Chapter Summaries

Xie Juanhan and Telingewei discovered that their Golden Vine Pumpkin had spread across the pumpkin patch and crowded out the ordinary pumpkins. They pulled up the struggling plants and cooked their vines, ending with plans to try the Golden Vine Pumpkin vines next.

• Xie Juanhan and Telingewei saw that the furry ones had recovered after drinking his soups, and he told the Water Demons that soup had helped them.
• Moli hurried Xie Juanhan and Telingewei to the fields, where he showed them a pumpkin vine that had turned gold.
• Xie Juanhan and Telingewei found that the Golden Vine Pumpkin had spread across nearly the entire pumpkin patch, leaving the ordinary pumpkins stunted.
• Xie Juanhan and Telingewei pulled up the ordinary pumpkin vines and Xie Juanhan stir-fried them for a meal.
• Xie Juanhan suggested trying the Golden Vine Pumpkin vines, and the furry ones eagerly agreed.

Xie Juanhan and Telingewei cooked Golden Vine Pumpkin vines in several ways, shared them with magical creatures, and enjoyed a meal at the Water Demons’ lakeside restaurant. The chapter ended with Harper and the other Companion Beasts unknowingly drinking spring water left in a large leaf by their gate before Xie Juanhan and Telingewei woke.

• Xie Juanhan and Telingewei picked tender Golden Vine Pumpkin vines and offered the Goblins the kitchen scraps.
• Xie Juanhan pickled the pumpkin vines overnight, then cooked them with minced meat to serve alongside rice noodles.
• The Water Demons asked to trade for pumpkin vines, and Xie Juanhan directed them to the Perytons; the Water Demons later served stewed pumpkin vines at their restaurant.
• As the weather cooled, Xie Juanhan and Telingewei began sleeping in while Harper and the other Companion Beasts went outside to play.
• Habu tested the spring water in a large leaf left by the gate, and the Companion Beasts drank it before running off to play.

Harper warned the others not to drink the mysterious water left outside the yard, prompting Xie Juanhan and Telingewei to meet the visitor. They discovered the water had been brought by Kuitifulong, who wanted to trade it for their crops.

• Harper stopped Habu from drinking the water and alerted Telingewei by scratching at the bedroom door.
• Telingewei tested the water, and Xie Juanhan and Telingewei waited through the night to discover who was leaving it.
• Xie Juanhan and Telingewei met Kuitifulong, a gentle giant who explained that he had brought spring water as an offering.
• Kuitifulong said he wanted to trade the water for Xie Juanhan and Telingewei's pumpkin vines and berries.
• Xie Juanhan tasted Kuitifulong's spring water and found it exceptionally pure and refreshing.

Xie Juanhan offered the giant an ongoing trade of crops for pure water, and the giant agreed after picking six baskets of produce. As the Star Berries reached the end of their season, Xie Juanhan sent Harper and the others to bring some to the Pixies, who sent back fresh nuts.

• Xie Juanhan and Telingewei showed the giant their fields, where he picked six baskets of crops.
• Xie Juanhan proposed trading crops for a bucket of the giant’s water every few days, and the giant agreed.
• Xie Juanhan and Telingewei found that the Star Berry vines had stopped flowering as their fruiting season ended.
• Xie Juanhan picked the last ripe Star Berries and sent Harper and the others to deliver a basket to the Pixies.
• Harper and the others returned with a basket of fresh nuts, and Xie Juanhan planned to roast them for a meal.

Xie Juanhan and Telingewei checked the Star Berry wine after the Pixies reminded them it was ready, tasted two distinct varieties, and decided to age it in barrels. Xie Juanhan sent Moli and the other little ones to bring the Pixies both kinds of wine, and they arrived to offer them a taste.

• The Pixies reminded Harper and the others that last winter’s wine had finished fermenting and could be aged in barrels.
• Telingewei read Harper’s memories and told Xie Juanhan what the Pixies had said, so they uncovered the wine jars and checked the Star Berry wine.
• Xie Juanhan and Telingewei tasted the sweet Tammi Golden Wine-style Star Berry wine and the sharper, refreshing variety with the furry creatures.
• Xie Juanhan decided the wine was ready for aging, and Telingewei suggested having the Dwarves make barrels.
• Xie Juanhan gave Moli a basket containing jars of both wines to take to the Pixies, while Nibote protested that he was not allowed to carry it.
• Moli and the other little ones reached the Pixies’ territory, explained their visit, and offered the Pixies the Star Berry wine to taste.

The Pixies visited Xie Juanhan after tasting his wine, bringing him jars of their specially blessed yeast, which he used to start a new batch of Star Berry wine. Later, Dwarf barrel-makers arrived to inspect his matured Goddess Wood and quoted a price for their work.

