Chapter Summaries

Ji Yuan asked Niu Batian and Lord Lu to investigate the mysterious Heavenly Revelation Alliance, while Yan Fei rescued travelers from bandits and spared eight coerced young recruits. Ji Yuan and Lord Lu remained at Niu Batian’s manor, and the eight survivors were sent home with a warning.

• Ji Yuan told Niu Batian and Lord Lu that the Heavenly Revelation Alliance might involve demonic and wicked paths, the Black Dream Spirit Continent, and powerful demons, and asked them to investigate its purpose.
• Ji Yuan recounted his encounters with Tu Siyan, the Peach Branch Youth, and the Corpse Demon, then explained that Niu Batian and Lord Lu should investigate from immortal ferry crossings.
• Niu Batian left for Luocheng City to begin the investigation, while Ji Yuan gave Lord Lu more than a hundred jujubes and continued their private discussion.
• At Datong Hill, Yan Fei killed more than twenty bandits and rescued travelers, then questioned eight young recruits who had joined the bandits under coercion.
• After hearing the eight explain their circumstances, Yan Fei let them go home and warned them that he would find them if they returned to the crooked path.

Yan Fei returned to the Small Manor and reunited with Ji Yuan and Lord Lu, who had come looking for Old Ox. As Yan Fei prepared to return to his family, he explained how Old Ox had helped him develop a new path in Martial Arts, leaving Ji Yuan eager to explore the idea further.

• Yan Fei returned to the Small Manor and greeted Ji Yuan and Lord Lu, learning that Old Ox had gone to a brothel and would not return for a couple of days.
• Yan Fei said his eldest brother had urgently asked him to return home, and Lord Lu praised how far Yan Fei had advanced in Martial Arts.
• Yan Fei explained that Old Ox had guided him to temper his body, spirit, baleful intent, and Innate True Qi along a path inspired by Demon Cultivators.
• Ji Yuan recognized the promise of Old Ox's insight and asked Lord Lu to bring him back so they could discuss it.
• Ji Yuan and Yan Fei continued exploring the martial path while Ji Yuan reflected that Yan Fei was fortunate to have Old Ox as a friend.

Ji Yuan, Yan Fei, Old Ox, and Lord Lu discussed how to combine a martial artist’s powers into a new path. Yan Fei named the path Martial Sha Yuan Gang, and the group resolved to keep developing it.

• Ji Yuan and Yan Fei sparred with sword fingers while Old Ox was away.
• Lord Lu found Old Ox at Spring Apricot House and brought him back to the Small Manor to discuss martial arts.
• Ji Yuan, Lord Lu, Old Ox, and Yan Fei spent several days discussing Yan Fei’s martial path and the powers that could strengthen it.
• The group regretted that Yan Fei had begun exploring the path late, but Yan Fei declared that he would pursue it and nurture successors.
• Yan Fei named the path Martial Sha Yuan Gang.

After helping establish a possible future for martial arts, Ji Yuan brought Yan Fei to Tianshui Lake to visit Gao Tianming. They reached the lively Water Mansion beneath the lake, where Gao Tianming and his wife came out to greet them.

• Ji Yuan, Yan Fei, Niu Batian, and Lord Lu agreed that Yan Fei’s martial path could give more people a way to cultivate, though its future remained uncertain.
• Several days later, Niu Batian and Lord Lu headed north, while Yan Fei gave the Small Manor to the married couple managing it and accompanied Ji Yuan toward Tianshui Lake.
• Ji Yuan used the Water Evasion Technique to let Yan Fei breathe and speak underwater, then led him deeper into the lake.
• A giant python recognized Ji Yuan and carried him and Yan Fei toward Gao Tianming’s Water Mansion after they announced their visit.
• The pair arrived at the brightly lit, lively Tianming Palace, and Gao Tianming and his wife emerged with the nearby Water Tribes to welcome them.

Ji Yuan visited Gao Tianming and Xia Qiu at Tianshui Lake, where Gao told him of an Exorcist Master lineage that had preserved a cryptic prophecy about Black Wasteland. The prophecy caught Ji Yuan’s attention, and he left with a talisman and the lineage’s last known address in Shuanghua City.

