Chapter Summaries

Gu Baishui mourned Great Emperor Changsheng and recalled the strange, powerful disciples of the Gravekeeper Lineage as he described the human race’s decline after his master’s death. He ended by wondering where Changsheng had hidden his Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon.

• Gu Baishui recounted how his eldest senior brother had entered Great Emperor Ziwei’s tomb and carried out the Purple Ultimate Immortal Cauldron, revealing that he was a reborn figure.
• Gu Baishui described his second senior brother as a transmigrator blessed with extraordinary fortune, who often fought the eldest senior brother and had recently refined an ancient corpse into an External Incarnation.
• Gu Baishui praised junior sister Ji Xu’s peerless talent and recalled how the second senior brother broke the legs of a Xuanyuan Clan lord who sought her hand.
• Gu Baishui complained at Great Emperor Changsheng’s grave that the human race had entered the Desolate Era and that outsiders blamed Changsheng for the calamity.
• Gu Baishui recalled Changsheng’s final battle, in which he killed eighteen foreign-race Quasi-Emperors and three Emperor-Realm Ancestors before returning to his grave.
• Gu Baishui poured wine over Changsheng’s tombstone and wondered where his master had hidden the Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon.

Gu Baishui recalled Great Emperor Changsheng’s final warning and examined the mysterious bronze mirror his master had given him. Looking at himself through it, he discovered a shaggy shadow clinging to his back.

• Gu Baishui remembered that Great Emperor Changsheng had warned him to watch for something that might come back to life after his death and cause a disaster if it escaped the Great Emperor's Forbidden Zone.
• Gu Baishui recalled burying his master without an Emperor Weapon and hearing him answer that he would suffer an ominous calamity in his later years.
• As Gu Baishui walked toward his cave abode, he wondered why his master had entrusted him with a bronze mirror that could watch every place in the Great Emperor's Forbidden Zone.
• Gu Baishui used the mirror to look at himself on the wooded path and saw a terrifying, shaggy shadow pressed against his back.

Gu Baishui discovered in his bronze mirror that a red-haired monster had been lurking behind him, then tried to stop it from attacking by invoking his senior brothers. The monster pointed toward a figure in the forest, and Gu Baishui recognized him as his eldest senior brother.

• Gu Baishui saw a shaggy shadow following him in the bronze mirror, though nothing appeared behind him in reality.
• He spotted dark red hair in the mirror and realized the monster might be the red-haired omen his master had foretold.
• As the mirror’s reflection turned blood red and the monster’s breath sounded near his ear, Gu Baishui shouted for it to wait.
• Gu Baishui warned the monster that his senior brothers would retaliate, then mentioned that his eldest senior brother was Great Emperor Ziwei’s reincarnation and wielded the Purple Ultimate Immortal Cauldron.
• The monster pointed toward a black-clad figure holding an ancient purple cauldron, and Gu Baishui recognized him as his eldest senior brother.

Gu Baishui was overwhelmed by red hair and an ominous consciousness while mistaking a shadow in the woods for his Eldest Senior Brother. Ji Xu found him unconscious and carried him toward his cave abode, unaware that the Red-Haired Monster watched her.

• Gu Baishui saw a black-clothed figure holding the Purple Ultimate Immortal Cauldron and recognized him as his Eldest Senior Brother, who seemed to be watching Gu Baishui's cave abode.
• An eerie voice warned Gu Baishui that the Red-Haired Monster was not the only one trying to kill him, and red hairs began emerging from his body and consuming his consciousness.
• A voice called Gu Baishui Third Senior Brother, startling him into turning around as the Red-Haired Monster burst out of the Bronze Mirror and appeared inches from his face.
• Gu Baishui lost consciousness, and Ji Xu found him on the path after searching the woods with her Divine Sense.
• Ji Xu lifted Gu Baishui and carried him toward his cave abode while the unseen Red-Haired Monster watched her.

Gu Baishui woke safely in his cave abode after his encounter with the Red-Haired Monster and spent a quiet day with Ji Xu, his Little Junior Sister. He admitted he had only pretended not to see the monster, leaving its nature unexplained.

• Gu Baishui woke in his cave abode, found the ancient bronze mirror on him, and wondered whether his encounter with the Red-Haired Monster had been a dream.
• Ji Xu returned to the sect after the Ji Clan's ancestral festival and explained she had torn down Gu Baishui's door again because he had not given her the cave abode Mnemonic.
• Gu Baishui asked Ji Xu to bring food, learned she could not cook, and made a meal for her.
• Gu Baishui and Ji Xu rested together under a tree, and Ji Xu asked whether he knew what the Red-Haired Monster was.
• Gu Baishui told Ji Xu he had seen the monster and had been faking it.