• The Pixies enjoyed the wine from Xie Juanhan and gave the fluffballs nuts in return, then visited his home with jars of yeast they had blessed three times.
• Xie Juanhan escorted the tipsy Pixies back to their territory and later used their yeast to ferment Star Berry wine with Telingewei.
• After three days, Xie Juanhan found that the new wine had begun fermenting and smelled sweet and bracing.
• Dwarf craftsmen arrived and praised the matured Goddess Wood, then offered to make each large barrel by hand for one gold coin.

Xie Juanhan hired dwarven craftsmen to make wine barrels and considered building a home for Telingewei’s little ones. After tasting Star Berry wine, the dwarves revealed that special magic wine barrels could improve its quality, leaving Xie Juanhan to reconsider the order.

• Xie Juanhan bargained with the dwarves over the barrel price, settled on five silver coins per large barrel, and signed a magic contract with them.
• The dwarves built tightly fitted barrels, which Xie Juanhan and Telingewei stored in Telingewei’s cave.
• Xie Juanhan proposed building a house for the little ones, and Telingewei agreed to discuss the idea with them.
• Xie Juanhan brought the dwarves sweet fermented-rice soup made with Star Berry wine, and they praised the wine’s quality.
• The lead dwarf explained that magic wine barrels could use arrays and Demonic Cores to infuse wine with Magic Power and potentially raise its tier.

Xie Juanhan and Telingewei gathered Goddess Wood with the Dwarves to make magic wine barrels, then shared Star Berry wine with the Dwarves and their Companion Beasts. The chapter ended with Xie Juanhan refusing to let the Dwarves buy wine from the fluffballs and proposing a trade of one level-two Demonic Core per cup.

• Xie Juanhan exposed that the Dwarf craftsmen had revealed how Dwarves brewed level-three magic wine, leaving them speechless.
• Xie Juanhan, Telingewei, and the Dwarves selected and felled Goddess Wood for new magic wine barrels.
• Xie Juanhan treated the Dwarves to Star Berry wine and poured cups for Harper, Nibote, Moli, and the other fluffballs.
• The Dwarves tried to buy half-cups of wine from the fluffballs with gold coins, but Xie Juanhan stopped them and warned Nibote not to resell his wine.
• Xie Juanhan set the price of a cup of level-two magic wine at one level-two Demonic Core, shocking the Dwarves.

Xie Juanhan sold his remaining level-two magic wine to the Dwarves, then received a request from Bone Spirits for more. After he sent them Wraith Wine as a gift, their promotion of it brought a flood of buyers, leaving Xie Juanhan with plenty of Demonic Cores and waste to turn into fertilizer.

• Xie Juanhan refused to bargain with the Dwarves, but they returned with 154 level-two Demonic Cores and bought his remaining barrel of wine.
• A giant arrived too late to buy the level-two wine, so he ordered a whole barrel for a future sale.
• A messenger bird delivered gold and a note from Bone Spirit hunters seeking magic wine, and Xie Juanhan sent them Wraith Wine as a complimentary drink.
• A Bone Spirit author praised the Wraith Wine in human magazines, prompting messenger birds from across the region to bring gold and place orders.
• The influx of birds filled the bird toilet and upset the Magic Wand Tree, so Xie Juanhan and Telingewei cleaned up and fed the tree Demonic Core fertilizer.
• Xie Juanhan gave the Goblins lava from calcined Demonic Cores and bird waste to ferment into fertilizer.

Xie Juanhan and the others prepared and planted a new batch of Star Berry seedlings, while their expanding farm became known as a silver dragon’s Star Berry farm. Harper and the others then found the first ripe Golden Vine Pumpkin, which Xie Juanhan harvested as 157 more pumpkins remained unripe.

• Xie Juanhan and Telingewei inspected the Goblins’ finished Demonic Core fertilizer, then washed and sorted Star Berry seeds with Harper and the others.
• Xie Juanhan used dragon power and Blessing Magic to raise the seedlings, and the group planted them across newly reclaimed farmland along the river.
• As rumors spread about the silver dragon’s Star Berry farm, Telingewei suggested building a castle so he could live apart from Harper and the others, prompting their indignant protests.
• Harper and the others told Xie Juanhan that a Golden Vine Pumpkin had ripened, and he went with them to the field.
• Xie Juanhan harvested the millstone-sized golden pumpkin, and he and Telingewei counted 157 pumpkins still growing.

After the Golden Vine Pumpkins made Harper and the other Companion Beasts’ fur grow wildly overnight, Xie Juanhan and Telingewei struggled to trim it and asked the Weaving Fairies for help. The Weaving Fairies restored Nibote’s coat and prepared to groom the others.

