Chapter Summaries

Chen Shuangbai fought Rogue Person Withered Wood, overwhelming him with his twin swords and forcing him to flee. Rogue Person Withered Wood tried to hide in the forest, but Chen Shuangbai continued tracking him with the help of a Snow-Plumed Eagle.

• Rogue Person Withered Wood attacked Chen Shuangbai with his flying sword, but Chen Shuangbai knocked it aside and damaged its blade.
• Chen Shuangbai used his twin swords to drive Rogue Person Withered Wood back, then dispersed his poisonous miasma with spells.
• Chen Shuangbai's Green Shoots Break Through Snow severed Rogue Person Withered Wood's arm and broke the miasma pearl when Rogue Person Withered Wood used it to defend himself.
• Rogue Person Withered Wood detonated his flying sword to create an opening and escaped into the forest.
• Chen Shuangbai pursued Rogue Person Withered Wood, while a Snow-Plumed Eagle kept him in sight from the clouds.

Chen Shuangbai killed Rogue Person Withered Wood after discovering his plan to take revenge on the Chen Household, then destroyed the Meng Household’s main line. He returned to the Chen Household, where Old Master Chen arranged to deal with the surviving servants and branch-family members.

• Chen Shuangbai pursued Rogue Person Withered Wood through the woods and defeated him with his two flying swords.
• Rogue Person Withered Wood surrendered but secretly plotted revenge against the Chen Household, so Chen Shuangbai killed him and took his Storage Bag.
• Chen Shuangbai returned to the Meng Household and killed Old Madam Meng after rejecting her offer to surrender its property.
• Chen Shuangbai destroyed the Meng Household residence with a fire that left its servants unharmed, while its trusted followers and main-line members disappeared.
• Old Master Chen praised Chen Shuangbai and sent his old servant with trusted followers to handle the survivors; Chen Moyan watched with growing respect for his father.

After breaking through to the Qi Refining Fifth Layer, Chen Shuangbai discovered that his evolved Moonlight Heart-Cleansing Instruction let him sense the general thoughts of people who intensely hated him. He returned to White Water County, gave his family supplies, and urged his second uncle to build a Chen cultivation lineage.

• Chen Shuangbai secluded himself at a Chen medicinal estate for three days and broke through to the Qi Refining Fifth Layer.
• Chen Shuangbai realized his First Month Divine Manifestation accelerated his cultivation by gathering moonlight.
• Chen Shuangbai identified the first realm of the Moonlight Heart-Cleansing Instruction and learned it could reveal the thoughts of people who intensely hated him.
• Chen Shuangbai tested the ability on Chen Bingwen and the estate steward, confirming it did not reveal the steward's thoughts.
• Chen Shuangbai returned to White Water County and shared a meal with Old Master Chen and the second branch.
• Chen Shuangbai gave Old Master Chen pills and talismans, then told Chen Moyan to expand the family and promised to guide any descendants with a Spirit Root into cultivation.

Chen Shuangbai rescued Lu Mingxuan, an Empty Sword Sect disciple who had fallen from the sky after being poisoned, and learned that bandit cultivators had ambushed him near Emerald Screen Mountain. The discovery left Chen Shuangbai planning to alert the Jade Spring Sect as Lu Mingxuan described the ambush.

• Chen Shuangbai left White Water County for Wind Howling County and stopped in the mountains to restore his law power.
• Chen Shuangbai found Lu Mingxuan injured in a crater, concealed him with spells, and removed the aphrodisiac-like poison.
• Chen Shuangbai supplied spiritual Qi while Lu Mingxuan recovered, and Lu Mingxuan later thanked him and introduced himself.
• Chen Shuangbai asked how Lu Mingxuan had been poisoned, and Lu Mingxuan explained that he had been traveling to Mystic Light Market on sect business.
• Lu Mingxuan said four or five bandit cultivators ambushed him near Emerald Screen Mountain, where their one-eyed leader used a trapping formation and a fragrance to poison him.

