Chapter Summaries

Li Boyang defeated the Six-Tailed Fox and left Mountain Hollow Village, while Chi sent Human-Faced Fish to retrieve his red leather coat. At Flying Peak, the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron released a crimson streak, and Xiluo discovered that the Deception Rabbit had brought Nüman back as a self-aware natural phenomenon.

• The Human-Faced Fish kept the villagers safe by bringing them to the stream, and a pregnant woman watched Li Boyang fly away on an auspicious cloud.
• Chi sent Human-Faced Fish into the village to search for a seriously injured creature wearing Li Boyang's red leather coat.
• The Imprisoned Soul Cauldron opened after the Six-Tailed Fox was killed, and a crimson streak shot away from Flying Peak.
• Xiluo found the Deception Rabbit with Nüman, now a pale green ring of light that acted like a newborn and clung to him.
• The Deception Rabbit admitted he had not told Li Boyang about Nüman, and Xiluo insisted he take her to where Nüman was born.

Li Boyang found the giant tortoise hiding in a river valley and fought it, but its extraordinary durability and weaponized steam forced him back despite his superior strength. The battle remained unresolved as the tortoise used its enormous size to drive Li Boyang away.

• Li Boyang used the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron to divine the tortoise’s location and descended into a river valley near Mountain Hollow Village.
• Li Boyang discovered that an island in the river was the tortoise’s enormous shell, and the tortoise asked why he was being hunted.
• Li Boyang attacked with a Sword-Ray, but the tortoise withdrew into its shell and endured the strike unharmed.
• The tortoise fired high-pressure water blasts, and Li Boyang evaded them with [Riding Clouds and Driving Mist].
• Li Boyang counterattacked with two Sword-Rays, but the tortoise retracted into its shell and spun into the air by blasting out heated water vapor.
• The tortoise’s scorching steam scarred the rocks and drove Li Boyang back.

Li Boyang recognized that the tortoise had mastered ingenious uses of the Yin-Yang Talisman Incantation’s Maxims and deduced why the Six-Tailed Fox had come to the Hundred Lands Mountain Range. After stopping the tortoise’s waterspout with his shadows, Li Boyang revealed Shadow Baleful Intent Dharma Aspects bearing God Masks inscribed with genuine Maxims.

• Li Boyang realized the tortoise used the Maxims on his shell to defy physical laws, while the tortoise criticized Li Boyang for using the Yin-Yang Talisman Incantation crudely.
• The tortoise explained how he had spent nearly a thousand years learning to exploit the few Maxims he possessed and intensified his attack on Li Boyang.
• Li Boyang deduced that the Six-Tailed Fox had traced the water veins to the Mountain God Reservoir in pursuit of the complete Yin-Yang Talisman Incantation.
• The tortoise created a huge waterspout, and Li Boyang restrained his spinning shell with solidified shadows until the waterspout vanished.
• Li Boyang split the shadows into independent Shadow Baleful Intent Dharma Aspects wearing God Masks patterned with genuine Maxims.

Li Boyang destroyed the land tortoise with his Shadow Baleful Intent Dharma Aspects and Black and Yellow Sword Qi, ending the threat of the waterspout. As Chi and the Spider Queen watched from Mountain Hollow Village, a winged, crimson witch’s warrior descended toward them, and Chi stopped his attack.

• Li Boyang’s Shadow Baleful Intent Dharma Aspects broke the inscriptions on the land tortoise’s shell and overwhelmed him with repeated attacks.
• Li Boyang beheaded the land tortoise with a slash of Black and Yellow Sword Qi, and its body crashed into a river valley.
• Chi and the Spider Queen sensed the danger had passed as the waterspout dispersed and the earthquake’s aftershocks reached Mountain Hollow Village.
• A crimson streak hurtled toward the village, and the Spider Queen warned Chi and the others that it was targeting them.
• Chi leaped from the stream and halted the attacker with a sound wave, while the Spider Queen identified him as a witch’s warrior bearing Witch Marks.

Yue, controlled by the Witch King, tried to kill a pregnant woman in Mountain Hollow Village, claiming she carried a monster. Li Boyang stopped him and realized the Witch King's consciousness had become part of Yue during the body-refinement process.

• Yue attacked Chi, but the Spider Queen and the Human-Faced Fish pulled her into the water and saved her.
• Yue reached the pregnant woman in Mountain Hollow Village and said he would kill her to prevent the monster she carried from being born.
• Li Boyang severed Yue's raised hand with his golden Sword Pill before he could strike the woman.
• Li Boyang confronted the Witch King and deduced that his consciousness was inside Yue's body.
• The Witch King explained that Li Boyang's cauldron had repaired his witchcraft's flaws, allowing Yue to use his power without further sacrifices.