Gu Baishui learned more about the Red-Haired Monster and discovered his Eldest Senior Brother was arranging a marriage for him. Ji Xu offered him three ways to seek help, with her preferred choice being to return with her to the Ji Clan.

• Ji Xu explained that Red-Haired Monsters usually appeared among aging Heaven's Source Masters and certain other people, but she did not know why one had targeted Gu Baishui.
• Gu Baishui learned that Second Senior Brother was in the Myriad Poison Domain and Eldest Senior Brother was at Jade Lake, leaving him to wonder who had watched his cave with the Purple Ultimate Immortal Cauldron.
• Ji Xu revealed that Eldest Senior Brother had promised Gu Baishui in marriage to the next Jade Lake Saintess, despite Gu Baishui having no plans to marry yet.
• Ji Xu laid out three paths for Gu Baishui: seek Second Senior Brother in the Myriad Poison Domain, find Eldest Senior Brother and the Old Heavenly Master at the Source Tower, or return with her to the Ji Clan.
• Gu Baishui joked that the Ji Clan might not be able to afford to keep him, and Ji Xu replied that she was rich too.

Gu Baishui read an old record linking red-haired monsters and the ominous to a Decaying Great Emperor, and suspected the mystery was connected to himself. A fresh warning appeared in the book as a red-haired monster blocked the cave exit.

• Gu Baishui searched an ancient book in a secluded cave for information about red-haired monsters and Heavenly Source Masters.
• Gu Baishui read the record’s claim that the ominous and red-haired monsters came from a Decaying Great Emperor’s curse, and that an invisible red-haired monster was especially dangerous.
• Gu Baishui wondered whether the record described him and why a red-haired monster whose face resembled his own had pursued him.
• Gu Baishui found a freshly written warning on the book’s flyleaf telling him to flee if he wanted to live.
• A red-haired monster appeared at the cave entrance, and Gu Baishui cried, “Run.”

Gu Baishui fled the Great Emperor's Forbidden Zone after a mysterious attacker destroyed his cave, struck him with lightning, and sent him into the Luo River. Half a month later, he was alive and hiding in a ruined temple, where he met a Linen-Clad Girl traveling to Luoyang to find her family.

• The Red-Haired Monster warned Gu Baishui to escape the Forbidden Zone because something wanted to kill them both.
• A colossal purple cauldron crushed the cave and tore the Red-Haired Monster apart, while Gu Baishui escaped using a hidden Teleportation Formation.
• A figure wielding the purple cauldron struck Gu Baishui with lightning, and he fell into the Luo River.
• Three days later, Gu Baishui revived beside the river and disappeared into the woods.
• Half a month later, Gu Baishui shared a ruined temple with a Linen-Clad Girl and learned she was a cultivator traveling to Luoyang to find her family.

Gu Baishui and Luo Ziwei sheltered from the rain in a rundown temple and traded stories while sharing food. A wandering Daoist arrived with eerie guests outside, and Gu Baishui recognized his work as corpse chasing.

• Gu Baishui told Luo Ziwei he was heading to Luoyang to find his Second Senior Brother because he suspected his Eldest Senior Brother wanted to kill him.
• Luo Ziwei said she was going to Luoyang to find her biological father, and she and Gu Baishui introduced themselves.
• Gu Baishui gave Luo Ziwei the begging-trade stage name Yezi in exchange for food.
• A burly Daoist arrived at the temple in the rain, carrying a copper bell and peachwood sword.
• Gu Baishui let the Daoist take shelter but said the guests following him would have to stay in the woodshed.
• Bell chimes and heavy footsteps revealed the stiff figures outside, and Gu Baishui identified the Daoist as a corpse chaser.

Gu Baishui sheltered from the storm in a ruined temple with the corpse-driving Taoist Wu Tian and heard how a mountain family had robbed scholars to set up a romance with a future exam champion. After falling asleep, Gu Baishui woke to strange sounds and a sticky liquid on his face, leaving him unsure whether it was rainwater.

• Wu Tian brought six corpses into the temple's woodshed and told Gu Baishui he was delivering two of them to Luoyang City and the Scarlet Earth Poison Domain.
• Wu Tian told Gu Baishui that a wealthy family had robbed traveling scholars, then rescued them in hopes one would become an exam champion and bring the family glory.
• Gu Baishui went farther inside the temple and fell asleep beside the little beggar while Wu Tian kept watch.
• Gu Baishui heard copper bells and heavy footsteps in his sleep, then felt viscous liquid drip onto his face.
• Gu Baishui wiped his face, rolled over, and stiffened as he realized the liquid might not be rainwater.