Chen Shuangbai used the Jade Spring Sect’s plane tree message method to summon help against the bandits on Emerald Screen Mountain, then reached Wind Howling County and entered Quling County Town in disguise. There, he began investigating the town and learned that a growing Dragon King levy was burdening boatmen.

• Lu Mingxuan explained that bandit cultivators had poisoned him with a lust poison, and Chen Shuangbai sent a message through a plane tree to call the Evil Hunting Hall to attack Emerald Screen Mountain.
• Lu Mingxuan thanked Chen Shuangbai and returned toward the Empty Sword Sect with the goods and spirit stones he was carrying.
• Three days later, Chen Shuangbai reached Wind Howling Ford, where the Ming and Li Rivers converged, and noticed that fishing boats outnumbered merchant vessels.
• Chen Shuangbai used the Obscuring Mist Method to enter Quling County Town with a merchant caravan and observed its quiet streets and sparse customers.
• Chen Shuangbai listened to boatmen complain that the Dragon King levy had risen by thirty percent, while another warned that even the county yamen tolerated it.

After learning about Wind Howling County’s competing powers, Chen Shuangbai traveled east to the Jade Spring Sect’s Spring-Venerating Daoist Academy and met its leaders, Zhuang Wen and Bi Sheng. He settled into a prepared quiet room as the academy’s curious students watched him from outside.

• Chen Shuangbai learned that the county’s powers included its magistrate, Compassionate Light Temple, Rosy Clouds Abode Alliance, local clans, and Azure Flood Dragon Society.
• Chen Shuangbai left the county and found the Spring-Venerating Daoist Academy hidden in a bamboo grove east of town.
• Zhuang Wen and Bi Sheng welcomed Chen Shuangbai as their martial uncle and verified his Jade Spring Sect identity.
• Zhuang Wen and Bi Sheng escorted Chen Shuangbai through the academy and showed him the portraits of its founding patriarch and former head, Tian Guanyu.
• Chen Shuangbai settled into the Listening to the Waves Pavilion, where Bi Sheng scolded students peeking at their new martial uncle.

Chen Shuangbai cultivated through the night at the Spring-Venerating Daoist Academy and killed a spy who had been watching him. Bi Sheng and Zhuang Wen explained the county’s competing powers, and Chen Shuangbai asked them to identify the spy’s concealment talisman.

• Chen Shuangbai cultivated with water moon jade crystal, drawing on its lunar radiance and water-aspect primal Qi.
• Chen Shuangbai sensed a hidden intruder in the bamboo grove and killed him by sending a bamboo leaf flying with Law Power.
• Bi Sheng and Zhuang Wen arrived with food, found the corpse, and apologized to Chen Shuangbai for the disturbance.
• Chen Shuangbai acknowledged the pressure Bi Sheng and Zhuang Wen faced after Tian’s death, and they outlined the county’s temples, alliances, clans, and boatmen’s society.
• Chen Shuangbai showed the two men the concealment talisman found on the spy and asked which local power possessed it.

Chen Shuangbai learned that the Golden Seal of Guardianship was being held by Senior Brother Tian Guanyu’s widow and son, who were backed by the Zhao Household. After instructing Bi Sheng and Zhuang Wen, he announced that he would move into the guardian’s offices in three days.

• Chen Shuangbai questioned Bi Sheng and Zhuang Wen about the academy’s upkeep and discovered that neither knew how to manage its formations.
• Zhuang Wen and Bi Sheng revealed that Tian Guanyu’s widow had kept the Golden Seal of Guardianship, while her ties to the Zhao Household prevented them from reclaiming it.
• Bi Sheng said that Tian Guanyu had died suddenly, apparently from Qi Deviation, though he and Zhuang Wen suspected more was behind his death.
• Chen Shuangbai instructed Bi Sheng and Zhuang Wen in their studies and praised Zhuang Wen’s aptitude while criticizing his laziness.
• Chen Shuangbai ordered Zhuang Wen to deliver a calling card to the county yamen and announce that he would take up residence in the guardian’s offices in three days.

