Chapter Summaries

Su Yao tried to leave Qixia Mountain to find a rare being needed for his mysterious prism, but the Daozheng refused and had him taken to the Ancestral Hall. After regaining consciousness, Su Yao considered his cultivation and the urgent need to form a third talisman, then heard a sound outside the hall.

• Su Yao begged the Daozheng to let him leave Qixia Mountain, but the Daozheng ordered Nannuo to fetch the Turbid and Clear Branch.
• Su Yao challenged the Daozheng to cripple his cultivation and expel him, prompting the Daozheng to knock him unconscious and order Daoist Zheng to take him to the Ancestral Hall.
• The Daozheng sent the other Daoists away and kept Nannuo and Jueming behind, while Daoist Zheng placed Su Yao in the Hall of Return to Truth.
• Su Yao woke and recalled that his prism required him to form a third talisman before mastering his third Secret Method, or he would lose the chance forever.
• Su Yao searched for a suitable rare being on Qixia Mountain and remembered how Daoist Zheng had helped him obtain the Morning Rosy Cloud Duck and Azure Empyrean Sparrow.
• Su Yao stirred his mind, sending ripples across the prism in his Qi Sea, and heard a sound outside the hall.

Su Yao decided to leave Qixia Temple after Daozheng blocked his exit, and he took Zhengji and the temple’s talismanic edict from the ancestral hall. He left the mountain with supplies and guidance from Nannuo and Jueming, while Daozheng quietly arranged for protection on his journey.

• Su Yao gathered his belongings and decided to slip down the mountain after Daozheng’s restriction prevented him from leaving the ancestral hall.
• Daozheng sent two hidden attendants to retrieve treasures and wait near Lake Encompassing Emptiness to protect Su Yao in the Great Void.
• Su Yao took Zhengji and the Daoist talismanic edict, then Daozheng dropped a boulder on him as he left the hall.
• Su Yao mounted a rosy cloud to Mysterious Rosy Cloud Peak and met Nannuo and Jueming on the stone steps.
• Jueming gave Su Yao clothes, documents, and cultivation supplies, while Nannuo gave him a guide to nearby regions and their customs.
• Su Yao bid the attendants farewell and promised to bring back books and illustrated storybooks for them.

Su Yao left Qixia Mountain after tearful farewells, intending to settle his mortal ties and seek a fortuitous opportunity. The Daozheng sealed the mountain for twenty years, and Su Yao encountered a powerful Blood Qi presence soon after setting out.

• Su Yao promised Jueming and Nannuo he would return when pear blossoms again covered the Thirty-Six Peaks of Qixia, as blossoms fell to see him off.
• Daoist Zheng met Su Yao at the foot of Mysterious Rosy Cloud Peak, warned him about the dangers of the mortal world, and urged him to return to Qixia Mountain.
• Su Yao sang a farewell to his master and planned to visit Qinghe Commandery City, then Yongzhou, while seeking a suitable variant for his third talisman.
• The Morning Rosy Cloud Duck and Azure Empyrean Sparrow brought Su Yao a letter from the Daozheng, who ordered him not to return for twenty years and said Qixia Mountain's gates would be sealed.
• After reading the letter, Su Yao headed south with the two birds, sensed a Foundation Establishment Blood Qi Devil Cultivator ahead, and concealed himself with the Great Yin Dharma Robe and Mysterious Floating Body.

Su Yao saw through a mountain god’s staged attack and used Zhengji to destroy the Devil Cultivator. He agreed to follow the disguised mountain god north, while a hidden watcher worried that Su Yao’s troublesome nature had returned now that he was off the mountain.

• Su Yao recognized that the woodcutter being chased was actually the mountain god of Qixia Mountain, disguised to probe him.
• Su Yao used Zhengji to cast Golden Palace Morning Clouds and destroy the Devil Cultivator.
• The disguised mountain god pressed Su Yao to reveal himself and accept an invitation to his home, and Su Yao warned him not to deceive him.
• Su Yao agreed to follow the mountain god north to receive the supposed gifts touched by immortal Spiritual Qi.
• A watcher concealed in the Great Void lamented that Daozheng had burdened him with watching over Su Yao.

Su Yao followed the disguised mountain god to his courtyard, where the god tried to test him with fruit, pastries, and tea. Su Yao recognized the test and criticized the offerings, then judged the tea’s name as a sign of the Lower Vehicle.

• Su Yao followed the woodcutter to a courtyard and checked for traps before entering.
• The woodcutter served Su Yao local spirit fruits, tea, and pastries while privately fearing the consequences of provoking him.
• Su Yao tasted the pastries and asked about their maker, but the woodcutter did not answer.
• Su Yao explained that the spirit fruits conflicted with the Rainbow Clouds path and declared them wasted, revealing that he had seen through the test.
• The woodcutter offered him mountain tea called Wild Cloud, and Su Yao criticized its name as belonging to the Lower Vehicle.

