Recaps

Wen Min and Zeng Shushu toured bustling Sanfu Town with a soldier, learning how its disciplined patrols and the Little State Preceptor’s cultivation method had changed the city. They returned to the Food Mansion at night and found Wu Dayi waiting while Zhang Xiaofan and the others were still keeping their eldest senior brother occupied.

• Wen Min and Zeng Shushu learned that Sanfu Town’s soldiers hoped the Little State Preceptor’s cultivation method would let them face wandering cultivators without help from the Ghost King Sect.
• The soldier explained that Zhang Xiaofan’s inn barred everyone but its chefs, so Wen Min gave up on visiting it and chose to explore the town instead.
• Wen Min, Zeng Shushu, and their fellow disciples visited Sanfu Town’s shops and restaurants with the soldier as their guide.
• The disciples returned to Two Mountains after nightfall and found Wu Dayi alone in the Food Mansion, waiting for them.
• Wen Min asked where Zhang Xiaofan and the others were, and Wu Dayi indicated they were still tormenting their eldest senior brother before calling for the dishes.

Wen Min, Zeng Shushu, and the others ate at Zhang Xiaofan’s place, where Zeng Shushu tried to convince Wen Min to delay returning to the mountain. He became fascinated by Wu Dayi’s strange book, Chronicles of the Illusory World, but Wen Min warned him that clever readers got into trouble from reading it.

• Wu Dayi had Spirit Wine brought to the group, and Zeng Shushu lamented that he would soon have to leave Sanfu Town.
• Zeng Shushu asked Wen Min to help him stay longer, but Wu Dayi said they needed to return and report on their mission.
• Zeng Shushu tried to read Wu Dayi’s storybook, but Wu Dayi blocked him, and Wen Min recognized the title as Chronicles of the Illusory World.
• Wu Dayi teased Wen Min about moving to Big Bamboo Peak, making her blush before she left with Zeng Shushu.
• After cultivation, Zeng Shushu asked Wen Min about the book, and she told him that smart people who read it got into trouble.

Wen Min told Zeng Shushu that a book had nearly obsessed He Dazhi, while Song Daren learned that Luo Yunji wanted him to help build an underground city beneath Sanfu Town. He returned to the mountain to train his control over earth, leaving his role in the project for a later visit.

• Wen Min explained that Uncle Tian had forbidden most Big Bamboo Peak disciples from reading a book, but He Dazhi had nearly become obsessed with it.
• Song Daren spent the night constructing a hexagonal pavilion and woke with an aching waist.
• He Dazhi gave Song Daren plans for Sanfu Town and revealed that Luo Yunji wanted him to build another town beneath it.
• He Dazhi explained that the construction might help Song Daren find his own cultivation path, though he could not be sure.
• Song Daren said he had to return to the mountain for the sect leader's mission, and He Dazhi told him to train his control over earth before helping build the underground city.

Luo Yunji, Zhang Xiaofan, and their allies rescued the Prince’s party from a deadly monster attack, with Dahei defeating and devouring the snake demon. After the survivors began tending to the wounded, Luo Yunji found the two injured guardian Monster Beasts barely able to move.

• He Dazhi learned that the Prince’s party had been attacked by a Monster Beast and sent Luo Yunji, Zhang Xiaofan, and soldiers to help.
• The Prince agreed to retreat as the Monster Beast overwhelmed the defenders and threatened to devour the party’s guardian Monster Beasts.
• Luo Yunji arrived on Dahei as rain fell, and Dahei slammed the snake demon into a mountain wall.
• Dahei swallowed the snake demon while He Dazhi, the Prince, and the soldiers organized the rescue of the wounded.
• Luo Yunji and Liao Xing saw that the two guardian Monster Beasts were badly injured and barely able to move.

After a deadly encounter with a demon snake, Luo Yunji delayed the group’s journey by gathering food and supplies from the mountains. When they reached Sanfu Town, the haul overwhelmed Zhang Xiaofan’s inn, so He Dazhi proposed a citywide banquet and invited Luo Yunji to judge the dishes.

