Chapter Summaries

Hou Niao asked Li Chuping how he could become a True Disciple, and Li Chuping explained that the coveted position was bound up with political interests and an almost impossible hope of breaking the Brocade Continent’s Heaven and Earth Shackles. He left Hou Niao questioning why Li Chuping himself had pursued spirit green.

• Hou Niao argued that the Minister of Justice Prefecture should spend more spirit stones to obtain information, but Li Chuping refused to promise funding.
• Hou Niao asked Li Chuping what he would need to do to become a True Disciple.
• Li Chuping explained that a True Disciple had to represent powerful factions’ interests, since the position carried enormous potential benefits for the Brocade Continent’s cultivation world.
• Li Chuping warned that no one had broken the Heaven and Earth Shackles and said becoming a True Disciple would not improve Hou Niao’s strength or ease his advancement.
• Hou Niao asked Li Chuping why he had sought spirit green if the position and its promise were so uncertain.

Li Chuping explained why Hou Niao lacked the backing to compete for a true disciple position, while Hou Niao waited in the Minister of Justice Prefecture for his Jianye mission's verdict and pursued reimbursement. His mission earned special merit, but his expense claim reached Judge Wan after being cut down, leaving Hou Niao to face the official who might have undermined him.

• Li Chuping told Hou Niao that he needed powerful backing and the patriarchs' recognition before he could compete for a true disciple position.
• Hou Niao stayed in the Jade Capital, reported for roll call at the Minister of Justice Prefecture, and sought reimbursement for his Jianye expenses.
• News from Jianye confirmed that Shanmen's spy network was safe and Six-Eared Hall's screening had failed, earning Hou Niao a special merit and a kill order from Six-Eared Hall.
• Hou Niao submitted a claim for twenty-one hundred high-grade spirit stones and collected endorsements from five officials as they reduced the amount to thirteen hundred.
• Hou Niao's claim reached Judge Wan, the chief steward, whom Hou Niao suspected might have spoken against him.

Hou Niao discussed his reimbursement claim with Judge Wan, who turned the conversation toward Hou Niao’s prospects for becoming a True Disciple. Judge Wan explained how the nine existing True Disciples were backed by powerful sect factions and households, then revealed that four Infant Transformation patriarchs had not yet chosen sides.

• Judge Wan questioned Hou Niao’s 1,300 high-grade spirit stone expense claim and praised his accomplishments on the Lizhi Sea.
• Judge Wan asked whether Hou Niao wanted to pursue True Disciple status, and Hou Niao admitted that Li Biejia’s discouragement had made him hesitate.
• Judge Wan said Li Chuping could not help Hou Niao because the Li clan already backed Li Shulun, and he described how the other True Disciples were supported by established factions and powerful patrons.
• Hou Niao considered how his conflicts with the Duan Prince’s Residence and his strained ties to the Prince of Martial Accomplishment’s Household weakened his prospects.
• Judge Wan said the nine True Disciples did not represent all the possibilities, since four of Quanzhen’s thirteen Infant Transformation patriarchs had yet to state their positions.

Judge Wan advised Hou Niao that his best chances of becoming a True Disciple lay with True Person Quan or True Person Yuan, and Hou Niao assessed his limited options. He settled into a quiet routine in Jade Capital while waiting for an opportunity to approach them.

• Judge Wan explained why Hou Niao could not rely on Li Chuping to secure a True Disciple place and encouraged him to seek guidance from another True Person.
• Hou Niao concluded that he could not compete for places associated with the Minister of Justice Prefecture, the Minister of War Prefecture, or the two princely households.
• Hou Niao identified True Person Quan and True Person Yuan as his only realistic prospects but decided he could not approach them without an opportunity or connection.
• Hou Niao planned to bring Bai Qingqian to Jade Capital once he had settled in and the struggle for True Disciple status became less dangerous.
• Hou Niao focused on the Five Elements Cultivation Method and refining his swordsmanship while beginning to socialize and expand his connections.

Hou Niao reunited with Rao Zongzhi in the Jade Capital and learned why Luo Yewang had remained in the Northern Lands. Their conversation ended with Rao challenging Hou Niao to a Flying Sword duel.

• Hou Niao and Rao Zongzhi reunited at the Rao Household and reminisced about their old friendship and fellow cultivators from the Southwest Dao Discussion.
• Rao Zongzhi told Hou Niao that Luo Yewang had volunteered to travel to the Yuanyi Mountains, where demon creatures had grown unusually active.
• Rao Zongzhi explained how the Minister of War Prefecture handled external assignments and built ties with Daoist sects in the Northern Lands and northwest.
• Hou Niao and Rao Zongzhi discussed the dangers of remote regions and the circumstances that could keep cultivators from returning.
• Rao Zongzhi challenged Hou Niao to a Flying Sword duel, insisting that he was still Hou Niao's senior brother.

