Chapter Summaries

Li Boyang, reborn as a fetus with his soul housed in a Sword Pill, learned to use his undeveloped Heavenly Eye and fetal breathing to absorb prenatal nutrients. He worried that overtaxing his mother could endanger his birth, so he focused on learning the language spoken around him.

• Li Boyang recalled how a strange old man had captured his soul, tried to refine it, and fused it into a tiny golden sword.
• Li Boyang discovered an undeveloped Heavenly Eye between his brows and used it to see nutrients surrounding his embryo.
• Li Boyang adjusted his fetal breathing to absorb nutrients faster, accelerating the growth of his body, Heavenly Eye, and Sword Pill.
• Li Boyang concluded that developing the Heavenly Eye could consume too many nutrients and might endanger his birth.
• Li Boyang set aside further experiments and listened more closely to the conversations outside to learn the world's language.

Xiluo watched as a golden sword reincarnated inside a pregnant villager, whose worsening malnutrition left her and the unborn child in danger. When a Tulu attacked the woman, Li Boyang’s power awakened and killed the beast, leaving his mother unconscious.

• Xiluo recalled how a strange old man had fallen into Black Cloud Marsh and how the golden sword that killed him entered a pregnant woman to reincarnate.
• Xiluo saw that the sword was weakening to spare the woman nourishment, but feared that mother and child would die from hunger.
• A Tulu approached the woman’s house, and Li Boyang sensed its hostile aura from inside the womb.
• The Tulu broke into the house, and Li Boyang’s mother tried to defend herself with scissors and a broken arrow.
• A white light burst from Li Boyang’s mother, knocked her unconscious, and sliced off the Tulu’s head.

Three months after the Tulu attack, Li Boyang discovered that the mountain god’s apparent blessing had strengthened Chen Yun and transformed his powers while he grew in the womb. He saw a mysterious red wildcat leave meat in their home and suspected it was the source of his endless Innate Qi, perhaps a mountain god protecting his mother.

• Chen Yun returned to fieldwork after recovering from the Tulu attack, and villagers took her unusual strength as a sign of the mountain god’s favor.
• Li Boyang learned that Chen Yun had dreamed of a golden sword and then a child during her pregnancy, though he rejected the idea that he had visited her dreams.
• Li Boyang grew rapidly and gained self-activating Sword Qi that protected Chen Yun, so he practiced controlling it to avoid harming the midwife at his birth.
• Li Boyang’s Heavenly Eye developed enough for him to see outside Chen Yun’s womb and observe distant details.
• Li Boyang spotted a humanlike red wildcat leave a fresh piece of meat in the house before vanishing, and suspected the meat supplied his Innate Qi and the wildcat was the mountain god.

Li Boyang was born after a long labor with flame-red hair, alarming the midwife and his father, Li Yu. Li Yu accepted him as his son and hid the birth’s unusual details, while Li Boyang realized he had forgotten to cry and wondered whether crying now would seem deliberate.

• Chen Yun labored through the day while Li Yu waited anxiously outside the delivery room.
• After Chen Yun passed out, Li Yu rushed inside and found the midwife trembling over a silent newborn with scarlet hair.
• Li Boyang realized the mountain spirits’ flesh had affected his appearance and that his ordinary vision was still unclear.
• Li Yu defended Li Boyang as his son, offered the midwife and her assistant meat and money for their silence, and brought the baby to Chen Yun.
• Li Yu reassured Chen Yun that the baby looked like her, and Li Boyang wondered whether he should cry now.

As Chen Yun left their infant son Li Boyang at home, the Mountain God, a scarlet civet cat, visited and revealed that it faced an unexpected danger and might not survive until the next year. Li Boyang opened his third eye for the civet cat, then watched it depart after it asked him not to investigate or seek revenge if it died.

• Chen Yun called Li Boyang the “Non-Crying Child” and left him at home while she went to the market, arranging for Big Girl to watch him.
• After Chen Yun left, the scarlet civet cat appeared beside Li Boyang’s cradle and tested him as it had during previous visits.
• The civet cat told Li Boyang that something unexpected had happened and that it might not return unless it survived until the next year.
• Li Boyang opened his third eye, and the civet cat said it had no regrets after seeing it.
• The civet cat asked Li Boyang not to investigate its death or avenge it, then departed as Li Boyang watched with worry and frustration.

Li Boyang followed Xiluo to a ruined mountain god temple and watched her fight Ruifu, a two-headed dragon-bird seeking the corpse of the goddess once worshipped there. As Xiluo struggled against Ruifu’s overwhelming attacks, Li Boyang began to draw on his Sword Pill, searching for a way to intervene from afar.

