Chapter Summaries

Li Boyang explained how Yin Fei’s Soul Jade led to Xiao Xi’s birth and helped him locate the foreign snake god. When Xiluo suspected he had another plan, Li Boyang asked why the snake god knew what Soul Jades could do.

• Li Boyang told Xiluo that Wu Yi had likely entrusted Yin Fei’s Soul Jade to Flower Mantis, though a god later stole it from him.
• Li Boyang explained that the god used Yin Fei’s wish-granting Soul Jade and unexpectedly caused Xiao Xi, a human-god hybrid with Knowledge of Past Lives, to be born.
• Li Boyang said he traced the snake god through the god’s actions and Flower Mantis’s pursuit after uncovering the Soul Jade’s origins.
• Xiluo questioned why Li Boyang had sent the Heaven-Eroding Lord after the Soul Jade instead of retrieving it himself, and Li Boyang said he lacked time and effort.
• Li Boyang asked Xiluo how the snake god had learned about Soul Jades’ wish-granting ability without using one.

Flower Mantis pursued the Snake God Xiang Yao through the Southwest Sea of Trees, demanding the Soul Jade and cutting him in half. Xiang Yao revealed the Soul Jade’s powers and turned the hunt into a desperate fight, leaving Flower Mantis at a disadvantage.

• Flower Mantis chased Xiang Yao through the forest and slashed him in half after Xiang Yao threatened to fight back.
• Flower Mantis demanded the Soul Jade, but Xiang Yao taunted him and sprayed him with poisonous mist infused with Nine Nether Qi.
• Xiang Yao’s severed lower half transformed into a snake tail as his upper half became a snake head, and he attacked Flower Mantis from both sides.
• The Soul Jade embedded in Xiang Yao’s scales revealed its role in his vitality and poisonous mist, while Flower Mantis charged back into the fight despite the poison.
• Xiang Yao’s Soul Jade-enhanced scales and vitality gave him the advantage as Flower Mantis fought on with his twin blades.

Flower Mantis turned the battle around by channeling chaotic Yuan Qi into his body and striking Xiang Yao, but the Heaven-Eroding Lord seized the Soul Jade before he could claim it. The Heaven-Eroding Lord recognized Xiang Yao as a surviving head of Xiangliu and recalled Xiangliu’s betrayal of Gong Gong and the devastation left by his scattered heads.

• Xiang Yao poisoned Flower Mantis and declared victory, but Flower Mantis revealed that he could use Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi despite the region’s restrictions.
• Flower Mantis poured the chaotic Yuan Qi into his body, restored his [Saber Baleful Intent Sword Gang] with Geng Metal Qi, and cut through Xiang Yao’s scales.
• Flower Mantis struck Xiang Yao’s Soul Jade free, leaving Xiang Yao’s divided body thrashing without its vitality.
• The Heaven-Eroding Lord arrived ahead of Flower Mantis, took the Soul Jade, and confronted Xiang Yao.
• The Heaven-Eroding Lord recalled that Xiangliu had betrayed Gong Gong, and that Xiangliu’s scattered heads and blood had cursed rivers and land across Great Xia.

Xiluo confronted Xiang, who warned that the Heaven-Eroding Lord’s obsession with recovering Soul Jade was eroding his will and bringing him closer to death. Li Boyang stopped Xiluo from striking Xiang, who recognized him as a Celestial Person, and revealed that Xiang had been provoking Xiluo so she would kill him.

• The Heaven-Eroding Lord returned Xiangliu’s head to the human-head tree on Bronze Island, then went to the Yunmeng Jade Pool Realm to refine Yin Fei’s Soul Jade.
• Xiluo reflected that she had accepted Wu Yao’s death, while the Heaven-Eroding Lord remained trapped by his obsession with Soul Jade.
• Xiang warned Xiluo that the Heaven-Eroding Lord’s fixation signaled his convictions were crumbling and that he could eventually lose his memories and go mad.
• Xiluo threatened Xiang after he mocked the Heaven-Eroding Lord, but Li Boyang arrived through the Heaven and Earth Ring and stopped her.
• Xiang recognized Li Boyang as a Celestial Person, and Li Boyang told Xiluo that Xiang had deliberately provoked her because he wanted her to kill him.

