Chapter Summaries

Hou Niao rode from Jincheng toward Liuyang to deliver a birthday gift, then met dependents of convicted officials stranded at the White Poplar Forest. He realized Commandant Li had deliberately sent him to witness the consequences of the harsh punishments triggered by his public exposure of corruption.

• Hou Niao prepared supplies and left Jincheng, traveling south while keeping to his daily cultivation practice and avoiding night travel.
• After five days, Hou Niao reached the White Poplar Forest and encountered a group of dependents seeking help to cross the border.
• An old man explained that their household heads had been executed for corruption and that their families had been stripped of Shan citizenship and ordered to leave.
• Hou Niao recognized that his public exposure of the death-benefit scandal had forced the Quanzhen Sect to punish the officials and their dependents harshly.
• Hou Niao understood that Commandant Li had sent him on this route deliberately so he would see the families caught in the aftermath.

Hou Niao found a young cultivator who had promised to escort twenty-three displaced people through the dangerous White Poplar Forest, but realized the group could not cross safely on foot or horseback. He rode to Gubei Village to seek the deer sleds needed to get them through in a day.

• The old man told Hou Niao that the group had waited more than ten days, was running out of food and water, and could not delay much longer.
• Hou Niao approached the young hunter-cultivator who had agreed to help the group and discussed the dangers of crossing the White Poplar Forest.
• The young man explained that locals used deer-drawn sleds to cross the forest, but his strained ties with his village made him reluctant to ask for them.
• Hou Niao asked which village had sleds and learned that Gubei Village was an hour northwest and had enough for the journey.
• Hou Niao rode toward Gubei Village to arrange the sleds while the young man waited with little hope that the villagers would cooperate.

Hou Niao returned with six deer sleds and organized the displaced group for a dangerous crossing of White Poplar Forest. He left them with strict orders and provisions, preparing to lead them out the next morning despite the rain and the limits of his own strength.

• The stranded group feared they could not reach Anhe as dusk fell and dust appeared beyond White Poplar Forest.
• Hou Niao arrived with six deer sleds, having paid the frontier folk with all twenty of Daoist Wang’s spirit stones.
• The youth assigned passengers by weight, reserved a spare sled, and planned to travel at midday when forest creatures were less active.
• Hou Niao ordered the group to be tied to the sleds, leave bulky belongings behind, and obey his decisions during the crossing.
• Hou Niao revealed his identity, warned the group against disobedience, and distributed water and dried meat before they sheltered from the autumn rain.

Hou Niao escorted a convoy of refugees through the White Poplar Forest, where attacks grew more frequent as they advanced. A roar from the Forest Tiger God frightened the border folk, but Hou Niao urged everyone to keep charging ahead.

• The border folk loaded the old, weak, women, and children onto six deer sleighs, and Hou Niao took position near the rear.
• The youth led the convoy into the White Poplar Forest while Hou Niao guarded the sleighs from behind.
• The convoy passed the first ten li without a serious attack, then fought off increasingly active forest creatures as it continued onward.
• A tiger roared during the third stretch, and a border folk told Hou Niao that the Forest Tiger God’s roar signaled the beasts to surround them.
• Hou Niao told the terrified convoy to keep moving and declared that he would fight even a god.

Hou Niao and the boy led the deer sleds through the White Poplar Forest as the creatures attacked in overwhelming numbers, forcing them to abandon their plan and make a desperate final charge. Near the forest’s edge, most of the villagers and deer had been lost, Hou Niao and the boy were exhausted, and the Tiger God had yet to appear.

• The forest creatures began attacking without regard for their lives, and Hou Niao struggled to protect all six deer sleds as the boy spent his arrows picking off the greatest threats.
• A Ran Python dragged away a hunter, and Hou Niao chose to stay with the sleds rather than risk leaving the others exposed.
• Hou Niao signaled the final plan, and the group packed the survivors onto two sleds while the remaining villagers mounted deer to guard them.
• Hou Niao led the charge on foot while the boy and nine villagers defended the rear and flanks, but creatures killed or dragged away villagers, passengers, and Forest Deer along the way.
• Less than one li from the forest’s edge, Hou Niao had nearly exhausted his spiritual power and the boy could barely fight, while the Tiger God still had not appeared.