• Luo Yunji fed the wounded Monster Beasts food from Zhang Xiaofan, while Zhang Xiaofan and He Dazhi helped rescue the injured soldiers.
• The Prince, the old Prime Minister, and the old general treated the wounded and gathered the dead after the attack.
• During the five-day rest, Luo Yunji and his companions explored the area and collected herbs, ingredients, and wild fruit before setting out with carts full of supplies.
• Luo Yunji’s detours stretched the remaining journey to Sanfu Town to three times its planned length, and the group arrived carrying their gathered goods.
• Zhang Xiaofan found that the inn’s storeroom could not hold the supplies, so He Dazhi proposed a citywide banquet and offered Luo Yunji the chance to judge the dishes.

Luo Yunji and Liao Xing’s feast turned Sanfu Town into a three-day celebration, while the soldiers kept order. After Prince explained that the court needed to govern the new city, He Dazhi agreed to let officials take over, and Song Daren trusted Prince to make the arrangements.

• He Dazhi promised Luo Yunji he could eat his fill before the other guests, then told the shopkeeper to arrange more food.
• Liao Xing organized a contest around Zhang Xiaofan’s seventeen spiritual dishes, and He Dazhi divided the competitors into cultivators and ordinary people.
• The people of Sanfu Town feasted and celebrated for three days, while Luo Yunji’s five thousand soldiers patrolled and caught thieves.
• The old Prime Minister and the old general wanted to manage Sanfu Town, and Prince explained the court’s concerns to He Dazhi.
• He Dazhi agreed to the court sending officials, and Song Daren told Prince to make whatever arrangements he saw fit.

The Prince, Song Daren, and the others planned how to govern Sanfu Town while respecting the cultivators and coordinating with the Imperial City and Ghost King Sect. As the Prince departed to report to court, He Dazhi revealed that he still needed to arrange for the soldiers’ families to move to Two Mountains.

• He Dazhi reminded the Prince that Sanfu Town had cultivators and that ordinary laws could not apply to everyone, and Wu Dayi said the final arrangements depended on the Imperial City.
• Wu Dayi suggested He Dazhi speak with the Ghost King, and the senior brothers explained that Bi Yao often visited Two Mountains to fight Zhang Xiaofan over food.
• Song Daren learned that the Ghost King Sect benefited from Luo Yunji’s cultivation advice and the Food Mansion’s meals, despite the Ghost King’s strained relationship with the people of Two Mountains.
• The Prince and the others prepared a letter to the court describing Sanfu Town’s special circumstances and plans, while He Dazhi refined the soldiers’ Crystal Tablets to grant them access to Two Mountains.
• The Prince left to send his report, and Song Daren strolled through Sanfu Town with his junior brothers.
• He Dazhi told Song Daren that he planned to bring the relatives of the five thousand soldiers to Two Mountains.

Zhang Xiaofan and He Dazhi visited the Ghost King to deliver a formation diagram and discuss Sanfu Town’s growing troubles. He Dazhi proposed helping Ghost King Sect members gain roles in the town’s security and army, and the Ghost King questioned whether he had the authority to arrange it.

• Song Daren returned to Food Mansion with He Dazhi and Wu Dayi after hearing about the plans to build an underground city.
• Zhang Xiaofan prepared food and Monkey Wine, then accompanied He Dazhi to the Ghost King Sect’s main altar.
• He Dazhi gave the Ghost King a formation diagram, and the Ghost King agreed to study it and provide the complete Heavenly Book Volume Two later.
• He Dazhi warned that Sanfu Town’s growth and Azure Cloud Sect’s investigation would bring more trouble, then explained that the imperial court might send troops to garrison the town.
• He Dazhi offered to help Ghost King Sect disciples join the town’s security forces and obtain official posts, prompting the Ghost King to ask whether he could make that decision.

He Dazhi and Zhang Xiaofan returned to Sanfu Town to find Luo Yunji, who had drawn a crowd of rogue cultivators seeking help with their cultivation methods. When a dispute broke out over crowd control, He Dazhi confronted those stirring up trouble, while the instigator remained hidden.

