Recaps

Li Shun recovered from borrowing Sage’s body, but the Heavenly Man Book stone statue seized much of his territory in the Square Inch Space. His glimpse of the History School divine art also revealed that someone in Sacred Capital had plotted to lure him to Yunguan County, and he vowed to settle the debt.

• Li Shun’s use of the Heavenly Man’s Writing nearly shattered his soul, while the Heavenly Man Book stone statue reclaimed territory in the Square Inch Space.
• Li Shun regained his consciousness and learned that the School of Totality had preserved his memories of wielding the Sage’s power.
• Li Shun recalled erasing Zuo Yan and restoring Feng Guan with the divine art, while recognizing its limits against people bound by deep Causality.
• Li Shun sensed that someone in Sacred Capital had used Feng Guan to lure him to Yunguan County and suspected Duan Jiuzhang had been part of the plan.
• Li Shun memorized the hidden threads of Causality and vowed to uncover the plot and settle the debt.

After the Owl God Seizing Food Tribulation, Li Shun reunited with Feng Guan, whose fate he had secretly changed, and Duan Jiuzhang offered Feng Guan a path to study in Spirit Commandery. Duan then hinted that heavenly beings could alter what was fixed, explained why he had intervened to save Yunguan’s people, and left Li Shun with a mysterious slip bearing the character “People.”

• Li Qing condemned the court’s cold response to the calamity and Duan Jiuzhang’s unacknowledged service.
• Feng Guan tearfully apologized to Li Shun for ignoring his advice, and Li Shun recalled how he had changed Feng Guan’s deadly fate.
• Li Shun advised Feng Guan to leave remote Yunguan County, and Duan Jiuzhang offered to recommend him to study under Cheng Yuzhao in Spirit Commandery.
• After sending Li Qing and Feng Guan away, Duan Jiuzhang told Li Shun that a friend had said, “When heavenly beings write, even what is fixed may be changed,” but did not press him about it.
• Duan Jiuzhang said he had intervened because the people of Yunguan were suffering, then left Li Shun a yellowed slip bearing the character “People.”

Li Shun left Yunguan County with Li Qing and headed for Kuaiji Commandery to absorb Heaven-and-Earth Mystic Yellow Qi and reclaim control of Square Inch Space. Meanwhile, Fang Xun faced a covert political campaign in East Mountain as Yin Fengshuo’s praise drew hostile officials to scrutinize his administration.

• Duan Jiuzhang gave Feng Guan a letter of recommendation for Spirit Commandery and handed Li Shun a wheat-shaped token holding one strike at his full strength.
• Li Shun and Li Qing left Yunguan County, and Li Shun told his brother they were going to Kuaiji Commandery rather than returning to Former Tomb Commandery.
• Li Shun resolved to seek the Heaven-and-Earth Mystic Yellow Qi associated with Qian Yuan, fearing the Heavenly Man Book Stone Statue was influencing his thoughts and behavior.
• Yin Fengshuo praised Fang Xun as a model administrator and sent more than a hundred officials to East Mountain, where they recorded evidence against him while obstructing his work.

Fang Xun faced Yin Fengshuo’s political attacks while sensing a greater tribulation gathering over East Mountain. When Heavenly Dao Severed Qi resurfaced in a sealed well, Fang Xun concealed it, unaware that it was growing more dangerous beneath the surface.

• Fang Han was accused of taking bribes to prioritize wealthy merchants’ settlement, and Fang Xun imprisoned him despite believing he had been framed.
• Sun Chengyou announced that he was returning to the Sacred Capital, leaving Fang Xun without his strongest local ally and warning him to endure Yin Fengshuo’s attacks.
• Fang Xun focused on the tribulation aura over East Mountain, suspecting that he and Li Shun had fallen into calamity at the same time.
• Zheng Zhi reported that black mist had emerged from a dried well in an abandoned courtyard in East Mountain Town.
• Fang Xun found that a damaged seal was temporarily containing the Heavenly Dao Severed Qi, then used Shentu Xin’s phantom to bury it and ordered Zheng Zhi to keep silent.
• The Heavenly Dao Severed Qi continued to grow more violent beneath the well, unbeknownst to Fang Xun.

