Recaps

Xu Yi was pulled into Director Yu’s contest with Liu Guancen, where he had to devise a puzzle to prevent her from removing her veil. He left the chapter poised to test Liu Guancen with a written character.

• The guests pressured Director Yu to unveil herself, and she agreed to do so if Liu Guancen solved a puzzle set by Xu Yi.
• Director Yu stopped Xu Yi as he was leaving and asked him to help, threatening to send him to Qian Prison if he failed.
• Xu Yi reluctantly accepted the challenge and reassured Director Yu that he could stump Liu Guancen.
• Liu Guancen invited Xu Yi to choose any subject for his puzzle, and Xu Yi proposed writing a character for Liu Guancen to interpret.

Xu Yi outwitted Liu Guancen with a character-reading wager, then won over the gathered cultivators by playing the part of a melancholy, refined wanderer. Wu Si invited him to stay and asked where he had learned his elegant words.

• Xu Yi wagered his life against Liu Guancen’s favor and wrote the character “wrong,” forcing Liu to concede.
• Song Qingying laughed at Xu Yi’s trick, while Liu Guancen destroyed the paper and admitted defeat.
• Meng Changlai insulted Xu Yi for being a low-level clerk, but Xu Yi’s melancholy speech prompted Meng to apologize.
• Xu Yi tried to leave, but Wu Si stopped him and invited him to enjoy himself with the group.
• Xu Yi claimed his words came from traveling widely, seeing much, and reflecting on life.

Xu Yi impressed Director Yu and the other guests with his flattery and poetry at the lakeside gathering, then pretended to get drunk and slept at their residence. The next morning, Wu Si welcomed him as a close friend, while the gathering’s new connections remained open to develop.

• Xu Yi praised Song Qingying and Director Yu, winning their amusement and leaving Director Yu visibly impressed.
• Su Xiangjun showed Xu Yi his wife's painting, and Xu Yi wrote four lines that delighted the guests and moved Liu Guancen to vow to study rather than speak of poetry for ten years.
• Xu Yi composed more verses through the evening until he feigned drunkenness, told the others to bring their qin the next day, and fell asleep at the stone table.
• Xu Yi woke in an elegant room and admitted to himself that he had only pretended to get drunk before sleeping there.
• Wu Si arrived with Head Shopkeeper Lin and insisted Xu Yi call him Brother Wu rather than Shopkeeper Wu.

Xu Yi pawned the Starry Sky Treasure Box at Jiguzhai in exchange for the True Dragon Eye and Star Core Marrow, while insisting that the box remain sealed. After Xu Yi left, Wu Si and his experts tried to open it and debated risking damage to its contents, with Head Shopkeeper Lin arguing that Xu Yi would have little power to object.

• Xu Yi showed Wu Si the Starry Sky Treasure Box and secured his agreement to provide the True Dragon Eye and Star Core Marrow.
• Xu Yi required the pawn ticket to state that the sealed box must not be opened, and Wu Si agreed to the terms.
• Head Shopkeeper Lin delivered the True Dragon Eye and Star Core Marrow, and Xu Yi completed the pawn transaction before declining Wu Si's invitation to the auction.
• After Xu Yi left, Wu Si summoned three restriction experts to examine the box, but they made no progress for nearly half a month.
• The experts proposed using one restriction to break another, and Wu Si hesitated over the risk to the box's contents and Jiguzhai's reputation.
• Head Shopkeeper Lin urged Wu Si to proceed, arguing that Xu Yi's family was unlikely to redeem the box and would have to accept its condition.

Xu Yi’s Starry Sky Box ruse left Wu Si empty-handed, while Xu Yi met Liu Guancen and used a drunken confession about his troubles at the Loose Immortal Academy to win his sympathy. The chapter left Xu Yi cultivating Liu Guancen’s admiration as he sought help with his latest predicament.