Li Boyang confronted the Shaman King over the unborn Guhuo Bird soul fragment in a pregnant woman's belly and refused to let him kill her or the child. The Shaman King agreed to leave the decision to Li Boyang if Li Boyang could defeat him.

• The Shaman King explained that the Guhuo Bird had divided his soul and that the fetus carried one of his fragments.
• Li Boyang asked whether the child would be the Guhuo Bird and learned that the fragment would need at least ten years to awaken its memories and consciousness.
• Li Boyang reasoned that the child might assimilate the Guhuo Bird's memories and make that consciousness part of himself.
• Li Boyang declared that the Shaman King had no authority in the Hundred Lands Mountain Range and ordered him to leave or die.
• The Shaman King challenged Li Boyang to defeat him before deciding the pregnant woman's fate.

Li Boyang countered the Witch King’s curse and overwhelmed him in close combat, forcing the Witch King to reveal his regeneration and take the fight into the sky. The Witch King then swallowed Li Boyang’s Shadow Baleful Intent Dharma Aspect with his taotie maw.

• The Witch King used the Heart-Stealing Incantation to make Li Boyang’s heart and Qi and Blood surge, but Li Boyang endured it and used his Heavenly Eye to disrupt the next curse.
• Li Boyang mocked the Witch King’s slow incantations and attacked at close range, preventing him from casting while the Spider Queen, Chi, and the Human-Faced Fish cheered him on.
• The Witch King’s severed hand struck Li Boyang from behind, but Li Boyang’s Body-Protecting Sword Qi reflected the lightning and pierced the Witch King with multiple wounds.
• The Witch King healed rapidly, escaped into the air, and faced Li Boyang and his winged Shadow Baleful Intent Dharma Aspect in the sky.
• The Witch King expanded his taotie markings and swallowed the Shadow Baleful Intent Dharma Aspect.

Li Boyang defeated the Witch King by awakening the Sha Qi fire dragon within Yue, creating a Left Path Primordial Spirit that could free Yue from the Witch King’s consciousness. The Witch King revealed that Yue had been dead before becoming a Sikou, while Wu Yi learned that the Huai River water god had caused floods and threatened Great Xia.

• The gluttonous maw swallowed the Shadow Baleful Intent Dharma Aspect and copied its Divine Mask, but Li Boyang seized control of the Witch King’s Life Primordial Qi and awakened the Sha Qi fire dragon.
• The Witch King’s consciousness was expelled as the fire dragon fused with his memories and abilities, and Li Boyang explained that it was a Left Path Primordial Spirit that could give Yue an independent self.
• Before disappearing, the Witch King told Li Boyang that Yue had already been dead before becoming a Sikou and that he had willingly given Yue a second life.
• At the Heaven-Reaching Tower in Great Xia’s capital, Wu Yi’s master reported that the Huai River water god had raised floods after Wu Yi toppled its statue.
• Wu Yi’s master warned that the Youyu Clan’s Grand Minister of Works and the Gonggong Clan might be unable to stop the water ape, which could inspire other water gods and spirits to cause disaster.

After waking in Li Household Village, Yue learned that Li Boyang had saved him by giving him an artificial, living primordial spirit that he could sense but not yet control. Meanwhile, the villagers argued over a formal name for Li Boyang, while Chen Yun considered asking Li Jingshu what name her son had chosen.

• Yue woke in Li Jingshu's courtyard and learned that the strange beast silhouette he had seen on her butterfly knife was real.
• Li Jingshu explained that Yue had an incomplete artificial primordial spirit, and that the living Life Primordial Qi inside him was another version of himself that he would need to communicate with.
• Yue realized that Li Boyang had saved him again and asked why the village was so noisy.
• Li Jingshu told Yue that the villagers were holding a meeting to choose a formal name for Li Boyang, though she expected her little brother to have the final say.
• At the village meeting, Li Yu and the old village chief argued over naming Li Boyang while Chen Yun watched, knowing her son was away.
• Chen Yun considered slipping away to ask Li Jingshu what name Li Boyang intended to choose.

Li Boyang explained that Nüman had been reborn as a new Spring God, sharing her divine soul across the strange flowers. He used his Heavenly Eye and a Speech Talisman Incantation to complete her rebirth, leaving dozens of flower fairies with a shared consciousness.

• Xiluo teased Li Boyang for avoiding the village elders, who were gathered to choose his name.
• Li Boyang found that Nüman’s divine soul had attached itself to the strange morning glories growing in the marsh.
• Li Boyang told Deception Rabbit that the reborn Spring God was a new individual, no longer the Nüman he had known.
• Deception Rabbit vowed to stay and look after her, but Li Boyang said she would not remain trapped in the marsh.
• Li Boyang used his Heavenly Eye and a Speech Talisman Incantation to complete Nüman’s rebirth, creating dozens of flower fairies who shared her consciousness.

