Chapter Summaries

Ji Yuan and the Dragon Race prepared to enter the Desolate Sea to investigate the Dragon Corpse Worms and set its waters in order. As nearly three hundred dragons departed, Ying Ruoli announced her plan to attempt True Dragon transformation within twenty years, and Ji Yuan offered Ying Feng a way to study the path as well.

• Ji Yuan learned that Gong Xiu was an unwanted son of Dragon Lord Gong, while Ying Feng mocked the disgraced flood dragon.
• After half a month at the Crystal Palace, Huang Yuzhong shrank the palace and led Ji Yuan, the Dragon Lords, and nearly three hundred dragons toward the Desolate Sea.
• Ji Yuan advised Ying Hong that their journey could not be considered auspicious until they uncovered the cause of the Dragon Corpse Worms' return.
• Ying Ruoli told her father and Ji Yuan that she intended to undertake Water Journey and transform into a True Dragon within twenty years; Ji Yuan suggested using Great Zhen's Tongtian River and fortunes.
• Ji Yuan offered Ying Feng the Heavenly Book at Cloud Mountain Temple to help him study dragon transformation, and Ying Hong promised Ji Yuan a jar of Dragon Saliva Incense.

Ji Yuan traveled with the dragon clan into the Barren Sea as they searched for Dragon Corpse Worms, learning about the sea and its dangers from Ying Ruoli. After more than three months of searching, Ji Yuan felt an unexplained warmth in a feather from his sleeve, leaving Ying Ruoli concerned.

• Huang Yuzhong led the dragon host beneath the Barren Sea’s turbulent surface, and Ying Ruoli carried Ji Yuan through the depths.
• Ying Ruoli told Ji Yuan that the Barren Sea stretched toward an Edge Dead Zone and that some dragons believed its apparent boundlessness might be an illusion.
• The dragon clan spread out across a vast seabed area to search for Dragon Corpse Worms, while dragons occasionally killed demons they encountered.
• After more than three months, Ji Yuan passed the place where the Old Yellow Dragon had slain a giant worm and sensed warmth in a feather inside his sleeve.
• Ji Yuan dismissed the sensation as possibly mistaken, but Ying Ruoli suspected he was withholding what he knew.

Ji Yuan followed the Golden-Red Feather’s growing reactions back through the Wild Sea with the dragon host, and the dragons were attacked by strange beasts before he could identify them fully. The chapter ended as Ji Yuan described the creatures’ features while the battle continued.

• Ji Yuan sensed the feather react again and asked Ying Hong to let him leave the dragon host to investigate, with Ying Ruoli or Ying Feng as his guide.
• Ying Hong agreed to take the dragon host with Ji Yuan, and the dragons changed course to follow the feather’s signals.
• Gong Xiu complained that Ji Yuan was leading the dragons on a pointless chase, but his companions warned him to speak carefully.
• The feather began glowing as the water grew darker and life became scarce, and Ji Yuan warned the dragon host when red lights approached from below.
• The red lights darted into the dragon formation and attacked the flood dragons; Ji Yuan watched the battle and described the attackers as beasts with lion-tiger bodies, serpent-like necks and tails, crocodile-like mouths, and scaly armor.

Ji Yuan and the dragon host battled strange beasts in the desolate sea, then continued toward the feather’s destination as their numbers dwindled and the waters grew hotter. At the end of the journey, they discovered the immense Fusang Divine Tree, where the sun rested.

• Gong Rong blasted the attacking strange beasts, and Ji Yuan used the Immortal Binding Rope to capture seven while storing three corpses; two beasts escaped.
• The dragon host continued through the dark sea, where Ji Yuan’s feather grew brighter and the dragons occasionally saw strange shadows.
• After another month, many flood dragons developed a strange thirst and withered scales, so the Dragon Lords sent more than two hundred away to rest.
• In the eighth month, the remaining dragons reached increasingly hot waters and passed through a range of undersea mountains.
• Ji Yuan stopped the dragon host and recognized the enormous twin trees in the distance as the Fusang Divine Tree.

Ji Yuan recognized the Fusang Divine Tree and led the dragons away as the sun set and the Three-legged Golden Crow returned, saving them from the deadly heat and light. After explaining the danger, he turned back toward the tree to investigate, accompanied by Ying Hong and Qing You.

• Ji Yuan recognized the entwined trees as the Fusang Divine Tree, realized sunset was imminent, and ordered the dragons to flee with him.
• Ji Yuan and the four Dragon Lords led the dragon host through the sea as the light, heat, and drumbeats behind them intensified.
• Once the danger receded, Ji Yuan explained that the sun had set upon Fusang and the Three-legged Golden Crow had returned; he also confirmed the feather was a Golden Crow Feather.
• Ji Yuan decided to return to the Fusang Tree alone to investigate, but Ying Hong and Qing You followed him.
• Ying Hong told Ying Ruoli and Ying Feng to remain with the other Dragon Lords and leave with the dragons.

