Chapter Summaries

After Flying Peak was shattered, Li Boyang and Xiluo traveled to the ruins of the Tufang Kingdom to seek Kunwu’s help repairing it. They learned that Tufang Clan had regained his freedom and was slaughtering people in the Guifang Kingdom, where Li Boyang suspected a water ape was behind the turmoil.

• Xiluo scolded Li Boyang for failing to intervene before Flying Peak was destroyed, while he privately considered the outcome useful for dealing with the ghosts and gods sealed there.
• The Deception Rabbit told Xiluo that the Rain Master had left Ghost God Cliff with Kunwu and invited them to seek help at the ruins of the Tufang Kingdom.
• Li Boyang and Xiluo arrived in the eerie Tufang Kingdom, where Tufang Clan’s presence had turned the territory into a place resembling the netherworld.
• Li Boyang used the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron to learn that Tufang Clan was free and slaughtering people in the Guifang Kingdom.
• Li Boyang concluded that a water ape might be responsible for the disturbance and that he would need to deal with it to control the flood.

Wuzhiqi continued battling the Tide-Swallowing Clan as floods and spirits devastated the Guifang Kingdom, until the Roaring Heaven Clan revived to shield Cliff Settlement City. Water Sprites infiltrated the city despite that protection, and Xuan Hui faced the widening attack as the kingdom’s survival hung in the balance.

• Wuzhiqi fought the Tide-Swallowing Clan and recognized that its renewed intelligence made it harder to defeat, though he expected its final flare to end in its death.
• The Roaring Heaven Clan revived in response to the Guifang Kingdom’s people’s desperate cries and summoned a storm that dispersed rain, floods, and netherworld presence around Cliff Settlement City.
• A Water Sprite appeared on the ancestral temple altar, killed imperial guards, and was destroyed by Xuan Hui’s Witchcraft Incantation.
• More Water Sprites and other spirits appeared throughout Cliff Settlement City, while the Roaring Heaven Clan’s storm held back the water gods outside.
• Xuan Hui looked over the besieged city as the Guifang Kingdom’s people and gods faced a war of survival.

Li Boyang and Xiluo found Rain Master Shang Yang at the Tufang Kingdom’s ruined sacrificial grounds and learned he had once been its worshipped god. Shang Yang recounted how he helped the Tufang people and was later sealed at Flying Peak, then left Xiluo asking again how to repair it.

• Li Boyang used the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron and his third eye to lead Xiluo to the Tufang Kingdom’s sacrificial grounds.
• Xiluo recognized the old man on the altar as Rain Master and suspected the iron staff held Kunyu.
• Li Boyang asked whether Rain Master and Kunyu were connected to the Tufang Kingdom, and Rain Master revealed he had been its god until its destruction thirty years earlier.
• Rain Master explained how the Witch of the Huai River had helped him transform the Tufang people’s environment before they were both drawn into conflict with the Gods of the Hundred Lands and sealed or destroyed.
• Rain Master explained why he had not shared his past with Xiluo, and Xiluo then demanded that he explain how to repair Flying Peak.

Rain Master explained the Guirong Clan’s history and its role in the Tufang Kingdom’s destruction, while hinting that Wu Yao’s thousand-year seal held a clue to restoring Ghost God Cliff. Xiluo realized her sister may have left something at the site.

• Xiluo pressed Rain Master for a way to restore Flying Peak, and he distinguished restoring the peak from restoring Ghost God Cliff.
• Rain Master revealed that the Guirong Clan had been sealed beneath their current location and explained how it had worked with the Roaring Heaven Clan and the Guifang Kingdom to escape.
• Rain Master recounted how You Hao’s rebellion led the Guirong Clan to refine the Tufang Kingdom into a ghost god and break free of its seal.
• Li Boyang connected You Hao’s theft of the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron to the Guirong Clan’s possible plans and its efforts to limit the Roaring Heaven Clan.
• Rain Master asked how Wu Yao had sealed the powerful Guirong Clan for a thousand years, and Xiluo wondered if her sister had left something there.

Xiluo revealed that the Witch of the Huai River had transformed a rebellious flood python into the God-Binding Cord, a powerful divine artifact hidden beneath the altar. When the cord emerged and rampaged, Li Boyang subdued it with his red-leather Silk Fur Robe and Primordial Talisman Incantation, leaving him with the cord in hand.

• Xiluo explained that the Witch of the Huai River had made the God-Binding Cord from an innate flood python by stripping away its body and intelligence.
• The God-Binding Cord burst from beneath the altar, split the ground, and lashed through the sky as Rain Master and Kunyu departed.
• Li Boyang asked Xiluo about the cord's weaknesses, but she could not answer.
• Li Boyang expanded his red-leather Silk Fur Robe into a vast cloak and used its Primordial Talisman Incantation to seal the cord and restore it to its original state.
• Li Boyang drew the subdued golden flood-serpent tendon from the coat and noted that the Witch of the Huai River had prepared for its capture.