Li Shun visited Qian Yuan Shrine in Shangyu County to collect Heaven-and-Earth Mystic Yellow Qi and learned that Qian Yuan’s statue showed him compassion instead of bringing heavenly punishment. After leaving, Li Shun and Li Qing investigated the shrine’s abusive incense seller and discovered he was Qian Yuan’s descendant.

• Li Shun and Li Qing reached Shangyu County and read about Qian Yuan’s lifelong work improving the region’s waterways.
• Li Shun paid for incense despite the seller’s exorbitant price and Li Qing’s protest.
• Li Shun collected one wisp of Mystic Yellow Qi from Qian Yuan’s statue without attracting heavenly punishment, and the statue sent him images and information.
• Li Shun stopped Li Qing from confronting the incense seller and said they should learn who backed him.
• The next day, Li Shun and Li Qing discovered that the incense seller was a descendant of Qian Gong.

Li Shun exposed Shangyu County magistrate Xu Jingde for allowing Qian Gong’s shrine to be exploited, and the court dismissed Xu and punished the Qian Family descendants. The court then appointed Li Shun acting magistrate of Shangyu, where he learned that his master, Fang Xun, had run into trouble.

• Li Shun used Mystic Yellow Qi to reclaim territory in the Square Inch Space, then concluded he needed more of it.
• Li Shun suspected Shangyu’s magistrate was letting Qian Gong’s descendants disgrace the shrine, and he wrote a denunciation to the Censorate.
• The court dismissed Xu Jingde, ordered offerings at Qian Gong’s Shrine to be free, and sent the Qian Family descendants to ten years of hard labor.
• Kong Zhao told Li Shun that the court had appointed him acting magistrate of Shangyu until a replacement arrived.
• Li Shun asked whether something had happened to Fang Xun, and Kong Zhao confirmed that Fang Xun was in trouble and the school could not help him for now.

Li Shun took up the post of acting magistrate of Shangyu County for three months and began reviewing its affairs while Li Qing patrolled the streets. After seven days, Li Shun returned to Qian Yuan Shrine to check whether restoring the shrine’s offerings had brought him a share of its benefits.

• Kong Zhao told Li Shun he would serve as acting magistrate for three months and gave him a jade pendant before leaving Shangyu County.
• Li Shun met Shangyu County’s officials, who had prepared the case files and pledged to cooperate with him.
• Li Shun appointed Li Qing temporary patrol officer, and Li Qing began patrolling the county the next day.
• Li Shun carefully reviewed the county’s files for seven days as the uproar over the change of magistrate faded.
• Li Shun returned to Qian Yuan Shrine, focused on Qian Yuan’s statue, and noticed a difference in the gathered Mystic Yellow Qi.

Li Shun received two strands of Mystic Yellow Qi from Qian Yuan and learned why the gift escaped heavenly notice. He used the Qi to comprehend Threefold Self-Reflection, discovering its possible rewind limits before the stone statue’s resistance stopped his progress.

• Li Shun realized Qian Yuan had been near the threshold for losing his Mystic Yellow Qi and had voluntarily given him two strands after Li Shun preserved the shrine’s incense offerings.
• Li Shun concluded that voluntarily bestowed Mystic Yellow Qi avoided heavenly punishment and that Qian Yuan concealed its loss from Great Qian’s authorities.
• Li Shun considered the origins of Mystic Yellow Qi and questioned why Great Qian did not cultivate more incense offerings and worthy ministers.
• Li Shun used the two strands of Mystic Yellow Qi to advance his comprehension of Threefold Self-Reflection, but the damaged stone statue struck back when his progress reached five percent.
• Li Shun learned that Threefold Self-Reflection could rewind one day normally, three days by exhausting his strength, or up to seven days at an enormous price, though he still could not rewind beyond one day.

Li Shun and Li Qing saw apparitions of the Three Elders on Three Elders Peak, and Li Shun sensed Heaven-and-Earth Mystic Yellow Qi leading into a cave. The discovery gave Li Shun a chance to break through Heaven’s Gate, and the brothers found an enormous pangolin paying respects to three skeletons.