• Li Boyang tracked the leopard cat to a mountain temple, where she transformed into the crimson leopard Xiluo and addressed the goddess’s statue as her Big Sister.
• Ruifu, a two-headed dragon-bird deity, arrived and demanded the goddess’s corpse, while Xiluo condemned him for trying to desecrate it.
• Xiluo and Ruifu fought across the mountain forest, with Ruifu’s destructive ice and fire attacks threatening to overwhelm her.
• Li Boyang realized Xiluo could not afford a single mistake and began drawing on the combat memories embedded in his Sword Pill.
• Li Boyang formed protective Sword Qi but judged it too weak to reach the distant battle, then considered using the Sword Pill to interfere.

Li Boyang sent his golden Sword Pill to the battlefield and killed Ruifu before it could kill Xiluo. As the Sword Pill returned to him, Li Boyang recovered memories of his past fight with the strange old man and realized the form threatened to erase his emotions; meanwhile, Ruifu’s curse began flowing toward him.

• Li Boyang sent his Sword Pill out of his body and unknowingly amazed a little girl, who called it the mountain god’s manifestation.
• The Sword Pill reached the battlefield, severed one of Ruifu’s heads, then returned and cut off the second before Ruifu could kill Xiluo.
• While controlling the Sword Pill, Li Boyang recovered memories of fighting and killing the strange old man near Flying Peak.
• Li Boyang sensed that remaining in the Sword Pill’s emotionless state would turn him into a cold instrument of slaughter, so he flew back to his body.
• Xiluo realized Ruifu’s Sha Qi curse was flowing toward Li Boyang, extinguished the lingering Sha Qi, and dragged Ruifu’s remains to the nearby mountain god temple.

After waking, Li Boyang discovered that the Sword Pill had entered his body and that his Life Primordial Qi could replenish it. As Big Girl cared for him, he confronted the poverty and harsh customs of the era he had been reborn into.

• Li Boyang woke to find Big Girl staring at him, and she noticed flames flickering above his head after the Sword Pill entered his body.
• Li Boyang sensed his Life Primordial Qi surging, guided it through his Ren and Du meridians, and replenished the Sword Pill's depleted energy.
• Big Girl tried to touch the flames on Li Boyang's head, but he slapped her hand away; she then offered to heat rice porridge for him.
• Li Boyang reflected on the poverty around him and on the early marriages, servitude, and sacrifices that awaited many girls in this era.
• Big Girl insisted that Li Boyang eat the millet porridge before she did, and he wondered what kind of era he had awakened in.

Li Boyang slept as Sha Qi began affecting his body, while Xiluo worried over the curse left by Ruifu’s death. Nearby, Ox-Head emerged from the Netherworld to investigate a fiercely burning furnace and confront whoever was refining Sha.

• Li Boyang fell asleep after exhausting himself, and Sha Qi seeped into him as his red down burned and fangs began growing.
• Xiluo reflected that Li Boyang’s Sword Pill and unusual traits might help him withstand Ruifu’s curse, then fell asleep beneath the Goddess of War statue’s robe.
• The statue’s glow faded as Sha Qi continued to worsen behind Flying Peak, while a nearby barren place began transforming.
• Ox-Head summoned a Ghost Gate Pass and identified a burning three-legged furnace as a possible attempt to refine Sha.
• Ox-Head entered the poisonous black mist, where an old man with a deathly chill appeared and blocked his path.

Li Boyang absorbed the incoming Qi of Earth Sha through his Sword Pill and Heavenly Eye, which began a second growth, but the excess energy made his body burn and his hair blaze. At home, Li Yu and Chen Yun worried about their son being noticed and decided to ask the neighboring widow to keep quiet and let her daughter help care for him.

• Li Boyang woke at dusk and discovered that his hair was burning as violent Qi of Earth Sha entered his body.
• Li Boyang divided the Sha Qi between his Dantian and sea of consciousness, where his Sword Pill and Heavenly Eye absorbed it.
• Li Boyang expelled excess Yuan Qi through the still-open crown of his head, cooling his body but making his hair blaze hotter.
• Li Yu returned home and heard Chen Yun explain that Li Boyang's fever had eased while the fire in his hair had grown stronger.
• Li Yu asked Chen Yun to take meat to the neighboring widow, request that she keep quiet, and offer Big Girl a meal each day to help care for Li Boyang.

Li Boyang continued guiding Big Girl to medicinal herbs, and their discoveries made the infant a village legend. A spirit called Deception Rabbit approached them and proposed trading meat or money for the herbs, and Li Boyang chose to trust it for now.

