Chapter Summaries

Chen Xun raised Qian Wuhen in a simple life of farming and lessons, keeping him away from the wider Cultivation World while carefully tending to his unusual constitution. Frog Daoist visited Qian Wuhen with spiritual herbs and a story, while Chen Xun continued to guide the boy’s growth.

• Qian Wuhen asked Chen Xun for meat, and Chen Xun told him they would buy it after earning spirit stones in the mortal world.
• Chen Xun learned that Qian Wuhen had quickly mastered characters and arithmetic, then planned lessons in the morning, memory training in the afternoon, and survival skills at night.
• Chen Xun reflected on Qian Wuhen’s slow growth and Dao-medicine body, deciding to raise him according to his nature and keep him from entering the Cultivation World too early.
• Qian Wuhen dug for Sweet Potatoes behind the mountain when Frog Daoist arrived with spiritual medicines and reminded him to eat wild vegetables.
• Frog Daoist told Qian Wuhen a story and explained that White Spirit had been summoned to work by an immortal.

Chen Xun raised Qian Wuhen in the Five Elements Sect before taking him down the mountain to explore the world. On a snowy road, cultivators targeted Qian Wuhen for his medicinal body, but Chen Xun killed them effortlessly and continued onward with his son.

• Frog Daoist told Qian Wuhen stories and advised him to care for his frail body and avoid eating flesh and blood.
• Chen Xun listened as Qian Wuhen recounted Frog Daoist’s visit, then watched over him as he slept.
• Two years later, Chen Xun took Qian Wuhen down the mountain, and the boy said farewell to their relatives and animal friends in the Five Elements Sect.
• Chen Xun and Qian Wuhen traveled for months through the Jade Bamboo Mountain Range, with Chen Xun patiently teaching him about the plants and trees they encountered.
• On a snowy road, several cultivators sensed Qian Wuhen’s medicinal body and tried to seize him.
• Chen Xun froze and killed the attackers, then took Qian Wuhen’s hand and continued down the road without telling him what had happened.

Chen Xun continued toward Qian Kingdom and stopped Heavenly Peak Sect cultivators from slaughtering a small clan, then three years later a young wooden-carving vendor and his child sold their wares at Parasol City. The vendor refused a wealthy man's request for a carpentry commission.

• Chen Xun sensed rogue cultivators on the road and continued toward Qian Kingdom with Little Wuhen.
• Heavenly Peak Sect cultivators planned to investigate and punish the True Martial Small Clan, but Chen Xun told them to confiscate its records and techniques and drive it out without slaughtering anyone.
• The Heavenly Peak Sect cultivators bowed for an hour, reflecting on Chen Xun's words about resentment, killing, and the path to immortality.
• Three years later, a child and his parents stopped at a wooden-carving stall in Parasol City, where the vendor carved wares while his child promoted them.
• A wealthy middle-aged man asked whether the vendor accepted carpentry commissions, and the vendor replied that he only sold wooden carvings.

Chen Xun and Qian Wuhen sold wood carvings in a city, where Qian Wuhen took joy in earning spirit stones through his own work. Before they left, Chen Xun traded carvings for grain with a poor youth and quietly wished that the youth would keep his original aspirations and find peace and joy.

• Qian Wuhen sold three wood carvings to a wealthy man’s daughter and carefully hid the fragmented spirit stones.
• Qian Wuhen told Chen Xun that he loved earning spirit stones through his skills and did not envy wealthy families.
• A youth asked whether he could trade grain for flawed horse carvings because he could not afford the regular price.
• Chen Xun gave the youth several horse carvings in exchange for his grain and praised his character.
• Chen Xun watched the youth depart and wished that the years would not wear away his aspirations and that he would know peace and joy.
• Chen Xun and Qian Wuhen packed up their stall and disappeared into the crowd.

Chen Xun sold skewers with Little Wuhen at Parasol City’s night market, then answered his son’s questions about his deceased mother. The next day, he showed Little Wuhen around the city and reflected on how he had finally become the kind of immortal who protected ordinary people.

• Chen Xun sold skewers at Parasol City’s night market while Little Wuhen helped and watched the crowds enjoy the city’s peaceful festivities.
• After packing up, Chen Xun playfully beat Little Wuhen, then sat with him beneath the stars.
• Little Wuhen asked where his mother was, and Chen Xun told him she had died and was waiting for them beyond this world.
• Chen Xun and Little Wuhen explored the city the next day, enjoying its performances, fairs, and local food.
• As Chen Xun watched the townspeople live peacefully, he recalled once doubting that he and Old Ox were immortals and recognized that he had become a protector of the mortal realm.

