Recaps

Li Shun used the Twelve Longevity Method to borrow Life Qi from Heaven and Earth, transforming his aging, crippled body into that of a vigorous sixteen-year-old. He realized the borrowed lifespan would eventually run out and considered using Threefold Self-Reflection to turn back time and borrow more.

• Li Shun perceived the Life Qi flowing through Heaven and Earth and saw that his own supply was nearly exhausted.
• Li Shun repeatedly demanded that Heaven and Earth lend him Life Qi, and the flow of qi shifted in response to his will.
• A stream of azure qi entered Li Shun, restoring his youth, health, and ability to walk normally.
• Li Shun realized he had borrowed seventy years of lifespan and recalled the stages he would pass through before returning the borrowed life and dying.
• Li Shun remembered Zhou Xunzhen and considered using Threefold Self-Reflection to turn back time and borrow more lifespan.

After Li Shun became a Public Knight, Fang Xun offered him a county-office post tending the Cold Mountain Lord instead of returning to his ancestral home in East Mountain Town. Li Shun then used Three Reflections Upon Myself to reset Heaven and Earth and borrowed 130 years of lifespan, leaving him to ponder the stone statue’s power.

• Fang Xun learned that Li Shun had borrowed 55 years of lifespan and explained that borrowed lifespan reflected a person’s potential and weight in Heaven and Earth.
• Fang Xun offered Li Shun a county-office post tending the Cold Mountain Lord, and Li Shun accepted rather than return to East Mountain Town, where his siblings might still live.
• Wu Kuang rushed into the study with news that his men had found traces of a boy, but stopped speaking when he noticed Li Shun.
• Li Shun considered the Cold Mountain mutation and his Square Inch Space, then chose to keep his Cold Mountain Grass for personal use and spent the day studying the Twelve Longevity Method.
• Li Shun activated Three Reflections Upon Myself and discovered that its reset restored all of Heaven and Earth, leaving him with no trace of his previous lifespan borrowing.
• Li Shun borrowed lifespan again and gained 130 years.

Li Shun borrowed the maximum two hundred years of lifespan, gaining immense vitality while keeping the true amount secret from Fang Xun. He secured Fang Xun’s permission to remain at his side, but Constable Wu Kuang arrived with news about a trail and stopped short upon seeing him.

• Li Shun tested Fang Xun by falsely claiming he had borrowed fifty-five years, and Fang Xun said that skilled cultivators could judge a person’s Life Qi.
• Li Shun worried that borrowing too much might expose his Square Inch secret, then resolved to continue borrowing lifespan.
• On his third attempt, Li Shun borrowed two hundred years, while the Twelve Golden Men and the million silver soldiers in an underground space trembled faintly.
• Li Shun again told Fang Xun he had borrowed fifty-five years and asked to serve at his side instead of returning home; Fang Xun agreed and assigned him to tend to the Cold Mountain Lord.
• Constable Wu Kuang rushed in to report that they had found the brat’s trail, then stopped when he saw Li Shun, and Fang Xun’s smile disappeared.

Li Shun became the county yamen’s Cold Mountain Keeper, tending spirit plants while studying the original Spirit-Splitting Life-Creation Technique and wondering how to improve his puppet. Five months later, a massive flood surged toward the yamen.

• Fang Xun tested Li Shun’s Spirit-Splitting Life-Creation Technique and appointed him to tend the Cold Mountain plants at the yamen.
• Li Shun gained a stipend and status at the yamen while Fang Xun increased the number of plants and promised to take him to the Sacred Capital in spring.
• Fang Xun gave Li Shun the original Spirit-Splitting Life-Creation Technique, and Li Shun realized the plant’s dwindling supply might lead to its extinction.
• Li Shun considered whether his puppet could borrow lifespan, but held back because the Twelve Longevity Method was forbidden without official permission.
• Five months later, on the sixth day of the sixth month, Li Shun heard the flood alarm and saw a towering wall of water rushing toward the county yamen.

A sudden mountain flood threatened Cold Mountain County, but Fang Xun used the Bright Light Formation to shield the city. The flood then submerged the county beneath the water, leaving Li Shun uneasy as panic and tension spread.