• Wu Si and the three white-bearded men broke open the Starry Sky Box, found it empty, and Wu Si killed the three men in anger.
• Head Shopkeeper Lin claimed that the treasure had escaped, then privately feared that Jiguzhai had been tricked; he later searched books for the source of the box’s pure primordial energy.
• Xu Yi had created the box’s shining contents from strands separated in the Four-Colored Seal Space and pawned it at Jiguzhai to make money without selling a real treasure.
• Xu Yi met Liu Guancen at a tavern and drank with him, knowing that Liu admired his poetry and prose.
• Xu Yi told Liu Guancen that he was being sidelined at the Loose Immortal Academy and reluctantly forced into another unwanted assignment, then acted out his despair by drinking from a wine jar.

Xu Yi avoided a trap involving official documents with Liu Guancen’s help, then rented a refining room to cultivate the Spirit Calming Technique. He completed the Wash Elephant, manifested the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Aspect, and transformed his Spiritually Communicating Treasure into a five-colored orb.

• Liu Guancen learned that crooked clerks had set a trap for Xu Yi and persuaded Envoy Hong to take back the documents.
• Xu Yi bought a bottle of low-grade Spirit Body Pills at Golden Core Hall, then rented a Starry Sky Refining Room at Quiet Cultivation Hall.
• Xu Yi used the prepared medicinal herbs and the power of the galaxy to cleanse the Spirit Official Three Lives Aspect.
• The Spirit Official Three Lives Aspect transformed into the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Aspect as Xu Yi’s two Fate Wheels spun violently.
• Xu Yi cast his Spiritually Communicating Treasure into the will of Heaven, and it emerged as a five-colored orb.

After completing his cultivation at the Quiet Cultivation Hall, Xu Yi left Xianlin City to return to the Loose Immortal Academy and encountered Director Yu and Xiao Tao. Xiao Tao hinted that cheering up Director Yu could earn Xu Yi a reward, so he tried telling them jokes.

• Xu Yi reached absolute Yin-Yang Balance in his life wheels, withdrew his aspect, and left hundreds of exhausted cultivators inside the Starry Sky Tower.
• Xu Yi meditated, collected his deposit, paid his bill, and headed south to return to the Loose Immortal Academy.
• Xiao Tao spotted Xu Yi at the Fourth Cherry Blossom Bridge and called him over to Director Yu.
• Xiao Tao hinted that Xu Yi could benefit by lifting Director Yu's spirits, and Xu Yi offered to tell jokes in exchange for a few drinks.
• Xiao Tao laughed at Xu Yi's first joke, while Director Yu called it boring, and Xu Yi continued with a story about a bandit fleeing from a maidservant.

Xu Yi entertained Director Yu and Xiao Tao with bawdy stories, then offered a risky way to deter the nobleman harassing Director Yu. After sharing his experiences at the Loose Immortal Academy and reciting poetry while drunk, Xu Yi was confronted by a sinister stranger who asked why Director Yu was interested in him.

• Xu Yi's story about Auntie Wu made Director Yu and Xiao Tao laugh, and Director Yu rewarded him with two jars of Dongting Spring.
• Xiao Tao described a friend being harassed by her adoptive father's son, and Xu Yi suggested changing her appearance or spreading a scandal involving her adoptive father.
• Xiao Tao warned Director Yu that the nobleman's dog had secretly been following them, then changed the subject to Xu Yi's time at the Loose Immortal Academy.
• Xu Yi drank a jar of Dongting Spring, gazed at the lake and stars, and recited a poem.
• A lean, sinister man appeared and asked why Director Yu had taken an interest in Xu Yi.

Xu Yi escaped Han Ba’er’s attack with Director Yu’s help, then tracked Han Ba’er back to his mansion, determined to kill him that night. The chapter ended with Old Desolate returning from a scouting mission without finding Han Ba’er.

• Xu Yi fled Xianlin City, but Han Ba’er caught up and attacked him with a powerful spiritual treasure.
• Director Yu intervened to block Han Ba’er’s strike, then rebuked him and drove him off.
• Xu Yi escaped more than eight hundred miles, removed the tracking restriction Han Ba’er had placed on him, and used the Insight Mirror to locate him.
• Xu Yi returned to Xianlin City and sent Old Desolate to scout Han Ba’er’s mansion.
• Old Desolate found a small squad of Yang Fish cultivators and servants but could not locate Han Ba’er.