Su Yao rejected the woodcutter’s arguments about clouds, tea, and forgiveness, suspecting that the mountain god was testing whether he could return to Qixia Temple. He left the woodcutter kneeling and reflected on the danger of trusting people who lived beyond the mountains.

• The woodcutter argued that clouds and rosy clouds shared a source, but Su Yao insisted their natures differed and criticized the woodcutter’s tea as lacking a lingering sweetness.
• The woodcutter explained that his adopted son had once tried to take his property but had since repented, and asked Su Yao whether he should accept the man’s offer to care for him.
• Su Yao rejected the idea that repentance erased past wrongs and said cultivators were bound by mountain rules, heavenly laws, and their patriarchs’ teachings.
• The woodcutter grabbed Su Yao, then released him and knelt to beg for another chance; Su Yao refused and left the courtyard.
• Su Yao recalled Daozheng’s warning about trusting outsiders and thought of Guangli’s fall from Dao Son candidate to prisoner in the Hall of Reflection.

After confronting the Qixia Mountain god, Su Yao left the area and changed his plans, heading east before turning toward Yongzhou. He watched the Daoist Overseer depart north in a radiant carriage to attend a lecture at Jade Void Palace.

• Su Yao left after receiving the Daoist Overseer's warning, while the mountain god told the Confucian master that Su Yao was not Guangli.
• The Daoist Overseer discussed Su Yao's actions with the green sheep and said he was pleased with how the matter had gone.
• Su Yao recovered some Law Power and decided to avoid Qinghe Commandery's seat, travel east, and then head for Yongzhou.
• Su Yao rested in a cave, where he saw the Daoist Overseer's radiant carriage pass overhead and head north toward Jade Void Palace.

Su Yao was trapped in a miasma-filled valley, then detained by a purple-robed senior who recognized him as the Qixia Daozi. After Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi delivered a wooden box and a warning from the Daozheng, Su Yao learned he should stay nearby and wait for the right opportunity.

• Su Yao and the two birds spent over a month trapped in a valley filled with miasma while he searched for a way out.
• A purple-robed senior cleared the miasma, recognized Su Yao as the Qixia Daozi, and held him in a cage of purple Qi before departing for Qixia Temple.
• Three days later, Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi arrived and told Su Yao that an elder had created the miasma on orders from the mountain to keep him from going to Yongzhou.
• Li Siyi gave Su Yao a wooden box wrapped in silk, which the prism could not inspect.
• Su Yao read the Daozheng's message instructing him to keep the box safe, follow its prompt when it appeared, stay in the area, and be careful.

Su Yao accepted Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi as temporary attendants, but Qixia’s decree barred him from going to Yongzhou because of the danger there. After heading west, he destroyed demons preying on humans and confronted hidden figures who emerged to challenge him.

• Su Yao agreed to keep Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi with him, promising rewards for service and warning he would dismiss them if they proved unfit.
• Li Siyi presented Qixia’s decree forbidding Su Yao from going to Yongzhou for the time being, and he reluctantly postponed the journey.
• Su Yao mounted the Clear Wind Sword and headed west, with Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi following behind.
• Su Yao blasted a group of demons that were gathering to devour humans, flattening the mountaintop.
• Su Yao sensed someone hidden to the northeast and attacked, causing several figures to emerge from behind a screen of light as fiery-red bird cries filled the sky.

Su Yao fought the Hepu Witch Tribe and Noon Sparrow Mountain’s Fire Sparrows, using his rosy-light techniques and swordsmanship to kill several opponents. After helping Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi, he watched the remaining Fire Sparrows combine into a mass of flame.

• Su Yao used Golden Palace Morning Clouds to kill three Fire Sparrows and sent Liu Yunhe, Li Siyi, Little Red, and Little Orange to hold off the others.
• Su Yao resisted the witches’ curses and attacks, then killed four Hepu witches with his sword and Glow Ashes.
• The surviving Fire Sparrows attacked Su Yao alongside the witches, and their combined assault wounded him despite his rosy-light defenses.
• Su Yao killed the witch leading the Hepu group, then faced the Fire Sparrows as they joined the battle.
• Su Yao killed a witch fighting Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi, breaking their opponents’ formation.
• The remaining fourteen Fire Sparrows gathered together and joined into a single mass of flame.

Su Yao defeated the fire sparrows and the remaining witches with powerful radiant Law Techniques, then regrouped with Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi to recover. He prepared for a more difficult fight against a hidden witch and sparrow, both direct inheritors of their respective lineages.