Hou Niao and the boy survived the massacre in White Poplar Forest, where they found one rescued child among the dead. After leaving the forest, the boy decided to return to the Quanzhen Sect to learn swordsmanship, and Hou Niao learned his name was Fang Yazi.

• A human cultivator revealed that Quanzhen had planned to exterminate the White Poplar Demon Race, then subdued Tiger-head and transformed his head into a dog's.
• Hou Niao recovered after the creatures vanished and surveyed the battlefield with the boy, finding that nearly everyone they had guarded was dead.
• Hou Niao discovered a little girl alive beneath a Roaring Bear's paw and told the boy they had saved at least one person.
• Hou Niao, the boy, and the little girl left White Poplar Forest and camped by a river, grieving the loss of the other survivors.
• The boy told Hou Niao he would return to the Quanzhen Sect to learn swordsmanship, and revealed his name was Fang Yazi.

After leaving the White Poplar Forest, Hou Niao carried the silent child toward Liuyang City while reflecting on the changes in his heart and Dao. He arrived on the day of Guan Kexiu’s hundredth birthday, still unsure how to find the child a safe home, and learned that the recluse might perform a divination at his banquet.

• Hou Niao gave Fang Yazi the three Basic Cultivation Methods books, and Fang Yazi returned to the White Poplar Forest.
• Hou Niao carried the child on foot for nearly half a month and began forming his own direction beyond the Quanzhen Sect and his role as an undercover agent.
• Hou Niao entered Liuyang City on Guan Kexiu’s birthday and considered how to find a suitable family to care for the child.
• After cleaning himself and the child at an inn, Hou Niao carried her toward the Guan Residence.
• Hou Niao heard guests say that Guan Kexiu intended to perform a divination at his hundredth-birthday banquet.

At Immortal Guan’s birthday celebration, Daoist Zhan spotted a young cultivator she had met on the Jade Water and was surprised by his transformed bearing. Recognizing that he had joined the Quanzhen Demonic Sect, she put away her zither and decided to meet the guests.

• Daoist Zhan attended Immortal Guan’s birthday celebration to maintain the Daoist Sect’s ties with Liuyang’s rogue cultivators.
• Daoist Zhan played the zither in a pavilion while considering the political and factional tensions she had to manage.
• Daoist Zhan sensed someone familiar and saw a young cultivator carrying a bamboo basket with a little girl inside.
• Daoist Zhan recognized the young cultivator she had met on the Jade Water and noticed how much his bearing had changed.
• Daoist Zhan realized he had deliberately joined the Quanzhen Demonic Sect and decided to go meet the guests.

Hou Niao arrived at the Guan Residence to deliver Commandant Li’s birthday gift and waited for a chance to speak with Guan Gong. Daoist Zhan approached him and learned that he was heading to the Quanzhen Sect after the Anhe Daoist Sect rejected him, leaving her concerned about the Daoist Sect’s treatment of talent.

• Hou Niao entered the Guan Residence without an invitation after the gatekeeper relayed that an old acquaintance from Mist Marsh had arrived.
• Hou Niao asked an attendant to bring fruit for the little girl, who ate happily while he considered finding a lasting arrangement for her.
• Daoist Zhan appeared beside Hou Niao and asked why he was going to the Quanzhen Sect in the Shan Kingdom.
• Hou Niao explained that he had wanted to join the Anhe Daoist Sect but had been rejected at the last Anhe Prayer and lacked confidence that it would accept him.
• Daoist Zhan considered recommending Hou Niao but decided that forcing his way into the Daoist Sect could harm him, and she reflected on the sect’s failure to recognize talent.

Daoist Zhan offered to find a home for the orphaned girl and urged Hou Niao not to let his grievances with the Daoist Sect define his view of the entire group. Hou Niao accepted her help, while Daoist Zhan refused to arrange his meeting with Guan Gong.

• Daoist Zhan asked why Hou Niao had brought the girl from Jincheng, and he explained that she was the lone survivor of a condemned cultivator’s household attacked by Demon Beasts.
• Daoist Zhan suspected the attack had been planned, then offered to find the girl a safe home with a learned fellow cultivator in Liuyang.
• Daoist Zhan told Hou Niao that he should separate personal grievances from the Daoist Sect as a whole, and he agreed to remember her words.
• Hou Niao thanked Daoist Zhan for helping the girl and said he still wanted to present Guan Gong with a birthday gift and ask whether he had a reply.
• Daoist Zhan refused to help Hou Niao approach Guan Gong and went to get to know the girl.