Li Boyang questioned Xiang about his fear of him and his betrayal of Gong Gong after Xiang explained that Great Xia’s gods had treated the Hundred Lands Mountain Range cautiously for years because of Li Boyang’s reputation. Meanwhile, Li Jingshu comforted Xiao Xi while Li Boyang was away, and Chi wondered whether the Arbiter of Fate had encountered trouble again.

• Xiang explained that Great Xia feared Li Boyang after the upheaval that created the Eight Trigrams Furnace, and that the Hundred Lands Mountain Range had remained peaceful for five years.
• Xiang asked Li Boyang not to use his mind-reading Divine Ability, and Li Boyang agreed as long as Xiang answered honestly.
• Li Boyang asked Xiang why he had betrayed Gong Gong.
• Xiao Xi missed Li Boyang, and Li Jingshu stayed with her, playfully insisting that Xiao Xi call her big sister.
• Chi looked toward Yunmeng Marsh and wondered whether the Arbiter of Fate had run into trouble again.

Xiang explained how ambition led him to oppose the second Gong Gong and how the Soul Jade turned his wish to restore Xiangliu into the birth of Li Xi. He revealed that he had left Li Xi with Xiao'e despite knowing the child would likely reach Li Boyang, who questioned whether saving his daughter was truly against his nature.

• Xiang told Li Boyang that ambition, not simple resentment, had driven him to claim what he believed should have been his as Gong Gong.
• Xiang explained that he had seen Gong Gong use the Soul Jade and later seized Yin Fei's Soul Jade after Fuyou and Flower Mantis fought over it.
• Xiang wished for Xiangliu to be reborn, but the Soul Jade interpreted the wish by controlling his body and fathering Li Xi with a mountain woman.
• Xiang realized Li Xi had inherited Xiangliu's traits and great potential but was a premature infant unlikely to live long.
• Xiang admitted he had entrusted Li Xi to Xiao'e, knowing she might save the child and that Li Xi would likely end up with Li Boyang.
• Li Boyang asked Xiang whether saving his own child was really contrary to his nature.

Li Boyang convinced Xiang to help Xiao Xi by explaining that the Soul Jade had acted on Xiang’s existing desire to revive his child, then revealed he intended to separate Xiang’s powers and fate to aid her. He deployed his new Bagua Compass to form a movable, self-powered formation on Bronze Island and considered developing it further for divination and wider use.

• Li Boyang explained that the Soul Jade had influenced Xiang’s subconscious wish to bring his child back to life rather than implanting the thought outright.
• Li Boyang told Xiang he needed to separate Xiang’s talents, abilities, Yuan Qi, and fate to help Xiao Xi master her gifts and endure her vulnerable growth stage.
• Xiang realized Li Boyang’s plan had included the Heaven-Eroding Lord returning him and sealing him in a tree, but agreed to cooperate because Xiao Xi was his daughter.
• Li Boyang tossed out the Bagua Compass and used it to deploy a three-dimensional formation that adapted to Bronze Island’s Earth Veins.
• Li Boyang explained that the Bagua Compass could automatically select and deploy formations based on its surroundings, and said a future version might also perform semiautomated divination.
• Xiluo asked whether Li Boyang planned to mass-produce the compass, and he said there was no reason not to.

Li Boyang extracted Xiang’s divinity and sealed it into Xiao Xi’s Voice Transmission Talisman, creating the Xiangliu Amulet to help her control her powers. Xiang then warned Li Boyang to beware of Fuyou, who he suspected had gathered a large amount of Soul Jade with other gods.