Xu Yi lured Han Ba'er into a secret room and killed him, then escaped with his resources. Director Yu learned of Han Ba'er's death and wondered who could have killed him, dismissing Xiao Tao's guess that Xu Yi was responsible.

• Xu Yi disguised himself, visited Han Ba'er, and persuaded him to enter a secret room by claiming he had urgent intelligence about Director Yu.
• Xu Yi revealed himself as Han Ba'er's would-be killer, restrained him with the Ruyi Universe Circle, and killed him with help from the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Aspect.
• Huangmei swallowed Han Ba'er's Life Wheel, and Xu Yi gathered the scattered resources, activated the room's wards, and left the residence.
• Xu Yi inspected Han Ba'er's modest haul in a refining room and explained to Huangmei that his powerful cultivation method had serious limits.
• Director Yu learned that Han Ba'er's Life Tablet had shattered and discussed the unexplained killing with Xiao Tao, rejecting her suggestion that Xu Yi had done it.

Fan Cheng, Long Guang, and Fang Taisong celebrated Xu Yi’s apparent failure and secured his dismissal from office. After Xu Yi was demoted to a Yellow Turban Strongman, they taunted him and offered him menial work.

• Fan Cheng told Long Guang and Fang Taisong that Xu Yi had returned gravely injured, and they submitted memorials seeking his dismissal.
• Fan Cheng, Long Guang, and Fang Taisong visited Xu Yi and admitted they had maneuvered against him, while Xu Yi challenged and insulted them.
• Fan Cheng revealed that Envoy Xia was his great-uncle, and Long Guang restrained him when Xu Yi provoked him into a fight.
• Cai Xi delivered the official notice revoking Xu Yi’s Director position and demoting him to a Yellow Turban Strongman, then collected his talismans and tokens.
• Fan Cheng and Fang Taisong mocked Xu Yi and offered him jobs tending their chamber pots.

Xu Yi was summoned to meet Academy Judge Xue Ming after Director Yu visited the Loose Immortal Academy and asked to see him. The chapter left Xia Qijie anxious about the meeting, though he believed his handling of Xu Yi’s case had followed procedure.

• After Ding summoned Xu Yi, Xu Yi beat Fan Cheng, Long Guang, and Fang Taisong, then followed Ding to meet Academy Judge Xue Ming.
• Fan Cheng, Long Guang, and Fang Taisong decided to pursue Xu Yi and present their injuries to Xue Ming.
• Ding brought Xu Yi to Guanglong Hall, where he met Xue Ming and Director Yu.
• Director Yu greeted Xu Yi as an old acquaintance from Xianlin City and explained that his poetry had impressed her.
• Xia Qijie worried that something was wrong but reassured himself that he had handled Xu Yi’s case by the book.

Director Yu interrupted Judge Venerable Xue’s work review to hear a grievance, while Xu Yi tried to keep the dispute from escalating. Fan Cheng and his companions accused Xu Yi of assault, leaving Judge Venerable Xue and Xia Qijie alarmed as the confrontation unfolded before Director Yu.

• Xu Yi politely declined to report directly to Director Yu, so she asked Judge Venerable Xue to give the work report instead.
• After noise arose outside, Director Yu activated a Restriction Pearl and ordered the people with grievances brought in.
• Fan Cheng, Long Guang, and Fang Taisong entered, and Xia Qijie urged them to hold back.
• Fan Cheng accused Xu Yi of injuring them and of defying his superiors, claiming Emissary Ding could testify.
• Xu Yi called the incident a minor misunderstanding, but Fan Cheng and his companions knelt to press their complaint.

Xu Yi exposed Xia Qijie’s false claim that he had been punished for delivering a document late to Tongcheng Academy. After Envoy Hong confirmed Xu Yi had delivered it on time, Xia Qijie and his allies realized they had walked into Xu Yi’s trap.