Hou Niao and Rao Zongzhi tested their flying-sword skills, and Hou Niao decisively outclassed him. They discussed Hou Niao's ambition to contend for a True Disciple position, but he rejected the factional maneuvering and patronage such a path seemed to require.

• Hou Niao and Rao Zongzhi held a flying-sword contest around a flowering tree, and Hou Niao suppressed Rao Zongzhi's sword until he recalled it.
• Rao Zongzhi realized Hou Niao was considering a challenge for a True Disciple position and offered to help arrange a meeting.
• Hou Niao explained that a private duel would not settle the matter because the contest involved the sect's power blocs and rules.
• Rao Zongzhi asked whether Hou Niao had connections to True Person Quan or True Person Yuan, whose households attracted prospective disciples.
• Hou Niao refused to seek a patron by becoming entangled in factional obligations, and Rao Zongzhi agreed that the arrangement was humiliating and uncertain.

Rao Buyi invited Hou Niao to accompany her and Rao Zongzhi into the rarely opened Shanling Division of Tuling World, where aggressive spirit beasts made a Natural Realm companion necessary. Hou Niao agreed, and the chapter ended with an account of the Quanzhen Sect’s three small worlds and their entry requirements.

• Rao Buyi rushed into the rear garden, checked for damage, and then asked Rao Zongzhi to join her in Tuling World the next day.
• Rao Buyi invited Hou Niao along to accompany her and a friend, explaining that the Shanling Division was opening and required a Natural Realm companion.
• Rao Zongzhi explained that the Shanling Division’s spirit beasts were aggressive and that Profound Connection cultivators needed protection there.
• Hou Niao agreed to go with Rao Buyi and Rao Zongzhi, treating the trip as a chance to relax.
• Hou Niao considered the Quanzhen Sect’s Tuling, Cretaceous, and Sword Tomb small worlds, their purposes, and their differing cultivation and merit requirements.

Hou Niao met Hai Xixi through the Rao cousins, who hoped her family connection to Sea True Person might help his prospects as a True Disciple. At Lingyun Pavilion, he spotted the Dugu Sisters and Wu Weijiang, and the Prince of Martial Accomplishment's Household approached him.

• Hou Niao visited the Rao residence, where Rao Zongzhi introduced him to Hai Xixi and explained her connection to Sea True Person.
• Rao Zongzhi brought Hou Niao, Rao Buyi, and Hai Xixi to Lingyun Pavilion for the Flash Spirit Hunt gathering.
• Rao Zongzhi explained that many Jade Capital cultivators valued spirit beasts for combat and companionship, even though true Sword Cultivators might not need them.
• Hou Niao noticed the Dugu Sisters and learned that the man beside them was Wu Weijiang, a powerful True Disciple of the Prince of Martial Accomplishment's Household.
• Rao Zongzhi warned Hou Niao about Wu Weijiang's controlling nature, and the group from the Prince of Martial Accomplishment's Household walked over to them.

Hou Niao declined Wu Weijiang’s invitation to seek the Prince of Martial Accomplishment's Household’s support, then entered the Tuling Grotto-Heaven with Hai Xixi to find Flashling Beasts. After Hai Xixi’s attempt to befriend a Three-Tailed Marten ended with it biting Hou Niao, he began to see a new way to pursue his cultivation.

• Wu Weijiang thanked Hou Niao for helping his household on the Lizhi Sea and invited him to visit, but Hou Niao politely avoided committing to their patronage.
• Rao Zongzhi told Hou Niao he had shut off another path for himself, and Hou Niao said Rao could take that path if he wanted it.
• A Lingyun Pavilion elder opened the entrance to the Tuling Grotto-Heaven, and Hou Niao and Hai Xixi entered the colorful world to seek Flashling Beasts.
• Hai Xixi tried to win the trust of a Three-Tailed Marten by approaching it gently and dancing, but Hou Niao punched it away before she could touch it.
• The Three-Tailed Marten bit Hou Niao’s knuckle before vanishing, and he realized the experience had clarified his path toward becoming a Sword Cultivator.

Hou Niao accompanied Hai Xixi as she tried to befriend Flashling Beasts, but the beasts repeatedly attacked her. After Hai Xixi sensed something abnormal in the light and chose to investigate it, the pair joined other disciples heading toward its source.

• Hai Xixi tried to approach a koala-like Flashling Beast, which knocked her down and fled after biting her.
• Hou Niao asked whether the Flashling Beasts had become unusually wary of humans, and Hai Xixi admitted she had never encountered this resistance before.
• After hours of finding no tameable beasts, Hai Xixi sensed that abnormal light might be provoking their instincts.
• Hai Xixi chose to follow the source of the light, and Hou Niao agreed to accompany her despite the possible danger.
• Hou Niao and Hai Xixi met other disciples who had sensed the same disturbance, and a group of twenty or thirty gathered and continued onward.