• Li Boyang used the Bagua Compass to reveal Xiang’s true form and explain that he would extract Xiang’s divinity rather than transfer a god’s fate configuration.
• Li Boyang drew Xiang’s Life Primordial Qi and divinity into the shape of a white snake, then restored Xiang’s body with clear Qi.
• Li Boyang sealed the white snake inside Xiao Xi’s Voice Transmission Talisman, turning it into the Xiangliu Amulet.
• Li Boyang explained that the Xiangliu Amulet would let Xiao Xi use Xiang’s curses and poison incantations without suffering their costs, helping her master her powers safely.
• Xiang warned Li Boyang to beware of Fuyou, saying Fuyou was not acting alone and might have collected a great deal of Soul Jade.

Xuansu Shi rejected Fuyou’s attempt to recruit her into a plan involving the Guhuo Birds’ Soul Jades. She crushed a golden scale from her heart to show that Fuyou’s taunts would not sway her, leaving her allegiance to Yu Guo unchanged.

• Yinjiao played with Yinglong near Hidden Dragon Island while Xuansu Shi watched them.
• Fuyou contacted Xuansu Shi and urged her to work with him, arguing that they both served Gong Gong.
• Xuansu Shi accused Fuyou of wanting her help to watch the Heaven-Eroding Lord and steal the Soul Jades, and revealed she had deduced his plans from newspapers.
• Fuyou explained that the Guhuo Birds’ Soul Jades held the Divine Ability of the Witch of the Huai River and that two powerful jades were essential to his plan.
• Xuansu Shi refused to help and warned Fuyou that she would expose him to the Celestial Person if he contacted her again.
• Xuansu Shi crushed a golden scale drawn from her heart and declared that her loyalty was to Yu Guo, not any Gong Gong.

On the shores of the East Sea, Fuyou and Yin faced dwindling time as the great shamans began searching for Soul Jade. Wu Peng offered the Six Witches of Kaiming’s help to resurrect Kang Hui in exchange for Fuyou’s Soul Jade and Gong Gong as a test subject, leaving Fuyou to consider a deal he had little power to refuse.

• Fuyou lamented that Xuansu Shi had rejected him and destroyed the yellow snake’s scale, while Yin warned that they needed Yu Guo to persuade her.
• Fuyou told Yin that Wu Xian and the other great shamans had started collecting Soul Jade, making delay dangerous.
• Yin said they should take the initiative, and Wu Peng arrived with the Six Witches of Kaiming, claiming Yin had agreed to cooperate.
• Wu Peng offered to use the Soul Jade to resurrect Kang Hui, saying the Six Witches had studied the Elixir of Immortality and he had witnessed Meng Zhang’s resurrection.
• Fuyou rejected the offer as an attempt to take their Soul Jade and use Gong Gong as a test subject, but Wu Peng insisted they had no other choice.

Fuyou and Yin agreed to help the Six Witches of Kaiming resurrect Kang Hui, despite the witches’ plan to sacrifice an entire kingdom for the life force required. The witches chose the Black Teeth Kingdom, while Wu Lü questioned whether Kang Hui could endure learning how he had been revived.

• Fuyou told Yin that cooperating with the Six Witches of Kaiming was dangerous, but they had no other chance to resurrect Kang Hui.
• Fuyou recalled that the witches planned to use the [Immortality Cauldron] and sacrifice a kingdom’s life force to restore Kang Hui fully.
• Wu Fan, Wu Yang, and Wu Di discussed why Fuyou and Yin would destroy the Black Teeth Kingdom and why it was a convenient target.
• Wu Lü warned Wu Peng that Kang Hui might reject the sacrifice and become an undying Ominous Deity.
• Wu Peng said he had chosen the Black Teeth Kingdom because the new Lord of the East Sea would intervene if Kang Hui became a threat, but he worried the sacrifice might not go smoothly.

Li Boyang returned to Li Household Village and found Yinjiao secretly taking Jinjiao’s pills. He revealed that Jinjiao had likely prepared them for her, leaving Yinjiao embarrassed and angry at Single Horn Si for keeping quiet.

