Chapter Summaries

Lu Zheng killed the two ghosts guarding the abandoned residence, then reported the threat posed by their incomplete Refining Yang Returning Yin technique to White Cloud Temple. He and Yuan Jing were ordered to patrol the area for ghosts targeting the living, and Lu Zheng arranged for others to help while warning Liu Qingyan to stay safe.

• Lu Zheng destroyed the female ghost and the Ghost Child, then used cloud magic to dispel the Yin Qi and Curse Seals around the abandoned residence.
• Lu Zheng reported the incident to Yuan Jing and Daoist Priest Mingzhang, who suspected the Black Wheel King had spread an incomplete and possibly harmful secret technique among ghosts.
• Daoist Priest Mingzhang told Lu Zheng and Yuan Jing to patrol nearby villages and towns for ghosts absorbing people's Yang Energy, while he notified the Demon Suppression Division and other counties.
• Shen Ying arranged for the Eighteen Peach Blossom Heavenly Maidens to patrol in groups of three and report any powerful ghosts to Lu Zheng and Shen Ying.
• Lu Zheng warned Liu Qingyan to report cases of fading vitality and depleted Yang Energy, then reassured her and asked her not to take risks.

As deaths mounted in Xuezhu Town, Yuan Jing and Daoist Linghe arrived to hunt the ghost responsible. Just as they reached a fight in the eastern part of town, three Peach Blossom Heavenly Maidens killed the ghost before Yuan Jing could intervene.

• After five days of unexplained deaths in Xuezhu Town, Li Dahe and his wife were found dead at home.
• Yuan Jing and Daoist Linghe arrived in town at dusk to investigate and search for the ghost.
• Yuan Jing and Linghe climbed onto the roof of the town's largest brothel to watch for supernatural activity.
• Near the end of the Hai hour, Yuan Jing sensed a fight on the eastern side of town and rushed there with Linghe following.
• Three Peach Blossom Heavenly Maidens surrounded and swiftly slew a white-clad ghost in a courtyard.

After the supernatural disturbances in Yizhou faded, Lu Zheng spent the New Year between the modern and ancient worlds. Song Kaichuan visited him and asked him to travel to southern Xinjiang to help an old friend.

• Lu Zheng learned that cultivators and the Demon Suppression Division had eliminated most of Yizhou's ghosts, but the Black Wheel King's yin-soul origin remained missing.
• Lin Wan was delayed by a lengthy work assignment, so Lu Zheng spent New Year's Eve apart from her and later celebrated the ancient New Year with the Liu family and local temples.
• Song Kaichuan suddenly arrived at Lu Zheng's home, and Lu Zheng invited him to stay for lunch.
• Song Kaichuan praised Lu Zheng's Go skill, gave him spiritual pine nuts from the Old Pine Tree, and played a game that Lu Zheng won by three stones.
• Song Kaichuan asked Lu Zheng to accompany him to southern Xinjiang and help his old friend.

Lu Zheng agreed to travel with Song Kaichuan to the Southern Border and help the Old Pine Tree solve an immortal’s unfinished chess game. After boosting his chess skill and settling his affairs in both worlds, Lu Zheng met Song Kaichuan and set off for Ten Thousand Pines Mountain.

• Song Kaichuan asked Lu Zheng to help the Old Pine Tree solve a chess game that had remained unsolved for two thousand years, and Lu Zheng agreed in hopes of earning Light of Luck and a generous gift.
• Lu Zheng spent twenty-five points of Light of Luck to upgrade his chess skill and planned to let the improvement settle before the journey.
• Lu Zheng told Liu Qingyan he would be away for nearly two months, then informed his family and Lin Wan that he was taking a long trip.
• Three days later, Lu Zheng arrived at the sealed mountain cave, where Song Kaichuan appeared and took him underground toward the Southern Border.

Song Kaichuan brought Lu Zheng to Ten Thousand Pines Mountain to meet Ten Thousand Pines Daoist and test Lu Zheng’s chess skill. Lu Zheng recognized the balance of the Daoist’s complex game and chose the correct side to move, earning his first measure of respect.

• Song Kaichuan traveled underground with Lu Zheng and brought him to Ten Thousand Pines Mountain in just over a day.
• Song Kaichuan introduced Lu Zheng to Ten Thousand Pines Daoist, who invited him to sit and play against the unfinished Dream Chess Game.
• Lu Zheng studied the board and saw how its four interlocking styles kept black and white evenly matched.
• Lu Zheng said he would take white and correctly identified that it was white’s turn, impressing Ten Thousand Pines Daoist.