• He Dazhi told the Ghost King that Luo Yunji was known as the Imperial Preceptor and that several Big Bamboo Peak disciples held court posts, then accepted a brocade box from the Ghost King.
• He Dazhi and Zhang Xiaofan returned to Two Mountains, discovered Luo Yunji was absent, and rushed to Sanfu Town.
• Luo Yunji was guarded at the inn by Song Daren and Wu Dayi while rogue cultivators gathered outside to ask him to modify their cultivation methods.
• A crowd-control dispute erupted after rogue cultivators were injured in the crush, and the Ghost King Sect disciples refused to apologize.
• He Dazhi called for the crowd to disperse and challenged the person accusing him of favoring the Demon Sect to step forward and explain himself.

He Dazhi confronted rogue cultivators who had come to Sanfu Town and exposed the troublemakers as members of demonic sects. After sending the crowd away, he left the Ghost King Sect disciples to handle their own, while the others were killed with his magical treasure.

• He Dazhi calmed the front row of rogue cultivators while Song Daren challenged the crowd to identify the injured person and stop spreading accusations.
• An elderly rogue cultivator explained that the crowd had come to ask the Little State Preceptor to revise their cultivation methods, and He Dazhi had soldiers escort him behind the crowd.
• He Dazhi summoned Clear Breeze Jade Dew and restrained several people who had stirred up trouble, then Wu Dayi played a flute inside the inn.
• He Dazhi questioned the captives, who identified themselves as disciples of the Myriad Poison Sect, Longevity Hall, and Ghost King Sect.
• He Dazhi handed the Ghost King Sect disciples over to a Ghost King Sect cultivator and killed the remaining captives in a gust of blood-red mist.

He Dazhi’s harsh response to trouble at Zhang Xiaofan’s inn drew awe from Sanfu Town, while the Ghost King used the incident to send a warning to rival sects. After sharing a meal with his senior brothers, Zhang Xiaofan went outside to hear the Ghost King Sect’s report.

• He Dazhi ignored the onlookers and returned to the inn, while Ghost King Sect disciples took the two troublemakers away.
• The Ghost King identified the captured disciples as spies and ordered them questioned, killed, and their heads sent back to their sects as a warning.
• Mr. Ghost explained to Qinglong that returning the heads showed sincerity and reaffirmed the sects’ understanding that spies should only gather information.
• Prince watched the inn from a distance and realized that he and the others could now enter Two Mountains.
• Luo Yunji and Zhang Xiaofan emerged from the kitchen with a feast, and Song Daren ate with his fellow disciples.
• Zhang Xiaofan went outside and heard two Ghost King Sect disciples explain how the Ghost King had dealt with the two troublemakers.

Zhang Xiaofan declined the Ghost King Sect’s offer to station guards at his inn but agreed to keep a young disciple as a contact, then spent time with his companions in Sanfu Town. Their outing was interrupted when a soldier reported that many civilians had been killed.

• Zhang Xiaofan refused special protection from the Ghost King Sect, saying the inn could be rebuilt if necessary, but allowed a young disciple to serve as a contact.
• Zhang Xiaofan asked Song Daren when he planned to return and offered to send new dishes back for Master, Mistress, and the other disciples.
• He Dazhi and Wu Dayi encouraged Song Daren to stay longer and take Wen Min around Sanfu Town.
• Luo Yunji, Liao Xing, Zhang Xiaofan, and the Third Prince went shopping in town while soldiers followed them carrying their purchases.
• Zhang Xiaofan sent a soldier to investigate a commotion, and the soldier reported that many ordinary civilians had been killed.

Zhang Xiaofan investigated the murders of commoners in Sanfu Town while Luo Yunji discovered that a household’s cat could speak. The cat demanded food before revealing how the victims died, and Zhang Xiaofan handed Luo Yunji something to feed it.