• Li Shun and Li Qing admired the peaceful scenery from Three Elders Peak and discussed Elder Wei.
• The Three Elders appeared in the clouds, prompting the visitors to bow, while Li Shun detected Mystic Yellow Qi descending toward the valley.
• Li Shun and Li Qing followed the qi into a cave, where Li Shun realized he had found his chance to break through Heaven’s Gate.
• Li Shun weighed the benefits and risks of advancing early but resolved to seize the opportunity.
• The brothers reached the cave’s depths and found an enormous pangolin bowing reverently to three skeletons.

Li Shun discovered that the three glowing skeletons in the cavern belonged to disciples of the Confucian Sage and brought them into Square Inch Space, where their recitation began restoring the phantom Sacred Words Slip. After bringing the pangolin into the same region, he sensed Heaven-and-Earth Mystic Yellow Qi gathering there.

• Li Shun bowed to the three skeletons and saw a vision of the Three Elders creating Shangyu Plain before dying in a cavern.
• Li Shun released his Confucian Lizheng, and the skeletons knelt to the Confucian Sage's stone statue before he brought them into Square Inch Space.
• The Three Elders' remains recited the Sacred Words Slip, causing its phantom to begin solidifying.
• Li Shun brought the pangolin into the same region of Square Inch Space, where it resumed attending the Three Elders.
• Li Shun sensed Heaven-and-Earth Mystic Yellow Qi gathering within Square Inch Space.

Li Shun honored the Three Elders of Shangyu with a memorial carved into Three Elders Peak, causing the Mystic Yellow Qi gathered from their remains to grow. After breaking through to the Grand Simplicity Realm, he prepared to use Lifespan Borrowing again.

• Li Shun used Threefold Self-Reflection to repeat the day and secretly took the Three Elders' remains and the pangolin into Square Inch Space.
• Li Shun consulted Kong Zhao, then had craftsmen carve his tribute to the Three Elders into Three Elders Peak.
• Li Shun and Li Qing paid their respects at the finished memorial, and word of it spread among Shangyu's people.
• Visitors to Three Elders Peak helped the Mystic Yellow Qi from the Three Elders' remains grow denser, though slowly.
• Li Shun spent a day breaking through from the Mortal Embryo Realm to the Grand Simplicity Realm, then turned his attention to using Lifespan Borrowing again.

Li Shun borrowed only fifty years from Heaven and set aside further attempts, then went to Three Elders Peak to confront Cheng Rang, who challenged his account of the Three Elders’ role in Shangyu. Cheng Rang’s arguments swayed the crowd and ended by questioning whether Li Shun’s claim diminished the court’s authority.

• Li Shun borrowed fifty years from Heaven and realized his weakened yearning for longevity had reduced the result.
• Li Shun considered using the Jun Family’s secret art to burn through his lifespan, then used Threefold Self-Reflection to reset the day.
• Li Qing told Li Shun that Cheng Rang was threatening to destroy the cliff memorial on Three Elders Peak after debating him.
• Li Shun arrived at the summit, where Cheng Rang argued that Shangyu’s ancestors had settled the land before the Three Elders arrived.
• Cheng Rang claimed generations of commoners and officials had built Shangyu’s prosperity, then argued that settlements and county rule would have arisen without the Three Elders.

Li Shun turned Cheng Rang’s public accusation into a charge of inciting rebellion, then staged Li Qing’s injury to provoke Cheng Rang into resisting arrest and fleeing. Afterward, Li Shun reflected on how his Grand Simplicity Realm abilities had influenced Cheng Rang’s actions.

• Li Shun defended the Three Elders’ sacrifices as a duty of state and accused Cheng Rang of trying to sow chaos among the people.
• Li Shun ordered Li Qing to arrest Cheng Rang, then secretly told Li Qing to pretend to be injured when they clashed.
• Li Shun called Cheng Rang a rebel after Li Qing fell bleeding, and the frightened spectators fled the summit.
• Cheng Rang revealed his Legalist chains and bound Li Qing, who broke free and attacked until Cheng Rang trapped him again with a net of law.
• Cheng Rang fled, and Li Shun stopped Li Qing from pursuing him, saying the charges of rebellion and resisting arrest had now stuck.
• Li Shun privately reflected that his Grand Simplicity Realm abilities and Think Without Learning had influenced Cheng Rang.