• Fan Cheng accused Xu Yi of attacking him and two others, claiming they had only come to console him after his demotion.
• Xia Qijie told Judge Venerable Xue that Xu Yi had been demoted for delivering a document late to Tongcheng Academy.
• Xu Yi denied the accusation and said Envoy Hong had received the document directly, with Liu Guancen as a witness.
• Xia Qijie refused Xu Yi’s demand to contact Tongcheng Academy, realizing verification would expose him.
• An Daozhen used the Ruyi Pearl to contact Envoy Hong, who confirmed Xu Yi’s account, and Long Guang and Fang Taisong realized they had been deceived.

Xu Yi exposed Fan Cheng, Long Guang, and Fang Taisong’s conspiracy with a recording, prompting Director Yu to rule against the corrupt officials. After the men were punished, Xu Yi learned Director Yu considered her favor repaid and heard her encouragement for his future.

• Xu Yi showed Director Yu and Judge Venerable Xue a Ruyi Pearl recording Fan Cheng, Long Guang, and Fang Taisong plotting against him and boasting of Xia Qijie’s influence.
• Director Yu condemned the corruption, ordered Xia Qijie sent to the Department of Governance for judgment, and left Judge Venerable Xue to handle the three conspirators.
• Xu Yi recited a sorrowful verse and walked away, while Judge Venerable Xue resolved to punish the conspirators to protect his reputation.
• Xiao Tao told Xu Yi that Director Yu considered her favor repaid, and Xu Yi thanked her for the Director’s intervention.
• Xia Qijie was taken away, and Fan Cheng, Fang Taisong, and Long Guang were executed at the Immortal Execution Platform.
• Xiao Tao conveyed Director Yu’s encouragement that Xu Yi’s talent would carry him far if he proceeded steadily, leaving him puzzled.

Xu Yi realized Director Yu had pointed him toward the selection system as a better route to high office, and Huang Mei explained how recommendations could let him take the exam. At Zuo Jiantan’s birthday banquet, Zuo Jiantan approached a gathering of young officials and asked about Guan Cen’s good news.

• Huang Mei told Xu Yi that advancing through an official rank and substantive post was a broader path than seeking promotion from his merit officer position.
• Huang Mei explained the Aristocratic Clan appointment method and the selection exam’s recommendation-letter requirements, and Xu Yi resolved to pursue the selection path.
• Zuo Jiantan hosted a lavish birthday celebration attended by officials and influential guests across the Southern and Northern Territories.
• Zuo Jiantan joined a gathering of young officials and asked what happy news Guan Cen had shared.

At a gathering, Wu Si recounted Xu Yi’s snowy journey toward Liu Guancen and the literary work he composed along the way. Xu Yi had turned back before meeting Liu, leaving the gathering impressed and Liu’s name newly linked to the celebrated Empty Guest.

• Wu Si and the others discussed Empty Guest as Bo Zhang dismissed Xu Yi’s work as fragments copied from old writings.
• Liu Guancen and Su Xiangjun defended Xu Yi, recalling poems he had composed spontaneously at the Xianlin City gathering.
• Wu Si told the gathering how Xu Yi had traveled by boat through a snowstorm toward Liu Guancen, composing a vivid account of the frozen landscape at South Lake.
• Kuang Ming arrived, praised Xu Yi’s Ice Snow Script, and asked Wu Si to continue his story.
• Wu Si said Xu Yi turned back at Qiuying Sea, explaining that he had come on a whim and no longer needed to see Liu; Su Xiangjun declared that Liu’s name would be remembered for the encounter.

At Lord Fu'an’s birthday feast, Liu Guancen defended Xu Yi against Bo Zhang’s accusations and showed that Xu Yi would refuse an invitation even for a reward. When Kuang Ming offered Xu Yi a True Immortal sinecure, Xu Yi declined with a poem that stunned the gathering, and his Path of the Esteemed Scholar officially began.