• Gao Tianming and Xia Qiu welcomed Ji Yuan and Yan Fei into Tianshui Lake’s Water Mansion and showed them its elaborate grounds.
• Gao Tianming praised Prince Ying’s respect for Ji Yuan, then described the rise of Exorcist Masters amid Zuyue Kingdom’s growing supernatural chaos.
• Gao Tianming recounted an Exorcist Master lineage’s prophecy about Black Wasteland and its ancient instruction to migrate south of the Land of Three Veins.
• Ji Yuan grew preoccupied with Gao Tianming’s account while Yan Fei discussed martial arts with their host.
• Before Ji Yuan and Yan Fei departed, Gao Tianming gave Ji Yuan a talisman and the address of the Exorcist Master lineage’s residence in Shuanghua City.

Ji Yuan and Yan Fei traveled to Shuanghua City to find an Exorcist Master, and Ji Yuan explained how Great Zhen’s growing power helped keep the Zuyue Kingdom’s court in place. They met Gai Ruling, a young Daoist selling talismans, who offered to take them to his Master in Pomegranate Lane.

• Ji Yuan carried Yan Fei through the sky toward Shuanghua City and agreed to keep his promise to take him home after their visit.
• Ji Yuan and Yan Fei walked through the city, where Yan Fei saw refugees seeking work and asked why the Zuyue court endured despite the kingdom’s ruin.
• Ji Yuan explained that the Zuyue elite feared a future war with Great Zhen and therefore hesitated to provoke upheaval.
• Ji Yuan and Yan Fei found Gai Ruling selling Peace Talismans and asked whether he could perform exorcism work.
• Gai Ruling introduced himself and led Ji Yuan and Yan Fei toward Pomegranate Lane to meet his Master.

Ji Yuan discovered that Zou Yuanxian’s sect possessed an ancient Star Banner from the same source as Cloud Mountain Temple’s, and questioned him about inherited sayings concerning the Black Wasteland. He began raising a partial Star River Formation around the courtyard, leaving its purpose to unfold.

• Gai Ruling brought Ji Yuan and Yan Fei to meet his master, Zou Yuanxian, who offered to perform rituals for them.
• Ji Yuan recognized the black banner Li Bo carried as a Star Banner and revealed his supernatural power by making it unfold and cleansing it.
• Zou Yuanxian explained that his sect had inherited sayings about the Black Wasteland and the sun and moon, though he knew little about their origins.
• Ji Yuan learned that the Star Banner had been passed down for generations and that the sect’s ancestors had stopped in Zuyue Kingdom.
• Ji Yuan summoned four Golden Armored Strongmen and directed the Little Characters to raise part of Cloud Mountain Temple’s Star River Formation around the courtyard.

Ji Yuan used the Star Banner in Shuanghua City to establish a connection with the matching banner at Cloud Mountain Temple, drawing the two together through a Star River. The banners briefly overlapped before Ji Yuan forced them apart, leaving both places shaken and everyone but him thrown from meditation.

• Ji Yuan had Yan Fei and Zou Yuanxian's group meditate beside the Star Banner while he waited for nightfall.
• After dark, Ji Yuan combined his formation and spells to lift the courtyard into a hazy Star River and guided Zou Yuanxian to recite an invocation.
• The Star Banner at Cloud Mountain Temple lit up, and Daoist Qing Song and the others woke and began meditating as a beam of starlight connected the two banners.
• The Star Banners drew together and briefly overlapped, making the Star River shake violently.
• Ji Yuan swept his sleeve between the banners to separate them, shattering the Star River and causing Cloud Mountain and Shuanghua City to tremble.

After the Star Banners joined, Ji Yuan took Zou Yuanxian and his disciples to Great Zhen and returned with Yan Fei to Guilai County. There, the Yan family prepared to receive the Zuo Li Sword Canon, while Yan Fei reunited with his old companions as martial artists gathered in town.