Chen Shuangbai heard the Spring-Venerating Daoist Academy students’ grievances about the forces undermining their school and inspected the academy’s damaged protective formation. He left the students without making promises, planted his Life-Accepting Gourd in the rear lake, and began assessing the formation.

• Chen Shuangbai invited five Spring-Venerating Daoist Academy students into the Listening to the Waves Pavilion and offered them food.
• Meng Fu and the other students pleaded for Chen Shuangbai to save the academy and described how the four households and the Compassionate Light Temple had obstructed and weakened it.
• Meng Fu explained that Zhuang Wen and Bi Sheng urged the students to stay quiet and focus on cultivation, but she feared the academy would have nowhere left to retreat.
• Chen Shuangbai let the students share the food and leave without promising to intervene.
• Chen Shuangbai submerged his Life-Accepting Gourd in the rear lake to gather water and wood Primordial Qi.
• Chen Shuangbai walked through the bamboo grove to inspect the damaged portions of the academy’s formation.

Chen Shuangbai reinforced the Jade Wave Green Bamboo Formation at the Spring-Venerating Daoist Academy and continued cultivating until Bi Sheng broke through to the Qi Refinement Fourth Layer. He then traveled to Wind Howling County in an airborne palanquin, where the county official Chang Yuan welcomed him as an immortal master of the Jade Spring Sect.

• Chen Shuangbai studied the academy's formation and overlaid it with the Six Directions Primordial Light Formation, killing the remaining rats in the bamboo grove.
• Chen Shuangbai cultivated for three days while benefiting from the Lord of the First Month's blessing.
• Bi Sheng reached the Qi Refinement Fourth Layer, and Chen Shuangbai congratulated him before setting out for the county town with him.
• Chen Shuangbai taught Zhuang Wen how to control the formation and asked him to guard the academy.
• Bi Sheng arranged his late master's palanquin, and Chen Shuangbai used the Flowing Cloud Flying Pouch to carry it and its bearers through the air toward Wind Howling County.
• Chang Yuan came out of the garrison office and welcomed Chen Shuangbai as the immortal master of the Jade Spring Sect.

Chen Shuangbai arrived at the Jade Spring Sect's government office and found Yuan Jie occupying the seat of honor, provoking a confrontation over the Yuan Household's disrespect. Yuan Chongde tried to present Yuan Jie's words as drunken foolishness and begged Chen Shuangbai for leniency.

• Chang Yuan led Chen Shuangbai into the refurbished government office and found Yuan Jie seated in the seat of honor.
• Yuan Chongde recognized Yuan Jie and ordered him down, but Bi Sheng attacked him with a flying sword; Yuan Chongde's Bronze Bell Talisman was cleaved in two.
• Bi Sheng challenged Yuan Chongde over the Yuan Household's actions, and Chang Yuan asked whether Yuan Jie was showing contempt for the Jade Spring Sect.
• Yuan Jie questioned why the Yuan Household should fear an outer sect disciple, so Yuan Chongde kicked him down and berated him.
• Yuan Chongde apologized to Chen Shuangbai and claimed Yuan Jie had spoken thoughtlessly while drunk, promising to punish him under household law.

Chen Shuangbai invoked the Jing Code after Yuan Jie’s family tried to settle his offense with a token punishment, exposing the four households’ ties to the Profound Firmament Sect. He left them facing accusations of colluding with a foreign power and harming the Jing Kingdom.

• Yuan Chongde and representatives of the Liu and Zhao lineages proposed sending Yuan Jie to the mines or letting him redeem himself, but Chen Shuangbai asked County Magistrate Chang Yuan to state the law.
• A clerk explained that trespassing into a warden’s office and usurping his place were grave offenses, and that Yuan Jie’s crimes were punishable by beheading.
• Yuan Jie sprang up and insulted Chen Shuangbai, boasting that his elder brother was the legacy disciple of a Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Profound Firmament Sect.
• Yuan Chongde claimed the Yuan Household was protecting itself, and Chen Shuangbai accused the Zhao, Yuan, Li, and Wang households of relying on the Profound Firmament Sect and potentially betraying the Jing Kingdom.
• Zhao Yongkun denied that the households intended betrayal, but Chen Shuangbai warned that secret dealings with a foreign enemy and harming the country were distinct from ordinary sect apprenticeship.