Qiwa and a bound mountain god helped a village build an embankment against the flood, while Qiwa pushed himself to exhaustion on the front line. After Qiwa finally stopped to rest, the mountain god watched over him in the flood.

• Qiwa and the mountain god helped the villagers reinforce a makeshift dam as floodwaters battered it.
• The mountain god questioned Qiwa’s decision to work at the most dangerous site, and Qiwa said he knew what he was doing and trusted the god to protect him.
• Qiwa coordinated repairs despite working for twenty-four hours and being warned that his body was past its limits.
• Qiwa directed the village hunter to reinforce a vulnerable breach, then accepted his advice to rest and tied himself to a stake before falling asleep.
• The mountain god remained in the flood, watching Qiwa with a look of admiration or disbelief.

As floodwaters threatened the village, its residents struggled to reinforce the embankment while supplies from Li Household Village were expected to arrive. Li Yu led a muddy-road convoy carrying cement and spider-silk bags, but the group realized Li Jingshu had gone missing again.

• The village chief’s wife warned him that the village was nearly out of waterproof bags and had exhausted nearby materials for making replacements.
• The village chief urged his wife to stay hopeful, trusting that supplies from Li Household Village would arrive soon.
• Li Yu led dozens of carts carrying Li Boyang’s cement through the rain toward the village, while Li Chengfeng praised Chen Yun and the other women for weaving spider-silk bags.
• The escort members discovered that the spiders producing silk had stopped working after being overused.
• Someone asked where Li Jingshu had gone, and Li Yu reacted with alarm that she had gone missing again.

Li Jingshu raced through the storm to reach Qiwa before the flood became too high, while Qiwa and the villagers fought to reinforce the embankment. Yan Xiaojun emerged from the water injured by piranhas, and Qiwa climbed onto him to attack them.

• Li Jingshu hurried through the rain, following Sleepy Bugs and using her Body-Protecting Gang Qi and [Riding Clouds and Driving Mist] to make progress faster.
• Qiwa rushed to a failing section of the embankment, rescued an injured villager, and gave him a medicinal pill.
• The hunter and several villagers tied themselves to stakes and joined Qiwa in risking their lives to hold the embankment.
• Yan Xiaojun surfaced with claw-like wounds, and Qiwa realized something in the flood was attacking him.
• Qiwa climbed onto Yan Xiaojun with a dagger and struck at the piranhas, while Yan Xiaojun protected him and flicked one away.

Yan Xiaojun and Qiwa faced Tian Wu at the embankment as the flood’s attackers struck, and Tian Wu targeted Qiwa to distract Yan Xiaojun. Yan Xiaojun grabbed Tian Wu after Qiwa fell among the piranhas, leaving the villagers unsure whether Qiwa could be saved as Yan Xiaojun tried to crush Tian Wu’s head.

• Qiwa discovered that a piranha had badly damaged his unusually resilient saber, and Yan Xiaojun revealed the flood’s mastermind was attacking the Hundred Lands Mountain Range.
• Tian Wu arrived on a wave, mocked Yan Xiaojun for being bound and serving mortals, and traded insults with him.
• Yan Xiaojun hardened his body against the piranhas, while Qiwa clung to his shoulder as the two gods fought.
• Tian Wu turned his whirlpool attack on Qiwa, knocking him into the school of piranhas, then restrained Yan Xiaojun and tore open his arm.
• Yan Xiaojun seized Tian Wu’s head and used his immense physical strength to make Tian Wu scream as he tried to crush him.

Qiwa was rescued from the piranhas by a Human-Faced Fish, then fought a Water Sprite as Tian Wu unleashed a larger assault on the embankment. Yan Xiaojun held back the flood while the villagers joined the defense, and Qiwa’s steadfast resistance left Yan Xiaojun newly impressed by him.

• Qiwa fought off circling piranhas until a Human-Faced Fish carried him to shore.
• A Water Sprite attacked Qiwa, but the Human-Faced Fish struck it away and destroyed it with a sonic blast.
• Yan Xiaojun crushed Tian Wu’s head, but Tian Wu recovered and summoned a raging flood and an army of Water Sprites.
• Yan Xiaojun charged into the waves and defended the embankment while the villagers tied themselves to stakes and helped reinforce it.
• Qiwa returned to battle the Water Sprites, and Yan Xiaojun watched his determined resistance with newfound respect.