• Li Boyang watched the bronze horse carriages carrying children and students leave Li Household Village before approaching the shrine.
• Yinjiao hurriedly hid the pills she had been feeding Single Horn Si when Li Boyang arrived.
• Li Boyang recognized the pills as Jinjiao’s and questioned Yinjiao about taking them.
• Li Boyang pointed out that the labeled pills had likely been deliberately left for Yinjiao by Jinjiao.
• Yinjiao realized Single Horn Si had known the truth and scolded him for letting her embarrass herself.

Jinjiao and Ba Jun discussed Yinjiao’s cultivation and the seventh graduating class of the Hundred Lands School. Ba Jun asked for graduates to help her village develop a specialty industry using steel-hard banana plants, and Jinjiao agreed to consult Li Boyang about the request.

• Jinjiao defended his efforts to help Yinjiao improve through pills, while Ba Jun worried that he spoiled her and that she neglected cultivation.
• Ba Jun and Jinjiao discussed the seventh graduating class, whose students were completing intensive training on Spirit Gathering Island before leaving the Hundred Lands School.
• Jinjiao explained that he screened the graduates for unusual talents so Li Boyang could give exceptional students individual cultivation plans as non-registered disciples.
• Ba Jun asked Jinjiao to assign graduates skilled in Talisman Seal Script or artifact refinement to her remote village.
• Ba Jun described her steel-hard banana plants as a potential village specialty and sought help developing them into protective equipment.
• Jinjiao said Li Boyang was not opposed to a local weapons industry and promised to discuss Ba Jun’s request with him.

Li Boyang refined Yinjiao’s silver gourd into a powerful, intelligent curse-bearing weapon after years of her feeding it treasured swords. The transformation revealed a tiny doll modeled on Li Boyang, but Yinjiao questioned whether she was ready to control such a dangerous divine artifact.

• Li Boyang examined Yinjiao’s silver gourd and learned she had lost count of the treasured swords it had swallowed.
• Li Boyang released the gourd’s Sword Qi, felt its sharpness pierce his defenses, and decided to help complete its refinement.
• Li Boyang used Life and Transformation Talisman Incantations to reshape the gourd’s sword soul into a harmless wisp of smoke.
• The sword soul transformed into a silver dragon resembling Yinjiao, then changed again into a tiny doll modeled on Li Boyang.
• The One-Horned Incantation sensed the doll’s powerful curse and tracking abilities, and Yinjiao asked whether she could control such a dangerous divine artifact.

Yinjiao reported an unusual Yuan Qi fluctuation near Yinglong and Xuansu Shi, while Li Boyang assured her he would handle it. That night, Yinglong watched Deception Rabbit sneak into Xuansu Shi’s bamboo house and spoke with the ancient voice within him, which he revealed was Yu Guo, the vanished God of the East Sea.

• One-Horned Incantation worried that Yinjiao might not be able to control the silver gourd’s sword soul and curse, but Li Boyang affirmed his trust in her.
• Yinjiao told Li Boyang she had sensed an unusual Yuan Qi fluctuation while playing with Yinglong and noticed Xuansu Shi and Yinglong reacting strangely.
• Deception Rabbit secretly entered Xuansu Shi’s bamboo house after nightfall while Yinglong watched from the water.
• Yinglong spoke with an aged voice in his mind about his parents’ behavior and credited Li Boyang’s pills with his vitality and the voice’s return to awareness.
• Yinglong revealed that the voice within him belonged to Yu Guo, the long-vanished God of the East Sea.

Yinglong questioned Yu Guo about the person who secretly contacted Xuansu Shi and why they had to avoid her. Yu Guo explained that the contact was likely a subordinate god seeking to resurrect him or Gong Gong, and Yinglong agreed to help find someone who could uncover the truth.

• Yinglong recalled Yu Guo's warning that Xuansu Shi might sacrifice him to restore Yu Guo, and kept his awakening secret from her.
• As Yinglong traveled through different terrains in animal forms, he asked Yu Guo who had contacted Xuansu Shi and where they were going.
• Yu Guo explained that Xuansu Shi had once secretly connected him with the current Gong Gong and that the contact likely came from one of their subordinate gods.
• Yu Guo warned that the subordinate gods might commit terrible acts to resurrect him or Gong Gong, and feared the Celestial Person would kill them for it.
• Yu Guo said they needed to find someone capable of learning the whole truth.