Lu Zheng played a three-day chess match against Ten Thousand Pines Daoist and managed to force a draw. As Ten Thousand Pines Daoist prepared to play him again the next day, he revealed that the immortal in the Dream Chess Game was called Red Pine Child.

• Lu Zheng shifted White Stones from a defensive counterattack to scattered harassment, while Ten Thousand Pines Daoist steadily blocked his plans.
• After three days of play, Lu Zheng and Ten Thousand Pines Daoist ended the game in a draw.
• Song Kaichuan urged Ten Thousand Pines Daoist to bring out the Dream Chess Game, but Ten Thousand Pines Daoist arranged to play Lu Zheng again the next day.
• Ten Thousand Pines Daoist gave Lu Zheng spirit-fruit pine nuts to refresh him, and Lu Zheng asked who owned the Dream Chess Game.
• Ten Thousand Pines Daoist said he had entered a divine mountain in a dream and met an immortal who called himself Red Pine Child.

Lu Zheng received the Green Pine Calming Heart Spell from Ten Thousand Pines Daoist and used it to strengthen his mind and improve his chess. After repeated games, Lu Zheng began surpassing Ten Thousand Pines Daoist, leaving him and Song Kaichuan astonished.

• Ten Thousand Pines Daoist mistook Lu Zheng’s mention of Red Pine Child for knowledge from White Cloud Temple’s records, and Lu Zheng went along with his explanation.
• Ten Thousand Pines Daoist gave Lu Zheng the Green Pine Calming Heart Spell, which could steady his mind and aid cultivation and spellcasting.
• Lu Zheng cultivated the spell for three days, enhanced it with the Jade Seal, and then played two games against Ten Thousand Pines Daoist, drawing one and losing one.
• Lu Zheng kept practicing chess against Ten Thousand Pines Daoist, and his results steadily improved over the following weeks.
• By February twenty-third, Lu Zheng had won games against Ten Thousand Pines Daoist, while Song Kaichuan and Ten Thousand Pines Daoist reacted with surprise.

Lu Zheng helped Ten Thousand Pines Daoist improve his chess by playing him for a month, then learned the Dream Chess Game could not be reconstructed after waking. Ten Thousand Pines Daoist entered seclusion to play it again, while Lu Zheng stayed behind to explore Ten Thousand Pines Mountain.

• Lu Zheng defeated Ten Thousand Pines Daoist and earned 188 strands of Light of Luck, but Ten Thousand Pines Daoist soon broke through and defeated him.
• Lu Zheng spent more Light of Luck improving his chess, and he and Ten Thousand Pines Daoist played three consecutive draws before the first day of the third month.
• Ten Thousand Pines Daoist explained that the Dream Chess Game was hazy and impossible to recall in detail after waking, though traces of it had appeared in his games with Lu Zheng.
• Ten Thousand Pines Daoist credited Lu Zheng with helping him advance, then said he would enter seclusion for three days to play chess in his dreams.
• Song Kaichuan went to rest in a mountain cave, while Lu Zheng chose to look around Ten Thousand Pines Mountain and was invited to eat its Spirit Fruits.

Lu Zheng returned to Ten Thousand Pines Mountain after briefly checking in with people in the modern world, where he collected ordinary medicinal herbs and spent two days enjoying the scenery. On the third day of the third month, he used the Jade Seal to improve his painting and finished a landscape just before Song Kaichuan arrived; Song Kaichuan said the Old Pine Tree would wake in a few hours.

• Lu Zheng returned to Ten Thousand Pines Mountain after sending messages to people in the modern world.
• Lu Zheng gathered dozens of hundred-year-old mundane medicinal herbs while touring the mountain.
• Lu Zheng spent two days wandering the mountain and appreciating its scenery.
• On the third day of the third month, Lu Zheng used the Jade Seal to enhance his painting skill and painted the mountain landscape.
• Song Kaichuan appeared, praised Lu Zheng's painting, and said he had arrived during the Wei Hour and was waiting for the Old Pine Tree to wake.

Lu Zheng and Song Kaichuan waited as Ten Thousand Pines Daoist solved the dream chess game, and the ancient pine’s breakthrough showered Ten Thousand Pines Mountain with life-filled spiritual energy. Ten Thousand Pines Daoist rewarded Lu Zheng with a cultivation scripture, leaving him with new knowledge and an invitation to return for chess and guidance.