Ji Yuan and the two Dragon Lords approached the Fusang Tree and discovered that the Golden Crow could perceive them only when its gaze turned their way. Ji Yuan later confirmed his suspicion that a different Golden Crow rested on the tree after sunset, leaving the dragons stunned.

• Ji Yuan led Ying Hong and Qing You toward the Fusang Tree, where they saw a vast Golden Crow perched among its branches.
• The Golden Crow noticed the three, fixed them with its gaze, and cried out before turning away and easing the pressure on them.
• Ji Yuan explained that the Golden Crow and Fusang Tree were beyond their world after sunset, while sunrise and sunset created the most dangerous conditions.
• Ji Yuan questioned how the sun could return to the eastern Fusang Tree after setting in the west, then asked the dragons to return the next day.
• After witnessing sunrise and waiting through the day, Ji Yuan and the two Dragon Lords returned after sunset and saw a smaller Golden Crow on the Fusang Tree.

Ji Yuan and the four Dragon Lords spent months observing the Golden Crows at the Fusang Tree, then witnessed one depart in a mysterious carriage at the turn of the year. They left the hidden region and rejoined the waiting dragons to begin their journey home.

• Ji Yuan and the Dragon Lords observed the two Golden Crows for nearly three months and found they could not reach the Fusang Tree.
• On New Year's Eve, a Golden Crow cried out, its light faded, and a distant carriage departed as drumbeats sounded.
• Ji Yuan concluded that the Golden Crow traveled abroad at the transition between years and cautioned the Dragon Lords not to spread what they had seen.
• Ji Yuan and the four Dragon Lords returned to the outer perimeter, where the waiting dragons had gathered at Huang Yuzhong's Crystal Palace.
• After Huang Yuzhong put away the Crystal Palace, the three hundred dragons and flood dragons began their return journey.

After returning to the East Sea, Ji Yuan parted ways with the northern and southern sea dragons and refused Gong Rong’s request for a Fire Jujube for Gong Xiu. Ji Yuan and the Ying family then headed back to land, carrying the secret of Xu Tang Valley and the Fusang Divine Tree.

• Qing You and Gong Rong invited Ji Yuan to visit their seas before their dragons departed for the north and south.
• Gong Rong asked Ji Yuan for a Spiritual Root Fruit to heal Gong Xiu, but Ji Yuan said Mother Jujube would not bear fruit for him.
• After the southern sea dragons left, Ying Ruoli thanked Ji Yuan, and the East Sea dragons laughed at Gong Xiu.
• Gong Rong rebuked Gong Xiu for insulting Ji Yuan and told him to address Ji Yuan respectfully in the future.
• Gong Rong told his subordinates that the mysterious region could be called Xu Tang Valley but withheld further details.
• The dragons dispersed across the East Sea, and Ji Yuan returned to land with Ying Hong, Ying Ruoli, and Ying Feng.

Ji Yuan learned that Emperor Hongwu had died and Zuyue Kingdom had invaded Great Zhen, then went to Jingji Prefecture City to hear the latest war news. The teahouse crowd learned that Zuyue forces had overrun parts of Qi Province and that Great Zhen had sent reinforcements to fight them.

• Ji Yuan tested the Xiezhi Scroll with the monster corpse, and the Xiezhi demanded its blood and marrow before Ji Yuan put the scroll away.
• Ying Ruoli told Ji Yuan and the Old Dragon that Emperor Hongwu had died and the new emperor had declined an honorific title.
• Ying Ruoli reported that Zuyue Kingdom had attacked Great Zhen with an army of eighty thousand, seized six passes and thirteen forts, and taken half of Qi Province.
• Ji Yuan divined that Great Zhen's Border Army had underestimated Zuyue and suffered a major defeat, then left the Water Mansion with the Dragon Saliva Incense.
• Ji Yuan arrived in Jingji Prefecture City and heard a teahouse scholar report that Zuyue forces were ravaging Qi Province while Great Zhen's armies rushed to reinforce it.

Ji Yuan listened in a crowded tea house as a storyteller described Great Zhen’s setbacks against Zuyue and Yin Chong’s celebrated battlefield victory. He left quietly, while Scholar Qi resolved to join the army and Scholar Deng stayed behind, torn by his family obligations.

• Two Sword-Bearing Scholars offered Ji Yuan their seat, and he sat outside the tea house to hear the storyteller recount Zuyue’s invasion and Great Zhen’s early military losses.
• The storyteller praised Yin Chong’s battlefield tactics and victories, and Ji Yuan felt proud of Hu’er while reflecting on how the same tactics might be judged differently if Zuyue had used them.
• Ji Yuan finished his tea and slipped away, leaving two wen coins as the crowd remained absorbed in the tale.
• Scholar Qi told Scholar Deng he intended to join the army, while Deng hesitated because of his family responsibilities.
• Scholar Qi paid for the tea and left, while Scholar Deng watched him go and sat back down.