• Shuanghua City's ghosts and deities investigated the tremors but found no cause, while Ji Yuan explained the Star Banner's connection to another banner in Great Zhen and agreed to take it away.
• Zou Yuanxian and his disciples chose to travel to Great Zhen, and Yan Fei bought their residence before Ji Yuan brought them there; they later entered Cloud Mountain Temple.
• Ji Yuan and Yan Fei arrived in Guilai County, where Yan Fei returned to his family and Ji Yuan noticed many armed martial artists entering the town.
• Yan Teng told Yan Fei that the Zuo family had entrusted the Yan family with the Zuo Li Sword Canon in exchange for openly bearing the Zuo surname, drawing martial artists to Guilai County.
• Yan Fei reunited with Lu Chengfeng, Wang Ke, and Du Heng at a pavilion, where they reflected on the years since their youth and discussed Wang Ke's fame as a constable.

Yan Fei rejected the Zuo Li Sword Canon and said he was more interested in the Zuo family’s talented children. Ji Yuan discovered Zuo Wuji’s unusual potential and heard him ask to learn from all four heroes, leaving his training path undecided.

• Wang Ke asked whether Yan Fei’s family would contend for the Zuo Li Sword Canon, and Yan Fei declined, saying he wanted to know more about the Zuo family’s gifted children.
• Zuo Wuji played at being Zuo Kuangtu with the other children and confidently ranked Yan Fei, Du Heng, Wang Ke, and the fourth man by strength.
• Ji Yuan approached Zuo Wuji, recognized a special quality in him, and saw the Zuo family’s Void Seed light up when the boy declared he would surpass his ancestor.
• After the other children left, Zuo Wuji practiced with a flat staff and stone weights while Ji Yuan watched and asked who had taught him.
• Ji Yuan asked Zuo Wuji to choose one of the four heroes as a master, but Zuo Wuji wished all four would teach him their spirit and guide him toward a suitable path.

Ji Yuan revealed his identity to Zuo Wuji, then a Little Paper Crane entered the sleeping child’s dream and witnessed him being taught by Lu Chengfeng, Wang Ke, Du Heng, and Yan Fei. The dream ended with Yan Fei showing Zuo Wuji a giant man-eating spider and warning that ordinary martial artists could not defeat demons.

• Ji Yuan told Zuo Wuji his name and asked him to keep their meeting secret, leaving the child thrilled to have met the immortal connected to his family.
• Wang Ke, Lu Chengfeng, Du Heng, Yan Fei, and Zuo Wuji all fell asleep, and a Little Paper Crane entered Zuo Wuji’s room and connected with his dream.
• Zuo Wuji dreamed that Lu Chengfeng taught him Drunken Fist by making him drink wine.
• Zuo Wuji dreamed that Wang Ke rescued him after he was drugged and took him to investigate a criminal, then Du Heng challenged him to a fight.
• Yan Fei showed Zuo Wuji a giant man-eating spider below a cliff and warned that martial artists needed transcendent abilities to defeat demons.

Zuo Wuji was accepted as a disciple by Yan Fei, Lu Chengfeng, Wang Ke, and Du Heng, while Ji Yuan left Guilai County and returned to Ning'an County. There, Song Lun urged Ji Yuan to visit Immeasurable Mountain, and Ji Yuan agreed after learning that his master had been waiting for him.

• Zuo Wuji woke exhausted from a strange dream as the other children discovered he had slept late.
• Yan Fei, Lu Chengfeng, Wang Ke, and Du Heng visited Zuo Youtian and agreed to take Zuo Wuji as their disciple.
• Ji Yuan left Guilai County, considered the Star Banners and the Great Tribulation, and found no dragons at the Tongtian River.
• After returning to Ning'an County, Ji Yuan welcomed Song Lun into Ju'an Pavilion, where Song Lun renewed his invitation to Immeasurable Mountain.
• Ji Yuan told Song Lun that Shi Jiu, a Corpse Demon, had obtained Roaming in the Clouds Dream; Song Lun urged him to leave at once because his master had long awaited him.
• Ji Yuan agreed to travel with Song Lun to Immeasurable Mountain.

Song Lun took Ji Yuan to Immeasurable Mountain, explaining Shi Jiu’s connection to the Witch Tribe along the way. After crossing the sea and enduring the mountain’s strange gravity, they arrived and greeted Zhong Pingxiu.