Wu Weijiang led the disciples toward the disturbance, while Hai Xixi suspected an Ancient Spirit Creature had escaped and Hou Niao backed her call to investigate. They encountered a powerful Luan Bird, which attacked them and left the group facing a threat they could barely harm.

• Wu Weijiang argued that the disturbance was likely a recurrence of past Flashling Beast outbreaks and proposed investigating with the group.
• Hai Xixi suggested an Ancient Spirit Creature might have escaped, and Hou Niao supported going ahead to assess the situation.
• Wu Weijiang agreed to lead everyone onward, and Hou Niao told Hai Xixi he would prioritize his own safety if danger arose.
• After two hours, fleeing disciples warned Wu Weijiang that an Ancient Spirit Beast had appeared and three senior brothers had already been lost.
• A Luan Bird attacked the group, and although Wu Weijiang and the others struck it with flying swords, they could not inflict serious harm.

Wu Weijiang manipulated the retreat from the Luan Bird to leave Hai Xixi and Hou Niao exposed, while Hou Niao resolved to kill him. Wu Weijiang escaped through a secret means, leaving Hou Niao and Hai Xixi behind with the enraged beast.

• Wu Weijiang organized the Sword Cultivators into a defensive formation and ordered the less powerful newcomers to leave first as the group escaped one at a time.
• Hou Niao stayed beside Hai Xixi and recognized that Wu Weijiang’s praise and warnings were meant to keep her from retreating.
• Wu Weijiang increased his sword’s power, provoking the Luan Bird, while the veteran cultivators withdrew and Hou Niao realized Wu planned to eliminate obstacles without witnesses.
• Wu Weijiang and Hou Niao both unleashed their strongest attacks as only Hai Xixi remained with them.
• Wu Weijiang vanished through a special exit, and Hai Xixi explained that the Wu Household had its own way out of the Tuling Grotto-Heaven.

Hou Niao and Hai Xixi were trapped with the Luan Bird after Wu Weijiang escaped, so Hou Niao used the "Hanging" Thunder Talisman to subdue it long enough for Hai Xixi to perform her taming ritual. Afterward, they agreed to conceal what had really happened and credit Wu Weijiang with saving them.

• Hai Xixi explained that Wu Weijiang’s escape method temporarily blocked their normal way out, leaving her and Hou Niao trapped with the Luan Bird.
• Hai Xixi proposed taming the Luan Bird, and Hou Niao agreed to restrain it while she tried her ritual.
• Hou Niao’s "Hanging" Thunder Talisman froze the Luan Bird, and Hai Xixi’s singing and dancing calmed it enough for her to succeed.
• Hou Niao discovered that Hai Xixi was secretly a man, while Hai Xixi said she was more interested in learning how Hou Niao had subdued the bird than in keeping it.
• Hai Xixi and Hou Niao agreed to say Wu Weijiang had risked his life to help them escape and to keep the truth to themselves.

After escaping Tuling Grotto-Heaven, Hou Niao learned that the changes there might signal a wider weakening of the seals across the Brocade Continent. He met privately with Xiao Qiang, who revealed her wish to continue cultivating and offered to help him pursue a True Disciple’s position, but Hou Niao declined her assistance.

• Hai Xixi told Hou Niao that the changes in Tuling Grotto-Heaven might be part of a broader trend affecting grotto-heavens and little worlds across the Brocade Continent.
• Hou Niao and Hai Xixi returned from the Tuling space, praised Senior Brother Wu in front of their fellow disciples, and were kept behind with Wu Weijiang for further investigation.
• Hou Niao told Rao Zongzhi that Wu Weijiang had singled him and Hai Xixi out, and Rao Zongzhi offered to help if needed.
• Xiao Qiang apologized to Hou Niao and invited him to a meal, then went with him to his residence to talk privately.
• Xiao Qiang told Hou Niao she wanted to keep cultivating and offered to help him obtain a True Disciple’s position, but Hou Niao refused her help and asked what she wanted in return.

Hou Niao received a mission to investigate the Earth Spirit Pearl, a treasure that had descended among the Yaoguang Natives, and reports of Minister of War Prefecture subordinates betraying their post. He set out for the Northern Lands with authority over the disciples already there, prepared to deal with rival factions and uncover the truth.

• After spending the night with Xiao Qiang, Hou Niao arrived at the Minister of Justice Prefecture and was summoned by Judge Cheng.
• Judge Cheng explained that the Earth Spirit Pearl had appeared during a Yaoguang Native tribe's prayer, drawing several factions to the area.
• Judge Cheng assigned Hou Niao to investigate the treasure and suspected betrayal among Minister of War Prefecture subordinates, and gave him authority to direct the disciples already there.
• Judge Cheng told Hou Niao to avoid escalating matters with the Yaoguang Natives, whose territory was protected by an agreement barring Golden Core cultivators and above.
• Hou Niao asked how to handle the Lotus Gate Path of Emotionless Extinction and a Buddhist sect, and Judge Cheng told him not to restrain himself with the Lotus Gate and to teach the Buddhists what true affinity meant.