Chen Xun and Little Wuhen settled in a village, where Wuhen grew close to Han Xuan while keeping their unusual nature secret. Years later, as Han Xuan and the other villagers grew up and Wuhen did not, he finally told her that he and Chen Xun were not human.

• Chen Xun opened a small clinic in a village where he and Little Wuhen could join frequent feasts.
• At the Autumn Harvest Feast, Han Xuan gave Little Wuhen stolen candies, and he confronted Hu Zi when Hu Zi accused him of stealing.
• Little Wuhen’s strength and fighting reputation made the other children wary, while Han Xuan grew increasingly fond of him.
• Ten years later, Little Wuhen remained childlike as his childhood companions grew up and left the village, and Chen Xun explained that humans aged differently from their kind.
• Outside the village, Qian Wuhen told Han Xuan that he and Chen Xun were not human and had come from a barren wilderness deep in the mountains.

Han Xuan told Qian Wuhen she had been chosen to join the Heavenly Peak Sect, then arrived with several immortal disciples to say farewell. The disciples recognized Wuhen as the Dao Ancestor’s adopted child and treated him with great deference, while he offered to bring his father along to work for the Immortal Gate.

• Han Xuan teased Qian Wuhen and told him she had spiritual roots and had been chosen by the Heavenly Peak Sect.
• Qian Wuhen celebrated Han Xuan’s chance to cultivate and learned that she could return to visit the village.
• Several Heavenly Peak Sect disciples arrived to escort Han Xuan, and the villagers greeted them respectfully.
• The disciples recognized Qian Wuhen as the Dao Ancestor’s adopted child and privately wondered whether the Dao Ancestor was secluded nearby.
• The disciples stopped Qian Wuhen from bowing and praised his potential, while he asked whether his father could work for the Immortal Gate for decent wages.

Han Xuan left the village after being chosen by an immortal sect, while Qian Wuhen parted from her calmly and went into the city with Chen Xun. In Parasol City, a man returning to fulfill an old promise spotted the woodcarving stall and its unchanged owner and little brother again.

• Han Xuan and the Sky Pillar Sect Disciples departed after she promised to visit Qian Wuhen and Uncle Xun again.
• Chen Xun praised Qian Wuhen for accepting the parting openly, then carried him on his shoulders toward the city.
• A weathered man arrived in Parasol City with wooden carvings and Fragmented Spirit Stones, hoping to find the woodcarving Boss and thank him.
• The man's horse, Lightning Arrow, noticed the stall beneath the city gate, and the man recognized the unchanged woodcarving Boss and little brother.

Chen Xun met the former Horse Leading Lad again at his wooden-carving stall, where his words and craftsmanship convinced the man and his horse that he was a profound master. The visitor left marveling at Chen Xun’s mysterious perspective on the carvings and the tale they represented.

• Little Wuhen recognized the former Horse Leading Lad and called Chen Xun over while Chen Xun continued carving.
• The man and his horse admired Chen Xun’s lifelike carvings and asked whether he had visited the world of immortal cultivators.
• Chen Xun said the carvings came from mortal tale books and described them as pieces of a very long tale.
• Chen Xun explained that carvings bought by others had only temporarily left, and that each wooden figure was unique and could not be duplicated.
• The man, his horse, and Little Wuhen were shaken by Chen Xun’s profound words and regarded him as a reclusive master.

Chen Xun sold Bai Xinghan a wood carving and gave Lightning Arrow a horse-shaped carving before Bai Xinghan and the horse fled the city guards. Afterward, a formidable woman confronted Chen Xun at his stall, asking why he had not visited Jade Terrace.

• Chen Xun carved and sold Bai Xinghan a figure from the storybook Mortal World, and Bai Xinghan introduced himself and his horse, Lightning Arrow, nicknamed Foolish Eagle.
• Chen Xun gave Lightning Arrow a horse-shaped wood carving, then watched as the horse bolted from soldiers who came to seize it and Bai Xinghan chased after it.
• Chen Xun began packing up the stall, then realized he had forgotten a promise as the surrounding street fell silent at the arrival of a striking woman.
• The woman in blue approached Chen Xun and asked whether business had kept him from visiting Jade Terrace.

Yu Xuan confronted Chen Xun for twice promising to visit her and never coming, then joined him and Qian Wuhen on a walk outside the city. As Yu Xuan considered the danger of Wuhen’s Dao-medicine constitution, she cast a spell so he could not hear their conversation.