Li Boyang began refining Lu Gui’s corpse and Yin-Yang Talisman Incantation shell into his first true Law Treasure. The incomplete treasure resisted taking shape because it had only the yang side of the incantation, leaving its completion for later.

• Mountain Hollow Village villagers accepted that their Land God had died and worried they would not survive the winter.
• Uncle Lu and Li Boyang’s rescued pregnant woman discussed whether the Son of the Mountain God could help them.
• Li Boyang summoned the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron to consume Lu Gui’s decaying corpse and announced he would refine a Law Treasure from it.
• Xiluo transformed into a red leopard and fueled the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron while Li Boyang began refining Lu Gui’s remains and shell.
• The shell shrank under the alchemical fire, but its turtle phantom could not fully manifest and it expanded again.
• Li Boyang realized the Yin-Yang Talisman Incantation shell lacked its yin side, so the treasure could not yet be completed.

After recovering, Yue repaired the road he had destroyed and prepared to return to Great Xia, but Li Jingshu refused to leave her home. Yue departed after urging her to pursue her younger brother’s Law Techniques and Divine Abilities, while Li Boyang reassured Xiluo that Li Jingshu could safely learn Witch Law.

• Yue recovered from his injuries and helped Li Household Village repair the blue-brick road before preparing to return to Great Xia.
• Yue invited Li Jingshu to go with him, but she refused and said that her home was with her family.
• Yue continued teaching Li Jingshu Witch Law and combat skills, then warned her to avoid costly curses and focus on the great path taught by her little brother.
• Yue bid farewell to Li Jingshu and her mother, then flew away toward Great Xia.
• Xiluo questioned Li Boyang about letting Yue leave and worried that his Witchcraft Incantations could harm Li Jingshu.
• Li Boyang explained that Li Jingshu’s strong foundation made her suited to Witch Law and said he trusted Yue not to teach her flawed techniques; Xiluo then asked what Li Boyang was making from bamboo.

Li Boyang turned the bamboo ruined by Yue into paper, then revealed that his specially formulated sheets could carry and strengthen Speech. He left Xiluo astonished as he drew a Maxims Talisman on one and drew a response from Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi.

• Li Boyang soaked the ruined bamboo in ash and lime, steamed and pulped its fibers, then formed them into smooth sheets of paper.
• Xiluo recognized the paper and questioned Li Boyang, suspecting he had another purpose beyond preparing teaching materials for the village children.
• Li Boyang explained that he had added different plant-and-mineral formulas, along with his Essence Blood, to make the paper better at carrying Speech.
• Li Boyang said Speech-bearing bamboo made ideal material for Speech Talisman Incantations and drew a Maxims Talisman on a specially prepared sheet.
• Xiluo sensed Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi responding to the paper as Li Boyang completed the Talisman.

Li Boyang developed paper talismans that let people use certain Witchcraft Incantations and Law Techniques with fewer requirements, and he named the system Talisman Seal Script. Elsewhere, the Deception Rabbit and Nüman sensed his new technique, and Nüman realized Li Boyang was wary of her.

• Li Boyang showed Xiluo a modified Witchcraft Incantation drawn on paper, which summoned lightning and set a pine tree ablaze.
• Li Boyang explained that different papers suited different techniques and that his talismans could reproduce some nature-oriented Witchcraft Incantations, but not most sacrificial or curse-based ones.
• Li Boyang named the new system Talisman Seal Script, then jokingly offered Xiluo an absurdly long alternative name for it.
• The Deception Rabbit and Nüman sensed the lightning Incantation from the bamboo grove and recognized that Li Boyang had created something new.
• Nüman said Li Boyang seemed wary of her.

Deception Rabbit discussed Li Boyang’s plans to cultivate superior crops and Nüman’s role as the Spring God in tending the new fields. Meanwhile, the imprisoned large black dog resolved to escape, believing his Heavenly Mandate Divine Ability had begun showing him omens.

• Deception Rabbit admitted that Li Boyang was wary of him because of his connections to the Guifang Kingdom and the danger of revealing the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron.
• Deception Rabbit praised Li Boyang’s plans to improve the soil and cultivate diverse crops, while Nüman worried she could not help the seedlings grow.
• Deception Rabbit reassured Nüman that her powers as the Spring God would support the crops and help her grow in turn.
• The large black dog recalled Li Boyang’s agricultural plans and thought of Wu Yao, vowing not to fail her as he had the stupid cat.
• The large black dog said his Primordial Spirit had sent him omens that his escape was near, and that his incomplete Heavenly Mandate Divine Ability could replicate some of Wu Yao’s abilities.