After Cheng Rang attacked Li Shun, Li Shun reported the incident and Kong Zhao explained that court figures had sent Cheng Rang to cause him trouble. Cheng Rang was branded a rebel and forced by Su Zhenhan to take poison, while Su vowed revenge against Li Shun.

• Zhang Mu rushed to Three Elders Peak, heard Li Shun’s account, and agreed to report Cheng Rang as a dangerous criminal and request a joint pursuit.
• Li Shun told Kong Zhao how he had provoked Cheng Rang and used Li Qing’s feigned defeat to turn the confrontation in his favor.
• Kong Zhao explained that Cheng Rang had acted at the behest of people angered by Duan Jiuzhang’s praise of Li Shun, and told Li Shun to identify Cheng Rang as a rebel.
• Wanted notices for Cheng Rang spread across Yang Province, and Cheng Rang panicked in hiding after learning the court had issued a reward notice.
• Su Zhenhan gave Cheng Rang poison and threatened his family to prevent him from revealing their plans; Cheng Rang drank it and died.
• Su Zhenhan mourned Cheng Rang briefly, then turned his grief into hatred for Li Shun and vowed revenge.

Li Shun learned that Cheng Rang had killed himself and discovered that the Three Elders’ recognition by the court had increased the people’s faith and the flow of Mystic Yellow Qi. Meanwhile, Yin Fengshuo’s schemes cornered Fang Xun with relentless work, damaging rumors, and new problems in refugee relief.

• Li Shun told Li Qing that Cheng Rang’s death had ended the immediate turmoil but warned that the people behind him would not let their defeat go unanswered.
• Li Shun realized that the court’s implicit endorsement of the Three Elders had strengthened public faith and more than doubled the rate at which Mystic Yellow Qi gathered.
• Yin Fengshuo gave Fang Xun an exhausting two-month deadline to survey and redistribute farmland and resettle millions of refugees, but Fang Xun’s puppet body kept him clear-minded and tireless.
• Rumors accusing Fang Xun of corruption, cruelty in Cold Mountain, and betraying Li Shun spread across East Mountain and became accepted as truth.
• As Fang Xun’s reputation collapsed, Yin Fengshuo’s next move caused serious problems with supplies and food for the refugees.

Fang Xun realized that Yin Fengshuo’s delays and accusations were part of a tribulation meant to make him bear the blame while another cultivator advanced. He chose to endure and turn his apparent downfall into a chance to save East Mountain and secure a shrine, then discovered Fang Han was largely unaffected by the tribulation qi.

• Yin Fengshuo delayed supplies and repeatedly summoned Fang Xun, leaving East Mountain’s refugees convinced Fang Xun had embezzled their food.
• Fang Xun recognized that a Celestial Phenomenon Realm cultivator was using him as cultivation fuel and considered sacrificing himself to save the people and earn their gratitude.
• Fang Xun decided to endure until the tribulation qi grew stronger and secretly spread rumors that further damaged his own reputation.
• Fang Xun returned to the Town Protectorate Office and heard Fang Han defending him against several officials.
• Fang Xun questioned Fang Han in his study and found that he was largely immune to the tribulation qi.

Fang Xun realized the Heavenly Lifespan Lock Tribulation was twisting him into the corrupt official described by rumors, while Shentu Xin triggered a catastrophe that exposed an alleged secret deal between Yin Fengshuo and the Jun Family. The officials grew suspicious of Yin Fengshuo as the earth shook and black pillars erupted across Former Tomb Commandery.

• Fang Xun warned Fang Han to stay in the residence, then told him that Li Shun would guide his studies and cultivation when he returned.
• On the fifteenth day of the fourth month, Fang Xun felt an overpowering urge to seize disaster-relief supplies and resisted the tribulation as it cut bloody marks across his skin.
• Fang Xun concluded that the tribulation would alter his body and soul until he became the man described in the rumors.
• On the eighteenth day of the fourth month, Shentu Xin descended beneath East Mountain and detonated his remaining life essence, unleashing Heavenly Dao Severed Qi in a massive black pillar.
• A resentful voice accused Yin Fengshuo of breaking a promise to reshape its speaker’s body and declared that the Jun Family would not be bullied.
• The officials suspected Yin Fengshuo of secretly colluding with the Jun Family, but he dismissed the accusation as slander and framing.