• Yu Xuan accused Chen Xun of deceiving her by failing to visit the Jade Terrace Immortal Palace after promising he would.
• Chen Xun introduced Qian Wuhen, and Yu Xuan noted that he had taken his mother’s surname.
• Yu Xuan reflected that Wuhen’s acquired Dao-medicine constitution made cultivation seemingly impossible and that Chen Xun must understand the danger.
• Yu Xuan led Chen Xun and Qian Wuhen out of the city, silencing men who stared at her with a cold glance.
• Under the moonlight, Yu Xuan cast a spell that kept Wuhen from hearing what she and Chen Xun discussed.

Chen Xun and Yu Xuan walked through the mortal world of the Qian Kingdom and discussed his life with Little Wuhen and his reluctance to visit the Jade Terrace Immortal Palace. Yu Xuan decided to stay and travel with them, and Chen Xun agreed, startling Little Wuhen with his sudden shout.

• Chen Xun asked Yu Xuan what she thought of the mortal world of the Qian Kingdom, and she praised its peaceful lives while following him with Little Wuhen.
• Yu Xuan asked about Little Wuhen, and Chen Xun said the boy could live for ten thousand years; they then discussed Chen Xun's past and the dangers of the Great Age.
• Yu Xuan told Chen Xun he need not visit the Jade Terrace Immortal Palace and said she would treat her visit as if he had kept his promise.
• Chen Xun recalled why he avoided the Jade Terrace Immortal Palace, including the Jade Zither Immortal's hostility, but did not explain his reasons to Yu Xuan.
• Yu Xuan said she would stay in the mortal world and travel with Chen Xun, claiming he owed her a karmic debt.
• Chen Xun agreed to travel without using magical power, and his sudden shout startled Little Wuhen, who thought a feast was coming.

Chen Xun took Yu Xuan and Little Wuhen away from the village and pedaled them across the Qian Kingdom in a wooden cart, enjoying a slow journey through its changing landscapes. A century passed on the road, leaving Little Wuhen older and more mature, and the three became figures remembered as travelers amid the changing world.

• Chen Xun teased Little Wuhen by taking his wooden staff, then left the village with him and Yu Xuan after Yu Xuan's return caused an uproar.
• Chen Xun rode a pedal-powered wooden cart through the countryside with Little Wuhen and Yu Xuan, and all three relaxed as they watched the fields pass.
• Chen Xun led the group across the Qian Kingdom for years, where Little Wuhen painted what he saw and met people across cities, glaciers, and grasslands.
• Chen Xun, Yu Xuan, and Little Wuhen traveled for a hundred years as the mortal world changed around them.
• Chen Xun beat Little Wuhen after he damaged the cart, while Yu Xuan watched with amusement, and Little Wuhen grew into a mature, cheerful youth.

Chen Xun and Yu Xuan reflected on their long journey together as she revealed that she might leave for the Boundless Great World after seeking enlightenment in the Mysterious Heaven Corpse Spirit Ruins. Chen Xun immediately offered to take her to the Jade Terrace Immortal Palace instead, and Little Wuhen wondered if they were going to another funeral.

• Chen Xun washed clothes by a mountain spring while Little Wuhen fished, and he reflected on how returning to simple mortal routines felt like a cycle.
• Yu Xuan told Chen Xun that her sect had ordered her to go to the Primordial Great World, and Chen Xun encouraged her not to tie every part of life to cultivation.
• Yu Xuan explained that she had once wanted Chen Xun to visit the Jade Terrace Immortal Palace so he could ask an elder about reincarnation, but Chen Xun said he had let the question go.
• Yu Xuan revealed that she had also wanted Chen Xun to meet her master and that she might leave for the Boundless Great World if she attained Sudden Enlightenment of Dao Runes in the Mysterious Heaven Corpse Spirit Ruins.
• Chen Xun decided to set out for the Jade Terrace Immortal Palace and summoned an imposing aura, prompting Little Wuhen to ask whether they were attending another funeral.

Yu Xuan bid farewell to Chen Xun and Little Wuhen after a hundred years together, then revealed her immense power by triggering an avalanche on a distant snow mountain. She left for her own path, while Chen Xun and Little Wuhen headed home toward the border of the Qian Kingdom.

• Yu Xuan told Chen Xun she had already decided to leave, thanked him for their time together, and asked him to look after her disciple.
• Chen Xun and Yu Xuan exchanged farewells, and Yu Xuan said they might meet again in the Cultivation World of the great age.
• Yu Xuan demonstrated her power by drawing an enormous avalanche down the distant Great Snow Mountain before departing into the forest.
• Little Wuhen was awestruck by Yu Xuan's display and excitedly called her an immortal, while Chen Xun let him admire her power.
• Chen Xun packed their belongings, and he and Little Wuhen rode their wooden cart toward the border of the Qian Kingdom.