• Zhang Xiaofan learned that a cultivator had murdered several commoners and ordered a soldier to inform his senior brothers.
• Luo Yunji grew tired of being crowded by strangers, learned where the incident had happened, and went there with Liao Xing and soldiers.
• Zhang Xiaofan examined the victims and ordered inquiries into suspicious people, while Luo Yunji noticed the household’s large cat watching the bodies.
• Luo Yunji grabbed the cat and discovered it could speak; the cat demanded Tasty Things in exchange for information about the deaths.
• Zhang Xiaofan took cat food from Luo Yunji’s purchases and handed it to him on the courtyard wall.

Zhang Xiaofan tracked down and captured the two cultivators who had murdered people over a supposed earthly treasure, which turned out to be an old ginseng. He left their punishment undecided as the crowd gathered to watch him deliver justice.

• Luo Yunji’s big cat identified Wang Er, who confessed that he had told a cultivator about the supposed treasure in exchange for help entering cultivation.
• Zhang Xiaofan and the others reached Fortune Comes Inn, where the treasure’s owner surrendered a nearly three-hundred-year-old ginseng to He Dazhi.
• Zhang Xiaofan chased down the two fleeing killers and brought them back to the inn.
• Zhang Xiaofan saw the crowd expecting justice and had the soldiers announce the killers’ crimes.
• The two killers wept, kowtowed, and admitted their guilt as Zhang Xiaofan questioned whether they had been wrongly accused.

After resolving the murders in Sanfu Town, Zhang Xiaofan and his senior brothers recruited a kindhearted Ghost King Sect odd-jobs disciple to help them. An old diviner Zhang Xiaofan recognized as an enlightened master arrived, and Luo Yunji reunited with a little girl.

• Zhang Xiaofan killed the two murderers, arranged for the dead to be buried, and sent an old man to explain the case’s resolution to the townspeople.
• Wu Dayi learned that the young man who had stopped the killers was a Ghost King Sect disciple with no cultivation, and offered him a place with them.
• He Dazhi assigned the young man to follow Zhang Xiaofan so they could observe his character and let him help out.
• An old diviner entered and said the young man’s fortunes had turned auspicious and that he was deeply connected to the group.
• Zhang Xiaofan recognized the old man as the enlightened master he had met before and introduced him to the others, while Luo Yunji greeted a little girl and gave her food.

Zhou Yixian joined Zhang Xiaofan and the others in Sanfu Town, where he foretold that a young man would become closely connected to them and gain renown. After the meal, he sensed that Luo Yunji faced a matter whose outcome depended on his choice, leaving He Dazhi asking for guidance.

• He Dazhi recognized Zhou Yixian as the fortune-teller who had advised the Prince, and Song Daren and Wu Dayi bowed to him.
• Zhou Yixian told the group that a young man he had seen would not die young and would become renowned after his fate changed.
• Zhang Xiaofan had arranged for Zhou Yixian and Xiaohuan to stay at Fortune Comes Inn rather than the heavily watched Two Mountains.
• Liao Xing and the Third Prince learned that Luo Yunji and Xiaohuan had met over food and Candied Hawthorn.
• After eating, Zhou Yixian divined that a matter involving Luo Yunji might or might not affect him, depending on his choice.
• He Dazhi asked Zhou Yixian to explain what he had foreseen.

Zhang Xiaofan agreed to investigate the bandits Zhou Yixian had foretold and traveled with Luo Yunji, Liao Xing, Third Prince, and soldiers to their hideout. After learning the bandits enslaved people and forced children to fight beasts, the group prepared to attack.

• Zhou Yixian said a gang of bandits had a fleeting connection to Zhang Xiaofan, and Xiaohuan explained that he had met refugees who could be repaid by telling their fortunes.
• He Dazhi suggested Zhang Xiaofan investigate the bandits, and Zhang Xiaofan agreed to go with Luo Yunji, Liao Xing, Third Prince, and two squads of soldiers.
• The group rode out at dawn and reached the bandits' area after half a day; Luo Yunji traveled on a monster wolf.
• Scouts reported that the bandits enslaved people and forced them to fight each other and wild beasts, including children.
• Zhang Xiaofan ordered the soldiers to gear up and attack, while Third Prince felt murderous intent toward the bandits.