• A towering flood struck Cold Mountain County, and Fang Xun activated the Bright Light Formation to protect the city.
• Yu Shang blamed the abnormal heat for melting mountain ice, while Cheng Yishu revealed that Black-Armored Army soldiers had been chiseling ice from the peaks.
• Fang Xun ordered Cheng Yishu to maintain order and Yu Shang to assess supplies, then told Wu Kuang he suspected Xiong Jin's nephew had melted the ice with Witchfire.
• Fang Xun sent Wu Kuang to search for the fugitive and said he would go personally once they found a trace.
• The flood kept rising until it submerged the city walls, turning Cold Mountain County into an underwater city.
• Li Shun heard a panicked argument next door and worried that even Cold Mountain County had not escaped the disaster.

After the flood struck Cold Mountain County, Li Shun sought a way to gain supernatural strength and learned how Great Qian’s cultivation schools worked. He returned home believing that his mysterious robes and ceremonial cap pointed him toward the Confucian School.

• Li Shun decided not to activate Threefold Self-Reflection, judging that he could not have stopped or warned anyone about the flood, and resolved to seek greater strength.
• After constables told Li Shun that Great Qian officials gained power through the court’s recognition, he went to assistant magistrate Yu Shang with dried meat and asked how to cultivate.
• Yu Shang explained the official academies and the Hundred Schools, warning that their inheritances were difficult to obtain and that Li Shun’s Spirit-Splitting Life-Forming Art was associated with the Agricultural School.
• Yu Shang said the Bright Light Formation should withstand the flood and advised Li Shun to follow the county magistrate, who might someday take him into the Confucian School.
• On his way home, Li Shun recalled the robes and ceremonial cap that appeared when he used Threefold Self-Reflection and concluded that the Confucian School suited him better than the Agricultural School.

Li Shun reflected on the damaged Threefold Self-Reflection Stone Statue as Cold Mountain County remained trapped beneath floodwaters and suffered from poisonous miasma. Fang Xun chose to activate the Bright Light Formation’s purification function while secretly planning to lure Xiong Jin’s nephew into a trap.

• Li Shun considered the stone statue’s possible Sage inheritance, then decided to focus on a more practical path to cultivation.
• Floodwaters submerged Cold Mountain County, and Fang Xun, Yu Shang, and Cheng Yishu estimated that supplies could last until the waters receded without reporting the disaster to the imperial court.
• The water level fell, but rotting animal carcasses spread poisonous miasma into the city, making townspeople sick.
• Fang Xun recalled that Xiong Jin’s nephew had escaped him despite being injured and resolved to capture the young man himself rather than report his whereabouts.
• Fang Xun agreed to keep the Bright Light Formation’s purification function active, presenting the choice as concern for the people while planning to lure his target out.

Fang Xun used the Bright Light Formation to calm Cold Mountain and claimed to be resolving its flood, while secretly setting a trap for a hammer-wielding attacker. As the formation focused its power on the county yamen, the city’s weakened flood barrier gave way and the floodwaters poured in.

• Fang Xun drove away residents who petitioned for the formation’s cooling effect, then activated it the next morning and gained their praise.
• Fang Xun led the Black-Armored Army out to drain the waters and announced that the flood would soon be over.
• A burly attacker smashed through the county yamen’s defensive formation and charged toward Huan’er’s room.
• Fang Xun revealed his ambush and surrounded the attacker with soldiers and constables, then used the Master's words to weigh him down.
• Li Shun suspected the attacker was Xiong Jin as Fang Xun intensified the Bright Light Formation around the yamen, weakening Cold Mountain’s flood barrier.
• The floodwaters broke through the barrier and poured back into Cold Mountain.

Li Shun survived the flood that devastated Cold Mountain City by hiding underground and absorbing the rising water into Square Inch Space. Fang Xun arranged to have Xiong Jin's nephew escorted toward the capital, but the Black-Robed Envoys proved to be paper decoys, and a mysterious youth confronted the captive.