• Chen Yun hid Li Boyang's unusual hair beneath a red cap and carried him around the village, where stories of the Non-Crying Child spread.
• As the adults grew busy, Big Girl cared for Li Boyang and followed his signals to dig up medicinal herbs.
• Li Boyang used pats on Big Girl's basket to tell her that the latest herb would provide two days of full meals.
• Deception Rabbit, a large spirit rabbit that could transform into Big Girl's likeness, revealed it had been watching them and offered to trade meat or Guifang Kingdom coins for their herbs.
• Big Girl asked Li Boyang whether Deception Rabbit was telling the truth, and he nodded, deciding to trust the spirit for the time being.

Li Boyang and Big Girl befriended the talkative Deception Rabbit, whose innate shapeshifting and account of the mountain spirits made Li Boyang question whether his world was the cultivation world he had imagined. After Big Girl teased the rabbit, Li Boyang asked it to explain the disturbance in the earth veins that had brought it searching for food.

• The Deception Rabbit told Big Girl about its reputation for endless chatter and described how other spirit creatures avoided or drove it away.
• Li Boyang concluded that the rabbit was a curious, timid troublemaker who exaggerated stories, and wondered whether spirit creatures possessed only innate abilities.
• The Deception Rabbit sensed Li Boyang's Life Primordial Qi mixed with Sha Qi and recognized that the infant could defend himself.
• Big Girl caught the Deception Rabbit claiming the medicinal herbs were ordinary while it was practically drooling over them, then teased it for lying.
• Li Boyang interrupted their exchange, and Big Girl asked the Deception Rabbit what disturbance in the earth veins had sent it searching for food.

The Deception Rabbit explained that a fallen object and the death of a vicious god had disrupted the earth veins, driving spirits to migrate and making the mountains dangerous. After it left, Li Boyang and Big Girl continued treasure hunting, while Li Boyang considered how to warn the villagers.

• The Deception Rabbit traced the earth-vein turmoil to a rain of fire from the sky and the Mountain Goddess's killing of a vicious god, which had caused spirits to flee and the black mist to spread.
• The Deception Rabbit warned Li Boyang and Big Girl to stay near the village and cautioned them that territorial spirits might target the village hunter.
• The Deception Rabbit noticed Big Girl's reaction to its warning and suspected the hunter's past hunts had coincided with Li Boyang's time in the womb.
• Li Boyang had Big Girl give the Deception Rabbit an herb and asked it to bring books about medicine and herbs in exchange for future herbs.
• The Deception Rabbit transformed into an eagle and flew away, leaving Big Girl amazed by its power.
• Li Boyang agreed to go treasure hunting with Big Girl and considered how to convince the villagers that migrating spirits posed a danger.

Li Yu planned to hunt deeper in the mountains despite Chen Yun's fears, while Li Boyang searched for Xiluo and discovered signs of a fierce battle near an impenetrable black mist. As Li Boyang tried to peer into the mist, the Sha Qi in his body accelerated an unprecedented transformation.

• Li Yu confirmed the mountains were unsettled and told Chen Yun he would venture deeper into them the next day to find money for the family.
• Chen Yun urged Li Yu not to go because of the Deception Rabbit's warning, but Li Yu insisted that the family needed savings to survive a poor harvest.
• Li Boyang felt guilty about the family's hardship and the spirit creatures targeting Li Yu, then used his Heavenly Eye to search for Xiluo.
• Li Boyang found Xiluo's fiery footprints leading into black mist, where she appeared to have fought a fierce battle, but his Heavenly Eye could not see through it.
• As Li Boyang strained to see into the mist, Sha Qi flowed through his body and began a new transformation.

Xiluo found that a powerful evil ghost’s black mist was spreading from Black Cloud Marsh toward Flying Peak, and she sought Li Boyang’s help. After reaching his home, she gave him a rhinoceros horn that she believed would let them communicate.

• Xiluo fought off corrupted animals near Black Cloud Marsh and realized the spreading mist threatened Flying Peak.
• Xiluo left the mist after noticing it was affecting her emotions, and she feared she would have to flee or become an Ominous Deity if it reached Flying Peak.
• Li Boyang found Xiluo’s trail, and Xiluo recognized him from afar and decided to seek his help against the evil ghost.
• Xiluo secretly entered Li Boyang’s home, put Li Yu and Chen Yun into a deeper sleep, and confronted the baby in his cradle.
• Xiluo noticed Li Boyang could not speak and gave him a small rhinoceros horn to help them communicate.