Yin Fengshuo struggled to contain repeated eruptions of Heavenly Dao Severed Qi across Former Tomb Commandery and realized rumors surrounding him were drawing him into a Form-Transformation Origin-Substitution Tribulation. Lu Hanmo arrested him over alleged collusion with the Jun Family, but Shentu Xin unleashed an even greater outbreak as Yin was being taken away.

• Yin Fengshuo organized evacuations and relief efforts after Heavenly Dao Severed Qi erupted from shattered earth veins across Former Tomb Commandery.
• Shentu Xin repeatedly claimed that the Jun Family would not be bullied, triggering fresh eruptions and forcing officials to repair the earth veins over several days.
• Yin Fengshuo realized the rumors and disasters were pulling him into a Form-Transformation Origin-Substitution Tribulation alongside Fang Xun.
• Lu Hanmo arrived with a Black-Robed Envoy and ordered Yin Fengshuo arrested over alleged collusion with Shentu Xin and the Jun Family.
• As Yin Fengshuo was escorted out of his residence, Shentu Xin promised him another gift and caused a far more violent eruption of Heavenly Dao Severed Qi.

Yin Fengshuo and Lu Hanmo helped contain the Severed Qi eruption while a mysterious vortex drew in some of the black qi. Fang Xun evacuated East Mountain Town and thirteen nearby counties, but the Severed Qi continued climbing toward the refugees’ summit refuge.

• Yin Fengshuo asked Lu Hanmo to let him help quell the eruption, and Lu Hanmo joined him as officials raised a barrier around the raging Severed Qi.
• A vast vortex appeared in the sky and drew in black qi, easing pressure on the barrier and allowing officials to aid other stricken areas.
• Fang Xun ordered East Mountain Town’s residents to evacuate, and Zheng Zhi supported his warning after the ground shook.
• Fang Xun guided more than a hundred thousand refugees from thirteen counties into the mountains before black qi swallowed their abandoned towns.
• Fang Xun and the officials carried exhausted refugees uphill as the crowd gathered on the summit, where Fang warned them to keep climbing because the Severed Qi was still advancing.

Fang Xun burned his life force to hold back the Heavenly Dao Severed Qi and died protecting the people of East Mountain, while Yin Fengshuo arrived too late to save him. As Li Shun learned of the crisis, Kong Zhao ordered him to return to East Mountain.

• Fang Xun and dozens of East Mountain officials held back the rising Severed Qi until Fang Xun burned his life force, allowing Lu Hanmo, Yin Fengshuo, and their companions to arrive and suppress it.
• Yin Fengshuo received the crowd’s praise while Fang Xun realized the calamity qi still clung to him and resolved that he might have to die.
• Li Shun’s Threefold Self-Reflection revealed that, in another course of events, Fang Xun used Shentu Xin’s illusory image to accelerate the Severed Qi’s spread and died shielding the people before help arrived.
• Fang Han and the people condemned Yin Fengshuo for arriving late, and Yin Fengshuo learned that Fang Xun had died saving them.
• Li Shun received Kong Zhao’s message: “Return to East Mountain!”

Li Shun returned to East Mountain after Fang Xun died saving the people and investigated the rumors and failures surrounding the disaster. He published an eulogy praising Fang Xun and a proclamation accusing Governor Yin Fengshuo of negligence and demanding an investigation into the man-made catastrophe.

• Li Shun returned to ruined East Mountain and learned from Zheng Zhi that Fang Xun had been swallowed by the Heavenly Dao Severed Qi.
• Li Shun questioned the survivors, gathered their signed accounts, and traveled through Former Tomb Commandery to reconstruct what had happened.
• Li Shun asked Kong Zhao about the tribulation and Governor Yin Fengshuo, but Kong Zhao warned him not to investigate too deeply and urged him to focus on his future.
• Li Shun wrote an eulogy for Fang Xun and a proclamation denouncing Yin Fengshuo and calling for an investigation into the damaged earth veins.
• Li Shun's essay was posted throughout Former Tomb Commandery the next day.