Ji Yuan met Yan Chang and the Yin father and son atop the Dharma Platform, where they discussed Great Zhen’s fortunes and the war against Zuyue. The chapter ended with a mysterious old woman appearing in Yin Chong’s tent and revealing she was not human.

• Ji Yuan visited Yin Manor, where Yin Zhaoxian and Yin Qing were away at their offices and Yin Chong was away with the army.
• Yin Zhaoxian and Yin Qing returned home and learned that Ji Yuan had gone to the Dharma Platform to watch the stars.
• Ji Yuan met Yan Chang atop the Dharma Platform, and they discussed Great Zhen’s fate and the war against Zuyue.
• Yin Zhaoxian and Yin Qing joined Ji Yuan and Yan Chang, and the three High Officials began discussing the war.
• A mysterious old woman appeared before Yin Chong in his military tent, and Yin Chong calmly asked whether she was a demon or a ghost.

Yin Chong confronted a White-haired Old Woman who warned that Zuyue’s army had powerful nonhuman allies and offered to help Great Zhen. After her talisman sachet reacted to Yin Chong’s protective power, he tentatively accepted her claim and kept the sachets.

• Yin Chong threatened the White-haired Old Woman when she disparaged Great Zhen’s army, and she explained that she had come to aid the kingdom.
• The old woman warned Yin Chong that Zuyue had committed its full strength to the war and was receiving help from demons and evil spirits.
• Yin Chong summoned Old Commander Mei She to confirm his safety and discuss the threat.
• The old woman identified herself as a White Immortal of Tingqiu Mountain and gave Yin Chong and Mei She talisman sachets for protection.
• Green smoke rose from Yin Chong’s sachet, prompting him to shield Mei She and suspect the old woman, but he accepted her explanation that his protective treasure had caused the reaction.

Ji Yuan studied the Directorate of Astronomy’s archives while the Emperor summoned Yan Chang and Du Changsheng over a military crisis in Qi Province. As Du Changsheng agreed to aid Great Zhen’s army, Ji Yuan sensed that someone had calculated his move and was deliberately opposing him.

• Ji Yuan read ancient records in the Archive Room with Yan Chang and Du Changsheng when a runner summoned the two officials to the palace.
• Yan Chang and Du Changsheng joined Yang Sheng, Yin Zhaoxian, Yin Qing, and other officials to hear that Zuyue had sent reinforcements and cultivators against Great Zhen’s forces in Qi Province.
• Du Changsheng divined from the military report that Zuyue’s cultivators had joined the kingdom’s campaign and offered to go to the front to help Great Zhen.
• Yan Chang urged the court to commit fully to the war, and Yang Sheng ordered notices posted to recruit more capable people to aid the dynasty.
• Back in the Archive Room, Ji Yuan drank from the White Jade Thousand Dou Pot and realized someone was deliberately working against his move.

Yan Chang and Du Changsheng learned that Zuyue’s army was backed by many sinister practitioners, and Ji Yuan warned that the war had become a struggle of national fate before Du rode north to the front. After Great Zhen issued an Imperial Proclamation seeking extraordinary allies, Bai Ruo decided to go to Qizhou herself.

• Yan Chang and Du Changsheng told Ji Yuan that Zuyue’s army included court-invested Celestial Masters and ritualists, many of whom were Demonic Sorcerers.
• Ji Yuan judged the conflict to be a struggle between Great Zhen and Zuyue’s Human Dao and cautioned Du Changsheng that the war would expand.
• Du Changsheng led more than fifty people out of the capital to join the forces reinforcing Qizhou.
• After morning court, riders carried imperial messages from Jingji Prefecture, and an Imperial Proclamation recruiting Talented and Extraordinary Individuals was posted in Changle Prefecture.
• Bai Ruo heard the proclamation recited, assessed Great Zhen’s danger, and set out for Qizhou with the two girls.

Bai Ruo and others weighed how to join the Conflict of Human Dao as martial wanderers headed north to aid Great Zhen. Wang Ke and Zuo Wuji’s group survived a night ambush, then discovered that the cavalry they had met earlier had been slaughtered.

• Bai Ruo chose to avoid seeking an imperial investiture, while other martial wanderers traveled north with or without court authorization.
• Wang Ke, Zuo Wuji, and a band of martial wanderers met a Great Zhen patrol in Qizhou, showed their Travel Permits, and learned that the front line was dangerous.
• Wang Ke told Zuo Wuji that his Prison Seal sometimes let him sense when someone’s death was near, and he had sensed danger around the soldiers.
• After hearing a distant scream, Wang Ke woke the group, marked their weapons with the Prison Seal, and had everyone pretend to sleep.
• Wang Ke, Zuo Wuji, and the martial wanderers ambushed and killed more than twenty attackers who tried to murder them in their sleep.
• Wang Ke’s group found the nearby camp full of dead Great Zhen soldiers, including the patrol officer, and saw that each had lost his left ear.