• Xie Juanhan shared Golden Vine Pumpkin dishes with Telingewei and the Companion Beasts, then everyone went to bed satisfied.
• The next morning, Harper and the other Companion Beasts woke with fur so long and thick that it covered their eyes and made their paws slippery.
• Xie Juanhan and Telingewei trimmed the beasts’ fur themselves, but their uneven cuts left Nibote looking especially messy.
• Xie Juanhan decided to ask the Weaving Fairies to groom the Companion Beasts, who chose them over pet groomers or Telingewei’s Dragon Flame.
• The Weaving Fairies visited and skillfully trimmed Nibote’s coat until he looked like a magnificent Griffin again, while the other beasts lined up for their turns.

Xie Juanhan persuaded the Perytons to eat Golden Vine Pumpkin, which made their fur grow thick enough for the Weaving Fairies to shear. He then arranged to trade level-two magic wine for their loose down and began combing it, leaving the other Perytons eager for their turn.

• A Weaving Fairy asked Xie Juanhan to buy pumpkin for the Perytons so they could grow more fur for shearing.
• The Weaving Fairies fed pumpkin to the Perytons, whose fur grew longer and thicker after half an hour.
• The Perytons accepted gold coins and let the Weaving Fairies shear their new fur.
• Xie Juanhan offered level-two magic wine in exchange for the Perytons' loose down, and they agreed to be combed by him with Telingewei's help.
• Xie Juanhan gently combed one Peryton and collected a layer of down while Dragon Power made the animal blissfully cooperative.
• The first Peryton reluctantly lingered after its grooming until another Peryton bit its rump.

After arranging for Peryton down to be made into bedding, Xie Juanhan learned through a messenger bird that the Tata Fish were in danger. His divination pointed to a storm-wracked sea near the Sea of Concealment, where the fish and a group of humans had become trapped.

• Xie Juanhan traded level-two magic wine for Peryton down and gave it to the Weaving Fairies to make bedding for Harper and the others.
• The Perytons returned hoping to trade more down, but Xie Juanhan told them to wait until next month so they could grow it back safely.
• Xie Juanhan wrote to Eermirisi about his and Telingewei's plans to leave the farmland with the Griffins after the harvest, and Nibote showed that he missed his clan.
• A messenger bird delivered an urgent verbal message from the Tata Fish, but Xie Juanhan and Telingewei could not understand its calls.
• The Tata Fish were swept with shipwrecked humans into a strange, storm-filled sea after trying to rescue them from a wrecked magic ship.
• Xie Juanhan divined that the Tata Fish were in danger and identified coordinates that Telingewei recognized as the Sea of Concealment.

Xie Juanhan and Telingewei rescued the Tata Fish and Prince Patrick’s party from an alternate space at sea, then recruited the prince’s tutors to help with spatial calculations. After sending the humans away and bringing the frightened fish home, the dragons salvaged valuable cargo from the wrecked magic ship.

• Xie Juanhan and Telingewei entered the alternate space and rescued the Tata Fish and the humans riding with them.
• Prince Patrick introduced himself, and Xie Juanhan asked him and his companions to help with spatial calculations in exchange for a promised repayment.
• Boerman arrived and watched as Prince Patrick’s tutors advanced Xie Juanhan’s calculations; Xie Juanhan rewarded them with Wraith Wine before the prince’s party departed.
• Xie Juanhan comforted the Tata Fish and invited them home for sweet fermented rice balls, while Telingewei jealously objected to one fish carrying him.
• Xie Juanhan and Telingewei salvaged Demonic Cores, gemstones, pearls, gold coins, potions, and other valuables from the sunken magic ship.

After realizing the chaotic alternate space was the opportunity foretold by divination, Xie Juanhan and Telingewei tried to locate and destroy it but failed, leaving the search for a solution unresolved. Back home, they received the Weaving Fairies, who brought the finished beds for Harper and the other fluffballs.

• Xie Juanhan and Telingewei counted their salvaged treasure, and Xie Juanhan gave Harper and the others two gold coins each.
• After nearly half a month of salvage work, Xie Juanhan studied the court tutors’ calculations and concluded that the chaotic alternate space itself might be their foretold opportunity.
• Xie Juanhan and Telingewei entered the out-of-control alternate space with the fluffballs, but failed to find its rift or destroy it and escaped battered and exhausted.
• Xie Juanhan told the Tata Fish to keep creatures away from the dangerous area, then returned home with Telingewei and the fluffballs to consider another approach.
• The Weaving Fairies arrived with the completed beds Xie Juanhan had commissioned for Harper and the other fluffballs.