After Fang Xun’s burial, Li Shun sought approval to build a shrine in East Mountain so people could honor his master. Zhao Cheng accepted a petition bearing thousands of names and handprints and promised to report the request to Duanmu Qiuche.

• Li Shun received mourners in an orderly fashion as his memorial essay spread and changed public sentiment in East Mountain.
• Officials and Confucian School members arrived to pay their respects to Fang Xun.
• On April twenty-ninth, Li Shun buried Fang Xun in a cenotaph and met Zhao Cheng at the graveside.
• Li Shun asked Zhao Cheng to help secure court approval for a shrine to Fang Xun in East Mountain.
• Li Shun presented a petition bearing thousands of names and handprints, and Zhao Cheng promised to report the request to Duanmu Qiuche.

After Fang Xun’s memorial, Zhao Cheng explained that Yin Fengshuo had been made a scapegoat for the Old Tomb disaster and invited Li Shun to train in the Kong Family Grotto-Heaven. Li Shun accepted the chance to take Fang Xun’s place in the Feast of the Hundred Schools, leaving him two years to reach the Spiritual Resonance Realm.

• Li Shun held a memorial for Fang Xun, then met Kong Zhao and Zhao Cheng at the East Mountain government offices.
• Zhao Cheng revealed that Yin Fengshuo had been sentenced to death and explained that the Old Tomb disaster stemmed from earth veins connected to the Heavenly Dao Severed Sea, while the court concealed the Right Chancellor’s role in sealing it.
• Zhao Cheng told Li Shun that his rapid advance to the Grand Simplicity Realm qualified him for direct-disciple status, though the ceremony would be delayed.
• Zhao Cheng explained that Li Shun was expected to take Fang Xun’s vacant place among the Confucian School’s three participants in the Feast of the Hundred Schools and reach the Spiritual Resonance Realm within two years.
• Kong Zhao offered Li Shun access to the Kong Family Grotto-Heaven, which could help him bypass advancement barriers but would make later breakthroughs far more difficult.
• Li Shun agreed to enter the grotto-heaven and was told to settle his affairs in East Mountain and travel there alone.

Li Shun prepared to enter the Kong Family Grotto-Heaven, entrusting Li Qing with maintaining Fang Xun Shrine and caring for Fang Han. In the Square Inch Space, he discovered that worship-generated Mystic Yellow Qi could make wishes come true, though its cost rose sharply with the distance between the present and the desired result.

• Li Shun explained to Li Qing why he would not inherit Warden Fang's post and said he would cultivate at the Kong Family Grotto-Heaven.
• Li Shun asked Li Qing to keep Fang Xun Shrine's incense burning for fifty years by spreading stories of Fang Xun and organizing worship, and to take Fang Han under his care.
• Li Shun entered the Square Inch Space and found that nearly half of the Mystic Yellow Qi gathered by Fang Xun flowed into it, transforming the space.
• Li Shun realized Fang Xun's status as a puppet before gathering Mystic Yellow Qi made him a link that let the Square Inch absorb it directly.
• Li Shun learned that Mystic Yellow Qi could fulfill wishes, but returning home required an incomprehensible amount and reaching the Heaven and Earth Realm required thirty-six epochs.
• Li Shun found that reaching the Spiritual Resonance Realm required ten strands of Mystic Yellow Qi, more than simply cultivating to that realm, and recalled Great Qian's policy to supervise its use without encouraging it.

Li Shun spent one thread of Mystic Yellow Qi to form a gate in the Square Inch Space that seemed to lead to another world and promised a way to gather more qi. He resisted the gate’s seductive influence and tried to send Shentu Xin’s phantom through, but the gate rejected it, leaving him uncertain whether puppets could cross.

• Li Shun realized that his existing sources of Mystic Yellow Qi were too slow and wondered how to obtain more.
• The Mystic Yellow Qi consumed one thread to create the Gate of Myriad Mysteries, which stirred Li Shun’s greed and urged him to enter.
• Li Shun halted himself and returned his consciousness to Great Qian, where Li Qing noticed his aura had become disorderly.
• After calming down, Li Shun considered closing the gate but decided to test it with a puppet instead.
• Li Shun sent Shentu Xin’s phantom toward the gate, but an invisible force stopped it, suggesting that non-living beings could not pass.