• Lu Zheng and Song Kaichuan played chess beneath the ancient pine while Ten Thousand Pines Daoist remained in his dream.
• The ancient pine released jade-green spiritual energy and motes that spread across Ten Thousand Pines Mountain, benefiting its living things and greatly improving Lu Zheng’s true qi and Light of Luck.
• Ten Thousand Pines Daoist appeared after breaking through and solving the chess game, then thanked Lu Zheng for his help.
• Ten Thousand Pines Daoist transmitted the original scripture to Lu Zheng and invited him to return to play chess and exchange cultivation insights.
• Lu Zheng learned that the scripture was called “Red Pine Child's Left Admonitions: Jade Water Pill Scripture.”

Lu Zheng studied Red Pine Child’s alchemy scripture, received medicinal ingredients from Ten Thousand Pines Daoist, and returned to Tonglin County with Song Kaichuan. Song Kaichuan then began teaching Lu Zheng the Mountain-Opening Curse.

• Lu Zheng read the scripture’s cultivation and alchemy methods, including the Fire Aversion Art and Wind Rain Flying Immortal, while Ten Thousand Pines Daoist celebrated receiving Red Pine Child’s inheritance.
• Song Kaichuan asked Ten Thousand Pines Daoist about the Dream Chess Game, and Ten Thousand Pines Daoist said advancing his cultivation might let him see it clearly.
• Ten Thousand Pines Daoist gave Lu Zheng a wooden box of aged medicinal ingredients and Spirit Medicines for practicing alchemy.
• Song Kaichuan took Lu Zheng back underground, and they returned to Lu Zheng’s courtyard in Tonglin County in less than a day.
• After Lu Zheng invited Song Kaichuan inside, Song Kaichuan pointed at his brow and began explaining the Mountain-Opening Curse.

Lu Zheng reunited with Liu Qingyan after returning from Southern Frontier and opened the treasure box Ten Thousand Pines Daoist had given him. He shared its medicinal treasures and the Jade Water Pill Scripture with Liu Qingyan, then left her delighted and grateful.

• Song Kaichuan explained the Mountain-Splitting Spell to Lu Zheng and gave him the limestone cave before leaving through the earth.
• Liu Qingyan reunited with Lu Zheng and invited him to dinner at her home, while teasing him about spending the night together.
• Lu Zheng opened Ten Thousand Pines Daoist's wooden box and showed Liu Qingyan its hundreds of century-old medicines and nearly twenty Spirit Medicines.
• Lu Zheng asked Liu Qingyan to keep the box's contents private, then later told her the details of his Southern Frontier journey.
• Lu Zheng offered to study the Jade Water Pill Scripture with Liu Qingyan, and she joyfully accepted before fulfilling her promise to him.

After returning from a months-long operation overseas, Lin Wan reunited with Lu Zheng and told him about her work before they went to Hang City to tour West Lake. As they rode a boat and discussed the legend of Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian, Lu Zheng scattered lake water into the air, and a fine drizzle began to fall.

• Lin Wan returned from an overseas operation involving a person on the Red Notice list and described her work dealing with the CIA in Lighthouse Country.
• Lu Zheng washed the dishes while Lin Wan went to shower, and she surprised him with Batman and Catwoman costumes.
• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan took time off to tour West Lake during the off-season and walked along Bai Causeway toward Broken Bridge.
• At Broken Bridge, Lu Zheng praised Lin Wan's beauty, and she pulled him to an antique-style rowboat.
• As the boatman recounted how Bai Suzhen had made rain to meet Xu Xian, Lu Zheng scattered West Lake water into the air, and a fine drizzle began.

Lu Zheng and Lin Wan toured West Lake, where Lu Zheng demonstrated that he could summon rain, then discovered signs of tomb robbing in an antiques district. The Hang City Serious Crime Division arrived, but Captain Gong Jianguo needed stronger grounds to search the suspicious shop.

• Lu Zheng summoned a fine rain over West Lake and told Lin Wan he could help during a severe drought, though his current range and duration were limited.
• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan toured West Lake before browsing an antiques district filled mostly with modern works and imitations.
• Lu Zheng sensed freshly unearthed items in the backpacks of two men who entered a suspicious antiques shop.
• Lin Wan contacted the Hang City City Bureau, and the First Squad of its Serious Crime Division arrived in plain clothes.
• Gong Jianguo asked whether Lin Wan could confirm the men were tomb raiders and had burial objects, and Lin Wan said she was certain and would take responsibility.

Lu Zheng and Lin Wan helped Gong Jianguo arrest two tomb raiders and uncover a Southern Song imperial hidden mausoleum tied to an international cultural relic smuggling chain. After Lin Wan agreed to see the case through, the story left her drawn back into the investigation despite being on vacation.