Xie Juanhan and Telingewei struggled to find a way into the dangerous pocket dimension and sought help from the Pixies, who were reluctant to come out after their last encounter. After learning that the dimension threatened marine life and humans, the Pixies agreed to help and traveled with them out to sea.

• Xie Juanhan enlisted the Perytons to search for a spatial rift, but the group was driven out of the pocket dimension by lightning and returned singed and exhausted.
• The Weaving Fairies suggested asking the space-sensitive Pixies, but the Pixies refused to emerge because they remembered getting drunk during the dragons' last visit.
• Xie Juanhan coaxed the Pixies to accept candy and fruit nectar, then explained the danger posed by the pocket dimension and persuaded them to help.
• Xie Juanhan sent Moli to carry the Pixies, and he and Telingewei flew with them out to sea, where the Pixies and Tata Fish curiously watched one another.

Xie Juanhan and Telingewei destroyed the collapsing Inner Sea and recovered elemental crystals, including rare space crystals. Back in the study, Xie Juanhan fed several crystals to the Magic Wand Tree, then asked Telingewei for honey lemon water.

• Xie Juanhan and Telingewei took the Pixies into the Inner Sea, where the Pixies found a spatial rift.
• The two dragons attacked the rift and shattered the collapsing Inner Sea, unleashing enormous waves that scattered the Tata Fish and swept the Companion Beasts into the sea.
• White Dragon collected elemental crystals released as the Inner Sea collapsed and realized they explained how crystals had formed in the Inner Land.
• Xie Juanhan gave earth, water, and space elemental crystals to the Magic Wand Tree, which absorbed them through its roots.
• Telingewei brought in freshly harvested rock honey, and Xie Juanhan said he wanted honey lemon water.

Xie Juanhan theorized that Dragon Power could be condensed into crystals and, with Telingewei's help, tried binding it in a magic circle. The attempt exploded, leaving Xie Juanhan hungry but apparently uninjured as Telingewei went to fetch food.

• Xie Juanhan reasoned that creating a spatial passage might require enormous energy and wondered whether Dragon Power could be crystallized for use as fertilizer.
• After thirteen failed attempts, Xie Juanhan sought advice from Mumedeli, who recommended a magic circle to bind Dragon Power.
• Telingewei drew a Kelis Magic Circle above his old cave, and Xie Juanhan prepared to test his idea with five fourth-level Demonic Cores.
• When Xie Juanhan released too much Dragon Power without condensing it, the magic circle exploded and blew off the cave top, sending him crashing into the cave below.
• Telingewei checked Xie Juanhan for injuries, and Xie Juanhan said he was hungry, so Telingewei went to get food while Harper and Moli stayed with him.

After Xie Juanhan’s failed attempt to condense a Dragon Power Crystal left him hungry and exhausted, Telingewei and the fluffballs fed and comforted him. As late autumn approached, the family set out to visit Eermirisi and the Griffin clan, detouring first to bring gifts to the Pixies at the mage tower.

• Telingewei gave the White Dragon magic wine, then hunted a Demonic Beast and roasted its meat while Harper and the others brought forest foods and Moli brought produce from the farmland.
• The White Dragon ate until he was full, then fell asleep on Telingewei’s back, surrounded by the warm fluffballs.
• Xie Juanhan tried several more times to condense a Dragon Power Crystal but saw no progress, and the family prepared to travel after the harvest.
• Nibote and the other fluffballs gathered gifts and packed little bundles before the family left home on the dragon’s back.
• When the dragon turned away from the highlands, Xie Juanhan explained that they were detouring to visit the Pixies at the mage tower with candy and fruit wine.

Xie Juanhan and his companions visited the Pixies beneath the ruined mage tower, exchanged gifts, and spent the night with them. The next morning, Xie Juanhan’s spell startled the Pixies and their flying squirrels, and he rescued them before they fell; one Pixie warned that the blast had also released chaotic energy.

• Xie Juanhan and his companions reached the ruined mage tower and used Dragon Power to revive the plants, drawing out the Pixies.
• Xie Juanhan gave the Pixies magic gummies, magic wine, fabric, jam, and preserves, and they returned handmade nut necklaces.
• Xie Juanhan and his companions camped on the tower terrace with the Pixies, then slept there overnight.
• Xie Juanhan woke late beside Nibote while Telingewei and the others were out hunting.
• Xie Juanhan’s failed attempt to condense a Dragon Power Crystal exploded near the arriving Pixies, and he caught them and their flying squirrels before they fell.
• A Pixie told Xie Juanhan that the blast had involved chaotic energy as well as noise.