Wang Ke and the martial artists faced four Cultivators who attacked their camp with a Black Wind Barrier, but Wang Ke killed two and drove the others away. Daoist Qing Song arrived to aid them and pursued the fleeing demon-men, leaving Wang Ke reflecting that Great Zhen had masters too.

• Wang Ke discovered that the soldiers in the camp had been killed in their sleep and warned the group when his seal sensed an approaching Evil Entity.
• Four Cultivators used a gale to expose and kill the hidden martial artists, while Wang Ke held back until they came within striking range.
• Wang Ke charged the four Cultivators and killed two with his saber, while the other martial artists wounded the survivors and forced them to retreat.
• Wang Ke stopped the group from pursuing the fleeing Cultivators and checked that Zuo Wuji was unharmed.
• Daoist Qing Song arrived, distributed talismans to the martial artists, and set off after the fleeing demon-men.

Daoist Qing Song pursued and captured two Zuyue demon cultivators, while Du Changsheng sensed the spellwork in the stars from Great Zhen’s Northern Expedition camp. Wang Ke and Zuo Wuji arrived at the camp with the demon cultivators’ heads, where Du Changsheng hurried to meet the approaching Qing Song.

• Daoist Qing Song followed the fleeing demon cultivators by starlight and entangled them with his horsetail whisk, despite their mistaking him for a spider demon.
• Du Changsheng and Yin Chong noticed unusual starlight, and Yin Chong learned that two southern patrol teams had gone missing.
• Wang Ke led Zuo Wuji and the martial artists into the Northern Expedition Army camp and presented the demon cultivators’ heads for verification.
• Du Changsheng recognized the approaching Daoist Qing Song and hurried toward the camp gate.

Daoist Qing Song arrived at Great Zhen’s Northern Expedition Army with the heads of two enemy practitioners and met Imperial Advisor Du Changsheng. After offering Du a blunt fortune reading that angered him, Qing Song left him to reflect on the truths he had heard.

• Daoist Qing Song reached the camp carrying two heads and introduced himself to Du Changsheng as an ally of Great Zhen.
• Du Changsheng identified the heads as two of the Four Immortals of Linggu and welcomed Qing Song into his camp.
• Qing Song asked after Lady Bai, who Du said he had not seen, then offered to divine Du’s fate.
• Qing Song praised Du’s potential but criticized his ability to cultivate his character, prompting Du to end the reading and leave the camp in anger.
• Du reconsidered Qing Song’s words and told him he could go rest, while Qing Song departed remarking that hard truths were unpleasant to hear.

Yin Chong recognized that Zuyue’s poorly supplied army would likely prey on Qizhou’s people, and those fears came true when Zuyue soldiers invaded Luozhu County on Lunar New Year’s Eve. The county magistrate stood against them and was killed, while the soldiers began looting the city.

• Yin Chong inspected Qilin Pass’s defenses and warned that Zuyue’s soldiers might raid nearby towns and villages for supplies.
• Zuyue soldiers left their camps near Jianqiu Prefecture and rode toward Luozhu County as its residents prepared for the New Year.
• The approaching army sent Luozhu County’s people into a panic, scattering families and leaving children separated from their parents.
• The county magistrate confronted the Zuyue captain and reminded him of the army’s promise to keep Luozhu County safe.
• The captain denied the agreement, killed the county magistrate when he attacked, and ordered his soldiers to take whatever they could.
• An armored officer mourned the county magistrate’s unyielding spirit as he died with his eyes open.

Yan Fei and other Jianghu fighters hunted down the Zuyue soldiers plundering Luozhu County, while Yan Fei recruited General Han and his two brothers to help. By evening, the city was secured and Great Zhen troops were moving out from Qilin Pass for a night operation.

• General Han took the county magistrate’s sword and led his brothers to a wine shop, where he stopped soldiers from killing the shop owner.
• Yan Fei arrived and killed the plundering soldiers, then spared General Han and his brothers and enlisted their help.
• Yan Fei led General Han and his brothers through the city as Jianghu fighters killed the Zuyue soldiers who had entered to plunder.
• Zuo Wuji, Wang Ke, and other Jianghu fighters guarded the city gates, and by evening the surviving Zuyue soldiers had been nearly wiped out.
• Yan Fei returned to the city gate, where Wang Ke told him everything would be ready before nightfall as Great Zhen soldiers began leaving Qilin Pass in white cloaks.