Chapter Summaries

Hou Niao completed his induction into the Minister of Justice Prefecture and prepared to use his new position to shield himself from the Duan Prince’s Residence. After E Huangshi reported the Red Happiness Troupe’s successful performance, he warned her about the coming pressure and offered to trim the overgrown grounds at Heavy Gate Residence.

• Hou Niao was appointed Accompanying Rong in the Minister of Justice Prefecture, and Li Chuping promised the prefecture would take responsibility for his previous troubles.
• Hou Niao returned to Heavy Gate Residence, studied the prefecture’s rules, and reasoned that the Red Happiness Troupe’s dispute would limit the Duan Prince’s Residence’s ability to target him.
• E Huangshi told Hou Niao that the Red Happiness Troupe’s performance had succeeded and drawn an enthusiastic response from the audience.
• Hou Niao explained that the play had resonated because it gave ordinary people a voice, and warned E Huangshi not to expand it or charge admission.
• Hou Niao told E Huangshi to withstand pressure from mortal authorities but yield if Quanzhen’s prefectures intervened, then offered to trim the grounds at Heavy Gate Residence.

Hou Niao was assigned by Li Chuping to investigate the Shanyin Ghost Festival, with the Minister of Justice Prefecture promising to handle his conflict with the Duan Prince’s Residence if he succeeded. Li Chuping and True Person Zong planned to use the assignment to enforce the Iron Law of Cultivators and Mortals, and Zong ordered them to make the Duan household’s son’s injuries permanent.

• Hou Niao visited the Signatory Room, where Li Chuping summoned him and confronted him about killing a retainer of the Duan Prince’s Residence, injuring its young master, and stirring conflict between cultivators and mortals.
• Li Chuping ordered Hou Niao to investigate the Shanyin Ghost Festival and promised the prefecture would take responsibility for the Duan Prince’s Residence affair if he did well.
• Li Chuping told True Person Zong that Hou Niao was a capable fighter who had experience dealing with Soul Ghosts and might possess a Heavenly Eye or Yinming Dao Body.
• True Person Zong explained that the prefecture would address the conflict through the Iron Law of Cultivators and Mortals rather than expose the Duan Prince’s Residence’s political maneuvering.
• True Person Zong ordered Li Chuping to oversee the rectification and ensure the Duan household’s son never fully recovered.

Hou Niao learned about the Shanyin Ghost Festival, a twelve-day event when Netherworld officials and departed souls entered the living world and selected human cultivators supervised the gathering. He heard that the festival could become chaotic, and wondered how departed souls might react to seeing their enemies still alive.

• Hou Niao abandoned his plan to ask Li Chuping for access to the Underground Repository and gathered information about the Shanyin Ghost Festival.
• Hou Niao learned from an elderly cultivator that the festival occurred every twelve years and allowed Netherworld officials and departed souls to enter the living world.
• The elderly cultivator explained that only authorized cultivators of the Three Heavens Realms could attend and that Black and White Impermanence or Ox-Head and Horse-Face usually led the Netherworld officials.
• The elderly cultivator warned Hou Niao that the gathering could become chaotic because of disputes among cultivators, aggrieved souls, and unauthorized entrants.
• Hou Niao heard that the Netherworld presented the festival as a final chance for departed souls to visit their living friends and family, then asked what would happen if they saw their enemies still alive.

Hou Niao entered the Underworld Dimension during the Shanyin Ghost Festival and observed the souls returning to the living world. He discovered that the festival cultivated promising souls into underworld forces, while he watched the Underworld Bailiffs grow stronger.

• After the Red Happiness Troupe's performances ended, E Huangshi asked Hou Niao whether the conflict was over, and he warned her that troubles from mortals would continue.
• Hou Niao sensed the Shanyin Ghost Festival beginning, used an Underworld Talisman Edict to enter the Underworld Dimension, and conjured a Black Steed for travel.
• As Soul Ghosts gathered across the desolate landscape, Hou Niao realized they could not see their homes or loved ones and only mourned where memory drew them.
• Hou Niao concluded that the festival's true purpose was to expose departed souls to yang energy and cultivate those with potential for the Netherworld.
• Hou Niao observed Underworld Bailiffs and Underworld Soldiers absorbing yang energy, and sensed that the Bailiffs could eventually gain the power of Ox-Head and Horse-Face.

Hou Niao roamed the Netherworld during the Shanyin Ghost Festival, deciding to help the helpless departed souls. He stopped a young cultivator from destroying an enemy’s soul, and the chapter ended with Hou Niao revealing the cruel revenge he would have chosen instead.

