and Old Man Baoshi, were taken to a vast square and restrained on a three-tiered white jade altar.
• Hou Niao reflected on the risk of having his spiritual root extracted and wondered whether his Heaven-Bestowed Spiritual Opportunity would be offered to immortals or used by the Daoists.
• At noon, Xiao True Person appeared before the altar and began the prayer ceremony with hand seals and a chant.

Hou Niao resisted a mysterious judgment that stripped away the sacrifices’ spiritual roots, then caught Baoshi Old Man trying to seize his soul. He destroyed Baoshi Old Man’s soul and vanished with him before they returned to their bodies.

• Hou Niao and eighteen other sacrifices were drawn from their bodies into a dark realm, where pillars of light descended upon them.
• When a voice questioned whether Heaven-bestowed Spiritual Roots were meant for evil, Hou Niao punched the pillar of light, and it retreated.
• The pillars vanished, and Hou Niao realized the sacrifices had lost their spiritual roots while their souls remained.
• Baoshi Old Man tried to take Hou Niao’s soul, but Hou Niao caught his soul flame and exposed his scheme.
• Baoshi Old Man confessed that he had sought someone who retained a spiritual root, and Hou Niao destroyed his soul, making him the first sacrifice to vanish.

After the Prayer killed seventeen of the nineteen condemned cultivators, the Anhe Daoist Sect debated what to do with Hou Niao, who had killed during the trial. The sect rejected him while recruiting Zhou Qianyang, leaving Hou Niao alone and humiliated.

• Xiao True Person's dismissive remark left the Golden Core elders unsure whether to recruit or kill Hou Niao, so Daoist Chongling proposed sending him undercover to the Demonic Sect of the Shan Kingdom.
• The leading Golden Core elder approved Chongling's plan and made him solely responsible for arranging Hou Niao's covert appointment.
• Hou Niao woke to find that he and Zhou Qianyang were the only two survivors, and he discovered that his spiritual root and cultivation had not improved.
• A Daoist invited Zhou Qianyang to join the Anhe Daoist Sect, and Zhou accepted before being led away.
• Hou Niao asked to join as well, but a Daoist knocked him down and dismissed him as trash.

After leaving the Daoist Sect empty-handed but free, Hou Niao encountered Daoist Chongling at the Divine Capital’s south gate. Chongling offered him a dangerous path: infiltrate the Demonic Sect in the Shan Kingdom in exchange for a chance to join the Daoist Sect, and Hou Niao was left weighing the offer.

• Hou Niao left the Daoist Sect and Divine Capital, reflecting that he had gained little beyond his freedom and had no clear destination.
• At a drinking shed by the south gate, Hou Niao met Daoist Chongling, who told him he should leave by the north gate instead.
• Chongling explained that he was being posted to Liuyang City on the northern border and wanted an informant inside the Shan Kingdom’s Demonic Sect.
• Hou Niao objected that he lacked the skills for the mission and questioned why he should risk himself for the Daoist Sect.
• Chongling promised that Hou Niao would receive credit for serving the Daoist Sect and could leave the Demonic Sect to join it when Chongling departed or if Hou Niao earned enough leverage.
• Hou Niao considered Chongling’s proposal without yet accepting it.

Hou Niao agreed to infiltrate the Demonic Sect after Daoist Chongling explained the risks, support, and cover story for the mission. He left to travel alone to the Great Wind Plain, while Chongling watched him disappear into the drizzle.

• Hou Niao asked how his contributions would be judged and what would happen if he failed to enter the Demonic Sect, and Chongling promised to admit him to the Anhe Daoist Sect after three years.
• Chongling explained that he would provide basic resources, leave Hou Niao to travel alone, and decide when to resume contact after Hou Niao established himself in the Great Wind Plain Demonic Sect Branch.
• Chongling advised Hou Niao to use his real identity and present himself as a wronged cultivator seeking revenge against the Anhe Daoist Sect.
• Hou Niao realized Chongling was offering him a chance to gain resources and start over, then accepted the mission.
• Hou Niao finished his noodles, bid Chongling farewell, and walked away into the drizzle as Chongling watched him go.

Hou Niao traveled north by boat after leaving the Divine Capital and studied the cultivation supplies and methods Daoist Chongling had given him. At Maple Bridge, he discovered that he could finally absorb spiritual energy, realizing that his body—not his cultivation methods—had changed.

• Hou Niao left the Divine Capital with Daoist Chongling’s gifts and chartered a boat north toward the Liuyang border.
• Hou Niao examined the Spirit Stones, pills, talismans, and three basic qi gathering methods, noting that he had previously been unable to absorb qi or activate talismans.
• At Maple Bridge, Hou Niao practiced Joining the Same, Tracing the Source and successfully drew spiritual energy into his body.
• Hou Niao tested Supreme Lord Daoyin, Dragon-Tiger Convergence, and his older cultivation methods, finding that each could now draw in spiritual energy.
• Hou Niao realized his body had changed, freeing him from the cultivation barrier that had held him back for years.

Xiao True Person examined the ordinary Yellow Court Inner Landscape Scripture bestowed during the Anhe Prayer and considered how to explain and distribute it. Meanwhile, Hou Niao’s cultivation had unexpectedly advanced, and he continued toward the Shan Kingdom, resolved to keep his promise and pursue a place in the cultivation world.

• Xiao True Person found that the Yellow Court Inner Landscape Scripture repeated basic teachings already known across the Brocade Continent, though its heavenly demonstration had revealed its concepts to him.
• Xiao True Person worked to determine which cultivators the scripture suited and how the Anhe Daoist Sect could study it despite differences between local and heavenly cultivation systems.
• Hou Niao traveled by boat and told Old Qi to row leisurely while he took in the scenery.
• Hou Niao considered abandoning his undercover mission in the Shan Kingdom to cultivate in seclusion, but decided to honor his promise to Daoist Chongling.
• Hou Niao reflected that his view of the Daoist Sect had improved and chose to risk striving for a place in it now that his cultivation had advanced.

Hou Niao continued cultivating with Dragon-Tiger Convergence while traveling by boat, and Old Qi warned him that water demons in the Jade Water stretch lured passengers into the river with sounds tailored to their deepest desires. Hou Niao ignored the warning and heard enchanting immortal music after nightfall.

• Hou Niao chose Dragon-Tiger Convergence to cultivate his lower dantian because it worked fastest for him.
• Old Qi's boat followed a large passenger vessel upstream across several stretches of the journey.
• At a ferry landing, Old Qi gave Hou Niao cotton balls and warned him to block out the water demons' nighttime songs.
• Hou Niao accepted the cotton balls but decided that a cultivator should be able to resist the demons without them.
• After cultivating and settling into quiet contemplation, Hou Niao heard what seemed to be immortal music drifting toward him.