• Li Shun hid in a sealed underground chamber and repeatedly absorbed the floodwater until the tunnel stopped filling.
• After the water receded, Li Shun emerged to find Cold Mountain City in ruins and many residents dead.
• Fang Xun reported capturing a remnant of the Xiang Kingdom to his master, who ordered him to guard the prisoner until the Black-Robed Envoys arrived.
• The Black-Robed Envoys took Xiong Jin's nephew from Fang Xun and headed toward the Sacred Capital.
• The Black-Robed Envoys and their armored qilin horses transformed into paper figures, and a frail youth appeared before Xiong Jin's nephew, calling him Jiang Chongguang.

Han Sushu rescued Jiang Chongguang from Fang Xun’s trap and took him toward East Mountain to seek a treasure in Emperor Gan’s tomb. After discovering the escape and its mocking poem, Fang Xun panicked over the consequences and began concealing the truth while publicly rebuilding Cold Mountain County.

• Han Sushu freed Jiang Chongguang, then said they would go to East Mountain to dig up Emperor Gan’s tomb and find a treasure to transform Jiang Chongguang’s body.
• Han Sushu wrote a mocking poem on Great Qian’s official road, and he and Jiang Chongguang rode spirit cranes toward East Mountain.
• Fang Xun found the poem, realized the prisoner had escaped, and destroyed the road in a fury.
• Fang Xun feared punishment for Cold Mountain’s deaths and injuries, resolved to delay the truth and eliminate witnesses, then falsely told the county the rebel had reached the Sacred Capital.
• Fang Xun publicly promised rewards and led relief and reconstruction efforts, while Li Shun grew suspicious of his sudden change in behavior.

Li Shun grew more suspicious of Fang Xun, while Fang Xun struggled to maintain his act after learning that the damaged official road would delay his replacement. With his departure approaching, Fang Xun began recruiting County Lieutenant Cheng Yishu as a trusted ally and potential scapegoat.

• Li Shun questioned Fang Xun about a law punishing unexplained treasury surpluses, and Fang Xun explained that they signaled changes beyond the court’s control.
• Fang Xun privately wondered how heavenly calculation and human loss could withstand an unforeseen calamity, strengthening Li Shun’s suspicion that he meant no good.
• Over the next half year, Cold Mountain County recovered from the flood, while Li Shun continued cultivating Cold Mountain Grass and accumulating reversal power.
• Fang Xun learned from Yin Fengshuo that the damaged official road had not been repaired, delaying the incoming county magistrate’s appointment.
• Fang Xun resolved to find a scapegoat before departing for a new post and summoned Cheng Yishu, promising to help advance his career if he could be trusted.

As Fang Xun prepared to leave Cold Mountain, Li Shun grew uneasy about the missing court reward and Fang Xun’s plans for Huan'er. Wu Kuang revealed to Yu Shang that tunnels beneath the county city might cause a catastrophic collapse, leaving the danger unresolved.

• Fang Xun appointed Cheng Yishu acting county magistrate to strengthen his record before leaving office, and Cheng eagerly took up the role.
• Fang Xun packed for the capital while Li Shun wondered why the court reward had not arrived and worried about his own safety there.
• Fang Xun responded to Yu Niang’s screams, then carried Huan'er into a sealed bedchamber and coldly ignored the child’s pleas.
• Wu Kuang secretly told Yu Shang that Fang Xun had often disappeared and that the reward for capturing the Xiang Kingdom remnant had never arrived.
• Wu Kuang revealed that he had found many new tunnels beneath Cold Mountain, several of them running under the county city and threatening to bring the mountain down.

Yu Shang discovered Fang Xun’s vast network of dangerous mine tunnels beneath Cold Mountain County, but greed led him to try to expose the scheme alone, and Fang Xun captured him. As Yu Shang and Wu Kuang disappeared, news that Cold Mountain Grass might stop growing drove desperate laborers toward the abandoned mine.

• Yu Shang inspected the mine tunnels with Wu Kuang and concluded that Fang Xun had secretly hollowed out the ground beneath Cold Mountain County.
• Yu Shang abandoned his plan to seek help through official channels and decided to report the tunnels to the commandery governor for a chance at advancement.
• Fang Xun intercepted Yu Shang on the road to Shuofang, and golden chains formed from the character “Prison” bound him.
• The next day, Fang Xun claimed Yu Shang and Wu Kuang had been sent on secret business, temporarily quieting suspicions at the county office.
• News spread that Cold Mountain Grass might vanish, leaving laborers unable to meet their yearly requirement and sending its price soaring.
• Desperate laborers recalled that seedlings might remain in abandoned mine shafts and surged toward the Cold Mountain Mine Cave.