• Hou Niao rode through the wilderness, avoided other cultivators and Netherworld officials, and watched departed souls gather for the festival.
• As the souls began converging on the festival’s main venue, Hou Niao spotted an unusual young cultivator searching among them.
• The young cultivator found his enemy’s soul and attacked it, but Hou Niao deflected his flames with a flying sword.
• Hou Niao argued that the dead man’s old grievances had ended and warned that destroying the soul would break the rules of the Netherworld.
• The young cultivator accepted Hou Niao’s advice to seek his wife instead, while Hou Niao told the spared soul he would have marked it and killed it again in every rebirth.

Hou Niao and a masked Daoist guided hundreds of thousands of departed souls through a valley where echoing ghostly howls had confused them, then escorted them toward the Shanyin Ghost Festival gathering. At the gathering, human cultivators watched the Netherworld ceremony with boredom as Underworld Bailiffs sang on the altar.

• Hou Niao reflected that helping a minor cultivator had affirmed his own path and that he did not need to deliberately pursue his promised plan to enter the demonic path.
• Hou Niao encountered a masked Daoist riding a bone dragon, and the two noticed departed souls losing their way amid the mountains’ echoing ghostly howls.
• Hou Niao and the masked Daoist used sword whistles and dragon cries to gather and guide hundreds of thousands of departed souls out of the valley, then escorted them toward the gathering.
• Daoists and other human cultivators assembled near the enormous Sacrificial Altar, where hundreds of Underworld Bailiffs and Underworld Soldiers prepared for the final ceremony.
• Gao Yunqi of the Qi Sect and Yang Yanzheng of the Wu Sect disparaged the Netherworld ceremony as the Underworld Bailiffs swayed and sang.

The human cultivators recognized that the Underworld Bailiffs were using the Shanyin Ghost Festival to harvest yang energy from departed souls. When an Ox-Head tried to punish the late-arriving souls with a deadly whip, a rider on a Black Steed charged in and killed him with a flying sword.

• Du Changqing and Gao Yunqi discussed the Underworld Bailiffs’ changing treatment of departed souls and their suspicions about the festival’s purpose.
• The cultivators observed that the ritual transferred yang energy harvested from recently departed souls to the Underworld Bailiffs and Underworld Soldiers.
• On the festival’s final day, several hundred thousand late-arriving Soul Ghosts approached the ritual formation.
• An Ox-Head accused the souls of breaking the rules and swung a Black Soul-Splitting Whip toward them.
• A flying sword struck the Ox-Head and cut him to ashes, while a man on a Black Steed rode to the front of the procession and faced the ritual platform.

Hou Niao killed an Underworld Bailiff, prompting a clash that the Netherworld forces abruptly abandoned. As the yin-yang boundary began to close, Tan Xiao explained that the other human cultivators had used Hou Niao’s attack to test the Netherworld’s intentions.

• Hou Niao struck down a Horse-Face with a Bone Dragon, and Tan Xiao declared that harming departed souls would be treated as killing citizens of Jinxiu.
• Gao Yunqi and cultivators from several traditions advanced to provoke the Underworld forces and gauge their response.
• The bailiffs withdrew without speaking, and the departed souls were dragged underground.
• Hou Niao reunited with Tan Xiao, who explained that the cultivators had seized on Hou Niao’s attack as an excuse to test the Netherworld.
• Tan Xiao warned Hou Niao that the Netherworld might target him after death and offered the Chu Sect’s Soul Concealment Method, but Hou Niao declined to visit his master.
• The ghostly mist receded, and the cultivators waited for the boundary between yin and yang to disappear and return them to their original locations.

After returning from the Ghost Festival, Hou Niao discussed his resort to killing with Li Chuping, who granted him access to the Hidden Sword Tower’s underground repository under the pretext of an investigation. There, Hou Niao found nine ancient sword-art slips whose opening characters formed a phrase.

• Hou Niao returned to the Minister of Justice Prefecture and admitted to Li Chuping that he might have been used by the Daoist Sect during the Ghost Festival unrest.
• Li Chuping explained that right and wrong depended on perspective and time, then urged Hou Niao to recognize that killing was not the only solution.
• Hou Niao asked to study ancient Quanzhen sword arts in the Hidden Sword Tower’s underground repository, and Li Chuping authorized him to enter with a Minister of Justice Proclamation.
• Hou Niao presented the Proclamation to the repository’s golden core guard, who recognized his real purpose but allowed him inside.
• Hou Niao went straight to the ancient sword arts and found nine black slips whose opening characters formed the phrase, “Those who face battle all advance in formation!”

Hou Niao studied the ancient Body Sword Techniques and began adapting their hand seals and sword-spirit principles into a new approach to swordsmanship. He mastered the Forward seal’s circular transformation and discovered he could attack continuously as his body and flying sword became one.