• Lu Zheng spotted knives on two men leaving a shop, and Gong Jianguo had plainclothes detectives approach them for questioning.
• The men resisted arrest and fled, but Lin Wan disarmed and subdued them before officers took them into custody.
• Gong Jianguo obtained a search warrant and found newly unearthed Southern Song artifacts in the shop.
• Lin Wan told Lu Zheng that the artifacts came from a hidden mausoleum of an unidentified Southern Song emperor and that the shop was part of an international smuggling chain.
• Lin Wan told Lu Zheng that Hang City's City Bureau planned to commend him for spotting the suspects, then received a call and agreed to see the case through.

Lin Wan explained why China could not simply steal back cultural relics held by foreign museums, while Lu Zheng offered to help her investigate an international smuggling case and secretly recover other stolen artworks. The two prepared to head to Lighthouse Country, with Lu Zheng planning to return the artworks to museums through anonymous donations.

• Lin Wan told Lu Zheng that the Allen Art Company case involving an international cultural relic smuggling ring was now under her jurisdiction and required her to go abroad.
• Lin Wan explained that stolen relics held openly by foreign countries were treated as spoils of war, so they could only be reclaimed voluntarily once China was strong enough.
• Lu Zheng decided to accompany Lin Wan and proposed that she work with Lighthouse Country's police while he secretly recovered stolen artworks.
• Lin Wan objected to Lu Zheng's plan to take the artworks, but he argued he could return them to China in his Storage Gourd and anonymously donate them to museums.

Lin Wan and Lu Zheng traveled to Los Angeles for a case involving Allen Art Company, planning to recover evidence and cultural relics. While Lin Wan met with the International Criminal Police, Lu Zheng went to Hollywood Boulevard and disappeared after hearing Taylor Swift was signing albums.

• Lin Wan received a message from the International Criminal Police's Hai City Liaison Office and told Lu Zheng they would travel to Lighthouse Country for the case.
• Lu Zheng offered to sneak in invisibly and retrieve evidence, while Lin Wan lamented that she could not yet use the Invisibility Technique.
• Lin Wan and Lu Zheng flew to Los Angeles, where International Criminal Police personnel met Lin Wan and Lu Zheng went off on his own.
• Lu Zheng took a taxi to Hollywood Boulevard and learned from the driver that movie stars rarely appeared there outside premieres.
• Lu Zheng heard that Taylor Swift was signing albums at the Chinese Theatre and vanished as the crowd rushed to the event.

Lu Zheng explored Los Angeles, fought off armed men in a rough neighborhood, and turned invisible to investigate Allen Art Company. He found no evidence of wrongdoing before Lin Wan called him.

• Lu Zheng headed toward Allen Art Company and realized his map had led him into a dangerous neighborhood.
• Lu Zheng knocked down several men, disarmed two gunmen, and placed Yin Gathering Curses on the group before continuing.
• Lu Zheng used the Invisibility Technique and reached Allen Art Company's seventeenth-floor office.
• Lu Zheng searched the company's offices and secure room but found no evidence or problems.
• Lin Wan called Lu Zheng while he was still inside Allen Art Company.

Lu Zheng infiltrated Allen Art Company and uncovered evidence of its illegal artifact trade, then discovered a map and log documenting the lost Saint Miguel treasure. He left the story determined to claim the treasure for himself.

• Lu Zheng told Lin Wan he would search Allen Art Company's computers after its staff left, while she reported the police's investigation into the company's suspicious connections.
• After hours, Lu Zheng hacked the company computer and found hidden accounts, records of smuggled artifacts, and information about illegal auction customers.
• Lu Zheng planned to pass the evidence to the Los Angeles police so they could obtain a search warrant and uncover the artifacts hidden in the vault.
• Lu Zheng found an encrypted file containing a map and sailing log that traced the lost Saint Miguel treasure to a general area.
• Lu Zheng learned that Allen Carter planned to organize a salvage operation and decided the treasure was destined to be his.

Lu Zheng and Lin Wan completed their mission against Allen Art Company, recovering stolen cultural relics and leaving the company’s illegal dealings exposed to police. With Lin Wan’s vacation extended, they decided to travel to Miami and search for the Spanish treasure ship Saint Miguel.

• Lu Zheng secretly gathered evidence about Allen Art Company, and Lin Wan told him police had verified the evidence and were seeking a search warrant.
• Police raided Allen Art Company, where a stun grenade knocked everyone unconscious and eighteen valuable treasures were stolen.
• Lin Wan reported that the Hua Country relic-smuggling case was closed, the recovered relics had been handed to the embassy, and she had three extra days off.
• Lu Zheng showed Lin Wan information about the Saint Miguel, a Spanish treasure ship whose cargo was estimated to be worth three hundred million dollars.
• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan agreed to go to Miami and search for the Saint Miguel and other shipwrecks.