Fang Xun prepared to trigger a mine collapse and leave Cold Mountain, while Li Shun sensed danger and devised a way to preserve his awareness if his body died. Li Shun began transforming a midge so he could use it to observe events from the Square Inch Space.

• Cheng Yishu sealed the Cold Mountain Mine Cave and told the crowd that Cold Mountain Grass had not gone extinct, though he knew the remaining plants had withered.
• Fang Xun planned to blame a mine collapse on laborers searching for Cold Mountain Grass and used his official letter to arrange his departure for the Sacred Capital.
• Fang Xun made the unconscious Yu Shang and Wu Kuang his hidden pieces by binding them to his Confucian Way.
• Li Shun noticed that Fang Xun, Yu Shang, and Wu Kuang had disappeared and feared a disaster he could not understand or prevent.
• Li Shun decided to send his consciousness into the Square Inch Space and attach a strand of it to a creature, then began transforming a midge with Cold Mountain Lord leaves and his blood essence.

Li Shun cultivated a network of tiny creatures to spy without exposing his intent. Meanwhile, Cheng Yishu caught up with Fang Xun on the road, where Fang Xun attacked him, as a group secretly left Cold Mountain for the mine.

• Li Shun discovered that the gnat he had altered was faster and easier to control, then began creating more creatures to use as covert observers.
• Cheng Yishu learned that Fang Xun had left Cold Mountain alone, investigated the residence, and found Yu Niang confined there in a deranged state.
• Cheng Yishu took Yu Niang out of the city, and she sensed Fang Xun's trail and led him toward the road to the Sacred Capital.
• Cheng Yishu caught up with Fang Xun and demanded that he return to Cold Mountain and resume his post as acting county magistrate.
• Fang Xun appeared to agree, then ambushed Cheng Yishu with a golden True Word attack and grievously wounded him.
• A large group slipped out of Cold Mountain and headed for the mine beneath it.

Illegal miners entered the Cold Mountain mine as Li Shun scattered his midges across the county, while Fang Xun and Cheng Yishu fought to the death outside the city. Yu Niang’s suicide explosion killed Fang Xun, ending his seal over the mines and causing Cold Mountain County to collapse into ruins.

• Sun Wu led laborers into the forbidden mine to search for Cold Mountain Grass, and more people joined the illegal mining party.
• Li Shun sensed danger, withdrew his consciousness into the Square Inch space, and released all forty-seven midges to scatter across Cold Mountain County.
• Fang Xun killed Cheng Yishu, then tried to reassure Yu Niang, who accused him of planning to silence Huan'er.
• Yu Niang clamped onto Fang Xun and exploded, fatally destroying his lower body; as he died, his mind cleared and he realized he had been manipulated.
• Sun Wu and the miners found Cold Mountain Grass seedlings, but the mine collapsed and crushed the people inside.
• Fang Xun's death broke his seal over the mine tunnels, triggering the collapse of the mountain and the sinking of Cold Mountain County into ruins.

Zhou Xunzhen used the greed-fueled calamities that destroyed Cold Mountain County to overcome the Heaven's Lifespan Demand tribulation, regain his youth, and advance to the Creation Realm. Yin Fengshuo and Shen Chongguang discussed the county's destruction before departing, unaware that gnats still swarmed over the ruins.

• Zhou Xunzhen's Jixia Bookshop reappeared amid the snow, and its books burned as scenes of Cold Mountain County's greed and disasters played in the flames.
• Zhou Xunzhen climbed through the fire, completed his tribulation, and transformed into a sixteen-year-old after Heaven granted him another lifetime.
• Two officials congratulated Zhou Xunzhen, who gave them a golden page and offered them help through Jixia Academy before vanishing.
• Yin Fengshuo and Shen Chongguang discussed Cold Mountain County's destruction, and Yin said Fang Xun had been executed and he would face only a minor penalty.
• Yin Fengshuo and Shen Chongguang departed, while gnats continued flying over the snow and ruins unnoticed.