Zhang Xiaofan and his companions attacked a mountain bandit stronghold and found its people brutally slaughtered. After Luo Yunji confronted a strange presence and an attacker escaped, Old Ancestor Fengyue emerged and claimed the attacker was his old friend who had imprisoned him.

• Zhang Xiaofan urged the Third Prince to seek the truth through his own experience as the group rode toward the stronghold.
• Zhang Xiaofan's soldiers smashed through the stronghold gate and found corpses, while Liao Xing and the Third Prince fled outside to vomit and Luo Yunji climbed onto a wall.
• The soldiers defeated the bandits and the demon wolves subdued the vicious beasts; Zhang Xiaofan used the Fire Poker to turn the captured bandits and beasts to dust.
• Luo Yunji sensed a familiar aura in a building and drifted toward it, prompting Zhang Xiaofan to order the soldiers not to look.
• A figure burst from the building and screamed after Luo Yunji struck him, then escaped; Luo Yunji returned to his usual state.
• Old Ancestor Fengyue came out of the building and asked them to spare the fleeing man, explaining that he was an old friend who had trapped him inside; Zhang Xiaofan remained wary.

Zhang Xiaofan and the soldiers discovered the mountain bandits’ horrific crimes while Old Ancestor Fengyue wrestled with guilt over helping the bandit leader escape. When the leader returned to retrieve a mysterious item said to contain the only method of becoming immortal, Fengyue agreed to help him, and Luo Yunji attacked them as they approached the stronghold.

• The soldiers reported that the bandits had slaughtered or abused the stronghold’s inhabitants, and Zhang Xiaofan went inside to see the victims.
• Zhang Xiaofan fed Luo Yunji while the soldiers searched and cleaned the stronghold, and Old Ancestor Fengyue stayed behind, troubled by the carnage.
• Luo Yunji spotted the burly bandit leader returning, and Zhang Xiaofan ordered the soldiers to search the one building they had not yet checked.
• Old Ancestor Fengyue fought the returning leader, then agreed to help him retrieve an item after learning it recorded a way to become immortal.
• As Fengyue and the bandit leader walked toward the stronghold together, Luo Yunji sent a streak of white silk flying at them.

Dabai used Luo Yunji’s magic treasures to hold off Old Ancestor Fengyue and the burly bandit leader while Zhang Xiaofan kept his distance. As Zhang Xiaofan went to investigate a strange house, a pitch-black pillar of smoke erupted from the mountain stronghold, bringing the conflict to a sudden turn.

• Dabai’s Mysterious Gauze let him evade the two men’s attacks, but the burly man’s black-gray smoke could strike him and force him back.
• Luo Yunji gave Dabai the red skull, and Dabai used it to summon a Kui Ox phantom and a growing mass of smoke filled with ghosts.
• Zhang Xiaofan watched Old Ancestor Fengyue ally with the bandit leader, felt disappointed, and chose not to join the fight while Dabai held them off.
• A soldier told Zhang Xiaofan that his men had found something strange in a house that they could not approach, so Zhang Xiaofan went to investigate.
• The ground shook, and a straight, pitch-black pillar of smoke shot up from the mountain stronghold.

After Zhang Xiaofan opened the Wooden Box, black columns of gas immobilized the stronghold until the Deity possessing Luo Yunji took the black sheet and absorbed it into the Spirit-Concentrating Pearl. When Old Ancestor Fengyue and the burly man demanded the box, Zhang Xiaofan attacked the burly man and left him sprawled on the ground.

• Zhang Xiaofan opened the Wooden Box, releasing black columns of gas that froze the people and creatures around the stronghold.
• The Deity possessing Luo Yunji entered the building, took the black sheet, and absorbed it into the Spirit-Concentrating Pearl, causing the gas to fade.
• Luo Yunji returned to himself and recognized the black sheet's markings as similar to Fifth Senior Brother's Gold Talisman.
• A soldier reported that Old Ancestor Fengyue and the burly man had forced their way into the courtyard, and the burly man demanded the Wooden Box.
• Zhang Xiaofan struck the burly man twice with blinding speed, knocking him to the ground.