• Hou Niao found that the ancient manuals contained a comprehensive Body Sword Technique and borrowed copies of nine slips from the Golden Core cultivator guarding the tower.
• Hou Niao devoted his remaining six months in the Jade Capital to studying the technique and its Nine Syllable Mantra hand seals.
• Hou Niao concluded that the Body Sword Technique made the Sword Cultivator’s body into a sword spirit, enabling attacks without the usual limits of bodily defense or pauses to nourish the flying sword.
• Hou Niao formed the Forward seal and circulated Law Power in a closed loop, causing his flying sword’s tip and hilt to join into a circle.
• Hou Niao vanished as his flying sword surged out, tracing circles through the sky and attacking without interruption.

After two months of studying the Forward Character Formula, Hou Niao left Jade Capital City to visit old acquaintances in Liuyang before joining the Minister of Justice Prefecture's Secret Agent organization. He learned that Daoist Xi and Lanruo and Lanting had left, then found the secluded courtyard of someone from his past and was greeted by a middle-aged Daoist woman.

• Hou Niao gained an initial grasp of the Forward Character Formula and learned which Body Sword Techniques he could practice at his current cultivation realm.
• Hou Niao reported his departure to the Minister of Justice Prefecture and left Jade Capital City to handle private affairs.
• Hou Niao visited the Liuyang Dao Palace and learned that Senior Sister Xi, Lanruo, and Lanting had left the city seven years earlier.
• The Daoist warned Hou Niao to keep a low profile because seeking Daoist Xi could bring her trouble amid the Anhe Daoist Sect's turmoil.
• Hou Niao wandered Liuyang, found a secluded courtyard he remembered, and knocked on its gate.
• A middle-aged Daoist woman opened the gate and greeted Hou Niao.

Hou Niao visited Daoist Xi, learned that Xintong had gone to the Taihao Daoist Sect in Wei Kingdom, and accepted winter clothes to deliver to her. After he left, news reached Daoist Xi that Daoist Wujian had been killed in Liuyang City, and she suspected Hou Niao was responsible.

• Hou Niao asked Daoist Xi about Xintong, and she told him the girl had joined Taihao in Wei Kingdom after naturally sensing qi ten years earlier.
• Daoist Xi gave Hou Niao a Treasure Gourd of winter clothes and belongings for Xintong, asking him to visit her and help her face her past.
• Daoist Xi explained that Xintong had stalled in the Bridge Linking Realm and might be held back by a childhood experience involving Hou Niao.
• Daoist Xi's disciples Xinlian and Xinyi reported that someone had stormed the Dao Palace and killed Daoist Wujian on the Mystic Platform.
• Xinyi said the killer had left the words, “Cultivate at noon, and sooner or later you'll die!” on the white wall, and Daoist Xi suspected Hou Niao was the killer.

Hou Niao traveled north to visit Xintong, hoping to help her despite worrying that she might not forgive him. The chapter introduced Wei Kingdom Taihao and Red Leaf Daoist Academy, ending with women students returning from a day of spirit-plant harvesting.

• Hou Niao crossed the White Poplar Forest and continued north to visit Xintong, accepting that the journey was his way of repaying a past failure.
• The narration described Wei Kingdom Taihao as an unconventional tradition focused on fields such as Divination, Astrology, Puppet Mechanisms, and Formation Domains.
• Wei Kingdom Taihao trained students through three large public Daoist academies, where students could graduate by reaching Profound Connection or leave at age twenty-three if they had not advanced.
• Red Leaf Daoist Academy supported spirit-plant cultivation around Red Leaf City, where students from modest families could earn money by working the fields.
• At dusk, a group of women returned along a field ridge carrying baskets of harvested spirit plants.

Zhao Xintong struggled with the approaching deadline to leave the Red Leaf Daoist Academy because she could not sense that she was ready to advance from Bridge Linking to Profound Connection. The chapter followed her through academy life and ended with her walking alone through the city, still burdened by uncertainty.

• Zhao Xintong worried that only three months remained before the academy's deadline, but she felt no impulse to attempt advancement.
• Zhao Xintong declined an invitation to the Handkerchief Gathering, saying she needed to study the Star Signs True Explanation and lacked interest in socializing.
• Zhao Xintong's fellow students regarded her as a famous divination genius and one of the academy's most beautiful female cultivators, though neither distinction could guarantee her advancement.
• Zhao Xintong and the other students delivered their harvest to the Alchemy Chamber, where the academy paid them for their work.
• Zhao Xintong left the Alchemy Chamber alone, maintaining distance from others as befitted her divination practice.

Yu Buzhuo invited Zhao Xintong to dinner, a lecture, and the Red Leaf Daoist Academy’s upcoming Autumn Appreciation, mentioning that Daoist Xi might be invited. Zhao Xintong resisted his attempts to influence her and remained unwilling to accept help or favors from him.