Gu Baishui encountered a corpse with the aura of a Quasi-Emperor outside the ruined temple and fainted after its eyes revealed a terrifying vision. The next morning, he realized Wu Tian had returned and hurried to leave with the Linen-Clad Girl.

• Gu Baishui discovered that a corpse in the woodshed was breathing and realized the burly man beside him was not Wu Tian.
• A corpse dressed as an ancient civil official appeared beneath the eaves after its yellow talisman fell away.
• The corpse's eyes revealed a galaxy and released Emperor's Aura, causing Gu Baishui to faint.
• Gu Baishui woke the next morning to find the Linen-Clad Girl searching the ashes for roasted sweet potatoes.
• Wu Tian returned to the temple, and Gu Baishui politely excused himself and left with the Linen-Clad Girl.

After Gu Baishui left the Abandoned Temple with the Linen-Clad Girl, Wu Tian revealed that she still loved a long-dead man surnamed Li and had chosen to spend the last stretch of her life with the youth. Wu Tian suspected Gu Baishui might be a Transmigrator and decided to question him, despite the Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon accompanying him.

• Gu Baishui left the Abandoned Temple with the Linen-Clad Girl while Wu Tian watched them disappear into the rain.
• Wu Tian spoke with the Quasi-Emperor ancient corpse and admitted that he was jealous of the youth accompanying Miss.
• Wu Tian revealed that Miss had never married because she could not forget a man surnamed Li, who had been dead for a very long time.
• Wu Tian explained that he had abandoned the splendor of Chang'an after becoming Martial Top Scholar and had returned to the mountains to stay near Miss.
• Wu Tian wondered whether Miss chose to accompany Gu Baishui because the Abandoned Temple was where she had met Li, or because Gu Baishui resembled him.
• Wu Tian suspected Gu Baishui or his Second Senior Brother was a Transmigrator and resolved to ask, noting that an Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon followed the youth.

As Gu Baishui and Luo Ziwei hurried away from a mountain temple, he explained his Second Senior Brother’s warnings about strange people and Transmigrators. Luo Ziwei revealed that she had met a Transmigrator, leaving Gu Baishui stunned.

• Gu Baishui urged Luo Ziwei to leave the temple, warning her to avoid dangerous strangers and people with certain surnames.
• Gu Baishui described his Eldest and Second Senior Brothers and shared the strange sayings his Second Senior Brother used to test him.
• Gu Baishui told Luo Ziwei that his Second Senior Brother was a Transmigrator from another world and had claimed many such outsiders appeared throughout history.
• Gu Baishui explained his Second Senior Brother believed many Transmigrators had arrived in the current era and might change history.
• Luo Ziwei told Gu Baishui that Transmigrators existed and that she had met one.

Luo Ziwei told Gu Baishui about the Transmigrator Li Shiyi, whose real name was Li Nianyu, and began recounting his family history. She described how his father, a celebrated Tang general, met his mother, a merchant girl, in Chang'an; the story ended as she fell ill and coughed blood.

• Luo Ziwei told Gu Baishui that Li Shiyi had been a very good person and explained his real name, family, and younger sister, Li Xu.
• Luo Ziwei described Li Shiyi's father as a renowned general who later left the battlefield and settled in Luoyang.
• Luo Ziwei recounted how Li Shiyi's parents first met in Chang'an when his father, disguised as a city patrolman, stopped at the merchant girl's lantern stall.
• The young patrolman spent two nights trying to solve the merchant girl's lantern riddles, while she smiled at the money he spent.
• The merchant girl began coughing blood in the cold drizzle, and the young patrolman panicked.

The young city inspector and merchant girl fell in love as they traveled up a mountain, where Grand Secretary Du cured her lung disease. They later settled in Luoyang, but the story ended by revealing that Li Shiyi was born not long afterward.

• The merchant girl won the prince's marriage-selection contest and discovered that the prince was the young city inspector who had helped her.
• The young city inspector and merchant girl became engaged, and he promised to grant her wish to climb the mountain rumored to hold a cure for her illness.
• As they climbed, the girl shared memories of her lonely childhood and said she hoped to see Luoyang's willow catkins.
• Near the summit, the young city inspector told the girl he had dreamed that he caught her.
• They found Grand Secretary Du warming himself by a bonfire, and he cured the girl's lung disease.
• The young city inspector and merchant girl later settled in Luoyang, where Li Shiyi was born.