• Su Yao told Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi to handle the witches while he confronted the fire sparrows.
• Su Yao used Vermilion Mound Deliverance of Life to turn the sparrows' fire into Rainbow Radiance Vermilion Fire, which burned inside them and destroyed all fourteen.
• Su Yao joined Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi and killed the two remaining witches with Heavenly Radiance Resonance Technique.
• Su Yao took an Essence Recovery Pill and realized that a powerful witch and sparrow were still hiding nearby.
• Su Yao gave recovery pills to Liu Yunhe, Li Siyi, Little Red, and Little Orange as the group prepared for the remaining fight.

Su Yao entered a cave while Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi fought off Zhao Xin and Que Qiu’s attack. As the battle continued, Zhao Xin began an Incantation using Su Yao’s captured Qi, and Que Qiu dove toward the ground.

• Su Yao noticed Zhao Xin and Que Qiu following him and continued west with his companions.
• Zhao Xin and Que Qiu attacked Su Yao’s party outside a cave with earthen flood dragons and Bing Fire sparrows.
• Su Yao left Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi to defend against the attack and entered the cave with Little Red and Little Orange.
• Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi used He Wood and Wu Earth techniques to stop the flood dragons and block the fire sparrows.
• Zhao Xin used a wisp of Su Yao’s Qi to begin casting an Incantation while Que Qiu charged toward the ground.

Su Yao redirected Zhao Xin’s curse onto the prism in his Qi sea, triggering a deadly backlash that threatened Zhao Xin and Que Qiu. A mysterious aged voice rescued Zhao Xin, extinguished the backlash with a powerful flame, and declared that the Hepu Witch Tribe would apologize to the Rosy Clouds High Sect.

• Que Qiu enveloped himself and Zhao Xin in a cloth bag as Su Yao’s five-colored vapors surged toward them.
• Su Yao diverted Zhao Xin’s curse onto the prism, which absorbed the chill presence and sent it back through the Unseen.
• Zhao Xin used a Witch Priest Puppet and three drops of Essence Blood to resist the backlash, but the puppet cracked and the remaining chill presence overwhelmed him.
• An aged voice dispersed the five-colored vapors, shattered Que Qiu’s cloth bag, and used Yellow Springs Qi and the Fallen Sun Joined Hearts Si Fire to protect and revive Zhao Xin.
• The aged voice promised that the Hepu Witch Tribe would present an apology to the Rosy Clouds High Sect, then took Zhao Xin and Que Qiu away.
• Li Siyi asked Liu Yunhe if the Hepu Witch Tribe would apologize, and Liu Yunhe said the High Sect’s prestige remained undiminished.

Su Yao learned that Zhao Xin and Que Qiu had disappeared after a witch priest intervened, then told Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi to prepare for a journey to Nanzhao. A message in Daozheng’s wooden box hinted at the opportunity and hardships awaiting them there.

• Little Red led Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi into the cave, where Su Yao asked about their injuries and the retreat of the two factions.
• Liu Yunhe explained his past defeat by Zhao Xin and his fellow Han Ziyi’s draw with Que Qiu; Su Yao revealed that Zhao Xin had nearly died under his own curse.
• Su Yao urged Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi to broaden their horizons, gave them pills, and asked about Han Ziyi.
• Li Siyi showed Su Yao her South Star Boat, and he said they would travel to Nanzhao in three days.
• After Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi left, Su Yao read a message in Daozheng’s wooden box that described a distant opportunity and the journey’s trials.

Su Yao realized the wooden box and his descent from Qixia Temple were tied to the Jade Void Palace, and suspected the prism had pushed him into the matter. At the Jade Void Palace, Perfected Qizhen was summoned by the sect master as immortals debated whether to protect their lineages or risk themselves in the coming struggle.

• Su Yao inferred that the Jade Void Palace had sent the wooden box and understood why Daozheng had grown distant and argued against his descent.
• Su Yao examined the prism, suspected it had urged him to descend and refine talismans, and resolved to do his utmost despite the risks.
• Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi meditated in small caves beside the array they had set up at Su Yao's cave entrance.
• Linghui told the assembled immortals that the sect master, the Second Master, would receive them after handling minor matters.
• Linghui escorted Perfected Qizhen to the Jade Void Palace after the sect master summoned him.
• Qizhenzi rejected the advice to stand aside, arguing that immortals could not avoid the great tide and had to choose between surrendering their inheritance and sacrificing themselves in pursuit of the Dao.

Qizhenzi defended Su Yao’s claim to the Rainbow Cloud Fruition before the Jade Purity Primordial Beginning Heavenly Venerable, citing Yun Zhongzi’s writings and signs from Su Yao’s birth and cultivation. The palace master sent a beam of light toward the South Sea and prepared to watch what would happen when Su Yao met the other person favored by the fruition.