A year later, Chen Xun and Qian Wuhen reunited with Han Xuan at Shanhai Pass, where the childhood friends confronted the distance between their lives as mortals and cultivators. After Wuhen gave Han Xuan his long-kept candy and a strange stone and left with Chen Xun, a Heavenly Peak Sect Supreme Elder suddenly appeared and seized the gifts, then roared in fury.

• Chen Xun and Qian Wuhen arrived at Shanhai Pass and encountered Han Xuan, who had become a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
• Han Xuan asked Wuhen not to call her little sister anymore, and Wuhen accepted the change without argument.
• Wuhen gave Han Xuan the candy she had once stolen for him and a strange stone, thanked her, and left with Chen Xun.
• Han Xuan's fellow disciples mocked the gifts and dismissed Chen Xun and Wuhen as rustic mortals.
• A Supreme Elder of the Heavenly Peak Sect descended, slid across the ground to retrieve the candy and stone, and then roared, shaking Shanhai Pass.

The Heavenly Peak Sect Supreme Elder rebuked the junior cultivators for their arrogance toward mortals and made one Foundation Establishment disciple reflect on his wrongdoing. He then confronted Han Xuan about her attitude toward her former acquaintances and told her she could reclaim two items if she gained understanding, even if that took until Dao Integration.

• The Supreme Elder arrived after a Foundation Establishment disciple made a disparaging remark about Wu Hen, and his pressure left the young cultivators terrified.
• He scolded the disciple for looking down on mortals and ordered him to reflect in the mortal world until he understood his mistake.
• The sect elders realized they would be held responsible for failing to guide the junior cultivators properly.
• The Supreme Elder told Han Xuan that he knew her background and that the sect had quietly given her opportunities because of her connection to the Little Ancestor.
• He pointed out that Han Xuan had begun denying her former acquaintances and said she could retrieve two items from him if she gained understanding, even if she reached Dao Integration first.
• Han Xuan accepted, while the other disciples grew fearful of her extraordinary background.

After the Supreme Elder disciplined the sect’s leaders, Chen Xun and Little Wuhen continued their travels, and Wuhen wondered whether he should cultivate immortality. Five years later, they returned to the Five Elements Sect, where Wuhen misunderstood Chen Xun’s position and was kicked toward the mountain gate.

• The Supreme Elder ordered portraits destroyed, summoned the elders to reconsider sect plans, and punished several power holders by sending them to reclaim wasteland for a hundred years.
• On the road, Little Wuhen told Chen Xun he wanted to cultivate immortality, but Chen Xun warned him about death and the violence of the cultivation world.
• Little Wuhen asked about Chen Xun’s youth, and Chen Xun dodged the question before speeding their cart up the mountain road.
• Five years later, Chen Xun and Little Wuhen returned to the Five Elements Sect, where A'Er roared to greet them.
• Little Wuhen decided Chen Xun was being mistreated by the sect and suggested they find another place to work, so Chen Xun kicked him toward the mountain gate.

Chen Xun brought Little Wuhen back to the Five Elements Sect after the boy briefly talked of leaving, and welcomed him home among their relatives. At their thatched cottage, Chen Xun offered to use his connections to help Little Wuhen join a small sect once he had decided what kind of cultivation he wanted.

• Chen Xun dragged Little Wuhen away from the mountain gate after the boy declared he would farm for the Five Elements Sect, then gave A'Er a Good Fruit before leaving.
• Chen Xun and Little Wuhen returned to the Five Elements Sect by wooden cart, where Little Wuhen happily greeted his relatives and forgot his earlier resolve to leave.
• Frog Daoist and White Spirit joined the welcome, while disciples watched Chen Xun's cart and continued their self-sufficient cultivation without stipends.
• As Chen Xun pushed the cart up the mountain, Little Wuhen told his relatives about his travels but said nothing bad about Han Xuan and the others.
• At the thatched cottage, Little Wuhen said home was best, and Chen Xun offered to use his connections to find him a small sect when he had chosen his cultivation path.

Little Wuhen left Chen Xun to cultivate immortality, while Chen Xun secretly watched him depart. Three years later, Old Beggar recognized the wooden carving Bai Xinghan and Lightning Arrow had obtained as a life-saving treasure that could turn a desperate situation around.

• Little Wuhen decided to leave the mountain and cultivate immortality so he could make Old Dad proud and stop relying on him.
• Little Wuhen rode away alone, and Chen Xun secretly sent him off with a gentle breeze and drifting leaves.
• Three years later, Bai Xinghan and Lightning Arrow showed Old Beggar a wooden carving they had obtained from their hometown.
• Old Beggar warned Bai Xinghan and Lightning Arrow never to lose or trade the carving, saying it could help them turn the tables in a desperate situation.