The Linen-Clad Girl told Gu Baishui about Li Shiyi’s childhood with his younger sister, Li Xu, whose secret experiments repeatedly got him blamed and beaten. The story left Li Shiyi facing her next dangerous idea: radium.

• Gu Baishui offered to sneak the Linen-Clad Girl onto a merchant caravan so she could continue her story.
• The Linen-Clad Girl explained that Li Xu was born two years after Li Shiyi, and that the siblings were close despite their very different personalities.
• Li Xu secretly caused most of the trouble at the Li residence, while Li Shiyi often took the blame and was beaten by their father.
• Li Shiyi helped Li Xu with her experiments in a cave in the back hills, shielding her from explosions as she researched gunpowder.
• Li Xu stopped making gunpowder because she feared losing her only brother, then asked Li Shiyi whether he had heard of radium.

Luo Ziwei recounted how Li Xu became a celebrated chess player in Chang'an, prompting Gu Baishui to suspect she was a Transmigrator. As the two traveled toward Luoyang, Luo Ziwei confirmed Li Xu was one, then hinted that Li Shiyi might also have been a Transmigrator.

• A-Xu abandoned her dream of inventing, read through the Li Residence's Book Pavilion, and entertained Li Shiyi with stories from another world.
• A-Xu asked Li Shiyi why ships appeared mast-first at sea, and later drew attention in Chang'an by playing the southern clans' scholars to a draw or victory.
• Luo Ziwei and Gu Baishui joined a merchant caravan traveling toward Luoyang.
• Gu Baishui noted that A-Xu's stories and question about ships resembled things his Second Senior Brother had said.
• Luo Ziwei confirmed that A-Xu was a Transmigrator, then told Gu Baishui she had never said she had met only one.

Li Shiyi learned that A-Xu’s effortless cultivation could break the pride of the demon imprisoned in Chang’an, who finally revealed the Devil Artifact’s location to her. A-Xu stayed in Chang’an and took the top spot on the Weiyang Ranking, but Li Shiyi later entered the city, solved her Go puzzle, and surpassed her record.

• Li Shiyi’s father assigned him to watch the northern Demonic Cultivator and find a way to learn where the Devil Artifact was hidden.
• A-Xu’s rapid breakthroughs in cultivation undermined the imprisoned demon’s belief that he was unmatched, and he asked to speak with her.
• The demon revealed the Devil Artifact’s location to A-Xu, who then chose to stay in Chang’an and cultivate with Grand Secretary Du.
• A-Xu claimed the top spot on the Weiyang Ranking, while Li Shiyi returned to Luoyang and kept in touch with her through letters.
• Li Shiyi entered Chang’an, solved A-Xu’s Go puzzle, and broke the record for the top spot on the Weiyang Ranking.

Gu Baishui and Luo Ziwei stopped at a relay station on their way to Luoyang, where Gu learned about a legendary young general and asked Luo Ziwei to continue Li Shiyi’s story. That night, a furry figure appeared in Gu’s dream and warned him not to go to Luoyang.

• Gu Baishui asked the old merchant about Luoyang and heard of a legendary young general from the royal family.
• Gu Baishui suspected the general was Li Shiyi’s father and wondered about Li Shiyi’s famous younger sister, Li Xu.
• Luo Ziwei confirmed that Li Shiyi had been an extraordinary genius but postponed telling Gu Baishui what happened next.
• Gu Baishui dreamed that a furry figure climbed into the room and told him not to go to Luoyang.

Luo Ziwei told Gu Baishui about her parents’ past in Qingting: her mother had once loved a poor scholar who left to pursue honors in Chang'an. After years of failure and separation, the scholar moved to Luoyang and married into a merchant family, while Luo Ziwei remained on her way to meet the family she had never known.

• Luo Ziwei told Gu Baishui that her father was surnamed Ye, that she kept her grandmother’s surname, and that neither parent came from Luoyang.
• Luo Ziwei described how a carefree young woman and a poor scholar grew up together in Qingting and dreamed of their future beneath an old tree.
• At nineteen, the scholar left Qingting for Chang'an to seek honors, while the girl and the Old Scholar watched him depart.
• The scholar passed the Juren examination in his first year but later failed or earned lower results, while the Old Scholar died and hardship struck Qingting.
• The girl wrote that she had married someone else, and the scholar eventually left Chang'an for Luoyang and married into a merchant family.