Hou Niao delivered Commandant Li’s birthday gift to Immortal Guan, who returned the gourd to him as a first-meeting gift and ended their exchange without passing along a message. Immortal Guan privately read and destroyed a hidden letter, while Hou Niao returned to the banquet with questions and considered buying a garden for a home.

• Hou Niao learned that Immortal Guan’s birthday celebration marked his retirement from fortune-telling and that guests awaited his final divination.
• Immortal Guan invited Hou Niao to his study and asked whether he had come on Commandant Li’s behalf.
• Hou Niao gave Immortal Guan the gourd, but Immortal Guan removed its restriction and returned it to him as a gift.
• Hou Niao discovered the gourd held 180 low-grade Spirit Stones, matching the six months of his stipend that had been docked.
• Immortal Guan told Hou Niao to return to the banquet and make friends, then destroyed a hidden letter from Commandant Li.
• Hou Niao left the study and considered buying a garden because his plans for a dwelling remained unsettled.

At Immortal Guan’s birthday gathering, he delivered a final divination using a young cultivator as his guide to glimpse the future of the Brocade Continent. His vision showed a world-changing catastrophe, and a bolt of thunder struck him down.

• Hou Niao watched the banquet and worried over the Quanzhen Sect and Li Chuping while caring for the little girl.
• After the banquet, the guests gathered in the rear garden as Immortal Guan prepared to give his final divination.
• Immortal Guan sang of his hometown and lineage, then explained the three realms of divination and announced he would close the mountain.
• Immortal Guan chose the young cultivator connected to Commandant Li of Quanzhen as the focus for his reading of the Brocade Continent’s future.
• Immortal Guan saw blood-red light across the land and the celestial river drained of color, then a bolt of thunder struck him and he fell backward.

Immortal Guan was killed by heavenly lightning during his birthday celebration, leaving the guests uncertain about the cause. Hou Niao accompanied Daoist Zhan to place the little girl with Daoist Xi, then left after completing his task.

• Immortal Guan was struck dead by heavenly lightning after gazing toward Hou Niao, and the Upper Cultivators later announced his death without explaining its cause.
• Daoist Zhan reproached Hou Niao for letting the little girl witness the tragedy, and the girl said that the great big villain had scared Grandpa to death.
• Daoist Zhan took Hou Niao and the little girl to a Daoist sanctuary, where Daoist Xi accepted the child without resistance.
• Hou Niao watched Daoist Xi and the little girl disappear inside, then found that Daoist Zhan had vanished and went on his way.

Hou Niao spent three days in Liuyang City waiting for Daoist Chongling and shopping in its Daoist marketplace. He chose several movement arts to study later and collected a costly order of refined-iron weapons, leaving himself penniless.

• Hou Niao confirmed that his mission was complete and decided to wait three days in Liuyang City for Daoist Chongling.
• Hou Niao explored Liuyang's marketplace and found that its high-quality cultivation goods, especially swords, were beyond his budget.
• After recalling his difficulty maneuvering during the battle in White Poplar Forest, Hou Niao searched for practical movement arts at the Mao Fei shop.
• Hou Niao selected five movement-art books, planning to read them after returning to Jincheng.
• Hou Niao collected twenty refined-iron steel forks and twenty chopping sabers from a cultivators' smithy, spending nearly all his Spirit Stones.

Hou Niao confronted three rogue cultivators who had followed him from Liuyang and used his swordsmanship to kill two and overwhelm their Foundation Cultivation leader. The chapter left the leader facing Hou Niao’s next attack after his talismans barely stopped the thrown Nameless Lonely Sword.

• Hou Niao stopped before the White Poplar Forest and faced three rogue cultivators who had tracked him after spotting his purchase of forty weapons.
• The eldest brother used water arrows to harass Hou Niao while the second and third brothers attacked him from above and below.
• Hou Niao evaded the coordinated strike with a backward somersault and beheaded the third brother with his longsword.
• Hou Niao flipped back up, killed the second brother with a diagonal sword slash, and shouted at the eldest brother to run.
• The eldest brother fled and used talismans to block Hou Niao’s thrown Nameless Lonely Sword, but Hou Niao rushed beside him with another sword and struck.