Zhang Xiaofan confronted Old Ancestor Fengyue and the burly man over the Wooden Box, then learned they had taken Liao Xing and the Third Prince hostage. After the exchange turned into a fight, Zhang Xiaofan seized the burly man and wounded him with the Fire Poker, leaving his fate unresolved.

• Zhang Xiaofan stopped the burly man with a series of Taiji Seals, and Old Ancestor Fengyue tried to withdraw with him.
• The burly man revealed that he had captured Liao Xing and the Third Prince, and Zhang Xiaofan agreed to hand over the Wooden Box in exchange for their safe return.
• Old Ancestor Fengyue chose to stay behind while the burly man carried the two unconscious hostages back and demanded the item first.
• Zhang Xiaofan tossed out a Yin Spirit instead of the Wooden Box, then vanished and grabbed the burly man as Old Ancestor Fengyue attacked with a Golden Roc.
• Dabai used the Red Skull to block the Golden Roc, and Zhang Xiaofan drove the Fire Poker into the burly man's thigh, which shriveled as the man discovered Zhang Xiaofan was unharmed.

Zhang Xiaofan brought the bandit chief back to the stronghold and let the tortured survivors decide his punishment. Old Ancestor Fengyue arrived with a secret to share, but Zhang Xiaofan recognized the item from the Wooden Box and ordered the punishment to proceed.

• Zhang Xiaofan gave the Wooden Box to the bandit chief, dislocated his limbs with the Fire Poker, and had soldiers drag him to the stronghold.
• Zhang Xiaofan gathered the surviving captives before the bandit chief, and they cried out for him to be cut to pieces as they died.
• The bandit chief demanded the Wooden Box’s contents, but Old Ancestor Fengyue opened it and revealed it was empty.
• Zhang Xiaofan told Old Ancestor Fengyue that the thing inside the box was no good, then ordered the soldiers to carry out the bandit chief’s punishment.

Zhang Xiaofan ordered the soldiers to continue executing the bandit chief despite Old Ancestor Fengyue's claim that the man knew a secret linked to becoming an immortal. Old Ancestor Fengyue then told Zhang Xiaofan about the mysterious Five Seas, before lightning struck and destroyed the bandit chief.

• Old Ancestor Fengyue tried to stop the execution, claiming the bandit chief knew how to use the black talisman and held a clue to becoming an immortal.
• Zhang Xiaofan refused to spare the bandit chief and ordered the soldiers to continue the death by a thousand cuts while the Yin Spirits prevented Old Ancestor Fengyue from intervening.
• Zhang Xiaofan joined Luo Yunji on the courtyard wall and explained that he had spared Old Ancestor Fengyue because of the treasures he had once given them and Fourth Senior Brother's feelings.
• Old Ancestor Fengyue offered to share what he knew about the item and asked Zhang Xiaofan about the mysterious Five Seas.
• Lightning struck the bandit chief, reducing his body to fragments as the survivors in the stronghold watched in silence.

Zhang Xiaofan and Luo Yunji left the mountain stronghold after the soldiers rescued its survivors and recovered the woman and her children. The widowed woman offered Zhang Xiaofan her family's cookbook in hopes of finding a place for her family, and he returned it while inviting her to prove her cooking skill at his inn.

• Zhang Xiaofan used Mysterious Gauze and the Yin Spirits to shelter the courtyard from the rain while soldiers found survivors hidden in the stronghold.
• The soldiers rescued the hidden woman and children, and Zhang Xiaofan took Luo Yunji back to the carriage when Luo Yunji said he wanted to leave.
• Old Ancestor Fengyue stayed behind as the wounded survivors died and the soldiers gathered the dead and valuables.
• The next morning, Zhang Xiaofan learned that the rescued woman was the mother of quadruplets and that her husband had died after revealing where the survivors were hidden.
• The woman offered Zhang Xiaofan her family's cookbook, One Taste Is Enough, hoping he would take in her and her children.
• Zhang Xiaofan returned the cookbook and told the woman his inn welcomed chefs with real skill.