Chen Shuangbai exposed the four Households’ attempt to undermine him and forced them to submit, then used his welcoming banquet to warn Wind Howling Ford’s powers to obey the rules of the Jing Kingdom and the Jade Spring Sect. He left them expecting further measures to restore the Sect’s authority.

• Chen Shuangbai accused the four Households of treason, causing the Wang and Li representatives to distance their Households from the scheme and Zhao Yongkun to deny involvement.
• Yuan Jie tried to flee, but Yuan Chongde immobilized him with a talisman and handed him over to Chen Shuangbai for punishment.
• The four Households admitted guilt and offered spiritual cultivation materials, while the Yuan Household executed the lackeys who had helped Yuan Jie.
• At the banquet, Chen Shuangbai declared that Wind Howling Ford belonged to the Jing Kingdom and was protected by the Jade Spring Sect, and ordered everyone to obey their rules.

After securing control of the garrison office, Chen Shuangbai ordered Bi Sheng to demand the undamaged gold seal from Tian Guanyu’s widow and son, then left the academy with Feiguang to seek a secluded helper. Feiguang used its [Sky Rending] talent to lose their pursuers, and they reached Returning Dragon Bay.

• Chen Shuangbai put Bi Sheng in charge of the garrison office and ordered him to give Tian Guanyu’s widow and son until the hour of the dragon to deliver the undamaged gold seal, warning that he would treat them as traitors otherwise.
• Chen Shuangbai brought the bound Yuan Jie to Zhuang Wen and told him to extract everything Yuan Jie knew and compile it into a volume.
• Chen Shuangbai told Zhuang Wen he was staying in Wind Howling County but going to find a helper, then flew away on Feiguang.
• Feiguang sensed several presences following them, and Chen Shuangbai had it use its [Sky Rending] talent to leave the pursuers behind.
• After about an hour of flight, Chen Shuangbai and Feiguang arrived above Returning Dragon Bay, where the Ming River widened around a bend in the mountains.

Chen Shuangbai traveled to Jade Reef Manor to seek protection from Martial Uncle Wei and was welcomed into the underwater estate by Wei Mingdang. The chapter ended as Wei Mingdang led him into the manor’s central hall.

• Chen Shuangbai arrived at the bay with Feiguang, which flew off to explore while he waited on shore.
• Chen Shuangbai presented the water-blue jade given to him by Yi Chongyue, and an attendant named Wei Ming emerged from the water to verify his identity.
• Wei Mingdang came to greet Chen Shuangbai and invited him into the manor after confirming he was a Jade Spring Sect disciple.
• Wei Mingdang led Chen Shuangbai down a watery passage into Jade Reef Manor, where he admired its rich water-aspect Spiritual Qi and grand buildings.
• Chen Shuangbai entered the central hall with Wei Mingdang.

Chen Shuangbai visited Wei Mingdang at Wall Reef Water Manor to seek Wei Chengfeng’s help dealing with the local powers at Wind Howling Ford. Wei Chengfeng agreed to consider assisting him, but set a condition that Chen Shuangbai had not yet heard.

• Chen Shuangbai shared tea and Dao insights with Wei Mingdang, then gave her moonlit precious pearls as a gift.
• Wei Mingdang explained that Wei Chengfeng was secluded, but he emerged early after gaining an insight and greeted Chen Shuangbai.
• Wei Chengfeng asked about Yi Chongyue, and Chen Shuangbai described his teacher’s cultivation and work in the Jade Spring Sect.
• Chen Shuangbai asked Wei Chengfeng to use his standing to deter the local powers at Wind Howling Ford, explaining how they obstructed the Jade Spring Sect.
• Wei Chengfeng refused to subdue Wind Howling Ford outright but agreed to help at the appropriate moment if Chen Shuangbai fulfilled a condition.