• Qizhenzi entered the Jade Void Palace and met the palace master, who asked whether Su Yao truly possessed the Rainbow Cloud Fruition’s destiny.
• Qizhenzi presented Yun Zhongzi’s writings and explained why Su Yao’s birth, virtues, cultivation, and spiritual object marked him as the fruition’s chosen person.
• The palace master asked whether Qizhenzi was willing to let Su Yao descend into the mortal world, and Qizhenzi cited Yun Zhongzi’s own path from the mortal world to the Dao.
• The palace master questioned Qizhenzi about visiting Mount Zhongnan and asking Xicheng whether the fruition had chosen Su Yao; Qizhenzi said Xicheng had only replied, “Mm.”
• The palace master declared that the two people involved should meet, shook a black banner, and sent a beam of clear light toward the South Sea.
• The palace master asked whether Xicheng had helped Qizhenzi repel a Devil Lord three thousand years earlier, and Qizhenzi answered that he had used Yun Zhongzi’s talisman to wield the Ask Amid the Clouds.

Su Yao sent a poem bearing Qixia Temple’s seal to the loyal Qingcang Zhang Clan before continuing toward Nanzhao. A strange fog shook the South Star Boat and left him stranded beside an unfamiliar immortal mountain, with his companions unconscious.

• Su Yao wrote a poem for the Zhang household with his ancient sword and stamped it with Qixia Temple’s Daoist talismanic edict.
• Li Siyi delivered the poem to Radiant Light Mountain, where Zhang Qingyu greeted Su Yao and offered attendants, but Su Yao declined and continued toward Nanzhao.
• After the South Star Boat traveled another two thousand li, thick fog enveloped it as it crossed the Hepu Witch Tribe’s territory.
• The boat shook violently in the fog, and Su Yao later awoke to find it grounded, his companions unconscious, and an unfamiliar immortal mountain nearby in a dry climate.

Su Yao reached Mount Zhongnan and endured a clash of mysterious powers as he climbed toward the secluded True Lord of Qixia Temple. In a ruined temple, an ordinary person treated his bleeding eyes with a strange medicine, and Su Yao fell asleep as the person sang.

• Su Yao recognized Mount Zhongnan, exchanged poems with someone on the mountain, and continued upward despite Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi's warnings.
• Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi followed Su Yao with Little Red and Little Orange as a bright moon, an imperial jade seal, and three intertwined lights appeared and vanished above Mount Zhongnan.
• Su Yao's eyes began streaming moonlight, blood, and threefold light, while heavy fog swallowed Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi and left him walking alone.
• Su Yao entered a ruined temple and met an ordinary person who offered him a bizarre prescription for his heart's illness.
• The person collected Su Yao's three kinds of tears, mixed them into medicine, and applied it to his eyes; Su Yao fell asleep as the person sang.

Xicheng confronted the ancient creature that had attacked Su Yao, drove it away with Yun Zhongzi’s peachwood sword, and carried Su Yao to a protected hut on Mount Zhongnan. He used white lotuses to suppress the creature’s effects on Su Yao, but could only delay them while hoping Qizhenzi would secure help from Biyou Palace.

• Xicheng arrived at the ruined temple and confronted the creature, which revealed its history of preying on Qixia Temple’s disciples and being imprisoned beneath Mount Zhongnan.
• Xicheng trapped the creature with rosy light and Wu Earth Qi, stabbed its ruined left eye with Yun Zhongzi’s peachwood sword, and drove it away.
• Xicheng carried unconscious Su Yao up a side path to a thatched hut beside a white lotus pond and examined him.
• Xicheng performed two rites and sent a pair of white lotuses into Su Yao to hold off the creature’s effects.
• Xicheng realized he could not fully undo what the creature had done and hoped Qizhenzi could persuade Biyou Palace to help before entering the hut.

Su Yao awakened after being unconscious for more than a month, while the Daoist at Qixia Temple concealed the fate connecting him to Little Red and Little Orange. As Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi knelt before Su Yao, a mysterious voice revealed that he was at Zhongnan’s rear mountain beside Qixia Temple’s Jade Palace Lotus Pond.

• The Daoist sent his peachwood sword to free Li Siyi, Liu Yunhe, Little Red, and Little Orange from the mist and guide the two men to Su Yao.
• The Daoist told Li Siyi and Liu Yunhe to take pills and leave the birds with Su Yao, then used rosy light to examine and conceal the birds’ connection to him.
• Little Red and Little Orange returned to Su Yao’s side, and Su Yao eventually woke from what had seemed to him like a moment in an opera.
• Su Yao learned from Liu Yunhe that he had been unconscious for more than a month and asked where they were.
• Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi knelt before Su Yao, and a mysterious voice identified their location as Zhongnan’s rear mountain beside Qixia Temple’s Jade Palace Lotus Pond.