Hou Niao returned from White Poplar Forest with spoils and learned that Daoist Chongling had arranged the ambush that supplied them. After leaving weapons at Gubei Village, he returned to Jincheng and reported to Commandant Li Chuping, who asked what Immortal Guan had said.

• Hou Niao gathered the three attackers’ belongings and found a Jade Slip from Daoist Chongling saying he had sent the men as travel funds.
• Hou Niao rode through White Poplar Forest without encountering beasts, then followed wagon tracks toward Gubei Village.
• Hou Niao left forty weapons at Gubei Village before returning to Jincheng five days later.
• Hou Niao went with Daoist Wang to meet Commandant Li Chuping, who questioned him about Immortal Guan.
• Hou Niao told Li Chuping that Immortal Guan had withdrawn from cultivation circles and would send no message.

Li Chuping questioned Hou Niao about the old immortal’s death and the White Poplar Forest Incident, then urged him to focus on cultivation. Hou Niao returned to training, confronting the limits of his slow Qi Gathering progress and resolving to improve his swordsmanship rather than take shortcuts.

• Hou Niao told Li Chuping that the old immortal’s death seemed utterly inexplicable and criticized the White Poplar Forest Incident as unnecessary if it had not been an accident.
• Li Chuping challenged Hou Niao’s judgment, advised him to gain more knowledge before drawing conclusions, and pointed out that his Qi Gathering progress was slow.
• Hou Niao reviewed the two methods of entering the Foundation Cultivation Realm and realized he had to rely on natural cultivation because pills would disrupt the vortex in his Yellow Court.
• Hou Niao decided to defeat Sword Two through genuine swordsmanship rather than trade injuries for a victory, and he trained relentlessly while refusing invitations to relax.
• The unrest over compensation payments faded from public attention as time passed in Jincheng.

Hou Niao studied escape arts with the other constables, learning from their cultivation knowledge while sharing his swordsmanship in return. As his fellow Quanzhen disciples prepared to attempt breakthroughs together, Hou Niao continued reporting for duty, still unable to break through despite his confidence in his progress.

• Hou Niao and the six constables examined his escape-art manuals, and Jiang Nanying, Yu Xinglie, Ma Rujun, Zong Qian, and Wang Mian pointed out the manuals’ limitations.
• Zong Qian explained why several escape arts were unsuitable for Hou Niao, and the constables exchanged cultivation knowledge and swordsmanship insights.
• Wang Mian announced that he would attempt to enter the Foundation Cultivation Realm, and Zong Qian and the others agreed to attempt breakthroughs together.
• Jiang Nanying asked Hou Niao to join them, but Hou Niao said he had been trying without success and explained that he did not take pills because of his purple mansion vortex.
• The constables requested leave from the yamen to attempt their breakthroughs, while Hou Niao continued reporting to the prefectural office every day.

Hou Niao defeated Sword Two in the Purple Mansion’s Soul Realm and broke through the barrier, releasing a horde of wandering souls. Back in his body, he used the gathered spiritual energy to balance his two dantians and the rest of his body, achieving Foundation Cultivation.

• Hou Niao drew in spiritual energy, but the Purple Mansion vortex siphoned it away from his dantians.
• Hou Niao entered the Soul Realm and fought Sword Two, gaining the upper hand with his newly awakened trace of autumnal sword intent.
• After a hundred moves, Hou Niao defeated Sword Two and found a sealed barrier at the end of the passage.
• Hou Niao cut through the barrier, releasing a vast horde of wandering souls that overwhelmed him.
• Hou Niao returned to his body and circulated spiritual energy between his dantians and his body until they reached balance, entering the Foundation Cultivation Realm.

After stabilizing his two dantians, Hou Niao tested his new spiritual power and found the Purple Mansion vortex and stronger wandering souls still awaited him in the Soul Realm. He then visited the Sword Repository to choose movement arts suited to his commitment to swordsmanship.

• Hou Niao channeled spiritual power into Nameless Lonely Sword and cleaved a stone stool in two.
• Hou Niao entered the Soul Realm during morning practice and fought stronger, better-coordinated wandering souls.
• Hou Niao spent three days stabilizing both dantians and learning to use the spiritual power stored within them.
• Hou Niao visited the Sword Repository and chose Sword-Riding Technique and Sword Yu Step.