Chen Shuangbai refused Wei Chengfeng’s proposal that he marry Wei Mingdang, but agreed to guarantee her entry into the Jade Spring Sect’s main sect when he became an inner disciple. Wei Chengfeng revealed his plan to protect his daughter and the water manor before his cold poison flared again, leaving him to regret the greed that had caused his condition.

• Wei Chengfeng asked Chen Shuangbai to marry Wei Mingdang and join Jade Reef Water Manor, but Chen Shuangbai declined, saying he was devoted to cultivation and would be no good match.
• Wei Chengfeng offered to change the condition, and Chen Shuangbai agreed to stand as Wei Mingdang’s guarantor when they entered the Jade Spring Sect’s main sect.
• Wei Mingdang gave Chen Shuangbai two boxes of azure water crystals before he left the water manor.
• Wei Chengfeng told Wei Mingdang that he had hoped Chen Shuangbai would help her enter the main sect and protect her from those coveting the water manor.
• Wei Chengfeng confessed that his cold poison left him little time to live and urged Wei Mingdang to cultivate until she could enter the inner sect.
• Wei Chengfeng suppressed another flare of the cold poison and recalled that his greed had brought him to this state.

Chen Shuangbai and Feiguang were ambushed by three cultivators while traveling through the mountains, but Chen Shuangbai killed the female attacker with his Green Parasol Tree Sword. The old man and strange monk remained to face him as the fight continued.

• Chen Shuangbai sensed danger as Feiguang flew between two peaks, and a scarlet fire tornado struck them from the mountainside.
• Feiguang blocked the attack with Cold Wind, but an array trapped them and the female cultivator launched two bladed rings at Chen Shuangbai.
• The sinister old man and strange monk revealed themselves as the female cultivator’s brothers, and the old man sent four fire tornadoes toward Chen Shuangbai.
• Chen Shuangbai used the Cold Spring Sword to block the female cultivator’s ring, then pierced her chest with the Green Parasol Tree Sword.
• Chen Shuangbai’s two swords finished off the wounded female cultivator, while the old man and strange monk cried out for their second sister.

Chen Shuangbai overwhelmed the bandit cultivators with his two flying swords and Feiguang, killing the strange monk. The sinister old man escaped underground with what Chen Shuangbai suspected was an earth-escape talisman, and Chen Shuangbai pursued him.

• Chen Shuangbai used the Green Parasol Tree Sword and Cold Spring Sword to suppress the strange monk and sinister old man, while their Law Artifacts failed to withstand his attacks.
• Chen Shuangbai kept fighting until he confirmed the two bandits had no trump cards, then summoned Feiguang to join the battle.
• The strange monk unleashed blood-red Buddhist light, but Chen Shuangbai united the two swords to break through it as Feiguang froze the monk, and the swords pierced his chest.
• The sinister old man fled into the earth, and Chen Shuangbai pursued him while Feiguang collected the fallen cultivators' Law Artifacts and Storage Bags.

Chen Shuangbai killed the sinister old man, returned to the Spring-Venerating Daoist Academy, and learned that the golden seal and the mother and son were still missing. After cultivating through the night, he began sorting through the three bandit cultivators’ belongings and prepared to meet the foremost of the four households.

• Feiguang helped Chen Shuangbai defeat the sinister old man, and Chen Shuangbai killed him and took his Storage Bag and Law Artifact.
• Chen Shuangbai returned to the academy, where Bi Sheng reported that the mother and son could not be found and the golden seal had not been returned.
• Zhuang Wen gave Chen Shuangbai information obtained from Yuan Jie, including that the four households had shipped cultivation materials elsewhere, possibly connected to the Profound Firmament Sect.
• Chen Shuangbai ordered Zhuang Wen to protect the academy and said he would meet the foremost of the four households that night.
• Chen Shuangbai cultivated until dawn, then examined the three bandit cultivators’ Storage Bags and Law Artifacts, looking forward to the sinister old man’s crimson flag.