After losing his body in the Cold Mountain disaster, Li Shun realized Zhou Xunzhen’s scheme may have fueled his own ambition and used Threefold Self-Reflection to revisit the day before the catastrophe. He tracked Fang Xun, Cheng Yishu, and Yu Niang to witness their deadly fight, then sent a midge into the dying Fang Xun.

• Li Shun reviewed his memories of Zhou Xunzhen and suspected the man’s scheme had stirred ambition in him and brought disaster to Cold Mountain.
• Li Shun activated Threefold Self-Reflection and returned to the first day of the first month, Year 573 of the New Calendar.
• Li Shun sent midges to follow Fang Xun, Cheng Yishu, and Yu Niang, then left the city disguised as a laborer to find them.
• Li Shun’s midges witnessed Fang Xun kill Cheng Yishu, after which Yu Niang exploded and left Fang Xun near death.
• A midge entered Fang Xun’s mouth and spread a cool breath through him, briefly clearing his mind.

Li Shun saved the dying Fang Xun by turning him into a puppet, then used Fang Xun’s memories to uncover the rules of borrowed longevity and the hidden forces behind Cold Mountain’s calamity. As Zhou Xunzhen advanced into the Creation Realm, Li Shun identified Yin Fengshuo’s role in the plot, only for Zhou Xunzhen to appear beside him.

• Midges kept Fang Xun barely alive until Li Shun arrived and asked whether he wanted to live and take revenge.
• Li Shun brought Fang Xun into the Square Inch space, where his injuries were restored and he became a puppet.
• Fang Xun’s memories revealed that cultivators could borrow longevity at each of seven realm breakthroughs, with the first borrowing being the greatest and every borrowing eventually requiring repayment.
• Li Shun suspected Emperor Gan had borrowed two hundred years initially, meaning the world’s assumptions about his remaining lifespan could be wrong.
• Zhou Xunzhen advanced into the Creation Realm as Li Shun concluded that the calamity in Cold Mountain County had been caused by the Heaven’s Lifespan Demand and aided by Yin Fengshuo.
• Zhou Xunzhen quietly appeared beside Li Shun and studied him with keen interest.

Li Shun used Fang Xun’s memories and a staged display of grief to seek a survivable punishment after Cold Mountain County was destroyed. Fang Xun was stripped of his office and sent to guard the tombs in East Mountain Town, which Li Shun saw as a safe place to lie low.

• Zhou Xunzhen vanished after examining Fang Xun and Li Shun, and Li Shun considered why the tribulation transfer and his puppet body made the encounter survivable.
• Fang Xun searched the ruins of Cold Mountain County, found three sticks of Divine-Communing Incense, and used one to contact his master, Dong Chunqiu.
• Fang Xun kowtowed until he was near death, prompting Dong Chunqiu to speak with him through the incense.
• The court stripped Fang Xun of his post as Cold Mountain County Magistrate and demoted him to guard the tombs in East Mountain Town.
• The incense smoke healed Fang Xun somewhat, and Li Shun recognized East Mountain Town as a safe place to hide.

Li Shun used the third reflection to prepare for the Cold Mountain calamity, hide underground, and ensure Fang Xun became a puppet. Fang Xun survived and drew Zhou Xunzhen away, and after the events repeated, he dug Li Shun out of the snow.

• Shen Qinghe told Fang Xun to travel to East Mountain and capture the thieves threatening the Imperial Tomb, while warning him not to let them break through.
• In the third reflection, Li Shun stole Fang Xun's hidden bed and treasures, then reinforced his underground hiding place with Cold Mountain Grass roots.
• After the calamity began, Li Shun turned Fang Xun into a puppet and returned to the Square Inch Space.
• Fang Xun appeared alive before Zhou Xunzhen, who left to confront him; Yin Fengshuo and Zhou Chongguang abandoned their plans and departed.
• Fang Xun repeated his visit to Cold Mountain and received Shen Qinghe's decree, then heard cries for help in the snow and dug Li Shun out.