Hou Niao traveled to Shanyin Town to investigate the struggle over an Earth Spirit Pearl and met with the injured Minister of War Prefecture cultivators. He learned that their leader, Luo Yewang, had helped the last surviving Winged Person escape with the pearl into the Yaoguang Mountains.

• Hou Niao flew toward Shanyin Town, reviewing the assignment and expecting to arrive too late to prevent the factions from acting.
• You Lizhi met Hou Niao in Shanyin Town and introduced him to three injured cultivators from the Minister of War Prefecture.
• You Lizhi explained that several factions had fought over the Earth Spirit Pearl, while the Winged People took it out of town amid the chaos.
• You Lizhi said the Ruthless Dao had slaughtered nearly all the Winged People, and the last survivor had embedded the pearl in their skull.
• You Lizhi accused Luo Yewang and a female Chu Sect cultivator of letting the surviving Winged Person escape into the Yaoguang Mountains.
• Hou Niao asked who the leader was, and You Lizhi identified him as Luo Yewang.

Hou Niao learned that the Winged girl carrying the Earth Spirit Pearl was struggling back toward her tribe through the Yaoguang Mountains, and he set out to find her. The girl continued crawling upstream with two people watching over her, determined to return the Pearl to her people.

• You Lizhi showed Hou Niao the route toward the Winged People Tribe and explained that the Earth Spirit Pearl made the girl impossible to carry through the air.
• Hou Niao decided to enter the Yaoguang Mountains alone and warned You Lizhi's men not to condemn Luo Yewang without proof.
• Hou Niao flew toward the mountains while the Sword Cultivators stayed behind.
• The Winged girl crawled upstream along the Snow River, determined to bring the Earth Spirit Pearl back to her tribe.
• The girl waved to two people circling above her and remembered that their protection had kept her alive.

Luo Yewang and Daoist Ying continued protecting the Winged People’s girl and the Earth Spirit Pearl from cultivators seeking to seize it. When Senior Brother Tan arrived to take Daoist Ying back, she refused to abandon her conviction, and Luo Yewang stood with her.

• Luo Yewang worried that increasingly powerful cultivators would attack them before the Winged People’s girl could return to her tribe.
• Luo Yewang confronted a Daoist from the Chu Sect, but the newcomer’s Taiji Void-Born Circle restrained his flying sword.
• Daoist Ying told Luo Yewang that Senior Brother Tan had come for her.
• Daoist Ying refused Senior Brother Tan’s order to return, arguing that the Earth Spirit Pearl mattered more to the Winged People than to cultivators.
• Senior Brother Tan warned that renowned Heaven-Connecting Realm experts were on their way, and Luo Yewang declared that they could at least hinder them.

Senior Brother Tan and Jia Ye battled over the Earth Spirit Pearl while their companions fought outside Jia Ye’s Fragrant Flower Buddha World. Below, the exhausted little winged girl struggled up a cliff and fell onto a stranger, who offered to carry her.

• Jia Ye arrived with Jialan and Jialuo, claimed the Yaoguang Mountains for the Buddhist Sect, and challenged Senior Brother Tan.
• Senior Brother Tan and Jia Ye began fighting, and Jia Ye used the Fragrant Flower Buddha World to isolate them from the others.
• Jialan and Jialuo attacked the little winged girl, but Luo Yewang and Daoist Ying fought them to a stalemate.
• The little winged girl continued climbing despite her exhaustion because she was determined to bring Baozhu home.
• The little winged girl slipped from a cliff and landed on a stranger, who offered to carry her up.

Uncle Niao carried Xinghuan through the mountains by using earth escape, and she told him why the Winged People had brought the Earth Spirit Pearl out of their lands. They continued toward her tribe as fighting raged overhead, while Uncle Niao used the pearl to deepen his understanding of earth.

• Uncle Niao tried carrying Xinghuan, then used his Magnetic Dao Body and earth escape to move her through the mountains.
• Xinghuan followed Uncle Niao's directions by tugging his ears and hair as they traveled up cliffs.
• Uncle Niao introduced himself as Uncle Niao, and Xinghuan told him her name and that she was the tribe's shamaness.
• Xinghuan explained that famine had driven her tribe to seek help using the Earth Spirit Pearl, but a traveling merchant had urged them to take it outside.
• Uncle Niao continued guiding Xinghuan toward her tribe and used the pearl's properties to study the way of earth while battles raged overhead.