Yinglong and Yu Guo arrived at Flying Sky Stockade, where Wu Zhen had built steam-powered machinery and an experimental aircraft. Wu Zhen recognized Yu Guo and objected to his bringing Yinglong, whose connection to the Celestial Person made him dangerous to help.

• Under Yu Guo's direction, Yinglong flew to Flying Sky Stockade and saw its iron-chain bridges, steam engines, and mountain-leveling pile drivers.
• Yinglong spotted Wu Zhen piloting a steam-powered aircraft while villagers flew beside her in gliding suits inscribed with Speech.
• Wu Zhen noticed Yinglong, ordered the gliders to land, and brought the aircraft down onto the stockade's flattened summit.
• Yinglong landed and transformed into a horned, golden-haired child as Yu Guo spoke through him.
• Wu Zhen recognized Yu Guo and rebuked him for bringing Yinglong, saying she had promised the Celestial Person not to cause him trouble.

Wu Zhen reluctantly listened as Yu explained that Great Xia's subordinate gods were planning something and revealed why he could not appear in his true body. Yu said that Feathered Serpent God Shao had defeated him and taken his body after escaping the Yin World Nether Spring.

• Yu asked Wu Zhen to investigate what Great Xia's subordinate gods were planning and whether their actions could be stopped.
• Wu Zhen questioned why Yu was in a half-dead state and demanded a brief explanation before she would help.
• Yu explained that ghost gods had escaped from the Yin World Nether Spring as his strength waned, then besieged him.
• Yu revealed that Shao had defeated him and seized his body, explaining why his statues in the East Sea remained intact.
• Yu recounted how Feathered Serpent God Shao had once opposed him, died, become a ghost god, and been driven back into the Yin World.

Wu Zhen refused Yu Guo’s request to help, but struck a bargain with Yinglong: she would teach him to use the Red Eye Cauldron in exchange for artifact-refining knowledge. Back at Li Household Village, Xiluo warned Li Boyang that Wu Zhen and Yu Guo were already drawing Yinglong into trouble.

• Wu Zhen rejected Yu Guo’s request, saying she would not risk Li Boyang’s displeasure or lose the life she had built at Flying Sky Stockade.
• Yinglong offered to trade artifact-refining knowledge and threatened to keep visiting Wu Zhen if she refused; she countered by offering to teach him the Red Eye Cauldron’s power in exchange for lessons from Yinjiao.
• Wu Zhen told Yinglong to keep their arrangement secret from Li Boyang and to present it as a fair trade.
• Xiluo appeared before Li Boyang and complained that Wu Zhen should never have been allowed to stay in the Hundred Lands Mountain Range.
• Xiluo said Wu Zhen was already teaching Yinglong to use the Red Eye Cauldron and suspected Yu Guo had hidden motives.

Li Boyang discovered that Xiluo had secretly advanced her Primordial Spirit to Path of Spirit Perfection, using a Divinity Mask modeled on her elder sister, Wu Yao. He suspected the Spring God had helped her gain the wisdom and experience behind her rapid breakthrough.

• Li Boyang argued that Yu Guo was simple-minded and had driven his subordinates away to prevent further trouble.
• Xiluo confronted Li Boyang about neglecting his alchemy and suspected he was focused on the Elixir of Immortality.
• The Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron trembled as Li Boyang noticed Xiluo's Primordial Spirit emerging behind her.
• Xiluo revealed that her Primordial Spirit wore a Divinity Mask born under the name Wu Yao and could exceed her own abilities.
• Li Boyang recognized that Xiluo had advanced beyond manifesting a Yang God and reached Path of Spirit Perfection.
• Li Boyang questioned what Xiluo had been doing and whether the Spring God had coaxed her into it.