• Song Lun told Ji Yuan that Zhong Pingxiu had reached the True Immortal realm but could not leave Immeasurable Mountain, and Ji Yuan asked about Shi Jiu and the Heavenly Revelation Alliance.
• Song Lun explained that Shi Jiu had tried to create an indestructible body after learning of the Witch Tribe, becoming a creature neither corpse nor man, and thanked Ji Yuan for sparing him.
• Song Lun carried Ji Yuan across the Vast Sea for nine days and ten nights, then descended through the ocean and a deep trench toward Immeasurable Mountain.
• Song Lun revealed the mountain as Two Realms Mountain and guided Ji Yuan through its extreme gravity, which weakened as they neared the peak.
• Ji Yuan saw Zhong Pingxiu waiting on a distant peak, and he and Song Lun returned Zhong Pingxiu’s greeting.

Ji Yuan met Zhong Pingxiu at Two Realms Mountain and learned how its immense pressure had changed the mountain and why Zhong had spent over a thousand years stabilizing it. Zhong asked whether Ji Yuan was the ancient immortal described in a prophecy, and Ji Yuan began answering by making a decisive move in Zhong’s endgame.

• Song Lun introduced Ji Yuan to his master, Zhong Pingxiu, and Zhong invited Ji Yuan into his mountain residence.
• Zhong Pingxiu explained that Immeasurable Mountain was truly Two Realms Mountain, whose crushing pressure had flattened its peaks over countless years.
• Zhong Pingxiu told Ji Yuan that he had inherited secrets from the Long-Bearded Elder and had remained on the mountain for more than eleven hundred years to keep it from collapsing.
• Zhong Pingxiu described an ancient immortal who repeatedly lived mortal lives and asked Ji Yuan whether he was that immortal.
• Ji Yuan recounted waking in a changed world without magical power, then placed a chess piece on the board and declared that he would break the endgame.

Ji Yuan and Zhong Pingxiu discussed Two Realms Mountain, the coming calamity, the Star Banners, and an Ancient Strange Beast’s Demonic Feather while playing chess. After leaving the mountain, Ji Yuan considered how to find it a mountain god and decided to seek out Shi Jiu to learn what he knew about the Heavenly Revelation Alliance.

• Ji Yuan and Zhong Pingxiu played chess and discussed Two Realms Mountain’s origins, the coming calamity, and the Star Banners’ declining state.
• Ji Yuan showed Zhong Pingxiu the Demonic Feather, and Zhong identified it as likely coming from an Ancient Strange Beast.
• Ji Yuan and Zhong Pingxiu agreed that the Star Banners could still be restored and that all beings would need to join forces against the calamity.
• Two days later, Ji Yuan and Song Lun left Two Realms Mountain while Zhong Pingxiu stayed behind to guard it.
• Ji Yuan considered finding Two Realms Mountain a qualified mountain god and asked Song Lun to take him to Shi Jiu to investigate the Heavenly Revelation Alliance.

Ji Yuan and Song Lun traveled to Tianbao Kingdom to find Shi Jiu, who was hiding in Grave Mound Mountain. They walked toward the burial grounds as a suspicious official convoy passed, leaving their true abilities concealed.

• Song Lun agreed to help Ji Yuan locate his former disciple Shi Jiu and returned with him to Cloud Continent.
• Song Lun identified Grave Mound Mountain as Shi Jiu’s hiding place and warned that he was vigilant and skilled at escaping.
• Ji Yuan and Song Lun approached the mountain on foot to avoid alerting Shi Jiu.
• A group of officials led by Zhi Qiong questioned Ji Yuan and Song Lun as they passed the funeral carriages near the mountain.
• Ji Yuan calmly called the men officers and continued on; the convoy later realized the two had disappeared into the distance and assumed they possessed extraordinary Lightness Skill.

Ji Yuan and Song Lun hunted Shi Jiu at Grave Mound Mountain, where Shi Jiu unleashed a destructive ghost formation but was eventually captured. After Song Lun rejected Shi Jiu as his disciple, Ji Yuan recovered the books and questioned him about the Heavenly Revelation Alliance, learning that a genuine Nine-tailed Fox demon was involved.