• Liu Guancen told the guests how Xu Yi called plum blossoms his wife and white cranes his sons, prompting Kuang Ming to ask him to invite Xu Yi.
• Bo Zhang accused Xu Yi of chasing fame, and Su Xiangjun and Liu Guancen defended him.
• Liu Guancen contacted Xu Yi, who refused to attend even when offered five pieces of Profound Yellow Essence.
• Kuang Ming offered to recommend Xu Yi for a sinecure as a True Immortal, and Xu Yi replied with a poem instead of accepting.
• Xu Yi’s poem impressed the silent hall, Kuang Ming departed, and the guests crowded around Liu Guancen as Xu Yi’s Path of the Esteemed Scholar began.

Xu Yi built his reputation as the reclusive scholar Empty Guest, using his growing fame to earn Profound Yellow Essence from banquets. After collecting more than two hundred and fifty pieces and refining over a hundred, he sensed the barrier to the Divine Diagram Realm was about to open and prepared to break through.

• Xu Yi decided to pursue the Path of the Esteemed Scholar to gain access to the resources he needed for cultivation.
• After Lord Fu'an Zuo Jiantan's birthday celebration, Xu Yi avoided those seeking to meet Empty Guest, raising curiosity about him.
• Xu Yi and Liu Guancen appeared uninvited at Gao Bohou's banquet, where Xu Yi composed three poems and accepted five pieces of Profound Yellow Essence.
• Liu Guancen explained that Xu Yi had come because he wanted to sell poems, and the guests praised his free-spirited manner.
• Xu Yi began appearing uninvited at banquets about once a month, accepting at least five pieces of Profound Yellow Essence for his poems.
• After a year and a half, Xu Yi had gathered more than two hundred and fifty pieces of Profound Yellow Essence; having refined over a hundred, he stopped attending banquets to prepare for his breakthrough.

After accepting that his breakthrough to the Divine Diagram Realm could not be forced, Xu Yi supported A Li’s move to Yuqing Pavilion and investigated the Titan Dragon Python that had swallowed his demon pet. He then went to Xianlin City, sensing that his chance to break through was near.

• Xu Yi stopped forcing his Divine Diagram Realm breakthrough and began refining Profound Yellow Essence in seclusion.
• A Li told Xu Yi that his master wanted to send him to Yuqing Pavilion as a Water-Fire Dao Child, and Xu Yi encouraged him to go and gave him cultivation resources.
• Xu Yi transformed into Shao Yi Righteous Immortal and asked Zhang Yunjing about the Titan Dragon Python; Zhang revealed it had escaped into the sea of stars after developing apparent intelligence.
• Xu Yi told Zhang Yunjing that he had encountered the Titan Dragon Python in the Dou Niu Star Domain, then left without seeking credit or involvement.
• Xu Yi traveled to Xianlin City and entered his former Starry Sky Refining Room, sensing that his breakthrough opportunity was close.

Xu Yi broke through to the Divine Diagram Realm, but his Dao Fruit fused with the Spiritually Communicating Treasure, forcing him to abandon his identity as the Shao Yi Righteous Immortal. He returned the Taiyi Light Splitting Ruler to the Southern Pole Sect, then went back to the Sishui River and summoned his friends to close this leg of the Path of the Esteemed Scholar.

• Xu Yi formed two Divine Diagrams after the heavenly will answered his visualization, and the Spiritually Communicating Treasure transformed into a chaotic mass of immense power.
• Xu Yi discovered that the Shao Yi Righteous Immortal's Dao Fruit had fused into the Spiritually Communicating Treasure, then crushed the Ruyi Pearl that belonged to the immortal.
• Xu Yi stored the dangerous treasure in the Four-Colored Seal and returned the restriction-free Taiyi Light Splitting Ruler to Lu Daoist priest and the Southern Pole Sect elders.
• Xu Yi promised to speak to Yun Jing Immortal Palace on the Southern Pole Sect's behalf, then left the sect.
• Xu Yi returned to his bamboo cottage by the Sishui River and contacted Liu Guancen, Su Xiangjun, Wu Si, Song Qingying, Director Yu, and others, though two summoned people did not arrive.