Li Boyang learned that Xiluo’s Spirit Rhinoceros Horn broadcast his thoughts, and Xiluo was astonished by his control of Primordial Qi and ability to absorb Sha Qi. Xiluo then explained that the spirits’ migration and recent dangers were connected to an evil ghost in Black Cloud Marsh, and that the ghost was the shaman Li Boyang had killed in a previous incarnation.

• Xiluo gave Li Boyang the Spirit Rhinoceros Horn, which let its holder speak thoughts aloud, and warned him that it consumed Primordial Qi.
• Li Boyang managed to control the horn’s flow of Primordial Qi, surprising Xiluo, who also realized he was absorbing Sha Qi through Ruifu’s curse.
• Xiluo agreed to lend Li Boyang the precious horn and explained that her sister had entrusted it to her.
• Li Boyang asked Xiluo about the spirits’ planned migration and the disturbances near the village.
• Xiluo said an evil ghost in Black Cloud Marsh was the soul of a shaman Li Boyang had killed in a previous incarnation, and that a Yin God had entered the marsh and never returned.

Li Yu organized Li Household Village to prepare for migrating spirits and agitated beasts, while Li Boyang explored making stronger bricks to improve the village. After testing local soil by heating it with Sha Qi, he found earth that fired into exceptionally hard blocks, leaving him with a promising way to accelerate construction.

• Li Yu gathered the village’s able-bodied youths to make noise and scare away hungry beasts, and sent Li Er to warn nearby villages.
• Li Er and Li Chengfeng discussed the danger of competing for river water and whether the village should build a shrine to the mountain god.
• Li Boyang had Big Girl search for suitable soil while he considered improving the village’s defenses and producing gray bricks.
• Li Boyang heated a lump of soil with Sha Qi until it hardened into a black rectangular block, and Big Girl confirmed it was extremely hard.
• Li Boyang judged the soil suitable for making strong bricks and planned to use it to speed up the era’s development.

Chen Yun and Li Yu helped Li Household Village turn Li Boyang’s discovery into fired bricks, while Xiluo explained that his Sha Qi made his own brick unusually powerful. Li Boyang demonstrated his improved control of the Sword Pill by carving a raccoon cat sculpture that Xiluo found hideously ugly.

• Chen Yun asked Big Girl to keep Li Boyang’s abilities and black brick secret, then praised Li Boyang for his work.
• Li Yu organized the village men to build a crude pit kiln, and Li Household Village began firing ordinary red bricks.
• Li Boyang asked Xiluo why his black brick was stronger than the village bricks, and Xiluo explained that his Sha Qi had imbued it with power.
• Li Boyang showed Xiluo that he could control the Sword Pill silently and precisely.
• Li Boyang used the Sword Pill to carve a rough raccoon cat from the black brick, and Xiluo complained that it was ugly.

Xiluo and the Sword Pill traveled through the black mist toward Black Cloud Marsh, where they planned to confront the evil ghost. After Xiluo warned Li Boyang that she would stop him if he became an Ominous Deity, Li Boyang resolved to restrain his growing detachment and never harm his family or friends, while the Sha Qi around him began to change.

• Xiluo argued with the Sword Pill about communication, and it killed a decaying beast before declaring its own judgment should prevail.
• Xiluo told Li Boyang that his coldness and thirst for slaughter reminded her of Ruifu, and warned she would stand against him if he became an Ominous Deity.
• Li Boyang assured Xiluo that killing would remain a last resort and that he would not become an Ominous Deity.
• Li Boyang reflected on how the Sword Pill dulled his empathy and resolved not to kill needlessly or raise his sword against his family and friends.
• As Li Boyang's conviction strengthened, the Sha Qi gathering around him began to form a shifting shadow.

Panhu, a five-colored dog-headed spirit who lived with Old Madam Gao, fought corrupted creatures to protect Cloud-Floating Mountain and Gao Family Village. After a corrupted tiger attacked him, a golden streak killed it, and Li Boyang learned how Panhu had become Old Madam Gao’s adopted son.

• Panhu held back corrupted creatures near Cloud-Floating Mountain, then called to wolves and dogs in the surrounding area.
• A corrupted black tiger struck Panhu and wounded him, but a golden streak killed the tiger before it could attack again.
• Panhu lowered his axe after spotting a scarlet figure accompanying the departing golden light.
• Xiluo explained to Li Boyang that Old Madam Gao had found a hard-shelled insect in her ear, which later hatched into a five-colored puppy she named Panhu.
• Panhu grew into a spirit and remained by Old Madam Gao’s side, fighting corrupted creatures near Gao Family Village because she was too old to leave her home.