• Song Lun explained that Shi Jiu had altered Grave Mound Mountain into a yin-gathering formation and planned to subdue him during his full-moon cultivation.
• Song Lun attacked Shi Jiu with a Golden Needle, but Shi Jiu resisted and triggered the mountain’s formation, unleashing ghosts and evil corpses as he fled.
• Song Lun and Ji Yuan cleared the formation’s evil aura, while Shi Jiu escaped underground by using spirit wandering and a corpse as cover.
• Ji Yuan and Song Lun intercepted Shi Jiu after he surfaced, and Song Lun’s Golden Needle pinned Shi Jiu’s Heart Aperture.
• Song Lun disowned Shi Jiu, who returned the original and translated copies of “Roaming in the Clouds Dream” to Ji Yuan.
• Ji Yuan questioned Shi Jiu about the Heavenly Revelation Alliance, and Shi Jiu revealed that a genuine Nine-tailed Fox demon was involved.

Ji Yuan and Song Lun learned that the Heavenly Revelation Alliance sought to plunge the world into chaos and help evil demons attain the Dao. After hearing Shi Jiu’s intelligence, Ji Yuan appeared to kill him with a terrifying finger strike, then spared him and warned him to weigh his actions carefully.

• Song Lun identified Shi Jiu’s fox fur as coming from Jade Fox Cave Heaven, and Ji Yuan questioned how many Nine-tailed Foxes were involved with the Heavenly Revelation Alliance.
• Ji Yuan brought Song Lun and Shi Jiu to a mountain, where Shi Jiu revealed the Alliance’s plan to destabilize the world and turn its fortune toward evil demons.
• Shi Jiu said his powerful incarnation had infiltrated the Alliance and suspected some members knew about the Ancient Strange Demons.
• Song Lun proposed annihilating Shi Jiu, and Ji Yuan agreed before pointing a finger at Shi Jiu’s forehead with overwhelming heavenly might.
• Ji Yuan spared Shi Jiu, warned him that the strike was no joke, and had Song Lun withdraw his magic artifact so Shi Jiu could leave.

After letting Shi Jiu go, Ji Yuan learned that the Heavenly Revelation Alliance had other agents in Tianbao Kingdom and decided to investigate them while pursuing the fox tied to a prominent household. He left Grave Mound Mountain drinking and singing, then met a black-bearded man who offered him wine.

• Ji Yuan and Song Lun allowed Shi Jiu to leave, and Song Lun revealed that his former disciple had been named Song Zixuan.
• Song Lun asked how Ji Yuan would handle the Heavenly Revelation Alliance in Tianbao Kingdom, and Ji Yuan sent him away to avoid risking another encounter with Shi Jiu.
• Ji Yuan reflected that the Alliance sought to overthrow Tianbao Kingdom's human order and decided to investigate its agents and kill the fox with a grudge against Old Ox.
• Ji Yuan left Grave Mound Mountain, drinking and singing as he headed toward a nearby great city and a household connected to the fox.
• At a roadside Rest Stop Pavilion, Ji Yuan finished his wine, and a black-bearded man invited him to drink his excellent wine.

Ji Yuan met Gan Qingle at a roadside pavilion, shared wine with him, and accompanied him to Lianyue Prefecture City to buy Great Cellar Wine. After Gan Qingle followed a procession containing Lu Qianyan, Chu Ruyan, and Monk Huitong, Ji Yuan bought a huge jar of wine and carried it away, intending to find Gan again.

• Ji Yuan accepted wine from Gan Qingle at the Rest Stop Pavilion, and the two introduced themselves and spoke of visiting the graves of friends.
• Gan Qingle invited Ji Yuan to Lianyue Prefecture City to buy Great Cellar Wine, and Ji Yuan agreed to go with him.
• Gan Qingle led Ji Yuan to Old Yao's wine shop and offered to treat him to the ten-year brew.
• Ji Yuan recognized Lu Qianyan, Chu Ruyan, and Monk Huitong in a passing procession, while Gan Qingle left to follow it.
• Ji Yuan bought a sixty-jin jar of Great Cellar Wine and carried it out of the shop with one hand, telling Old Yao he could find Gan Qingle.