Xu Yi announced that he had entered the Divine Diagram Realm and planned to enter the grand selection for an immortal official post, while presenting the decision as a sacrifice forced by his lineage. After his friends left, Xiao Tao brought him a recommendation letter arranged by her Director, completing the requirements for the selection.

• Xu Yi hosted a moonlit gathering and revealed that he had entered the Divine Diagram Realm.
• Xu Yi told his friends that his lineage expected him to pursue an immortal official career, and he bid farewell to his life as a wanderer.
• Su Xiangjun warned Xu Yi that recommendation letters for the grand selection were difficult to obtain, leaving him worried about qualifying.
• News spread that Xu Yi would take part in the grand selection, and Xiao Tao delivered a fifth-rank upper immortal's recommendation letter arranged by her Director.
• Xiao Tao criticized Xu Yi for pursuing an official post, and Xu Yi asked whether Yuwen Tuo had stopped pestering her Director.

Xu Yi visited Director Yu after Xiao Tao asked him to cheer her up, but he sensed she could not speak freely. In the Sinful Dragon Hall, Yuwen Tuo learned that Director Yu had written a love poem about his father, Yuwen Chui, and began to question whether she had composed it herself.

• Xiao Tao told Xu Yi that Director Yu had quieted Yuwen Tuo by writing vague lines of admiration for Eldest Master, then asked Xu Yi to visit her.
• Xu Yi accompanied Xiao Tao to see Director Yu, who spoke about the Grand Competition and the Heavenly Court’s coming reforms.
• After Xiao Tao warned that Director Yu could not talk freely, Xu Yi took his leave, sensing she was in a difficult position.
• A plain-robed old man told Yuwen Tuo to give up pursuing Director Yu because she loved Eldest Master, Yuwen Chui.
• The old man showed Yuwen Tuo a love poem written on a portrait of Yuwen Chui, and Yuwen Tuo was devastated by its implications.
• Yuwen Tuo accepted that making a scandal could harm his father, then doubted Director Yu had written the poem herself.

Yuwen Tuo plotted to use Xu Yi to ruin Director Yu, then heard Xia Qijie’s account of Xu Yi’s dangerous cunning. Xia’s deductions led Yuwen Tuo to suspect Director Yu’s feelings were an act—or that she loved Xu Yi instead—and he ended the chapter furious and demanding Xu Yi be brought to him.

• Yuwen Tuo ordered Old Fan to investigate Xu Yi and planned to use him to stage a scandal involving Director Yu.
• Old Fan gathered information on Xu Yi and arranged for Xia Qijie to be brought from Qian Prison.
• Xia Qijie warned Yuwen Tuo not to underestimate Xu Yi and recounted how Xu Yi had outmaneuvered him.
• After learning that Director Yu had helped Xu Yi and obtained a recommendation letter for him, Yuwen Tuo grew suspicious of her intentions.
• Xia Qijie pointed out that Director Yu’s first meeting with Xu Yi and the appearance of the poem beside Eldest Master’s portrait were suspiciously timed.
• Yuwen Tuo ordered Old Fan to bring Xu Yi to him, but Old Fan and Xia Qijie urged him to consider that Director Yu might truly love Xu Yi.

Xu Yi prepared for the grand examination and decided to seek a new cultivation technique, while Yuwen Tuo arranged to target him through the exam. Meanwhile, Wu Si faced Xu Yi again, anxious that the missing treasure from Xu Yi’s pawned box would be discovered.

• Xia Qijie persuaded Yuwen Tuo to avoid arresting Xu Yi directly and suggested using the grand examination to deal with him, so Yuwen Tuo appointed Xia Qijie to Han Ba'er's former position.
• Xu Yi learned that the grand examination had no fixed standards and realized his combat options were limited without his treasures or Spirit Calming divine ability.
• Xu Yi ruled out the techniques left by Shao Yi Righteous Immortal and Han Ba'er and decided to find a mountain.
• Shopkeeper Su urged Wu Si to stop avoiding Xu Yi, warning that continued evasion could make him seem guilty.
• Wu Si met Xu Yi and tried to bring Liu Guancen and the others into the conversation to avoid discussing the missing treasure.