Li Shun discovered that cultivating Cold Mountain Venerable produced silver, which could delay Heaven's Lifespan Demand, and suspected the Cold Mountain Soul might produce gold. The next morning, he and Fang Xun left Cold Mountain for East Mountain, where Li Shun looked ahead to a future shaped by the Square Inch Space.

• Fang Xun invited Li Shun to travel with him to East Mountain Town, where Fang Xun was being demoted to garrison commander, and Li Shun agreed.
• Inside the Square Inch Space, Li Shun compared newly drawn silver with the metal produced while cultivating Cold Mountain Venerable and confirmed they were the same substance.
• Li Shun recalled that gold and silver could delay Heaven's Lifespan Demand and realized that cultivating Cold Mountain Venerable might let him produce silver.
• Li Shun suspected the Cold Mountain Soul could produce genuine gold, but lamented that Changle Marquis had taken it away.
• The next morning, Li Shun and Fang Xun set out for East Mountain, and Li Shun left Cold Mountain after twenty-seven years there.

Li Shun and Fang Xun reached Tomb Commandery, a sealed-off realm where time passed nearly seven times faster than outside. There, Li Shun confronted a crowd protesting the former warden’s dismissal and revealed himself to Li Qing, who recognized him as his brother.

• Li Shun and Fang Xun passed through Cold Mountain Commandery’s checkpoint, and Li Shun sensed the Cold Mountain Soul might still be lurking there.
• After more than a month of travel, Li Shun and Fang Xun entered Tomb Commandery through its towering pass and learned that its time flowed nearly seven times faster than the outside world.
• A Tomb Commandery official told Fang Xun that East Mountain Town’s residents were demanding the return of their dismissed former warden.
• Fang Xun went to East Mountain Town, where Li Qing rallied the residents and challenged the new warden’s absence.
• Li Shun stepped between Fang Xun and Li Qing, slapped Li Qing twice, and called him by his childhood nickname, Little Dumpling.
• Li Qing recognized Li Shun and addressed him in disbelief as his brother.

Li Shun returned to Imperial Tomb Commandery and reunited with Li Qing, who told him how he and Xiao Yuan had survived after Li Shun was taken away. Elder Wei refused to teach Li Shun but gave him a mysterious ginkgo branch, and the brothers left with Li Qing expressing his disdain for the tomb-guarding life imposed by the Court.

• Li Shun found Xiao Yuan’s funerary figurine and learned from Li Qing that she had died at age one hundred and thirty-two after failing to advance further in cultivation.
• Li Qing explained that Elder Wei had taken him and Xiao Yuan in, granted them the Twelve Longevity Method, and helped them survive after Li Shun was taken away.
• Li Shun met Elder Wei, whose gaze briefly made Li Shun feel exposed, and Elder Wei refused to teach him because their paths did not align.
• After Li Qing pleaded on Li Shun’s behalf, Elder Wei shaped a branch from a ginkgo tree and gave it to Li Shun as a meeting gift.
• Li Qing told Li Shun he had chosen not to start a family because he did not want children destined to guard Emperor Gan’s tomb and become human figurines.
• Li Shun noticed that Li Qing held little reverence for the Great Qian Court, an attitude he considered unthinkable among the tomb-guarding clan.

Li Shun took charge of East Mountain Town and learned that its tomb-raiding crisis was entangled with court officials’ efforts to test Emperor Gan, who had not appeared for a century. He resolved to strengthen the town’s defenses without capturing the thieves, while a labor levy prompted him to consider whether faster time could benefit his puppet cultivation.

• Li Qing recognized Li Shun’s unusual strength, avoided asking about his secrets, and spent the night sharing a meal and conversation with him.
• Li Shun reviewed East Mountain Town’s backlog and learned that it governed thirteen uninhabited commanderies surrounding Emperor Gan’s tomb.
• Li Shun identified Jiang Chongguang and Han Sushu as the tomb raiders and concluded that court officials might be allowing them to breach the tomb to create a reason to test Emperor Gan.
• Li Shun decided to reinforce East Mountain Town’s defenses and divert Jiang Chongguang and Han Sushu rather than capture them or let them reach the central tomb.
• Li Shun reviewed an order requiring two hundred laborers to be sent out and considered investigating whether faster time could improve his cultivation of Cold Mountain Grass.