Li Jingshu arrived during Qiwa’s underwater battle and used a Thunder Method bullet to destroy the Water Sprites, then faced Wuzhiqi’s Third Prince. As her weapon ran out of bullets and she began reloading from the bronze treasure book, a flower mantis attacked and interrupted her.

• Qiwa fought the Water Sprites underwater with improvised weapons after Li Boyang’s dagger broke.
• A giant Water Sprite ambushed Qiwa and the Human-Faced Fish, but Li Jingshu’s Thunder Method bullet and summoned lightning wiped out the Water Sprites.
• Li Jingshu deflected a surprise saber strike from Wuzhiqi’s Third Prince and fired several Thunder Method bullets at him.
• Xiao Gui warned Li Jingshu that her revolver was out of bullets, and the bronze treasure book supplied her with more.
• A giant pink flower mantis leaped from the forest and attacked Li Jingshu, forcing her to stop reloading.

The Third Prince’s attack on Li Jingshu faltered when she struck him with heavenly lightning, and Flower Mantis urged him to retreat as a new threat appeared. Deception Rabbit arrived to support Li Jingshu, but Yan Xiaojun attacked him, giving Flower Mantis an opening to strike.

• Li Jingshu’s third bullet hit the Third Prince, who shielded himself from the resulting heavenly lightning with dragon claws.
• Flower Mantis continued attacking Li Jingshu until the Third Prince ordered him to stop and insisted that he would not retreat.
• Flower Mantis warned the Third Prince that others might be nearby, and a five-clawed Black Dragon tore through the storm clouds before transforming into Deception Rabbit.
• Deception Rabbit told Li Jingshu that the prophet had sent him to watch over her and sensed that Flower Mantis was a dangerous opponent.
• Yan Xiaojun hurled a boulder at Deception Rabbit, who grabbed Li Jingshu and dodged it.
• Flower Mantis seized the distraction and launched a fierce attack.

Li Jingshu and Deception Rabbit fought off Flower Mantis and the Third Prince while Yan Xiaojun battled Tian Wu. The Third Prince and Flower Mantis fled, and Tian Wu withdrew, warning that Wuzhiqi’s flood would soon overwhelm the Hundred Lands Mountain Range.

• Deception Rabbit used a fighting style taught by Li Boyang to press Flower Mantis, until the Third Prince threw a water spear that wounded Deception Rabbit’s ear.
• Li Jingshu fired a bullet that ignited Sha Qi flames on Flower Mantis’s arm, forcing him to sever the burning limb.
• Flower Mantis demanded that the Third Prince leave, but Li Jingshu and Deception Rabbit attacked as the pair tried to escape.
• The Third Prince and Flower Mantis fled from Li Jingshu’s gunfire, while Tian Wu denied being the Third Prince’s subordinate and said they were only cooperating.
• Tian Wu told Yan Xiaojun that Wuzhiqi would not give up, then vanished into the waves.

Li Yu gave the wounded Yan Xiaojun a healing pill, while Li Jingshu discovered that Qiwa had distributed all of Li Boyang’s pills, including the powerful Qi and Blood Pills. She warned that Qiwa needed Li Boyang’s help immediately to avoid lasting complications.

• Li Yu reached the embankment and found Yan Xiaojun gravely wounded after defending the village.
• Li Yu gave Yan Xiaojun a healing pill, which rapidly healed his wounds and increased his Qi and Blood.
• Li Jingshu found Qiwa injured and suffering from hypothermia in the ancestral temple, then covered him with her Silk Fur Robe.
• Qiwa admitted that he had given the village’s sick and injured people all the pills Li Boyang had supplied, including the Qi and Blood Pills.
• Li Jingshu told Qiwa to return to the village so Li Boyang could examine him before he suffered lasting complications.

Li Boyang continued holding back the flood around the Hundred Lands Mountain Range while Xiluo warned that his efforts could not solve its deeper causes. Using his Heavenly Eye, he confronted Wuzhiqi across the distance and learned that Wuzhiqi wanted to test his strength in a wager over the region.

• Li Boyang used the God-Binding Cord to repair Flying Peak and repeatedly controlled the weather to shield the Hundred Lands Mountain Range from the storm.
• Xiluo urged Li Boyang to stop wasting his strength, warning that he could not defeat the water gods or restore spring and food to the mountain folk.
• Li Boyang agreed that controlling the weather only treated the symptoms and turned his attention to Wuzhiqi in the flooded Guifang Kingdom.
• Wuzhiqi sensed Li Boyang watching him and spoke with him from afar, claiming he could hear every sound across the Nine Provinces.
• Wuzhiqi revealed that he wanted to test Li Boyang and proposed a wager: he would withdraw the waters if he lost, but claim everything Li Boyang had if he won.