• Yu Buzhuo approached Zhao Xintong and invited her to dinner, but she declined because she generally did not eat in the evening.
• Yu Buzhuo offered to take Zhao Xintong to a lecture on astrology, but she declined despite her interest, saying she felt restless and needed to focus on cultivation.
• Yu Buzhuo told Zhao Xintong about the upcoming Autumn Appreciation and suggested Daoist Xi might be invited.
• Zhao Xintong hesitated to attend, unsure whether Daoist Xi would want to go.
• Yu Buzhuo said he had discussed Autumn Appreciation with Daoist Xi and believed she would attend, which displeased Zhao Xintong.
• Zhao Xintong resolved not to accept Yu Buzhuo’s help or anyone else’s wealth she had no right to take.

Zhao Xintong reflected on why she feared the care of others and struggled to accept kindness, then came face to face with a man from her traumatic childhood. Their reunion left her trembling as she accepted the candied hawthorn he offered.

• Zhao Xintong parted from Yu Buzhuo and considered why she could not accept his sincere affection or advance to the Upper Realm.
• Zhao Xintong wondered whether her childhood experiences and years of studying divination had shaped her fear of other people's concern.
• Zhao Xintong approached her rented courtyard and saw a man from her past waiting outside.
• The man greeted Zhao Xintong and offered her candied hawthorn, recalling how she had eaten it as a baby.
• Zhao Xintong remembered the danger he had once brought to her family, but instinctively accepted the treat and tasted its familiar sweetness.

Hou Niao visited Zhao Xintong at the Daoist academy to investigate why she remained unable to move beyond her past, and tested how she responded to his demands. He moved into her courtyard and continued training in the Soul Realm, where Sword Eight still overwhelmed him.

• Hou Niao arrived at Zhao Xintong’s courtyard with clothes from her aunt and asked to come inside.
• Hou Niao offered Zhao Xintong a pile of rare treasures and urged her to choose one, while she silently complied.
• Hou Niao asked Zhao Xintong to prepare food and drink, then decided her silence and reluctance made it difficult to understand her condition.
• Hou Niao moved into Zhao Xintong’s empty room so he could observe and help her more closely.
• Hou Niao entered the Soul Realm and fought Sword Eight, lasting no more than ten breaths before being defeated.

Zhao Xintong struggled with her fear of the villain after he caught her trying to divine his future, then encountered Yu Buzhuo and his friends on her way home. The group insisted on accompanying her to meet the guest at her home, despite her warning that he disliked strangers.

• Hou Niao's repeated battles with Sword Three honed his swordsmanship, and he sensed an unseen gaze during a duel in the Soul Realm.
• Zhao Xintong realized she feared the villain might harm her and those around her, and he warned her not to probe other people's futures again.
• After attending a lecture in a daze, Zhao Xintong met Yu Buzhuo, Xie Longsheng, Cheng Daqi, and Zhou Yunming on her way home.
• Yu Buzhuo pressed Zhao Xintong to identify her guest and offered to accompany her home with his friends.
• Zhao Xintong warned that the guest disliked strangers, but Xie Longsheng and the others insisted on going with her.

Hou Niao returned to Zhao Xintong's residence and found Yu Buzhuo and three other favored disciples pressuring her to accept Yu's courtship. He ordered them not to force or intimidate her, leaving them to answer to his warning.

• Zhou Yunming, Cheng Daqi, and Xie Longsheng urged Zhao Xintong to marry Yu Buzhuo before her chance to reach the Upper Realm passed.
• Zhao Xintong ignored their arguments and privately wished Hou Niao would return and settle matters decisively.
• Hou Niao arrived carrying groceries and told Zhao Xintong to prepare a meal, startling the four young men with their apparent familiarity.
• Yu Buzhuo greeted Hou Niao as a senior, while the group sensed his overwhelming cultivation.
• Hou Niao said he knew who they were and warned them that they could court Zhao Xintong but must not force or pressure her.

Hou Niao tried to understand Zhao Xintong’s silence and resolve her fears, while Yu Buzhuo and his companions planned to use the Autumn Appreciation gathering and their family elders to pressure her. The chapter ended with Hou Niao deciding they would attend and warning Zhao Xintong not to reveal the results of her divinations.

• Yu Buzhuo and his companions left Hou Niao’s courtyard wary of him, then discussed using the Autumn Appreciation gathering and their elders to help Yu Buzhuo pursue Zhao Xintong.
• Hou Niao ate Zhao Xintong’s cooking and struggled to understand her unchanging refusal to speak after twenty years apart.
• Zhao Xintong indicated that she wanted to attend the gathering, but not with Hou Niao, and he told her he would accompany her as her family elder.
• Hou Niao insisted they would attend despite Zhao Xintong’s fear that the gathering would bring trouble.
• Zhao Xintong agreed not to speak aloud the results of her divinations.