Qingfu brought a severed-headed mountain folk deserter to Thread of Sky and learned more about the food crisis that had shaped his flight from Gao Village Town. Determined to reach the Hundred Lands Mountain Range and find the Deceiver, she summoned snakes to make a bridge across the chasm.

• Qingfu arrived at Thread of Sky carrying the still-living head of a man who had fled Gao Village Town after inciting a rebellion.
• The head argued that he had escaped because he believed the shaman would run out of food and eventually kill the mountain folk, while Qingfu accused him of putting others in danger.
• Qingfu revealed that the Deceiver had stolen food from the Guifang Kingdom, causing a crisis that nearly brought the country down three years earlier.
• The head warned Qingfu that Thread of Sky was a perilous battlefield marked by the Red-Haired Ghost God's Sword Qi, but she insisted on crossing to find the Deceiver.
• Qingfu used a sound-based witchcraft method to summon countless snakes, which formed a bridge across the chasm.

Li Boyang tended Mountain Hollow Village’s buckwheat with Xiluo’s power while securing the villagers’ agreement to grow bamboo and work in a papermaking workshop next year. After regulating the Earth Veins, he left the land in a cycle that could gradually improve its poor soil, while considering how to prevent the workshop from polluting the spirits’ domain.

• Li Boyang checked with Uncle Lu that the villagers had guarded the rebuilt altar and warned him to keep it protected.
• Li Boyang confirmed that Mountain Hollow Village had agreed to grow bamboo next year in exchange for his help and to provide workers for a papermaking workshop.
• Li Boyang considered the workshop’s pollution problem and his plans for expanding education and industry.
• Li Boyang called on Xiluo and used the altar to regulate the Earth Veins and summon clouds and rain for the buckwheat fields.
• Li Boyang’s work activated soil organisms and formed a cycle in the Earth Veins that could improve the barren land.

Li Boyang adjusted Mountain Hollow Village’s earth veins to improve its climate for growing bamboo, while refusing to make the villagers dependent on his personal powers. After completing the ritual, he warned Lu Suiniang that her unborn daughter’s dangerous past-life influences could make her arrive early, and the story left him sharing a meal with the village family.

• Li Boyang regulated Mountain Hollow Village’s earth veins and explained that he wanted sustainable improvements rather than relying on powers only he could wield.
• Li Boyang finished his ritual at sunset and accepted dinner from the pregnant Lu Suiniang, whom the villagers had begun calling him the Arbiter of Fate.
• Li Boyang explained that the Yin-Yang Talisman Incantation helped balance Lu Suiniang and her unborn daughter but could not remove the child’s evil thoughts and past-life memories.
• Li Boyang warned Lu Suiniang to notify him as soon as labor began, and Uncle Lu promised to watch over her and the talisman.
• Lu Suiniang reassured Li Boyang about her pregnancy and watched him eat the meal she had prepared, feeling closer to him than before.

Li Boyang returned to Li Household Village and coaxed Girl Xi into revealing that Li Jingshu had left after seeing off an outsider. At home, he watched Chen Yun tend the poultry and began considering how to find suitable hunting dogs for the village.

• Li Boyang entered the village and caught up with Girl Xi, who refused to reveal Li Jingshu’s whereabouts until he tempted her with honeycomb.
• Girl Xi admitted that Li Jingshu had left the village after seeing off an outsider, then ran off with the honeycomb.
• Li Boyang returned home and greeted Chen Yun as she tended the village’s chickens and ducks with the help of a large yellow dog.
• Li Boyang considered training hunting dogs and wondered whether Pan Hu could help him find suitable dogs among his canine followers.

Li Jingshu searched the mountain forest for a pregnant Huodou that had escaped a Zhuhuai, hoping to save it as a birthday gift for Li Boyang. While tracking it, Xiao Gui asked whether her spider siblings could provide silk for Li Boyang in exchange for his spider-specific Breathing Method, and Li Jingshu promised he would likely agree.

• Li Jingshu followed Xiao Gui to the area where the Zhuhuai was pursuing a pregnant Huodou after killing several others.
• Li Jingshu released Li Boyang’s sleepy bugs to track the Huodou before the Zhuhuai found it.
• Xiao Gui told Li Jingshu that the Spider Queen wanted to offer silk-producing spiders to Li Boyang in exchange for his Breathing Method.
• Li Jingshu reassured Xiao Gui that Li Boyang would likely accept the trade if the spiders could produce strong silk.