Wuzhiqi learned that Pan Hu had killed his Second Prince, while Li Boyang surveyed the Hundred Lands Mountain Range and assessed the princes’ attacks. The Eldest Prince’s forces were cutting a canal toward the range, leaving Li Boyang facing a growing threat.

• Wuzhiqi declared that he would claim everything and dismissed the Third Prince’s repulse as unimportant.
• A shrimp soldier reported that Pan Hu had killed Wuzhiqi’s Second Prince, and Li Boyang began searching the border regions.
• The Second Prince joined forces with a flood-maddened water god near Gao Family Village and agreed to help defeat Pan Hu.
• Pan Hu and a white-scaled snake god killed the Second Prince, though Pan Hu suffered heavy losses and drew Wuzhiqi’s retaliation.
• Li Boyang saw that Wuzhiqi’s Eldest Prince was carving a canal through the outskirts of the Hundred Lands Mountain Range and channeling floodwaters through it.

Hanging Silk Lady struggled to master human form so she could learn techniques unavailable to her as a spider, and Li Boyang offered to teach her his newly improved Transformation-type Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi Perception and Advancement Method. She accepted the experiment, then asked how it differed from the other Perception Methods as Li Boyang asked whether she knew their ultimate purpose.

• Hanging Silk Lady repeatedly shifted between spider and human form while trying to master the Transformation Method, and Li Boyang told her she could cultivate without transforming.
• Hanging Silk Lady explained that she wanted human hands and meridians so she could learn arts such as Talisman Seal Script and better protect herself.
• Li Boyang offered Hanging Silk Lady a trial of his newly improved Transformation-type Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi Perception and Advancement Method, and she agreed.
• Hanging Silk Lady asked how the new method differed from the previous Perception Methods, and Li Boyang asked what she thought their ultimate purpose was.

Li Boyang explained that the Breathing Method and Perception Method could be cultivated together, then offered Hanging Silk Lady a shortcut to awaken her spirituality through the pain of practicing the Transformation Method. Hanging Silk Lady agreed to try it, though Li Boyang warned that the method could cause Qi Deviation.

• Li Boyang explained that the Breathing Method strengthened the body while the Perception Method awakened spirituality, and that their cultivation did not have to happen in sequence.
• Li Boyang reasoned that Hanging Silk Lady’s powerful body and primordial Qi, along with her spiritual potential, made her suited to practicing both methods at once.
• Li Boyang said that cultivating essence, Qi, and spirit together could lead to their unity, unlike the Heaven-Eroding Lord’s premature union of them.
• Hanging Silk Lady agreed to attempt the new approach, and Li Boyang gave her a book titled “First Edition · Transformation Type · Method for Perceiving and Advancing in the Primordial Qi of Heaven and Earth.”
• Li Boyang explained that pain from the Transformation Method could forcibly awaken spirituality without requiring perfect control of primordial Qi, but warned that the shortcut could unbalance body and Qi and cause Qi Deviation.

Li Boyang reflected on the bodily cultivation he needed to perfect before advancing to refining spirit and returning to the void. He captured a one-horned water god who offered to serve him, and Li Boyang agreed to take him in as a pill tester and odd-job helper.

• Li Boyang concluded that his spirit and primordial cultivation were ready for the next realm, but his young body still needed to mature into a perfect Dao body.
• Li Boyang decided against hastening his body's growth through unorthodox methods and resolved to cultivate it naturally.
• Li Boyang pulled a one-horned water god from the river with his God-Binding Cord.
• The water god said Chi had sent him to join Li Boyang and pledged to follow the Way of the Celestial Person.
• Li Boyang offered to take in One-Horned Incantation temporarily as a pill tester and assign him other tasks.

Li Boyang returned to Li Household Village on the subdued single-horned si and discussed the flooding and village preparations with the old village chief. The villagers continued to rely on Li Boyang as a born sage, while he weighed his responsibilities and asked after Li Jingshu and the injured Qiwa.

• Li Boyang rode the single-horned si into Li Household Village, where children crowded around it until Ji Baiyang stopped them.
• Li Boyang saw the flooded fields and considered how the single-horned si could help carry out plans to address the flooding and soil erosion.
• The old village chief asked Li Boyang about sowing crops, and Li Boyang reassured him that drainage work and Grandmother Mountain God's efforts would help protect the village.
• The old village chief urged Li Boyang to start his early education plan for the village children, but Li Boyang explained that he and Li Jingshu had more urgent duties.
• The old village chief told Li Boyang that Qiwa had been badly hurt and had given away his healing pills, while villagers continued to regard Li Boyang as a born sage.